Umāpati: Could you elaborate on the definition of śraddhā?
Prabhupāda: Śraddhā is explained in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Śraddhā means firm conviction. That is śraddhā. Just like Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the Supermost." So if you have firm conviction in Kṛṣṇa's words, that is śraddhā.
Umāpati: Yes.
Prabhupāda: If you have doubts, then that is not śraddhā.
Umāpati: So therefore one can understand only if one is in śraddhā.
Prabhupāda: No, that śraddhā has to be increased.
Umāpati: How it is increased?
Prabhupāda: The beginning of śraddhā means firm conviction.
Umāpati: How is it śraddhā does not exist in one person, and it does exist...
Prabhupāda: No, śraddhā is there. It has to be awakened.
Umāpati: Śraddhā is in every person then.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore I say it is covered. It is covered. That covering has to be taken away. That is called bhajana (indistinct). That is called culture.
Umāpati: Upāsanā.
Prabhupāda: Upāsanā, bhajana, sādhana, culture, whatever you say. He has to awaken that śraddhā, more and more.
Yaśomatīnandana: Prabhupāda, is every jīva given a chance in the beginning to go in the spiritual world? Then he falls down, or...?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Yaśomatīnandana: Or sometimes the jīva may choose directly...
Prabhupāda: The jīva is atomic. It is smaller than the atoms. One ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatāṁśaḥ sādṛśātmakaḥ (CC Madhya 19.140). So every living entity, atom.
Yaśomatīnandana: Is he first allowed...?
Prabhupāda: Less than the atom. Smaller than the atom.
Yaśomatīnandana: Is he allowed to associate with Kṛṣṇa in the beginning?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Yaśomatīnandana: As jīva, as jīva is...
Prabhupāda: He's always with Kṛṣṇa. Simply he has forgotten. Have you not been with Kṛṣṇa? We are standing on this sand. The sand is Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's energy. We are standing by the water. This is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). Don't you read that? So is it different from Kṛṣṇa?
Yaśomatīnandana: No, but it is...
Prabhupāda: My body is also Kṛṣṇa's energy. I am also Kṛṣṇa's energy. I am always with Kṛṣṇa. Simply I have forgotten it.
Yaśomatīnandana: But this is Kṛṣṇa's inferior energy, right?
Prabhupāda: That may be. That is a comparative study, inferior or superior. But it is energy.
Yaśomatīnandana: Yes.
Prabhupāda: As energy, it is not different from Kṛṣṇa, as energy.
Yaśomatīnandana: Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19).
Prabhupāda: Yes. As energy, how can you differentiate from Kṛṣṇa?
Umāpati: You give the... It could be described as like the growth of a plant as compared to the energy of the sun.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Umāpati: The growth of a plant as compared to the energy of the sun.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Umāpati: The growth of the plant is the inferior energy, and the... (loud waves)
Prabhupāda: Yes, there are so many things. That is comparative study. But... (loud waves) Energy is not different from the energetic. Sunshine is not different from the sun. Idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ. Everything is Bhagavān, but it appears like different.
Yaśomatīnandana: Is that what it means by sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Yaśomatīnandana: Everything is spiritual, but when it is... due to our ignorance, we think it is material.
Prabhupāda: Yes, but don't associate with... (indistinct) ...must realize.
Yaśomatīnandana: So Māyāvādīs artificially think that?
Prabhupāda: Yes. They have no realization.
Yaśomatīnandana: Somebody even asked me about what is material and what is spiritual, Prabhupāda. I said that whatever is in connection with God is spiritual and whatever is not in connection with God is material. Is that right?
Prabhupāda: That's nice, that's nice.
Karandhara: The consciousness makes a difference.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Karandhara: Your consciousness makes the difference.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Karandhara: Because everything is in connection with God except for our own consciousness when we're in māyā.
Prabhupāda: Just like we are taking prasādam. How it is spiritual?
Yaśomatīnandana: It is offered to Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Umāpati: By our knowledge, that it is...
Prabhupāda: By knowledge... Because it is offered to Kṛṣṇa. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there. So anything which is accepted in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is spiritual thing.