Supreme source

Expressions researched:
"supreme source"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.9.27, Purport:

Everyone's energy is generated or borrowed from the reservoir of energy of the Lord; therefore, the resultant actions of such energy must be given to the Lord in the shape of transcendental loving service for Him. As the rivers draw water from the sea through the clouds and again go down to the sea, similarly our energy is borrowed from the supreme source, the Lord's energy, and it must return to the Lord. That is the perfection of our energy. The Lord, therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.27) says that whatever we do, whatever we undergo as penance, whatever we sacrifice, whatever we eat or whatever we give in charity must be offered to Him (the Lord). That is the way of utilizing our borrowed energy. When our energy is utilized in that way, our energy is purified from the contamination of material inebrieties, and thus we become fit for our original natural life of service to the Lord.

SB 1.15.21, Purport:

As we have discussed more than once, one should not be puffed up by borrowed plumes. All energies and powers are derived from the supreme source, Lord Kṛṣṇa, and they act as long as He desires and cease to function as soon as He withdraws.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.7.24, Purport:

The Personality of Godhead has every sentiment of a sentient being, like all other living beings, because He is the chief and original living entity, the supreme source of all other living beings. He is the nitya, or the chief eternal amongst all other eternals. He is the chief one, and all others are the dependent many.

SB 2.9.28, Purport:

By a combination of such potential energies of the Lord there is the manifestation of creation, maintenance and annihilation in due course of time and by different agents like Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara. Brahmā creates, Viṣṇu maintains, and Lord Śiva destroys. But all such agents and creative energies are emanations from the Lord, and as such there is nothing except the Lord, or the one supreme source of different diversities.

SB 2.10.6, Purport:

This devotional service is transcendental attraction for the Supreme on account of His being the source of all pleasing humors. Everyone is after some pleasure of humor for enjoyment, but does not know the supreme source of all attraction (raso vai saḥ rasaṁ hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati). The Vedic hymns inform everyone about the supreme source of all pleasure; the unlimited fountainhead of all pleasure is the Personality of Godhead, and one who is fortunate enough to get this information through transcendental literatures like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam becomes permanently liberated to occupy his proper place in the kingdom of God.

SB 2.10.7, Translation:

The supreme one who is celebrated as the Supreme Being or the Supreme Soul is the supreme source of the cosmic manifestation as well as its reservoir and winding up. Thus He is the Supreme Fountainhead, the Absolute Truth.

SB 2.10.7, Purport:

Synonyms for the supreme source of all energies, as explained in the very beginning of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, are janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam/ brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate, called Parambrahma, Paramātmā or Bhagavān. The word iti used here in this verse completes the synonyms and thus indicates Bhagavān.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.7.51, Purport:

As explained in Bhagavad-gītā (7.5), jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho: the whole world is energy released from the supreme source, the Personality of Godhead, who, it is further stated in Bhagavad-gītā, acts in superior energies and inferior energies. The superior energy is the living entity, who is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. As parts and parcels, the living entities are not different from the Supreme Lord; the energy emanated from Him is not different from Him.

SB 4.16.25, Purport:

When one attains to the Brahman platform, he neither hankers nor laments. He actually partakes of transcendental, blissful enjoyment. Although King Pṛthu was an incarnation of Viṣṇu, he nonetheless taught the people in his kingdom to take instructions from a spiritual master who represents the disciplic succession. Thus one can become fortunate and enjoy a blissful life even within this material world. In this verse the verb vidanti is sometimes taken to mean "understanding." Thus when a person understands Brahman, or the supreme source of everything, he enjoys a blissful life.

SB 4.24.60, Purport:

Similarly, it is the brain and energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that carry on the complete manifestation of the material and spiritual worlds. The philosophy of monism, explained here very clearly, adjusts itself to the fact that the supreme source of all energy is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. This is described very clearly.

SB 4.25.26, Purport:

In the human form of life, however, one should be intelligent enough to ask what he is, why he has come into the world, what his duty is, who is the supreme controller, what is the difference between dull matter and the living entity, etc. There are so many questions, and the person who is actually intelligent should simply inquire about the supreme source of everything: athāto brahma jijñāsā. A living entity is always connected with a certain amount of intelligence, but in the human form of life the living entity must inquire about his spiritual identity. This is real human intelligence.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.13.39, Purport:

For example, there are many things that come from our bodies, but although they come from the same source, they cannot be made one. We should be careful to note that although the supreme source is one, the emanations from this source should be separately regarded as inferior and superior.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 14.33, Purport:

If from the beginning of life one is taught the Vaiṣṇava philosophy of duality or variety, the monistic philosophy will not bother him very much. In reality, everything is an emanation from the supreme source (janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)). The original energy is exhibited in varieties, exactly as the sunshine, the original energy emanating from the sun, exhibits itself in variety as light and heat.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 2.74, Translation:

In the attitude of Rādhārāṇī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu addressed the gopīs: ""My dear friends, where is that Kṛṣṇa, Cupid personified, who has the effulgence of a kadamba flower, who is sweetness itself, the nectar of My eyes and mind, He who loosens the hair of the gopīs, who is the supreme source of transcendental bliss and My life and soul? Has He come before My eyes again?""

CC Madhya 20.153, Purport:

Kṛṣṇa is the origin of all viṣṇu-tattvas, including Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. He is the ultimate goal of Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Everything emanates from Him. His body is completely spiritual and is the source of all spiritual being. Although He is the source of everything, He Himself has no source. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam/ ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). Although He is the supreme source of everyone, He is still always a fresh youth.

CC Madhya 22.51, Purport:

One has to associate with such a mahātmā, who has accepted Kṛṣṇa as the supreme source of the entire creation. Without being a mahātmā, one cannot understand Kṛṣṇa's absolute position. A mahātmā is rare and transcendental, and he is a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

CC Madhya 24.95, Translation:

Materialistic devotees take to devotional service and worship Kṛṣṇa when they are distressed or in need of money. Those who are actually inquisitive to understand the supreme source of everything and those who are in search of knowledge are called transcendentalists, for they desire liberation from all material contamination.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 19:

Lord Caitanya immediately informed Prakāśānanda that in the modern age people in general are more or less bereft of all spiritual intellect. When such people come under the influence of Śaṅkarācārya's Māyāvādī (impersonalist) philosophy before beginning the most confidential Vedānta-sūtras, their natural tendency toward obedience to the Supreme is checked. The supreme source of everything is naturally respected by everyone, but this natural tendency is hampered when one takes to the impersonalist conceptions of Śaṅkara.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 21:

The verse janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), which appears in the very beginning of Vedānta-sūtra, is explained in Vyāsadeva's Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Vyāsadeva establishes from the very beginning that the supreme source of everything is a cognizant, transcendental person.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 50:

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī was once told that although She had stopped all activities, She was still the supreme source of inspiration for all kinds of devotional service.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 10:

O Lord! O source of all auspiciousness and goodness, we offer our respectful obeisances unto You. You are the all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme source of peace and the supreme personality in the dynasty of King Yadu. O Lord, our father, known as Kuvera, the demigod, is Your servant. Similarly, the great sage Nārada is also Your servitor, and only by their grace have we been able to see You personally.

Krsna Book 14:

Lord Brahmā continued: “My Lord, sometimes I am puzzled as to how Your Lordship will be able to repay, in gratitude, the devotional service of these residents of Vṛndāvana. Although I know that You are the supreme source of all benediction, I am puzzled to know how You will be able to repay all the service that You are receiving from these residents of Vṛndāvana.

Krsna Book 60:

My dear Lord, You have stated that a marriage between persons equal in social standing, beauty, riches, strength, influence and renunciation can be a suitable match. But this status of life can be possible only by Your grace. You are the supreme perfectional source of all opulences. Whatever opulent status one may have is all derived from You. As described in the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)—You are the supreme source from which everything emanates, the reservoir of all pleasures. Therefore, persons endowed with knowledge desire only to achieve You, and nothing else.

Krsna Book 87:

Therefore by the process of self-realization or God realization through fruitive activities, philosophical speculation or mystic yoga, one cannot actually approach the supreme source of everything. When the creation is completely terminated—when there is no existence of the Vedas, no existence of material time, and no existence of the gross and subtle material elements, and when all the living entities are in the nonmanifested stage, resting within Nārāyaṇa—then all these manufactured processes become null and void and cannot act. Devotional service, however, is eternally going on in the eternal spiritual world. Therefore the only factual process of self-realization or God realization is devotional service, and one who takes to this process takes to the real process of God realization.

Krsna Book 87:

In this regard, Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has composed a verse which conveys the idea that the supreme source of everything, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is so great and unlimited that it is not possible for the living entity to understand Him by any material acquisition. One should therefore pray to the Lord to be engaged in His devotional service eternally, so that by the grace of the Lord one can understand the supreme source of creation. The supreme source of creation, the Supreme Lord, reveals Himself only to the devotees. In the Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says to Arjuna, "My dear Arjuna, because you are My devotee and because you are My intimate friend, I shall reveal to you the process of understanding Me." In other words, the supreme source of creation, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, cannot be understood by our own endeavor. We have to please Him with devotional service, and then He will reveal Himself to us. Then we can understand Him to some extent.

Krsna Book 87:

There are different kinds of philosophers who have tried to understand the supreme source by their mental speculation. There are generally six kinds of mental speculators, whose speculations are called ṣaḍ-darśana.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 4, Purport:

Although the individual parts and parcels of the Lord's potencies have all the symptoms of the Lord Himself, they have limited spheres of activity and are therefore all limited. The parts and parcels are never equal to the whole; therefore they cannot appreciate the Lord's full potency. Under the influence of material nature, foolish and ignorant living beings who are but parts and parcels of the Lord try to conjecture about the Lord's transcendental position. Śrī Īśopaniṣad warns of the futility of trying to establish the identity of the Lord through mental speculation. One should try to learn of the Transcendence from the Lord Himself, the supreme source of the Vedas, for the Lord alone has full knowledge of the Transcendence.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:

The Supreme God is Kṛṣṇa. God means controller. You have, you may have some controlling power, admitted, but you are not Supreme Controller. The Supreme Controller is Īśvara. Therefore here Kṛṣṇa... Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi. Īśvaraḥ. All bhūtas... Bhūtānām means all living entities, or everything which has appeared within this material world. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). He is the Supreme Source of everything.

Lecture on BG 4.11 -- New York, July 27, 1966:

Just like a father and a rebelled child or insane child. Those who have got... Of course, you are all young men here. Those who are elderly persons, they have got experience. If their sons go wrong, how much they are anxious. How much the father is anxious to get his son back again, back again. That is the natural instinct. And wherefrom this instinct comes? This instinct comes from the Supreme, because in the Vedānta-sūtra you will find that everything, whatever you are finding in this material world or spiritual world, everything, that has come from the Supreme. Janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "He is the supreme source, fountainhead of everything."

Lecture on BG 10.2-3 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

According to this version, He's also origin of Paramātmā, the Supersoul. And He is also the origin of nirviśeṣa or impersonal brahmajyoti. Because it is said, aham ādir hi devānāṁ maharṣīṇāṁ ca sarvaśaḥ (BG 10.2). Sarvaśaḥ means, "Anything that you have any conception of, of all them, I am the supreme source."

Lecture on BG 13.5 -- Bombay, September 28, 1973:

Brahma-sūtra means Vedānta-sūtra. It is called Brahma-sūtra because the first aphorism of Vedānta-sūtra is athāto brahma jijñāsā: "This human life is meant for inquiry about Brahman, the Absolute Truth." That is human life. Therefore it is called Brahma-sūtra. What is Brahman. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Janmādy asya yataḥ. Janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "Brahman is the supreme source of everything."

Lecture on BG 13.18 -- Bombay, October 12, 1973:

Just like the sunshine is emanation from the sun globe, and the sun globe is fiery, illuminated, on account of the persons within the sun globe. They have got some bodily rays. That rays is emanating from their body. Therefore the whole sun planet looks like fiery planet. And from there the illumination comes, and it is reflecting on the moon, and the moon is illuminating the whole dark night. This is called pūrṇimā. So one is borrowing the illumination from the other. But there is the supreme source of illumination. That is Kṛṣṇa.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- Caracas, February 20, 1975:

But those who are more purified, instead of making research, he immediately accepts that Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything. So just to understand Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā. So if one is fortunate, if one is intelligent, if he accepts Kṛṣṇa's version—Kṛṣṇa says at last, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66)—he accepts it. So one who has accepted Kṛṣṇa as the supreme source, Absolute Truth, for them, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is there. Here it is beginning, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, means "I offer my respectful obeisances to You, Kṛṣṇa, because I surrender unto You."

Lecture on SB 1.2.1 -- New Vrindaban, September 1, 1972:

But God's body is eternal. Therefore He hasn't got a body like this. This body is not eternal. Everyone can understand. But His body is eternal. Another symptom, sat, cit. Cit means knowledge. So we have got also knowledge, but not full knowledge. That has been described in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, what is the nature of God. Nature of God is described, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Nature of God means He is the supreme source of everything.

Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972:

In the Vedānta-sūtra, the answer is: "The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates." So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains: janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś cārtheṣu abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ (SB 1.1.1). As soon as we speak that the original source of everything, janmādy asya yataḥ, so what is the nature of that original source? Whether He's a dead stone, or a living being? That is the next question. Everything that we experience is coming from the supreme source. Whether that supreme source is a living being or a dead stone? What will be the answer? From common sense? From common sense, suppose if we find out the original source of everything, what will be the nature of that original? The Bhāgavata explains therefore: abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ. He's not dead stone. Abhijñaḥ. He has got consciousness. He has got consciousness. What kind of consciousness? Anvayāt itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ. He knows everything, directly and indirectly.

Lecture on SB 1.3.10 -- Los Angeles, September 16, 1972:

Because all the scientists, all the philosophers in this age, their only tendency is how to get out God, "No more God. That is very primitive. To talk of God is a primitive idea. Now we are advanced in science; why we shall talk about God?" This is the tendency. This is the tendency. But how you can solve all these questions without accepting God? Without accepting a supreme source of everything, how you can solve? It is not possible. You are simply a product of this cosmic manifestation.

Lecture on SB 1.3.25 -- Los Angeles, September 30, 1972:

So anyway, actually, human life is meant for some other purpose—God realization. Because this is not possible in other lower animals. And we get this chance by evolutionary process. We come to this human form of life, civilized form of life. Now we should know what is God, who is the supreme controller, who is the supreme source of everything.

Lecture on SB 1.5.1-4 -- New Vrindaban, May 22, 1969:

What is the original source? The original source is replied immediately in the next sūtra, next code. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The original source, either of happiness or of distress, everything original source is that. Simply giving original... Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Wherefrom everything emanates. Distress also emanates and happiness also emanates. This cosmic manifestation also emanates. The supply also emanates. Everything emanates. The supreme source. Now you can explain. Everything emanates. How is that distress also emanates and happiness also emanates, knowledge also emanates, ignorance also emanates? Yes. That is fullness. That is fullness. This is the... How that original source is for everything, that is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, Bhāgavata also. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: (BG 10.8) "I am the source of everything. I am the source of happiness, I am the source of distress, I am the source of all this Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, everything." Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) "There is no more supreme source than Me." Then why these two things, duality, distress and happiness?

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Los Angeles, April 26, 1973:

So what is the nature of that thing wherefrom things are coming, emanating, things are existing, and again, after being finished, it is entering? Prakṛtiṁ yānti māmikām. In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says: "The prakṛti enters into Me." So they do not know. So what is that source? Therefore Bhāgavata says that that supreme source is: janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś cārtheṣu abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). Abhijña means completely conscious. Jña, jña means knowledge. So abhijña. Abhi means specifically jña. Not like our knowledge. We do not know. We have no sufficient knowledge wherefrom I have come, where I shall go after death. That we do not know. Therefore we are not abhijña. But the supreme source is abhijña. He's not a stone, void. No, how He can be?

Lecture on SB 1.15.51 -- Los Angeles, December 28, 1973:

Just like in the Vedānta-sūtra. The sūtra, the code words are there. Athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now it is the time for inquiring about the Absolute Truth." This is sūtra, code word. But that is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: in narration. This is brahma-jijñāsā. The whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is brahma-jijñāsā. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Only this code is being... Therefore Bhāgavata begins, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ (SB 1.1.1). Because Vedānta-sūtra says, "The Absolute Truth is that supreme source of everything." So Bhāgavata begins from that word, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), explaining, explaining.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.107-109 -- San Francisco, February 15, 1967:

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says mukhya-vṛttye, direct meaning, as it is said. That is beauty of understanding. Janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "The supreme source from which everything emanating, that is Brahman." What is the interpretation? There is no interpretation. Supreme... There must be some supreme source. That is quite philosophical and logical, that I have my... This bodily existence has a source, my father. My father has a source, his father. His father... Go on. There must be one supreme source. That is God. Simple to understand. Is it very difficult to understand? The supreme cause, He is God. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is described in Brahma-saṁhitā, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1).

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:

Athāto brahma jijñāsā. What is Brahman? This is explained in one code word: Janmādy asya yataḥ, Brahman is that from whom everything is emanating. That... Brahman is that from whom, or from which, whatever you like, everything is emanated. So that Supreme Source, summum bonum, of everything is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ. That Supreme Source of everything, what is the nature of that Supreme Source of everything? Now the Bhāgavata says, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca arthesu abhijñaḥ. He is conscious.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:

First qualification is conscious. The Supreme Source cannot be unconscious. Why? Because we are conscious being. So we are also emanation from the Supreme Lord, the living entities. Some of the living entities are moving, some of the living entities, they do not move. Just like the trees, the hills, the mountains, they have got also their life. So they are not moving. We are moving. Man, human being, cats, dogs and ants, so many there are. So they are conscious. So, unless the Supreme Lord is conscious, the Supreme Source of all generation, wherefrom this consciousness can come? So the philosophy that the Supreme Source is void, how you can maintain?

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:

Wherefrom this consciousness comes? They say that consciousness is generated by the combination of matter. Up till now, no scientist has proved that, by combination of chemicals and matter, physical things, one can produce consciousness. So the Bhāgavata very nicely describes that the Supreme Source of everything, He is conscious. Conscious. Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayāt itarataś ca (SB 1.1.1).

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:

Kṛṣṇa says in the Second Chapter, you may remember, that "You, Me, and all these persons who have assembled here, they were individual person in the past, they are individual persons now, and they will continue to be individual person in the future." This is consciousness, anvayāt itarataś ca. Now again, what sort of consciousness? Wherefrom He has got this consciousness? Just like we have got our consciousness from the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Source, and wherefrom the Supreme, or God, He has got His consciousness?

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:

So Bhāgavatam says svarāṭ. Svarāṭ. Svarāṭ means He is independent. His consciousness is not dependent on others' consciousness. Svarāṭ. God, He has got all the knowledge. Yesterday we have been discussing Bhagavān. Bhagavān is full of all knowledge. Wherefrom He got this knowledge? Now our experience is that we go to school, college, and get knowledge. Wherefrom He gets knowledge? The Bhāgavata replies, svarāṭ. He's self-sufficient, full of knowledge. These are the differences. So these qualifications are always present. This is called svarūpa-lakṣaṇa. Unless God is independent, unless God is conscious, indirectly and directly, He cannot be Supreme Source. This is called svarūpa-lakṣaṇa, constantly present. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:

Everything is energy of Kṛṣṇa. That's all right. But we have to take the advantage of the better energy, superior energy. So na te viduḥ, they do not know how to take advantage of that superior energy. So there are two energies, the superior and inferior, or the spiritual and material. The material energy... This is the definition and the sum and substance of the definition and activities of the supreme summum bonum, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), the Supreme Source of everything.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.31-38 -- San Francisco, January 22, 1967:

So śruti, śruti means the Vedas. The Vedas clearly say that all these manifestation, they are out of the energy. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). From this fountainhead, from the Supreme Source, the energies. Just like the electric light, it is very brilliant, illuminating. But this is energy emanating from the powerhouse. The powerhouse is person.

Festival Lectures

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 16, 1968:

So long as we are enjoying these objects of our senses and thinking that these objects belong to us, and so long as we don't know to whom all these objects belong, to whom belongs the land, the money, the foods that we eat, the clothes that we wear, our families—so long as we do not know to whom all these belong, then we are enjoying in a state of ignorance. Factually we are being thieves. We cannot be happy in such a condition. Kṛṣṇa is very kind. He provides us with all these objects of enjoyment, as we like them. But we can achieve a far happier state, not only for ourselves but for the whole human kind, if we realize that Kṛṣṇa, who is the supreme source of all the attractive objects that we are enjoying, is a person who is ready to receive as His loving servants the moment we want to surrender all our false ideas of ownership and come back to the spiritual platform.

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Bhagavad-gita 7.5 Lecture -- Vrndavana, August 11, 1974:

So there are so many theories, but Kṛṣṇa, the supreme life, the supreme being, is the source of everything. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). The, this fact is known to the devotees. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). Kṛṣṇa is the source. Absolute Truth is Kṛṣṇa. In the Vedānta-sūtra the inquiry is athāto brahma jijñāsā. What is that Absolute Truth, the supreme source of everything? That supreme source is Kṛṣṇa. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the beginning: janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ (SB 1.1.1).

General Lectures

Lecture -- Montreal, June 26, 1968:

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.

Lecture at Engagement -- Columbus, may 19, 1969:

The Vedānta-sūtra begins, athāto brahma jijñāsā. This life, this human form of life, is now meant for inquiring about Brahman. What is that Brahman, that is immediately answered: janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Brahman is the supreme source from where everything emanates, or everything is born. So in the Vedānta-sūtra, and that is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is called philosophy. That inquisitiveness is called philosophy. Cause of the cause: this is caused by this; what is the cause of this? Unless he comes to the final cause, this research goes on. That is the nature of advanced mind. They are called munis, those who are very thoughtful. So that is the nature of greater mind, mahātmā, to find out the ultimate cause. That is human nature. Therefore, athāto brahma jijñāsā. The Vedānta-sūtra says this jijñāsā, inquiry, "What is after this? What is after this? What is brāhmaṇas? What is Brahman? This is not Brahman. This is not Brahman..." The next answer is that "Brahman means janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1), the supreme source from where everything emanates." So unless he goes to the supreme source, he is not satisfied. So those who are going by mental speculation, they come to that impersonal feature.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Prabhupāda: How you have to take that knowledge from the superior? He gives us the key: sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). Vedānta is searching out what is Brahman. Brahman means the original source of everything. (break) ...mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate, iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ (BG 10.8). So those who are vidhā, actually learned, they know that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme source of everything; therefore we should offer our obeisances to Kṛṣṇa. This is actually knowledge.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Robert Gouiran, Nuclear Physicist from European Center for Nuclear Research -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: This is the scientific concept of matter. The matter grows from spirit. How you can deny it?

Robert Gouiran: I don't deny this. What I'm...

Prabhupāda: Then this is scientific. That I have already explained. So the, the supreme source of everything is Kṛṣṇa.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- July 21, 1975, San Francisco:

Paramahaṁsa: When I first joined the movement, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I used to listen to your lectures and then go talk with my father. And he would argue with me, and I would find a question and come back and ask you and find the answer and go back and argue with him. But the thing I always came up against is that if he assumes that there's life on other planets or that there is a supreme source, a supreme energy or God, then it destroys his entire life's work, his study.

Prabhupāda: Then they are fools. They should stop all this education. This university should be broken. (laughter) Because they are producing only fools. That's all. They should stop this education.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Garden Conversation -- June 23, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: ...production of is external. Bahir-aṅga-śakti. But the śakti, the energy, is coming from the Supreme. Just like here we find this place is shadow and that place is sunshine. Both these places are due to the sun. When there is no sun there is no such distinction that "This is shining, sunny, and this is shadow." So this distinction is there so long we do not know the real source. But if we know the real source, we can understand that this distinction is temporary. Actually the energy is coming from the Supreme. So shadow has come from Supreme, and light has also come from the Supreme. So there is no distinction, ultimately. Just like earring, golden, manufactured from gold, and gold which is not manufactured. So this distinction-manufactured or not manufactured, secondary. But really the earring is also gold, and the lump of gold is also gold. So why should we say that earring is false? It is also gold. In relationship with the supreme source, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), there is no such distinction.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Bhadra Bardhan -- London 4 December, 1969:

You have seen in pictures of Lord Krishna that there is a nice effulgence coming forth from His body. This effulgence is the Brahmajyoti, and it is pervading throughout the entire spiritual and material manifestation. But above this Brahmajyoti is the Supreme Source of everything, Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I hope this important point is clear to you now.