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Supreme spirit (Conv. and Letters)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 13, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Now what is the name, what you expressed by union? Just like you are there; I am here. You speak of union. What is the form of unity?

Guest (1): What is the form of unity?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (1): My understanding is that, that, um, the spirit, God, the Supreme Spirit, is beyond form, but yet through loving...

Prabhupāda: Beyond form.

Guest (1): ...through loving the form of God... It has form and yet it's formless. It's both..., has form and formless.

Prabhupāda: What is that formlessness, and what is that form?

Guest (1): That I can't say.

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 1, 1974, Bombay:

Girirāja: "Śukadeva Gosvāmī has used the word śraddhānvita for one who is trained in the spiritual life. Śraddhā, or faith, is the beginning. One who has developed his faith in Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme spirit soul, can both describe and hear." (break)

Prabhupāda: Why?

Devotee: They're in the hospital.

Bhāgavata: Caranaravinda was the hospital.

Prabhupāda: So who is take care, him? (break) ...authorities. Anu. Anu means follow. Anuśṛṇuyat. Śṛṇu means "hear." Krīditaṁ ca idaṁ ca vikrīdita vraja-vadhūbhiḥ, viṣṇoḥ anuśṛṇuyāt. Don't directly read. Don't directly. Anuśṛṇuyāt: "Hear from the authoritative person."

Girirāja: "One must hear from disciplic succession. Anu means following, and anu means always. So one must always follow the disciplic succession and not hear from any stray professional reciters."

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: God is person. Impersonal feature, that is a feature only. Just like sun-god is a person and the sunshine is one of the feature of the sun-god. The sunshine is not final. You have to penetrate to the sunshine and reach the sun globe and go within the globe and see that there is the sun-god. But that requires strength how to enter into the sun globe and see this. But there is the information in the Bhagavad-gītā: imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam, vivasvān manave prāha (BG 4.1), "I first of all instructed this yoga system of Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god." The sun-god is there in the sun planet, and if you have got strength, you can go there and see. But you cannot go, although it is material. So similarly, in the spiritual world there is the Supreme Spirit, Supreme Being, He is spiritual, concentrated, essence of light. That is ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). He is the origin of everything.

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Vedavyāsa: He thinks there's a great difference between the talking of birds and bees and our talking.

Prabhupāda: Why difference? They are talking in their community, you are talking in your community. (German)

Haṁsadūta: No, he has said a very good point. He said there is a difference because an animal has no self-consciousness. He does not understand what he is in essence.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the real point. That is the real point, that you can try to understand what you are. The birds and beasts, they cannot understand. That is the difference. So our human effort should be utilized for that realization, not to act like birds and beasts. (German) Therefore the Brahma-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra, instructs in the beginning, athāto brahma jijñāsā: "This life is meant for inquiring about the supreme spirit or Absolute Truth." That is the aim of this life, not like birds and beasts, simply talking and eating and sleeping, but extra responsibility, extra intelligence is there to understand the Absolute Truth.

Reporters Interview -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Satsvarūpa: (reading) "Within this brahmāṇḍa or universe there are innumerable living entities..."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Satsvarūpa: " ...and according to their own fruitive activities they are transmigrating from one species of life to another and from one planet to another. In this way their engagement in material existence is being continued since time immemorial. The living entities are atomic parts and parcels of the supreme spirit. There is, however, a measurement for the length and breadth of the atomic spiritual spark. It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Tenth Canto, Eighty-seventh Chapter, thirty-sixth verse, that if you divide the top of a hair into one hundred parts and again if you divide one part of that into another one hundred parts, such 1/10,000th part of the tip of a hair is the length and breadth of the individual soul. This is also confirmed in the Vedas in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. This atomic magnitude of the individual living entity is again described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Eleventh Canto, Sixteenth Chapter, eleventh verse, as follows. This is a speech given by one of the four Kumāras known as Sunanda on the occasion of performing a great sacrifice. He said, 'O supreme truth, if the living entities were not infinitesimal sparks of the supreme spirit, then each minute spark would have been all-pervading and there would be no necessity of its being controlled.' "

Prabhupāda: That is very... Otherwise... If the living entity is equal to the Supreme Being, then... Suppose you are a living entity. You could speak everything of what is going on in others' mind or body. You cannot say what I am thinking. I cannot say what you are thinking. Therefore I or you are not all-pervading. We are limited. And that is living entity. This is a very nice example.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Metaphysics Society -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:

Prabhupāda: If you say, "I am servant," and God says, "I am master," then it is perfect.

Lady (Hṛdayānanda): You said that when I say, "I am," and when you say, "I am," they are different. But she understands that the essence of everyone is the same.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But still, in the essence, in the essence means the spirit; that God is the supreme spirit, I am the particle spirit. So far spiritual constitution is concerned, God and the living entity, one. Both of them are spiritual. But the power, God's power and your power, is not the same. It is said in the Bible, so far I remember, "God said, 'Let there be creation.' There was creation." Can you do that, "Let there be creation" and create something? Therefore when God says, "I am" and you say "I am," that is different. So "I" means person. As person, He is also person. And "I" means persons. You are also person. But that person and you person is different. He is almighty, all-powerful. You have no... You have limited power.

Room Conversation with writer, Sandy Nixon -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Therefore you cannot see the spirit, and God is Supreme Spirit. Therefore, to show kindness upon you, He has appeared just like wood and stone so that you can see.

Woman: Oh, I see.

Prabhupāda: He is everything. He is spirit and matter, everything. But you cannot see Him as spiritual identity. Therefore He has appeared in material form so that you can see. This is Deity. He is God, but you cannot see Him in His original spiritual form at the present moment. Therefore, out of His unbounded mercy, He has appeared before you just like made of wood and stone so that you can see.

Room Conversation -- October 29, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: So the material world, the so-called material world, has come from Kṛṣṇa. So if it has come from Kṛṣṇa how it is material? The cause and effect is the same, maybe differently manifested. Just like cotton, cotton made into thread, the shape has changed, but it is cotton. And from the cotton thread, you make cloth. The cloth is cotton. But if I say, "Cotton. Bring cotton," then you'll bring cotton, not this cloth. But the cloth is also cotton. Now understand? Cloth is nothing but cotton. But when I say "Bring cotton," you'll not bring a cloth. You'll bring cotton. So the Kṛṣṇa is the sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1), cause of all effects. So all the effects are Kṛṣṇa. But you have no such realization. When you understand that this place is Kṛṣṇa's place, so you can worship Kṛṣṇa, glorify Kṛṣṇa. But if you don't realize that it is Kṛṣṇa's, then you talk nonsense, madman. "This is American property," "It is African property," "It is this. It is that," so many madness. But the śāstra says, iśavāsyam idam, everything Kṛṣṇa's. And the materialists, they'll pro... "No. Why everything? It is my country. It is my place." That is material. Similarly, anything coming from Kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa is supreme spirit—it is spiritual. The devotees, they understand that "This fruit has come from Kṛṣṇa. The flower has come from Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it must be offered to Kṛṣṇa. It is for use." Otherwise how the fruit becomes spiritual? We take prasādam. How it becomes..., the same fruit? No. Because the Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there, it is spiritual. It is spiritual, but it was not known. When one comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he understands that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Hari-sambhandhi vastūnaḥ. Everything has got relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That's the fact. So if anything has got relationship with Kṛṣṇa, so that is not material.

Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi:

Jñāna: The materialistic scientists, they are saying that matter is energy. So we understand if it's energy there must be an energetic.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So how the energetic is producing, this is common. Gas is forming. Just like you perspire, there is water. So one ounce of water may come from your body. So water is coming from your body, so why not from the gigantic body of Kṛṣṇa, the oceans, millions of oceans, come out? This should be the understanding. We see practically that water is coming out from my body. So it may be one ounce or less than that because my body is very small, but Kṛṣṇa's body is unlimited, so why not unlimited supply of water? This should be the common sense. And this body, this body, what it is? It is earth. When the body will be dead it will be earth. So I am spirit soul, a small particle, so much earth is coming from me, why not Kṛṣṇa, the supreme spirit? This is the explanation. God is great, I am small.

Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: Now, just to understand that I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, so the chemical and the water and the earth is coming from my body, so why not Kṛṣṇa's body, gigantic, the greatest, the chemicals, water, earth, water...? When Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo, "It is My energy," that's fact. Where is the difficulty to understand? We can... We are little sample of God, a small God. So if we can produce, this body... The spirit soul as I have described yesterday, one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair, it is very, very minute. From that minute spirit so much earth, water, fire is coming. So why not the supreme spirit, huge quantity of water, earth, will not come? How one can deny it?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:

Hṛdayānanda:"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain."

Prabhupāda: That's it. So as a lawyer, when there is some dispute, you refer to the lawbook. Similarly, when there is dispute how the soul is immortal, the body is changing, you refer to Bhagavad-gītā. You find it clear, na jāyate na mriyate, clearly said. Explain?

Hṛdayānanda: Purport? "Qualitatively, the small atomic fragmental part of the supreme spirit is one with the Supreme. He undergoes no changes like the body.

Evening Darsana -- July 7, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is fact. We are part and parcel of the supreme spirit, God. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). "All these living entities, they are My part and parcel." Qualitatively, we are one. Just like a small particle of gold is also gold. It is nothing else. Similarly, we being part and parcel of God, we have got that godly qualification. God can create. We can also create. That example I have given in my last magazine, that we have created this big 747 airplane, but we cannot create a mosquito. That is also plane, with pilot. That is God's creation. So the creative power, both of us, we have got, but we are limited, and He is unlimited. That is the difference.

Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: Is it necessary to get to know the true self before knowing God?

Prabhupāda: Yes, God means spirit, supreme spirit. If you cannot understand what is spirit, then how you'll understand God? You must know what is spirit, what is matter, and when we have little understanding of the spirit, then we can make progress spiritually.

Ali: How does one get to know the true spirit?

Prabhupāda: By knowledge, by knowledge. Just like you are talking. How you are talking? Because the spirit soul is there within you. As soon as it is gone, you cannot talk. Your this body and everything will remain, but you cannot talk, you cannot understand, everything is finished. So this is matter. Body is matter, and the force which is helping you to talk, that is spirit. Now you have to understand it thoroughly.

Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: Is the Superself a spirit?

Prabhupāda: Yes, when you say self, it is spirit. Spirit, the Supreme Spirit, and the subordinate spirit. The Supreme Being and the subordinate being. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. You find out this verse:

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta kṛd veda vid eva cāham
(BG 15.15)

Hari-śauri: "I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.'

Prabhupāda: The Supreme Being, the Supreme Self, is situated in everyone's heart. That is being explained.

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is spiritual vision. Kṛṣṇa is the supreme spirit, and if you remain Kṛṣṇa conscious, then spiritual vision. That is spiritual.

Guest (6): Swamiji, you have seen Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: What do you think? We are all rascals, blindly following? Do you think like that? Then why I have not seen? Why do you ask this? If we are acting for Kṛṣṇa, do you mean to say that we are following blindly? Do you think like that? What is your opinion? If we have not seen Kṛṣṇa, then how we are acting for Kṛṣṇa? Hm? What is your idea? We are all fools, that without seeing the master we are acting? Do you think like that? Why don't you answer? This is foolish question. How one can serve a master without seeing the master? Is it a fact that without seeing the master one is serving?

Correspondence

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Madhusudana -- Navadvipa 2 November, 1967:

Differentiation between spirit & matter is clear & practical experience, when a living creature is dead no amount of material advancement of science can bring back a dead body to life. The thing which is absent from a dead body is the spirit. As there is individual spirit in individual body, similarly there is the Great Spirit in the universal material form. As the individual spirit is working systematically within the individual material body, similarly, the Supreme Spirit is conscious of the universal body. The lord knows what is happening in each & every planet as much as an individual soul knows what is happening in each & every part of his body. Therefore, the individual consciousness which is limited, when dovetailed with the Supreme Consciousness of the Lord is called Krishna Consciousness.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Syama -- San Francisco 11 September, 1968:

In the Vedas it is stated that simply by understanding Krishna, one understands everything. This means there are two departmental educational policy; one departmental education is spiritual education, and the other departmental educational system is material education. One who is highly elevated in material education, cannot understand about anything spiritual. But one who is elevated highly in his spiritual education can understand anything material. In other words, all material things are dependent on the spiritual soul. Just like your body, my body, this material body, they have developed on the basis of the spirit soul. Therefore, Krishna being the Supreme Spirit, one who tries to understand Krishna, he can understand everything else.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Govinda -- Los Angeles 10 February, 1969:

The spirit soul is impossible to find out by materialistic scientific means, but if one will hear from the right authority, he may understand. The gentleman is disappointed that probably no one will ever know about spirit, but this is not true. We know what is spirit, how does it work, how does it transmigrate from one body to another or from one planet to another. We know these very scientifically, and we are firmly convinced about it. We can refute any dogmatic arguments against this conviction, and how do we do that? Simply because we start our understanding from the data of authoritative sources like Krishna or His representative. In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna speaks about spirit soul from the very beginning. Unless one understands what is this spirit soul, his further advancement of the Supreme Spirit God has no value. So this gentleman is puzzled in his understanding about wherefrom we have come, what we are, and where we are going. But we are certain about it. So if he wants to know all these things, there is bona fide source for understanding these problems, providing he agrees to give a submissive aural reception to the respective authorities as much as he believes in the authoritative statements of Sir Isaac Newton. So either to accept the statements of Sir Isaac Newton or the statements of Lord Krishna, the beginning is a kind of faith.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Bhagavan -- Los Angeles 10 January, 1970:

The perception of Krishna in everything is actually Krishna consciousness. In our conditioned state, we take it for granted something as separated from Krishna. But actually it is not so. Nothing can be separate from Krishna, everything is resting on Krishna, therefore, things which we consider now matter, when dovetailed for the cause of the Absolute Truth or Krishna, regains its spiritual quality. Another example may be cited in this connection. When we cook foodstuffs in the kitchen for eating ourselves, it is a different thing from the foodstuff which is prepared and offered to Krishna. The same dahl, rice is material for one purpose but the same thing becomes spiritual when it is dovetailed with Krishna. So on the higher platform, there is nothing material when everything is accepted in relationship with Krishna or the Supreme Spirit.

Page Title:Supreme spirit (Conv. and Letters)
Compiler:Mayapur, Tugomera
Created:01 of Oct, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=15, Let=4
No. of Quotes:19