Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.1–2PreviousŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.6Next

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Prabhupāda: …just like when we at night, we are naṣṭa-dṛśām. Even though we have got these eyes, we cannot see; we require light. For a moment there was no electric light—you immediately became blind. That is our position. We are very much proud of our eyes. We see…, we say, "Can you show me God?" There are so many questions. But what is your eyes? Your eyes, if there is no light, electricity, you cannot see. And you want to see God with these eyes, these imperfect eyes? But they say, "Can you show me God?" So the answer is, "Can you see God?" You have to make the eyes naṣṭa-dṛśām. Our eyes, our senses, are so imperfect, it is not possible to understand Kṛṣṇa. Ataḥ kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ [Brs. 1.2.234]. So you have to rectify your faulty senses—eyes, hands, everything. Then you can understand Kṛṣṇa. That is stated here: kalau naṣṭa-dṛśām. In this age, kalau… This is called Kali, age of Kali—fighting. Quarrel means disagreement and fight, kalau. Kalau naṣṭa-dṛśām eṣa purāṇārko 'dhunoditaḥ [Bhāg. 1.3.43]. This Purāna, this Bhagavata-Purāna, is just like sunshine, or sun: adhunoditaḥ. So we should take advantage of this sunshine, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s…, what is called, śabdha incarnation. This Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam… Kṛṣṇa has many incarnations. Just like here, we are worshiping the Deity, this is called arcā-avatāra. Similarly, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is sound avatāra. Kṛṣṇa can appear as avatāra in anything, because this sound means from sky, and this arcā is from stone. Kṛṣṇa claims, bhūmir āpo analo vāyuḥ khaṁ buddhir [Bg. 7.4]. Khaṁ means ākāśāḥ. From the ākāśāḥ, from the sky, there is śabdha, sound vibration. That is the symptom that existence of ākāśāḥ. And this arcā-mūrti, that is also made of stone, but Kṛṣṇa..., the stone is nothing but energy of Kṛṣṇa; the sound is energy of Kṛṣṇa. So as the sunshine is energy of the sun… When there is sunshine, the energy of the sun, you can understand the sun is there. Similarly, from anything, if you have got realization, you can understand Kṛṣṇa—energy. So this is, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is sound vibration incarnation of Kṛṣṇa: apurna, purāṇārko adhunoditaḥ. So if we study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam regularly, just according to the direction of the ācāryas, then we can become God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious, very easily. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Not officially, but nityaṁ: daily, regularly, we should hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the authorized source. Then our life is successful.

naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttama-śloke
bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī
[Bhāg. 1.2.18]

These things will be explained gradually. Now, it is established that after departure of Kṛṣṇa, knowledge and dharma is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā, personally He speaks about Him, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the great sage, mahāmuni, Vyāsadeva is speaking about Kṛṣṇa. So when this question was raised in Naimiṣāraṇya by the great sages and saintly person, the Sūta Gosvāmī was speaking. He replied, munayaḥ sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ [Bhāg. 1.2.5]. This was the answer when the question, that "After departure of Kṛṣṇa, where we can find dharma, jñāna?" That is the inquiry of human life: athāto brahma-jijñāsā [1.1.1]. This is jñāna and dharma. Without jñāna and dharma—knowledge and religion—that is not human society. Everyone should be inquisitive: athāto brahma jijñāsā. That is brahma jijñāsā. Jijñāsā means inquiry. Everyone should be interested to inquire about dharma and jñāna. That is human life. Tapo divyaṁ. The Ṛṣabhadeva, the father of Mahārāja Bharata, under whose name this land is called Bhārata-varṣa, Bharata, his father Ṛṣabhadeva instructed His one hundred sons that "My dear sons, this life," nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke [Bhāg. 5.5.1], "this body in the human society is not meant for working so hard like the dogs and hogs for sense gratification." This is not meant for. Don’t waste your time in that way. Simply for sense gratification to work so much hard, that is done by the dogs and hogs. Tapo divyaṁ. "This life is meant for understanding God," tapo divyaṁ, "for which one must undergo all kinds of austerity and penances." Austerity and penance means sacrificing our indulgence in sense gratification—little sacrifice required.

Formerly, great, great sages, they went to forest and Himalaya to meditate, just like Dhruva Mahārāja went. When five-years-old boy, in order to find out God, he went to the forest and meditated. Of course, he was successful, but at the present moment it is not possible to accept such kind of austerity. But therefore the śāstra gives us very short-cut austerity—chant Hare Kṛṣṇa:

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
[Ādi 17.21]

A little austerity. A little austerity. We are asking our students to chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa, sixteen rounds at least—this much austerity. But Kali-yuga is so strong that even this sixteen rounds is also very difficult. So we are so much fallen, but still, although we are fallen, if we chant this mantra Hare Kṛṣṇa, as recommended by the śāstras: harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam... Just like a small child: he tries to walk, sometimes falls down, again he tries to stand up. But we must try to come to the perfectional point by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So the Sūta Gosvāmī is replying after hearing the question: munayaḥ—this is plural number, "all the sages," sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ, "Oh, your question is very, very nice," sādhu, most, I mean to say, worshipable. Sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ.

munayaḥ sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ
bhavadbhir loka-maṅgalam
[Bhāg. 1.2.5]

"Your question about Kṛṣṇa, that after departure of Kṛṣṇa, where is now jñāna and dharma?" Dharma, jñāna. Now see, simply because it is related with Kṛṣṇa, Sūta Gosvāmī became so engladdened, that "Your question is very, very nice," sādhu pṛṣṭo. Why it is nice? Because loka-maṅgalam. This Kṛṣṇa discussion is so nice that as soon as we begin it, and so long we discuss about Kṛṣṇa, it is loka-maṅgalam—the whole period is auspicious. At that time Yamarāja cannot touch you. The death, the time, the influence of time cannot touch you. If you go on in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the influence of time cannot touch you. How influence of time has touched us? We are eternal, but we have been under the clutches of birth and death. This is the influence of time. Not that time is changing, but the influence of time is changing. I am getting this body, another body, another body… This is influence of time. So if you are constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, twenty-four hours, this influence of time cannot touch us. This is the secret.

So we recommend, therefore, our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that in whichever position you may be, it doesn’t matter. Please try to chant this holy name:

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]

…bhūtāni
sarvāṇīty upadhāraya
ahaṁ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ
prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā
[Bg. 7.6]

So, as we have explained last morning, all these different forms, both living and not living, jaḍa cetana, animate and inanimate—everything—they are products of the two energies of Kṛṣṇa: aparā and parā, inferior and superior. The inanimate is inferior energy—product of the inferior energy—and animate is the product of superior energy. But both of them are energies, and they are combination. They are combination in this material world. In the spiritual world there is no display of inferior energy; there is only that superior energy, cetana, cidya-vat[?]. The spiritual world is therefore called living world. There is no manifestation of this acetana, or inanimate. There are also varieties, as we have got here. There is water, there are trees, there is land. Not nirviśeṣa, not impersonal—everything is there—but they are all made of the superior energy. It is described that Yamuna River is flowing with her waves, but when Kṛṣṇa comes on the bank of the Yamuna, the waves stop to hear Kṛṣṇa’s flute. These are the description. When Kṛṣṇa passes through the roads of Vṛndāvana, the fruits and flowers, they offer their obeisances, and Kṛṣṇa understands, and He takes. This is the position of the spiritual world. From this material world we cannot conjecture or imagine what is spiritual world, but we can simply understand anubhāva, by perceiving, by realizing. There are two energies—that we can understand very easily. Just like the difference between a living man and a dead man, that you can realize; anyone can realize. The dead man means that spiritual energy is no longer there. The scientist, the so-called scientist, they say there is no such thing as spiritual energy or soul. The bodily function have stopped; therefore a man is dead. So if it is only material, then why it is not re-enervated? It could be reinstated. Just like a material car stops to run: you go to a gas station, get some gas, again the car runs. Similarly, if this body is simply lump of matter, then when it stops to move, then why not give something material so that it can again rise up and move? There are so many arguments in this connection. If the materialist scientist argue that the blood has become white, therefore the movement is stopped, so the answer should be the blood can be colored by so many scientific methods. And if redness of the blood, natural redness of the blood, is the source of life, then there are many jewels that are naturally red. Why they are not living?

So these arguments cannot be applied. The real thing is that the soul, individual soul, because the individual soul has passed away, therefore the body is dead. You cannot say that the life-giving substance or ingredients are lacking. No. That is not. The life-giving ingredients are there. If you say there are life-giving ingredients—I mean to say that material ingredients in which the soul was enwrapped—that is already there. And the life-giving force, that is also there, because the dead body, immediately after decomposition, is giving, growing or breeding so many germs. So the life…, you cannot say that life-giving ingredients are lacking. There is already; otherwise how these germs are coming out? So these arguments are not sound arguments. The real position is, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, etad-yonīni sarvāṇi. Etad-yonīni sarvāṇi…,

etad-yonīni bhūtāni
sarvāṇīty upadhāraya
[Bg. 7.6]

So everything is going on by combination of these two energies. And because these two energies are emanating from Kṛṣṇa, therefore Kṛṣṇa is the origin of creation. This is the conclusion. Kṛṣṇa is the original cause. Kṛṣṇa says also, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo [Bg. 10.8]: "I am the origin of everything." The Vedānta-sūtra says that Absolute Truth, Supreme Personality of Godhead, is He from who everything generates: janmādy asya yataḥ [1.1.2]. These are the statements of the Vedic literature, and the conclusion is that Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam, the cause of all causes.

Here Kṛṣṇa says,

ahaṁ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ
prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā

Kṛṣṇa says, prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā. Here in this material world, we experience that things are generated, or born, and again they are finished, vanquished. So the cause of generation is also Kṛṣṇa, and the cause of vanquishing is also Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, aham sarva-haraś ca... Aham sarva-mṛtyu: "At last I am… As death I take away everything from the living entity." Aham sarva-haraś ca mṛtyu, mṛtyu aham, sarva-haraś [Bg. 10.34]. So at the time of death we lose everything, whatever we have gained. So who takes away? Therefore Kṛṣṇa's another name is Hari. Hari means "taking away," hara, harati dipati[?], He takes away. So for the devotee He takes away all the material miseries, and for the nondevotee He takes away everything what he has created. Therefore He is called Hari.

tasmād sarvātmanā bhārata
bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ
[Bhāg. 2.1.5]

Smartavya. This was the instruction of Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Parīkṣit Mahārāja, that tasmād bhārata sarvātmā bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ. Hari, another name of Bhagavān. He is Hari. Īśvaro bhagavān hariḥ smartavya—always to remember; kīrtitavyaś ca—always to be glorified; smartavyaś kīrtitavyaś ca. In this way the Bhāgavata says. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a process: always remembering Hari. Bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ smartavyaś kīrtitavyaś ca. These are the instruction. So Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes. Now here there is difference between Māyāvādī philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Now here our Vaiṣṇava philosophy is that everything is created as the product of the energy of the Supreme Lord. The Māyāvādī theory is that the Lord has become everything. The Lord has become everything, that is all right; but that does not mean that there is no more Lord. This is material conception. Just like if you take a piece of paper and make it into fragments, many fragments, and throw it, the original piece of paper is no longer existing. This is material thing. But spiritual… Kṛṣṇa, by His energy, has produced innumerable universes, and in each and every universe there are innumerable planets, and each and every planet there are innumerable mountains, rivers, seas and their by-products. In this way, the whole existence is there, one after another. How things are happening like that, they are also described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, after another, one after another. Just from the sky there is sound, and from sound there is air, from air there is fire, from fire there is water, from water there is earth.

So it is not that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a sentimental movement. It is based on fully scientific basis. But people do not understand the science. They are simply, I mean to say, allured by the experimental science. The experimental science is very limited. Everything is experimental, but we do not know the process how to make this experiment. Otherwise, science means experimental science. But our knowledge, our activities are so limited that we cannot experiment higher analytical process. That is not possible. Just like I have several times given this example: just like there is a flower. The flower is fructifying from the plant, but there is a process. We see all of a sudden in the morning there is a nice rose flower, but we evade the experimental knowledge—because we cannot do it. We say "by nature." This nature is prakṛti. This prakṛti is described here: parā prakṛti, aparā prakṛti. So this nature is working not blindly—under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Just like you have got some energy. That energy you can utilize as you like, not that all of a sudden the energy comes out from your body and it acts. Suppose you have got the energy to give somebody a blow. This energy is there in your body, but when you like, when you desire to use this energy, then it acts. Not that the energy automatically comes out. No. Similarly, this energy, this material energy and the spiritual energy, they are Kṛṣṇa’s energies. When He likes, He exhibits. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says,

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
sūyate sa-carācaram
[Bg. 9.10]

When He desires, there is creation. When He desires, there is annihilation. In the Bible also it is said, "God said 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." This is fact. But the so-called scientists, they cannot explain that how God said "Let there be creation," and there was creation. So because the so-called scientists, they are thinking in terms of their own knowledge. When the scientist want to create something, they require the implements, they require the ingredients, they require the facilities, they require the laboratory and so many things. But parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Śvet. 6.8]: God’s energy is so perfect that as soon as He desires, everything is performed automatically. Now in this age of electronics we find very easily that you simply… Just like the airplanes, they are running in electronics, big mechanical process by electronics, simply by the pilot is pushing one button and so many things are happening. So if it is possible for the material scientist to discover such nice mechanical arrangement—by simply by pushing on the button such wonderful things take place—why not Kṛṣṇa’s energy, as soon as He desires, everything takes place? What is the difficulty? He is omnipotent, He is all-powerful, He is energetic. The energies are working, but the energies are working so quickly and swiftly and subtly that we cannot see how they work. That is the difference. Because due to our dull brain we cannot appreciate; we simply say "nature," but we cannot explain what is that nature.

So therefore the Vedic literature, we should accept as they are. They are perfect. Vedic literature we give authority because they are so perfect. Everything is scientific and perfect. Simply we have to accept it. We’ll save our time to… [break]…the cow dung is pure, antiseptic. We get the information from Vedas. The Vedas also say that any stool of animal is impure, but another place it says that the cow dung is pure. Now from our point of view we shall speak it is contradiction. No, it is not contradiction; it is actual statement. If you analyze cow dung, you will find it is full of antiseptic properties. So our this Vedic process of understanding is very perfect, and all the ācāryas, they accept: śruti-pramāṇa. Just like here this statement of Kṛṣṇa, Śrīla Rāmānujācārya has quoted many Vedic statement how Kṛṣṇa’s this claim, that "I am the origin of everything. I am the creator of everything," that is given evidences from Vedas, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad: maha na vyakta liyate avyakta isvarye akare liyate akaran tamasi liyate tamah pare devi eki bhavati[?]

So these are Vedic statements how things are emanating from the origin of all causes, and how they are again going back. Just like in the Brahmā-saṁhitā:

agnir mahī gaganam ambu marud diśaś ca
kālas tathātma-manasīti jagat-trayāṇi
yasmād bhavanti vibhavanti praviśanti
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs. 5.51]

These are Vedic statements.

agnir mahī gaganam ambu marud diśaś ca
kālas tathātma-manasīti jagat-trayāṇi
yasmād bhavanti vibhavanti viśanti yaṁ ca

Yasmād bhavanti. In the Upaniṣads also, yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante [Taittirīya Up. 3.1.1]. So the statements of Bhagavad-gītā, because it is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are exactly the Vedic statement. But to make it easier for our understanding, for the people of this age, Kṛṣṇa left this Bhagavad-gītā spoken by Himself personally. So unfortunately, there are so many rascals, they misinterpret this Bhagavad-gītā. They do not understand Bhagavad-gītā from the disciplic succession. Kṛṣṇa said that this Bhagavad-gītā should be understood in disciplic succession:

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
[Bg. 4.2]

This is transcendental knowledge. We should hear from the authority, as it is, not by changing according to my whims. That is going on nowadays, that everyone can interpret in his own way. Yato mat tato path, "If you have got your own opinion, that is also nice." How your opinion can be nice? Every one of us are imperfect. We have got four defects: we commit mistake, we are illusioned, our senses are imperfect and we want to cheat. How we can give perfect knowledge? It is not possible. You cannot get perfect knowledge for the conditioned soul, however he may be educated in this. That is not education. Real education is one who knows the Vedas. One who knows, one who has understood the Vedic knowledge from the disciplic succession, that is perfect knowledge.

Just like yesterday evening we were explaining dharma-jñāna. Dharma-jñānādibhiḥ saha [Bhāg. 1.3.43]. Dharma and jñāna, these should be understood very perfectly from the authorities. You cannot create dharma, you cannot have perfect knowledge, unless you take it from the authority. So this authority, Kṛṣṇa, Supreme Personality of Godhead, accepted by all ācāryas. Not that because we are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness and therefore we are advocating that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme authority. He is accepted supreme authority by all ācāryas: Rāmānujācārya, Mādhvācārya, Nimbārka, Viṣṇusvāmī, Lord Caitanya—everyone. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān… Vyāsadeva, Devala, Asita—everyone, all the Vedic literature. So we should take in that way. We should not try to interpret Bhagavad-gītā in a whimsical way, as "I think," "This may be." Just like sometime one doctor, medical practitioner of your city in Bombay, he has also written a comment on the Bhagavad-gītā, and he has explained that Arjuna is a patient and Kṛṣṇa is the doctor, medical man. So he is explaining physiology and anatomy [laughter], you see. So this is going on. Mahatma Gandhi, he wanted the nonviolence, so he interpreted Bhagavad-gītā in his own way to prove nonviolence. But where is nonviolence in Bhagavad-gītā? It is spoken on the battlefield. So somebody, somebody—there are so many commentaries, they are misleading. We should not be misled; we should take Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and then we will profit out of it. Otherwise we shall be misled.

Here Kṛṣṇa says that ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo, pralayas tathā: "I am the origin of all emanations, and I am the ultimate rest after pralaya, after annihilation," conservation of energies. Yasmād bhavanti vibhavanti viśanti. Bhavanti means "comes out," "emanates"; and vibhavanti, "enriches," "flourished"; and viśanti. This is the way of material existence. It comes out, it takes birth at a certain point and it remains. Just like our body, your body, it is born at a certain date and it will stay for a certain duration of time, and on a certain date it will vanish. This is the process of. So Kṛṣṇa is the origin of the birth, Kṛṣṇa is the maintainer and Kṛṣṇa is the annihilator. The form by which He creates, that is Brahmā, of this material world. The form by which He maintains, that is Viṣṇu. And the form by which He annihilates, that is Lord Śiva. Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśa. Actually, Kṛṣṇa is everything, just like He expands Himself for managing different department. The creation department is Brahmā, guṇa-avatāra. Therefore Brahmā is called rajo-guṇa-avatāra, and Viṣṇu is personally sattva-guṇa-avatāra, and Lord Śiva is tamo-guṇa-avatāra. So Kṛṣṇa personally becomes three, and maintains this material world under three departmental managers. But we are concerned with the sattva-guṇa. We are concerned with the sattva-guṇa-avatāra, Viṣṇu, not with the rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa. Sattva-guṇa means maintenance, existence.

So our philosophy: to exist, not to annihilate and not to be created. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means that "Now, henceforward, I shall exist. I shall neither take birth, neither I shall annihilate." If you take birth then you have to be annihilated, but if you don’t take birth there is no question of annihilation—you simply exist. So that can be possible by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa says,

janma karma me divyaṁ
yo jānāti tattvataḥ
[Bg. 4.9]

If you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa: how Kṛṣṇa appears, how Kṛṣṇa disappears, why Kṛṣṇa comes, what does He do—so many things. If you read Bhagavad-gītā, you simply think of Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you shall think of Kṛṣṇa. If you associate with these Kṛṣṇa conscious people, then you will always think of Kṛṣṇa. In this way, when you become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, then the result is, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti: immediately you become eligible to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is our mission. No more taking birth, no more annihilation. Exist eternally: na jāyate na mriyate vā. To come to that position—neither to die, neither to take birth. So this is possible if we study this Bhagavad-gītā according to the will and method given by the ācāryas. Here is commentary by Rāmānujācārya, who is very authorized comments. Similarly there are… These are not comments; they are explaining. Comments means I give some interpretation in my own way. So these are explanations, giving evidence from the Vedas.

So,

etad-yonīni bhūtāni
sarvāṇīty upadhāraya
ahaṁ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ
prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā
[Bg. 7.6]

This should be concluded: that Kṛṣṇa is the govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi—Brahmā-saṁhitā. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ. Ādi-puruṣaṁ means He is the origin of everything. Puruṣaṁ ādyam. Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa after reading Bhagavad-gītā:

paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma
pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān
puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ adyam..
[Bg. 10.12]

"You are the puruṣa." Puruṣa. The Supreme Absolute Truth is never prakṛti. Prakṛti is the energy of the puruṣa. He is puruṣa-bhoktā. So when you worship prakṛti, material energy, or the spiritual energy… Spiritual energy is Rādhārāṇī, and the material energy is Durgā-devī. But they are under Kṛṣṇa; they are not the supreme. They are working, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg. 9.10]. They are working under Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is original puruṣa, puruṣaṁ adyam. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ. He is ādi-puruṣa. He is only puruṣa, male, while all others are the female. Don’t understand female means like this. Female means predominated, and male means predominator. So Kṛṣṇa is always predominator, and everything is predominated. That is Kṛṣṇa’s position.

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat
kiñcit asti dhanañjaya
[Bg. 7.7]

Because He is the Supreme, all the energies are working under Him; therefore He says mattaḥ, "Beyond Me," parataraṁ nānyat, "there is no more superior…, superior objective."

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat
kiñcid asti dhanañjaya
mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ
sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva
[Bg. 7.7]

Just like in a necklace the pearls are woven in a thread, on a thread, so Kṛṣṇa says, "Everything that you see, they are just like pearls, but they are resting on the thread, which I am." As soon as the thread is broken, they will be scattered. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the resting place. In another śloka Kṛṣṇa says,

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
nāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ
[Bg. 9.4]

Just like this example: the pearls, they are resting on the thread, but the pearl is not the thread. This is acintya-bhedābheda philosophy. Everything is resting, is emanation from Kṛṣṇa, but not that everything is Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvāda philosophy is that Kṛṣṇa, as the Supreme, has expanded as everything—pantheism. Then why Kṛṣṇa separately to be worshiped? Everything should be worshiped. No. That is not. Everything… The worshipable is the Supreme, Kṛṣṇa.

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
[Bg. 9.34]

Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava: "You just think of Me." Although He is everything, He does not say that "You think of stone, you think of this or think of that," the Māyāvādīs are saying. No. He says, "Think of Me," man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru. Not that "Because I am expanded as everything, therefore everything should be worshiped as Kṛṣṇa." No. So if we study Bhagavad-gītā in this way, then we come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness very easily. We have published Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, so we request everyone to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is and take the profit out of it.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]

Prabhupāda: ...for your kindly participating in this great movement coming from India. So we are discussing the answer given by Sūta Gosvāmī to the saintly persons, brāhmaṇas, who assembled at Naimiṣāraṇya to have a discourse on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So when the question was there that after departure of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, from this planet to His abode. That we have already described, what is Kṛṣṇa's abode. Kṛṣṇa's abode is there in the spiritual world. Just like we have got various types of planets within this universe, and there are innumerable universes, and in each and every one of them there are millions and trillions of planets. This is only one-fourth manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's creation, including all these universes. That is stated in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā:

atha vā bahunaitena
kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
ekāṁśena viṣṭabhyāham
idaṁ kṛtsnam jagat
[Bg. 10.42]

This whole material world is one-fourth manifestation of one-fourth energy of Kṛṣṇa. The three-fourths energy is exhibited in the spiritual world. Here, the living entities in all these universes, they are very minority. Just like in the prison house you cannot expect the majority of the population. The majority of population is outside the prison house. Only a few number of criminals, they are in the prison house. Similarly, all these living entities who are within this material world... It is called durga. Durga, durga means fort, and the superintendent of this durga is called Durgā, durga-śakti:

sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā
chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni vibharti durgā
[Bs. 5.44]

This is the jurisdiction of Durgā. So mostly the living entities, three-fourth of the living entities, they are in the spiritual world. They are called nitya-mukta. They do not come within this material world. And the living entities who come within this material world, they are called nitya-baddha, ever-conditioned. Ever-conditioned means before the creation they were conditioned: bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg. 8.19]. So Kṛṣṇa’s opulence is unlimited, ananta. Therefore His another name is Ananta. Advaitam acyutam ananta. There is… This is the description of the Brahmā-saṁhitā:

advaitam acyutam ananta anādim
ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca
[Bs. 5.33]

He is advaita. Advaita means He is not different from anything, because anything we see, that is energy of Kṛṣṇa: parasya brāhmaṇaḥ śakti tathaiva akhilaṁ jagat. In the Viṣṇu Purāna it is said,

eka-stāni-sthitasyāgner
jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā
parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis
sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat

Akhilaṁ jagat: all these universes are exhibition of the energy of Kṛṣṇa, just like the fire can distribute its heat and light from one place. The example is the sun: the great fire, the greatest fire within this universe, it is distributing the heat and light from one place. You can see, everyone, the sun globe. It is lying in one corner of this universe. Although the sun globe is fourteen hundred times…, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, still you can see that it is lying in one corner. So this is Agni. We require heat and light; therefore Kṛṣṇa has given us the heat and light. So as we can see the sun globe is situated in one place, still its heat and light is distributed throughout the whole universe, similarly, Kṛṣṇa is living in His own abode, sva-dharma, but His energies are being distributed all over: ekāṁśena sthito jagat. [Bg. 10.42]

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that,

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ
[Bg. 7.3]

We do not know how much powerful, omnipotent is Kṛṣṇa. Without knowing His power, we treat Him as ordinary person—maybe very big person or great person. No. That is our poor fund of knowledge. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā, paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto [Bg. 9.11]. Such persons, such mūḍhās, they do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says,

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
[Bg. 7.3]

Siddha means one who is factually in knowledge of everything. He is called siddha. And yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin: there are many jñānīs, yogīs, they are called siddhas, but out of many millions of such siddhas, one may or may not understand Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā…, paraṁ bhāvam ajā. So here Sūta Gosvāmī says, munayaḥ sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ: "Oh, your question is welcome." Sādhu. When there is something very glorious, we welcome by saying, "Sādhu, sādhu," "It is very nice, very nice," sādhu. Amongst the learned scholar, Vedic scholar, when they approve something they say, "Sādhu, sādhu," "Very good." So when Kṛṣṇa question was asked by the audience, "After departure of Kṛṣṇa, the knowledge and dharma," dharma jñāna… These two things are very essential things in the human society. Without dharma and without jñāna it is animal society. Jñāna means to know, self-realized, what I am. That is jñāna. And after jñāna there is dharma. Dharma means occupational duty. If you do not know what is your constitutional position, then how your occupational duties can be ascertained? Therefore dharma-jñāna-ādibhiḥ saha. So that is jñāna. When we understand that we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we are eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, that is jñāna. And after having this jñāna in full, then our dharma—actual dharma—begins. So Kṛṣṇa directly says,

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
[Bg. 18.66]

This surrender unto Kṛṣṇa is dharma. Other things, which does not teach how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, that kind of dharma is called kaitava-dharma, cheating dharma. Therefore Bhagavata says, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitava atra: all cheating type of religious principles are completely rejected. Cheating type, kaitavo, this very word. And Śrīdhara Svāmī comments on this that liberation, mokṣa-vāñchā, [Madhya 24.101] to become one with the Supreme, that is also another type of cheating. Why it is cheating, that is explained. We have discussed all these points. Now here Sūta Gosvāmī says that "Your question about Kṛṣṇa is very, very nice. It is welcome." Why it is very, very nice? Munayaḥ sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ, bhavadbhir—by you; loka-maṅgalam [Bhāg. 1.2.5]. If Kṛṣṇa questions and answers are discussed simply, all over the world, everything will be nice, peaceful, loka-maṅgalam. People are anxious for peace, tranquillity, all over the world, but they do not know how to establish it. That secret… [break] [end]

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