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Narayana (Lectures, BG)

Expressions researched:
"Narayana" |"Narayana's" |"Narayanas"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966:

And the devotees, who want to enjoy in the association of the Lord, they enter into the planets, Vaikuṇṭha planets. There are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, and the Lord, Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, by His plenary expansion as Nārāyaṇa with four hands with different names, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, and Mādhava, Govinda... There are many innumerable names of this four-handed Nārāyaṇa. So one of the planets, that is also mad-bhāvam, that is also within the spiritual nature. So any transcendentalist who at the end of life, either he thinks of the brahma-jyotir or meditates upon the Paramātmā or thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in either case, they enter into the spiritual sky. But only the devotees, those who have practiced personal touch with the Supreme Lord, they enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planets or in the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet.

Lecture on BG 1.10 -- London, July 12, 1973:

So it is all creation of Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). Everything has come out from Kṛṣṇa's body, external, therefore He is the proprietor. If I have created something, then I am the proprietor. It is very easy to understand. In the Vedas also, it is said eko nārāyaṇa āsīt: "Before the creation only there was Nārāyaṇa." In the Catuḥ-śloki Bhāgavata also it is said, aham evāsam evāgre (SB 2.9.33/34/35/36). So before creation there was Kṛṣṇa. When we speak of Kṛṣṇa, it does not mean Kṛṣṇa was alone. Kṛṣṇa means with His form, with His pastimes, with His paraphernalia, with His entourage, everything. When we speak of king, it does not mean king is alone. As soon as we speak of king, we must understand the king, king's kingdom, king's secretaries, king's ministers, king's queen, king's palace, so many things. Similarly, when the Vedas says that eko nārāyaṇa āsīt, "Before creation there was only Nārāyaṇa." So Nārāyaṇa with His paraphernalia, with His expansion... Nārāyaṇa has expansion in the spiritual world, vaikuṇṭha jagat, innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets. You have seen the picture. Innumerable.

Lecture on BG 1.13-14 -- London, July 14, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa's body, Kṛṣṇa's activities, everything of Kṛṣṇa, they are transcendental. They are not of this material world. Divyam. In the catuḥ-śloki Bhāgavatam it is said when Kṛṣṇa was instructing Brahmā, aham evāsam evāgre: (SB 2.9.33/34/35/36) "Before this material creation, I was existing." In the Vedas also, it is said, eko nārāyaṇa āsīt. "Before creation, only Nārāyaṇa was there."

So Kṛṣṇa's position is always transcendental. He is not any creation of this material world. But because he comes just like a human being and acts also just like human being, those who are less intelligent, avajānanti, they think of Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). Mūḍhāḥ. Mūḍhāḥ means asses. Or less intelligent class of men. They cannot understand Kṛṣṇa's position. Kṛṣṇa's position is always transcendental.

Lecture on BG 1.21-22 -- London, July 18, 1973:

Don't talk with me." No. But sādhu still goes on benefiting the people in general. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ (SB 3.25.21). And what kind of benefit? The so-called rascals humanitarian work? No. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). He is beneficial to all kinds of living entities.

Not this rascaldom, daridra-nārāyaṇa. Just like one rascal has manufactured this daridra-nārāyaṇa. The poor man has become Nārāyaṇa, and the goat Nārāyaṇa is killed for their feeding. Not this kind of sādhu. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. A sādhu will not allow any kind of killing. See in the Christian religion, it is first injunction is "Thou shalt not kill." If you want to become religious... They are simply killing, and still, they are claiming "Christian." What kind of Christian? Simply their business is killing. So it is very difficult to find out a Christian, although they are claiming, I am "Christian." It is very difficult. Because their business is killing.

Lecture on BG 1.36 -- London, July 26, 1973:

He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He could create Sītā, Rādhārāṇī, Lakṣmī. They are the pleasure potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot have a material wife or material companion. Kṛṣṇa's Rādhārāṇī or Lord Rāmacandra's Sītādevī, Nārāyaṇa's Lakṣmīdevī, they are pleasure potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vṛkitir āhlādinī-śaktir asmāt. Āhlādinī-śakti. Kṛṣṇa, God, has got many potencies. One of the potencies is called āhlādinī-śakti, pleasure potency. So Kṛṣṇa's consort, Lord Rāmacandra's consort, they are pleasure potency, exhibited. So to show the example, Lord Rāmacandra, because Sītā was kidnapped, Sītā was insulted, or Rāmacandra was insulted, the retaliation was Lord Rāmacandra killed not only Rāvaṇa, but the whole dynasty, finished. Only for one woman. He could create so many. No.

Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 6, 1972:

Uttamā-bhakti, first-class bhakti, what is that? Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam: without any kind of desire than to serve the Lord. And in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, it is said, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ. Paraḥ means transcendental, beyond this material conception. Kṛṣṇa, or the Absolute, Nārāyaṇa, that is para. Nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Nārāyaṇa is not anything of this material world. Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu. The Absolute Personality of Godhead, He is not anything of this material world. When we use this word, nirākāra, that means His form is not anything of this material world. But He has got His form. That is a transcendental form. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Nirākāra means He, He has no such form, as we have got this material form. This material form is neither of the three transcendental bliss, sac-cid-ānanda. This is asat, acit, and nirānanda. This body, this material body is asat, acit, and nirānanda.

Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 6, 1972:

He has His form. Divyam. Janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). Divyam, transcendental. And Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya also, who especially preached impersonalism, he also admits that nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt: "Nārāyaṇa, the form of Nārāyaṇa, is beyond the range of this avyakta." Avyakta and...

This world is creation... Avyaktād anya-sambhavaḥ. This world is creation of this avyakta. And beyond this avyakta, there is another nature. That is spiritual nature. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ avyaktaḥ avyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). So this situation... Kṛṣṇa is advising... No. I mean to say, Arjuna advising, rathaṁ sthāpaya me acyuta. Acyuta. Kṛṣṇa is not cyuta. Kṛṣṇa is acyuta. Cyuta means those who are fallen in the material world. They are cyuta. We are fallen in the material world. Therefore we have accepted this material body. Icchā-dveṣa-samutthena sarge yānti parantapa (BG 7.27). Icchā. Icchā means desire. And dveṣa means envy, enviousness.

Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 7, 1972:

Bhagavān means Kṛṣṇa. They are Bhagavān partially. All these things have been very much carefully analyzed by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. He has analyzed in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, which we have translated into English: Nectar of Devotion. He has analyzed that Kṛṣṇa is cent percent Bhagavān. And Nārāyaṇa is ninety-four percent Bhagavān. And Lord Śiva is eighty-four percent Bhagavān. And all other living entities, all living entities, we are, we are minutely seventy-eight percent Bhagavān. That means when you come to the perfection of life, when you are actually in the spiritual stage, then you are..., you have got the qualities of Bhagavān in minute quantity, but not all the qualities—eighty, seventy-eight percent. These have been very nicely analyzed in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. And the śāstra says also: kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is a list of all the incarnations, that "Such and such incarnation appears for such and such particular activities." In that incarnation list there is name of Lord Rāmacandra also, Lord Buddha also. Buddha's name is also there.

Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 7, 1972:

There are four Vaiṣṇava ācāryas in the recent years and one Māyāvāda ācārya, Śaṅkarācārya. Śaṅkarācārya also, although he is inclined to the impersonal feature of the Lord, but he accepted Kṛṣṇa: sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ. He accepted: "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa." Nārāyaṇaḥ avyaktāt. So other Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Nimbārka, lately Lord Caitanya, all of them accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And Arjuna, he also, when he heard from Him Bhagavad-gītā, he accepted Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, puruṣaṁ śāśvatam (BG 10.12).

So Kṛṣṇa is accepted universally the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why people are making research, "Where is God?" I do not know. Why they are uselessly taking so much hard labor to search out God? Here is God, Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

Such a claim is applicable to Kṛṣṇa only, and as such He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No living entity, including Brahmā, can possess such opulence. Neither Lord Śiva nor even Nārāyaṇa can possess such opulence as fully as Kṛṣṇa. By analytical study of such possessions it is concluded in the Brahma-saṁhitā by Lord Brahmā himself that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nobody is equal to or above Him. He is the primeval Lord or Bhagavān known as Govinda, and He is the supreme cause of all causes. It is stated as follows: There are many personalities possessing the qualities of Bhagavān, but Kṛṣṇa is Supreme over all of them because none can excel Him. He is the Supreme Person and His body is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. He is the primeval Lord Govinda and the cause of all causes. In the Bhāgavatam also there is a list of many incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Kṛṣṇa is described therein as the original Personality from whom many, many incarnations and Personalities of Godhead expand. It is stated in this way: All the lists of the incarnations of Godhead submitted herewith are either plenary expansions or parts of the plenary expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

So do it immediately. It is Kṛṣṇa's grace. Never mind garage. We shall turn hell into heaven. (laughter)

nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve
na kutaścana bibhyati
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv
api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ
(SB 6.17.28)

Svargāpavarga, heaven or the Brahman effulgence, or hell, all these are equal to a devotee. A devotee does not make any distinction because he has always within his heart Kṛṣṇa. So either he goes to hell or heaven, it doesn't matter. You see? If Kṛṣṇa goes with him then it is no longer hell. (laughs) Just like īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The Lord as Supersoul is in everyone's heart, so He's in the heart of the hog or He is in the heart of the worm in the stool. Does it mean Kṛṣṇa is living in the stool? No. Wherever He lives, He lives in Vṛndāvana.

Lecture on BG 2.2 -- London, August 3, 1973:

So Vyāsadeva is mistaken? Actually, these Māyāvādī philosophers, they are so great rascals they sometimes say like that, that Vyāsadeva is also mistaken. They have got the audacity to say Vyāsadeva, he is accepted as incarnation of Nārāyaṇa, who has given us the Vedic literature, so many books he has given, the Vedas, the Purāṇas, the Mahābhārata, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Vedānta-sūtra. Everything is given by Vyāsadeva in writing, and we'll accept it, Nārāyaṇa, incarnation of Nārāyaṇa, mahāmuni-kṛte. He is also Vyāsa-muni, but He is also mahāmuni-kṛte. So there cannot be any mistake in the words of Vyāsadeva. This is the difficulty. If one does not come through the channel of disciplic succession, so they are in so many ways mistaken. Vyāsadeva is above all this. He is not an ordinary writer, material description or material name and faith. He cannot be mistaken. As Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa cannot be mistaken.

Lecture on BG 2.2 -- London, August 3, 1973:

Therefore, a pure devotee, who does not say anything beyond which was spoken by Kṛṣṇa, therefore his statement is also without mistake. Common man within this material world, he commits mistake: "To err is human." Even big, big personalities, they commit mistake. But nārāyaṇa paraḥ. He is transcendental. Kṛṣṇa is transcendental. There cannot be any mistake; there cannot be any illusion. Those who are in this material world, they have got four defects: they commit mistake, they are illusioned, and their senses are imperfect, bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā, and they're cheaters. Because... Just like modern-day scientists and philosophers, they propogate so many branches of knowledge, but when, on the crucial point, they are caught, they say, "I do not know perfectly. I do not know perfectly. We are trying to know. In future, we shall tell you the perfect."

Lecture on BG 2.6 -- London, August 6, 1973:

This is the policy of Hanumān, devotees. And the Rāvaṇa policy is "Take away Sītā from the clutches of Rāma and enjoy it." This is Rāvaṇa policy. And the Hanumān policy is: "Take out Sītā from the hands of Rāvaṇa and get her seated by the side of Rāma." The same Sītā. Sītā means Lakṣmī. So Lakṣmī means Nārāyaṇa's property, God's property.

So we should learn the policy that all these materialistic persons, Rāvaṇas, they are trying to enjoy God's property. So some way or other... Of course we cannot fight with Rāvaṇa class man. We are not so strong. Therefore we have taken the policy of becoming a beggar: "Sir, you are so nice man. Please give us something. Give us something. Because you are spoiling your life by keeping God's property, you are going to hell. So some way or other, if you become a member, so you will be saved. You will be saved." That is our policy. We are not beggar. But it is a policy.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 9, 1966:

And what is that? This is sāyujya-mukti, to become one with the... Now, there is... Then sārūpya, sārūpya-mukti. Sārūpya-mukti means the spiritual body becomes as... The features of the spiritual body becomes just like the Supreme Lord. Just like Nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa has got four hands with śaṅkha, cakra, gadā, padma, and with the lotus flower, conchshell, club and wheel. So, so everyone who takes that sārūpya-mukti just become just like the... His feature of the body become just like the Lord. That is called sārūpya-mukti.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:

So why these Māyāvādī philosophy, philosophers, do not understand this direct version from the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Because āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ (BG 7.15). The Māyāvādī philosophers, they do not accept the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead. They think God is as good as they are. Therefore they introduce themselves as Nārāyaṇa. But according to Vaiṣṇava philosophy, Nārāyaṇa cannot be equal to any one of us. What speak of us, Nārāyaṇa cannot be equally estimated even with great demigods like Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva. That is... The Vaiṣṇava Purāṇa says, yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ, samatvenaiva vīkṣeta sa pāṣaṇḍī bhavad dhruvam: (CC Madhya 18.116) "Anyone who calculates Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, equal with such demigods, not, what to speak of ordinary human beings, even big, big demigods like Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā, he immediately becomes a pāṣaṇḍī, atheist."

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:

Brahmā is called pitāmaha, the grandfather, and prapitāmaha means "the father of the grandfather." So Kṛṣṇa has been addressed as prapitāmaha, "father of Brahmā." Therefore He's ādi-puruṣa. Actually, within this creation, Lord Brahmā is the original person, because he was firstborn. There was no other person before him. But he's given birth by Nārāyaṇa, from the abdomen of Nārāyaṇa in the lotus flower. Therefore He's the father of Brahmā. Prapitāmaha (BG 11.39). So Kṛṣṇa here says, because that Māyāvādī philosophy's also nullified here. Because here it is said, na jāyate, na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ. Māyāvāda philosophy says that the living entity has become separated on account of illusion. Not becomes separated. He is... There is no separation. But it is illusion; he's thinking, "I am different from God." But Kṛṣṇa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ jīva-loke sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7).

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:

Question: Is Nārāyaṇa... (break)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi:) ...śāstra sunye paregara, samanye paregara, vo śāstra janta nai chela grantha paragara, kavi mana...(?) (Hindi)

Question: The fundamental question of our interest is to know soul.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Question: The fundamental question of our interest is to know soul.

Prabhupāda: Yes...?

Question: So what is the form and what is the definition of soul, and how to know whether there is soul...?

Prabhupāda: That is... that is... that is described. We are describing na jāyate na mriyate. Soul is never born, soul never dies. Soul is eternal. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Even after the destruction of this body, the soul is not destroyed. These, these are the education.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 18, 1972:

Otherwise, who is Kṛṣṇa? "I am as good as Kṛṣṇa. I am God." That is māyā. That is not actually knowledge. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. They are thinking that they have become liberated, become Nārāyaṇa, or God. Māninaḥ, they are thinking like that. Actually, they are not, because they're subjected to the rules of the material nature. They cannot get out of these clutches. Who can get out of these clutches? Mām eva ye prapadyante. Kṛṣṇa says, "Anyone who surrenders unto Me..."

Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:

So we are trying to... We are disgusted with these material varieties. Therefore some is trying to make these varieties zero and some is trying to make these varieties impersonal. But that will not give us the exact transcendental pleasure. If you can go up into the Brahman effulgence and take shelter of Kṛṣṇa or Nārāyaṇa... There are innumerable planets in the Brahman effulgence. They are called Vaikuṇṭhaloka. And the topmost Vaikuṇṭhaloka is called Goloka Vṛndāvana. So if you are fortunate enough to take shelter in one of these planets, then you are eternally happy in blissful condition of knowledge. Otherwise, simply to merge into the Brahman effulgence is not very safe. Because we want ānanda. So in impersonal zero standard there cannot be any ānanda. But because we have no information, the Māyāvādī philosophers, of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, they come back again to these material planets.

Lecture on BG 2.24 -- Hyderabad, November 28, 1972:

So when one comes to the senses that he cannot be master at any stage of his life, then he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. Sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). "Oh, Vāsudeva is the real master. And my nature is to serve Him." Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. He's first-class mahātmā, not the mahātmā who is thinking himself that he has become Nārāyaṇa and begging door to door. And Nārāyaṇa is meant for begging? Nārāyaṇa is the master of Lakṣmī, goddess of fortune. But they have manufactured a word—daridra-nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa has become daridra. Just foolishness, see. Nārāyaṇa, He's the master of goddess of... Not only one goddess of fortune, lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam aham... (Bs. 5.29), hundreds of thousands of Lakṣmīs. Just like Kṛṣṇa, when He was present, He had 16,108 Lakṣmīs in Dvārakā. That is Nārāyaṇa.

Lecture on BG 2.24 -- Hyderabad, November 28, 1972:

So there was no need of light. Such nice marble palaces. And each queen was given ten children, and it is not that that sixteen thousand queens were crying and Kṛṣṇa is only with one queen. No. He expanded Himself into sixteen thousand forms, and He was living with each queen. That is Nārāyaṇa. Why Nārāyaṇa should become daridra? Nārāyaṇa says that bhoktāraṁ yajña... He's the supreme bhoktā, enjoyer. So He's unlimited. Therefore He's unlimited enjoyment. That is Kṛṣṇa. He showed it when He was present. Why sixteen thousand wives? If He could have sixteen millions of wives, still, they were not perfect. Because He's unlimited. So these things we have to understand.

So this brāhmaṇa's prayer that kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās teṣāṁ jātā mayi na karuṇā na trapā nopaśāntiḥ, sāmprataṁ labdha-buddhiḥ, labdham.

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:

This is five thousand years ago. Even one thousand, five hundred... Śaṅkarācārya, who is impersonalist, he has also accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇa. He has written in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā: nārāyaṇaḥ avyakta, avyaktāt, para avyaktāt. Nārāyaṇaḥ para avyaktāt. "Nārāyaṇa is not a creation of this material world. He's transcendental." He has accepted. And what to speak of the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, all. They have written so many nice commentaries on the Bhagavad-gītā, Brahma-sūtra, establishing that the Supreme Absolute Truth is person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa is speaking as person. And He is warning the rascals: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). "Because I am speaking as a human being, the rascals, they deride." Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. They do not know what is My influence, what is My power."

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:

Not directly from Kṛṣṇa. From Kṛṣṇa, Baladeva. From Baladeva, catur-vyūha: Saṅkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha. Then from Saṅkarṣaṇa, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Nārāyaṇa. Then second catur-vyūha. From the second catur-vyūha, Saṅkarṣaṇa, the puruṣa-avatāras. Three puruṣa-avatāras, three Viṣṇus: Kāraṇodakaśāyī, Garbhodakaśāyī, and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. So the, in the Vedic literature all these informations are there. And as Kṛṣṇa says, personally, also... Arjuna accepted that "I accept, on the authority of Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Devala, Asita, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and You also speaking directly. Then where is my doubt?"

Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968:

Nara-nārāyaṇa: I am yet not so clear to understand why it is so important to Arjuna that Kṛṣṇa should say to Arjuna that it is so important, the reputation. Because in Arjuna's own heart he knows that he is being kind, or that he is in confusion because of his kindness. Does this make a difference, the opinion that one's fellow kṣatriya would have of him?

Prabhupāda: Arjuna was reputed as a great warrior. So he should remain a great warrior. A warrior's business is not to stop fighting on the plea of becoming kind. If you have gone to the warfield and if you practice nonviolence there, this is useless. Why should you go? There is a Bengali proverb that naste bose guṇṭhanam(?), that... In India, the girls, they cover their head. That is the system of married girl's shyness. So it is said that one girl is on the stage for dancing. Now while she is to dance, she's covering the head. What is the use of covering the head? You have come to dance, you dance. Similarly, in the warfield, you have gone there to fight.

Lecture on BG 2.39 -- London, September 12, 1973:

They were tending cows. They had no Vedānta knowledge or any higher education, not very nicely cultured gentlemen, village cowherds boy, cowherds girl, but they did not know any other business than to love Kṛṣṇa. That is perfection. Jñāna-śūnya, without any knowledge. They did not know. They... They saw Nārāyaṇa: "Oh, here is Nārāyaṇa. All right. I offer you..." But there is no love. Love is for Kṛṣṇa. Even Nārāyaṇa, four-handed Nārāyaṇa, there is no love for. They have got respect. You can offer respect to anyone, even you have no love. But love is different thing. That was... That is the typical examples in Vṛndāvana. That is the ultimate goal of buddhi-yoga.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (End)

Lecture on BG 2.40 - London, September 13, 1973:

So he was doing that. In this way his life was spoiled. And he begot ten children in that prostitute's womb. So the last child... Naturally the last son, the youngest son because very father's pet. So he was taking care of the son. And his name was Nārāyaṇa. That is the system of Vedic..., children are given..., Nārāyaṇa dāsa. Just like we give name, spiritual name. So when he was old enough, he was going to die out of disease. His so-called prostitute wife neglected. She went away. So the Yamadūtas, the servants of the Yamarāja, they came to take him, because he was the greatest sinner, sinful number one. So he has to go to Yamarāja for punishment. So they came and he was very much afraid. He was seeing, one can see vicious, I mean to say, forms of the Yamarāja. So he was crying.

Lecture on BG 2.40 - London, September 13, 1973:

So because he was pet to that youngest child Nārāyaṇa, he thought, "My son, this Nārāyaṇa can save me." He chanted, "Nārāyaṇa!" Oh, this "Nārāyaṇa" immediately gave him consciousness, that "What this Nārāyaṇa can help me? If Nārāyaṇa whom in my younger days I worshiped, He can save me." Immediately. Immediately Nārāyaṇa-sena came here, "Yes." Just see. Svalpam api—because in the childhood he served Nārāyaṇa for a few days or few years, he was remembering Nārāyaṇa, "If that Nārāyaṇa can save me." So Nārāyaṇa actually saved him, Nārāyaṇa. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). At the time of death, somehow or other, if you can remember Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, your life is successful. Therefore, practice, practice, while you are strong, while you are in good life, practice how to remember Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, always. Therefore Kulaśekhara, Mahārāja Kulaśekhara, he has written his Stotra-mālā, very important.

Lecture on BG 2.40 - London, September 13, 1973:

I may not be able to chant at the time of death Your name. So now I am strong, please immediately give me death."

So this is the secret of success. Somehow or other, if you can remember Kṛṣṇa, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke (BG 8.6). This is the way. So there is chance. If we execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness sincerely, if you execute till it is finished, then it immediately—tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). If not, even if you have finished certain percentage, still there is chance of perfection, it is such nice thing. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

It is illusion. Śaṅkarācārya says that "You are after this beauty, but have you analyzed this beauty? What is the beauty?" Etad rakta-māṁsa-vikāram. It is just like our student(s) Govinda dāsī and Nara-nārāyaṇa molding plaster of paris. At this time, there is no attraction. But this plaster of paris when it will be nicely painted, it will be so attractive. Similarly, this body is combination of blood and muscles and veins. If you cut the upper portion of your body, as soon as you see inside, it is all obnoxious horrible things. But outwardly so painted by the illusory color of māyā, oh, it looks very attractive. And that is attracting our senses. This is the cause of our bondage. We are being bound up by some false illusory beauty of this world. Mirage. The exact example is the mirage. What is mirage? Reflection of the sunlight on the desert appears like water. Where is water there?

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Now, those who are not practicing, that is different thing. But rules and regulations, Lord Buddha himself, he showed. He left his everything and became engaged in simply meditation. Who is doing that? Nobody is doing that. Śaṅkarācārya's first condition is that "First of all you take sannyāsa; then you talk of becoming Nārāyaṇa." Who is taking sannyāsa? So they are simply falsely thinking. Actually, their intelligence is impure, consciousness is impure. Therefore in spite of such endeavors, the result is, āruhya kṛcchreṇa param, although they go very high, say 25,000 miles or millions of miles up, they do not find any shelter, where is moon planet, where is... They come down again to your Moscow city, that's all. Or New York City, that's all. These are the examples. When they're high up, oh, they'll take photograph.

Lecture on BG 3.1-5 -- Los Angeles, December 20, 1968:

Just like Śaṅkarācārya. Śaṅkarācārya's theory is that you first of all become a sannyāsa, in renounced order of life; then you try to understand what you are, sāṅkhya philosophy. Therefore, according to their system, anyone who takes sannyāsa, he's supposed to be immediately merged into the existence of God. Therefore they address, "Nārāyaṇa." In Śaṅkara sampradāya, one sannyāsī addresses another sannyāsī as "Nārāyaṇa." But here, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, there is no condition. The only condition is... That is not condition; that is recreation.

Lecture on BG 3.1-5 -- Los Angeles, December 20, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "According to the empirical philosophers, simply by adopting sannyāsa or retiring from fruitive activities, one at once becomes as good as Nārāyaṇa, God. But Lord Kṛṣṇa does not approve this principle. Without purification of heart, sannyāsa is simply a disturbance to the social order. On the other hand, if somebody takes to the transcendental service of the Lord, even without discharging his prescribed duties, whatever he may be able to advance in the cause is accepted by the Lord. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt."

Prabhupāda: Hm. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. Svalpam means very little, api—although, asya—of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, dharmasya—occupation, trāyate—delivers, mahato—great, bhayāt—fearfulness. Yes. Go on.

Lecture on BG 3.6-10 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1968:

Māyā could not entice. Māyā failed. Māyā became his disciple. He did not become māyā's disciple.

This is tug of war. So don't be afraid of māyā. Simply enhance chanting and you'll be conqueror. That's all. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati (SB 6.17.28). We are not afraid of māyā because Kṛṣṇa is there. Yes. Kṛṣṇa says, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). You just declare, "My devotee will never be vanquished by māyā." Māyā cannot do anything. Simply you have to become strong. And what is that strength? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, loudly. Yes.

Lecture on BG 3.14 -- Sanand, December 27, 1975:

Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ (SB 11.5.32). Yajña means to satisfy the yajña-puruṣa, Nārāyaṇa, or Bhagavān. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Prahlāda Mahārāja also says,

na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ
durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ
andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās
te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ
(SB 7.5.31)

The people do not know that the aim of life is to approach Viṣṇu, Lord Viṣṇu. That is the aim of life. Viṣṇur ārādhyate panthā nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam.

So viṣṇu-ārādhana is the ultimate goal of life. In the Purāṇas also, Lord Śiva was instructing Pārvatī, ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param. Lord Śiva said that "Of all different types of worship, the worship of Viṣṇu is topmost." So human life is specially meant for worshiping Viṣṇu.

Lecture on BG 3.18-30 -- Los Angeles, December 30, 1968:

So he does not... A self-realized person is always engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but he does not deviate with the prescribed duties also, because others will follow. Others will also, "Oh, I am also self-realized." Therefore one has to do.

Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being. He is free because he knows that "I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, so I'm dependent on Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is providing millions and trillions of living entities. Why not me? I am directly engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service." This is the position of self-realized. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati (SB 6.17.28). Go on.

Lecture on BG 4.1 and Review -- New York, July 13, 1966:

Some planet is predominant by air; some planet is predominant by water; some planet is predominant by fire. So similarly, the sun planet is predominated by fire. There are living entities also, and there is one principal living entity who is called the sun-god, Sūrya Nārāyaṇa. Or, in the language of the Bhagavad-gītā, he is called Vivasvān. In the language of Bhagavad-gītā.

Just like in every planet there is a chief man... Just like in your country, the chief man is President Johnson, similarly, in every planet, there is a chief man. Formerly, in this planet also, there was one king. We can get from Mahābhārata history that five thousand years before there was only one king of this planet, one flag, and one regiment. We get this information from Mahābhārata. Gradually, the world has divided into many states, and we can see hundreds of flags in the United States, er, Nations.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Yes, certainly.

Guest: Because he also (?) catur-bhuja Nārāyaṇa and Rāma

Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter, but his activities were bhakti-yoga. He set fire to the house and capital of Rāvaṇa. That is bhakti-yoga. People will say, "How it is by setting fire in others' house bhakti-yoga?" But practically see. What Hanumān's business was? Just to punish Rāvaṇa, that's all. That is bhakti-yoga. And he was considered to be the greatest devotee of Lord Rāmacandra. He never studied Vedānta-sūtra because he was animal, so he had no opportunity, but still, he became the greatest devotee, rāma-bhakta. Why? By setting fire to the Rāvaṇa's house. That's all. These are practical examples. By setting fire to the house of Rāvaṇa, he became the great devotee of Rāma. And similar, recent case is Arjuna. Arjuna also fought. He killed his kinsmen and he became a great bhakta. Somebody in Bengal, some gentleman, criticized that "Lord Caitanya introducing this bhakti-yoga has," what is called, "(indistinct) the population of Bengal." And you do not know what is bhakti-yoga.

Lecture on BG 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969:

The Vedic supplementary literature also confirms that even though the Lord appears to be taking His birth, He is still without change of body. In the Bhāgavatam He appears before His mother as Nārāyaṇa with four hands and the decorations of the six kinds of full opulences. His appearance in His original eternal form is His causeless mercy, according to the Viśvakośa dictionary. The Lord is conscious of all His previous appearances and disappearances, but a common living entity forgets everything about his past body as soon as he gets another. He shows that He is the Lord of all living entities by performing wonderful and superhuman activities while on this earthly planet. The Lord is always the same Absolute Truth, and is without differentiation between His form and self, or between His quality and body.

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

In the Bhāgavata you'll find that when Ajāmila was claimed by the Viṣṇudūtas, when they came from Vaikuṇṭha, they were exactly like Viṣṇu. They had four hands, the same features, same color, and same ornaments, and same dress. So those who are promoted to Vaikuṇṭha, they get four hands like Nārāyaṇa. But in the Kṛṣṇaloka, Kṛṣṇa is two-handed. So even in this material world there is one personality, Brahmā, he has got four hands. So we can get also the same body, the same features, the same opulence. Sālokya, sārṣṭi, sāmīpya, sālokya, there are different kinds of liberation. Or sāyujya. (break)

...he is saying that Kṛṣṇa has no change of body. He is giving the example just like a diamond or a valuable stone, you'll find a different colors. Sometimes you'll find red, sometimes you'll find green, sometimes you'll find some other color, the same stone. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa when appears, that is explained in the Bhāgavatam, He appears in different colors.

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

He goes with all his paraphernalia, secretaries, minister, and commander-in-chief, and so many others. Similarly, whenever Kṛṣṇa comes, He does not come... Just like in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, aham eva asam agre. "I was in the beginning." The impersonalists interpret that "I was, personally," but that is not the fact. Nārāyaṇa, as soon as Nārāyaṇa was means Nārāyaṇa was there with... Not was there, Nārāyaṇa is there always with His all paraphernalia. And that is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, dhāmnā svena nirasta-kuhakaṁ sadā paraṁ satyaṁ dhīmahi. Dhāmnā svena nirasta-kuhakam. The kingdom of God is freed from illusion. This world, this material world, is full of illusion. But dhāmnā svena nirasta-kuhakam. So God's kingdom, or Kṛṣṇa's kingdom, is spiritual. Everything will be explained one after another.

Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:

We do not know what we were in our last birth, or millions of years ago. Although we are also eternal. But we do not remember. Therefore there is difference between Kṛṣṇa's birth and our birth.

When Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Devakī and Vasudeva, He appeared before them as four-handed Nārāyaṇa. Kṛṣṇa did not come from the womb of Devakī. You have, most of you have read in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam His appearance. He appeared before them as four-handed Nārāyaṇa. Then Devakī prayed, "My Lord, You have come. Kaṁsa is now eager to kill You. As soon as..." As a mother, she's speaking simply the truth, that "Kaṁsa is now eager to kill You. As soon as He will see You four-handed, immediately he will kill You." Because as woman, and simple woman... The four-handed Nārāyaṇa cannot be killed, but she was thinking that "Because You, now You have appeared as Nārāyaṇa, four-handed, You'll be immediately killed.

Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:

Yet, He still appears to take His birth in multi-manifestations. The Vedic supplementary literatures also confirm that even though the Lord appears to be taking His birth, He is still without change of body. In the Bhāgavatam, He appears before His mother as Nārāyaṇa with four hands and the decoration of the six kinds of full opulences. His appearance in His original eternal form is His causeless mercy, according to the Viśvakośa dictionary. The Lord is conscious of all of His previous appearances and disappearances, but a common living entity forgets everything about his past body as soon as he gets another body. He is the Lord of all living entities because He performs wonderful and superhuman activities while He is on this earth. Therefore the Lord is always the same Absolute Truth, and is without differentiation between His form and self or between His quality and body.

Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Bombay, March 29, 1974:

That you have to forget. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am spirit soul." That is real identification. And when the spirit soul is active, sometimes the Māyāvādī philosophers, they think, "Now I've realized that I am not this body, I am not matter, I am spirit soul, so now I have become Nārāyaṇa. I have become the Supreme." But no, that is also mistake. When you realize that "Supreme is the Supreme Brahman, Para-brahman, I am part and parcel of the Supreme, I am also Brahman, but I am not the Supreme Brahman, therefore my business is to serve Para-brahman." That is real spiritual life. That is the beginning of spiritual life.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:

Svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kumāraḥ kapilaḥ prahlādaḥ bhīṣmaḥ... (SB 6.3.20). There are big, big personalities. To follow them, how?

Prahlāda Mahārāja was being chastised by his father, five years old, but he did not know how to protest. He was suffering and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa. What can be done? What can be done? He was completely dependent on his father. And father had no mercy. The only fault was he, Kṛṣṇa, turned Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the fault. And he was being punished. He was punished, punished.

This is the world. Even father will be enemy, what to speak of others. If you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, the whole world will be your enemy. You must be prepared for that. So therefore you require tapasya. Tapasya means voluntarily agree to suffer. That is called tapasya. Voluntarily. Suffering is there, but why not suffer for Kṛṣṇa? Everyone is unhappy. Everyone is in suffering condition.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Calcutta, September 23, 1974:

A little service can save you from the greatest danger. This is the formula.

Just like Ajāmila. Ajāmila, in his boyhood, he was brāhmaṇa. He was giving service to Viṣṇu. But in young age he became a victim of a prostitute, and he fell down. But at the end, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6), when Yamadūta was coming and were so fearful, he did not know whom to take shelter, but he was attached to his youngest son, whose name was Nārāyaṇa. So he thought, "This Nārāyaṇa would give me protection." So he asked him, "Nārāyaṇa!" But at the same time he remembered that "That Nārāyaṇa, oh, hm, I sometimes gave service." So immediately Nārāyaṇa saved him. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt.

Lecture on BG 4.11 -- Bombay, March 31, 1974:

The meaning is that "My Lord, Aravindākṣa..." Kṛṣṇa is addressed... Because His eyes are just like the petals of lotus flower, He's called Aravinda, and Aravindākṣa. Barhāvataṁsa, aravindākṣa. So "My dear Aravindākṣa, lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa, "Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa. "The persons who are thinking that they have become liberated, now they have become Nārāyaṇa..." Oh. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. They are thinking like that. Māninaḥ means falsely thinking. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād... "They have no information of Your lotus feet or You. They do not accept Your personality." Tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). "Their intelligence is not clear." Aviśuddha. It is still impure. Because they could not understand.

Lecture on BG 4.11 -- Geneva, June 1, 1974:

Without energy, simply energetic Kṛṣṇa, that is not full realization. So all the Vaiṣṇavas, they worship the Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead, with the energy. Just like there are many devotees, Sītā-Rāma. They worship mother Sītā and Rāma. There are other Vaiṣṇavas who worship Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, and Nārāyaṇa. In this way, we Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇavas, we worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.

So in this way the process of approaching the Absolute Truth is one straight line, but it is a matter of progress. One who has progressed hundred steps, another has progressed thousand steps, another has progressed many other more steps. But the aim is the same: Kṛṣṇa. Anyone... Anyone in transcendental line, they are aiming at Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 4.11-12 -- New York, July 28, 1966:

That person who is liberated simply by knowing the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, he is liberated, and he at once transferred to the spiritual sky into that planet which I am describing, Vaikuṇṭha planet. There are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, and each and every planet, Kṛṣṇa is there in different Nārāyaṇa forms.

So this is the opportunity in the human life to understand this. We are submitting to different energies of Kṛṣṇa. But if we directly submit ourself to Kṛṣṇa, what He, Kṛṣṇa, what He is, that is not very difficult to know because Kṛṣṇa comes in this material world and displays His real nature. Anugrahāya manuṣyāṇām, in Bhāgavata. Just to inform the human society that "If you have no knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, just see. I have incarnated. How I am doing, you can see. You can have."

Lecture on BG 4.12 -- Bombay, April 1, 1974:

So there is no different between Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is also paraṁ brahma and Rāma is also paraṁ brahma. (break) ...day of Lord Rāmacandra. So we Vaiṣṇava, we have equal faith and obeisances to all viṣṇu-mūrtis, rāmādi-mūrtiṣu, Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, Nārāyaṇa, Mahāviṣṇu.... There are advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). But we Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava or Madhva-Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, we are worshiper of Lord Kṛṣṇa mūrti. Lord Rāmacandra's mūrti and Kṛṣṇa's mūrti, there is no difference. But as I have already explained, Kṛṣṇa paraṁ brahma full-fledged, and Lord Rāmacandra is also paraṁ brahma, but He did not exhibit His full-fledged opulence. So these are very confidential things, but still, on the birthday of Lord Rāmacandra we offer our respectful obeisances at His lotus feet so that He may be merciful upon us to bestow His bhakti, devotional service.

Lecture on BG 4.12 -- Bombay, April 1, 1974:

Sometimes it so happened that Kṛṣṇa disappeared from the rāsa dance and the gopīs were very much eager to find out Kṛṣṇa again. So when they were too much eager to see Kṛṣṇa, where He is, Kṛṣṇa appeared as Nārāyaṇa, four-handed Nārāyaṇa. The gopīs saw nārāyaṇa-mūrti but did not become attracted by Him. All the gopīs said, "Oh, He is Nārāyaṇa. Let us offer our respect," and they went away. Actually there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and Nārāyaṇa. (aside:) What is that? But gopīs were not very much interested with Nārāyaṇa. They wanted Kṛṣṇa, although there is no difference between Nārāyaṇa and Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, although there is no difference between Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, some devotees are attracted with rāma-mūrti and some devotees are attracted with kṛṣṇa-mūrti. But factually there is no difference.

Lecture on BG 4.20 -- Bombay, April 9, 1974:

Therefore these big mūḍhas who simply falsely thinking that "I have become now liberated by meditation or by some jugglery of powers," so they have been described in the Bhāgavatam as vimukta-māninaḥ. They are falsely thinking that they have become liberated, they have become Nārāyaṇa. How you can become Nārāyaṇa? The śāstra says,

yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ
brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ
samatvenaiva vīkṣeta
sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam
(CC Madhya 18.116)

Nārāyaṇaṁ devam. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he says, nārāyaṇaḥ avyaktāt paraḥ: "Nārāyaṇa is transcendental. He has nothing to do with this material world."

Lecture on BG 4.20 -- Bombay, April 9, 1974:

So Vaiṣṇavas also say, yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ. Brahmā, Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, they are demigods of this material world. So if one puts Nārāyaṇa even with the label of Brahmā and Rudra, Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā... They are very exalted, big demigods. Lord Śiva is almost like Nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa is ninety-five percent complete God, and Lord Śiva is eighty-five percent and Kṛṣṇa is cent percent. There is analysis. So yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ, samatvenaiva vīkṣeta. Samatvena, equal "Well, whatever is Nārāyaṇa, that is also Lord Śiva, that is also Lord Brahmā, that is also goddess Kālī." This is Māyāvāda. Because the Māyāvāda philosophy is that "The Absolute Truth is impersonal. That is the final understanding.

Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:

That is sufficient.

Suppose in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, what we are doing? We are giving Kṛṣṇa prasādam. We are distributing everyone, without any distinction. We don't make any distinction between daridra-nārāyaṇa and a rich nārāyaṇa. We give prasādam to every nārāyaṇa. Of course, we do not think that everyone is Nārāyaṇa. That is not our philosophy. Nārāyaṇa is above. Nārāyaṇaḥ avyaktāt paraḥ. "Nārāyaṇa is not of this material world." Nārāyaṇaḥ paro 'vyaktāt. That is the version of Śaṅkarācārya. So it is a wrong philosophy that because Nārāyaṇa is everyone's heart.... Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Nārāyaṇa, or īśvara, is situated in everyone's heart. That does not mean that everyone has become Nārāyaṇa.

Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:

This is a wrong philosophy. If you make such distinction, then why there should be daridra-nārāyaṇa? There should be rich nārāyaṇa. There should be chāga-nārāyaṇa, matsya-nārāyaṇa, every nārāyaṇa. If you have got such vision that "Because Nārāyaṇa is there in everyone's heart, then everyone should be addressed as Nārāyaṇa..." But that should not be. That is not be. That should not be. That is insult.

If some big man, if I say, equalize him with some insignificant person, that is insult. In the śāstra it is said,

yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ
brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ
samatvenaiva vīkṣeta
sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam
(CC Madhya 18.116)

We cannot bring Nārāyaṇa even to the level of Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva. Yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ samatvena, equally find, sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam.

Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:

So if we want to serve poor people, that's all right. That is a good business. You are merciful. That also we are doing when we distribute prasādam for everyone's benefit, not for the daridra-nārāyaṇa or rich nārāyaṇa, everyone, Kṛṣṇa's prasāda. So yadṛcchā-lābha, one who is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he will be happy simply having a little morsel of Kṛṣṇa's prasādam. Yadṛcchā-lābha. Actually when we distribute prasāda, we distribute little, little halavā, everyone is satisfied and everyone is accepting because it is kṛṣṇa-prasādam. This consciousness.... They come here. There are many rich persons, also poor persons, they come here to take a little morsel of halavā. Not that he is hungry, but he is conscious that "If I take little kṛṣṇa-prasādam, I will be benefited."

Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:

Mahā-prasāda, the foodstuff, remnant of foodstuff of Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, the same.... Mahā-prasāde govinde. And Govinda, Kṛṣṇa. And mahā-prasāde govinde nāma-brahmaṇi. And in the holy name of Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Mahā-prasāde govinde nāma-brahmaṇi vaiṣṇave. As also in Vaiṣṇava. Svalpa-puṇyavatāṁ rājan viśvāso naiva jāyate. Those who are less pious, they cannot believe in these things. So this is the indirectly speaking Kṛṣṇa, yadṛcchā-lābha-santuṣṭaḥ.

Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:

Therefore Śrī Bhāgavata says that dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇām, vāstavaṁ vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2). Dharma... There are many religious systems. There is jealousy. So-called religious system, cutting the throat of the animals. Why? If you are so broadminded that if you see everywhere Nārāyaṇa, why you are cutting the throat of the goats or the cows or other animals? You should be merciful to them also. But that mercifulness cannot be exhibited without being a devotee, vimatsaraḥ. Nirmatsaraḥ.

Therefore the so-called religious system which is full of matsaratā, jealousy, that is called kaitava-dharma, cheating in the name of religion. So this God consciousness is not a cheating religion. It is very broad-minded. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām (SB 3.25.21). This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means everyone wants to become friend of everyone.

Lecture on BG 4.28 -- Bombay, April 17, 1974:

So he put his finger on the paramānna and his finger burned down. Then his meditation broken, because there was nothing. Simply within his mind he was doing everything. So... But he saw that his finger is burned. So he was astonished.

In this way, Nārāyaṇa from Vaikuṇṭha, He was smiling. Lakṣmījī asked, "Why you are smiling?" "One of My devotee is worshiping like this. So send My men to bring him immediately to Vaikuṇṭha."

So the bhakti-yoga is so nice that even if you have no means to offer the Deity gorgeous worship, you can do it within the mind. That is also possible. Therefore it is said that ahaituky apratihatā. In any position of life you can engage yourself in bhakti-yoga system. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23).

Lecture on BG 4.34 -- New York, August 14, 1966:

And there are many, innumerable universes and innumerable Brahmās also. And their controller is the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. And the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is controlled by Mahā-Viṣṇu, and Mahā-Viṣṇu is controlled by Saṅkarṣaṇa, and Saṅkarṣaṇa is controlled by Nārāyaṇa. And Nārāyaṇa is controlled by Vāsudeva. And Vāsudeva is controlled by Baladeva. And Baladeva is controlled by Kṛṣṇa. Therefore you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā that Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat asti kiñcid dhanañjaya: (BG 7.7) "My dear Arjuna, there is no, nobody greater than Me." And Arjuna also accepted that "You are asamordhva: "Nobody is equal to You, and nobody is greater than You."

And our Gosvāmīs in Vṛndāvana... There were six Gosvāmīs. They were very good scholars, especially Jīva Gosvāmī.

Lecture on BG 4.34 -- New York, August 14, 1966:

There were six Gosvāmīs. They were very good scholars, especially Jīva Gosvāmī. They have analyzed the characteristics of the Absolute Truth, Personality of Godhead, and they have established that Kṛṣṇa has got the all the transcendental qualities of Godhead in Kṛṣṇa. And in Nārāyaṇa there are ninety-four percent of the transcendental qualities of the Absolute Truth. Similarly, in Lord Śiva there is eighty-four percent of all the transcendental qualities of the Absolute Truth. And in living being, as we are, we have got seventy-eight percent of the transcendental qualities. That is also in fraction, not in full.

So there are some scholars, analytical study like this. Now, the point is that Kṛṣṇa says that "All kinds of sacrifices, whatever sacrifice you can undertake..." There are different kinds of, mentioned, dravya-yajña, jñāna-yajña, yoga-yajña, so many. There are different types of yajña.

Lecture on BG 6.2-5 -- Los Angeles, February 14, 1969:

So this is called fruitive activity. Fruitive activity is also another pattern of sense gratification but it is on the basis of sense gratification. And yoga means connection with the Supreme. When the Supreme is connected, as soon as, just like Dhruva Mahārāja. As soon as he saw God, Nārāyaṇa, the boy was undergoing severe austerities, penances to see God. He saw. But when he saw, then he said, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42). "My dear Lord, I am now fully satisfied. I don't want to ask anything, any benediction from you." Because what is benediction? Benediction means you get very nice kingdom or a very nice wife or very nice foodstuff, very nice. These things we consider as benediction. But actually when one becomes connected with God, he does not want any such benediction. He's satisfied. Fully satisfied. Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce.

Lecture on BG 6.2-5 -- Los Angeles, February 14, 1969:

What can I do?" "No, I want my father's kingdom. Tell me how can I get it." Mother said, "My dear boy, if Kṛṣṇa, God, blesses you, you can get." "Where is God?" She said, "Oh, we have heard God is in the forest. Great sages go there and find out." So he went to the forest and underwent severe penances and he saw God. But when he saw God, Nārāyaṇa, he was no more anxious for the kingdom of his father. No more anxious. He said, "My dear Lord, I am satisfied, fully satisfied. I do not want anymore, my kingdom, the kingdom of my father." He gave the comparison that "I was searching out some pebbles, but I have got valuable jewels." So that means he is more satisfied.

When you actually connect yourself with God, then you feel yourself many millions of times satisfied than enjoying this material world. That is God realization. That is the perfection of yoga. Go on.

Lecture on BG 6.2-5 -- Los Angeles, February 14, 1969:

"How is that, I am so great a yogi, I can travel in the space, and this man is ordinary king, he cannot show such jugglery of yoga system, but still people honors him most. Why? I shall teach him some lesson." So he picked up some quarrel with the king, that's a long story, I shall state it some other day, so after all he was defeated. And he was directed by Nārāyaṇa to take shelter of the feet of the king, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. These instances we see from authoritative scripture. But he was simply keeping Kṛṣṇa in his mind. And he defeated the greatest yogi. Durvāsā Muni, he was so perfect yogi, that within one year he traveled all over this material space and beyond this material space in the spiritual space, went directly to the abode of God, Vaikuṇṭha, and saw the Personality of Godhead personally. Still he was so weak that he has to come back and fall down on the feet of Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. But Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, he was ordinary king, he was simply thinking of Kṛṣṇa, that's all.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971 University of Florida:

Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). Sarvasya means including Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. Everyone. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ. So He is the original Viṣṇu. According to śāstra, Vedic literature, He is original Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa, then His first expansion is Baladeva. Baladeva expansion: Saṅkarṣaṇa. Saṅkarṣaṇa expansion: Nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa expansion: Viṣṇu, Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī, Kṣīrodakaśāyī. These are statements. So Kṛṣṇa is the original Viṣṇu, Śyāmasundara.

So this is the perfect system. Mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā. "Anyone who is thinking of Kṛṣṇa always within himself, he is first-class yogi." If you want perfection in yoga system, don't be satisfied only by practicing a course of āsana. You have to go further. Actually, the perfection of yoga system means when you are in samādhi, always thinking of the Viṣṇu form of the Lord within your heart, without being disturbed.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 13, 1972:

Because Kṛṣṇa is actually jñāna. One who teaches Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, "One has to know Kṛṣṇa, one has to surrender to Kṛṣṇa," this kind of teaching is required. And if the guru says that "I am Kṛṣṇa. Everyone is Kṛṣṇa," then, "daridra-kṛṣṇa, daridra-nārāyaṇa," he is not a guru. He's not a guru. He's misguiding. Misguiding. Avaiṣṇavo gurur na syāt. This is the shastric injunction. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ. A... Generally, a qualified brāhmaṇa becomes guru. That is natural. Brāhmaṇa is the head of the society. So he is... And without becoming brāhmaṇa, nobody can become guru. That is also fact. Because brāhmaṇa means brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ, one who knows Brahman, Brahman. So guru must be a brāhmaṇa, mean a qualified brāhmaṇa, not born-brāhmaṇa, so-called brāhmaṇa. Qualified brāhmaṇa.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bombay, January 13, 1973:

The only fault was that he was a kṛṣṇa-bhakta. Even the father, the atheistic father, became enemy. He wanted to kill him. You know Prahlāda-caritra. If there is opportunity, we shall speak. It is horrible. Five-years-old boy, because he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa, the father became enemy. Titikṣava. Therefore a sādhu has to become very tolerant.

Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Haridāsa Ṭhākura became a sādhu, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. He came from Muhammadan community. In those days, the Muhammadan Kazi, magistrate, called him, that "You are Muhammadan and why you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, the Hindu's God's name?" So he very mildly replied: "My dear sir, there are many Hindus, they have also become Muhammadans. So suppose I have become a Hindu. So what is the fault?" Oh, he become very angry, and he was ordered to be caned in seven markets. You see.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- London, March 9, 1975:

And what they will do? (makes snoring sound) (laughter) This is yoga system. So don't be misled by these bluffers' yoga system. Don't be misled. Here is yoga, Kṛṣṇa, because yoga means to meditate upon the Supreme, dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā, mind fully absorbed, and they see Kṛṣṇa or Nārāyaṇa, the same thing. So

yaṁ brahmā varuṇendra-rudra-marutaḥ stunvanti divyaiḥ stavair
vedaiḥ sāṅga-pada-kramopaniṣadair gāyanti yaṁ sāma-gāḥ
dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yogino
yasyāntaṁ na viduḥ surāsura-gaṇā devāya tasmai namaḥ

This is Vedic mantra. So yoga means to think of Kṛṣṇa. That is yoga. So it is also confirmed in the Sixth Chapter. We are reading Seventh Chapter. Kṛṣṇa says... Kṛṣṇa taught Arjuna how to practice yoga.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Fiji, May 24, 1975:

Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that whatever name you select, God's name... In India we have got God's name in so many varieties—Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu... (break) ...is our propaganda. We don't say that "You chant this particular name." Caitanya Mahāprabhu never says. But we selected to chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra because Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the inaugurator of the saṅkīrtana movement, He personally chanted this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma... So we follow. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). We have to follow some authority.

Lecture on BG 7.1-2 -- Bombay, March 28, 1971:

Because Kṛṣṇa does not possess these material qualities, therefore it is acintya, inconceivable by us. But He has that guṇa. He has guṇa. His guṇas are not material qualities. Just like even the leader of the impersonalist school, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, he said, nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Nārāyaṇa is transcendental, para. Bhagavad-gītā also, paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyaḥ (BG 8.20).

So there is another nature, spiritual nature, that is not created. Here in the material world, everything is created. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Anything created in the material world, it has got a period, a date, historical date of creation. And again it is annihilated, again it is created. That is the nature of material world. But transcendental to this material sky, there is another sky, which is called paravyoma. That paravyoma is called, in English word, "the kingdom of God."

Lecture on BG 7.1-2 -- Bombay, March 28, 1971:

The example is generally given: just like the sunshine, the sun globe, and sun-god. The sunshine is all-pervading, all over the universe, and the sun globe is localized. But within the sun globe, there is a person who is called Sūrya-nārāyaṇa, or the sun-god. These are facts. Don't think that there is no living entity in the sun planet. There is. Their body is fiery body. That's all. Just like our body in this planet is earthly body, their body is fiery. Out of the five elements, the fire element is very prominent in the sun planet. But there are living entities. Otherwise how Kṛṣṇa says, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1), "First of all, I said this philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the sun-god"? If there is no living entity, how Kṛṣṇa says there is a sun-god? And if we are to believe Kṛṣṇa and the Bhagavad-gītā, we have to accept it that the sun globe is not without living entities. It is also the same, just like we have got hundred of thousands, millions of living entities here. So in this way, we have to acquire the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa. That is brahma-jñāna, paramātma-jñāna, and bhagavat-tattva-jñāna.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Hyderabad, April 28, 1974 :

We are not material nature. That is the first education of Kṛṣṇa consciousness or spiritual knowledge. We are spiritual, and Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godead, He is also complete spirit. He is not material. Even the impersonalist, Śaṅkarācārya, he has described about Nārāyaṇa in his commentary on Bhagavad-gītā, nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Nārāyaṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is not anything of this material world. Paraḥ avyaktāt, avyaktāt andha sambhavaḥ. But from the avyaktāt, this material world, or the universe, is created. Therefore Nārāyaṇa or Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa is the original Nārāyaṇa. That is a big definition or understanding from the Vedic knowledge, that Kṛṣṇa, from Kṛṣṇa first expansion is Baladeva, from Baladeva there is Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha. In this way, expansion takes place. And from Saṅkarṣaṇa also Nārāyaṇa, Vaikuṇṭha Nārāyaṇa. And from Nārāyaṇa the Puruṣa Avatāra, Viṣṇu. In this way there is expansion. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan. So, the Nārāyaṇa or expansion of Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa or expansion of Kṛṣṇa, they are not of this material world.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Hyderabad, April 28, 1974 :

So that is not Indian vibration but American vibration or European vibration. Similarly, there is vibration in the spiritual world. Simply one has to catch. You must have that machine. So, that machine is there within you. The heart is the machine where you can receive the spiritual message, because within the heart there is Nārāyaṇa. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe. Particularly it is mentioned, hṛd-deśe. So because Nārāyaṇa, or īśvara, is situated within the heart of everyone, there is no necessity of researching where is Nārāyaṇa. The śāstra says it is within your heart. Therefore the yogis, they practice yogic rocess how to see Nārāyaṇa within the heart. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā yaṁ paśyanti yogino. The yogic process is to see Nārāyaṇa within the heart. Similarly, you can hear also Nārāyaṇa by this transcendental vibration. He can be perceived, because we have got senses, different senses. We can see, and we can hear also.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Hyderabad, April 28, 1974 :

Rasa-vigrahaḥ. Nāma, this name, holy name of Kṛṣṇa or holy name of Rāma, they are rasa-vigrahaḥ, transcendental blissful form. That is also... Vigraha means form. That form is understood through the ear, and it goes to the heart. In this way we can perceive Nārāyaṇa by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. It requires little practice, as they are enunciated in the śāstras and directed by the spiritual master. Then one can understand, or one can see. Just like, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiv hṛdayeṣu viloka, the same thing hṛdayeṣu. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati. Similarly, the same thing is stated there in the Vedic literature. Bhagavad-gītā is also Vedic literature, Brahma-saṁhitā. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. Same, the same thing hṛdā.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Hyderabad, April 28, 1974 :

Bhagavad-gītā is also Vedic literature, Brahma-saṁhitā. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. Same, the same thing hṛdā.

So, anyone can see God within his heart, if he adopts the process, bona fide process. Nārāyaṇa is within you. Therefore, great, great saintly persons, they are sitting in a lowly place, alone. But he is not alone. He is with Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa. He is seeing always there. So he is not alone. We are always accompanied by the Supreme Personality of Godhead as paramātmā, antaryāmī, within the heart. That is the Vedic statement, that there are two birds sitting on the same tree. One bird is enjoying the fruit of the tree, and the other bird is simply witnessing. So the two birds, jīvātmā and paramātmā, are always associated. He is so kind, He is just looking forward, "When this jīvātmā, who is illusioned, bewildered, captivated by this material world, material enjoyment, when he will come back again to Me?" Just like father and the son, the son who has gone out of home. The father is always looking forward when the son would come back at home and enjoy.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- San Francisco, September 11, 1968:

Yes. Paramātmā is also personal. Everything is personal. Paramātmā is described as four-handed Nārāyaṇa with śaṇkha, cakra, gadā, padma, with, I mean to say, ornaments. That is the feature of Paramātmā. You have seen the Viṣṇu-mūrti. That is Paramātmā. This voidness is an imagination, voidness. Actually God or Paramātmā or Kṛṣṇa, They are all sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, transcendental forms. They are not material forms. Transcendental forms. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha means form. If we, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we have got individuality, forms, how we can say that the Supreme has no form, no individuality? He has got complete individuality. And that is confirmed in the Vedas: nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is the supreme living entity of all living entities. Just like we are living entities, but He is the Supreme. That's all. He is also living entity. Nityo nityā cetanaś cetanānām. The difference is eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That one single There are plural number and singular number. That singular number one is providing the necessities of other singular number, plural number living entities.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- London, March 10, 1975:

He must be the most powerful, He must be the most famous, He must be the most learned, He must be the most beautiful, and He must be the most renounced. This is the definition of God. A poor man, begging from door to door, he cannot become God, as it is misconceived, daridra-nārāyaṇa. Why Nārāyaṇa can be daridra? What is this nonsense? He is the richest. He is the richest. And why He can, He will be daridra? The argument is forwarded that "God is in everyone's heart; therefore everyone is God." What is this argument? Everyone's heart, God is there. God said, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Where God says that because īśvara, the Supreme Being, is situated in everyone's heart, therefore everyone is God? What is this argument? Where Kṛṣṇa says that because īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61), therefore everyone is God? Is that very sound argument?

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

That is mukti. Mukti does not mean one thinks himself that "I have become Bhagavān. I have become now..." Vimukta-māninaḥ. They have been called as rascals, wrongly thinking that they are vimukta. Vimukta-mānī. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. There are so many rascals, they are thinking that they have become mukta, liberated Nārāyaṇas. They're thinking like that. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. So why they are...? Now, if they have become liberated, so advanced, and feeling that they have become Nārāyaṇa, so what is the objection? The objection is ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvāt (SB 10.2.32). They do not know what is Nārāyaṇa, these rascals. Śaṅkarācārya admits, nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt: "Nārāyaṇa is not a being within this material world." That is Nārāyaṇa. And they have become Nārāyaṇa, namo nārāyaṇāya. Nārāyaṇa is so cheap thing?

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

Therefore śāstra says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. These rascals, they are thinking they have become Nārāyaṇa, but they do not know what is Nārāyaṇa. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. Why they do not under...? Tvayy asta-bhāvāt. They never tried to understand what is really God. They thought, "God is very cheap thing. Everyone can become God." So therefore they have become vimukta-māninaḥ.

Real mukti is described in the Bhāgavata. Mukti means muktir hitvānyathā rūpam. Muktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ. When one is cured of his madness and he is situated in healthy state, that is called mukti. So here in this material world everyone is mad. Somebody is thinking, "I am king." Somebody is thinking, "I am minister." Somebody is thinking, "I am president," "I am this," "I am Nārāyaṇa," so on, so on, so on, all madmen, all madmen, because it will be finished. His so-called conception of becoming this and that will be finished within few years. But he is eternal.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

No, no. You can keep it open. Come here. There is so much place. Let them go. But children may not go. So just try to understand that I am thinking, "I am such big man," "I am minister," "I am president," "I am this," "I am Nārāyaṇa," up to the last stage, "I am Nārāyaṇa." But if we soberly think that "If I am Nārāyaṇa, then I must be the controller. I must be controller (of) everything, but why I am controlled by the toothache? As soon as there is some pain in the tooth, I voluntarily go to a dentist to be controlled by him. Then how I become Nārāyaṇa?" In this way, if one studies his life, whole, that, he'll find it that he's fully controlled by something more, fully controlled. And that control is of the material nature. Who can say that he is not controlled by the material nature? That is not possible. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Material nature will oblige you.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

You cannot say that "I am minister. I am this. I am that. I am high-court judge or very important man. So I am ordering material nature. Although I shall die, next life I shall become again high-court judge or Nārāyaṇa, something." No. That is not possible. You are fully under control. You have given a license to enjoy or suffer in this body, and in this body, as soon as it is finished, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur... (SB 3.31.1), and then you get another body.

So this jñāna, even this jñāna, the change of body is not there. Throughout the whole world, big, big professor, big, big educationist, they do not believe in the next birth. 99.9 percent, they do not. But this is a fact. There is. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Kṛṣṇa says. And we understand this also. Kṛṣṇa gives this example: dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). This child is becoming kumāra; a kumāra is becoming boy; boy is becoming young man; young man is becoming old man.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

Prabhupāda: Because he took sannyāsa from a Māyāvādī sannyāsī, and Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they think of themselves that they have become Nārāyaṇa. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu refused to accept that theory, that He is Nārāyaṇa. He preferred to remain a brahmacārī than to become a false sannyāsī and claim to become Nārāyaṇa.

Devotees: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Yes?

Indian man (8): Prabhupāda, when we do our chanting, the chanting beads contain 108 beads. Why is this, and why do we chant sixteen rounds?

Prabhupāda: Not sixteen rounds. You can chant unlimitedly.

Indian man (8): No, minimum

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1973:

If you do not engage yourself in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, then you cannot eternally remain in the brahma-jyotir. You cannot remain in the brahma-jyotir. You'll fall down. Therefore we see so many big, big sannyāsīs. They think that "I have become Nārāyaṇa." They address between themselves, "Nārāyaṇa, namo nārāyaṇāya." They have become Nārāyaṇa. But not, they cannot become Nārāyaṇa. Some of them have manufactured the word "daridra-nārāyaṇa." Nārāyaṇa is never daridra. These are manufactured things. Neither one can become Nārāyaṇa. But one can remain eternally the servant of Nārāyaṇa. That is possible. That is siddhi.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1973:

I want simply to be engaged in Your service. That's all." This is niṣkāma. Janmani janmani means not even mukti. To stop repetition of birth, a devotee does not want even that. The jñānīs, they want stopping this repetition of birth, but bhakta, they do not want even stopping this.

nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve
na kutaścana bibhyati
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv
api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ
(SB 6.17.28)

Just like one king, he was condemned by Lord Śiva that "You become a demon." He was a great devotee. He immediately accepted. "Yes, I will accept." Bhagavān Śiva said, "Just see." Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati: "I have condemned him to become a demon. He has accepted, 'Yes, sir, I shall become.' " Kutaścana, na kutaścana bibhyati. He is not afraid of.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Nairobi, October 29, 1975:

Oh, yes. Why not? Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. If you think of Kṛṣṇa once, that will not go in vain. That is recorded. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. Just like Ajāmila. At the last stage of his life he chanted "Nārāyaṇa" and became liberated. So something is, about Kṛṣṇa, is very good. And you'll get chance to increase. If you believe that by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa you'll be liberated, then why fifteen minutes? Why not fifteen hours? What is the loss there? If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, what is the loss? Is there any loss? Then? Why fifteen minutes? Chant. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). As long as you can. Now chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975:

He says in the Bhagavad-gītā that ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). Everything is coming from Him. So the first engineer of this universe, Lord Brahmā, he comes from Kṛṣṇa. Not directly Kṛṣṇa, but from Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. There is viṣṇu-tattva: Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Catur-vyūha, Nārāyaṇa. Dvitīya-catur-vyūha: again Saṅkarṣaṇa; from Saṅkarṣaṇa, Mahā-Viṣṇu; Mahā-Viṣṇu to Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu; Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, then Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu; in this way. So Kṛṣṇa is the origin. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). Sarvasya means even this Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha, Pradyumna—everything. Then again the material world—Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. Then from Brahmā so many demigods, in this way, this way. Therefore He is the ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ. This is the point. And the knowledge is also coming from Him.

Lecture on BG 7.7 -- Bombay, April 1, 1971:

Not that comment in a different way and deviate you that Kṛṣṇa is ordinary man.

So Kṛṣṇa, from Kṛṣṇa, the next expansion is Baladeva, svayaṁ prakāśa. And from Baladeva, there is catur-vyūha: Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha, Pradyumna. So again there is, from Saṅkarṣaṇa, there is Nārāyaṇa. From Nārāyaṇa, there is another expansion, the same: Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha. And from that Saṅkarṣaṇa, there is puruṣāvatāra, Mahā-Viṣṇu. From Mahā-Viṣṇu, there is Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. From Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, there is Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. The Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is situated in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). In this way, Kṛṣṇa is expanding in so many ways. By personal expansion, by the expansion of His energy, by the expansion of His differentiated parts and parcels. Just like we are. We living entities are vibhinnāṁśa. We are also expansions of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 7.7 -- Vrndavana, August 13, 1974:

All the ācāryas. Even Śaṅkarācārya, although he was impersonalist, he admits, "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead," sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ. Nārāyaṇa... He also admits that "Nārāyaṇa is not a person of this created material world," nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. And he admits also, kṛṣṇas tu..., sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ, "He has appeared as the son of Devakī and Vasudeva." He admits.

So Kṛṣṇa is admitted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all authorities. There is no doubt about it. And Kṛṣṇa personally confirms, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) "There is no more superior being than Myself." So where is the difficulty to understand what is God? There is no difficulty. But if we are obstinate, if we do not try to understand what is God, that is a different thing. But everything is there. So we should take it for acceptance that nobody is superior than Kṛṣṇa. Bhāgavata says, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Brahma-saṁhitā says, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). So it is concluded. There is no controversy. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya, mayi sarvam idaṁ protam: (BG 7.7) "Everything is in Me."

Lecture on BG 7.9-10 -- Bombay, February 24, 1974:

He said, "I am going to Vṛndāvana, yes, Vaikuṇṭha, to see my Lord." "Oh, you are going there?" Nārada Muni has got free passage to everyone. So, "Will you ask Nārāyaṇa when my liberation will come?" "All right, I shall ask." Then he met another cobbler. He was sewing shoes. So he also asked, "Sir, where you are going?" "Now I am going to Vaikuṇṭha to see my Lord." So, "Will you ask when I shall get salvation?" So Nārada Muni noted, "All right, I shall ask." So when Nārada Muni met Nārāyaṇa, he, after finishing his business, he asked the two men's question, that "These two men, one very learned scholar, brāhmaṇa, he also asked me this question, and the cobbler also asked me." So Nārāyaṇa said "This cobbler will get his salvation after finishing this life, and this brāhmaṇa will have to take, wait for many, many births."

Lecture on BG 7.9-10 -- Bombay, February 24, 1974:

So Nārada Muni became very much inquisitive, "How is that?" So when he came back, first of all he met the brāhmaṇa. He inquired, "Did you inquire, sir, about me?" "Yes, yes. He said that you have to wait many, many births." No, He did not say many, many births, Kṛṣṇa said, Nārāyaṇa said that "When you meet them again, you say that, if they inquire 'What my Lord was doing at that time?' you say that 'He was pulling one elephant from the hole of a nail,' " what is called?

Lecture on BG 7.9-10 -- Bombay, February 24, 1974:

Needle. So when he met the brāhmaṇa he said... And he inquired, "What Nārāyaṇa was doing when you met Him?" "I saw that He was pulling one elephant through the hole of a needle." So he immediately said, "All right, sir, namaskāra. Your, all these big, big stories we cannot believe, that an elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle." And the same question was raised by the cobbler, and he, Nārada Muni replied in the same way. And he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful. He can do anything." So Nārada Muni inquired that "How do you believe that the elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle?" "Now, why not? I am seeing daily. I am sitting under this banyan tree and there is fig, banyan fruit, and there are thousands of seeds, and I know that each seed's containing a big tree like this."

Lecture on BG 7.15-18 -- New York, October 9, 1966:

She said, "Oh, I understand so many great sages and saints, they go to the jungle and forest. They see God there. They undergo penances and austerity and then find God there."

Oh, he at once went to the forest. Then he was asking the tiger, "Oh, you are God?" The elephant, "You are God?" In this way, when Nārāyaṇa saw, "Oh, this boy is very much inquisitive," so He sent Nārada that "Go and see what is the condition of this boy."

So Nārada came. Nārada is the agent of God. "My dear boy, you are royal... You belong to the royal family. You cannot suffer all this penance and austerity. Please go back to your home. Your father is very much anxious for you. Your mother is very much anxious for you."

Lecture on BG 8.1 -- Geneva, June 7, 1974:

Everything is done. Adhibhūtam.

Then adhiyajñam. Adhiyajña, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa or Viṣṇu, Adhiyajña. Kathaṁ ko 'tra dehe 'smin madhusūdana: "Where the Adhiyajña, Supersoul, living within this body?" Prayāṇa-kāle ca kathaṁ jñeyo 'si niyatātmabhiḥ, niyatātmabhiḥ: "Those who are yogis or devotees, how do they meditate upon You, and at the time of death, prayāṇa-kāle, how he passes away?"

Śrī-bhagavān uvāca: "Bhagavān replied."

Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966:

Prabhupāda: Yes, if you are so fortunate... Just like Ajāmila. Throughout the whole life he committed all sinful acts. But when he was at the point of death... He had a pet child whose name was Nārāyaṇa. So he was calling, "My dear boy Nārāyaṇa." So when he was calling Nārāyaṇa, he thought of Nārāyaṇa. So immediately he achieved Nārāyaṇa.

Indian man: But don't you think it is a contradiction that if a man is a bad throughout his life and only at the time of death he thinks of Kṛṣṇa and gets...?

Prabhupāda: No. That history of Ajāmila is different. In his childhood he was a son of a brāhmaṇa. He was faithfully discharging the duties of a brāhmaṇa. But accidentally, when he was young... He was married also. Accidentally, when he was young he was passing on the road and some śūdra girl and boy were embracing and kissing, and he became attracted. And he became attracted by the prostitute.

Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966:

And he left home, wife, and everything, and then he became a great dacoit and smuggler, and everything he did. But... And he had so many children. Youngest was Nārāyaṇa. So at the time of death..., because generally, people become attached to the youngest son, so he was calling "Nārāyaṇa." But he remembered, "Oh, that Nārāyaṇa." Reference to the context. As soon as he called Nārāyaṇa... In his boyhood he served Nārāyaṇa under the direction of his father, so he remembered Nārāyaṇa. Therefore it is not always possible, but therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. If somebody has executed devotional service even a little bit, oh, it may be, it can save him from the greatest danger.

Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Vrndavana, April 17, 1975:

Kṛṣṇa... Actually, Bhagavān is Kṛṣṇa because He has got cent percent qualities of Bhagavān. That is analyzed in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. He is cent percent Bhagavān. Others, they are also Bhagavān, viṣṇu-tattva, Nārāyaṇa, He is also Bhagavān. But Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has analyzed; He is 94%, not cent percent. Or, in other words, you can take it that ṣaḍ-aiśvarya pūrṇaḥ, that is Kṛṣṇa. And They are also ṣaḍ-aiśvarya, but it is not displayed. Not that... Just like Lord Rāmacandra. Lord Rāmacandra... Madhva has approved, He, also Bhagavān. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan (Bs. 5.39). Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is existing as the Supreme Person along with Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, many thousands of avatāras. They are also Kṛṣṇa. Keśava dhṛta-rāma-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare. Keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare. So Keśava, Kṛṣṇa, He is existing with all the incarnation, not that He is existing as Kṛṣṇa. So when we speak of Kṛṣṇa, we take it that all His expansion and incarnation.

Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

I cannot believe half. If you believe, you believe full.

So for a devotee these informations of Kṛṣṇa, oh, become so... "My Kṛṣṇa is so God. Oh, my God is so powerful." And, I think, sometimes I recited one story. This is for very instructive, that Nārada Muni, he used to visit Nārāyaṇa every day. So when he was passing on the road, so one very learned brāhmaṇa and taking thrice bath and everything very nicely, he asked Nārada Muni, "Oh, you are going to Lord. Will you inquire when I shall get my salvation?" "All right. I shall ask." And then another cobbler, he was under the tree, sewing the shoes, old shoes. He also saw Nārada Muni. He also inquired, "Will you kindly inquire from God when my salvation is...?" Now, when he inquired Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa... Nārada Muni goes generally to Nārāyaṇa, in another planet. So "Yes, two, one brāhmaṇa and one cobbler, they inquired like this.

Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

He also inquired, "Will you kindly inquire from God when my salvation is...?" Now, when he inquired Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa... Nārada Muni goes generally to Nārāyaṇa, in another planet. So "Yes, two, one brāhmaṇa and one cobbler, they inquired like this. So may I know what is their destination?" So Nārāyaṇa said, "Well, yes, the cobbler, this after giving up this body, he's coming here at Vaikuṇṭha." "And what about that brāhmaṇa?" "Oh, he has to remain there still so many births, or I do not know when he's coming." So Nārada Muni was astonished, that "I saw that he's very nice brāhmaṇa, and he's a cobbler. Why is that?" So he inquired that "I could not, cannot understand the mystery. Why You say that cobbler is coming this, after this body, and why not this brāhmaṇa?" "Oh, that will, you'll understand. If they inquire that 'What Kṛṣṇa, or Nārāyaṇa, was doing in the, in His abode,' so just explain that He was taking one elephant from the holes of a," I mean to say, what is called...?

Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

"Oh, therefore I have no faith in your... I, I, I have got all respect for your garb, but we don't believe all this nonsense." Then Nārada could understand, "Oh, this man has no faith. He simply reads book. That's all." And when he went to the cobbler, he also asked, "Oh, you have seen? What Nārāyaṇa was doing?" He also said that "He was doing like this..." Oh, he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is wonderful. He can do anything." So Nārada inquired, "So do you believe that Lord can push one elephant through the holes of a needle?" "Oh, why not? I must believe." "Then what is your reason?" "Oh, my reason? I am sitting under this banyan tree, and so many fruits are falling daily, and in each fruit there are thousands of seeds, and each seed there is a tree. If in a small seed there can be big tree like that, is it very impossible to accept that Kṛṣṇa is putting one elephant through the, I mean, the holes of a needle? He has kept such a nice tree in the seed."

Lecture on BG 9.23-24 -- New York, December 10, 1966:

"Any person who keeps on the same level demigods like Brahmā-Rudra"—that means Brahmā and Lord Śiva—"with Nārāyaṇa"—Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Lord—yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ... They are very big, big demigods, but even they cannot be placed on the equal level of Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Lord. Yas tu samatvena vīkṣeta: Anyone says that "To me everyone is the same, he is pāṣaṇḍī." He is pāṣaṇḍī means nonfaithful, unfaithful, unbeliever. He is pāṣaṇḍī. Sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam. He's unbeliever. He has no faith in God. He's an unbeliever. So if we worship demigods as part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, then it is all right. But if we accept a particular type of demigod as He is the Lord, then that is irregular. That is not... That is not accepted here in the Bhagavad-gītā-avidhi-pūrvakam.

Lecture on BG 10.2-3 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

And there are many expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead: Nārāyaṇa, Adhokṣaja... There are many innumerable planets in the spiritual world, and all of them are emanation from the Kṛṣṇa planet. And the Kṛṣṇa planet, the supreme deity is Kṛṣṇa.

This description we have got in several Vedic literatures, Brahma-saṁhitā and Vedānta-sūtra, Bhāgavata, in Purāṇas, in Upaniṣad. Everywhere these descriptions are there. Those who are scholarly student, they'll get information, and the whole thing is summarized in Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is known also as Gītopaniṣad. At the end of every chapter you'll find these things are written, gītāsu or upaniṣatsu. It is one of the Upaniṣads. You have read Upaniṣad. The Bhagavad-gītā is also one of the Upaniṣads, and therefore Bhagavad-gītā is known as Gītopaniṣad.

Lecture on BG 10.8 -- New York, January 7, 1967:

Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the origin of everything." Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ. Sarvasya. Sarvasya means including all big demigods like Brahmā, Lord Śiva, even Nārāyaṇa and and Viṣṇu. Everything, everybody, everything is..., the original person is Kṛṣṇa.

Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate iti matvā budhāḥ (BG 10.8). Budha means very learned man. One who is completely wise, no illusion. Such a person is budha. From budh. The word root is budh-dhātu. From budh-dhātu the names Lord Buddha has come, Buddha, from that root. So anyone who is well versed, complete in wisdom, he is called the budha.

And bhāva-samanvitāḥ. Budha, one must be very well versed, at the same time, completely in spiritual emotion, bhāva. This bhāva is the very high platform for coming to the perfection of life, bhāva.

Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, "One who is actually devotee and wants to be very dear to Me, his qualifications must be adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānām: we must be non-envious to all living entities."

Nowadays a fashion has become, daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā. This is nonsense. What is the daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā? Why you are taking care of the daridras? If you have got such vision, such outlook, that in everyone's heart... That is a fact. Everyone's heart there is Nārāyaṇa. There is no denial. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati: (BG 18.61) "Īśvara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is situated in everyone's heart." If you have got such vision—you are seeing in everyone the Supreme Nārāyaṇa—then why should you designate only the daridras? Others also, you should see dog-nārāyaṇa. You should see kukkura-nārāyaṇa. Why daridra-nārāyaṇa?

Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:

Others also, you should see dog-nārāyaṇa. You should see kukkura-nārāyaṇa. Why daridra-nārāyaṇa?

If you have got such broad vision, why you are taking particular? That is imperfect vision. You cannot send the chāga-nārāyaṇa, goat-nārāyaṇa, to the slaughterhouse and allow the daridra-nārāyaṇa to eat the meat. This is not bhakta's business. This is demonic. Bhakta's business is... Here it is clearly stated, adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānām. You should be equally kind to everyone, to the daridras, to the dhanīs also. Here everyone is daridra because everyone is lacking knowledge. So nobody is rich. Here the so-called rich is also daridra because he has no knowledge. And the so-called daridra is also daridra.

Because everyone's knowledge is the bodily concept of life, "I am this body." But Kṛṣṇa does not say that "A particular body is very dear to Me."

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:

So with so many imperfectness, how we can give right knowledge? That is not possible. So any knowledge received from these defective persons is imperfect. Therefore we should receive knowledge from the Supreme.

Nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya says, "Nārāyaṇa is beyond this material creation. He is, exists before the material creation." Aham eva asam agre. Before the material creation, the Nārāyaṇa is there, and after the annihilation of this material creation, the Nārāyaṇa is there. Just like we are part and parcel of Nārāyaṇa, living entities, soul. We existed before the creation of this body, this present body, my body or your body. And we shall remain also after the destruction of this body. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The real we—means the spirit soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi—I am not annihilated even after the destruction of this body.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:

Similarly, the huge gigantic material body also, when it is destroyed, Nārāyaṇa exists. And we are part and parcel of Nārāyaṇa. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7).

Nārāyaṇa has got two kinds of expansion. One is called svāṁśa, personal expansion. Just like there are so many incarnations.

rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan
nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu
kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
(Bs. 5.39)

So Nārāyaṇa, He has got many forms. Kṛṣṇa is the original Nārāyaṇa. And from Kṛṣṇa, there are expansion, catur-vyūha: Vāsudeva, Śaṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha, Pradyumna. Then Nārāyaṇa. From Nārāyaṇa, puruṣāvatāra: the Mahā Viṣṇu avatāra, the Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu avatāra, the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu avatāra. In this way Nārāyaṇa has got personal expansion. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33).

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:

We get this information from Vedic literature. So Nārāyaṇa... And we are also expansion of Nārāyaṇa, vibhinnāṁśa. We are called vibhinna, separated particles, part and parcel of Nārāyaṇa. And Nārāyaṇa has got personal expansions. So we are to get knowledge from Nārāyaṇa or Kṛṣṇa. That is perfect. That is perfect knowledge. The Vedas means the knowledge from Nārāyaṇa. Therefore it is perfect. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). He imparted the Vedic knowledge. Lord Brahmā is not independent. He received knowledge from Nārāyaṇa. So if you receive knowledge, that is perfect knowledge. That Nārāyaṇa, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ nārāyaṇaḥ. If you receive knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, that is perfect.

Lecture on BG 13.5 -- Bombay, September 28, 1973:

So yogis are in the second stage of self-realization, but ultimate realization is Bhagavān. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Bhagavān has got many expansions, Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha... First expansion is Balarāma, then Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, then Nārāyaṇa. In this way, Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.

In this way the Viṣṇu-tattva is expanded. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). So in this way there are many śāstras, many Vedic literature, many explanations. But here Kṛṣṇa gives a special reference to the Brahma-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra. Jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā (SB 1.2.12) means one has to learn very nicely Vedānta-sūtra. And the explanation of Vedānta-sūtra, natural comment on Vedānta-sūtra, is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhāṣyāyāṁ brahma-sūtrāṇām.

Lecture on BG 13.14 -- Bombay, October 7, 1973:

Even though he was a devotee of Lord Śiva, because he was not a Vaiṣṇava, therefore he had no good qualification. He had no good qualification. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā mano-rathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ (SB 5.18.12). Mano-rathena, by mental platform. Rāvaṇa thought that "I shall enjoy the Lakṣmījī of Nārāyaṇa." But that is not possible. You can think like that. So everyone is after Lakṣmījī. The Rāvaṇa's philosophy. The whole world is after material acquisition, lakṣmī. Money is called lakṣmī. Everyone is after money but nobody knows that money can be properly utilized when there is Nārāyaṇa. Lakṣmī can stay when there is Nārāyaṇa. Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. You cannot keep Lakṣmī alone without Nārāyaṇa, that is not possible. Then you'll be finished, just like Rāvaṇa. He wanted to kill Sītā without Rāma; therefore he was finished with his whole family.

Lecture on BG 13.14 -- Bombay, October 7, 1973:

That is awaiting. The whole world is awaiting that disaster. The America has got atom bomb and Russia has got atom bomb. As soon as there is another war, the whole world will be finished. So this is the ajñāna. Māyayā-apahṛta-jñānāḥ. They do not know that we cannot keep Lakṣmī without Nārāyaṇa. That is not possible. Lakṣmī can be kept at home with Nārāyaṇa, but she cannot leave Nārāyaṇa. So if you want to enjoy false lakṣmī, that is different thing.

Therefore a person who is devoid of knowledge, who is not devotee, Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has no value. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. He cannot have any good qualities. This is our test. We are not very learned, but we can test because we have got the testing tube. Just like a scientist tests chemically, analytically tests, how pure one chemical is within the test tube, similarly, we have got a test tube. What is that?

Lecture on BG 13.21 -- Bombay, October 15, 1973:

Fifty years ago, when I first came to Bombay, at that time I was gṛhastha. I saw there were persons lying down care of footpath, and fifty years after, we are seeing the same thing is going on. No change. There is a class of men who must lie down care of footpath. There are so many institutions, daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā. But why there are daridras still? That means you cannot change. It is not possible. It is not possible. Just like a man who has done something criminal and he is in prison. Can you take him out? It will be another criminal action. If you try to take him away from the prisonhouse by some means, then you'll be punished and he'll be punished, both. This is the law state. Similarly, how you can surpass the stringent laws of nature and the laws of God? That is not possible.

Lecture on BG 15.1 -- Bombay, October 28, 1973:

That is real activities of this material world, not to act as the animals—eating, sleeping, mating. So this material world is now described, compared with a banyan tree which has its root upwards, above. That means this material world is created from the spiritual world. Eko nārāyaṇa āsīt. In the spiritual world there is always Nārāyaṇa. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he says nārāyaṇaḥ avyaktāt paraḥ. The spiritual world has nothing to do with this material world. This material world is created. Just like the banyan tree. It takes its root and it is created. So the seed of the creation is in the spiritual world. Sa īkṣata, sa asṛjata. The creation is coming from the spiritual world. Spiritual world means the kingdom of God, Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. So here the material world is described as ūrdhva-mūlam. In other words, it is reflection of the spiritual world. Just like if you stand on the shore of a lake, you will find all the trees reflected in the water downwards.

Lecture on BG 16.2-7 -- Bombay, April 8, 1971:

One is sāyujya-mukti and another: sārūpya, sālokya, sārṣṭi, sāmīpya—these four into one division. Sāyujya-mukti means to merge into the existence of the Supreme. And sārūpya-mukti means to acquire exactly the bodily feature of Viṣṇu, four hands. Just like in the Vaikuṇṭha the inhabitants are exactly of the same feature as Nārāyaṇa. They have got also four hands. You cannot distinguish who is Nārāyaṇa and who is not Nārāyaṇa. So that is called sārūpya-mukti. Just like when vaikuṇṭha-dūtas were sent to reclaim Ajāmila, they were four-handed, exactly looking like Nārāyaṇa.

It can be understood. Just in this planet, if the president of the Indian Union comes here, unless he is very well known, nobody can distinguish who is president and who is a common gentleman because the features are the same. Similarly, in the Vaikuṇṭhaloka, the residents of Vaikuṇṭha are exactly like Nārāyaṇa. Sārūpya-mukti. Sālokya-mukti.

Lecture on BG 16.2-7 -- Bombay, April 8, 1971:

Sālokya-mukti means to live in the same planets where God is living, Nārāyaṇa is living. And sārṣṭi, you acquire the same opulence as Nārāyaṇa has got opulences. And sāmīpya. Sāmīpya means to remain always with Nārāyaṇa as associates. Just like Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa has His associates. Kṛṣṇa, when He appeared on this material world, He had His eternal associates: the cowherds boys, the gopīs. They're always with Kṛṣṇa. That is called sāmīpya. They are never away from Kṛṣṇa. It is possible. Everyone can attain. Kṛṣṇa comes down on this planet to exhibit His vṛndāvana-līlā just to attract us that anyone can have the same facilities, to play with Kṛṣṇa, to talk with Kṛṣṇa. That is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Sanand, December 26, 1975:

Śuddha-bhakta means they do not come to the material world. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), the śuddha-bhaktas, nitya, nitya-siddha, they do not come to this material world. They are everlastingly liberated soul, engaged in the service of Nārāyaṇa. This material creation is exhibition of one-fourth energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The three-fourth creation is in the spiritual world, Vaikuṇṭhaloka.

So in this material world they have come... All of us, beginning from Brahmā down to the insignificant ant, we have come here for material enjoyment. And in this material world, according to different desires and karma, they are getting different types of bodies. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapatti (SB 3.31.1). Karmaṇā, by our work, and by the supervision of the supreme power we are getting different types of body.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Sanand, December 26, 1975:

And siddhi, yogis, they are trying to achieve some success in aṣṭa-siddhi, aṇimā, laghimā. So everyone is desiring. So therefore Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma: "A devotee of Kṛṣṇa is not desirous of anything, either bhukti, mukti, or siddhi." The purport is, so long you desire something, you'll never get peace of mind. And a bhakta does not desire anything. He is satisfied with any position, whatever is offered to him by Kṛṣṇa.

nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve
na kutaścana bibhyati
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv
api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ
(SB 6.17.28)

Anyone who is nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa, he does not fear whether he is going to hell or heaven. Because wherever he goes he is with Nārāyaṇa, he is safe. It doesn't matter whether it is hell or heaven.

Lecture on BG 16.9 -- Hawaii, February 5, 1975:

Therefore sometimes he thinks that "I am God." This is... We are also expansion of God, vibhinnāṁśa. There are two kinds of expansions: svāṁśa, vibhinnāṁśa. When Kṛṣṇa expands in fullness, that is called svāṁśa, viṣṇu-tattva. Just like Kṛṣṇa has expanded Himself as Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha, so many, millions. There is no limit. That is called svāṁśa. And Kṛṣṇa expands as His energy, this material energy, this material world, the spiritual world, spiritual energy, and we are also energy, marginal energy. Taṭastha. Taṭastha means, marginal means... You can have a conception of marginal in the sea beach. The same place, walking, is sometimes covered with water, and sometimes it is land. This is called marginal, between the water and the land. So we living entities, we are marginal. Sometimes we are under the protection of the spiritual energy, and sometimes we are under the protection of the material energy.

Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:

Therefore, if you practice instead of thinking like the demons, how to gratify senses... That is the demonic thought. They are concerned with this body. If you think of Kṛṣṇa, how to serve Him, that is your perfection of life. Because you'll think at the time of death of Kṛṣṇa. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). That is the perfection of life. Ante, at the time of death, if you remember Kṛṣṇa, then your life is successful. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). So we have to do like that, not like the asuras or demons. Thinking must be there, but if you think of this body—how to keep it very comfortably, how to enjoy senses, how to have more money, how to have more men or women, how to see naked dance, how to do, how to this, how to this—then you are demon. And at the time of death, naturally we shall think of. Then I get again demonic life or animal life or tree life.

Lecture on BG 18.67-69 -- Ahmedabad, December 9, 1972:

Not only Vedānta-sūtra, but also all the Vedas. Sāma, Yajur, Atharva, Ṛk, the ultimate objective is Kṛṣṇa, to know Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15), Kṛṣṇa says. So Bhagavad-gītā is also Vedānta because the Supreme Person, who spoke Vedānta... As, as Vyāsadeva, incarnation of Nārāyaṇa. So Nārāyaṇa and Kṛṣṇa, the same, identical. So therefore incarnation of Nārāyaṇa, Vyāsadeva, wrote Vedānta-sūtra. Therefore Kṛṣṇa knows what is Vedānta. And if we accept Kṛṣṇa as He's saying, that, then we become actually vedāntī. Not artificially.

So here Kṛṣṇa says that idaṁ te na atapaskāya na abhaktāya. Abhakta, rascal, will not understand what is Bhagavad-gītā. Nābhaktāya. In the beginning also, Kṛṣṇa, before speaking Bhagavad-gītā, He selected Arjuna because... He said, bhakto 'si priyo 'si me rahasyam etad uttamam: (BG 4.3) "The mystery of Bhagavad-gītā, it is very transcendental subject matter.

Lecture on BG Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972:

You may be demigod, but the God means supreme. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). That Supreme God is Kṛṣṇa. Parama, supreme. Nobody is equal to Kṛṣṇa, nobody's greater than Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is God. There are so many gods nowadays. The... Actually, the Māyāvādī philosophers, they say everyone is Nārāyaṇa. But what is the proof? We find out from the śāstra that Nārāyaṇa has got four hands. So where is your four hands? You are claiming to become Nārāyaṇa. So where are your four hands? Just manifest your four hands at least so that we can understand you are Nārāyaṇa. (chuckles) No. Without four hands. And Nārāyaṇa is Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. He's the husband of Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune. So where is your goddess of fortune? You are begging from door to door. Where is your goddess of fortune? You have become Nārāyaṇa. This kind of God and Nārāyaṇa is going on, bluffing.

Lecture on BG Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972:

So where is your goddess of fortune? You are begging from door to door. Where is your goddess of fortune? You have become Nārāyaṇa. This kind of God and Nārāyaṇa is going on, bluffing.

But we are not bluffed in that way. We follow the shastric injunction, what is Nārāyaṇa. We cannot accept Nārāyaṇa as daridra. Daridra-nārāyaṇa. What is this? Nārāyaṇa is the husband of the goddess of fortune. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (Bs. 5.29). How Nārāyaṇa can become daridra? So these are manufactured words. You cannot find all these words in the śāstra. They are manufactured, concoction. So we are not concerned with this concoction. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya. We must follow the śāstras, the mahājana. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). We are not perfect. Therefore we have to follow the footprints of the perfect.

Page Title:Narayana (Lectures, BG)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:27 of Jun, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=121, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:121