740813 - Lecture BG 07.07 - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

740813BG-VRNDAVAN - August 13, 1974 - 31:11 Minutes

Pradyumna: " . . . superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread."

Prabhupāda:

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat

kiñcid asti dhanañjaya

mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ

sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva

(BG 7.7)

The controversy about the Absolute Truth, whether the Absolute Truth is form or formless . . . there are many philosophers. They, some of them are impersonalist, and some of them are personalist. They . . . in India the impersonalist are known as Māyāvādī, and the personalist, they are known as Vaiṣṇavas.

So here the decision is given by Kṛṣṇa Himself, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa means Bhagavān. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). This is the conclusion of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And in the Ṛg Veda also it is said, tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam: "Viṣṇu is the Supreme"; sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ, "Those who are demigods, or advanced in spiritual knowledge, they always look after the lotus feet of Viṣṇu." But the demons, they do not know that the Viṣṇu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Absolute Truth. They cannot. Because they have taken the atheistic attitude, they cannot understand the Absolute Truth as the Supreme Person.

na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ

durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ

andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās

te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ

(SB 7.5.31)

Uru-dāmni baddhāḥ. We are so much conditioned. As . . . just like one . . . hands and legs are tied up, he cannot do anything independently, similarly, we are so much tied up by the stringent laws of nature that we are not at all independent. But we are trying to adjust things in this material world to be happy. This is not possible. Therefore śāstra says that they do not know the, what is the aim of life. Na te viduḥ: "They do not know." Svārtha-gatim. Everyone is self-interested. Each of us, every one of us, we have got our self-interest. But we do not know actually what is our self-interest.

The self-interest is to understand Viṣṇu. Tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam. That is our aim. Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa, the same. But there is controversy whether Viṣṇu is secondary or Kṛṣṇa is secondary. According to śāstra, nobody's secondary. Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa, They are simply expansion. They are not different. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Viṣṇu has ananta-rūpam, unlimited forms. Advaitam acyutam. They are not different. The other day I explained, the candle . . . first candle, second candle, third candle . . . but no candle is less powerful than the other candle. This is the conclusion. So either we say Viṣṇu or we say Kṛṣṇa or Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Balarāma, They are all expansions of the Supreme Person Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānya (BG 7.7): "There is no more superior authority than Me." This is the conclusion. Mattaḥ, "from Me," na anyat, "nobody else is superior." That is the conclusion of the śāstra, and Kṛṣṇa personally also says. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcit. "Nobody."

There is controversy . . . in another place Kṛṣṇa says, aham ādir hi devānām (BG 10.2). He is the origin of all demigods. The principal demigods are Viṣṇu and Maheśvara and . . . Maheśvara means Lord Śiva. And Brahmā. Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. So Kṛṣṇa is the origin of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. They are guṇa-avatāra. For maintaining this material world . . . the material world is composed of three guṇas: sattva, raja, tama. So the director of the sattva-guṇa department is Lord Viṣṇu, and the director of the rajo-guṇa department is Lord Brahmā, and the director of the tamo-guṇa department is Lord Śiva. Origin is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is concluded, after describing all the incarnation of God, different incarnation, the conclusion is made, ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28): "All the incarnation mentioned in this chapter, they are either expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or expansion of the expansion, secondary expansion." Aṁśa-kalā. Aṁśa means expansion, and kalā means expansion of the expansion. Just like a . . . first expansion is Balarāma, and from Balarāma, next expansion is the catur-vyūha, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna . . . Vāsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Saṅkarṣaṇa. These expansions are going on.

But that expansion does not mean one expansion is less powerful than the other. This is transcendental, the same formula. Advaitam acyutam anādi. Advaita, always advaita. Not different. Acyuta, not fall down. So Kṛṣṇa is the origin. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). They are īśvara. Īśvara means controller, powerful. Even the demigods, they are also īśvaras. You are also īśvara. I am also īśvara. Īśvara means controller. Anyone who has got little control, he can be called īśvara. That is the dictionary meaning. But even the original īśvaras, namely Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, they are also not supreme īśvara. The supreme īśvara is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. That is the śāstric inclusion, conclusion.

So śāstra says Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Kṛṣṇa Himself also says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). Therefore, as Arjuna understood Kṛṣṇa, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān . . . (BG 10.12). Arjuna has said that, "I heard from the śāstras about Yourself, and You are personally speaking that You are the Supreme. And not only that, the great sages like Vyāsadeva, Asita, Devala, great authorities, they also admit that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Therefore there is no doubt. The conclusion is the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa, as it was in the beginning said by Kṛṣṇa, asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu (BG 7.1). Asaṁśayam, "without any doubt."

So that . . . the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means . . . you can understand who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are so many societies all over the world, so many religious system, but they cannot give exact idea of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Some has got some idea; others have got other idea. But so far we are concerned, we are fixed up in Kṛṣṇa. And that is rightly. Because Kṛṣṇa is supported not only by the Vedas and by the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā, and authorities like Vyāsadeva, Asita, Devala, and Arjuna, who heard Bhagavad-gītā personally from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he also admits. All the ācāryas. Even Śaṅkarācārya, although he was impersonalist, he admits, "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead," sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ (Śaṅkarācārya). Nārāyaṇa . . . he also admits that, "Nārāyaṇa is not a person of this created material world," nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. And he admits also, kṛṣṇas tu . . . sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ, "He has appeared as the son of Devakī and Vasudeva." He admits.

So Kṛṣṇa is admitted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all authorities. There is no doubt about it. And Kṛṣṇa personally confirms, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7): "There is no more superior being than Myself." So where is the difficulty to understand what is God? There is no difficulty. But if we are obstinate, if we do not try to understand what is God, that is a different thing. But everything is there. So we should take it for acceptance that nobody is superior than Kṛṣṇa. Bhāgavata says, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Brahma-saṁhitā says, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). So it is concluded. There is no controversy. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya, mayi sarvam idaṁ protam: "Everything is in Me."

It is already explained that Kṛṣṇa has got two energies, just like heat and light, the energies of the fire. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is enjoying His spiritual, blissful life. He is spiritual, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ ānanda . . . (Bs. 5.1). Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). So He is in Vṛndāvana having His ānanda, spiritual bliss, enjoyment, with His associates, ever associ . . . eternal associates, the gopīs, the cowherds boys, His mother, His father—Mother Yaśodā, Nanda, Nanda Mahārāja. So He is enjoying in His abode, Goloka. That is also confirmed: goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). Still, He is present everywhere. Ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). He is within this universe, He is within your heart . . . īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). In one word, without Him nothing can exist. Therefore it is said, mayi sarvam idaṁ protam: "Everything is existing in Me." Sarvam idam.

The two energies . . . in the material world, the two energies are working. The two energies are from Kṛṣṇa. Therefore everything is resting on Kṛṣṇa. In another place Kṛṣṇa says, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam (BG 9.4). The same thing, "I am expanded." Tatam. Tatam means expanded. So He is expanded by His energy. Just like the lamp is expanded by the light: when the illumination in the lamp will be stopped, the expansion also will stop. Similarly, whatever we see, it is all resting on Kṛṣṇa's energy. It is working on Kṛṣṇa's energy. Just like I am. It is not very difficult to understand. Just like I am. What is "I am"? Am I this body? No, I am not this body. The body is my house. I am living in the house. Am I this mind? No, I am not this mind. This is called meditation, to understand, "I am not this body. I am not this . . ." Neti neti. "I am, ahaṁ brahmāsmi."

So ahaṁ brahmāsmi . . . dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). That Brahman, particle of Brahman, is there within the body. It is very small. You just study. It is stated that ātmā and Paramātmā, they are living together. And where is the ātmā, Paramātmā? The Paramātmā is stated also, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). So everything . . . Paramātmā is within my heart, and I am sitting with Paramātmā, therefore I am also within the heart. So medical science, they also know. They take care of the heart. When the heart stops, then everything stops. That means when the ātmā goes out of the heart, it has no meaning. So in the small scale the whole construction of this body is dependent on that ātmā. So this is the example, that the ātmā is so small, one ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair; because that small particle is there within this body, therefore it is so beautiful, it is nicely working, the brain is working. Everything is there. Scientists, they are finding out, trying to find out what is the living force. Sometimes they are catching the blood; sometimes they are catching the cells, or this, or that . . . but failure, because they could not capture the ātmā. But ātmā is so small, it is not possible. Even you cannot see where it is. But it is perceived that there is something within this body, living force generally they call it. Therefore the body's working.

So . . . and the . . . it is spread all over the body. Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam (BG 2.17). That thing which is sarvam idaṁ tatam, spread all over the body as light, illumination . . . so I am ātmā, you are ātmā. So your illumination, consciousness, is spread all over the body. Therefore so long I am in this body, I feel pains and pleasure because the consciousness is spread. In the same way . . . as Kṛṣṇa says, He's the Supreme Soul. I am individual, very, very minute, small particle, and Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Whole. So as I am controlling over this body, so where is the difficulty? Kṛṣṇa is controlling over the whole universe. Where is the difficulty? There is no difficulty. But we'll not understand. That is the difficulty. Here it is clearly said, mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva. There is no difficulty. In another place also, Kṛṣṇa says, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Mayā. The original is person, mayā, aham. Mayā. So "by Me." Sarvam idaṁ tatam. How? That is already explained: by the two energies, the spiritual energy and the material energy, parā and aparā-prakṛti. That is expanded all over the universe, creation. So where is the difficulty? Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Anything, that is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Therefore those who are devotee, Vaiṣṇava, they can understand that everything is Kṛṣṇa's. I am also Kṛṣṇa's energy; you are also Kṛṣṇa's energy, jīva-bhūtaḥ. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām, jīva-bhūtām (BG 7.5). We are parā-prakṛti, all of us, living entities, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.

So the living entity and this matter, two combination, makes the whole creation. Everywhere the creation is going on. So therefore the conclusion is, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam, "Everywhere I am expanded." Where is the difficulty to understand? Sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva (BG 7.7). As the pearls are set up on a thread, standing—everything is dazzling—but they're all resting on the thread. Similarly, everything is resting on Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the support. We are discovering so many laws. Or the laws are there; they are discovering the laws. But the original support is Kṛṣṇa. The whole planetary system, the modern science says, the law of gravitation. But that is not very perfectly explained. We can question. There are so many things. But from the Vedic literature we understand that Kṛṣṇa in His ananta feature, Anantadeva, or Śeṣaśāyī Nāga . . . the hoods are expanded, and all the planets are resting on His hood. It is so small, and the hood is very big. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So therefore the planets are resting not on the law of gravitation but on the head of Kṛṣṇa in His form of Śeṣa. This is our Vedic conclusion.

So any way you take what Kṛṣṇa says, mayi sarvam idaṁ protam, "Everything resting on Me . . ." Similarly, in the Ninth Chapter Kṛṣṇa said, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā (BG 9.4). The energies are avyakta. Energy. Just like there is light, but it is impersonal; but the lamp is personal, or localized. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's energies . . . or take another example: the sunshine is impersonal, but the sun is personal. Sun is not imperson. Wherefrom the sunshine is coming? It is coming from the sun globe. And within the sun globe there is the sun-god. His name is there also—Vivasvān. Name means person. As the sun is person and we worship the sun, savitā—oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur vareṇyam (Gāyatrī mantra)—so this is the worship of the sun-god, the morning sunrise. So the sun-god is also person.

So we can study what is the nature of the Absolute Person by studying the sun. The sun globe is localized. The sunshine is spread all over the universe, and within the sun globe there is the sun-god, Vivasvān. Similarly, the original planet is Goloka Vṛndāvana. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). Vaikuṇṭhaloka. Original, the Goloka Vṛndāvana, the abode of Kṛṣṇa. So take it . . . just like sun globe. And within the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet there is the Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa, just like exactly within the sun the person, sun-god, his name is Vivasvān. And from that globe, Goloka Vṛndāvana, there is rays. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣv vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam (Bs. 5.40). On account of that effulgence from the Goloka Vṛndāvana, there are innumerable spiritual and material planets.

The spiritual planets are called Vaikuṇṭhalokas, and in the material sphere there are so many planets—sun, moon, Venus, earth, so many, millions and millions—they are all resting on that effulgence, Brahman effulgence. Yasya prabhā. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi, tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ govindam. The brahma-jyotir is the rays of . . . the bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa. So everything is resting . . . we have got experience that these material planetary system, they are resting on the sunshine. The scientist knows it. On account of the heat of the sunshine, all the planetary system or the globes, they are moving, going around. It is not stopped. There is a small apparatus—I have seen in America—that as soon as you give heat, within that, I mean to say, glass, the one is glow, it is rotating . . . (end)