Therefore śūnyavādi, or nirviśeṣa-vādi, they are not liberated. They are still in māyā. Vimukta-māninaḥ. In the Bhāgavata it is said that they are thinking, concocting that they have become liberated. Actually they are not liberated. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. Māninaḥ. Say somebody thinks that "I'm the proprietor of all the banks." Let him think like that. But that does not mean he has become the proprietor of the banks. That is a different thing. Similarly, one may think that "I have become liberated," but actually he's not liberated. Liberated is he who is engaged in the service of the Lord. He's liberated. Nobody's liberated. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Just like they are going to the Moon planet. They have got very high speed sputniks. Simply riding on, boarding on high-speed sputnik does not mean he has gone to the moon planet. Actually he has to go there and live there. Then it is successful. But what they are doing? They are going and coming back. They are going and coming back. Similarly, āruhya kṛcchṛeṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanti adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). If you have to stay in the higher status of life, brahma anubhūti, then you'll have to come back again. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa. Kṛcchreṇa means by practicing severe austerities, penances, one may go up to the Brahman effulgence, paraṁ padam. That is called paraṁ padam. But because there is no stay... Just like in the sky. You may go with high speed, but if you cannot stay in some planet, you'll have to come back again. Similarly, āruhya kñcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ, patanti adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. Because they cannot get shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, they have to come down again to these material activities. And we have seen practically, so many big, big sannyāsīs, they give up this material world, take sannyāsa to understand Brahman, but because they could not understand Brahman, they again come to open hospital and schools. That is their business. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanti adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32).
Sputnik (Lectures Other)
Lectures
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
That is called paraṁ pada. According to Vaiṣṇava, paraṁ pada means to go to Vaikuṇṭha or Goloka Vṛndāvana and be engaged as servant, eternal servant of the Lord. But according to the jñānīs, the paraṁ pada means merge into the effulgence of brahma-jyotir. Śāstra says that āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam (SB 10.2.32). To go to that paraṁ padam, that is also not very easy. Kṛcchreṇa. Severe austerities and penances, one has to undergo to merge into the Brahman effulgence. Therefore you'll find, the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, their stricture is very rigid. They must take bath thrice in, in a day and lie down underneath a tree and... Their renunciation is very rigid. Of course, those who are strictly following. In our Brahmā, Vaiṣṇava sannyāsa, there is little leniency. Because they live in Kṛṣṇa, so there is no need of very strict, rigid following. Although it is stated that they should live like this. But there is leniency. But Māyāvāda, they are very rigid in their principles of sannyāsa life. That is called āruhya kṛcchreṇa. Kṛcchreṇa, with great difficulty, they merge into the Brahman effulgence. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam (SB 10.2.32). They attain in the perfectional stage. Not perfectional. Paraṁ padam. In the spiritual realm. But patanty adhaḥ. Again falls down. Again falls down means because in the effulgence there is no varieties. The example is just like you have got a nice sputnik or, what is called...?
Rocket, rocket. You have not very nice rocket running at the speed of eighteen thousand miles or twenty-five thousand miles per hour. But you may go. If you don't take, if you don't get shelter in some planet... Just as they're going in the moon planet, but do not get shelter and come back, similarly, supposing they are getting shelter, but that shelter is not very secure. They again come back. So without shelter, how long you can fly in the sky? The sky is unlimited. You can fly on your sputnik or capsules, but if you don't get the shelter in some planet, then again you come back to your place. So this is... The same example is given in the Bhāgavata: āruhya kṛcchreṇa, with great scientific method you can go up. But if you don't get a shelter, then you come back again on this planet. Similarly, the nondevotees, the impersonalists, they undergo severe penances and austerities undoubtedly, and they rise up to the brahma-jyotir... Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). From there, he again falls down.
So you can prepare. If you want to go to the higher planetary system, you can worship demigods. The Candra, the Moon planet, you are trying to go there. In this way you cannot go. But if you prepare in this life how to be promoted in the Moon planet or sun planet or heavenly planet, then you prepare yourself. Yānti... Not by force. You cannot go by your teeny sputnik and enter into the sun planet. That is not possible. You have to prepare yourself in this life. Yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). This is the injunction. But Kṛṣṇa also says, ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). Even if you go to the Brahmaloka, the highest planet of this universe, still you have to come back again. Mad dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. Therefore a, a sane person should try in this life how to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is the highest perfection of life. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is teaching people how to go back to home, back to Godhead. Take advantage of this movement and be happy.
Because unless we get some shelter, we cannot stay in the impersonal feature. Just like yesterday I spoke that you may go very high on your sputnik or airplane, but if you don't get any shelter in some planet, then you have to come back again on this planet. That is actually, we are experiencing. They are trying to go to the moon planet, but because they are not able to stay there, they come back again. First of all, whether they are actually going in the moon planet, that is also a questionable thing. Anyway, even they go there, why they are coming back again? They cannot stay there.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
So if one is intelligent enough, if he has got actually the bitter taste of this material world, he'll never agree. He'll never agree. But those who have not advanced to such knowledge, oh, they think, "Oh, this material enjoyment is very nice. Let me taste it and let me do business in my sannyāsī life, and stealthily and privately, let me enjoy." These things are going on. That means they have no taste. They come to hospital-making or this philanthropy. This come again. Sthānād bhraṣṭād patanty adhaḥ. Ye 'nye aravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. "Those fools who are thinking that 'Simply by thinking myself, "I am God, I am Brahman, I have become liberated," ' " but ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvāt (SB 10.2.32), "but there is no knowledge about You, Kṛṣṇa," āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam, "they, after performing so much austerity and penances, they rise up to the highest position, Brahman realization, but," patanty adhaḥ, "they fall down." We have got so many instances. They take sannyāsa. They say that brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: "This world is false. Brahman is truth." But after some days, they come to politics, they come to sociology, they come to hospital, they come to this and that. That's all. Finished. Brahman finished. Patanty adhaḥ. They must fall down because they have no shelter in Kṛṣṇa. Just like the sputnik goes very high, clap, hear clap. Uh, come down again. Where you'll go? Yes. Simply for the time being clapping, that's all. (laughs) But the fools, they are so nonsense, they are satisfied with that temporary clapping. That's all.
Supreme position means to come to the point of realization of Brahman. Impersonal realization of Brahman, that is not also a joke. It may be impersonal, but that position is very high. That is accepted. That Vaiṣṇavas, or the personalists, they also accept, "Oh, their position is very high." But the difficulty is that Bhāgavata says, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ (SB 10.2.32). Although they come to the almost nearer, but, anādṛtaḥ patanty adhaḥ. Anādṛta, because they have no shelter. Just like... It is not joke. If you go up by a sputnik some few hundreds and thousands of miles, that is not joke. That is not to be ridiculed. But the danger is that if you do not have shelter, then you come down. If you have no shelter, then what is the use of going up? That shelter is Kṛṣṇa, that supreme abode or Vaikuṇṭhaloka, kingdom of God. So because they have no idea that there is kingdom of God or God is person, you can reach there, you can talk with Him, therefore they have no shelter and their intelligence is not purified, because they have not still completed what is actual knowledge. Actual knowledge, it is stated in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). That is actual knowledge. When he comes to the point of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrenders: "My Lord, I have simply wasted my time in this way. Now I understand vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19), You are Vasudeva, Kṛṣṇa. You are everything." That is the ultimate end of knowledge.
So one who does not know this simple fact, then he may go on indulging, wasting his time by meditation, by cultivation of knowledge, by exercise, by pressing nose, or so many things. He is not in the, actually in the factual position. So such persons, in spite of their austerity, in spite of their severe penances... Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ (SB 10.2.32). Although they realize that "Here is the Absolute Truth," or "Here is the light," or "Here is the essence," but because they do not engage in the devotional service of the Lord, or because they have no shelter under the lotus feet of the Lord, they fall down. Surely they fall down. The same example: you may go very high on a sputnik, ten thousand miles off from this earth, but if you have no shelter there, then naturally, you have to come back again here. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ (SB 10.2.32). You may go high, very high. That's all right. But if you don't approach the moon planet or the Venus planet, or any other planet for which you started But these people, they are so foolish they are taking simply clap by wandering in the space a few thousand miles. They think, "This is our perfection. Because I have come so high, and 20,000 miles off from the earth planet, and there is clapping, 'Oh, sputnik has gone...' " But where is your result? The result must be you must reach to the moon planet. Then That is minus. Similarly, all these exercises, all this cultivation of knowledge, if they do not reach to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, they are sure to come down again to these material activities. They are sure. Because they have no taste for Kṛṣṇa, they have to They will come again for opening hospitals and so on, so many activities, material activities.
Festival Lectures
So, these are the perfection of life, not that teeny, floating sputnik. (laughter) They do not know what is perfection of life. You can go anywhere. A living entity's name is sarva-gaḥ. Sarva-gaḥ means "one who can go anywhere he likes." Just Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni can travel anywhere he likes, either in the spiritual world or in the material world. So you can also do that. There is possibility. There was a Durvāsā Muni, great yogi. Within one year he traveled all over the universe and went to Viṣṇuloka and again came back. That is recorded in the history. So these are the perfections of life. And how these perfection can be attained? By understanding Kṛṣṇa. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam eva vijñātaṁ bhavanti. The Upaniṣad says, if you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, then all these things can be understood very easily. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is such a nice thing.
Madhudviṣa: Recently it said in the newspaper where the scientists were sending a sputnik around the moon. I have read in your Easy Journey to Other Planets that no matter how many endeavors they make, they will never reach these other planets. Is this...?
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is not the process of reaching. This is childish. That also I have made statement, this is childish. You cannot go to the moon planet in that way. It is not possible. They'll simply create story, but they'll never be successful.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Will we know Kṛṣṇa as well by thinking always how can we spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Is this the... be good to know Kṛṣṇa as much as if you study thoroughly the Vedas?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Siddhānta boliyā citte nā kara alasa. You have to understand the science of Kṛṣṇa. There are so many books. The Gosvāmīs were doing that. In the next verse... I have explained one verse. The next verse is nānā-śāstra-vicāraṇaika-nipuṇau. They were very much expert in studying very scrutinizingly all Vedic literatures. So, of course, reading or hearing. You may not have time to read, but try to read. If you have no time, you are hearing.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
In this way we are loitering throughout the whole universe in different planetary system, in different species of life, in different country, different, according to our... Brahmāṇḍa bhramite. Brahmāṇḍa means within the universe. They are trying to go to the upper planetary system, and they can go. There is no difficulty. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti (BG 9.25). But you have to properly prepare. Not that because you have got one sputnik or airplane you can go by force. That is not possible. This is all rascaldom. This is not possible. But you can go if you prepare yourself. You can go even back to home, back to Godhead. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām. So there is every possibility. Now this is the crucial point of human form of life. We can go in the higher planetary system, we can go in the lower planetary system, we can stay where we are, or even we like we can go back to home, back to Godhead.
Initiation Lectures
So the son of a brāhmaṇa has the chance. A practical example, this boy: from the very beginning becoming a Vaiṣṇava, more than a brāhmaṇa, more than. Vaiṣṇava position is above the brāhmaṇas. Brahmā jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. But Vaiṣṇava, he penetrates the brahma-jyotir. Just like you penetrate. If you are able to penetrate the sunshine and go to the sun and seek out the sun-god, if somebody is able, by going to the sun planet by sputnik, he is better than who is in the sunshine. Sunshine we can have by just little go up to the cloud. Say, about seven miles up, you get sunshine. But to go to the sun planet and enter into the..., that is very difficult job. That requires so many things. (aside:) Sit down properly. Chant. So Brahman, Nirviśeṣa-brahman, impersonal Brahman, when one understands, jñānaṁ vijñānam... Jñānaṁ vijñānam. And when one becomes Vaiṣṇava, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11).
So we have to prepare where we want to go. That is real education. Either by the yogic principle or by cultivation of knowledge or by this devotional service, the whole idea is how to transfer oneself to the better condition of life. The better, the best condition of life is to mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. "If anyone," Kṛṣṇa says, "if anyone comes to Me, he hasn't got to come back again to take this cycle of birth and death." So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to give that highest, topmost position, that no more coming to this material world, either this planet or that planet. We may go to the moon planet, but that will not solve our real problem. The real problem is birth, death, old age, and disease. Anywhere you go in the material planet, either by sputniks or by your tapasya or by meditation, if you, ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ (BG 8.16), even if you go to the highest planet, there the four principles of material miseries are there. But if you go, mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām. These are very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. You try to understand what is the problem of life.
General Lectures
So either you call perfect knowledge or you call happiness, anything, what you call, if you want to know the ultimate goal of your life perfectly, you have to follow a different method. A different method. That method is called avaroha-panthā. There are... All methods of acquiring knowledge can be divided into two groups. One group is called āroha-panthā, or research, inductive process. And another method is called deductive process, or avaroha-panthā. The knowledge coming from the supreme source, that is called avaroha-panthā, and the knowledge which is being sought after by using our imperfect senses, that is called āroha-panthā. Ascending process and descending process. So by ascending process, we can never come to the real knowledge. That is not possible, because our senses are imperfect. How we can ascend? Just like people are trying to ascend to the higher planetary system, but the instrument, sputnik itself, is imperfect. How you can go there? You can go 25,000 miles, again come back. Punar mūṣiko bhava. So this is going on. Because we are imperfect in every respect, so therefore we have to receive knowledge from the perfect. That is the process, real process. If your knowledge... Just like Janārdana suggested three processes, one by applying our senses, another by accepting knowledge from others, and another, rejection. Two ways. Or skepticism, make void. So this is out of frustration.
So āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam (SB 10.2.32). After accepting sannyāsa and all this renunciation, because he has no shelter to render service to the Supreme Lord, he comes down to render service to this nonsense thing which he left. Mithyā, it is false. He again comes to the false. I have seen one sannyāsī in India, very learned, very good scholar. Now he's rotting in the jail. He has taken to political movement. He wants to make, nullify this Pakistan and so many things. Now he has become a politician. Vivekananda came here to preach in 1893 to Vedānta. Now he learned the business of opening hospital. If you have taken sannyāsa, that brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, "The world is false; Brahman is reality," then why you come to the false platform again? He has to, because he has no information of the reality. He wants to render service, but because he has not found out where to render service, he has to come to engage himself in this mithyā platform, which he has rejected as mithyā. So āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho (SB 10.2.32). Even by their austerity and penances they go so up... Just the same example. A very nice sputnik, and running 20,000 miles an hour... (end)
Yes, past, future, present is according to the different kinds of relativity. That is a scientific proof. Professor Einstein has proved it. Just like your past is not past of Brahmā. Your present is not the present of an ant. So past, present, future-time is eternal. It is according to the different dimension of body relativity. Time is eternal. Just like a small ant. In twenty-four hours he has twenty-four times past, present and future. In the sputnik, in the Russian sputnik, circumambulated round this earth in one hour, twenty-five minutes, or something like that. They, I mean to say, went round the earth for twenty-five times. That means within one hour, twenty-five minutes, the sputnik man saw twenty-five times day and night. So in the higher atmosphere the past end present is different. So this past, present, future is relative according to your body, according to circumstances. Actually, there is no past, present, future. Everything is eternal. You are eternal, nityo śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). You do not die. Therefore... The people do not know that I am eternal. What is my eternal engagement? What is my eternal life? They're simply captivated on the spot life: "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am this," "I am that." That's all. This is ignorance. So one has to search out this eternal engagement with Kṛṣṇa. Then he'll be happy. Thank you. (devotees offer obeisances) Chant, Upendra, chant. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Chant. (kīrtana) (end)
So here is greatness. He simply said, "Let there be creation," and there was creation. Can you do that? Suppose you are very nice carpenter. Can you say, "Let there be a chair," and at once there is a chair? Is it possible? Suppose you are manufacturer of this watch. Can you say that "I say, let there be watch," and there is immediately watch? That is not possible. Therefore God's name is satya-saṅkalpa. Satya-saṅkalpa. Satya-saṅkalpa means whatever He thinks, immediately it is present. Not only God, but those who have attained yogic perfection, they cannot desire like God, but almost. Wonderful things... A yogi, if he has got perfection, if he desires something, that "I want this," immediately it is there. This is called satya-saṅkalpa. In this way, there are many examples. That is greatness. What I... Just like the modern scientists, they are trying to fly some space machine in the good speed so that they can go to the moon planet. So many scientists of America, Russia, and other countries, they are trying. But they cannot. Their sputnik is coming back. But just see God's power. Millions of planets are floating just like swabs. This is greatness. So any nonsense, if he says that "I am God," he's a rascal. God is great. You cannot compare yourself with God. There is no comparison. But the rascaldom is going on. "Everyone is God. I am God, you are God"—then he's dog. You show the power of God, then you say. First deserve, then desire.
So how you can find out a person who is the richest man within this..., not within this world, within this universe. It is very difficult. You cannot find out a being who is the most, I mean to say, famous within this universe. We can know. Just like in your country, your President is the most famous man. But in other country there may be another famous man. In other planet there may be another famous man. So you cannot fix up that "Here is the man who is the most famous within this universe, who is the most influential, strong, wise." So therefore, if you try to understand who is God by corroborating the definition of God, it is very difficult to find out. If you travel all... Now you have got sputniks, but you cannot go further than 25,000 miles. But there is no limit even of this material, one universe, and there are innumerable universes. To find out the most important man or living entity within this universe... Of course, from Vedic literature we understand Brahmā is the most, I mean to say, opulent personality within this universe, Brahma. He is called the creator of this universe. But from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we understand that Brahmā is not the ultimate creature. In the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you'll find. It is said, tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).
Without sunlight, your eyes are useless. Therefore sun is the eyes for all planets. All planets means all the residents of each and every planet. Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtiḥ. Therefore he is the king of all planets. These are described in Brahma-saṁhitā. Aśeṣa-tejaḥ, unlimited potencies or unlimited heat. There is no limit how much heat is there in the sun globe. So that sun also rotating. Yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro. That sun is also rotating under the guidance of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. The sun is rotating; it has got its orbit. It is rotating sixteen thousand miles per second. It is rotating. That you cannot deny. These are facts described. So somebody has arranged how the sun is rotating. Just like your sputnik rotates in the space by the scientist who is playing on the electronic machines in the laboratory, and the sputnik is rotating. So why don't you think that the sun is also rotating under some guidance? How you can deny it? So that is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā: yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro. It has also a lifetime duration. As soon as that lifetime duration is finished...
Now, in the moon planet we understand the duration of life is ten thousands of years according to our calculation. Scientifically, everything is relative. Just like nowadays, formerly, to come to your country it would take two months from India on the surface. And now the airplane is there, we come within one day, within fifteen hours or twenty hours. So everything is relative. Just like the sputnik. The sputnik surrounded, circumambulated the earth in one hour, twenty-five minutes, three times. That means by the sputnik speed, the three days... To circumambulate the earth three times means three day and night. That means according to our calculation, seventy-two hours. That seventy-two hours was finished in one hour and twenty-five minutes. How? Because the thing is relative. If you accelerate your speed, the whole thing becomes relative.
So simply by Brahman realization, you cannot stay on the platform of understanding that "I am not this body." You'll fall down again. You'll fall down again and accept this body, "Yes, I am this body." Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). After much meditation or hard work, you realize that you are Brahman. But if you do not go further—Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān—then you'll fall down again. Again fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa. Just like, take a crude example. You have got very nice sputnik, and at that time you have said that "I have reached moon light, moon planet." But if there is no place to live, you come down again here. What you'll do? You must have some shelter. They must advertise... Just like when I was in San Francisco, so many reporters asked my opinion: "Swamijī, what is your opinion that they have gone to the moon planet?" I told, "It is simply waste of time." Oh, what is the use of going there and catch some sands and come back? You live there, utilize; otherwise, what is the value? What is the use of spending so much money? Similarly, if you simply realize that "I am Brahman," you cannot utilize the opportunity, then what is the use of realization? You'll surely fall down. Just like the man has come down again.
There are many platforms of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So even in this material world... This is a fact. If you want to go to the moon planet, oh, there is no necessity of going by some sputnik or by mechanical arrangement. You can go there simply by following the consciousness to go to the moon planet. That is there in the Vedic literature. You can immediately... Not immediately. After... But you cannot go with this body—even by sputnik. They are trying. It is no t possible. It is not possible. Several times I have explained that in the moon planet the temperature is—that is scientists' explanation—two hundred degree below zero. So with this body, if you go to the moon planet, you shall immediately die. So you have to prepare yourself for getting another suitable body with which body you can exist in the moon planet. Similarly, you can go to the Kṛṣṇa planet. But, if you go to the Kṛṣṇa planet then you haven't got to come back. Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. You can go to any planet if you desire. You can remain in this planet or you can go down also, according to your... This is the preparation stage. So why not utilize this life for going back to Kṛṣṇa?
If one, one, anyone goes there, he doesn't come back again. So to go to that platform, or that plat..., planet, you don't require any sputnik or any airplane. Simply you have to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That's all. But unfortunately, we have no taste for this simple thing. We want to do something wonderful. Very simple thing. Kṛṣṇa does not prescribe anything which is impractical. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). The process is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām: (BG 9.14) "Always chanting about Me." This "Me" means..., does not mean Kṛṣṇa. I mean to say, Kṛṣṇa means God; you can chant that also. But it must be bona fide. But this is approved, "Kṛṣṇa." Therefore if our aim is to make our, I mean to say, if we want to revive our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or God, this is the simplest method. You can do it.
Just like in the material science they are trying to go to the moon planet or other planets also by certain standard of speed in the sputnik. (aside:) It is not working? (microphone comes back on) They are finding it difficult even to go to the moon planet, which is the nearest planet to the earth. And there are innumerable other planets. And the modern scientists calculate that the highest planet, if we want to go there, it will take the sputnik speed, which is running eighteen thousand miles per hour, in that speed if we go forty thousands of years, we can reach the highest planetary system within this material world. But so far the kingdom of God, which is called Vaikuṇṭhaloka, or sanātana-dhāma..., as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nya 'vyakta 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). That is sanātana-dhāma. There is—we get this information from the Bhagavad-gītā—the kingdom of God, where everything is permanent. Within this material world, everything is nonpermanent, temporary. Anything you take, it has got its creation, it stays for some time, it produces some by-products, then it grows, and then it dwindles, and then it vanishes. Anything you take. Just like our body. It is produced at a certain time by combination of the semina of father and mother, and then it grows, it stays for some time and it produces some by-products, then becomes older and older, and then vanishes. This is called ṣaḍ-vikāra, six kinds of changes of material world. So although it is temporary, we cannot say it is false. It is not false. That is the difference between Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy. The Vaiṣṇava philosopher takes the temporary thing, although temporary. They know how to make the best use of a bad bargain. That is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Nirbandhe kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate.
Anyway, a sane man, an intelligent man, does not like to enter in any one of the material planets, because wherever we go in the material planet the four condition, or miserable condition of miserable existence, are there. The four miserable conditions of materialistic way of life is birth, death, old age, and disease. So from the Bhagavad-gītā we understand that even if we enter into the Brahmaloka, the highest planetary system of this universe, the four principles of miserable condition—birth, death, old age and disease—are there. We learn from Bhagavad-gītā that one daytime duration is millions of years of our calculation. That's a fact. So, but even though the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, which the scientists say it will take forty thousands of years to go there with the sputnik speed, but who is going there, traveling in the space forty thousands of years? But from the Vedic literature we can understand that any one of the planets we can enter, provided we prepare for that purpose.
The jīva are explained in the Bhagavad-gītā as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. The example is given, just like the fire, big fire, and the sparks. The sparks are small, but, but in quality they are fire. They are not different from fire. If a spark of fire falls on your cloth, it will immediately burn. So the burning quality is there, either in the big fire or the small fire. Therefore, qualitatively we are one with God. The quality of burning. Another example is just like the drop of the ocean water. Chemical composition of this drop of ocean water is the same as the chemical combination of the big mass of water. So Kṛṣṇa, He is all-powerful. We are also powerful. Kṛṣṇa can create. We also can create. Kṛṣṇa can create, just like innumerable planets floating in the air. We can create a small, teeny aeroplane or sputnik flying in the air. You see. So the creative power is there, but there is far difference between Kṛṣṇa's creative power and my creative power.
This is a logic given in the Nyāya-śāstra. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. What he'll study about the Atlantic Ocean? One who has got knowledge, three-feet knowledge in the well, what idea he'll get about Atlantic Ocean or Pacific Ocean? As it is not possible simply by imagination, simply, similarly, if you try to understand about God, or Kṛṣṇa, by your mental speculation, it will be simply a waste of time. Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo (Sanskrit). That is already forbidden, that "You cannot understand by your great brain." What brain you have got? Teeny brain. You cannot compare your brain with God's brain. You are very proud by flying a sputnik in the sky. That's all right. You have got good brain. But there is another personality who has got brain who is floating millions and trillions of planets as weightlessness in the sky. So you cannot compare your brain with that brain, but there is a brain. So nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhya. Simply by speculating, simply by concoction, you cannot understand. You have to understand God, or Kṛṣṇa, from Him. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). Just like you cannot see the sun at this time, when the night is dark. You cannot, ah, I mean to say, invent some searchlight and ask people, "Please come on the roof. I shall show you the sun by the searchlight." It is not possible. By your endeavor you cannot see the sun at night. But when the sun rises in the morning, you can see. That is the process.
So don't you think there is need of artistic brain and scientific brain? If you simply say, "It is nature," that is not good explanation. But the Vedas gives us information, "No." Janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "The Absolute Truth is He from whom everything is being generated." First aphorism is athāto brahma jijñāsā. Greater thing. We are engaged in smaller thing. We become amazed when we see a small sputnik is flying in the sky, and it is trying to go to the moon planet, and we are giving all credit to the scientist, and scientist is challenging, "What is God? Science is everything." But if you are cool brain, then you will see that now, in comparison to the sputnik, there are millions and trillions of planets and stars, big, big planets like sun planet, which is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth. Apart from sun planet, if we take this teeny planet, earthly planet, on which we are living, there are so many oceans, so many mountains, skyscraper buildings. But if you go above this planet a few thousand miles, oh, you will see just like a spot, this big planet. You will see just like a spot. Not only spot, this one planet, but there are millions of planets. They are floating in the sky like swabs of cotton. So if we give so much credit to the artist who has manufactured this sputnik, how much credit we shall give to the person who has manufactured this arrangement? This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to appreciate the greatest artist. You are all artists, but when we appreciate the greatest artist, Kṛṣṇa, then our life is successful. Otherwise, whatever we are doing, it is said that we are being defeated unless we come to the point to appreciate the greatest artist who has created all this arrangement.
So in this way you have to study. We are samples of God, part and parcel. Just like you take little sample from the Pacific Ocean, a drop of water. You can taste it, and it is salty. You can understand the whole water is salty. Similarly, living entities, they are sample of God, small, very small. You can create one sputnik or jet plane, and you take so much credit, "Oh, I am flying in the sky." But why don't you give the credit to God, who is plying, flying millions of sputniks in the sky? Not small; with so many mountains, seas, houses, trees, plants, and so many things. You can see so many things. The sun planet, the moon planet and others, so many other pla... Koṭiṣu vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam. In each and every universe, there are millions of planets. Koṭiṣu, vasudhādi. Vasudha means planet.
So these are the potencies of God. Not that I can show some magic and immediately I become God. Just see the magic, real magic of God. Don't accept cheap God. God must show godly magic. Just like we are showing little magic, floating some airplane or sputnik or jet in the sky. We are taking so much credit, so much credit that scientists are declaring, "There is no God. I am God, because I have made this airplane." And what is your airplane in comparison to these planets? So intelligent person, they will give more credit to God than to these scientists or philosophers. Because he can see the potencies, how much potency is there. So He has many potencies. In the Vedic literature we can understand, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). In the Vedas, Upaniṣad: na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. God has nothing to do personally. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Na tat-samas cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. Nobody is found equal to him or greater than Him. Nobody. That is God.
So it acts very wonderfully, but there must be a expert man to push the button. Otherwise, it will not act. Without that expert man, this wonderful machine is lump of iron. That's all. It has no value. Take any machine. Similarly, this huge, gigantic machine of cosmic manifestation where innumerable planets are floating in the sky just like cotton swabs, don't think that it is so acting automatically. No. There is direction behind it, or there is brain behind it. And that brain, that big brain, is God. God is also like us, a being, but He is Supreme Being. As we are being, we have got our brain, we have got our creative power, we can do something, we can manufacture something like airplane, sputnik, but God has got big brain. We may float one mechanic airplane in the air, but by the God's brain, millions and trillions of heavy planets are floating in the air. That is God's brain. He has got also brain; He has got also creative power. We have also creative power, but we have got little and He has got supreme power. That is the difference. God means the supreme brain, the supreme powerful, and we are teenies, we are subordinate; therefore our position is to abide by the orders of God. That is actually religion. That's all. Less powerful men serve the more powerful. That is the nature. Nūnaṁ mahatāṁ tatra. Just like human being, they are misusing their brain by eating poor animals. Because human being is stronger he's eating the weaker.
If you want to go to the higher planetary systems by pious activities, you can go there, yānti deva-vratā devān. You can go to the planet where Lord Brahma lives or where Indra lives or Candra lives. The modern process, by taking a sputnik or jet, you can go to the moon planet. But that you can go. Whether you can go or not go, that is up to you. But you cannot stay there. That is not possible. If you want to stay there, then yānti deva-vratā devān. You have to prepare yourself by worshiping that particular deva or deity, demigod; then you will be admitted. Just like if you want to go to a foreign country you have to take the permission of the immigration department, visa, then you can go. If that law is there in this planet, why not for other planet? How you can go abruptly, by force? That is not possible. Yānti deva-vratā devān. You have to prepare yourself to go. You can go there. But after this life, if you are sufficiently prepared to enter that particular type of planet, you can go there. Similarly, you can go to the planet where Kṛṣṇa lives. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25). So what is the difference between going to the higher planetary systems, heavenly planet, and going to the planet where Kṛṣṇa lives? The difference is, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). If you go to the planet where Kṛṣṇa lives, then you haven't got to come back again.
So you cannot understand God without the mercy of God. That is the verdict of the Vedic literature. It is very easy to understand. Suppose here is a big man, rich man, learned man. You want to know about him. So you cannot understand him by speculation: "He may be of this standard. He may be like this. He may have so much money." You suggest; another friend suggests. In this way the study of that particular man is not complete. But if the same person kindly speaks and explains about himself that "Sir, I am like this." (aside:) Water. "My position is like this. I have got so much bank balance," that is the way. This is the way of understanding. It is called descending process. And there is another process, which is called ascending process. In Sanskrit it is called āroha-panthā, avaroha-panthā. Āroha-panthā... You want to go, to know about the sun planet or any other. Just like they are trying. They are trying to go there, Mars planet, Moon planet, by rising on the sky by their aeroplanes, sputniks. But they have not been able to understand what is the position of these planets. This is called āroha-panthā. But if somebody comes from the planet and explains everything, then you know it very easily. Similarly, God has come to explain Himself. You'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Ye 'nye 'ravindakṣa. Ye aravindakṣa. Aravindakṣa is Kṛṣṇa. "Persons who are thinking that 'I have become liberated,' vimukta-mānina, they're actually... They're not mukta. Therefore," āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam, "although they underwent very severe austerities and achieved the position in nirviśeṣa-brahma," āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam (SB 10.2.32), "but because they could not understand, my Lord, Your lotus feet, they," patanty adho, "they fall down." Just like in the modern age they are going very high by aeroplane or sputnik, but because they do not get a shelter in either the moon planet or Mars planet, they again come down. So simply speculative knowledge, philosophical knowledge, will not give us actual shelter in the nirviśeṣa, nirākāra-brahman. Absolute Truth we can realize in three stages.
Philosophy Discussions
| Page Title: | Sputnik (Lectures Other) |
| Compiler: | MadhuGopaldas, Mayapur |
| Created: | 03 of Apr, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=35, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 35 |