720321 - Lecture SB 01.01.01 - Bombay

Lectures by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

720321SB-BOMBAY - March 19, 1972 - 41:36 Minutes

Prabhupāda: The first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, First Chapter, janmādy asya yato (SB 1.1.1): the original source of everything, that is the Absolute Truth, yataḥ, from which or from whom everything is emanating. That is the Absolute Truth. And what is the nature of that Absolute Truth? He is senscient. He is not a dead stone. He is completely conscious, yena sarvam idaṁ tatam.

avināśi tu tad viddhi

yena sarvam idaṁ tatam

(BG 2.17)

Idaṁ sarvam tatam: everywhere there is consciousness. You can see the cosmic manifestation: the sun is rotating on the orbit; the moon is rotating on the orbit; thousands and millions of planets and universes are exactly rotating. Unless there is consciousness, how it is possible? There must be consciousness. Just like in my body, whenever I feel pains and pleasure, there is consciousness. Similarly, the cosmic body, the virāṭ-rūpa, there is consciousness. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that the Absolute Truth must be conscious. Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ. Abhijñaḥ means conscious.

Now this knowledge, abhijñaḥ—jñaḥ means "completely conversant," abhi. Now wherefrom this knowledge came? Just like we have got our experience: we get knowledge from a superior person. We go to school, we go to college and get knowledge, but wherefrom the Absolute Truth got knowledge? This question may be raised. Generally, because we have experience that without going to the superior person how we can get knowledge, so the same question may be inquired about God, or the Absolute Truth.

But Vyāsadeva says that He is abhijñaḥ: He is perfectly conversant, He is perfectly in knowledge, but svarāṭ. Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ. Svarāṭ means "completely independent." There is no need of taking knowledge from others. That is God. Not that I am now in ignorance. The Māyāvādī theory is that "I am now in darkness under the clutches of māyā, and when māyā is finished, then I am God." The answer is if you are actually God, how you are captured by māyā? Then māyā is greater than you. But it is understood that God is great, nobody can be greater than God; so if māyā captures God, then māyā is greater than God.

So this theory is not very intelligent theory, that God has become captured by māyā. No. Māyā can capture this small god, just like we are. As I explained yesterday, īśvara. Īśvara means controller. So every one of us, somehow or other, we are controller. At least we control my…, our children, wife, at home. So in that sense everyone is controller. But śāstra says that īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1): the supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa. He has no controller. I am controller, but when I go to my office, immediately I find my boss a controller. Although I am very strong controller on my children or on my wife or servant—I am very strict man—but as soon as I go to my office, immediately I am controlled by my boss. That is my position.

So I am not absolute controller. The absolute controller means who is not controlled by anyone else. He is never controlled by māyā. That is absolute controller. How God can be controlled by māyā? Therefore this Vedic term is used here, svarāṭ. He is not controlled. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1), svarāṭ. And Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7): "There is no other controller above Me."

And Kṛṣṇa, when He was present, He was not controlled by anyone. Even if we suppose that Rādhārāṇī controls Kṛṣṇa, but actually He was not even controlled by Rādhārāṇī. That we have seen. When Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana, all the gopīs, they would not allow Him to go away to Mathurā. But still He did not…, Kṛṣṇa did not care for them; He left Vṛndāvana. So He is not controlled by anyone. Svarāṭ: fully independent.

And so far knowledge is concerned, there is perfect knowledge:

parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate

svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca

(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8)

Any knowledge required, any reality, it is present. Not like here one has to learn, just like we have to learn knowledge. For Kṛṣṇa, when He was only three months old, the Pūtanā rākṣasī came to kill Him. She thought... She was engaged by Kaṁsa to kill. So she came to kill Kṛṣṇa, smearing poison on her…, on the nipple of her breast, and came in a nice motherly dress. And Yaśodā-mayī was very simple; she allowed her son. But her purpose was to kill Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa sucked her breast and sucked her life also.

So at three months old, Kṛṣṇa, how He became God? Then, He had no instruction. He did not go…, undergone any austerity or penance or meditation. How He became God? Therefore God is never made. God is always God. Either He appears Himself as a three-month-old boy or just like a young man, God is always God. It is not that I am not God now, but by meditation I become God. That kind of God, manufactured in mystic factory, is not Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is svarāṭ. He is God always. He is not a made-up God by some meditation or by yogic practice. Therefore He is called svarāṭ.

janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ

tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ

(SB 1.1.1)

Ādi-kavaye, Brahmā. Now one may argue that we find the first creature within this universe is Lord Brahmā. So he spread the knowledge, Vedic knowledge, gāyatrī; so he must be the Supreme Lord. This question may be raised. Because he is the first creature; he created this universe, and he expanded the knowledge, Vedic knowledge, therefore he should be accepted as the Supreme Lord. Or janmādy asya yataḥ means everything has emanated, taken birth from him; therefore Brahmā is the original.

But the answer is there: tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. Ādi-kavaye. Ādi-kavaye means the Brahmā. So He also imparted knowledge to Brahmā; therefore Brahmā is not the original creator. The original creator is Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa. Tene brahma hṛdā. But He was not present there, because there was only the living creature Brahmā; so how knowledge was imparted to him? Therefore it is said, hṛdā: through the heart, because Kṛṣṇa is in everyone's heart.

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ

hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati

(BG 18.61)

You have got Kṛṣṇa within your heart. Simply you have to realize it; simply you have to become qualified, bona fide, to speak with Him. That's all. That is the qualification. That requires training. As soon as we are trained up to talk with the Supreme Lord, who is living within my heart, then our life is successful.

Kṛṣṇa says,

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ

bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam

buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ

(BG 10.10)

"I give intelligence to the person who is always engaged in devotional service with love." So Brahmā was educated by Kṛṣṇa through the heart, tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye. And what kind of Kṛṣṇa is... That is also explained here, that muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ. Kṛṣṇa is not understood even by the greatest scholar and greatest sage. Muhyanti: they become bewildered, puzzled to understand Kṛṣṇa.

So,

tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ

tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mṛṣā

dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi

(SB 1.1.1)

Here in this material world, it is a false representation, tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayo. Just like a big skyscraper building, it actually it is very costly building, but what is the combination of this house? Tejo-vāri-mṛd. Tejaḥ means "fire," vāri means "water," and mṛd means "earth." So you mix earth with water and form it in a brick and dry it in the fire, and then it becomes brick. And you pile over one brick after another, it becomes a skyscraper building. But actually it is simply exchange of these three things, tejo-vāri-mṛd vinimayam. This whole material world is like that; actually it is the five elements combined together.

But there is another world, another nature, where the houses are made of cintāmaṇi. They are not made of these false, material things; they are made of..., by living cintāmaṇi, living stone. We haven’t got the idea, but we can get the idea from the śāstra:

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-

lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam

lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.29)

Govinda's real abode is described here. The houses are made there of cintāmaṇi stone, living stone. The stone will talk with you. But there is a stone like that. We get information from the Vedic literature, there is a stone. And kalpa-vṛkṣa: the trees are there, but they are not like these trees; they are kalpa-vṛkṣa. You can get anything you want from that tree: desire tree. Here, from mango tree you can get mangoes only, not papaya; but from the desire tree, whatever you want. Even you can get purīs and kachorīs from that.

Devotees: Ahh!

Prabhupāda: Yes, desire tree: cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu. Such trees and houses, not one or two: lakṣāvṛteṣu—thousands and millions of trees and houses are there.

The fact is that the spiritual world is not void, as somebody thinks. They have no information. Kṛṣṇa says,

yad gatvā na nivartante

tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

(BG 15.6)

So His dhāma, He has got a dhāma, He has got an abode, in the spiritual world. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ (BG 8.20): but that nature is different, beyond this material nature. That thing is explained here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mṛṣā. Here everything is false—not false; temporary. Everything, just like your body, my body, it is temporary; it is not false. The Māyāvādī philosopher will say it is false. But we, Vaiṣṇava philosopher, we don’t say that it is false; we say it is temporary.

So we should not accept temporary things as permanent. We are spirit soul. We are eternal, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We do not die after the destruction of this body. We accept another body, dehāntara.

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

dehino 'smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

(BG 2.13)

Just like we are advancing in age from babyhood to childhood, childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood. Now just like I am, now an old man, so as I am existing from the babyhood up to date, I know I had a small body like this; I was lying down on the lap of my sister. I remember it. But that body has gone. Next body came and gone, next body came and gone. In this way hundreds and thousands of species or different types of body came and gone, but I am there—I can remember that I had this body, I had this body, I had this body. Similarly, death means the final change of this body:

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

(BG 2.13)

Those who are intelligent, they do not become bewildered. Everything, that is all right. "My father is dead" means he has taken another body. Jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyu (BG 2.27). As soon as I take birth, then my death is sure, and as soon as there is death, my birth is sure. This is going on.

Therefore this body and anything in relationship with the body is kuhakaṁ. Kuhakaṁ means illusion, māyā, illusion. Just like sometimes we find, the example is given, mirage. We find some water, vast water, in the desert. Actually there is no water, but animals, less-intelligent animals, they think that "There is water. Let me go there and quench my thirst."

And he jumps over the desert, and the water also, the so-called water, is going ahead more and more, and he's... And after that, he is dead. Because he spoiled his thirst. His thirsty heart is never quenched, and he dies. So this is going on. In the material world we are getting one body after another. You are trying to be happy in this body, but it is never attained. Māyā mṛdāṁ. But it appears to be true. It appears to be true, that there is real water. But actually there is mud.

So our happiness, hankering after happiness, is, material happiness, that is just like kuhakaṁ, illusion, māyā. We don’t get here happiness. That is not possible. But the Absolute Truth, He has got His absolute abode. That is described here: dhāmnā svena nirasta-kuhakaṁ. He, the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Person, He has got His abode—but where there is no illusion, there is no kuhaka. Dhāmnā svena nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. Vyāsadeva says, "I offer my respect, obeisances, unto the Absolute Truth, who is above this illusory, temporary world." Dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ.

This is called chāyā or māyā. This world is called chāyā. Just like you have got your finger underneath the light—there is a shadow. So this material world is shadow of the real world, spiritual world. But because we have no knowledge, therefore like the animal who is running after the mirage water, we are simply running after the mirage happiness here in this material world, and after all we are leaving this body and creating some situation to accept another type of body, which may not be human body or may be greater than human body—there is no certainty.

Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like when you change your dress you get another dress according to the money you pay—you go to the shopkeeper, "Give me some dress"—so similarly, there is no guarantee what kind of body you are going to get in the next life. But if we follow Vyāsadeva, as it is said here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, dhāmnā svena nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi; if you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, satyaṁ paraṁ, then we go back to Him. Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9).

We require training only, to become Kṛṣṇa conscious; then we are also eligible to go back to the dhāmnā svena nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are offering… We are not offering—Kṛṣṇa is offering. We are simply canvassing on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Our business, we are teeny living entities; what we can offer you? But Kṛṣṇa is offering. We are simply carrying the message of Kṛṣṇa to you. That is our business. Kṛṣṇa says,

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

(BG 18.66)

We are carrying the message, "My dear sir, why you are bothering in so many ways? You simply surrender to Kṛṣṇa and your life is successful." Very simple thing. And those who are accepting in toto, they are becoming successful. This is the wonder. Four years ago, the Western people, they did not know what is Kṛṣṇa. Now, because they are accepting this simple truth, they are becoming advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So there is no difficulty, neither we have got to manufacture anything. Everything is there. There is no question of rigid process of meditation or jugglery of words. Simple thing: "My dear sir, Kṛṣṇa says that you surrender unto Him. So what is the difficulty?" And Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so pleased, so…, that He says that āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128): "You become a spiritual master on My order." So "What is Your order? Yāre dekha, tāre kaha "kṛṣṇa"-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128): "Whomever you meet, you simply deliver the message of Kṛṣṇa; then you become spiritual master."

So if you think… Sometimes people think that I am working very wonder in this world. But I am not working any wonder. I am just working like a peon carrying the letter from your friend and delivering. That's all. So Kṛṣṇa says, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ (BG 5.29): He is friend of everyone. He said. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu (BG 9.29). So He has got a message—He is friend of everyone—and we are saying simply, "My dear sir, Kṛṣṇa is your greatest friend. Here is a message from Him. Take it." That's all. Finished. We don’t manufacture anything nonsense; we simply deliver the message of Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And if you also act like this, you also become spiritual master.

So everyone can become spiritual master at his home. He can deliver the message to his wife, to his children, to his friends: "Sir, Kṛṣṇa says that you surrender." If he does not surrender, that is not your business to see; but you simply deliver the message. And if you simply deliver the message, then Kṛṣṇa says,

na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu

kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ

(BG 18.69)

"There is no one else so dear to Me who is simply delivering the message all over the world." Simple. You haven’t got to show any gymnastic or exercise, pressing your nose or making your head—so-called yoga system. That way will be never be practiced by anyone, nor the circumstances is favorable. This will be simply bluff. But you can say simply these plain word, that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and you kindly surrender unto Him. He is your greatest friend. He will give you protection." That's all. There is no difficulty.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says āmāra ājñāya. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's order. So that means we have to accept sincerely Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu or His representative as my guru. Then you become—you follow his instructions—you become a guru. This is called paramparā.

In the Bhagavad-gītā, Fourth Chapter, you have seen:

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam

imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ

(BG 4.2)

This paramparā system, learning by disciplic succession the pure knowledge, just like what we are preaching, the same thing as Arjuna understood from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa understood..., Arjuna understood directly from Kṛṣṇa. Now one may say that "Kṛṣṇa is not present before me. How I can learn Bhagavad-gītā rightly?" That is a plea. Kṛṣṇa is not different from Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's words are the same, because He is absolute. (break) ...Bhagavad-gītā, then you must know that Kṛṣṇa is speaking before you. But if you interpret in a nonsense way, then there is no future(?). Kṛṣṇa says,

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto

mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru

(BG 18.65)

Kṛṣṇa says that "You become My devotee. You offer Me respect. You always think of Me." You do this. But no. Some rascal interpreter will say, "Oh, this surrender does not mean to the Kṛṣṇa person. This surrender should be to the fact which is within Kṛṣṇa." The rascal does not know that Kṛṣṇa has no within or without; He is absolute. But he is thinking Kṛṣṇa as ordinary person. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā (BG 9.11). Because he is rascal, he does not understand Kṛṣṇa; he is thinking that Kṛṣṇa is something within and something outside. Just like we are: we are spirit soul within; outside, this material body.

Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6).

yadā yadā hi dharmasya

glānir bhavati bhārata

(BG 4.7)

Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā: "I come as I am," not like ordinary man. Therefore it is said, ātma-māyayā. We are forced to take birth. We are forced to accept some body by the prakṛti.

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni

guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ

(BG 3.27)

Our position is to act under the influence of this material nature. But Kṛṣṇa is above this material nature. Kṛṣṇa says,

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ

sūyate sa-carācaram

(BG 9.10)

"This prakṛtiḥ is working under My direction." So how He can be under the laws of this prakṛtiḥ? He cannot. He is the master of the prakṛtiḥ: mama māyā, He says.

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī

mama māyā duratyayā

mām eva ye prapadyante

māyām etāṁ taranti te

(BG 7.14)

Māyā…, if one surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, māyā has no more influence upon him. How māyā can have influence upon Kṛṣṇa? The person who surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, he becomes relieved from the clutches of māyā. And how Kṛṣṇa can be under the clutches of māyā? This is to be understood.

Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ (SB 1.1.1). Nirasta-kuhakaṁ: there is no māyā. Just like in the sunshine you may be covered by the clouds, but the sun is never covered by the clouds. That is our practical experience. When we say that "Today is cloudy; I cannot see the sun," yet that does not mean the cloud has covered the sun. The cloud has covered your eyes. How the cloud can cover sun? Sun is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, earthly planet. So a hundred miles cloud over the cloud…, over the earth, a cloud—say some are covering about one hundred miles or two hundred miles on this..., upon this earth—how the cloud can cover the sun? That is not possible. It is covering the eyes of the persons who are within that hundred miles.

Similarly, those who are under the clutches of māyā, they are covered by māyā, not the Supreme Lord. Māyā is acting under the direction of the Supreme Lord, so māyā cannot cover Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord. Māyā can cover us, we small creatures.

nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām

eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān

(Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)

That nityo: one person. Qualitatively Kṛṣṇa is nityaḥ; I am nityaḥ. He is eternal; I am eternal. He is cetanā, He is living; I am living. In this way, we are equal, but not in quantity: in quality we are one.

This simultaneously one and different, acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's philosophy we follow. We are not one with God in quantity, but we are one with God in quality. Because we must be one in quality with God, because we are part and parcel of God. A particle of gold is also gold, but it is not as big as the gold mine. Similarly, we are equal in quality with Kṛṣṇa, but not in quantity. He is sarva-śaktimān. He is sarva-śaktimān. When it is said, just like,

avināśi tu tad viddhi

yena sarvam idaṁ tatam

(BG 2.17)

Now this sarvam idaṁ tatam, all-pervading, do you think you are all-pervading, I am all-pervading? No. I am pervading over my body, that's all. If there is pinching any part of my body, I can feel; therefore I am pervading all over my body. But I am not pervading your body or others' bodies. If there is pinching in your body, I cannot feel it. Therefore I am not all-pervading. All-pervading is Kṛṣṇa.

Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "I am also Supersoul. As Supersoul, I am present in everyone's heart." Kṣetra-jña, in the Thirteenth Chapter, kṣetra-jña and kṣetra, this knowledge. Kṣetra means this body, and kṣetra-jña means the soul. So He is explaining kṣetra-jña: the soul is there in this body, is all-pervading all this body. But He says in another verse,

kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi

sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata

(BG 13.3)

Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi. He says, "I am also soul, but I am soul all-pervading. I am in everyone's body." I am a soul. I am living in my body. But Kṛṣṇa as the Supersoul, He is living in everybody's body. That is difference between Kṛṣṇa and me: He is all-pervading; I am not all-pervading. Therefore I cannot be equal with God, or Kṛṣṇa, in any circumstances.

That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, Second Chapter. He says that "All these kings, you and Me—all of us—it is not that we did not exist in the past, and it is not that we shall not exist in the future." That means as individual soul, Kṛṣṇa and the living entities existed eternally. Not that now we are separated—we are separated energy eternally. Jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7). Sanātanaḥ, eternally, we are different than Kṛṣṇa: a small particle. So Kṛṣṇa explained this in the Second Chapter, that "It is not that we did not exist in this individual pattern in the past. Now we are individual, you, Me and all these soldiers, and similarly we shall become…, we shall remain individual in the past…, in the future."

This is called perfect knowledge. Not that in future, when I’m out of this clutches of māyā, I become one. There is no such possibility to become one. If one thinks like that, then you have to come back again. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ

patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ

(SB 10.2.32)

Therefore this is nirasta-kuhakaṁ, nirasta-kuhakaṁ, where there is no more illusion. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme individual, we are subordinate individuals, and if we become Kṛṣṇa conscious, all these individual persons will go back to home, go back to Godhead. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Haribol. (end)