Kṛṣṇa is trying to convince Arjuna that death does not take place. He says clearly that "Myself—I am the Supreme God, Kṛṣṇa—yourself, you, and all the other kings and the soldiers, those who have assembled in this great battlefield, it is not that in the past, we were not existing. And in the present, we are now face to face. We are seeing that we are existing. And in the future, we shall also exist in the same way." "In the same way" means individually. Just like I am an individual person. You are an individual person. He is an individual person. So I, you, he, or they—first person, second person and the third person—so that individuality continues. Individuality of every living being is a fact. Therefore in the actual field also, we see that we have got difference of opinion. What I think, you may not agree with me because you have got your individuality. Similarly, your thinking may not be agreed by another gentleman. So everyone has got his individuality.
No existence (Lectures)
Expressions researched:
"no actual existence"
|"no eternal existence"
|"no existence"
|"no factual existence"
|"no independent existence"
|"no manifested existence"
|"no material existence"
|"no more existence"
|"no other existence"
|"no permanent existence"
|"no personal existence"
|"no real existence"
|"no second existence"
|"no separate existence"
|"no spiritual existence"
|"no substantial existence"
|"not existing"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
"I, you, or he." There cannot be more than these three. I can say "I," I can say "you," and I can say "he." So Kṛṣṇa says in this verse that na tu eva ahaṁ jātu: "Either I, you, or he, none of us ever born." Because we are not this body, the birth takes place of the body, not of the soul. The soul is described here that he does not take birth. It is not that he was not existing in the past; now he has taken birth. It is not like that. It is not like that, that the soul did not exist in the past; now he's existing. There are some philosophers, they think like that, that the living symptom was not existing before, and by the combination of matter the living force is there. But that is not the fact. The living being is there; therefore the life symptoms are there in the body. Therefore, when a man dies, because we do not know about the living force, we cry that "My father, my son, has gone."
Under certain circumstances, we can see. Therefore we should not believe simply by seeing. But one thing, although I cannot see you, you can hear me, or I can understand that you are hearing. The ears are stronger than the eyes. So things which is beyond our experience, we can hear about. Even though we cannot see, it does not mean there is no existence of things. The same example: even though I cannot see what is mind, what is intelligence, what is ego, but I can hear about it. Therefore perfect knowledge is acquired by hearing. So we accept knowledge, perfect knowledge, by hearing. Another example: suppose a man is sleeping. At that time, if somebody is coming to kill him, he's sleeping, he does not know. But if some of his friend warns him, "My dear Mr. Such-and-such, somebody is coming to kill you. Wake up!" he can hear, and he can wake up and take precaution. Therefore, when our other senses cannot work, our ear is very strong. Therefore it is recommended that you try to hear from the authoritative person.
The carrier of the smell is the air, and the smell, it is still finer. But when it comes before your nose, the instrument, you understand that there is very nice flavor passing. You can experience, although you cannot see, you cannot touch, you cannot taste. So it is not that, that sometimes things which are beyond the test of our material senses, they are not existing. That is foolishness. We must accept that our senses are imperfect. So how we can understand everything by the test of experimental knowledge? No.
In the previous verse Kṛṣṇa said that "All of us—you, me, and all these soldiers and kings who are present here—we existed in the past, we are existing now, and we shall continue to exist in the future." This was the statement. But rascals would say that "How I was existing? I was born only in such and such year. Before that, I was not existing. At the present time I am existing. That's all right. But as soon as I will die, I will not exist. So how Kṛṣṇa says that I was... Both... All of us, we were existing, we are still existing, and we shall continue to exist?" Is that contradictory? No, that is not contradictory. It is fact. We were existing, maybe in different body. And we shall continue to exist in different body. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ. This is to be understood. Not that my existence...
That is the function of the human life, to understand that "I am eternal." Kṛṣṇa says that "In the past we existed, in the present we are existing, and in the future we shall continue to exist." Then why I have got this type of body by which I am actually, not actually, superficially I am not existing. So this is the problem. A dhīra means a sober man will think of this problem, that "I want to live. Why death takes place? I want to live very healthy life. Why disease comes? I don't want to become old man. Why old age comes?" Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). These are the problems. So solve this problem simply by taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa. And for understand Kṛṣṇa, the Bhagavad-gītā is there, so nicely explained.
So make your life successful, that "I am not this body." Simply by understand... "I am not this body. I am embodied within this body, encaged.
Tattva-darśibhiḥ, those who are, who have seen the Absolute Truth, or those who have realized the Absolute Truth, they have concluded that the matter has no permanent existence and spirit soul has no annihilation. These two things would be understood. Asataḥ. Asataḥ means material. Nāsato vidyate bhāvaḥ. Asataḥ, anything asat... Anything in the material world, that is asat. Asat means will not exist, temporary. So you cannot expect permanent happiness in temporary world. That is not possible. But they are trying to become happy. So many plan-making commissions, utopian. But actually there is no happiness. So many commissions. But there is... Tattva-darśī, they know... Tattva-darśī, one has seen or has realized the Absolute Truth, he knows that in the material world there cannot be any happiness.
And the soul is permanent. He, it has no change; it will never be nonexistent. Kṛṣṇa is explaining. When Kṛṣṇa says, "My dear Arjuna, you, Me, and all these kings and soldiers assembled here, it is not that we did not exist in the past," so what is that? That means we are not this body. This body was not existing in the past in my past life, or duration of life. But as I am soul, I am existing now, I did exist in the past, and I will exist in the future. That is sat. Therefore, spirit has no such change.
Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, sat-saṅga chāḍi' kainu asate vilāsa te kāraṇa lagilā mora karma-bandha-phāṅsa. Karma-bandha-phāṅsa means entangled. Sometimes we have got experience, that threads, they become entangled. It is very difficult to find out where the beginning is. Sometimes spoiled. So, on account of our attachment to this material body, we are becoming entangled.
That is the conclusion. Although both the tree and the bird being green, it appears that the bird is now merged into the tree, this merging does not mean that, that the bird and the tree has become one. No. It appears like that. Because both of them are the same color, it appears that the bird has..., there is no more existence of the bird. But that is not a fact. The bird is... Similarly, we are individual spirit soul. The quality being one, say, greenness, when one merges into the Brahman effulgence, the living entity does not lose his identity. And because he does not lose the identity, and because the living entity, by nature, is joyful, he cannot stay in the impersonal Brahman effulgence for many days. Because he has to seek out joyfulness. That joyfulness means varieties.
So in the Brahman effulgence it is, simply being cin-mātra, simply spirit, there is no varieties of spirit. It is simply spirit. Just like the sky. The sky is also matter.
Neither you can burn with fire, neither you can moisten it with water, neither you can dry. In every respect Kṛṣṇa explains how soul is immutable. Another significance is nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ. Sarva-gataḥ means all-pervading, everywhere the soul is there. Even within the stone, even within the sands, there are. So how these people can say there is no existence of living entity in the moon planet? Sarva-gataḥ. We have seen sometimes that from the stone, I have marked it. There is one juma mastika(?) in Agra. On the top of the stone dome a plant has come out, on the top. Now who has gone to place that seed that a banyan tree, banyan plant has come out and it has cracked the stone? So nobody has gone there, but this means the soul is everywhere. As soon as it gets the opportunity, it accepts a material body immediately. As soon as there is opportunity. That is explained in the Seventh Chapter very nicely.
Mama māyā. Kṛṣṇa says, "Māyā is also Mine." Just like the cloud. What is this cloud? This is also made by the sun. Everyone, you know. The cloud means the sun evaporates water from the ocean, and it becomes cloud, and the business of the cloud is to cover our eyes to see the sun. Actually, the cloud has no existence, separate existence, and as soon as the sun is bright, the cloud disappears. This is bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It comes into existence and again it disappears. This is māyā. But the sky remains there; the sun remains there. Similarly, māyā, illusion, is sometimes is generated. This is the creation of the material world, mahat-tattva-māyā. So this is not permanent. It comes and goes. Similarly, māyā is simply covering our eyes. Just the... Just like this cloud, it is not possible for the cloud to cover the sun. Sun is ninety-three millions, or at least, fourteen, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth.
Indian: Why Brahman temples are not existing, and is there any Sanskrit reason or is...?
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Indian: Brahman temple is not existing.
Prabhupāda: Brahman is impersonal. Brahman is everywhere. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Then Paramātmā. Then Bhagavān. Bhagavān is the last word of Absolute Truth. So Brahman is impersonal. Just like the sky is impersonal. (break)
Indian: Mahārāja, it is indicated in Rāmāyaṇa that God is coming to this world as kali-avatāra. It is correct? What is the indication of His coming?
The anthropology, Darwin's theory. They do not believe in soul, transmigration of the soul. They have their own theories. But they are also not definite. Those who have read Darwin's theory of anthropology, in most places, that Mr. Darwin says, "Perhaps it was like this, perhaps it was like this." And according to his theory, there was no existence of human being ten thousand years ago. But we followers of Vedic (child making noises)... You have to stop. ...version, we don't believe to all this nonsense; neither there is any basic principle. Now take for example the atheistic theory, call it by any name, that combination of matter makes a living symptom possible.
So the body was not existing before. And it will not exist after death. So in the via media, if the manifestation of body is there, so why it should be the object of lamentation? In this way, Kṛṣṇa is trying to convince Arjuna that he should act as kṣatriya and perform his duty. A kṣatriya is profited, either dead or alive. That will be explained. Because in a, in a fighting, I mean to say, real religious fighting, on principle, it is, a kṣatriya is not responsible for killing. Just like in sacrificial ceremony, if the animal is killed, the brāhmaṇa is not responsible for killing an animal. So because it is duty, it is ordained by the śāstras, therefore they are not ordinary killing. Avyakta-nidhanāny eva tatra kā pari... "It was nonmanifested before, and it will become nonmanifested again. So why should you lament for the via media?"
And if we accept the Vedic conclusion as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (antavanta ime dehāḥ) that these material bodies are perishable in due course of time (nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ) but that soul is eternal, then we must remember always that the body is like a dress. Therefore why lament the changing of a dress? The material body has no factual existence in relation to the eternal soul. It is something like a dream. In a dream we may think of flying in the sky or sitting on a chariot as a king, but when we wake up we can see that we are neither in the sky nor seated on the chariot. The Vedic wisdom encourages self-realization and the basis of the nonexistence of the material body. Therefore in either case, whether one believes in the existence of the soul or one does not believe in the existence of the soul, there is no cause for lamentation for loss of the body."
Even from that history point of view, this very world in which we are standing, this very platform, this will also be vanquished. That is the law of this material nature. Nothing will subsist. Nothing will continue. Everything will be finished. Just like our, this body will be finished. Now I have got this beautiful body. Suppose seventy years, my age, seventy years before, the body had no existence, and, say, after five or ten years more the body will have no existence, so for seventy or eighty years this manifestation of the body...
Present formation of our existence is to say "no." Anything godly, we say "no." We shudder even by the name of God. We have come to a certain stage of our civilized life, that we want to banish God altogether. Not only saying "no," but we now prepare to agree to the point that there is no existence of God. So how much foolish we are becoming day by day in the name of advancement of civilization. You see?
So we should correct this. Now, we shall try to understand our position and try to say "Yes, there is God, and I am servant of God." That's all. You have to learn that thing only. No more we have to say that there is no God. We may say there is no God, but that does not mean that there is no God. You see? Just like an upstart. He says that "I don't believe in the government. There is no government. I am all in all." So that madman say like that, that does not mean that there is no existence of government. He is a madman who says like that.
So there are innumerable planets, and the sun is one of them. So this is also material object. If it is possible for the material object to disappear and appear within our limited senses, what to speak of God and His devotees. So God does not mean that because He is not visible to our imperfect senses, therefore God has no existence. This is foolishness. God is existent. But one who has got eyes to see...
What is that eye? Just like a small child. If I say to the small child, so "Sun is there in the sky, and the child will say, "Show me where is the sun." And if somebody says, "Yes, come on, I shall show you sun. Come on the roof. I have got a torch-light." As it is not possible to show the sun at night, although the child is insisting, similarly, the so-called scientists who are claiming that there is no God, they're just like the child. You have to understand. Just like a man who is advanced in knowledge, he knows that sun is there. Although I cannot see at night, but sun is there. He's convinced.
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.
These things are described. So we have to accept Kṛṣṇa like that. And if we make our own interpretation, rascal-like, that will not help us to understand what is Kṛṣṇa and what is Bhagavad-gītā. That is going on, generally. "Kṛṣṇa has no existence." "Kṛṣṇa, there was no Kṛṣṇa. It is story." "There was no battlefield of Kurukṣetra." These things are going on by, spoken by so-called political leaders and scholars. But that is not the fact. They do not understand Kṛṣṇa, simply mislead people. Therefore the world is in chaotic condition.
You have also guarantee. Those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously, even they do not make perfection... Generally you can make perfection. It is not very difficult, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have to keep your consciousness always absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa. Our consciousness must be absorbed in some thought. Without thought, your consciousness is not existing. There must be some thought. Now you have to replace that thought with Kṛṣṇa. That's all. You have to mold your life in such a way that you cannot think of anything except Kṛṣṇa. This our arrangement, this chanting, the dancing, or reading this Kṛṣṇa conscious book, what does it mean? That we always try to be absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if you remain always absorbed... This is called samādhi. If you remain absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then Kṛṣṇa says that next life you go directly there. So that is guaranteed.
Yes, the soul does not manipulate. It simply... Just like you had your childhood body, boyhood body. Now you have got a body of young man, youthhood body. And again you will get an old man's body, just like I have got. So these bodies are changing. Here everyone can remember that "I had a small body," but that body is not existing anymore. But I know that I possessed such body. Similarly, when this body will be finished, you will accept another body. You may forget it. Death means forgetting. But the body changing of body is going on perpetually, and spiritual life means how to stop this change of body and remain in the spiritual body. That is blissful and full of knowledge.
Aeroplane is flying in the air, in the sky. When it goes too far, it becomes too small, you say, "It has merged into the sky." But it has got, even in that position, it has got its separate existence. Just like a bird, a parrot, enters a tree. The tree is also green, and the bird is also green. When it enters the tree, you see no separate existence of the bird, but it has got a separate existence. Similarly, either you are in material existence or in spiritual existence you are already merged, but you have got your separate existence. Is it clear? Thank you.
As soon as it is clouded by material consciousness. What is that material consciousness? That "It is mine. It is for my sense gratification. That is material consciousness." And if you keep yourself always intact that everything is for Kṛṣṇa, then there is no cloud. The cloud is material. Actually there is no material existence. Just like cloud appears in the sky. It remains temporary for a few day or few hours and again disappears. We do not know where that cloud has gone.
Similarly, material consciousness is the covering of the spirit soul. So as soon as this covering is taken away the bright sunshine is there, the cloud. As soon as the cloud is gone the bright sunshine is there. Then everything is sunshine, light. Similarly, as soon as this consciousness, material consciousness that everything belongs for my satisfaction, sense gratification, that is material.
Don't think that because you cannot see just now your great grandfather, there was no father of the grandfather. Don't think like that. There was. Although he is... Don't think that "Anything which is out of my sight, because I cannot see, so there is no existence." No. This conclusion is not good.
This is not very intelligent conclusion. Because I cannot see what is happening beyond this wall, oh, that does not mean there is nothing beyond this wall. So everyone wants to see God immediately. God you can see when you are perfectly qualified. When you are in perfect knowledge, you can see God eye to eye just like you are seeing me, I am seeing you. But that requires qualification. You have to wait. That qualification is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That qualification means Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Forget, not disconnected. Connection is there. God is supplying our all necessities just like a state prisoner is disconnected from the civil department. He has come to the criminal department. Actually not disconnected. The government is still take care. But legally disconnected. Similarly we are not disconnected. We cannot be disconnected, because there is no existence of anything without Kṛṣṇa. So how can I be disconnected? Disconnection is that by forgetting Kṛṣṇa, instead of engaging myself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I am engaged in so many nonsense consciousness. That is disconnection. Instead of thinking myself that I am eternal servant of God or Kṛṣṇa, I am thinking I am servant of my society, I am servant of my country, I am servant of my husband, I am servant of my wife, I am servant of my dog or so many. This is forgetfulness.
The Māyāvāda philosophy thinks that "If Kṛṣṇa has become everything, then where is the necessity of Kṛṣṇa again, person?" This is rascaldom, because he is thinking in material way. He has no spiritual knowledge. Material way. Suppose if you take a piece of paper and you may make it in particles and throw it all over; the original paper has no existence. This is material. But we get information from the Vedas that pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). The Absolute Truth is so perfect that if you take the whole perfect, still, the perfect remains. One minus equal to one, not zero. The material way of thinking is "One minus one equal to zero," but spiritual way is not like that. Spiritual way is "One minus one equal to one. One plus one equal to one." Oneness. This is the conception.
As the body is changing, there are so many children, they will also become old like me. But the spirit soul is there. In the presence of mother, although the body is changing, the mother knows that "My son is there." Although from babyhood the son has grown to boyhood, the body, original body, child's body, baby's body, is not existing, the mother knows that "My boy is there."
So this is commonsense understanding. People do not understand it, very nice common sense, that the body is changing but the soul is there. Exactly the same example: the mother knows that "My boy, my child, although he has changed body, now he has grown-up, say, fifty years old, but my child he is. He is my child." Where is the difficulty to understand? Anyone can understand. But people do not believe in the transmigration of the soul. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13).
He explained that "I, you, and all these persons, the kings and the soldiers who have assembled here, it is not that they were not existing previously. They were existing as individual souls. Or as I am also individual God, and you all people, individual souls, we were existing in the past; we are now existing. I am existing, you are existing. The soldiers and other kings, they are also... And in the future also, we shall exist. The body may change. Just like in the past we were existing. The body has changed now. Similarly, at present also, when this body will be changed, we will exist in another body. So what is the cause of lamentation?" This is the translation. "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you." That means "You existed, I existed, and all of them existed." Because we are eternal. This is the point.
The Supreme Being is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And He is... Vigraha means He has form. He is person, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. But His person, His form, is different from our form, our present form. Our present form, as we have got the material tabernacle, that is temporary. Your form, my form, this is changing. We are not existing in the same form.
Just like we have got this form, human form of life. It is not permanently I shall be able to enjoy. Just like you have got a particular dress now. It is not permanent. You can change your dress any moment. Similarly, this body, material body, is considered... Actual fact... It will not endure. We'll have to change. Therefore it is not sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. But Kṛṣṇa's form is sac-cid-ānanda. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha means form.
Now, Kṛṣṇa says that "This word, what you see, this is also My energy." Mayā. Mayā means "by Me." Just like if I say, "This work has been done by me," so that does not mean that there is no existence of me, and because I have done this work, so I am finished. Here it is called "by Me," mayā. Mayā means "by Me." Anything you do, it is done by you. Anything done by me, it is done by me. But that, when I finish the work... Suppose I start a business, very nice business, very profitable business, big factory. And if I say that "This factory is started and is conducted by me," does it mean that I am lost? Does it mean I am lost? No. I am there. But it is done by my energy. This big factory... Just like the Ford factory I have seen in your country, a very big factory. There are so many big factories. If the proprietor says, "It is done by me," that "done by me," that person is exist, although the factory is also exist.
Just like the sun globe is the source of sunshine. Sunshine is very big, all pervading. And sun appears to be located in some place. But which is important, the sunshine is important or the sun globe is important? Because the sunshine is emanating from the sun it has no independent existence. As soon as the sun disappears, there is no sunshine. So wherever there is sun, there is sunshine. Therefore sunshine is dependent on the sun.
"The Absolute Truth is that from whom, or from which, everything is taking birth." This is Brahma-sūtra. So "everything is taking birth" means this material world also has taken birth from that Absolute Truth. That is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the origin of all births, everything." So the material world was not existing. This is insufficient. How you can say it is existing? Anything you see, material, it has got a date of birth. Who can deny it? Can you present anything material which was, which has no beginning? Everything has got beginning. So how you can say this material world has no beginning? This is nonsense.
That is a poor fund of knowledge. That is not God. Because we are thinking materially. Just like if I take a piece of paper and tear it into small pieces and throw it then the original paper has no existence. This is called Māyāvāda, Māyāvāda, or imperfect knowledge. Because I am thinking that materially, if one thing is broken into pieces and thrown, the original form is lost, no more. It becomes impersonal. No. The Veda says that pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). You take the full God, full... Even God fully represented in every atom, still, He is pūrṇa. That is... One minus one equal to one. And one plus one equal to one. That is Absolute idea. But we calculate from materialistic point of view. As we with our tiny brain, we think like that.
The first thing is that bhagavān uvāca. These things required for purification. Sattva-saṁśuddhiḥ. The human life is meant for sattva. Sattva. Sattva means existence. We are existing. I am existing; you are existing. But we are sometimes appear to be not existing. That is called death. We, every living entity, we are eternal. That is stated in the Second Chapter, that ajo nityaḥ śāśvataḥ, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). These things required to understand, that "I am a living being, not only I am, everyone. We are eternal, nityaḥ śāśvataḥ." There are so many universities all over the world and so-called scientists and philosophers, but they do not know that we are eternal. Just see their knowledge, advancement of knowledge. Eternal, aja. There is no birth. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). After this destruction of this body, I am not finished. I still exist. What is the destruction of this body?
Where is that body? If I say, "Where is that body?" what you will answer? But you know that "I had a small body." I know. Everyone will know. But where is that body? That body is not existing. I was also young man like you, but now I am an old man. Old man means my body is different, old body. Your body is different. So Kṛṣṇa giving this very nice example. As the baby is changed into a boy, a boy is changed into a youth, a youth is changed into old man, so this changing is going on, but I or you, we know that "I had such body."
I have several times spoken to you that in my, when I was about six months old, I remember, I remember I was lying down on my eldest sister's lap, and she was knitting. I still remember it very vividly. And so many things I remember. But where is that body, lying down on the lap of mother or sister? You cannot say...
What is the power of your seeing? You cannot see. Now you cannot see the car. It is beyond your seeing range or beyond the wall. Then how you conclude that there is a car? And if there is a car, there is a driver. If there is driver, there are passengers. So how do you conclude all this? Why do you give this... This is childish reason, "I cannot see." You cannot see; therefore there is no existence. That is not good logic.
Nitāi: "According to them, everything is void, and whatever manifestation exists is due to our ignorance in perception. They take it for granted that all manifestation of diversity is a display of ignorance. Just as in a dream we may create so many things which actually have no existence, so when we are awake we shall see that everything is simply a dream. But factually, although the demons say that life is a dream, they are very expert in enjoying this dream. And so, instead of acquiring knowledge, they become more and more implicated in their dreamland. They conclude that as a child is simply the result of sexual intercourse between man and woman, this world is born without any soul. For them it is only a combination of matter that has produced the living entities, and there is no question of the existence of the soul. As many living creatures come out from the perspiration and from a dead body without any cause, similarly, the whole living world has come out from the material combinations of the cosmic manifestation. Therefore material nature is the cause of this manifestation, and there is no other cause. They do not believe in the words of Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: (BG 9.10) 'Under My direction the whole material world is moving.' In other words, amongst the demons there is no perfect knowledge of the creation of this world; every one of them has a particular theory of his own. According to them, one interpretation of the scriptures is as good as another, for they do not believe in a standard understanding of the scriptural injunctions."
Prabhupāda: This is demonic. Now any question? (pause) This demonic conclusion will not help us. Then we shall remain in ignorance; there is no knowledge. Any question? Can you put any question on behalf of the demons? (laughter)
I have not forgotten." That is the difference between ordinary human being and God. That is the difference. God does not forget past, present, future. God knows future. God knows past. And present, what to speak of? In the Second Chapter you'll find also. Kṛṣṇa says that "It is not that you, Me and all these kings and soldiers were not existing in the past. And we are existing at present. And it is not that we shall not existed in the future." These are the things.
So if you try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then we get some benefit. Not some benefit: the ultimate benefit. What is the purpose of Bhagavad-gītā? Kṛṣṇa has come. Kṛṣṇa's instructing Arjuna. Aiming at Arjuna, He's instructing the whole world. What is the position of the living entities, what is our constitutional position? We are all living entities, and Kṛṣṇa is God. What is Kṛṣṇa's position?
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāram... (BG 2.13). As you are changing your body... We have changed, every one of us, we have changed body. I was a baby. I was a child. I was a boy. I was young man. Now I have got a different body. Where have those bodies gone? They have no brain to think. I had all these bodies—that's a fact. And they are not existing now, that's a fact. And still I say, "There is no other body after death." What is the reason? What is the logic? How simple logic is given by... Not ordinary person, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, says that "As you have changed so many bodies, passed through so many bodies..." Every... Medical science says every minute we are changing body. That's a fact.
So that girl has grown up now nineteen years. At that time she was on the lap of her mother. So I said, "Oh, your daughter has grown up so much." She has changed so many bodies. But that body which I saw in 1955, that does not exist. Where is the illogical? That body is not existing, but the girl is there, and mother, father, "Yes, yes, she is my daughter, that daughter which you saw so little." The body has changed so many times.
So similarly, when I shall give up this body, I must have another body. And Kṛṣṇa says tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). This is called saṁsāra. The saṁsāra means repetition of different bodies. That is called saṁsāra. Here, saṁsāriṇāṁ karuṇayā. Therefore this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to be compassionate to these rascals who are in the cycle of changing body after body. It is a great movement. Everyone, all over the world, they are thinking there is no life after death.
Therefore, materialism means forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, there is no other existence as material. Just like in dream. In dream, some way or other, we create an atmosphere. But actually, there is no different atmosphere. But by our brain, hallucination, we create something. So created in dream, we have got experience, everyone, "I am the worker. I am doing this. I am flying. I am going there. I am riding the path(?). I am working. I..." "I" is there. This "I" false ego is there. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). So forgetting Kṛṣṇa, when we concentrate only "I" and "mine," that is material world. That is material world. Material means separated. When I create, when we forget Kṛṣṇa, when I create "I" and "mine," that is material. Make it clear.(?) Otherwise, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1).
Just like Mahātmā Gandhi, he came, big leader. Or in other countries, Churchill came or Hitler came. So long they were living, they were always anxiety, full of anxiety, fighting with one another. Now they are not existing. What is the loss there? But unnecessarily they were busy, that "Without me, my country will be finished, and this will be vanquished." Unnecessarily.
So therefore we require to be brahma-bhūtaḥ, then prasannātmā. Then, because our only business is to see that "I am happy. I have no anxiety," that we are searching after, every one of us. So that anxietylessness is possible when we come to this stage:
So those who are trying to understand the Absolute Truth by exercising their, exercising their limited knowledge... After all, we are living entities. Our knowledge is always imperfect. That we do not admit, but actually it is so because our senses are imperfect. I am very much proud of my eyes, but I cannot see as soon as the electricity, light, is not existing. I cannot see. Then what is the importance of my eyes? My eyes can see under certain condition. When there is sunlight, then I can see. At night I cannot see. Then what is value of these eyes? So people say that "I cannot see." So what is the value of your eyes? Because you do not see, the fact cannot be zero. Therefore it is called śruta paramparā, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). We have to receive the absolute knowledge by the śrota paramparā, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭha.
So simply thinking, concocting, is one thing. And fact is another. Fact is that we are teeny, part and parcel of the Absolute Truth. But we are not actually absolute. We are relative. Relative truth. On the existence of the Absolute Truth, we are existing, but we have no independent existence, neither we have got independent knowledge. We are all dependent. The independent knowledge, Absolute Truth, is Kṛṣṇa. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. That is the beginning of Vedānta-sūtra. Therefore, bhejire munayo 'thāgre bhagavantam adhokṣajam. Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, beyond the sense perception. This impersonal concept of the Absolute Truth is in negation of the material duality. But that is not absolute knowledge. Absolute knowledge is that when we reach bhagavantam adhokṣajam. Sattvaṁ viśuddham. His existence is viśuddha, not contaminated.
So here it is clearly said that sa evedaṁ sasarjāgre bhagavān ātma-māyayā: "Bhagavān created by His energy." It is not that Bhagavān is finished after this creation. The Māyāvāda philosophy is that everything is God; therefore there is no separate existence of God. That is impersonalism. But here it is said that bhagavān ātma-māyayā: He created this cosmic manifestation by His energy. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). His full energy, even it is taken away from Him, still, He is full, He's complete. He's not exhausted. So sa evedaṁ sasarjāgre bhagavān ātma-māyayā, sad-asad-rūpayā. The māyā is displayed... Māyā means energy. That is displayed in two ways: material and spiritual. Material is asat, and spiritual is sat. Asat means which does not exist permanent, permanently. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It is created, again it is annihilated. Therefore it is called sometimes asat.
They are called brāhmaṇas. That's all. The intelligent class of the society... Just like my head is the most important part of my body. Why? Because from the head all intelligence is coming. If you cut my hand, I will exist. If you cut my leg, I will exist. But if you cut my head, oh, there is no existence. Therefore, as there is the important part of this body, the head, similarly, those who are giving intelligence to the society, they are called brāhmaṇas. That's all. Brāhmaṇa is not a thing which is born by, I mean to say, familywise. No. That is not... In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). There is no question of birthright. Anyone, anyone. Just like in our ordinary life, anyone can become your president. It is not that a particular family has to become. One who is intelligent enough, if people like, he will be voted, he'll be elected. Similarly, according to the quality and work, the section of the society is imagined. Not imagined, practically designated.
Thirty-three million demigods, there are at least thirty-three million planets. Tri-daśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate. They are just like phantasmagoria.
The exact analogy of phantasma..., equivalent word in Sanskrit of phantasmagoria, which has no actual existence, is called ākāśa-puṣpa, "flower of the sky." There is no flower in the sky, but you can say. Or in common Bengali words, "eggs of the horse." Now, horse never gives eggs, but there are words like that. (chuckles) Just like Vivekananda has manufactured: daridra-nārāyaṇa. How Nārāyaṇa can be daridra? So it is something like horse eggs. You see? So these words are very... Tri-daśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate. By the grace of Lord Caitanya you'll find to merge into the effulgence, to become one with the Supreme will be considered as hell, actually. If you ask any pure devotee, "Do you want to merge into the existence, impersonal Brahman?" he'll deny.
"We may go to this sun planet, moon planet, this planet."
But Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, he says, (chuckling) "Oh, you are trying to go to other higher planets by your karma, by his work? Oh, this is just like horse egg. Huh? Why should you bother yourself?" Horse egg means it has no substance. As, like there is no existence of horse egg, similarly, even if you attain that higher planetary system, what do you gain by that? You don't gain anything, because the four principles of material existence will continue there also. Birth, death, old age, and disease, you cannot stop. You may live for a greater period—that is possible in higher planets. But if you are simply satisfied only by living a bigger span of life, is that very success? Just stop death. That is success. To become very strong in body, that is not success. But either you become strong and weak, you have to die. There is no, I mean to say, excuse, because you are a strong man you will not die.
So ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8), this is the disease. And Kṛṣṇa consciousness is to cure the disease, this cure diseases, to cure this illusion. What is that? When I understand that "I have no existence without Kṛṣṇa. I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. In that sense, I am Kṛṣṇa's," then my... That means to understand one's identification. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Because I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, then what is my duty? To serve Kṛṣṇa. There is no other duty. Any other duty I manufacture, that is illusion. That is māyā, any duty I manufacture. So under illusion, I am manufacturing duties. This is called conditional life. So Vyāsadeva is advised that akhila-bandha-muktaye:"People are under illusion, 'I' and 'mine.' So, just try to get them liberated from this illusion."
That is their defect. That is the difference between us and others. They do not know... Just like if I say that "Have you got any father?" So he'll say, "Yes, I have got my father." "Now, who is your father?" "I do not know." That's not a very good credit. Because without father, mother, there is no existence. So everyone knows I have got a father. But who is my father, that I do not know. At least, in India, one who cannot say his father's name, immediately he becomes degraded. Just like the Jābāla Satyakāma. Jābāla Satyakāma, he, he was... He went to Gautama Muni, "Please initiate me." And according to Vedic conclu..., initiation is meant for the brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya and vaiśya. Not for the śūdras. Śūdras are not initiated. And in the Kali-yuga, because everyone is a śūdra, therefore he's first of all given training to become a brāhmaṇa.
So what is the karma at the present moment? They're seeking service. The so-called education means seeking service, master. Paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdrasyāpi svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). This is śāstra. Anyone who is attached to give service to others or, without giving service to others, he cannot live, that is, he's śūdra. He has no independent existence. Just like I was showing, the dog. Unemployed. Lean and thin and... Because he has no master. The same dog, when he has got a master, he'll be stout and strong, and he'll, as soon as you... "Owf! Owf! Bow! (laughter) I have got my master." So this is śūdra. Śūdra is compared with the dog. A dog is never happy without a master. Then it is a street dog. That is the difference between household dog and a street dog. So in this age practically you see, unless there is employment, he's a street dog. That is the proof that everyone is a śūdra. That is the proof.
The Māyāvāda philosophy is that we are aja, and Supreme Brahman is aja. So when we are uncovered by this material body, we mix with the aja. That is their theory, monist. We merge into the existence of aja. But that is not fact. You merge. That is like merging a green bird into a green tree. When a green bird enters a green tree it appears that the green bird is now merged and he, it has no more existence. No. That is not... One can understand. The bird enters into the green tree does not mean the bird has lost his existence. His individuality is still there. Similarly, when we merge, even in Brahman effulgence, we do not lose our individuality. Although it appears that we have lost our identity, individuality, but actually that is not the fact. And because it is not fact, therefore our another quality is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt: (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12) we want ānanda.
And vaiśyas, they do not drink. Śūdras, some of them. Those who are less than śūdras, they drink, and they make their own liquor at home. They boil the rice, and with water, they keep it for few days, it becomes fermented, putrefied, and it becomes intoxicating, home-made liquor. And if you distill it, then it becomes first-class, brandy. So it is not that liquor drinking was not existing. There was. But who drunk, that is stated here, that vipra-śāpa-vimūḍhānām, those who were cursed, vimūḍhānām. And being cursed, they were bewildered. Vipra-śāpa.
"These people have come to joke me." So he immediately cursed—vipra—that "Yes, what is there in the womb, that will be the cause of destroying your whole family." So when they were cursed, the came to their senses: "What you have done?" So actually, it was a stone. So they began to rub the stone so that there will be no existence of the stone. Rubbing, rubbing, rubbing, rubbing—that pulp and water, that was distributed, and all of them became sticks. So then, after that, they became intoxicated, and they could not understand amongst themselves who is friend, who is enemy, and took those sticks and began to beat one another. In this way they died. This is the story. You know It is stated in the Kṛṣṇa book.
So those who are not attained to this stage, first stage is how to become free from sinful ac..., anartha. Anartha you don't require, but you are habituated. And māyā is so strong, you don't require to smoke, but the māyā is advertising, "Here is one cool cigarette, or this hot cigarette, or this..." This is called māyā. You don't require it. It has no existence. There is no pleasure, but still you are attached to it. That is called māyā, illusion. That is called illusion. So we have got so friend, so nice friends all over the world, that we... You do not require... They are simply illurimous(?), "Here is whisky, here is this wine, here is that wine, here is this woman, here is this illicit sex, here is this cigarette, here is meat-eating, here is..." This is going on.
This dvitīya, this is called māyā. Dvitīya means second. The one is Kṛṣṇa, and māyā is secondary. Just like light. Light and darkness. Darkness is not first; light is first. And darkness means where there is no light. Where there is no light, that is darkness. Similarly, darkness has no separate existence. It is simply absence of light. That's all. Real existence is light. The whole creation is... Just like real existence is the sun. Try to understand, very easy. Sun, but when it is covered by the cloud, it is called darkness. Or it is covered by another planet, then we find darkness. Actually, there is always light. If you go through the cloud, you come to the sunshine. Everyone has got the experience. Down, when you start your plane, it may be very dark, and then, when you go beyond the sky, seven miles above, then you see there is sunlight. And again, if you start your plane in sunlight, in the morning, in daylight, so in the morning, and go to the western side, you will find never night.
These rascals, who have no sense what is what, to understand, the atheist class of men, abodha-jāta, whatever they are doing, their so-called scientific advancement, material advancement, that is all their defeat, defeat, simply being defeated, simply creating problems. Even those problems are not existing in the society of birds and bees. You'll see. There may be big fire, but the birds are dancing in the street. They have no problem. Because they are living under condition as they have been offered by God. Similarly, if we also live God conscious... Ātma-tattvam. Parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam. Your only business is to inquire about the soul, about the spirit soul. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is the Vedānta-sūtra. This human life is meant for only inquiring about the soul.
Therefore I say, kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In the Kali-yuga there are only śūdras." There is no brahmacārī system, no... Now we are introducing it, even collecting from the śūdras. But actually, these four divisions, scientific division of social order for spiritual uplift..., that is already gone. It is not existing. Do you follow? Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. In the Kali-yuga, amongst the śūdras, there is no āśrama, simply earn, earn, get some money and eat. That's all. That is śūdras life. There is no question of Vedic culture, there is no question of knowledge. Simply labor, get some money, and eat. Almost like animal. So at the present moment, as you say, in the Kali-yuga, it is accepted that everyone, almost everyone is a śūdra. But in the pāñcarātrika system, not Vedic system, Nārada-pañcarātra, they are... Otherwise, do you mean to say because everyone has become śūdra, the science of Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, should be stopped? No.
There is a routine work how to serve superior. Now, if you touch my hair, you are touching me, but that is not the service. You see. Service means there is routine work. You should touch my feet. Similarly, anywhere you go, it is Kṛṣṇa, because without Kṛṣṇa there is no other existence. So to worship the demigod, indirectly worshiping Kṛṣṇa, but avidhi-pūrvakam, without regulative principles. Yajanty avidhi-pūrvakam. The same example: if you want to touch me, so the regulative principle is that you have to touch the lotus feet of your spiritual master, not that you touch his head and do like that. You can say, "I am touching you." Oh, that's not the way. You have to touch according to the regulative principles. Similarly, those who are nonsense: "All right, you touch the hair of your spiritual master. If you cannot touch the lotus feet, then you touch..." Giving a chance to come in touch. So this demigod worship, it is an example given.
As in the sky, outer space, here in this material world big, big...(break) So there also there are many big, big aeroplanes running on.
Now, how this information received. When Bhāgavata was compiled five thousand years ago, there was no existence of aeroplane. But how in the Bhāgavata the information of the aeroplane is there? If men were less intelligent five thousand years ago, and now they have advanced, then how persons five thousand years ago... Not five thousand years. Many, many millions of years ago the information was there. But from historical point of view, at least five thousand years ago. So how they give this information of airplane? So how you can say that some forty thousand years ago... What is the Darwin's theory? There was no brain?
"Yes, I have learned the best thing is that these materialistic persons, who have accepted the asad-vastu..." Sat and asat. Sad gama asato mā: "Don't keep yourself in the asat; go to the sat." Oṁ tat sat. That is the Vedic injunction. So... Material world means asad-vastu. Asad-vastu means not good or which will not stay. Asat. Sat means which exists, and asat means not existing. So in the material world nothing will exist. It exists for some time, temporary. The Māyāvādī philosopher says that brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. We Vaiṣṇavas, we do not say mithyā, because God, or the Supreme Brahman, is truth, so there can be anything untruth from the truth. That is not possible. Just like if you prepare something from gold, an earring, that earring is also gold. You cannot say it is something else. So yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante. That is the Vedic instruction. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).
If you dismantle just like we dismantle some house, so there are so many things coming out. So let the doors be taken, somebody windows, somebody the bricks, somebody and..., rubbish somebody. Then there is no house, zero. This is called nirvāṇa theory. No more existence. We are suffering pains and pleasure... Pains. There is no pleasure. Pleasure means accepting another type of pain. I am suffering... Just like there is boil on your body. This is suffering. And to cure it, another suffering, surgical operation. So it is going on like that. Actually, there is no pleasure. There is only pain.
So the Buddhist theory is to dismantle this construction, and then there is no more sense of pains and... The Māyāvādī theory also like that, that "Activities, because they are material activities, therefore there are sufferings.
You cannot understand which is beyond your sense perception by experiment. Just like you cannot understand who is your father by experimental knowledge: "Let me make experiment and find out who is my father." That is not possible. Because it is beyond your experience. Your father was existing when you were not existing. Then how you can understand by experimental knowledge? The authority is mother. Therefore Vedic knowledge is the mother; the Purāṇas are the sisters. They are explained like that. You should understand from the Vedas what is the ultimate knowledge. And Kṛṣṇa says, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: (BG 15.15) the ultimate knowable objective is Kṛṣṇa.
Similarly, one who is actually devotee, he may be engaged in so many things, but he does not forget Kṛṣṇa. That is the example, very good example.
So hṛtātmano hṛta-prāṇāṁś ca bhaktiḥ. This is the perfection. "This" means that the gross body and the subtle body becomes digested, no more existence of this gross body. Gross body means sense gratification, and subtle body means speculation, "God is like that, God is like that," speculation, subtle body. Mana-buddhy-ahaṅkāra. And gross body means the senses. So when the senses and the mind, everything, is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that means you are already liberated, already liberated. Therefore it is said, anicchato me gatim aṇvīṁ prayuṅkte. The liberated means that you have no more the activities of gross body and subtle body, but there are activities of the soul. This is wanted. The bhakti means the activities of the soul, not of the body, not of the mind. The Brahman realization means stopping the activities of the body.
Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). Kṛṣṇa is one, but Kṛṣṇa can expand. That is Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvādī philosophers say that "If Kṛṣṇa has become everything, then where is Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is finished." This is Māyāvādī philosophy. That is materialistic idea. Just like you take a big piece of paper and you tear it into small pieces and throw it; then the paper has no existence. The paper is finished. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). He has expansion, many, many thousands, many, many millions. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart, and there are many millions and trillions of heart. Not only human being, there are animals, there are trees, plants, aquatics, fishes, so many. Anantyāya, sa anantyāya kalpate.
Then He is the cause of Brahmā, devānām, Śiva. Padma-palāśa-locana, padma, padma-nābha. Therefore Viṣṇu's another name is Padmanābha. Padmanābha, He causes the lotus flower from His navel, and there is Brahmā. And then Brahmā creates whole universe. The original creator is bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt, not this material. The material, there was no existence of the material. The materials are created by the Supreme Living Being. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That is to be understood. So the modern theory that the phenomenal world or this cosmic manifestation is due to chemical combination... They have written books, Chemical Evolution. The same example, that a solution of soda bicarb and solution of citric acid, mixed together, there is effervescence. But who is mixing? The mixture is bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt. This is to be understood.
To the carpenter or to the person who has supplied the ingredients? It is very commonsense question.
So actually nothing belongs to us. We also do not belong independently. We are not independent. Kṛṣṇa says jīva-bhūtaḥ, or mamaivāṁśo (BG 15.7). We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Just like this finger is part and parcel of my body, so the finger has no separate existence. If this finger is cut off from my hand and it has a separate existence, it will fall down on the street, and it has no value. Others are trampling down; still nobody cares for it, although it is the same finger but cut off from this body. But so long this small finger is attached to this body it has value. If there is some disease or pain, I can spend thousands of dollars for curing it. And when it is cut off from my body it has no value. Similarly, we being part and parcel of God, when we are forgetful or cut off It cannot be cut off, but still, when we forget God, then we have no value. The same example:
Ṛṣabhadeva was incarnation of God. He was instructing His sons before retirement. So he's instructing nāyaṁ dehaḥ, this body, deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Deha-bhājām means one who has accepted this material body. Actually this body has no existence. It is simply a covering, therefore it is called māyā. Everyone, we have got experience, that at night we forget this body. We act in a different body in dream. At night we feel there is no existence of this body, and at night, dreaming, we get another body, walking in a different place, creating in a different situation, acting in a different body. It is a fact, every day, every night, we see it like this. And during the daytime we forget that night body. So actually we are possessing the gross body and the subtle body. When we act on the subtle body, the gross body is no longer existing, and when we work in the gross body, the subtle body is not existing. But I am existing. I am existing both in the subtle body and gross body.
So long we are interested in bodily concept of life, these things are manifested. And when we are spiritually identified, so there is no more kāma-lobha-bhaya-śoka-bhayādayaḥ. Śoka-moha-bhaya apahaḥ. Spiritual means, advanced means śoka moha bhaya, these things are not existing. These are the symptoms of karma-bandha. But if we devote ourselves in the bhakti-yoga, in the service of the Lord, then the face of these things will change. The face of these things will change.
Kāma, kṛṣṇa-kāma-karmārpaṇe. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has advised that kāma and the desire will be transformed how to serve Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇārthe akhila-ceṣṭa, the same thing. Kāma means fruitive activities for sense gratification, but this kāma can be utilized in Kṛṣṇa's service. Just like we have constructed this temple with the enthusiasm, there must be a very nice temple for Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma.
And God says in the Bhagavad-gītā personally that "I was existing in the past and I shall continue to exist in the future." Similarly, the living entities, they also existed in the past and they will continue to exist in the future individually. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Second Chapter. It is not that we shall be finished in future or there was no existence in the past. No. We are, both of us, we are eternal. God, Kṛṣṇa, and we, living entities, we are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Our destruction of this material body does not mean we, as spirit soul, we are destroyed. No.
Or, even if you want to eat meat, that also I have given you." You cannot produce an animal. So everything you are eating, given by God. Your body is given by God. Your mind is given by God. And you, you also the soul, you're also part and parcel of God. So what is your independent existence? There is no independent existence. This is knowledge. Not only that. Because you have forgotten that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, He is also sitting within you. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna... (BG 18.61). Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣ... Again He says hrdi, "in the heart." Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭa, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). Everything is there. The Lord and the living entity, both are within his heart.
Without the father and mother means this material father and mother. But he has his father. His father is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa. And he's born out of the lotus flower which is grown from the abdomen of Nārāyaṇa. Therefore he's called Svayambhuḥ. Svayambhuḥ means self-manifested. Because before him, there was no existence of material creation. Therefore he is called Svayambhuḥ. And next is Nārada. Svayambhūr nāradaḥ. Nārada is born out of Brahmā. Svayambhūr nāradaḥ and śambhuḥ. Śambhuḥ is also born of Brahmā. Śambhuḥ means Lord Śiva. So he is also one of the ācāryas. Svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ (SB 6.3.20). Kumāraḥ means...
Just like the same soul in a childhood body, in a boyhood body, in a youth-hood body. Then again in a body like me, an old body. So all the previous bodies, they are now finished. Although I know I am soul, I know that I possessed a childhood body, I possessed a boyhood body, I possessed a youthhood body, that those bodies are not existing. They are finished. But I am existing. I know. Therefore this is very simply formula Kṛṣṇa gives. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). This body is changing, but the soul is eternal. Nityo śāśvato yaṁ purāṇo. Although it is very, very old. Because soul is the part and parcel of God. As God is existing eternally, similarly, the soul is also existing eternally. This is a great science.
Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja is requesting, "My dear friends, you try to learn this science," dharmān bhāgavatān iha, "from this very childhood life." Because this human form of life, he says that, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. Mānuṣaṁ janma.
That is a quality. And why God should not be angry? They imagine God; not they have got any factual conception of God. They imagine that "God must be like this. God must be nonviolent. God must be very peaceful." Why? Wherefrom the anger comes? It comes from God. Otherwise there is no existence of anger.
Everything is there. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). That is the definition of Brahman. Whatever we have got in experience and whatever we haven't got in experience... We haven't got everything in experience. Just like about Nṛsiṁhadeva it is said Lakṣmī also had no experience that the Lord can become half-lion, half-man. Even Lakṣmī, what to speak of others. Lakṣmī, she is constant companion of the Lord. So it is said, aṣruta. What is that? Adṛṣṭa. Adṛṣṭa aṣruta pūrvatvāt. She became afraid because she also never saw such gigantic form and half-lion, half-man.
"Whether the Deity is made of stone or brass or wood," because we are not innocent. We are thinking that this Deity is something made of brass. Even it is brass, a brass is not God? Brass is also God. Because Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir..., apareyam..., bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). Everything is Kṛṣṇa. Without Kṛṣṇa there is no existence. So why Kṛṣṇa cannot appear as He likes? He can appear in brass. He can appear in stone. He can appear in wood. He can appear in jewel. He can appear in painting. Any way He can... That is all-powerful. But we have to take it that "Here is Kṛṣṇa." Don't take it that "Kṛṣṇa is separate from this Deity, and here we have got a brass form Deity." No. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Advaita. He has multi-expansion, but they're all one.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
And the Buddha philosophers, they think to make all these activities zero, śūnyavādī. Dismantle. Because on account of this combination of matter, earth, water, fire, air, ether, this body's made, and the body is subjected to pains and pleasure on account of this mixture. So Buddha philosophy is that you dismantle this mixture. Let earth go to the earth portion and water portion to the water portion. Then there is no existence of the body, and there is no pains and pleasure. Make it zero. This is called śūnyavādī. And the Māyāvādī, their philosophy is stop this variegatedness. We are suffering pains and pleasure within this material world on account of these varieties. So these varieties, they are on, built on the foundation of the Supreme Spirit. So merge into the Supreme Spirit and get out of these varieties. This is their philosophy. So the Buddha philosophy or the Māyāvāda philosophy, they're almost one, because their ultimate goal is to make things zero.
They, they do not find out that there is a cause of this material manifestation. Without any cause. The materialistic scientists say, "There was a chunk, and..." What is that? Chunk theory? Come on. So that all of a sudden the chunk became disturbed and there was... And the creation came into existence. So jagad āhur anīśvaram (BG 16.8). "There is no God. There is no existence of God." Every religion says... The Christian religion also says, the Muhammadan religion says, the Hindu religion says that God created this cosmic manifestation or this material world. But the asuras will say, "There is no God. There is no creator." Jagad āhur anīśvaram (BG 16.8). Then?
We are one of the nityas. There are innumerable nityas and cetanaś, the living entities, part and parcel of the supreme living entity, Kṛṣṇa. They're all individual.
Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "My dear Arjuna, do not think that I, you, or all these soldiers and kings who have assembled in this battlefield, they were not existing in the past. They were. And they are existing at present. And similarly they will exist in the future." That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. So where is the question of merging? And loss of individuality? The individuality remains. It remained in the past. It is, at the present moment, it is continuing. And in the future also, they will remain, the same way. This is clearly explained in the second chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. So merging does not mean, always, that losing one's individuality. The individuality's there.
This comparison that the rivers, it does matter from which way it is coming down to the sea, when they mix together, they become one. But if this comparison is taken, that the rivers merging into the sea, and when it mixes there is no separate existence of the river, but they do not see analogy. Analogy, according to law of analogy, the points of similarities must be one. Analogy is perfect when the points of similarities are there. Just like we say, "Your face is as beautiful as moon." That means the face, beauty of the face is as attractive as the moon is attractive. The points of similarity is there. We cannot say an ugly face, your face is like moon. That cannot be. That is not analogy because there is no points of similarity. That is the law of analogy. So similarly, if you make analogy that as the different rivers are, the water is coming down and mixing with the sea, then it becomes one, but there are other points. This is superficial vision.
The Absolute Truth is realized in three different features. Brahman, impersonal Brahman, brahmeti. Localized Paramātmā, the Lord is situated in everyone's heart, localized Paramātmā. And Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Māyāvādī philosophy is that because God is everything, therefore there is no separate existence of God. This is Māyāvādī philosophy. God is everything, that's all right, but that's not, that does not mean God loses His existence. This is material conception. The material conception is that you take anything, suppose you take a piece of paper and you make it into small pieces and throw it, then the original paper has no existence. So the Māyāvādī philosophers, they are thinking like that. If God is everything—that's a fact, God is everything—but that does not mean that God is lost of His own existence. That is material.
So to come to this understanding, preliminarily... Because we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa, or God, at the present stage, in our material condition of life. Material condition means forgetting our relationship with God. That is material condition. The, this is... Therefore it is called māyā. Māyā means illusion, which has no existence, hallucination. The same thing as we see tiger when dreaming and crying: "Oh, here is tiger! Save me! Save me!" So this is called... This is the example of hallucination. There are many others. Just like water in the desert. Sometimes there is, due to reflection of the sun, it appears there is vast mass of water, and the animals, they go after it, the water. These are the, some of the examples of hallucination, illusion. So this hal... To be in the stage of hallucination, illusion, that is called māyā. This is called māyā. Mā-yā. Mā means "not"; yā means "this."
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
He is opulent—ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇa—not partially. He knows everything. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, vedāhaṁ samatītāni (BG 7.26). He knows past, present, and future. He says, therefore, that "All these, My dear Arjuna—yourself, Myself and all the soldiers and kings who have assembled here—it is not that we were not existing before. We are existing at the present moment also, and in future also we shall continue to exist." And how we shall exist? Individually. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa would have said that in future, when we become liberated, then we shall become one. No. He says, "Even in future also, we shall continue to exist like this. You are individual. You are Arjuna. I am Kṛṣṇa. And all other living entities..." That is real understanding. Every one of us living entities, we are all individual persons, and Kṛṣṇa is also individual person. This is knowledge.
It is foolishness that "God is covered by māyā." No. God is never covered by māyā. But God's particles, they are covered by māyā. Jīva is covered by māyā, not God. Māyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayam. Just like you face the sun, there is no darkness. If you keep the sun back side, there is a big dark, shadow. The shadow is māyā. It has no existence. It is simply impeding the sunshine. Therefore it is shadow. Māyā means which has no existence of its own accord. It is also created by the sun, the darkness. Similarly, this avidyā, when you forget Kṛṣṇa, there is avidyā. That is also Kṛṣṇa's creation. Because you want to forget Him, therefore He covers you with avidyā. Avidyā-karma-saṁjñā anyā. Another, another energy of Kṛṣṇa which is known as avidyā, or darkness, covers you. And what is the symptoms, that avidyā? Karma-saṁjñā. Karma-saṁjñā means you have to work hard. Those who are covered by the avidyā, they are working day and night.
So we think it is coming out of nothing. This is our foolishness. Here is, that it is coming out of the jñāna-śakti. But His jñāna is so wide that simply by His desire, simply by His will, it can be executed. These are the things to be studied. Because we cannot see something before our eyes, that does not mean there is no existence. There is existence, but we do not know how one is working, how one is working. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā.
Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is just like sun; how can you imagine that Kṛṣṇa and māyā can exist together? No. That is not possible. If there is māyā, there is no Kṛṣṇa. And if there is Kṛṣṇa, there is no māyā. This is the test. If we are still in māyā, that means I'm out of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And if I am actually in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no existence of māyā. And what is the symptom of māyā? Mamāham: "My country, my society, my father, my mother, my wife, my children, my property, my position, my, my, my." There is no end of "my," although nothing belongs to him. This is called māyā.
We don't say that māyā is something external. Māyā is there. Māyā is there. It is not external. It may be inferior, as it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that material energy, the material nature is inferior. That does not mean infer... Some part of my body is inferior. That does not mean it has no existence. It is not mithyā. They say everything mithyā. Mithyā means false. So inferior part of my body there may be, but it is not false. Similarly, the māyā, māyā is not false. It is temporary.
So the Bhāgavata says, simply to understand "This is not Brahman, this is māyā, this is not Brahman," if you go on speculating and without any interest for devotional service or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then teṣām eṣa kleśala eva śiṣyate. So their advancement in self-realization is simply troublesome. Troublesome. They simply take the trouble of discriminating that "This is māyā, this is Brahman.
If a scholar likes to present something in a different way... Just like an expert lawyer, he can get out of the entanglement of law by jugglery of words and interpretation, he is called a big lawyer, similarly, there are philosophers who can put different theories and not admit the existence of God. So Śaṅkarācārya's real purpose was no existence of God, because he had a very thankless task. He was dealing with the persons who are Buddhists. They did not believe anything except matter. So for them, to establish that there is God, it is very difficult. Therefore he adopted this means that "There is no separate God. We are all God. You are God, I am God." And a demonic person, if he is addressed, "Oh, you are God," oh, he becomes very happy because he does not become responsible to any higher authority. He becomes God. He can do anything. He can perform any nonsense. Nobody is going to punish him. It is very nice theory, that "I have become God. Because I have no more..."
Festival Lectures
Huh? Anyway, the ointment which is applied to the eyes for clear vision. So when the ointment of love of Godhead will be applied in our eyes, then with these eyes we shall be able to see God. God is not invisible. Simply just like a man with cataract or any other eye disease, he cannot see. That does not mean the things are not existing. He cannot see. God is there, but because my eyes are not competent to see God, therefore I deny God. God is there everywhere.
Unlimited, but still, one. Advaita. Acyuta. The Māyāvādī philosophy is that because God has expanded Himself in so many, all-pervading, therefore he is finished. He is finished. Just like material conception. You take any big paper and make it into pieces and then throw it—the original paper is lost. There is no more existence. That is Māyāvādī philosophy. Māyāvādī philosophy means because God is all-pervading, therefore He has no form. He has finished His form. There cannot be any form. And this is material conception. This is not spiritual conception. Spiritual conception is pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Iso Invocation). If Kṛṣṇa is the complete, supreme, so even He expands Himself in millions and trillions of complete forms, still, He is complete.
Actually, there is no material energy. Everything is spiritual. But when the spiritual energy is covered by ignorance... Just like when the sky is covered by cloud it becomes dark. Similarly, spiritual energy, when it is covered by material energy... The cloud has no separate existence. It is also creation of the sunshine. Similarly, the material energy has also no separate existence. It is also creation of Kṛṣṇa, but it appears and disappears. The spiritual energy remains. So when we dovetail ourself with the spiritual energy, then we become perfect. That is our perfection. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is dovetailing ourself with the spiritual energy and thus become perfect. And this human form of life is meant for that purpose.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
This is not to be done. It is fact that here is Kṛṣṇa. Very kindly, just to show me favor, He has come in this form. But He's Kṛṣṇa; He's not stone. Even it is stone, that is also Kṛṣṇa, because there is nothing else but Kṛṣṇa, anything. Without Kṛṣṇa, there is no existence. Sarvaṁ khalv idam brahma. So Kṛṣṇa has got the power that even in his so-called shape of stone, He can accept your service. That is Kṛṣṇa.
So you have to understand these things, and if you understand properly what is Kṛṣṇa, this much qualification will make you fit for being liberated even in this life.
Initiation Lectures
Or the higher caste, the brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriyas, and the vaiśyas, they were offered initiation, and the śūdras were not offered. That was the Vedic system. But in this age the śāstra says that kalau śūdra sambhava. In this age of Kali practically there is no more any brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, or vaiśya. Maybe by name, but in qualification they are not existing. Everyone is supposed to be śūdra. So in Kali-yuga the pāñcarātriki-vidhi is accepted. The pāñcarātriki-vidhi is also Vedic vidhi, corollary, given by Nārada Mahāmuni. But it is accepted by the Vedic followers, pāñcarātriki-vidhi.
Because if he accepted Vedic rituals then he could not preach this ahiṁsā paramo dharma. So that is a great story. Anyway we accept, we Vaiṣṇavas, we accept Lord Buddha as incarnation. That is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He is incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra. So indirectly the Buddhists are worshiping God. They are denying, there is no existence of God but they are accepting the incarnation of God.
So anywhere the four prime religions of the world, namely Hinduism, Christianism, Mohammedanism or Buddhism, directly or indirectly, they are accepting God. And without accepting God there is no meaning of religion. That is not religion. According to Bhāgavata, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Dharma, what this dharma, religion means, the codes given by God. That's all. Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66).
General Lectures
There are so many theists. They are also be... They believe in the Supreme, but impersonal. But we followers of this Kṛṣṇa philosophy, Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, we do not follow that philosophy. What is that philosophy? The other sections, they say that "Because God is distributed all over everywhere, therefore there is no separate existence of God." But we do not say that. We say that, the example, that because the sun is distributing his heat and energy, therefore you cannot say that there is no existence of sun. Sun is separately existing. In spite of distributing for millions of years heat, the reservation of heat in the sun is intact. It is not diminished. But everyone knows that for millions and billions of years the sun is distributing heat. Nobody knows the history, how long. Your distributing center, the powerhouse, if you fail to supply coal or oil, then after one hour the whole New York City will be dark.
And if you follow great philosophers, great thinkers, then also you will find one thinker is different from another thinker, one philosopher is differing from another philosopher. So whom to follow? This philosopher says that God is a person; another philosopher says God is imperson; another philosopher says that God is everywhere and there is no separate existence of God. So many philosophies there are in the world. And one person is not actually philosopher if he does not differ from other philosophers. That is the philosophical basic principle. You are a philosopher. If I cannot make your philosophical conclusion null and void and make my philosophy established, then I am not a philosopher. You see? That is the way, going on. Nāsau munir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam: "He is not a philosopher if he cannot present a separate theory." He is not a philosopher.
At least, according to Vedic system of..., they will offer you a preparation which is called yogurt. That is milk preparation. That yogurt with little medicine will cure. Now your disease was caused by milk, and it is cured by milk also. Why? It is directed by the physician. Similarly everything. In the higher sense there is no existence of matter; it is only illusion. Just like this morning I was giving the instance of the sun and the fog. The fog was there; the sun could not be seen. The foolish person will say that "There is no sun. It is simply fog." But intelligent person will say that "Sun is there, but the fog has covered our eyes. We cannot see the sun." Similarly, actually, everything being energy of Kṛṣṇa, there is nothing material. Simply our, this mentality that we want to lord it over, that is false, illusion. That is covering our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. So that you will gradually understand.
That is the real philosophy. And as soon as you understand that you are part and parcel of the Supreme, then your function is also immediately fixed up. What is that? Now, this part and parcel of this body is the finger, or anything you take. What is the duty of this finger? The duty of the finger is to serve the whole body. That's all. It has no independent existence. The... A finger, if it noncooperates with this body to work for the body, then it is to be understood that the finger is in diseased condition. Suppose if I have got some pain. I want my finger to work in some part of my body like this, and if it cannot, that means it is in diseased condition. If there is some pain, you are feeling not to work the finger. Similarly, our position, being part and parcel of the Supreme, our function is to serve the Supreme. If we do not serve the Supreme, then it is our diseased condition, which is called māyā. Māyā means which is not actual fact. Mā-yā. Mā means "not"; yā means "this."
When we forget Kṛṣṇa and want to lord it over the material nature, this is called māyā. Māyā means which has no factual existence. So this idea that I shall lord it over the material nature, this is māyā.
- kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare
- pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare
As soon as we think of becoming the Lord and lording it over the Lord's creation, that is called māyā. And Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is just an attempt to revive the original consciousness that "I am not the lord, but I am the servant of the Lord." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
So we are actually getting different types of body every moment, and the consciousness is changed also according to the body. This is a fact. But I remember that I had such and such body, I was doing such foolish things when I was a child. All these things I remember. Therefore I, the person, the soul, is existing, although the bodies are not existing. This is a fact. Those bodies, my childhood body, my boyhood body, my youthhood body, they are no longer existing. It is a fact. I have got now a different body, but I remember that I possessed such and such bodies. Therefore the conclusion is that, in spite of change of body, the spirit soul remains the same eternally. Similarly, when I shall change this body, I shall get another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir. That is called transmigration of the soul.
He is person. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. In the Second Chapter He says, "My dear Arjuna, I, you, and all these persons who assembled, it is not that we were not existing in the past, it is not that that we shall not exist in the future." When He says "I, you and all these persons," they are all persons. God is also person, Arjuna is also person, and the all other who assembled in the battlefield, they are also persons. So Kṛṣṇa says, "All these persons, they were existing in the past, now they are existing, and in future they will exist." So there is past, present, future. In no time, God is impersonal, neither we are impersonal. We are also personal. And that is also confirmed, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, Kaṭha Upaniṣad (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13), that He is the chief person amongst other persons. We living entities, we are many persons, and God is the chief person.
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: Oh, there's only one truth.
Prabhupāda: Yes. There can't be two truths.
Śyāmasundara: But due to our imperfect senses...
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is what is called māyā. Māyā has no existence, but it appears like truth. The same example: the shadow has no existence, but it also looks like my finger, and everything exactly. In the mirror you see your face exactly the same, but it is untruth. The truth is one. Truth cannot be two types of truth. What is taken as truth for the present moment, and by experience he comes to the right truth, that is called māyā.
Śyāmasundara: Well, strictly materially speaking, I could say, well, there are some material reasons...
Prabhupāda: Just like my material body, it has grown. There was no existence, but combination of father and mother, the body is made and it grows, and again it is vanquished. That is the nature of matter. It takes birth at a certain moment, it grows, then it makes by-products, then it dwindles, then vanquishes. This is the nature of matter, any matter, anything you take. This material world is also like that. All these trees, they have grown up, and when they are grown up, you take the wood, you make houses, you make boxes, you make bedsteads, and so many things. But it is a fact that the trees have grown up from the seed. And wherefrom the seed comes?
Śyāmasundara: From the father tree.
Śyāmasundara: But my point is they excavated down into the ground and they found that gradually, through the years, animals are evolving towards more and more complex forms, from very simple forms in the water to land animals, plants, and these big dinosaurs, then they died out.
Prabhupāda: If they died out, that means there is no more existence of that animal. But how can you say that the animal is existing somewhere else? Now, according to his statement that from a certain basic principle, by gradual evolution, the human body is coming. Now his theory is that the human body is coming from the monkey.
Śyāmasundara: They are related; they come from the same...
Prabhupāda: Related? Everything is related. That is another thing. But if the monkey's body is developing into human body...
Śyāmasundara: Yes. Apelike man.
Śyāmasundara: It appears from the evidence that there are apelike men in certain layers of...
Prabhupāda: The apelike man or manlike ape is already existing. If you say development, just like from this, it has developed this, then there should be no existence of this. Kārya-kāraṇam. That's all. Now when I see still both are existing...
Śyāmasundara: The former doesn't exist any more.
Prabhupāda: No, no, no. If from monkey, man is coming, so then when monkey develops into man, the monkey should not exist. Kārya-kāraṇam, kārya-kāraṇam, cause and effect. When the effect is there, the cause is finished now.
Śyāmasundara: The monkey didn't cause the man; they came from the same common ancestor. That is their explanation. They had the same common ancestor.
Prabhupāda: But evolution we accept. Evolution we accept but it is not that there was no existence of human being. That we do not accept. Evolution we accept. Just like my childhood manifestation is extinct but there are many other child. Same time. So our point is all the species of life, they are existing simultaneously. Evolution there is, we accept that but it is not that one is missing, one has gone away, and another is come, ten million, thirty millions there was no human being. This is all nonsense. He cannot find in the layer, that is not evidence.
Śyāmasundara: For instance, there's no dinosaurs existing now. They're extinct now but where are they gone? Some other planets then? Is there some...?
Prabhupāda: Yes, and it has no actual value, but when it is happening and I am under dream, I am thinking it is all actual. Actually it has no value. Therefore it is called māyā. Māyā means which has no real existence, but it appears.
Śyāmasundara: Last night you said that what is the meaning of the word "nothing." That māyā means "nothing"?
Prabhupāda: You can say like that. Nothing is appearing like something. But we don't say nothing. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they say nothing. We say temporary, just like cloud, you cannot say it is nothing.
Devotee: "Not this."
Prabhupāda: Yes, this is their philosophy. Close the eyes. "I no more, no longer exist." But that will not work. You have to exist my dear sir, and you have to surrender, you have to become a tree. Just like tree exists, it has got life, but practically it is not existing: cut it, insult it, kick it. That kind of existence will be the salvation for these rascals, to remain a tree for ten thousand years, that's all. No sense.
Śyāmasundara: He says where there is no will, then there is no ideas, no world...
Prabhupāda: That is all explained. That means when there is no sense of pains and pleasure, then they say there is no will. But, this not will. It is suppression. Suṣupti, it is called suṣupti. There are three stages: one stage is that I am awakened; another stage is that I am not awakened, I am sleeping but dreaming; and another stage is unconsciousness. Three stages. But in three stages, the will is there.
Prabhupāda: And when death takes place, I am finished.
Śyāmasundara: Well, that's the common understanding in most...
Prabhupāda: No. He is understanding that "I am existing up to the point of death. After death I am not existing." Is it not? They are rascals.
Śyāmasundara: But later we find that he does believe in some kind of immortality, but he is talking about the (indistinct), or the (indistinct) of individuals that normally, on a normal level, they believe that the body will end or it will die at a certain time, so that they act in such a way with that in mind. And he calls that, that knowledge that I will die some day, that this creates anxiety or dread in the living entity.
Śyāmasundara: His idea is that even these mental images in dreams are real, that they have an objective reality.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Objective reality. When I dream of a woman or a tiger, there is objective reality. In dream it may be. There may be no existence of woman or tiger, but there is real existence of tiger, my dreaming. The impression of a tiger in my mind, the impression of a woman in my mind is created as hallucination, and that reacts on my physical life.
Śyāmasundara: He says that even these mental objects have a real existence in my consciousness. As long as I'm thinking there's a tiger about to pounce on me...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: This is..., expansion also we accept. What is called, there is technical name, pracāra (?). Expansion, that is stated in Bhāgavatam, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam: "By Me everything is expanded." This very word is used. Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam (BG 9.4). So expansion is also God, but at the same time in expansion there is no God. "No God" means not in person. The expansion is imperson, but expansion is from the person. Just as a government, this is impersonal, but the governor is person. So government means under the control of the governor. So impersonal expansion of God is controlled by the personal God. This is like pantheism. And pantheism, so I think that because everything is God, that God has no personal existence. Is it not?
Hayagrīva: Yes. Pantheists would say that God is eminent in everything.
Prabhupāda: Everything.
Purports to Songs
Ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā: "And for this reason they have completely forgotten their eternal relationship with Nityānanda." Ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā, asatyere satya kari māni: "Such forgetful persons accept the illusory energy as fact." Asatyere. Asatya means which is not fact. In other words, it is called māyā. Māyā means which has no existence, a temporary illusion only. So such persons who have no contact with Nityānanda, they accept this illusion as fact, this illusory body as fact. Asatyere satya kori māni.
Then he says, nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe. He says that "If you actually want to approach the association of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, then try to achieve the mercy of Lord Nityānanda. When He will be merciful upon you, then you will be able to approach Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa." Dharo nitāi-caraṇa duḥkhāni. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura advises us that "You firmly catch the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda."
The fire, there is..., in the wood there is fire, everyone knows. So you ignite fire, and if you make it dry, then the fire takes place very quickly. And when it is blazing fire, then the wood becomes vanquished. There is no more existence of the wood. Similarly, if you can invoke your spiritual consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, when it will be very nicely going on, then your material existence will be finished. This is the process. Durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge taraha e bhava-sindhu re. In this way, just get on the other side of this ocean of nescience.
Then, one may say that "If I associate with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, then how my family affairs will go on? Who will look after my wife and children, society, friendship, love? I have got so many business." There, therefore he says, śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa ei dina jāminī jāgi re: "My dear mind, you are working so hard."
| Page Title: | No existence (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 21 of May, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=113, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 113 |