690622 - Lecture SB 01.05.18-19 - New Vrindaban, USA
(Redirected from Lecture on SB 1.5.18 -- New Vrindaban, June 22, 1969)
Prabhupāda: (chants maṅgalācaraṇa)
- jñānāñjana-śalākayā
- cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave-namaḥ
- śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale
- svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam
- vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca
- śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam
- sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ
- śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca
- he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate
- gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te
- tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari
- vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye
- hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
- hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare
So Nārada Muni is advising Vyāsadeva, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ (SB 1.5.18). Kovida means intelligent, expert. One who knows things as they are, he's called kovida. So one who is intelligent, he should try to achieve that thing which is not available—na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ—which is not available even by wandering up and down.
This we have already explained in the last meeting, that according to our karma, we are being sometimes elevated to the very high position, and sometimes we are being degraded to become an insignificant creature like ant. This is going on.
(aside) This boy . . . (chuckles) She, she can go to the . . . yes. This is very disturbing child.
(reading commentary) Nanu sadharmam atradapi karma pitṛ-loka iti śruti pitṛ-loka-prapti phalaṁ aptaiva hatrasapi kovidaḥ viveki; tasyaiva hetoḥ tad artham yartham na kuryad yad upary brahmaloka paryantam adhaḥ sthavara paryantam brahmad bija na labhyate; tato viṣaya sukham anyathā eva praptino sva karmaṇā sarvatra narakadapi labhyate duḥkhavat; yataḥ duḥkham prajadnavina labhyate tadvad; tad uktam apraptithani duḥkhāni tathaiva ayaṁ hi dehināṁ sukhāni api tathā manye daivatra atir-icyata.
So our duty is, as I mean to say, indicated by Nārada Muni, our only duty is how to achieve full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Other things, there is no need of trying. Actually, I have seen that in India—everywhere the same case—a person without any education, even without any . . . practically illiterate. I have seen so many merchants, he cannot sign even his name. In Calcutta I've seen practically a Marwari, merchant, he, he cannot . . . he has deposited money in the bank.
Simply he can sign his own name with great difficulty. So he's canvassing, "Will you kindly write here . . ." That means the check to be paid to the gentleman, he cannot write. He's asking somebody's help, "You write the name of the person whom I can pay," and he'll simply sign. If he writes something wrong, he'll have to accept. (laughs) If he writes his own name . . . (laughter) So that man is earning millions of dollars. You see?
And I have seen also very educated medical man, England-returned, M.R.C.P—I am speaking from my practical experience—so he goes to a hospital, big doctor, but I have seen in his house, he had not even a good utensil at home. He's so poor, in spite of so much education and highly qualified, England-returned doctor.
So the statement of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham (SB 1.5.18): you don't try for so-called economic development. You cannot have more than what you are destined to get. It is already settled up. This, this living entity . . . you see different grades of standard of living condition. So they're according to the past karma, daivena, daiva-netreṇa, karmaṇā. So you cannot change that. That nature's law, you cannot change.
Why you have got varieties of life, varieties of position, varieties of de . . .? It is destined. Viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt (SB 11.9.29). Viṣaya, these material enjoyment—means eating, sleeping, mating and defending—these . . . only standard is different. I am eating something, you are eating something. Maybe, in my calculation, you are eating not very good; in your calculation I am not eating very good. But the eating is same. You are eating; I am eating.
So in the material world the standard of happiness, taking the basic principle, it is all the same. But we have created, "This is good standard, that is bad standard. This is very nice, this is very bad." Caitanya-caritāmṛta says, dvaite bhadrābhadra sakali samāna. In the material world, "This is good," "This is bad"—(chuckles) actually, it is the same thing. As it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). It is due to the skin that we are sometimes feeling warm and sometimes feeling cold. The material nature is the same. Similarly, our feelings of happiness and distress is just like feeling the warmth and, I mean to say, chilly cold. Due to the skin, due to this body.
Actually, there is no happiness in the material world. Kṛṣṇa says, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15) "This place is full of misery." Full of misery. Now, how you can make it happy? Caitanya-caritāmṛta also says that dvaite bhadrābhadra sakali samāna. In this material world it is our mental creation, "This is happiness. This is distress." Actually, it is all distress. After all, we have to die. After all, we have to finish this business. So what is happiness or distress?
Bhāgavata also says that, "Don't bother yourself to make yourself happy by working day and night hard without trying for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is simply waste of time." There is no question of happiness in this material world. If you actually want to be happy, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), if you want to be placed in real happiness, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate (SB 1.5.18). So this chance we have got in this human form of life. I can execute the business of Kṛṣṇa consciousness very nicely. In other form of life I cannot do that. Even if I try, it is not possible. That the dog cannot, because it is not a human being. But we can, because we are . . . so why should we lose this chance? Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta.
- na vai jano jātu kathañcanāvrajen
- mukunda-sevy anyavad aṅga saṁsṛtim
- smaran mukundāṅghry-upagūhanaṁ punar
- vihātum icchen na rasa-graho janaḥ
- (SB 1.5.19)
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice that, if once adopted, he'll not degrade like ordinary man. This is stated here clearly. Na vai jano jātu kathañcanāvrajen mukunda-sevy anyavat. Anyavat, others, as they have become a tool in the hands of material nature, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, because he has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, he is not under the jurisdiction of the material nature. Mām eva ya prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti (BG 7.14). So whole stress is being given that, "You take . . . you preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If some way or other . . ." The whole, the three verses, are stressing that, "Even if he falls down, there is no harm. Preach to take Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Caitanya Mahāprabhu also says like that, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128) "Whomever you meet, you simply try to make him convinced or try to preach him the importance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's . . . some way or other, if he takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then his life become successful.
Yad uktaṁ yatra kva vā abhadra abhūd amuṣya kiṁ yad upavadayiti mukunda-sevī jana kadācit kathañcana kujanim kato'pi saṁsṛtiṁ na vrajet na viset. Śrīdhara Svāmī says, mukunda-sevī. Mukunda . . . Kṛṣṇa's another name is Mukunda. Muk, muk. Muk means liberation, mukti. So . . . and ānanda. So Kṛṣṇa can give you liberation from this distressful, miserable condition of material existence and give you transcendental pleasure. Therefore His another name is Mukunda.
So mukunda-sevī. Sevī means one, he's engaged in the service of Mukunda, or Kṛṣṇa, Śrīdhara Svāmī says that mukunda-sevī vā jana kadācit kathañcana kujanim gato 'pi saṁsiddhin na vrajet. Even a mukunda-sevī, by chance . . . there is chance. Every . . . just like Bharata Mahārāja. He began Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but by chance he, at the time of death, he was too much affectionate with a deer cub, and he become a deer in the next life. So although it is degraded life, still, he did not forget that "For this reason I have become now deer." So he was very cautious.
He was keeping company . . . just like here, we have got dogs, they are keeping company with devotees. That is very nice. His dog life also becoming perfect. It may be some pious man, somehow or other, it has become dog. Now he has . . . Kṛṣṇa has given them the association of the devotees. He's eating prasādam. He's chan . . . he's hearing chanting. He's giving some service to the devotees. So they are not in vain. They are not in vain. No. They, they're acquiring.
So mukunda-sevī. Similarly, anyone who has taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even if he falls down . . . generally, he does not, but even, taking for accepted that he, somehow or other, he fallen, still, he'll not have to suffer like others. Just like here, the animals, under the protection of the devotees, at least he has no fear of his life. No devotee will kill. Here the cows, the horse, the dog, they're assured of their life. Therefore they're not like ordinary dogs, they're not ordinary cows.
Therefore it is said, Śrīdhara Svāmī says, mukunda-sevī, even if he's degraded, he's not degraded as ordinary man. He's not degraded as . . . mukunda-sevī na vrajet aṅga, anyavat kevala karma niṣṭhavat iti vaidharma niṣṭha. Just like other karmīs, they are, according to their karma, they're given birth in a specific species of life. So their case, a devotee's case, is different.
So kuto ityataha mukundāṅghry-upagūhanam aliṅganam punaḥ smaran vihātum necchet yathān jana asad graha rasena na gṛhyate. Just like we see sometimes . . . the other day, the boy, Jayarāma, he went away. Again he came. We have got experience that many boys, they go away, but they cannot find out . . . just like I received many letters from Jayagovinda when he was India . . . in India, that he's missing the company of devotee Godbrothers. He's missing. So there is a feeling. Anyone who has associated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I mean to say, association, he cannot forget. Rasa-graho janaḥ.
Here it is stated that smaran mukundāṅghry-upagūhanaṁ punar vihātum icchen na. Vihātum means "to give up." He may fall down by māyā's influence for time being, but he cannot give it up. This is the sign. He cannot give . . . just like . . . the example is given: just like hot sugar juice. It is very nice. Because it is hot, one is feeling uncomfortable to take it, but because it is sweet, it cannot give way. Hot sugar juice. Similarly, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice that if somebody, being . . . becomes attracted by some kinds of māyā's, I mean to say, influence, still, he does not like to give up this Kṛṣṇa consciousness like others.
This is the specific qualification of a Kṛṣṇa conscious person. Smaran mukundāṅghry-upagūhanaṁ punaḥ. One who has chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa, he cannot give it up. Cannot give it up. He has to come again, this life or next life. Kṛṣṇa will not leave him. Kṛṣṇa . . . once surrender sincerely, "Kṛṣṇa, I am Yours," Kṛṣṇa will never leave him. He will protect you. But if he had become little stronger, then there is no question of falling down. Rasagra rasena grhyate vaśi kriyate. Kṛṣṇa vaśi kriyate.
Vaśi kriyate means hypnotized. It is so nice that one becomes hypnotized. Otherwise, why the boys are working so hard? They are . . . (laughs) They're all qualified. They can earn money outside. In your country sufficient money is paid for work, but they are hypnotized here. (laughs)
So Kṛṣṇa is so nice. Yes. He's the all-attractive. He hypnotizes His devotee in spite of . . . just like the Pāṇḍavas. The Pāṇḍavas, they were Kṛṣṇa's friend. Arjuna was friend. All the brother . . . Arjuna was very intimate friend, but other brothers, four brothers, they were also Kṛṣṇa's friend. And Kuntī, the Pāṇḍavas' mother, she happened to be the aunt of Kṛṣṇa. So they were well, I mean, established in relation with Kṛṣṇa. But as a result, they were banished for twelve years. They lost the game, so they were banished. And their wife, Draupadī, was insulted. Not . . . they could not insult her, but they tried to insult her. They tried to make her naked in the assembly. And they lost their kingdom, and they were banished for twelve years.
So Nārada met Kṛṣṇa. His devotee, he could speak Kṛṣṇa with little criticism: "My dear Sir, Kṛṣṇa, by becoming Your devotee the Pāṇḍavas are very happy. They have lost their kingdom. Their wife is insulted. And now they are banished for twelve years. So it is very good thing. (laughs)
But the wonderful thing I see, now, in spite of all these inconveniences, they have increased their love for You." So Nārada, he is astonished, "What kind of hypnotism You do, I do not know. (laughter) In spite of being placed in so much inconveniences, their love for You has increased." That is the position of Pāṇḍavas. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇaḥ (SB 10.14.8). The devotee, pure devotee, if they are put into difficulty, they take it, "Oh, it is Kṛṣṇa's grace. It is Kṛṣṇa's grace." Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam. They take it in this way: "Kṛṣṇa, I was to suffer hundred times more than this due to my bad activities in my past life, but You are giving me a little out of it. So it is Your grace." So devotee never takes in any . . .
Therefore nārāyaṇa-paraḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati (SB 6.17.28) "One who has become nārāyaṇa-paraḥ, Kṛṣṇa conscious, he's never afraid of any condition of life." Bhagavad-gītā also, Kṛṣṇa says, yasmin sthito na duḥkhena vicālyate: "If one is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he's never disturbed." Guruṇāpi duḥkhena (BG 6.22) "If he's put in the severest type of difficulty, he's never . . ." Just see the Pāṇḍavas. That is the effect of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Therefore Nārada is trying to convince Vyāsadeva that "You preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Whatever you have so . . . so far written books, they have been useless. Now you write something by reading which, one will become immediately Kṛṣṇa conscious." Sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate. In the beginning of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that "Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is so nice that simply by reading, immediately one can capture the Supreme Lord within his heart." Sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt. Tat-kṣaṇāt means immediately, provided if he's little willing. That's all. Śuśrūṣubhi. That is the word.
So our whole program is that Kṛṣṇa is very kind, always kind upon us, but we have to become little willing to take Kṛṣṇa's favor. That . . . what is the example? My Guru Mahārāja used to give a very nice example, I remember. Just like here is a well. Somebody has fallen down, he's crying, "Please get me out! Get me out! Get me out!" Now, if somebody drops a . . . a, I mean to say, tight, strong rope and asks him, "All right, you catch this rope tightly. I'll get you out," and if he says: "No, that I cannot do," then how he'll be saved? That much endeavor he must have: to catch the rope. Then he'll be lifted immediately.
Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says that, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So we have to do that. Simply to surrender unto . . . then everything is there. That is the only. Because . . . now the rope is there. Now we have to capture. Now, if you don't use your independence to catch it, then how can you expect to be lifted? That much you have to do. Because you have got . . . you are living. You are not a dead stone. You have got the independence. Therefore you have to capture Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa will do everything. Then Kṛṣṇa will do everything. Simply you have to capture that, "Kṛṣṇa, from this day I am Yours. Whatever You like, You do."
Just like Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, mānasa deho geho, jo kichu mora, arpiluṅ tuwā pade, nanda-kiśora (from Śaraṇāgati). Kṛṣṇa's another name is Nanda-kiśora. Kṛṣṇa has thousands and thousands of names, but this word, "Kṛṣṇa," is the original name, the exact name, "all-attractive." So here, Nanda-kiśora. Nanda-kiśora means the young boy of Mahārāja Nanda, Nanda-kiśora.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura addressing, "My dear Nanda-kiśora, young boy of . . . young child, or young son of Nanda Mahārāja," mānasa deho geho, "my mind, my body, my family," mānasa deho geho jo kichu, "whatever I think 'This is mine . . .' " Because we are conditioned souls, "my," "I" and "mine," this is our disease. "So whatever I am thinking 'It is mine' . . . first of all, 'This body's mine,' or 'The home, the family, that is mine.' " So mānasa deho geho, jo kichu . . . "Whatever I have got in my possession, now I am surrendered unto You."
Arpiluṅ tuwā pade nanda-kiśora. This is surrender. "So I am giving unto You my family, my home, my body, my mind—everything." Arpiluṅ tuwā pade nanda . . . "Now, whatever You like, You do." That is very nice song. So we have to do that. Then Kṛṣṇa will take care. That's all. The same example: you simply have to capture the rope. Then you'll be lifted immediately.
So, so here it is said that a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, even if he is fallen down, he is not so degraded. Śrīdhara Svāmī, here, herewith quotes a verse from Bhagavad-gītā. It is nice.
- yatate ca tato bhūyaḥ
- saṁsiddhau kuru-nandana
- (BG 6.43)
- pūrvābhyāsena tenaiva
- hriyate hy avaśo 'pi saḥ
- (BG 6.44)
Just like so many boys and girls come to our association just like somebody forcing him, forcing him, "You just remain in this association." That is Kṛṣṇa's grace. That means in their past life they had been Kṛṣṇa conscious. Some way or other, it was not fulfilled. Now again the chance is being given. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that yatate ca tato bhūyaḥ saṁsiddhau. The percentage up to which he finished in his last birth, that is not lost. That is there—fifty percent or forty percent, thirty percent, whatever one executed in the last birth. Now next, this birth, unwillingly, or by force, by Kṛṣṇa's force, he'll have to accept again Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Just like Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura. I think I have several times spoken about Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura. So Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura, he raised himself in his previous life to the bhāva-bhakti. Bhāva-bhakti means always feeling for Kṛṣṇa. That is the prior stage of loving Kṛṣṇa, bhāva-bhakti. So he, in his previous life he was raised, but somehow or other, he fell down. But it is assured, śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo sanjayate (BG 6.41) "Even such Kṛṣṇa conscious person falls down, he is given chance to take birth in nice brahmin family or śuci, pure family, and rich family." So Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura was very rich man. He was born in a very rich brahmin family. And he was addicted to prostitute. By some way or other, he had some inclination like that. So he could not finish Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He fallen down. But at an opportune moment he got again the Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
How is that? The incidence is that he was performing the śrāddha ceremony of his father, but he had a girlfriend, prostitute. So he wanted to go there very quickly. So somehow or other he finished, and he wanted to go there. But on the road he found that it was very heavily raining, and he had to cross the river. So he did everything. And he . . . the prostitute was . . . she thought that "Bilvamaṅgala is not coming today. It is very . . . so much raining." So when she saw that Bilvamaṅgala is at the door, she was astonished. She said, "Bilvamaṅgala, how did you come here in this raining . . . torrents of rainy . . .?" So he disclosed everything, that how he catched one dead body in the river, then he crossed the river, then he jumped over the wall.
So she was astonished, and she simply said: "Oh, this much affection if you would have with Kṛṣṇa, how you would have been . . . your life would have been nice." Immediately it was . . . "Oh, Kṛṣṇa . . .?" Immediately, he left everything. Immediately he left everything and went to Vṛndāvana. He is . . . so Kṛṣṇa is so nice. Just at the right point He will remind. Yatate ca tataḥ. Here, in the Bhagavad-gītā, yatate ca tato bhūyaḥ saṁsiddhau kuru-nandana, pūrvābhyāsena. He was accustomed, so immediately reminded. Immediately.
So these are the, I mean to say, facilities for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And this is the only business one should take. All other things, simply waste of time. That is the instruction of Nārada. Nārada is the spiritual master within, spiritual master of the whole Vaiṣṇava sect. So he's giving the right direction, that (coughs) "Don't try for anything else. Don't think that you'll be happy this way or that way. Never . . . whatever happiness or distress . . ."
(coughing) Where is water?
So example is given here that tal labhyate duḥkhavat. Nobody expects a calamity or distress, but sometimes calamity overcomes us. Similarly, you should not, I mean to say, try for any artificial happiness. Whatever Kṛṣṇa gives you, be satisfied. That was the basic principle of Vedic civilization. Nobody was trying to make any artificial economic development. No. The whole history of India is like that. They were satisfied, "All right . . ." Even now the mass of people . . . in 1942 there was famine. People were dying. Still, they were, "All right. Kṛṣṇa has given us. God has given us." That was the mentality.
So our main business is how to improve Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We should not divert our attention in any other material condition of improvement. That is actually not improvement—it is simply illusion that, "I am making improvement." What improvement? Suppose you are earning now, say, five hundred dollars per month. If you earn, say, five million dollars, so then what? Will you eat more than four cāpāṭis? (laughter) You'll eat the same four cāpāṭis.
And you'll occupy the same six-feet bed. You may acquire the whole property of West Virginia, (laughter) but you'll have to lie down on six feet. (laughter) That's all. (chuckles) And you'll have to eat four cāpāṭis. So this is māyā. This is māyā, "I am improving." What you are improving? You'll not be taller, you'll not be great eater—nothing of the sort. Whatever you have already, you'll have so the same thing. You see?
So tad eva bhagavad-līlā pradhanarena anuvarṇaya, ity uktam bhakti-bhāvam ka ca kasya līlā iti apekṣama ilam bhagavān eva satu asmad iti araha. So Nārada Ṛṣi, Nārada Muni, says: "You just try to describe the glories of Kṛṣṇa." And what is that? The question may be, "Then how shall I glorify Him?" He says, idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ: "You study everything and dovetail with Kṛṣṇa."
Idam, "This world, this cosmic manifestation . . ." Idaṁ jagat. Jagat means this cosmic manifestation; idam, this, bhagavān . . . "it is Kṛṣṇa." That means, "Try to preach or try to teach the people in general that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, everything is manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's energy." But not impersonalist.
If . . . the impersonalists' view is that if everything is Kṛṣṇa . . . that is the . . . that is their material way of thinking. Just like if you take a big paper and, I mean to say, cut into pieces, and the pieces are distributed, strewn over, then the original paper is lost. So their theory is, "If Kṛṣṇa is everything—Kṛṣṇa has expanded in this world, in cosmic manifestation—then Kṛṣṇa has no form, separate form." That is their theory.
But the Vedic injunction is, "No. It is not like that." Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation), Kṛṣṇa is so full that even Kṛṣṇa expands million times, still, He's the same thing, Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is person. And even He expands, Kṛṣṇa, in many ways . . . parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, CC Madhya 13.65, purport). This is the fine philosophy. One has to understand how Kṛṣṇa, in spite of His being a person—He's person, without any doubt—He has expanded in so many universes, so many manifestations. Yes.
So I was . . . while this morning I was walking, I was talking with Devānanda that how Kṛṣṇa expands. It is common sense affair. Just like a small seed in a fruit—that seed you sow, it becomes a big tree. And from that big tree, again millions of fruits come out. And again from that, each fruit, there are millions of trees. We can see the potencies. Even in our material existence we see so much potencies in everything.
Why not Kṛṣṇa's potencies? We see the sunshine, the potency of the sun. The sunshine is spread all over, and everything is existing on the sunshine. Even the sunshine has got the so much potency. That we can experience. And how much potential is Kṛṣṇa, who is the creator of the sun also. Yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ (Bs. 5.52). So we have to study like that everything. Everything is Kṛṣṇa's expansion. Just like the fire: fire is situated in one place, but here . . . just like here there is a fireplace. But if there is fire, the heat will be experienced up, up, upstair, and here and that other side. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, although He's person, He's situated . . . goloka eva nivasati. He's enjoying there in Goloka Vṛndāvana. By His energy, He is expanded. This is simple truth. Anyone, any man with common sense, he can experience.
So Vyāsadeva is teaching Nārada Muni, idaṁ viśvaṁ bhagavān. Īśvarad prapañca na pṛthak. This world is not different from Kṛṣṇa. Na pṛthak. Pṛthak means different. The world is not . . . but that does not mean Kṛṣṇa has lost His personality. This is the difference between Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Māyāvāda philosophy is, "If the whole cosmic creation is God, then where is God again separately?" That is their poor fund of knowledge. That is God who, expanding Himself in so many ways, still He remains as He is. That is God.
Otherwise, how He is God? It is material thing. If by expanding, He loses His identity, then it is material. In the material sense, that we experience. The same example—you take one big paper and cut into pieces and throw it. The original paper is lost. That is material. But in the Īśopaniṣad we hear that pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇaṁ pūrṇāt udacyate, pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation).
Just like when Kṛṣṇa was sporting on this earth as cowherd boy, Brahmā became doubtful, "How is that? Kṛṣṇa has become a cowherds boy here?" So he wanted to test whether He's Kṛṣṇa. So he, he shifted all the cows and cowherds boys from the pasturing ground, and again he saw that millions times the same cows, boys and cowherd, cows and cowherd boys, are present there. So that is Kṛṣṇa.
He can expand. Bṛhatvad bṛhannatvad. Brahman means He can expand unlimitedly. And He can shrink also to the minute. Just like we are very minute. We are also part and parcel. And this cosmic manifestation is also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He's called paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). So in this way we have to study to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. The, everything is there. Simply we have to become little serious. Then we can understand what is this world, what is Kṛṣṇa, what we are, how they have expanded, how this world is created, everything. All answers are there. It is not a sentiment, that we are accepting something by sentiment. All reasons, all philosophy, arguments are there. We shall discuss by and by.
Thank you very much. (end)
- 1969 - Lectures
- 1969 - Lectures and Conversations
- 1969 - Lectures, Conversations and Letters
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- Lectures - USA
- Lectures - USA, New Vrindaban
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- Lectures - Srimad-Bhagavatam
- SB Lectures - Canto 01
- Audio Files 30.01 to 45.00 Minutes
- 1969 - New Audio - Released in June 2017