720802 - Lecture SB 01.02.23 - London

Lectures by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

720802SB-LONDON - August 02, 1972 - 36:20 Minutes

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Read it.

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat)

brūhi yogeśvare kṛṣṇe

brahmaṇye dharma-varmaṇi

svāṁ kāṣṭhām adhunopete

dharmaḥ kaṁśaraṇaṁ gataḥ

(SB 1.1.23)

Prabhupāda: Next. Yes? Go on. That's alright. Ladies? Ladies? Any other ladies? Very good. That's nice. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Now word meaning?

(aside) Sit down. Other's backside they cannot . . . yes. Hmm. Go on.

Pradyumna: (leads chanting of synonyms)

brūhi—please tell; yoga-īśvare—the Lord of all mystic powers; kṛṣṇe—Lord Kṛṣṇa; brahmaṇye—the Absolute Truth; dharma—religion; varmaṇi—protector; svām—own; kāṣṭhām—abode; adhunā—nowadays; upete—having gone away; dharmaḥ—religion; kam—unto whom; śaraṇam—shelter; gataḥ—gone.

Translation: "Now that Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, the master of all mystic powers, has departed for His own abode, please tell us by whom the religious principles are presently protected."

Prabhupāda: Hm. So, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is a person. He is not imperson. Impersonal understanding of the Absolute Truth is imperfect understanding. That is not perfect. That is preliminary understanding—impersonal, or negative. In this material world we are trying to become happy by varieties: society, friendship and love. Varieties. Variety is the mother of enjoyment. Without variety there is no enjoyment. But not this variety. This variety means that it is false variety. Just like society, friendship and love we want, but if we are put within the society of some dolls . . . I have got my statue of my father and mother, my friend, my son. If I sit down, that will not give me pleasure. I must have real society.

That real society is not here. This is illusion society. Just like I am thinking somebody as my father, this body, but when the father dies I say: "Oh, my father is gone." "Why? Your father's body is there, why you say gone? He is sleeping, he will rise up." "No. He is gone." Therefore I have never seen my father; I have seen the false body. This is practical. If I have seen my father, then why should I cry for the body of the father?

Suppose my father hangs some coat in his room. So if the coat is there, I don’t think that, "This is my father." My father may be in another room, I don’t accept the coat as my father or the shirt as my father. Similarly, by illusion we are accepting the coat and shirt or mostly the coat, the covering of the father, as my father. So similarly, if I keep the coats and shirts of my father and brother and friends in the room, and if I think that I am in the society, that is illusion. That is illusion. So real father is the spirit soul.

So here it is said, yogeśvare kṛṣṇe. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Absolute God, He is a person, and He has got His abode. Just like we have come from India. It is example. So my abode is in India; I have come here. So if I go back to India, it is not that I have finished. Kṛṣṇa is not visible to my physical eyes; therefore there is no God, there is no Kṛṣṇa—these are rascal conclusions. The sun in the night, the sun is not visible. If I conclude, "Oh, the sun is now finished . . ." no. Kṛṣṇa comes in one day . . . once in a day of Brahmā. Some millions of years after, again He goes back to His abode. That means He has got His abode, He has His place, Goloka Vrindāvan, another planet. These are facts.

So here is the question, kṛṣṇe yogeśvare. Brūhi yogeśvare kṛṣṇe brahmaṇye dharma-varmaṇi. Brahmaṇye, the symbol of brahminical culture, brahmaṇye, or the Absolute Truth, Brahma. And dharma-varmaṇi. Kṛṣṇa's body is dharma. That means one who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, he is actually serving dharma, or religion. Dharma-varmaṇi. Or dharma only can help you to reach Kṛṣṇa. Dharma. That dharma can be taught by Kṛṣṇa, not by others. You cannot manufacture dharma. Dharma-varmaṇi: He is the master of dharma. He is the master of all yoga, yoga mystic power. Without mystic power, how you can conceive of God? But not a little mystic power. Little mystic power everyone has got.

To the child . . . suppose a child, he cannot solve a mathematical calculation, but the teacher immediately says: "This is like this." This is also a mystic power to the child. The child will say: "Oh, how did my teacher . . . how my teacher could calculate?" Or there are many examples. Suppose my servant wants some money for purchasing things. So in a small piece of paper I write something, "All right, give to the housewife." And immediately gives him five hundred rupees. So he becomes surprised: "Oh, how is that? This chit of paper and five hundred rupees!" So it is mystic for the servant. One who does not know how the money is paid . . . money is already there; he gave a little note, and the money was paid. So one thing may be mystic for a rascal, for a fool, but that does not mean that he has become God. Don’t be misled by little mystic.

So we have to see there are different grades of mystic. I can create something, a little gold. There are mystic yogīs, they can do prāpti. In our boyhood there was one teacher, he knew some yogic principles. If you ask him that, "I want to get fresh grapes from Chaman," he will say: "All right, go into the room. It is there. It is there." So, there are different grades of mystic power. Just like one man's food, another man's poison. One thing may be mystic power for one man, but that is very common thing for others. These gradations are there in this material world. We have got experience—I know something, you know better than me something else, another body knows better than you something else. In this way you go on testing all sorts of mystic power. When you find that, "Here is a person whose mystic power cannot be surpassed," let's say, then He is God, Supreme. Yogeśvara. Iśvara. Yogeśvara.

So, in the modern world so many Gods are there. Especially in India, every lane or every road there is an incarnation of God. Some magic, and rascals and fools they are captivated by little magic, "Oh, here is God!" I cannot swim, so one is swimming: "Oh, he is God!" I cannot fly, a bird is flying in the sky, "He is God!" It does not mean that if somebody is doing something extraordinary which I cannot do, then that he becomes God. Or even if he has become God, there are different grades of mystic power. Just like we say demigods. Demigods. Just like the sun god. The sun god is within the sun planet, and he is profusely supplying heat and light. You cannot become like that. But he is also subordinate. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said:

yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ

rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ

yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs 5.52)

Now this, take the sun, so powerful. Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ. He is the eyes of all other planets. Because without sunlight you cannot see, either in this planet or on any other planet. In the universe there are millions of planets. Unless there is sunshine, you cannot see. Therefore sun is the real eyes. When sun sees you, you can see the world, you can see the sun. But when the sun does not see you, then you are in darkness. Therefore he is addressed, yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ. Rājā: He is the king of all planets. Samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ: unlimited supply of tejāḥ, influence by heat and light.

But this sun is also within this orbit. Just like this earth is also moving within its orbit. It cannot go outside the orbit: then everything will be topsy-turvy. All the planets, they have their fixed orbit. How this orbit is working? Yasyājñayā. By whose order? By Kṛṣṇa's order they can move in this way. That's all. No more. You may be sun. You may be sun. Your speed is sixteen thousand miles per minute. That's all right—but not beyond your orbit. Yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro.

(aside) Go and sleep upstairs. Why you are sleeping?

Yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro. Kāla-cakro. Kāla-cakro means that going round the orbit, that is also limited. So many millions of years you can go on like that. Just like if you take a small ball and you throw in the sky, it also rounds and again falls down. Similarly, all these planets they are going round the orbit by the order of the Supreme. That is called Saṅkarṣaṇa. So, all this, this is also mystic power. Such a huge lump of matter, the sun, which is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, it is also floating in the sky. This is called yogeśvara. This is called mystic power. Not that I make something like this, I become God. This is one of the mystic power. There are so many other mystic powers.

So one who possesses all this mystic power, inconceivable by us, He is God. That mystic power is possessed by Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is specifically mentioned, brūhi yogeśvare kṛṣṇe. Not anyone else. Because cent-percent mystic power is possessed by Kṛṣṇa. Others may possess ninety-nine, ninety-six, ninety or fifty-five or eighty, go on, go on, go on, go on. So in this way a living entity is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa; he also can get mystic power up to seventy-eight percent. That is also not fully. Minutely.

When a living entity is free from material contamination, he can acquire the mystic power of Kṛṣṇa up to seventy-eight percent in minute quantity. Lord Brahmā, he is also a jīva, a living entity, but he has perfectly this seventy-eight percent mystic power in minute quantity, Brahmā. Lord Śiva has got perfectly eighty-five percent. Nārāyaṇa has got ninety-six percent. These are analyzed; these are not fictitious. But Kṛṣṇa has got full, cent-percent mystic powers. That is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is specifically mentioned, brūhi yogeśvare kṛṣṇe brahmaṇye dharma.

Another thing: dharma, religion. Religion means Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means religion. Other, they are not religion. Anything which does not help you develop in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is not religion. Therefore in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2) In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam all kinds of pretentious cheating religion is rejected. Rejected. Why? Because religion means Kṛṣṇa, dharma-varmaṇi. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says:

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja

(BG 18.66)

This is religion—what Kṛṣṇa says. He is dharma-varmaṇi. He is dharma personified, so whatever He says, that is religion. Not that I say something, you say something, everything becomes religion. The Rama Krishna Mission says, yata mata, tata patha: anyone can create his own religion. That is nonsense. That is not religion. Religion means what Kṛṣṇa says. That is religion. Anything else, that is cheating, pretentious. That is pretentious.

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya. Why He is asking, "Give up all other religious systems. Simply surrender unto Me"? That is religion. In another place Bhāgavatam confirms, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Dharma means that which is given by God, the laws given by God. God is Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Person. Whatever laws He gives, that is religion. So He gives these laws, that "You surrender unto Me." This is religion.

Religion is very simple. Just surrender to Kṛṣṇa and you will become religious. But it is difficult also. Nobody can surrender to Kṛṣṇa. He will surrender to dog, but not to Kṛṣṇa. In the morning he will go to the dog. The dog is urining; he is standing. He is passing stool; he is standing. (laughter) So he can surrender to dog, but he cannot surrender to Kṛṣṇa—this is so difficult. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says:

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante

jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

(BG 7.19)

After many, many births, when one becomes actually wise, he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. Not an ordinary person.

So that perfection, anyone can take. It is open. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ . . . if we do that, then we become perfect immediately. "How? I am so much sinful! How I can become immediately perfect by surrendering to Kṛṣṇa?" Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66): "I shall give you protection from all reaction of your sinful life." "Oh, I have done so much sinful activities."

Mā śucaḥ: "Don’t bother. Don’t worry." Mā śucaḥ, "Don’t worry." Because He is Yogeśvara, He is master of all mystic powers, by His mystic power He can within a second vanish all your reaction of sinful life. He can do that. He can do that. Otherwise what is the meaning of Yogeśvara? Yogeśvara means He has got that full potency to give you protection.

So there is no question of doubt. We must immediately surrender. Kṛṣṇa says: "That is all right." "Kṛṣṇa, I immediately surrender. Kindly give me protection." And Kṛṣṇa gives you. He says: "I will give you protection."Yogeśvare kṛṣṇe. Svāṁ kāṣṭhām: He has got His own abode. He is not impersonal. Just like in this building I have got my room, you have got your room. Similarly Kṛṣṇa is also the supreme living being. Cetanaś cetanānām. Nityo nityānāṁ (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13).

We are all nityās, eternal. We don’t die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We don’t die after the destruction of the body. Therefore we are eternal. Cetana, we have got knowledge. Even animal has got knowledge, because it is a living being. Everyone has got knowledge. This morning I was seeing one small insect, fly, a little bigger than the full stop. He was flying, not walking, on the face of the bowl. Very swiftly, exactly like the aeroplane runs on the . . .

Devotees: Runway.

Prabhupāda: . . . yes, runway. So I saw that "Can any scientist manufacture an aeroplane so small, running so swiftly on my bowl?" That is Kṛṣṇa, Yogeśvara! (laughter) You can manufacture 747 running, but you cannot manufacture this. (laughter) This is Yogeśvara.

Then we have to study like that. You are claiming that, "I have manufactured this big machine. I have become God now." "All right, you manufacture this machine. Come on."Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.20). Kṛṣṇa is Yogeśvara. He can manufacture bigger than the biggest and the smaller than the smallest. That is Yogeśvara. You can manufacture something big, wonderful, but not the biggest. Neither you can manufacture the smallest.

Therefore you may be God in the estimation of some fools, but we have got another God, that is Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Haribol!

Prabhupāda: We don’t accept inferior God. We don’t like to become God. We want to become servant of God. Therefore we must select the best master. We cannot accept a teeny God to become my master. We are not so fooled. We are not going to be fooled by these teeny Gods. We want the actual God, Yogeśvara, Kṛṣṇa. That is the conclusion.

Now the question is that Kṛṣṇa, the master of religious principles, yogic powers, so long He was on this earth everything was going nicely. Now He has gone to His abode. Then the question is that this power and religious principle was entrusted to whom? Because He came, dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya (BG 4.8), for re-establishing the principle of religion. Now He has gone, now who is look after the principles of religion with merit? This is the question. Read Purport.

Pradyumna: "Essentially religion is the prescribed codes enunciated by the Personality of Godhead Himself. Whenever there is gross misuse or neglect of the principles of religion, the Supreme Lord appears Himself to restore religious principles. This is stated in Bhagavad-gītā (BG 4.8). Here the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya are inquiring about these principles. The reply to this question is given later. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the transcendental sound representation of the Personality of Godhead, and thus it is the full representation of transcendental knowledge and religious principles."

Prabhupāda: So after Kṛṣṇa . . . just like Kṛṣṇa left Bhagavad-gītā as His philosophy for studying by persons who came after Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Just like we are studying. He left the instruction.

Similarly, real dharma and mystic power and religious principles, they are in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This will be explained in the next chapter. All right. Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)