So every one of us, those who have come to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, expected to preach in the future and to become a spiritual master also in the future. But first of all you must spiritualize yourself; otherwise it is useless. So kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe. Without... Just like without being red hot, you cannot burn any other thing. Similarly, without being fully spiritualized, you cannot make others spiritualized. Therefore we have to follow the paramparā system. The disciplic succession, as we get the knowledge, as we get the power, as we get the instruction, so we have to follow. That will help me to spiritualize myself. And when you are spiritualized... You'll have to wait for that time. Then, wherever you will preach, the result will be there.
Power (Lectures, SB cantos 2 - 5)
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Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Now nature will give you, "All right, again you become cats and dogs." Punar mūṣiko bhava. They do not know. They do not know the secret science of nature. You may be a very great leader, prime minister now. Next life you are going to be a dog in Scandinavia. (laughter) You see?
But how can you check it? What is your power? Suppose by nature... There are so many lives. Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). So you have to accept another body. Now, that is not in your hand, how to accept. That is, that will depend on your nature, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa, and nature will give you the suitable body. So if you waste your time in this human form of life like cats and dogs, then you are going to get... Otherwise, wherefrom the cats and dogs are coming? They are coming... Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
We are not concerned with government. We say there is no kṣatriya, there is no government. At the present moment, anyone who has got some artificial power, he is government. That's all. You get some way or other a little vote, and you become government. So government does not mean that. Government is another. Because there is no kṣatriya, and where is government? They are thinking... Government means they should be always thinking how the citizens should be peaceful and happy and spiritually advanced. That is government. And who is caring for the citizens? They are simply exacting tax. That's all. So actually, in the Kali-yuga, because there is no kṣatriya, where is the government? Śūdra government is no government. Śūdra has no right to govern, but by force they are governing. That's all. "Might is right."
Asmin dehe, in this body, there is the proprietor of the body, the soul. But if we want to see... Some rascal said, "Show me where is soul." He cannot see because he has no eyes to see. These modern materialistic persons, they want to see everything, but he does not understand that his seeing power is very limited. If the light is off, immediately he cannot see. So what is the value of your eyes? Why you are so much proud to see everything? "Can you show me God? Can you show me the soul?" You cannot see. You have no eyes to see. And what you cannot see, you can hear. Just like a blind man, he is sitting. He cannot see. Somebody comes. He inquires, "Who has come here?" Now, if somebody says, "It is such and such person," by hearing only he can understand, "Oh, such and such person has come." So seeing is not extremely perfect experience. There are other senses.
Or somebody is controlling his office, his factory, his kingdom. Just like President Nixon, he is controlling the United States. So all of us, more or less, we are īśvara, controller. Everyone. Just like this mother, she is controlling the small child. So she is also īśvara, means she is controlling. So anyone who has controlling power... So God has given everyone a little controlling power. In that sense every one of us, īśvara. But here it is said, bhagavān īśvaraḥ: "the supreme controller." Supreme controller means we are controllers, but we are controlled by somebody else. But the Bhagavān Īśvara means He is no more controlled by anyone. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is described. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ: "The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa."
Anukathane. Anu means not whimsically. Following the superior authorities. You cannot write anything which is not approved by the superior authorities. Therefore, we have to give examples, quotation from the śāstra, that "What I am speaking, it is supported by the śāstras. Not that I have inventive power—I have, I can do, I can write anything I like." That is nonsense. Anukathane. Anukathane means you must hear from the authority perfectly. Then try to write. Not that you write whimsically, whatever you like. That is not allowed. And that will not be accepted. Therefore, in the beginning, in this chapter, we learned this word, that varīyān eṣa rājan...,
Demigod worship is recommended in the Vedas. At least, they should gradually understand "Who is this demigod? Why we are worshiping him? Wherefrom he has got this power?" Then, when one can understand that this Indra, Candra, and Sūrya, and Diti, Aditi, and fire, Lord Śiva, they are all different departmental heads of Kṛṣṇa's government... The real king is Kṛṣṇa. To understand that. Not that... Then one could derive all the benefits from one department. No. The different departments are recommended: "If you want this, you have to... If you want this, you have to..." In the conclusion it will be said that "Whatever you want, you go to Kṛṣṇa." Your all desires will be fulfilled. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. Akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ (SB 2.3.10). (pause) What is the time now?
This is the opportunity. But unfortunately, people are not given the opportunity, facility. School, college, they are simply giving "More become mechanics," how to deal with instruments, iron instruments. Big, big institutions for technological understanding. And where is this technology? Why a dead man is dead man? Why don't you give some mechanical power so that he can come out again? Where is that technology? You know the technology... When a motorcar is stopped, you know the technology how to start it again. But you do not know this technology. When this motorcar, this body motorcar will stop, you have no technology to start it again.
"Now I have taken benediction from Brahmā. I'll live forever." So he was very much proud. Just like karmīs, they also think, "When there will be disease and there will be point of death, I shall take care very nicely. There are so many good physicians. I shall call them, and they will give me life." So this is demonic. You cannot protect yourself by so-called science, physician, or power. It is not possible. Because the death is Kṛṣṇa.
So they have to gather their arguments. That is another labor, hard labor. So they are also working hard. Yogis, they want to show some magic: "I can walk on the water. I can fly in the air without any airship. I can go this planet, that planet." Yogis can do that. They have got this magical power. "I can create immediately gold." And if you can show these magical feats, immediately you get so many...
But that kind of yogi also very rare to be found, and now, in your country, yogi means who can show some gymnastics, that's all.
Only kṛṣṇa-bhakta, devotee of Kṛṣṇa. He is peaceful. Others? No. They cannot be peaceful. Why? Now, there is demand. The karmī is wanting to lord it over this material world. The jñānī is wanting to become one with God. The yogi is wanting some wonderful power. So there is wanting. It may be of different category, but there is demand. But akāmaḥ, he has no demand. That's all. He doesn't want anything from Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching is: na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). "I don't want. I don't want money, I don't want followers, I don't want nice wife." These things are wanted by the materialists. A devotee simply wants "Give me the chance of serving You."
So why no intelligence? Now, that is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: antavat tu phalaṁ teṣām (BG 7.23). The benediction they get from the demigods... Just like it is recommended, we have read it, that if you want beautiful wife, you worship Umā. If you want very strong sexual powers, then you worship Indra. So the prescription is there. But they are foolish. Why foolish? Suppose you get very beautiful wife and very strong sex power, then how long you will enjoy it? Antavat tu phalaṁ teṣām. It will end. Five years, ten years. Even in living condition, if you have become old, seventy years, eighty years old, then what you will do with beautiful wife? There will be no more sex power. Vṛddhasya taruṇī-bhāryā. Vṛddhasya ... These are useless. When one has become old, to have a young wife is troublesome for him. So therefore we should not desire anything material.
The business is where there is a dead body. That's all. He is trying to find out, "Where is a dead body?" You see? It goes high, but the business is to find out a dead body. That's all. Similarly, our, this advancement of science, increasing the duration of life, increasing the sex power especially in these days ... As soon as there is lack of sex power, there is divorce suit. Yes. But you have seen the dogs and cats. How much sex power they have got! So begetting children, the hog can beget children, at least three dozen a year. What we can do? In three years it is hardly we can produce one child. And the hog will produce in three years at least thirty-six children.
Therefore Vedas are called śruti. Śruti means this is not experimental knowledge. This knowledge is acquired by hearing, that's all. If you have got nice receptive power through the ear, then your life can be successful. You don't require to use any other sense. This one sense will make you correct. Therefore those who are not taking advantage of this facility of hearing... He may be a very big man in the estimation of persons who are like dogs, asses, camels, and such nice animals. You can say, "Oh, here is a big man, and... Mr. such and such, such a great politician, great scientist, great... So we must praise." But the Bhāgavata says, "Whether he has given any aural reception about Kṛṣṇa, that is the test."
Indian man (8): Another thing, my last question. I shall not disturb you. The name is power, and to utter name...
Prabhupāda: The name is the person. This is absolute. Absolute.
Indian man (8): Personified.
Prabhupāda: Not personified. He is person.
Just like you cannot keep the burden, heavy burden, on your head for a long time, similarly, this nice turban, silk turban, will be felt as great burden. This is the law of nature. If you misuse the power and do not feel obliged to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has given you the power, then you'll be finished very soon.
That is the history. Any nation, any empire, any man, as soon as one begins to defy the authority of the Supreme Lord, like Rāvaṇa, he'll be finished. Sooner or later, he's going to be finished. Just like Rāvaṇa, he was very much puffed up by his material opulence. And he did not care for Rāma. And he wanted the potency, energy of Rāma, spiritual energy, Sītā. And he kidnapped.
And they have no power. It is simply a show-bottle. So they have lost their power.
So we should be very much careful, not become puffed up by a princely order, turban, but we must know that this opulence, this kingdom, this power... Everyone. Anyone who has got some power, he must know that "This power is given by Kṛṣṇa unto me, and to execute His will, not my sense gratification." Otherwise, it will be burden, and he will be finished. This is laws of God. Nobody can become the enjoyer. The only enjoyer is God. And if we want to enjoy falsely, then we will be in trouble. Similarly, those who are rich, have got ornaments, bangles, if the hand is not engaged in the service of the Lord...
So many. If we do not increase our anxiety or inclination to see one of the forms of Viṣṇu... Here it is specifically mentioned, Viṣṇu. Not others. Liṅgāni viṣṇor na nirīkṣato ye. If we do not see, then our eyes are exactly like the painted eyes on the plumes of the feathers, or plumes of the peacock. It looks very nice, but it has no value. No, it has no seeing power. So our, these eyes are also painted, because it is material. These eyes will remain when I shall give up this body, but it will have no more seeing power. The seeing power is gone when the spirit soul gives up this body. So in spite of the beautiful eyes, it is unable to see. Similarly, so long we have got this instrument... This is an instrument to work.
The bones and flesh are bones and flesh. The real identity is the soul. According to his karma, he manifests his intelligence. Although this intelligence is coming out through his bones and flesh.
Just like I am seeing through this glass. That does not mean the glass is seeing. The seeing power is different from the glass. Similarly, those who are thinking that they are this body, under bodily concept of life...
She is sleeping. Śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham.
The nostrils... We smell. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness smelling means we should offer all nice flowers and tulasī on the lotus feet of the Lord. And we shall accept prasādam. The priest will offer, and if we smell that, then our smelling power is fulfilled. That means... These Kumāras, catuḥsana Kumāras, Sanaka-kumārādi, they were first of all impersonalists, but after smelling the tulasī leaves which were offered to the lotus feet of Viṣṇu, they become personalists. So this is an opportunity. If anyone comes, smells the flowers and the tulasī offered to Viṣṇu, tastes the viṣṇu-prasāda, and sees the Lord's form, in this way he develops Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So this is opportunity. This temple means an opportunity, a process, a simple process. Not simple for ordinary man, but actually it is simple.
So we have got these senses. So if we engage our senses in this way-our seeing power, our hearing power, our talking power, our smelling power, our touching power, our tasting power—in this way, if we engage everything in connection with Kṛṣṇa, very easily we become Kṛṣṇa conscious. And as soon as we become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then our life is successful. We become liberated from this bondage of birth and death. So this is the process. Now read.
Still, you boys and girls, you love me. Whatever I say, immediately done. So if an ordinary person like me, he can do things without his personal endeavor, how far..., how Kṛṣṇa is great, that na tat-samaḥ, there is nobody equal to Him. How great He is, how powerful He is, you can just imagine. If the ordinary person can have some power that he hasn't got to do anything personally—simply by his desire everything is done—so why not Kṛṣṇa also? Where is the difficulty?
In the Bible I think it is said, "God said, 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." Is it not? So that is Kṛṣṇa. He simple desires, "Let there be creation," and immediately everything is ready. That is Kṛṣṇa. How it is being done? Automatically? No automatically. It is done regularly, as you do. Hetunā: there is cause. But the original cause is Kṛṣṇa's desire. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1).
So you realize the Absolute Truth in different stages, in the beginning as impersonal Brahman, impersonal Brahman. Just like you realize the sun as impersonal sunlight, then localized sun globe. But if you are able to enter into the sun globe, then you see the sun-god, Vivasvān. It is up to your power. But actually, from the person, sun-god, the light is coming. This is practical. The sun-god... Within the sun globe there is sun-god, Vivasvān. He is a person, Sūrya-nārāyaṇa. And there are persons also in that globe. They are living in the Sūryaloka. Similarly, there are person in the Candraloka. I do not know which Candraloka these people are going; they find no person there. But they say one side is dark. Whether one side is dark for them, in that side there may be. Anyway... So, yes. Then go on.
Everything is relative. You cannot walk... The ant cannot walk. Therefore it should be like this, it should be like that, according to my convenience. No, relative. You have got greater power, greater speed than... My speed, your speed, may (be) different. Therefore what is one hundred years for me, it may be one second for you. It is relative, all relative truth. In your calculation it is one hundred years. In my calculation it is one second. Therefore Brahmā's duration of life is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). Brahmaṇe, Here also divyam. Sahasrābdam. Now divyaṁ sahasrābdam. Brahmā's one day, one twelve hours, daytime, we cannot calculate.
So rascals will say these are all imagination. Not imagination. Because relative truth. Your speed, your power... Just like an ant. An ant lives, say, for few hours. That is also his hundred years. A germ lives for few seconds. That is also his hundred years. So this hundred years, they are relative. One hundred years calculation your, one hundred years of the demigods or one hundred years calculation of the ant, they are not the same. According to the body, according to the power, the calculation is there. Time is unlimited. Time is unlimited, but according to my body, a certain duration of period, I say it is hundred years, when we make our history. So therefore it is said, divyaṁ sahasra.
So actually I am not this body. So if by some method I can see it, that is samādhi. We have got a limited number of breathing power. This is going on, breathing. So everyone has got... Just like you have got bank balance—one has got one thousand or hundred years, er, one hundred dollars or one thousand dollars—similarly, every living entity has got a number of breathings. That is...(break) But if you spend, if you spend, then one day it becomes one dollar. So the yoga practice is not to waste this breathing. The breathing is wasted when you eat voraciously, when you have sex life, when you are... These breathings are lost, wasted. So one has to control these things. Then breathing will be reserved. And plus, by samādhi, no breathing. That is the process of increasing life.
Unless there is sunlight, you cannot see. So how can you say that "Our seeing is absolute"? It is relative. So whatever knowledge we are getting, they're all relative knowledge. Relative means according to my power I am studying, "This is this. This is this." But they are all wrong. You do not know what is actually the position. Therefore the conclusion is that we have to take knowledge from the perfect. Śāstra-cakṣusā. Your eyes should be... Actually we are doing that. Now, directly we are seeing the sun. We see just like the disk. But when you go through scientific books, geographic and other authorit..., astronomy, they, "No, the sun is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet." So actually we are understanding about the sun not by our direct eyes but through the authoritative knowledge, through the śāstra, through the books.
Pradyumna: "The Lord's order descends in disciplic succession through the bona fide spiritual master, and thus execution of the order of the bona fide spiritual master is factual control of the senses. Such execution of penance in full faith and sincerity made Brahmājī so powerful that he became the creator of the universe. And because he was able to attain such power, he is called the best amongst all the tapasvīs."
Prabhupāda: Nārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim: "If you cannot approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then what is the value of your tapasya?" Ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim: "And if someway or other, if you approach Kṛṣṇa, there is no more necessity of tapasya." You have already got all the results of tapasya.
"Marriage will be done simply by agreement." Now it is... Just see. It is being done. Svīkāra eva. Svīkāra means agreement: "I accept you." No actual marriage ceremony is performed. Practically marriage is going out of date. So these symptoms are there. Dāmpatye ratim eva hi. Husband and wife's relations will be stronger if there is sex power. That's all. Otherwise divorce. Just see the symptoms. Dāmpatye ratim... Sūtratam... Sūtrate... Vipra. Vipratve sūtra-dhāraṇam: "A brāhmaṇa means having a piece of thread, that's all." Vipratve sūtra-dhāraṇam. And only two-paisa worth sūtra will... Just like in India: "Oh, I am brāhmaṇa because I have got this thread." That's all. Vipratve sūtra-dhāraṇam.
This is Kali-yuga, very abominable condition, precarious condition. You cannot get justice, you cannot get nice food, you cannot get nice treatment, your age is diminished, your power is diminished, everything is topsy-turvied. The best thing is to prepare yourself very quickly to go back to home, back to Godhead, and there you become one of them, like these Vaikuṇṭha persons. These are the description already there. So many ornaments. We do not see what is... If you ask somebody... They may have some plastic utensils, but if you ask somebody that "Have you seen pearl, sapphire, or coral, or diamond?" everyone will say, "I have never seen in my life." And still they are proud: "Oh, we are now advanced."
Anyway, forty thousands of years. So who is going to live for forty thousand years to see and go and see and come back? They cannot go even to the moon planet, theorizing. How they can go? But this is fact. If you have got power, you go and see. But they cannot go a few miles, and they are proud that "We have known everything. We know everything." This is their foolishness. Our knowledge is so imperfect; still, we are proud of our knowledge: "Oh, I have known everything. I know everything. I am God. I am God." So, and foolish like that... Just like a foolish child, he is declaring himself, "I am God," and there are so many followers: "Oh, he is God, he is God." That's it. They do not know what is God. At least we know what is God in this sense, that our God, when... Actually He is God. Therefore, at the age of seven years, He lifted a big mountain on the finger. So we accept this God.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa, but He is adhokṣajam, beyond our sense perception. Adhokṣaja. Adhah-kṛtaṁ akṣajaṁ jñānam. Our knowledge is limited within this sense perception. That's all. We can see so long the light is there. If the light is not there, then our seeing power is finished. Therefore it is limited. And Kṛṣṇa is beyond this limitation. Therefore His name is Adhokṣaja. Adhah-kṛtaṁ akṣajaṁ indriya-jñānaṁ yena. Akṣajaṁ jñānam means "knowledge acquired by sense perception." Akṣaja. Akṣa means "eyes," and ja means "generated." So I see this book because my eyes are seeing it is book. But as soon as the light is off, I cannot see where is the book and where is the table, where you are. Similarly, we cannot see at the present moment by the imperfect senses what is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is Kṛṣṇa's kindness that He has appeared before you in a manner by which you can see Him. This is Kṛṣṇa's mercy.
That's all. And out of those persons who are interested, some may understand what is Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is not so very easily understood, but by the grace of Kṛṣṇa we can understand Him if we follow. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: (BG 7.7) "My dear Dhanañjaya, there is no more superior power than Me, or greater than Me." So if we accept the statement of Kṛṣṇa, then we understand Kṛṣṇa immediately. Otherwise, by speculation, it is not possible. That is the fact. There are so many... Such a person, such a big, who is estimated as very, very big person, Mahatma Gandhi, he could not understand Kṛṣṇa. From his writing we see. He said, "I don't believe that there was any person Kṛṣṇa living ever." Just see. He could not understand.
So Kardama Muni, the wife, a king's daughter, but she was serving the husband, and... The yogi, in a cottage he was living, and she was king's daughter, princess. So working, working, she became very skinny. So Kardama Muni took (com)passion upon her that "This girl has come to me. She is not in a comfortable position." So by his yogic power, he created big palatial house, many servants, maidservants, garden, everything. Not only that. Kardama Muni created one airship. It was just like a small city. The modern airship—they have prepared 747—can carry about five hundred passengers. Of course, very big. But Kardama Muni created an airship just like a small city. In that airship there was nice lake and palaces and garden, and not only that, the airship traveled all over the universe.
They could not make any airship to go to the moon planet. But Kardama Muni, by his yogic power, he created an airship which could go to all the planets. This is yogic power. Aṇimā laghimā prāpti. All kinds of siddhi, material siddhi. Whatever he likes, he can do. That is yoga-siddhi. Not simply pressing the nose and making some gymnastic. One must gain the yogic siddhi. By the, by the siddhi-yogī, he can do everything he likes. He can become smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest. Whatever he likes he can get immediately in hand. Wherever he likes, he can go. That is yoga-siddhi.
Nature is mother, Goddess Durgā, material nature. But she is not independent. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). Durgā, Mother Durgā is so powerful that she can make, create... Sṛṣṭi-sthiti. She can maintain. Maintenance also in her power. So because she is the maidservant of Kṛṣṇa... Chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā. Durgā bibharti, maintains. But it works like chāya. Icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. She is not independent. She works under the direction of Govinda. And Govinda says also in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: (BG 9.10) "Under My order." So prakṛti will be unkind. As we have seen, the Mother Durgā is chastising the asura on the chest; the trident, triśūla, is piercing. Why? Because he's asura.
This fireworks is going on. The fire is there, and there are small sparks. So long the fire and the small sparks are together, they are illumination. Similarly, if we connect with Kṛṣṇa, then we are illuminated. As Kṛṣṇa is illuminated, we are also illuminated, although we are small. But if we fall down from Kṛṣṇa, the original fire, we become extinguished. Our spiritual power, our spiritual illumination, becomes extinguished. Therefore yoga system means again connecting the link. That is called yoga. Yoga, the Sanskrit word, means connect, and viyoga means disconnect.
People do not know what is the aim of life. Just like they are called śūdras. Śūdras means they do not know what is the aim of life. Just like animal. Animal does not know what is the aim of life. That is ignorance. And passion is power, creative power, or working for sense gratification. That is called passion. And goodness means knowledge. One can see what is what.
So Kṛṣṇa also says, all śāstra says, that our only obligation is to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and if we take to that process, then we are no more obliged to anyone. We are free. That is really freedom. How it is done? That is the almighty God's power. He can do that. Just like we have got practical experience. If a man is condemned to death, nobody can save him by law. But if the president or the king excuses him, then he is saved. That we have got practical experience, king's mercy or the president's mercy. So if you actually surrender your everything, your life... Prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā. We can sacrifice our life, our wealth... Prāṇa, artha... We can sacrifice the intelligence.
She is working under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. So a devotee knows this. Just like a policeman is working. A sane man knows that he is working not independently, but under the government order. This knowledge required, not that that because policeman has got some power, he becomes God. No. God is not so cheap. You can accept... Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). God has got multi-energies. One of the energies is Durgā, not that she is all in all, no. There are many millions of Durgās, many millions of Śivas, because there are many millions of universes. Just like many millions of police force, similarly, these demigods, there are many, many millions. But God is one. God is not million. Of course, He can expand in million forms; that is different thing. Svāṁśa, vibhinnāṁśa.
Nothing comes automatically. How it comes automatically? That is rascaldom. It has come through the intelligence of Kṛṣṇa. But His power is so fine and so accurate that svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. If you paint one picture of flower, you will have to arrange for so many things. Still, it will not be perfect. And this flower has come so perfectly. Does it mean there was no brain behind it? You nonsense. There is brain. And Kṛṣṇa says that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: (BG 9.10) "Don't think prakṛti, nature, is working automatically, no. Under My direction." So one has to eye, one has to develop that eye. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38). Then one can see how things are going on. That is required, bhaktyā. Bhaktyā pumāñ jāta-virāga aindriyāt. This will be possible.
They simply want to remain... That is the constitutional position. Here we are also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, although we are now covered by this material body. That can be dissolved. This material, it can be easily dissolved by bhakti-yoga. Therefore it is said that jarayaty āśu yā kośaṁ nigīrṇam analo yathā. Just like if you have got good digestive power, you eat anything—it will be digested. You will not find any difficulty. Similarly, if you have got strong bhakti-yoga, then you are not any more in material body. You are free. You are in spiritual body. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that māṁ ca yaḥ avyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate. Avyabhicāreṇa means without any deviation. Śuddha-bhakti, pure devotional service. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). They... Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam means any kind of material desire. The, this desire, that "I shall become one with the Supreme," that is also material desire. That is not spiritual desire. That is artificial.
And I am born in the asura families. I am inclined for this material enjoyment. So don't delude me, my dear Sir. Then I can ask You. And why shall I ask You? Because I have seen my father, so powerful even the demigods were afraid of him, and You have finished all his power within a second. So why shall I ask for these things? Kindly engage me in the service of Your servant. This much I want. I don't want anything."
Therefore a devotee never asks anything material from the Supreme Personality. As Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taught us, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). They are simply satisfied by glorifying the Lord. That is their only satisfaction.
You are not God. God is Nārāyaṇa." This was the father and son. So he did not believe in God. He was thinking, "I am God." Therefore, as Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham. Those who are atheists, who do not believe in God, the God comes before them as death and takes away everything, all his power, all his opulence, all his money, all his..., everything taken away. Mṛtyuḥ sarva...
When Kṛṣṇa was present, there was Giridhārī. Giridhārī, He lifted the mountain, Govardhana Hill. Govardhana-dhārī. So Nanda Mahārāja was arranging to worship the Indra, Indra-yajña. There are different kinds of yajña. But Indradeva was little proud that he is all in all. Everyone thinks... If he is in power, then he tries to give some trouble to others. Similarly, all the demigods, they are, if they are not satisfied, they will give you trouble. Similarly, the Indra-yajña was there, but Kṛṣṇa said to His father, "My dear father, there is no need of Indra-yajña. You better worship Govardhana Hill. He is symbolic representation of God because the cows, they get their food, grasses. So better you make this Govardhana-yajña." So first of all, Nanda Mahārāja was not willing, but out of the affection of Kṛṣṇa... That is devotee, that Kṛṣṇa... Devotees of Kṛṣṇa, they are acting always in love for Kṛṣṇa.
So Nanda Mahārāja changed his idea of worshiping Indra. Rather, on the contrary, all the ingredients he collected, he worshiped the Govardhana Hill and stopped Indra-yajña. So Indra became very much angry, and he sent the vicious cloud, and whole Vṛndāvana was inundated by flood. And Kṛṣṇa showed that "Your power is not even competent to compare with the finger of My hand." Therefore He lifted the Govardhana Hill with the finger of His left hand and saved all the people of Vṛndāvana. Then Indra came to worship Him. These things are there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
One who possesses the full opulence of richness. One who possesses all the powers, all the influence, all beauty, all knowledge, all renunciation, that is Bhagavān. So you haven't got to think very ser... You take the formula given in the Vedas. That is perfect knowledge. You understand everything. Therefore the intelligent man, they follow the Vedic injunction. Then the knowledge is perfect. It is already there.
'Please show your virāḍ-rūpa.' Then accept him. Otherwise don't accept." So God has virāḍ-rūpa. So both God and we are, living entity, are of the same quality. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means so 'ham. These words, Vedic words, are there to indicate that "Qualitatively, I am as good as God. He is spirit soul; I am also spirit soul. He has got creative power; I have got creative power. He has got senses; I have got senses." Everything just similar, facsimile. In the Bible it is said, "Man is made after God." Is it not said like that? That means God has exactly the same form. And therefore man is made also, the same form. So in this way both God and the living entities, they are anādi. Anādi, there is no beginning.
I have given this example many times: the original candle, and you ignite another candle. That is second candle, and from the second, from the third; from the third, the fourth. In this way, all the candles, although you say, "This is first candle, second candle, third candle, fourth candle," but they are all equally powerful. So far candle-power is concerned, they are equally the same. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's incarnation, Kṛṣṇa is the origin, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28), the origin, person, ādi-puruṣa. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. Still, the expansion of Kṛṣṇa... Just like the first expansion is Balarāma. Then Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha. Then Nārāyaṇa. Then again Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha.
In another place, in the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). Durgā is the material energy, and she has got immense power. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktiḥ. She is controlling this creation or this whole universe, sṛṣṭi, and sthiti, its maintenance, and pralaya. Three things she is controlling. She is so powerful. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). The durgā-śakti, material energy, she is so powerful, but it is working chāyeva, just like shadow.
Shadow has no independent capacity; it is dependent on the substance. Substance and shadow. So Kṛṣṇa is the substance, and the power derived from Kṛṣṇa, partially exhibited by the durgā-śakti. In the Upaniṣad also it is said, na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of God, He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaḥ. Nobody is equal to Him. Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcit: (BG 7.7) "There is nothing superior than Me, the Supreme." In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also it is said, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). That is the Supreme Truth.
They cannot understand that in the background of everything there is the supreme authority of God. This is called atheism. Although they are being kicked every moment by the modes of material nature, they are feeling that "I am under the control of some power, superior power..." That is appreciating. Just like I gave you the example: the death, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). They are trying to stop, the birth control, but still, the statistics is that every second or every moment, every three minutes, there is one population increased. So this is janma. Similarly, mṛtyu. Mṛtyu means death. So there are so much scientific improvement, medicine and technology and so many things, but who can check mṛtyu, death?
So behind the material nature there is God. Under His direction material nature is working. Chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). Durgā, the material nature power, is working just like chāya, shadow. So in this way... There is a Bengali verse,
- piśācī pāile yena mati-cchanna haya
- māyā-grasta jīvera haya se bhāva udaya
Piśācī, ghost, witch. There is some haunting of ghost, and when a man is ghostly haunted, he speaks so many nonsense. Māyā-grasta. Piśācī pāile yena mati-cchanna haya. Similarly, under the spell of māyā we defy everything, "Where is God? Can you show me God?" He is seeing every step God.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, "You rascal, you fool, mūḍha, you just follow Me." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is the whole story of spiritual life. Kṛṣṇa is the supreme leader. He is also a living being, He is also person like you and me, but He is ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇa. Therefore He is called Bhagavān. We cannot be called Bhagavān because our power is very limited, not pūrṇa. Therefore we become saguṇa. Kṛṣṇa does not become saguṇa. The Māyāvāda theory, that God, when He incarnates, He becomes saguṇa, that is wrong theory. Here it is said that brahmaṇaḥ saguṇasya ha. Saguṇasya brahmaṇaḥ, these twenty-five elements, they cover him, that means the living entity who has come in this material world. But Kapiladeva or Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, He is not saguṇa; He is always nirguṇa. Nirguṇa guṇa ca. In... The Bhagavān says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "Although He is nirguṇa, but He is the controller of the guṇas."
Agni does not move, but heat moves. That you have got experience. You have big fire in one place. The fire does not move, but you can feel the existence of fire by heat and light. Similarly, Bhagavān does not move. He has got immense power. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He moves by His energy. That is the difference between the Māyāvāda philosopher and Vaiṣṇava philosopher. Vaiṣṇava philosopher says the Bhagavān is staying in one place. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). He is staying. In the śāstra we understand that Kṛṣṇa... Vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya na padam ekaṁ gacchati: "Kṛṣṇa does not leave even by a step Vṛndāvana." He always remains there. So in the Brahma-saṁhitā also, it is stated that goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ.
"And they are My part and parcel." So why we should be other than Kṛṣṇa? We are exactly of the same quality. If Kṛṣṇa is spirit, then we are spirit. He is complete spirit; we are partial spirit. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Kṛṣṇa is living force; we are also living force. Kṛṣṇa has got creative power; we have got also creative power. Exactly all the qualities. Kṛṣṇa has got loving propensity; we have got loving propensity. Wherefrom this love has come? Because Kṛṣṇa loves Rādhārāṇī, and we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa; therefore we have learned how to love. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), the Vedānta-sūtra: "Everything is born out of the Supreme Person, everything, what we see." We are sample Kṛṣṇa, sample Kṛṣṇa. All the propensities, that we have inherited from our supreme father. Everything is there. Kṛṣṇa has got the same propensities. So why Kṛṣṇa should be imperson? That is not complete knowledge.
You open big, big fierceful, horrible industries." You will never find in Bhagavad-gītā. For your livelihood, Kṛṣṇa says very simple method. Annād bhavanti bhūtāni (BG 3.14). Annād. Anna, you produce anna. Why you are planning big, big industries? The oil will come from America through the channel, and the Arabia will refuse to supply oil. There will be power problem, so many things, one after another, one after another. But Kṛṣṇa does not say that do all these things, ghora. No. He says, annād bhavanti bhūtāni: "You just produce food grain." And bhavanti bhūtāni. Bhūtāni means all living entities, they will be stout and strong by eating. What you want more? Annād bhavanti bhūtāni parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ. And if there is sufficient rain, then automatically, then it will be very easy to grow food grains.
If you increase your modes of goodness, then you gradually promoted more and more comfortable situation. If you go to the Siddhaloka, immediately you become a perfect yogi. The yogis are trying to get some power, material power, aṇimā laghimā prāpti-siddhi. If one gets this prāpti... Prāpti-siddhi means whatever he likes he can get immediately. That is cal... And people become after him, "Oh, here is God. He is creating rasagullā." (laughter) You see? Yes. One yogi in Benares, he... Anyone who would come to him, immediately he will present two rasagullā in a pot. He will give, and immediately rasagullā will be there. And big, big men, they become surprised, "Oh, here is God." He does not say, "What is the price of these rasagullā?"
God gave lessons to Brahmā. Brahmā gave lessons to Nārada. Nārada gave lessons to Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva gave lessons to us. This is Vyāsadeva's contribution. And if you follow this disciplic succession, then you get perfect knowledge. Otherwise, if you speculate, then you are in darkness, tamasi. What power you have got? All your senses are imperfect. How you can get perfect knowledge? That is not possible. Therefore the injunction is, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: (MU 1.2.12) "You must go to guru." And who is guru? This paramparā system. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2).
Even our eyelids moving under the direction of some demigod. And demigods, they are different parts and parcels, bodily limbs of whole Kṛṣṇa. So do not mind, "Why Bhāgavata is studying Kṛṣṇa so analytically?" That is required. If we understand Kṛṣṇa by analytical study, how His divine power is working throughout the whole universe, within the atom, within myself, within the movable, immovable, everywhere, antaryāmī... Eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭim (Bs. 5.35). Jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. This universe, that is not one universe. We are in one of the universes. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu has described, "As there are many multimillions of mustard seed within a bag..." Just imagine. If you bring one bag of mustard seed, round, round. So that round, round seed, that each and every universe. So one devotee of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Vāsudeva Datta, he prayed to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, "Sir, You have come.
What is that? Vaiṣamyād gandha eko vibhidyate. In the previous verse the gandha, from gandha, from smell, fragrance or smell, ghrāṇas tu gandhagaḥ. So in the smelling power, nostril, they perceive different varieties. Variety is there. Although the thing is one, one Kṛṣṇa, but even in His material energy, He is perceived in varieties of things. That is the purpose of this Sāṅkhya philosophy, how one has become many. Ekaṁ bahu syām.
"By meditation, by spiritual advancement, now I am greater than Kṛṣṇa." Yes. They are not, neither equal nor below, but they are thinking greater than Him. "With the progress of time the human being is advancing in knowledge. So by their meditational power, they can become greater than Kṛṣṇa." So that is foolishness. That is not possible. This is also māyā. Just like māyā is acting in so many ways. Sometimes we are thinking, "There is no Kṛṣṇa, no God. We are, every one of us are God." Similarly, to think of greater than Kṛṣṇa is another illusioning curtain of māyā. Māyā is not getting you out very easily. He will put so many impediments. Therefore bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate: (BG 7.19) "After many, many births, when actually becomes wise, then he understands that 'I am nothing. Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, He is everything.' "
So became gradually very lean and thin, and she was very beautiful, king's daughter. So Kardama Muni thought that "Her father gave me, and she is becoming deteriorated in her health, in her beauty. So as husband, I have got to do something for her." So by yoga power he constructed a big city airplane. That is yogic power. Not 747. (laughter) A such a big city, there was lake, there was garden, there was maidservant, big, big palaces, and the whole thing was floating in the sky, and he made her see all the different planets. In this way... That is stated in the Fourth Chapter, you can read it. So as a yogi he satisfied her in every respect. And then she wanted children. So Kardama Muni begot in her nine daughters and one son, with the promise that "As soon as you get your children, then I will go away. I am not going to live forever with you."
He'll eat anything, up to the stool. So if you say that "We have to accept food," well, even stool is also food for a certain type of animals. And by eating that stool, it becomes very much fatty. And their sense power is so strong that daily, at least one dozen times, they are having sexual intercourse. And there is no discrimination whether it is mother or sister or any daughter. It doesn't matter. You'll find in hog's life, they have no discrimination.
So Ṛṣabhadeva is warning, "My dear boys, this life, this human form of life, is not meant for gratifying the senses like the hogs." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). Then what it is mean? What for?
Hiraṇyakaśipu tried. Hiraṇyakaśipu, you know Prahlāda Mahārāja's father, he was defeated by the demigods. Therefore he left home and went for tapasya, to become immortal. So he was a demon, so he was undergoing tapasya, other demigods, not Kṛṣṇa, because he was against Kṛṣṇa. Demons means against God. They'll never go to God. They'll go to somebody else for power. So Hiraṇyakaśipu, when Brahmā visited, that, "Why you are undergoing so serious tapasya that the whole world is trembling by your tapasya? What do you want?" So he said, "I want to become immortal." Lord Brahmā said, "That is not in my power because myself is not also immortal? How can I give immortality?"
Within a second, everything finished. Within a second. He was going on car very nicely, protected, thinking protection, but just in a moment—finished. So that possibility is for everyone. Even the President of America, Mr. Kennedy, he could not save himself, in spite of so much power and opulence. And what of us? We have to think, you see, very with cool head that every arrangement here in this world, however nice you may think, however you may be free, they are all temporary, all temporary, backed up by full of misery. Unless one is not conversant with this principle of life, he cannot actually seriously take up what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Salvation means liberation from this material bondage. People do not understand what is material bondage, but those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are educated what is bondage and what is liberation.
A spirit soul, being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, he is by nature very powerful. We do not know how much spiritual power we have got, but that is being suppressed by the material covering. Just like this fire. This fire, if there are too many ashes, the heat of the fire is not properly felt. But you move the ashes and just fan it, and when it is blazing, then you get the proper heat and you can utilize it for so many purposes. Similarly, we, as spirit soul, we have immense power. And God is the supreme spirit soul, so we cannot imagine how much power God has got. But even we, who are a simply minute particle... Just like...
Society, friendship and love, these things are required. But a mahātmā householder, he is seeking actual friendship with Kṛṣṇa. Īśe sauhṛdārthāḥ. Because he knows, "If Kṛṣṇa is my friend..." Just like Arjuna sought friendship with Kṛṣṇa; Duryodhana sought friendship with Kṛṣṇa's power. Kṛṣṇa divided Himself. Because it was a family warfare between two cousin brothers, and Kṛṣṇa was also related with both of them by family relationship, so He said, "How can I take part with one and not with the other? Then that will be partiality. So anyway, I divide Myself into two. I am alone, one side, and in which side I shall go, I shall not fight. I shall not touch even a weapon. And the other side, all My soldiers." Kṛṣṇa had many soldiers. So Duryodhana thought that "I shall take Kṛṣṇa's soldiers," and Arjuna thought, "I shall take Kṛṣṇa only, even He does not fight."
They also mix with infected persons, but they do not become infected. You see. So preaching is like that. Unless you preach among the fallen souls, then where is the question of preaching? So you should not become fallen. (laughs) You should deliver the fallen. That should be your strength. But if you are less powerful, then you will become fallen. So your power is, your strength is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, strong Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you will be powerful. You'll not fall. So we should be careful. All right. So little chanting? (devotees offer obeisances) Mukunda has not come back? Why he is so late? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nobody has come back from London? You are coming from the temple, Uttamaśloka? You are coming from the temple, Jim? Oh, you are living here.
That will depend on your work. Just like this is described as the dress. Now, if this dress is spoiled or torn, you have to purchase another dress. That will depend on your purchasing power. Similarly, after this dress is spoiled, no more usable, you have to purchase another body. That may be a dog's body or a god's body—that depends on your purchasing power. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). There are deva-lokas, Indraloka, Candraloka, Brahmaloka, so many, millions of years' age, a thousand times better standard of life. That also you can get. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ. And if you are in the karma-kāṇḍīya, then you can go to the pitṛ-loka. And bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni: and if you remain a materialistic person, you remain here.
Acyutānanda: If Kṛṣṇa has created the universe, then who has created Kṛṣṇa? How did He acquire such immense powers?
Prabhupāda: Hmm. This is foolishness. (laughter) That is explained of course. Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca abhijñaḥ svarāṭ (SB 1.1.1). This word is used. Kṛṣṇa means janmādy asya yataḥ. Kṛṣṇa also explains ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). He is the origin of everything. But He's svarāṭ, there is no more origin of Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). That is said in the śāstra: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, anādi (Bs. 5.1). He has no ādi. Anādi, ādi. He is the ādi origin of everything, but He has no ādi.
When he has no other help, he fully surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa's special mercy. And so far Lord Śiva is concerned, he is the husband of mother Durgā, and Durgā is the supreme material power, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni vibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). So he gets all material benediction, and Vaiṣṇava, instead of material benediction, he gets all spiritual benediction. That is the difference.
He can become the bigger than the biggest. So Arjuna, when he saw the viśvarūpa, He showed him the bigger-than-the-biggest form. But His usual form is two-handed and two leg. Just like it is said in the Bible, "Man is made after the image of God." So God has got two hands, two legs exactly. But He is the omnipotent, almighty. Our power is limited, His power is unlimited. Otherwise He has got form.
In the Vedic literature the father, the teacher, the king, they are advised to look upon them as God. This is for the common person. But when he is advanced, then he goes above, that there is God above father, above king, above teacher. So according to the stages, there are different literatures in the Vedic knowledge. Sometimes demigods are also accepted. So they have also got power, but... Controller, they are also controller, but the ultimate controller is fixed up—īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). "The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa." That is the verdict of the Vedas. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) "There is no more superior controller or person than Me." So that is Absolute. Everywhere you will find. Suppose if you accept me God, but I am controlled by somebody else.
When you talk, you will talk about Kṛṣṇa only. You practice. You always see, you see Kṛṣṇa's picture, Kṛṣṇa's Deity. You hear Kṛṣṇa's topics, Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In, in this way engage all your senses. Your seeing power, your hearing power, your talking power, your eating power, your sleeping power. Everything, if you make Kṛṣṇa conscious, then generally or automatically, you'll remember at the time of death Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as you remember Kṛṣṇa, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6), then your life is perfect. There is no difficulty. Simply you have to practice. Abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena cetasā nānya-gāminā (BG 8.8). Don't allow your mind to go astray, then everything is all right. Hm.
Pradyumna: "The Supreme Personality of Godhead has innumerable energies, and all these energies are divine. Although the living entities are part of His energies and are therefore divine, due to contact with material energy, their original superior power is covered."
Prabhupāda: We have to work under some energy. This is our position. We are also energy. Just like two energies, the negative and positive, works on electricity, similarly... There are varieties of energies. We are also one of the energies of God. So our position is marginal energy. We can work under spiritual energy, we can work under material energy. We have to take shelter of another energy. Therefore our position is marginal. We can take shelter of the material energy or the spiritual energy, as we like. If we take the shelter of material energy, then we become entangled.
He lifted the Govardhana Hill, immediately we dismiss, "Oh, this is all mythology." Why? If He has got inconceivable power—He is all-powerful—is it very difficult for Him to lift the Govardhana Hill? "No, we don't believe in God. Even if we believe, we want to believe in our own way." That is bhāvyam, conceivable. But He is durvibhāvyam. You cannot conceive. Two contradict things. Just like here Kṛṣṇa said, Ṛṣabhadeva, that sattvaṁ hi me hṛdayaṁ yatra dharmaḥ. The dharma and adharma, they are two contradictory thought. But He is the source of dharma and adharma both. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Adharma, which we hate, that is also coming from God. Janmādya asya yataḥ. Otherwise... That is explained here. Pṛṣṭhe. Pṛṣṭhe kṛto me yad adharma ārāt. So adharma is also there in God—on the back side.
So in this way, varieties of life, beginning from the insects and the aquatics, animal, up to the point of Lord Brahmā. But they are all within this material world. It does not mean because the Gandharvas, Siddhas, they have got higher standard of life and power hundreds and thousands times more than our power, do not think that they are liberated persons. They are not liberated person. They are all conditioned soul. Ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokān punar āvartino arjuna. All these conditioned soul, according to karma, they are getting different types of body. One has got the body of an ant, and one has got the body of Brahmā, Lord Brahmā. But that is not our aim. Our aim is how to avoid this material body.
A small grain of gold, by quality it is gold, not that because it is small, it is something else. It is the same thing. Similarly, we are also pavitram, pure, but that small can fall down sometimes and becomes apavitra. So we are just like sparks of fire, so so long we are in the fire, this quality of the spark is also fire. It is also illuminating. It is also has got the quality of burning power, small quantity. But when the spark falls down from the fire it becomes extinguished, the fiery quality. That is our position. We have fallen down from the quality, and we have to revive it. Just like a person becomes diseased. Diseased is not his permanent position. That is a temporary infection.
How it is possible that...? He's born in low-grade family, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā. How he became so purified that he can see? Now prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ. This is Kṛṣṇa's influence. He can do that. If you take shelter, upāśrayāśrayāḥ, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa is pleased to reveal Himself. That is Kṛṣṇa's special power, Viṣṇu's special power. He can be seen even by the kirāta-hūṇāndhra andhra, and He cannot be seen even by the most purified brāhmaṇa. That is His option. He is not exposed to be seen by everyone. That is not possible.
So to such person the madhyama-adhikārī cannot preach because it is useless waste of time. If one is innocent but not envious we can preach there. That will be, I mean to say, fruitful. If we go to atheist and you go on speaking, he will never accept it. So don't waste your time in that way. That is nāma-aparādha. But because we have not so much power that we can convert an atheist to become theist or devotee of God That requires special power.
So mahā-bhāgavata means he is above the madhyama-adhikārī. He does not see anyone nondevotee. He sees everyone devotee. He sees all living entities existing in Kṛṣṇa, and he sees Kṛṣṇa is living within the heart of everyone. That is mahā-bhāgavata. What is that verse? Sarva... Mayi paśyati.
So this is Kṛṣṇa's opulence. We do not know what is actually opulence. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya. What is Kṛṣṇa's opulence, it is impossible to calculate. It is said that Ananta, Anantadeva, Śeṣaśāyī Anantadeva, He has got thousands and thousands of hoods, and He is chanting, describing about Kṛṣṇa, in ananta, unlimited mouths, for unlimited time. It is still unable. Advaitam acyutam ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). This is yogic power. Therefore it is said, nānā-yoga-caryācaraṇam: "All yogic perfection is there."
This is spiritual. Spiritual means when the center is Kṛṣṇa. That is spiritual. Otherwise it is material. That is material means to forget Kṛṣṇa and satisfy His own senses. That is material. Just like a flower, a nice flower. One is accepting this flower for satisfying his smelling power and another is accepting the same flower with the desire that "Here is a nice flower. Let me offer it to Kṛṣṇa." So according to different mentality. The Kṛṣṇa, sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravindayor (SB 9.4.18), if we simply engage our mind to Kṛṣṇa, naturally the flower will be offered to Kṛṣṇa.
That is the aim of human life. Unfortunately, they have given up this idea, the aim of life is to understand God. You inquire all over the world, 99.9% will deny God or they have no clear idea of God. Even the so-called religionists, they have also no clear idea. Maybe some power; no clear idea. Neither they are interested to know. But so far we are concerned, we have got full description of the Lord and His pastimes, His activities. Everything is recorded in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other Vedic literatures. 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.
| Page Title: | Power (Lectures, SB cantos 2 - 5) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 15 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=84, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 84 |