Prabhupāda: So if we take Kṛṣṇa as bigger power, there is no controversy. Whatever He says, you have to accept.
Guest (2): No, we have to take it like this. Just like we have to take even some of this, any statement you make, we are going to take it because we think people of your status, who have experienced the life, which I didn't do, they are the authority on that thing.
Prabhupāda: No, if you accept Kṛṣṇa authority, then at least He is bigger than you.
Guest (2): Yes, sure. Not only authority on this thing. Because they have experienced, they have gone through that stage. And definitely we have to, because the . . . just like from a teacher a boy learns, and it is that method. You have to learn from a higher person.
Prabhupāda: Mmm, so you do accept Kṛṣṇa as the highest authority, and not only you accept, but all other authorities, they accept. (aside) Find out this verse: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12).
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa:
- arjuna uvāca
- paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma
- pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān
- puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam . . .
- (BG 10.12)
Prabhupāda: Puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam . . .
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: . . . ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum.
Prabhupāda: . . . ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa:
- āhus tvaṁ ṛṣayaḥ sarve
- devarṣir nāradas tathā
- asito devalo vyāsaḥ
- svayaṁ caiva bravīṣi me
- (BG 10.13)
Prabhupāda: So this is confirmation that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So if we accept Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then you have to accept Him as He says.
Guest (2): As a great power, yes.
Prabhupāda: Not great power, but greatest power. Nobody is greater than Him. That is accepted by the direct listener of Bhagavad-gītā, Arjuna. And he is giving evidences of Vyāsadeva, Asita, Devala, Nārada—they are authorities. And in the recent years, the ācāryas Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka and Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they have all accepted. And He speaks also. Then where is doubt? Where is doubt?
Guest (2): No, I just want to clear this thing. That thing I accept, sir, this thing that it is a great power, the supreme power.
Prabhupāda: Not a great . . . the great power. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). There is no more greater power than Him. That is His position.
Guest (2): My point is, sometimes this, a difference comes in this thing. Suppose a man of other religion says, okay . . .
Prabhupāda: No, no, it is not the question of religion. It is a question of God. God is great. That is accepted by all religion. So if Kṛṣṇa is the great, then He is God. Where is the argument?
Guest (2): Then they didn't come, just like you stated, that . . .
Prabhupāda: Then you have to study Kṛṣṇa, that where is the great, the only great. Then you'll understand. God is great, there is . . . no religion will differ in this connection. But if you find that, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is the greatest," then you have to accept. There is no other argument. So I'll take a little time go to shower. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (devotees and guests offer obeisances)
Hari-śauri: Śrīla Prabhupāda will be coming back in about five minutes. He's just going to the bathroom. (break)
(Prabhupāda returns) . . . original Back to Godhead.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: We got it from Library of Congress.
Prabhupāda: So God is great. Now we have to analyze what is the greatness. A man is supposed to be great when he is very rich. A man is supposed to be great when he is very wise—man of knowledge, strength, reputation. So item by item, you analyze and see, you'll see Kṛṣṇa is the greatest, by reasoning. Therefore He is God. They have been analyzed. You'll find in The Nectar of Devotion, the Gosvāmīs have analyzed the characters of Kṛṣṇa, and they found Him the greatest. So if God is great, and if He is the greatest, then He is God. How can you deny it? At least, we can see in the Bhagavad-gītā, the little knowledge given by Kṛṣṇa, it is still standing as greatest. Five thousand years past, nobody could give such a book of knowledge throughout the whole world. The Bhagavad-gītā is studied not only by the Indians and the Hindus but by all scholars of the world. Even such persons who think that there is somebody greater than Kṛṣṇa, they also read Bhagavad-gītā and they recite from the Bhagavad-gītā.