In Bhagavad-gītā (8.14), the two words ananya-cetāḥ ("without deviation") and nitya-yukta ("regularly") are very significant. One cannot become undeviating in devotional practice without being fixed in undeviating faith. When a person regularly serves the Supreme Lord with this faith, he automatically loses all desires for fruitive activity, speculative knowledge, worship of the demigods, and ritualistic pious activities, and he becomes undeviating in his devotional service. The word satatam ("always") must be understood to imply that devotional service is independent of time, place, circumstance, adversity, and so on. Everyone, regardless of race, caste, sex, or other material designation, can give up mental speculation, fruitive actions, and yoga practice and take complete shelter of Lord Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet without deviation. The word nitya means "daily," "regularly," or "constantly." Those who meditate constantly on Lord Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet can easily attain Him.
Nitya means
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Renunciation Through Wisdom
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Yes, Upaniṣad says nityo nityānām. Now, nitya means eternal, and the Supreme Lord is the supreme eternal, and we individual souls, we are also many eternals. So He is the leader eternal. Eko bahūnām... How He is leader? Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That one, singular number eternal, person, He is supplying all the needs of other eternals. These things are clearly said in the Vedas.
So actually we are eternal. In the Vedic language it is said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Nitya. Nitya means eternal. And nityānām. Nityānām means plural number of nityas. So there are many nityas, means many living entities, but there is one nitya Supreme. That is God. He is also a living entity like us. Then where is the difference? The difference is, we learn from the Vedic line, eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān: "That singular number nitya, eternal, maintains the plural number nityas." We are within the plural number, nityānām.
We are all individual persons. God is also individual person. It is confirmed in the Vedic literature. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Nityo nityānām. Nitya means eternal. We are all eternal. This is plural number. So amongst all the eternal living entities, He is the chief.
In the Kaṭha Upaniṣad there is the verse nityo nityānām. Nityo nityānām. Nityānām means ever existing. Nitya means ever, always. So either Kṛṣṇa or we, every one of us are ever-existing, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, if Kṛṣṇa is ever-existing, so we are also ever-existing.
There is no limit how many living entities are there. If you search out, after passing stool, if you search out stool, you'll find millions of living entities, germs. Even from the hole of your room, there is small hole, and there are ants, hundreds and thousands will come out. So similarly, within the hole, within the earth, within the air, within the fire even, there are germs, worms in the fire. These rascals, they do not know. They simply think... Because nitya, nitya means ever-existing. So in the fire the living entities does not die. They sterilize. "Now it is sterilized." That is all nonsense. Sterilized means the body is killed, but not this... There is abortion. The body is killed. Contraception... The body is killed. But the soul, he's not killed. If you make some inconvenience to the soul, who has taken shelter in the womb, and you kill the body, then he'll have to search out another body. This is going on.
By annihilation of this body, the soul does not die. Because... This is also confirmed in the Upaniṣads, Vedas: nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. The God is also eternal, and we are also eternal. We are part and parcels of God. Just like gold and fragments of gold; both of them are gold. Although I am fragment, a particle of gold or the spirit, still, I am spirit. So we get this information that both God and we, living entities, we are eternal. Nityo nityānām, nitya means eternal.
So two words are there. One is singular number, nitya, eternal, and the other is plural number, nityānām. So we are plural number. Plural number eternals. We do not know what is the numerical strength of the living entities. They are described as asaṅkhya. Asaṅkhya means without any counting capacity. Millions and trillions. Then what is the difference between this singular number and the plural number? The plural number is dependent on the singular number. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. The singular number eternal is giving all the necessities of life to the plural number, we living entities. That's a fact, we can examine by our intelligence.
Arjuna is a living entity, individual living entity. So we are also, every one of us, a living entity. And the supreme entity—nityo nityānām. In the Vedic literature you'll find this hymn, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Description of the Supreme. The Supreme is nityaḥ nityānām. Nityānām means... Nitya means eternal. So we are all eternal. That we have already discussed. We are soul, spirit soul. We are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We do not die after the annihilation of this body. We simply change the body just like we change our dress. But we are eternal.
The past, present, future, this is due to this body. Just like a small ant, it's calculation of past, present, and future, and my calculation of past, present, and future are different. Because he has got a different body, I have got a different body, the atom has got a different body. So it is according to the body, past, present, and future. But there is a life where there is no existence of this material body of past, present, and future. Therefore in the eternal world means there is no past, present and future. Because there is no, not this material body. This is the difference between past, present, and future. Therefore it is called nitya. Nitya means eternal, where there is no influence of this time. Here the influence of time is there. Therefore we experience past, present, and future.
Kṛṣṇa does not appear or disappear. Our eyesight changes. Just like we are looking through the window. One horse race is going on. When the horse comes before the window, we can see. And when it passes through, from our eyesight, we think that horse is no longer existing. But the horse is running. This example should be taken. Kṛṣṇa is called nitya-līlā. He is taking His birth, He is fighting in the battle of Kurukṣetra, He's dancing with the gopīs. That is going on eternally in either of the so many, innumerable universes. So the same time...Just like the change of time. Now it is nine o'clock in the watch. Now, this nine o'clock, this is now night. The morning nine o'clock is still existing somewhere. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's līlā, Kṛṣṇa's pastime, is going on. Everything is going on at the same moment. Therefore His līlā is called nitya-līlā. Nitya means eternal. It does not change.
In every group there is a leader. So the Supreme Lord, He is called in the Vedic literature that He is the supreme leader. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. Nitya means eternal, and nityānām, that means many other eternals. We are many other eternals. Eka, that one eternal... Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. There are two kinds of eternals. We living entities, we are also eternal, and the Supreme Lord, He is also eternal. So far eternity is concerned, both of us equal on the qualitative nature. He is eternal, and we are eternal. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). He is also all pleasure, and we are also all pleasure because we are all parts and parcel of the same quality. But He is the leader.
So in the Vedas the description is there about God and ourselves. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). What is God? God means He is the chief, nitya, chief. Nitya means eternal. Nityānām. There are millions and millions, unlimited. Nityānām, this is plural number. That we are, living entity. We are also nitya. We are also eternal and God is also eternal. But He is the chief eternal. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. He is also living entity, we are also living entities, but He is the chief living entity.
This is real sannyāsa, that he does not act for his own account, for his sense gratification, but he works... Never mind. He does not hate an work. "Any sort of work I am prepared to do, and the result I'll have to offer to Kṛṣṇa"—this is called real sannyāsa. So Kṛṣṇa gives the... Jñeyaḥ sa nitya-sannyāsī. Nitya means eternally, not for the time being, eternally. Nitya-sann..., yo na dveṣṭi. He does not hate any kind of work, but na kāṅkṣati: he does not desire for his own, se..., viṣaya, enjoying the result. Nirdvandvo hi mahā-bāho sukhaṁ bandhāt pramucyate: Oh, "That sort of sannyāsī is always happy, and he is a liberated person." He's a liberated person.
Description of God. He's nitya. Nitya means eternal. And we living entities, we are also eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We, at the present moment, in the material condition, we are changing body. That change of body is called death. Actually, the living entity within the body, he has no death. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. This description we have got in the Vedic literature. So God is also nitya, eternal. We are also eternal. God is also cognizant, and we are also cognizant. We have got knowledge, and God has got knowledge. The difference is that I have got knowledge limited within this limit of this body. I have no knowledge what is going on in your body; neither you know what is going on in my body. Therefore, we are individuals. But God is, although individual, He's spread everywhere. That is God.
Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That is the Vedic instruction. What is meaning of God? God means the head of the living entities. What is the difficulty to understand it? Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. Nitya means eternal. We are also eternal. And God is also eternal. So what is the difference? So qualitatively we are one. Because God is eternal, I am also eternal. I am now somehow or other in diseased condition, that I have to change my body. But God does not change His body. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). He says, ātma-māyayā: "By My own will-power. I am not forced."
Even those who are liberated from this material contamination, they are called mukta-jīva, liberated soul. And there are nitya-mukta. Nitya-mukta and nitya-baddha. Nitya means eternally, and mukta means liberated. And again, nitya, eternally, baddha, conditioned. So just like there are many persons in the state who have never seen what is the prison life, and there are many persons in the state, the majority of one's life is passed in the prison. Similarly, there are two nature, material nature and the spiritual nature. What we are seeing, this nature, this universe, within the material nature... Similarly, there is another spiritual nature.
Artha means money also, but there is another meaning of artha. Artha means substance. We are missing the substance. We are attracted by material money only. So mānuṣyam artha-dam anityam apīha dhīraḥ. And anityam. Although artha-dam—it can deliver you the substance—but it is not permanent, anitya. Nitya means eternal, permanent; anitya means just the opposite.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So similarly, the Veda says, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. There are two sets of living entities. One... Both of them are nitya. Nitya means eternal. And cetana means living entity. So nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. This is the description of God, that God is also a living entity like you and me. He's also living entity. Just like you see Kṛṣṇa. What is the difference between Kṛṣṇa? He has got two hands; you have got two hands. He has got one head; you have got one head. You have got... He has got two legs; you have got two legs. You can also keep some cows and play with them; Kṛṣṇa also. But the difference is there. What is that difference? Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That one Kṛṣṇa, although He's similar in so many ways with you, similarity, but one difference is there—He is maintaining every one of us, and we are being maintained. He's the leader. If Kṛṣṇa does not supply you foodstuff, you cannot have any foodstuff. If Kṛṣṇa does not supply you petrol, then you cannot drive your car. So eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti. Whatever necessities of life we have got—we require so many things—that is supplied by eka, that one living entity.
There is no need of high-grade knowledge or education to understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is already there in everyone's heart. As it is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, kṛṣṇa-bhakti nitya-siddha. Nitya-siddha. It is eternally a fact. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti nitya-siddha. Nitya means eternally, and siddha... It is not to be realized, it is already there. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya. It is not that one has to learn it artificially by some gymnastic. No. Natural.
The Supreme Lord is nitya as we are nitya. Nitya means there is no birth and death. Na jāyate na mriyate vā, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is our constitutional position. And what is the difference between the two nityas? One is plural number and the other is singular number. The singular number nitya, or Kṛṣṇa, He supplies food to everyone. Oh, whatever we require, that is already settled up. Therefore we should not spend our energy for maintenance of the body. That is not required.
Vaiṣṇava means para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. Vaiṣṇava is unhappy by seeing others' unhappiness. He has no unhappiness. Personally he has no unhappiness. Nityānanda Prabhu, He is... Hā hā prabhu nityānanda, premānanda sukhī, kṛpābalokana koro, āmi boro duḥkhī. Nityānanda means... Nitya means eternally; ānanda means happy. So Nityānanda has no unhappiness, but He was passing on the street, there was a crowd, and Nityānanda Prabhu inquired, "Why there is so much crowd?" So somebody informed that "There are two brothers, Jagāi and Mādhāi, and they are very fallen souls, although they were born in brāhmaṇa family, very nice, rich family. But being addicted to drinking and prostitution, they have become now rogues, thieves, this way. So they are disturbing the whole neighborhood." So Nityānanda Prabhu considered, "So these two brothers are so fallen? So why not deliver them first?" This is Nityānanda Prabhu.
So bhavantam eva caran nirantaraṁ praśānta. Praśānta means prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa śāntaḥ. Śāntaḥ means peaceful, completely peaceful. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaraṁ praśānta-nihśeṣa-mano-rathāntaram, kadāham aikāntika-nitya-kiṅkara. This can be achieved when we constantly engage ourself—our mind, our body, our action, our words—simply for Kṛṣṇa. Simply for Kṛṣṇa. If you talk, you talk for Kṛṣṇa. If you eat, you eat for Kṛṣṇa. If you sleep, you sleep for Kṛṣṇa. If you work, you work for Kṛṣṇa. Always. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaram praśānta-nihśeṣa-mano-rathāntaram, kadāham aikāntika-nitya-kiṅkaraḥ. Nitya means eternally. Kiṅkara means servant. Praharṣayiṣyāmi. Oh, you are becoming servant? How you can be happy? "Yes." How one can be happy by servant, becoming servant, there are many instances. Suppose you are working in a private firm. Fortunately you get a very good job in the government service where there are so many regulations. You get pension, you get this, that. So everyone aspires to get some government service. And he becomes satisfied. So if you can become satisfied by becoming a government servant, how much satisfied you will be, just imagine, by becoming the servant of the supreme government, Kṛṣṇa. What is this government? A tiny government. But don't you know how big government is this? This planetary system is running on: the sun is rising in due course; the moon is rising in due course; there is seasonal changes; there are so many demigods, innumerable living entities; their foodstuff is being supplied; it is being produced in different planets, different varieties. So there is a huge, big government of Kṛṣṇa. So if you become a servant of that big government, how much you will be satisfied, just imagine. If you can become satisfied by serving this tiny government, why not become satisfied being the servant of the supreme government? So to become servant of Kṛṣṇa, or God, is the supreme satisfaction.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The impersonalists take it, this chanting, as means to attain liberation. They do not know that the chanting is the, real chanting begins after liberation. Not that by chanting one reaches liberation. No. That's not a fact. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). Satatam. Satatam means after liberation also. This chanting will continue after liberation also. Not that after liberation chanting will finish. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, satatam. Satatam means after liberation also. Before liberation and after liberation. Therefore it is nitya. Nitya means it does not stop, never stops. Satataṁ kīrtayananto māṁ yatantaś ca, tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca. Dṛḍha-vratāḥ. So the, when you actually go to Goloka Vṛndāvana, the same chanting will go on before Kṛṣṇa. Chanting will never stop.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Nitya means eternal. Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, appearance and dis..., disappearance, is continuous and eternal. There is no stoppage. Lord Caitanya says, bujhite nā pāre līlā kemane 'nitya' haya. Ordinary persons, common men, cannot understand how kṛṣṇa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance, can be eternal. Generally, we think that Kṛṣṇa appeared five thousand years before; now He's no longer. So either He's dead or gone. Just like ordinary man takes his birth and stay here for some time and then he goes away—no more, no trace of that particular man's activities. He's lost in the whirlpool of this material ocean.
Nitya-līlā. Nitya-līlā means everlasting pastimes. Our līlā, material, that is not nitya-līlā. Whatever I'm acting by this body, it is not nitya; it is temporary. I am the son of such and such family, I am such and such important person, my name is such and such, my position is such and such—these are not nitya. This is temporary. As soon as the body is finished, everything is finished. Then another līlā: I am such and such dog, I am such and such this and that. With the change of body, our līlā is finished. Therefore ours is not nitya-līlā. But Kṛṣṇa's, Bhagavān's activities, they are nitya-līlā. That is the difference. Nitya means eternal. Kṛṣṇa's Vṛndāvana līlā is going on. It is nitya-līlā.
Festival Lectures
Nitya means eternal. And we are nitya. Then why God should be dead? They say, "God is dead." And what is foolishness? You are part and parcel of God, you are living, you are existing, and why the original soul should be dead? So these are our foolishness. Meditation means to think over all this subject matter very intelligently, not like a rascal, that "If I am person, why God should be imperson? If I am eternal, why God should be dead?" This is meditation, to study diligently.
Nitya, nitya means eternal. We are eternal form. We change our body. We don't die. As we are changing daily, every moment changing body, so the final change means accept another body. This is also accepting another body, but imperceptibly. The change is so quick. Just like in the cinema spool there are so many pictures changing, but it is changing so quickly that we are seeing one picture moving. So that is our ignorance. But actually there are thousands of pictures changing in a moment, and you see that one picture is moving. Why do you not study in this way? Similarly, every second, our body is changing, just like spool, one after another, one after another, one after another. But I am... The spirit soul is there, just like the cinema spool is changing, but the seer is there. That is one, although the pictures are changing.
"If you are anxious to go back to home, back to Godhead, and become associate with Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, then the best policy is to take shelter of Nityānanda." Then he says, se sambandha nāhi jā'r, bṛthā janma gelo tā'r: "One who has not been able to contact Nityānanda, then one should think of himself that he has simply spoiled his valuable life." Bṛthā janma gelo, bṛthā means for nothing, and janma means life. Gelo tā'r, spoiled. Because he has not made connection with Nityānanda. The Nityānanda, very name, suggests... Nitya means eternal. Ānanda means pleasure. Material pleasure is not eternal. That is the distinction. Therefore those who are intelligent, they are not interested with this flickering pleasure of material world. Every one of us, as living entity, we are searching after pleasure. But the pleasure which we are seeking, that is flickering, temporary. That is not pleasure. Real pleasure is nityānanda, eternal pleasure. So anyone who has no contact with Nityānanda, it is to be understood that his life is spoiled.
Sambandha nāhi jār, bṛthā janma gelo tār. So if you have no connection with Nityānanda Prabhu... Nityānanda means always. Nitya means always, ānanda means pleasure. This is another meaning you can draw. So therefore, if you have no connection with Nityānanda Prabhu... Se tār: "He's simply wasting time." Bṛthā means useless. Uselessly, he's wasting time. Se paśu boro durācār. And Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has used very strong word. "Anyone who has no connection with Nityānanda Prabhu, he's a paśu." Sei paśu. He's a paśu, means animal. So animal, how one animal can get happiness? That is not possible. The dog, from the childhood he's searching after food, searching after food. And cannot get food. Unless a dog has got a master, he's street dog and he's always unhappy. So better to become a dog of Nityānanda Prabhu. Then we shall be happy. Instead of becoming dog of so many other people... Everyone is dog. Everyone is searching after to serve a master. But none of them are satisfied because that is false master. You take real master, Nityānanda Prabhu. You'll be happy.
Initiation Lectures
Nitya means eternal. We living entities, we are all eternal. That is very nicely explained in Bhagavad-gītā. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Those who under the impression that after finishing annihilation of this body, everything is finished, they are not in perfect knowledge. The living entity continues to exist either in this body or in another body. Just like very simple example, we can understand. All of us sitting here, we had a small baby body. I existed, you existed, in that baby body, but that body is not now existing, but I am existing. I know that "I existed in a baby body, I existed in a boyhood body, I existed in a youthhood body. Now I am existing in this old age body. Similarly, when this body is finished, I shall again exist in another body." This is the right conclusion. Therefore na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). After the destruction of this body, ātmā, or the spirit soul, is not destroyed or annihilated. He continues.
General Lectures
Illusion is temporary existence. This is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It comes into existence, just like cloud. Of course, we Vaiṣṇava philosopher, we do not say actually illusion. We say temporary. Actually we say temporary. Anitya. Anitya. The exact word is anitya. Anitya means... Nitya means eternal, and anitya means temporary.
Namely, the name of God is as powerful as God is Himself. It is called pūrṇa. Pūrṇa means complete. And śuddha. Śuddha means without any material contamination. Pūrṇaḥ śuddha nitya. Nitya means eternal. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ means without being different from the person whose name we are chanting. The idea is that when we chant the holy name of God—just like "Kṛṣṇa"—Kṛṣṇa is present there. As soon as you chant God's name... Not necessarily that he will have to chant the name Kṛṣṇa... Any other name which you know that it is God's name, you can chant it. God has got many names, and they can be chanted by different languages in different countries. The effect is the same.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: Our pleasure is... (break) ...incessant. It will not stop. That is the standard of high-class pleasure. That is quality. Here in the material world we have got experience, we get pleasure, but that is transient. Just like ordinary men, they understand sex pleasure is the highest pleasure. Actually, on sex pleasure the whole material world is existing. But how long this sex pleasure can remain? A few minutes. So our philosophy is we don't want that few minutes' pleasure. We want pleasure which will continue perpetually. Nityānanda. Nitya. Nitya means eternal. Ānanda means bliss. Satyānanda, real pleasure. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). We want the actual truth. That is quality. So that standard is mentioned in the Vedic literature, that those who are intelligent persons, those who are yogis... Yogi means perfect man. So they want pleasure which is eternal, not transient. Transient pleasure is liked by fools and rascals. Because fools and rascals, they do not know what is their constitutional position. But one who is intelligent, one who is learned, he knows his constitutional position, that he is eternal, he is not this body. Therefore he must be seeking eternal pleasure. Bodily pleasure... Body is transient, and bodily pleasures are also transient. So that is not sought after by any intelligent man. Those are sought by rascals. Because one identifies himself with the body, therefore bodily pleasure is this pleasure. But one who knows that he is not body, he is eternal. Then he seeks what is that eternal pleasure.
Prabhupāda: We are teaching people to come to that standard, spiritual nature which will never change. Just like we are trying to serve Kṛṣṇa. This is not (indistinct). We are serving Kṛṣṇa and when we go to Vaikuntha, we serve Kṛṣṇa. That which is called nitya. Nitya means eternal. Nitya-yukta upāsate. Bhagavad-gītā, eternally engaged in the service of the Lord. Not like Māyāvādī. Māyāvādī philosophers, they will say that "Let me serve Kṛṣṇa now. As soon as I become liberated, I become God. I become God." This is another bluff. Just like I am serving you to take your favor and as soon as I get opportunity I ride upon you.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: We are all eternal. That is nityo nityānām. I have already explained. Nitya means eternal. There are two eternals: one chief eternal, God, and one subordinate eternals, they are plural number. God is one, and we are many. Father is one; the children are many. Similarly, both the father and the children are eternal. God is not created, and the childrens are not created. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, na jāyate na mriyate vā. All these living entity, they are never created; neither they ever die. Nityaḥ śāśvatam na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). They are eternal, ever existing. Even after the destruction of the body, they are not annihilated. So God is eternal. That I have already explained. And we living entities, we are also eternal. How the son can be otherwise? If the father is eternal, the son is also eternal. The son cannot be... Because son is the expansion, part and parcel of the father, so all the qualities of the father are there. The only quality difference is the father maintainer and the sons are maintained. That means the father has got unlimited resources to maintain the sons, and the sons, they have no resources. They are maintained by the father. This is perfect philosophy.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Indian man: You mean to say eternally there is a soul and... This ātmā and Paramātmā will remain separate?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore the... Therefore it is said: nitya-yuktā upāsate. Therefore the word is there, nitya-yuktā. Nitya means everlasting.
Indian man: Everlasting. You remain separate.
Prabhupāda: Separate. And that is a fact.
Devotee: Mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7).
Prabhupāda: There are so many things. But here it is said nitya-yuktā upāsate. Even they come to the platform of nitya, where there is no birth and death. That is nitya. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Even that platform, Bhagavān remains different than the devotee who worships.
Indian man (2): Eternally?
Prabhupāda: Eternally. That is nitya-yuktā upāsate. There is no oneness. Otherwise why it is nitya-yuktā upāsate? Nityo nityānām. The nityānām, plural number, and nitya, Bhagavān. So nitya-yuktā upāsate.
Correspondence
1970 Correspondence
So far the Avataras are concerned there are two types. One is called nitya and the other is called naimittic. Nitya means eternal and namittic Avataras appear for some specific function in the material worlds. Nitya Avataras have their eternal abodes in the spiritual sky from which they may sometimes descend to the material worlds, but naimittic Avataras are expansions of Nitya Avataras for some timely purpose. So the non-human forms of Avataras do not have their planets in the spiritual sky.
| Page Title: | Nitya means |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika, MadhuGopaldas, Lucy, Alakananda |
| Created: | 14 of Jan, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=33, Con=2, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 37 |