All over the creation

Expressions researched:
"all over the creation" |"all over the material creation" |"all over the universe, creation"

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 9.4, Purport:

Thus for people in general He is not visible. Here it is said that although He is all-pervading, everywhere present, He is not conceivable by the material senses. This is indicated here by the word avyakta-mūrtinā. But actually, although we cannot see Him, everything is resting in Him. As we have discussed in the Seventh Chapter, the entire material cosmic manifestation is only a combination of His two different energies—the superior, spiritual energy and the inferior, material energy. Just as the sunshine is spread all over the universe, the energy of the Lord is spread all over the creation, and everything is resting in that energy.

Yet one should not conclude that because He is spread all over He has lost His personal existence. To refute such an argument the Lord says, "I am everywhere, and everything is in Me, but still I am aloof." For example, a king heads a government which is but the manifestation of the king's energy; the different governmental departments are nothing but the energies of the king, and each department is resting on the king's power. But still one cannot expect the king to be present in every department personally. That is a crude example. Similarly, all the manifestations that we see and everything that exists, both in this material world and in the spiritual world, are resting on the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The creation takes place by the diffusion of His different energies, and, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam: He is everywhere present by His personal representation, the diffusion of His different energies.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.9.35, Purport:

"I worship the Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who, by one of His plenary portions, enters into the existence of every universe and every particle of the atoms and thus unlimitedly manifests His infinite energy all over the material creation."

The impersonalists can imagine or even perceive that the Supreme Brahman is thus all-pervading, and therefore they conclude that there is no possibility of His personal form. Herein lies the mystery of His transcendental knowledge. This mystery is transcendental love of Godhead, and one who is surcharged with such transcendental love of Godhead can without difficulty see the Personality of Godhead in every atom and every movable or immovable object. And at the same time he can see the Personality of Godhead in His own abode, Goloka, enjoying eternal pastimes with His eternal associates, who are also expansions of His transcendental existence. This vision is the real mystery of spiritual knowledge, as stated by the Lord in the beginning (sarahasyaṁ tad-aṅgaṁ ca). This mystery is the most confidential part of the knowledge of the Supreme, and it is impossible for the mental speculators to discover by dint of intellectual gymnastics. The mystery can be revealed through the process recommended by Brahmājī in his Brahma-saṁhitā (5.38) as follows:

SB Canto 3

SB 3.26.3, Purport:

We have experience that the sun is situated in one place, but the sunlight is diffused all around for millions and millions of miles. That is our practical experience. Similarly, although the supreme light is situated in His personal abode, Vaikuṇṭha or Vṛndāvana, His light is diffused not only in the spiritual world but beyond that. In the material world also, that light is reflected by the sun globe, and the sunlight is reflected by the moon globe. Thus although He is situated in His own abode, His light is distributed all over the spiritual and material worlds. The Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) confirms this. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ: He is living in Goloka, but still He is present all over the creation. He is the Supersoul of everything, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He has innumerable transcendental qualities. It is also concluded that although He is undoubtedly a person, He is not a puruṣa of this material world. Māyāvādī philosophers cannot understand that beyond this material world there can be a person; therefore they are impersonalists. But it is explained very nicely here that the Personality of Godhead is beyond material existence.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.25.11, Purport:

The travelings of Purañjana are similar to the travelings of the modern hippies. Generally hippies are sons of great fathers and great families. It is not that they are always poor. But some way or another they abandon the shelter of their rich fathers and travel all over the world. As stated in this verse, the living entity wants to become a prabhu, or master. The word prabhu means "master," but actually the living entity is not a master; he is the eternal servant of God. When the living entity abandons the shelter of God, Kṛṣṇa, and tries to become a prabhu independently, he travels all over the creation. There are 8,400,000 species of life and millions and millions and trillions of planets within the creation. The living entity wanders throughout these various types of bodies and throughout different planets, and thus he is like King Purañjana, who traveled all over the world looking for a suitable place to live.

Śrī Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, kevala viṣera bhāṇḍa: "The path of karma-kāṇḍa (fruitive activities) and the path of jñāna-kāṇḍa (speculation) are just like strong pots of poison." Amṛta baliyā yebā khāya, nānā yoni sadā phire: "A person who mistakes this poison to be nectar and drinks it travels in different species of life." Kadarya bhakṣaṇa kare: "And, according to his body, he eats all types of abominable things." For instance, when the living entity is in the body of a hog, he eats stool. When the living entity is in the body of a crow, he eats all kinds of refuse, even pus and mucus, and enjoys it. Thus Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura points out that the living entity travels in different types of bodies and eats all kinds of abominable things. When he does not become ultimately happy, he becomes morose or takes to the ways of hippies.

SB 4.30.43, Purport:

The word anapavarga-vīrya is significant in this verse. The word ana means "without," pavarga means "the materialistic way of life," and vīrya means "prowess." The prowess of the Supreme Personality of Godhead always contains six basic opulences, one of which is renunciation. Although the Pracetās desired to see the Lord to their full satisfaction, the Lord left. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, this is an exhibition of His kindness to innumerable other devotees. Although He was being attracted by the Pracetās, He left. This is an example of His renunciation. This renunciation was also exhibited by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He stayed with Advaita Prabhu after taking sannyāsa. All the devotees there wanted Him to stay a few days longer, but Lord Caitanya left without hesitation. The conclusion is that although the Supreme Lord has unlimited kindness for His devotees, He is not attached to anyone. He is equally kind to His innumerable devotees all over the creation.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.9.30, Purport:

"I worship the Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who, by one of His plenary portions, enters the existence of every universe and every atomic particle and thus unlimitedly manifests His infinite energy all over the material creation." To create this cosmic manifestation, Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, expands His external energy and thus enters everything in the universe, including the atomic particles. In this way He exists in the entire cosmic manifestation. Therefore the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in maintaining His devotees are transcendental, not material. He exists in everything as the cause and effect, yet He is separate, existing beyond this cosmic manifestation. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (9.4):

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ

jagad avyakta-mūrtinā

mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni

na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ

The entire cosmic manifestation is but an expansion of the Lord's energy; everything rests in Him, yet He exists separately, beyond creation, maintenance and annihilation. The varieties of creation are performed by His external energy. Because the energy and energetic are one, everything is one (sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma).

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.3.15-17, Purport:

One can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, always, within oneself and outside oneself, if one has developed the transcendental loving attitude toward Him. Thus for people in general, He is not visible. In the above-mentioned verse from Bhagavad-gītā, therefore, it is said that although He is all-pervading, everywhere present, He is not conceivable by the material senses. But actually, although we cannot see Him, everything is resting in Him. As discussed in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, the entire material cosmic manifestation is only a combination of His two different energies, the superior, spiritual energy and the inferior, material energy. Just as the sunshine is spread all over the universe, the energy of the Lord is spread all over the creation, and everything is resting in that energy.

Yet one should not conclude that because He is spread all over He has lost His personal existence. To refute such arguments, the Lord says, "I am everywhere, and everything is in Me, but still I am aloof." For example, a king heads a government which is but the manifestation of the king's energy; the different governmental departments are nothing but the energies of the king, and each department is resting on the king's power. But still one cannot expect the king to be present in every department personally. That is a crude example. Similarly, all the manifestations that we see, and everything that exists, both in this material world and in the spiritual world, are resting on the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The creation takes place by the diffusion of His different energies, and, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, He is everywhere present by His personal representation, the diffusion of His different energies.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 24:

"O my Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, You are the maintainer of the whole universe. Everyone is sustained by Your mercy. Therefore devotional service unto You is the true religion of life. I am engaged in such devotional service, and so I request You to please maintain me and ever-increasingly engage me in Your transcendental service. You are the eternal form of sac-cid-ānanda, and Your effulgence is spread all over the creation, just like the sunshine. As the sun disc is covered by the glaring sunshine, so Your transcendental form is covered by the brahmajyoti. I desire to find You within that brahmajyoti. Therefore please remove this glaring effulgence."

In this verse it is clearly stated that the eternal, blissful, cognizant form of the Supreme Lord is to be found within the glaring effulgence of the brahmajyoti, which emanates from the body of the Supreme Lord. Thus the personal body of the Lord is the source of the brahmajyoti, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (14.27). That the impersonal Brahman is dependent on the Supreme Personality is also stated in the Hayaśīrṣa-pañcarātra. In every other Vedic scripture, such as the Upaniṣads, whenever there is talk of the impersonal Brahman in the beginning, the Supreme Personality is finally established at the end. The Īśopaniṣad mantra we cited above indicates that the Supreme Absolute Truth is both impersonal and personal eternally, but that His personal aspect is more important than the impersonal one.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 87:

Therefore, worship of the demigods is not worship of the Absolute Truth, but by worshiping the demigods one gradually comes to accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead in an indirect way. This indirect acceptance is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as avidhi. Avidhi means "not bona fide." Since demigod worship is not bona fide, the impersonalists stress concentration on the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth. King Parīkṣit's question was, Which is the ultimate target of Vedic knowledge—this concentration on the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth or concentration on the personal feature? After all, both the impersonal and the personal feature of the Supreme Lord are beyond our material conception. The impersonal feature of the Absolute, the Brahman effulgence, is but the rays of the personal body of Kṛṣṇa. These rays of the personal body of Kṛṣṇa are cast all over the creation of the Lord, and the portion of the effulgence which is covered by the material cloud is called the created cosmos of the three material qualities—sattva, rajas and tamas. How can persons who are within this clouded portion, called the material world, conceive of the Absolute Truth by the speculative method?

In answering King Parīkṣit's question, Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has created the mind, senses and living force of the living entity for the purpose of sense gratification and transmigration from one kind of body to another, as well as for the purpose of allowing liberation from the material conditions. In other words, one can utilize the senses, mind and living force for sense gratification and transmigration from one body to another or for the matter of liberation. The Vedic injunctions are there just to give the conditioned souls the chance for sense gratification under regulative principles, and thereby also to give them the chance for promotion to higher conditions of life; ultimately, if the consciousness is purified, one comes to his original position and goes back home, back to Godhead.

Krsna Book 87:

Everything about the Lord's activities and personal features is revealed to the devotee only through his loving service attitude.

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasām: (BG 5.29) "The Lord is the enjoyer of all sacrifices and of the results of all austerities." Then the Lord says, sarva-loka-maheśvaram: "I am the proprietor of all planets." So that is the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. While He is present in Goloka Vṛndāvana enjoying transcendental pleasure in the company of His eternal associates—the gopīs and the cowherd boys—all over the creation His potencies are acting under His direction, without disturbing His eternal pastimes.

Only through devotional service can one understand how the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His inconceivable potencies, simultaneously acts impersonally and as a person. He acts just like the supreme emperor, and many thousands of kings and chiefs work under Him. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme independent controlling person, and all the demigods, including Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Indra (the King of heaven), the king of the moon planet and the king of the sun planet, work under His direction. The Vedas confirm that it is out of fear of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that the sun is shining, the wind is blowing, and fire is distributing heat. The material nature produces all kinds of movable and immovable objects within the material world, but none of them can independently act or create without the direction of the Supreme Lord. All of them act as His tributaries, just like subordinate kings who offer their annual taxes to the emperor.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973:

Why the animal has no soul? What is the symptom of possessing soul? I am spirit soul; I am within this body. Everyone can understand. Understand or no understand, if I am a human being, if I have got my soul, why this poor animal has no soul? What, where is the difference, that you say that the animal has no soul? Where is the difference? Let us analyze. Soul... The, I mean to say, existence of the soul within the body, how we can understand? That is very easy. Because yena sarvam idam... Everything is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam: The soul is existing, spreading its influence all over the body, just like the sun is existing, spreading the sunshine all over the universe. Similarly, God is existing, spreading His consciousness all over the universe, all over the creation. Therefore He knows everything. Similarly, I am also part and parcel of God. I am also soul, like the sun. My shining, my consciousness, is spread all over the body. Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idam. These things, ślokas, will come. "That thing which is spreading all over the body, that is avināśi; that is eternal." Antavanta ime dehāḥ: "But this body is antavat; it is perishable. But within the body, the soul, which is spreading its consciousness all over the body, that is eternal." We shall come to that verse later on. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- London, August 23, 1973:

"I am eternal," avināśi, "I am imperishable. I am put into this condition of perishable condition due to this my material body." So how to get out of it? They have no ambition. Just like dogs and cats. Simply sense gratification. Kṛṣṇa is so kind, how, very clearly explains. You try to understand what is the soul.

So who does not understand there is consciousness all over the body? Tad viddhi. Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. They'll jump over, "Yes, I am the Supreme God." God's consciousness is also spread all over. That's all right. But is your consciousness spread all over the universe? Both of us, we are conscious. But He is supreme consciousness. Therefore His consciousness is spread all over the universe, all over the creation. In the Thirteenth Chapter, you'll find Kṛṣṇa says, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata: (BG 13.3) "I am also kṣetra-jñam." Supersoul. What is the difference between Supersoul and soul? Soul, consciousness, is spread all over this body. You are soul, your consciousness spread all over your body. I am soul, my consciousness spread all over the body. But my consciousness not spread all over your body, neither your consciousness spread all over my body. But God's, Kṛṣṇa's, consciousness is spread over your body and my body, His body and everyone.

So Kṛṣṇa is the super or the supreme because His consciousness is spread all over the universe. You cannot hide anything from Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. You cannot hide. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15).

Lecture on BG 2.46-62 -- Los Angeles, December 16, 1968:

I am in the office, I'm not in my home. While I am acting as boss in my office, I cannot act as father with children at home. I am absent. This is due to my material condition. But Kṛṣṇa, being full spiritual, He can remain in His abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, at the same time, He can remain everywhere. That is expansion. Just like Kṛṣṇa is living within your heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The Supreme Lord is staying in everyone's heart. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). This is spiritual position, that even though He is in His abode permanently, He can remain in everyone's heart, all over the creation. Not only in the heart, but within every atom also. This is His expansion, plenary expansion. He expands... We are also His expansion. We living entities, we are also His expansion. Nothing exists without being Kṛṣṇa. That is explained in the Ninth Chapter. Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. "I have expanded in all different atmosphere." Sarvam. Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni (BG 9.4). "Everything existing in Me." Nāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ. "But I am not there. I am not there." You are existing in Kṛṣṇa, but unless you have Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa is not in you. But you are existing in Kṛṣṇa. You cannot exist without Kṛṣṇa. So therefore Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, Kṛṣṇa is in everything. We have to develop that consciousness. That will make me happy. Yes?

Lecture on BG 2.55-56 -- New York, April 19, 1966:

So this is the only..., that you have haven't got to create mental concoction to become happy. You have simply to dovetail yourself with the supreme will. There will be activities. There will be activities because your consciousness cannot be inactive. But there will be activities. That activity will be standard and without any mistake, without any flaw, because it is dictated by the Supreme. Just like a fa..., a child is given instruction to write "A." So he does not write, does not know how to write. He's doing this way, that way. The teacher says, "My dear boy, kindly do this, this way, this way, 'A.' " So, if he does it, he's nice. It is nice. Similarly, we have to engage our consciousness... There is a supreme plan, supreme plan, all over the creation of the world, supreme plan. Everything is going on under some plan. Don't you see how the sun rises exactly at the right time, how the moon rises exactly at the right time, how the seasonal changes come exactly at the time? Eh? Everything is going on under the control of the supreme consciousness. (break) ...C, A, T, cat, C, A, T, cat, C, A, T, cat. Now, that required. Now, if somebody says, "Oh, 'cat,' he has once said 'cat.' What is the use of again saying 'cat'?" No. When we will learn something, we have to repeat it, even in material things. And what to speak of spiritual? You see.

So dovetailing ourself, dovetailing ourself, dovetailing our consciousness with the supreme consciousness. I give you a small example which is also from the Bhagavad-gītā. I'm not giving any example outside the purview of this Bhagavad-gītā because we are speaking on the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture on BG 4.11 -- Bombay, March 31, 1974:

So Govinda has got place. Goloka-nāmni. The place name is Goloka Vṛndāvana, goloka-nāmni. Nija-dhāmni. That is His personal abode. Although every dhāma, every planet, everywhere, all over the universe, all over the creation, that is Kṛṣṇa's dhāma, God's place.... Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He is the proprietor of everything. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everything, that is the property of Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One has to learn this, that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam. This is Vedic instruction. We have created trouble because we have forgotten the real proprietor. We are trying to become proprietor individually and collectively. "This is India. This is our India." "This is America. It is our America." "It is Germany, our." Nothing our. Everything Kṛṣṇa's. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 6.30-34 -- Los Angeles, February 19, 1969:

That Mahā-Viṣṇu, is said here: yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣaḥ (Bs. 5.48). This Mahā-Viṣṇu is plenary portion of the plenary portion of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the original. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. So this Mahā-Viṣṇu again enters into each universe as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. And from Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu there is Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. That Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is entering in the heart of every living entity. In this way the Viṣṇu manifestation is all over the creation. So the yogi's concentration of mind on this Viṣṇu form, that is explained here. That Viṣṇu, who is all-pervading. Who is īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, that Mahā-Viṣṇu, that Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is sitting in everyone's heart. Now yogi has to find out where He is sitting and concentrate this mind there. That is the yoga process. Go on. "The yogi should know," go on.

Lecture on BG 7.7 -- Vrndavana, August 13, 1974:

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. 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. 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.

Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Paris, August 11, 1973:

So myself, I am called ātmā. And Kṛṣṇa is called Paramātmā. Therefore there are two words: Paramātmā and ātmā. Ātmā is also individual. Paramātmā is also individual. But because both of us, we are knower, kṣetrajñam (vibha(?)), the living entity is kṣetrajnam, he has got knowledge. And Kṛṣṇa says kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi. "I am also knower." Both of them, we are knower. We have got knowledge. My knowledge may be limited. Kṛṣṇa's knowledge unlimited, complete. But both of us, we are knower. We can understand. We can know. Therefore, we are called kṣetrajña. But the difference is Kṛṣṇa knows everything all over the creation, I even do not know what is going on in my body. That is the difference.

So how one can become God? Rascal. How one can become God. That is not possible. God knows everything. If one knows everything, then you can accept him as God. Otherwise, don't accept. As soon as somebody says, "I am God," kick him on his face. "Yes, you are God, I am God. I am the kicking God." (laughter) That should be the answer. "I am the shoe-beater God. Now you protect yourself if you are God." Don't accept this false God.

Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. That is the verdict all... Just like Vyāsadeva, the giver of the Vedic knowledge, he says, bhagavān uvāca: God says. So we have to follow that. So kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. (aside:) Don't do that.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 3.26.47 -- Bombay, January 22, 1975:

The... At the present moment we have got consciousness, but that is contaminated. "I am American conscious," "I am Indian conscious." Somebody is dog conscious, cat conscious, so many consciousness. But by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, this contamination of the consciousness will be cleansed, crystalized. It will be. Then you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

And as soon as you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you are in direct touch. We are direct in touch with Kṛṣṇa, but it is covered by some cloud of ignorance. Otherwise, nothing can exist without Kṛṣṇa's touch. That is not possible. Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā (BG 9.4). Kṛṣṇa is... One Kṛṣṇa is expanded all over the creation. Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, but due to the contamination of material modes of nature, we are thinking we are apart from Kṛṣṇa, separate from Kṛṣṇa, or we do not know Kṛṣṇa, although we are in touch. So that is to be cleansed. The via media impediment has to be cleansed. That is called ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). By chanting this transcendental vibration, your heart will be cleansed. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). The more you chant and hear, śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ, then it becomes pious activities.

Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Indore, December 13, 1970:

Prabhupāda: Then how God can be nirākāra or impersonal?

Guest (2): Nirākāra means all-pervading.

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. All-pervading we also accept. He is brahma-jyotir. He is spread all over the creation. That is His nirākāra. Another meaning of nirākāra, that He hasn't got His form like us—sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1)—you may say that. Or nirākāra means where the varieties are not manifested. Just like you go to the sunshine. You don't find any rest. Your plane must fly on, fly on, fly on, unless you get a support in some planet. Either you go to the moon planet or remain in this planet, you must have a support. Otherwise the effulgence, the sun effulgence, the sunlight is not (indistinct). Similarly, brahma-jyotir is like that, just like sunshine, but you cannot rest there. If you want rest, then you have to take shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. That is stated in the Bhāgavatam. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas: (SB 10.2.32) Those who are in the impersonal situation, they think themselves that they have become liberated. Exactly the same example. Suppose you are very high in the sunshine. Do you think, "Now I am liberated from worldly connection. I am far, far away, or high"? But unless you have shelter, you have to fly. This is crude example. Similarly, these impersonalists, they are in the liberated atmosphere, that's a fact. Brahman. He has realized that "I am not this matter. I am Brahman." And because he has no information in the brahma-jyotir there are innumerable planets, he thinks that "This is all in all, this jyoti, brahma-jyotir." That is his imperfect knowledge.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

Viṣṇu means all-pervading God. God is everywhere. Just like the sun. The sun is a planet and there is a sun-god also. In each and every planet there is a predominating deity. Just like in this planet you have got a predominating man, president. Similarly, in each and every planet there is a predominating living creature. In the sun planet the predominating living creature is called sun-god. In the moon planet the predominating deity is called moon-god. And similarly, there are millions of millions of planets and there is a predominating deity. So similarly, the original planet, Kṛṣṇaloka, the predominating Deity is Kṛṣṇa who is Viṣṇu. So just like the sun is situated in the particular planet but the sunshine is spread all over the universe. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, although He's in His planet, His energy is distributed all over the creation. Therefore He is all-pervading. Viṣṇu means all-pervading God. He is everywhere. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). He's within this universe, He is within the atom also. He's within you also. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61).

So Viṣṇu means all-pervading. But by our material conception we think that anything which is all-pervading, how it can be localized personally? That is our material conception. Just like I am sitting here, you are sitting here. You cannot be all-pervading. But your mind, because it is finer, the mind can be in so many places. Similarly, when you are still finer intelligence, you are still finer, a spirit soul, you can also become all-pervading. At the present moment we are hampered, conditioned, by the covering of this material body. Therefore our endeavor should be how we get out of this material body. That formula I've already explained that tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). If you simply understand what is God, simply by this understanding, tyaktvā deham, after leaving this body, punar janma naiti, you don't get any more this material body. Simply try to understand what is Viṣṇu, then you become as good as that Viṣṇu. First of all you understand Viṣṇu, that He is all-pervading. So Viṣṇu, because He has got spiritual body, similarly, when you get your spiritual body How you can get? By understanding Viṣṇu.

Lecture on SB 7.9.20 -- Mayapur, February 27, 1976:

So God is one, and His energy is also one, and there is no separation of energy from the energetic. Just like fire and heat. Heat cannot be separated from fire. But still, heat is not fire. I may be heated by high temperature, but if there is fire, then I will be burned—different action—although both of them are the same, heat and fire. Therefore the conclusion should be sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat parasya brahmaṇaḥ śakti. Parasya. Parasya means "of the Supreme Brahman." Supreme Brahman is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And Arjuna also accepts Kṛṣṇa as Para-brahman. So everything is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā: (BG 9.4) "I am spread all over the creation.' Avyakta-mūrtinā. But you cannot see Kṛṣṇa. Here we know there is air, there is ether, there is light, there is heat—everything is here. We can see it, experience it, but avyakta-mūrtinā—Kṛṣṇa is invisible, imperson. That is the difference between person and imperson. There are philosophers who think that the Absolute Truth is person, and there are other philosophers, they think the Absolute Truth is imperson. But we followers of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, we accept both. He is person and imperson also at the same time, simultaneously. Acintya-bhedābheda-tattva.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110 -- New York, July 17, 1976:

You shave your head, immediately next day again coming out, again coming out. But you do not know. Let the scientist say how it is coming out, his own hair, what to speak of others.

So everywhere the potency of the Supreme Lord is working. Very good example, exactly like the illumination, sunshine, moonshine, they are influencing the creation and they are situated in their own place, and they are all different potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So this is the potency of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is engaged in Vṛndāvana, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). Although He is in the Goloka Vṛndāvana, He is playing with His cowherd boyfriends and the gopīs and His father and mother, but still He's expanded all over the creation. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. Just like we live in some apartment. Now we are here, we are absent from that apartment. God is not like that. God is in His apartment, at the same time universally present. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna... (BG 18.61). He's everywhere present. That is God. He's not limited; unlimited. That is God. Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā, mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto (BG 9.11). The rascals, they do not know what kind of... Kṛṣṇa, He appears like a human being with two hands and two legs. They do not understand what are the quality of these two hands, two legs. They think that He has got two hands, two legs like us; therefore they are called mūḍha. Paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto. Mūḍha nābhijānāti, mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. Sarvato pāṇi-pādaḥ. Not only two hands, but He has got many, many millions and trillions of hands and legs all over the universe. This is Kṛṣṇa. So don't take it as ordinary human being. Then you'll be calculated as one of the rascals. Don't be rascal; be intelligent to understand Kṛṣṇa. And if you understand Kṛṣṇa, then you become liberated, immediately.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970:

So here, in the Īśopaniṣad also, the same thing is explained, that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Whatever we are seeing, animate or inanimate, there is control of the Supreme Lord. The same thing is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, that His energies are working. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is said, just like fire staying in one place distributes its heat and light... Eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā. Agni, agni means fire. Fire is... Just like the sun. Sun is also fire, very high temperature fire. So it is staying in one place, but it is distributing its light and heat all over the universe. Eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner jyotsnā yathā vistāriṇī tathaiva parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. Similarly, two energies from the Supreme Lord is being distributed all over the creation. One kind of energy is called material energy, and the other kind of energy is called the spiritual energy. So in this world, in this temporary material world, the spiritual energy is there. That is prominent. But it is covered by the material energy. Just like there is sunshine—sunshine, nobody can check—but it is sometimes covered by cloud. When it is covered by the cloud, the sunshine is dim. The more it is covered... Just like in Western countries, in the northern countries, it is very much covered. Practically, there is no sunshine. In London I saw the sunshine is very rare. At ten o'clock it is early in the morning, and at half past three again evening, so long I was there. So this covering of the sunshine is temporary. Actually, sunshine cannot be covered. The whole sunshine cannot be covered. That is not possible. An insignificant portion of the sunshine may be covered, or is covered sometimes by the cloud. Similarly, this material world is an insignificant portion of the spiritual world, covered by this material energy. That's all. And what is the position of material energy? The material energy is also another form of the spiritual energy. That means absence of spiritual activity, that is material. That's all. Just like what is this cloud? This cloud is another transformation of the sunshine. The sunshine evaporates water from the sea, and the cloud is formed. Therefore sunshine is the cause of the cloud. Similarly, this material energy is also caused by the Supreme Lord because it is His energy.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: The absolute cannot be divided into parts. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi, in the Bhagavad-gītā. In the material thing, if you want to cut into pieces, that is (indistinct), but a spiritual being, avyaya, inexhaustible, there is no possibility of dividing the spirit into pieces. The Māyāvāda theory is that the absolute is all-pervading. Then when the question of His form, that is their poor fund of knowledge. The absolute, keeping His form as He is, He can expand Himself. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad-avyakta mūrtinā (BG 9.4), "I am spread all over the creation, avyakta, My impersonal form." So God, or Kṛṣṇa, has two features, rather three features, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11), impersonal feature, localized feature and personal feature. So unless we come to understand this science, tattva, it is very difficult to come to the conclusion what is the right form of the absolute truth. So one who cannot go, one who is not so competent, with poor fund of knowledge, they come to the conclusion, nira, void, but actually it is not so.

Śyāmasundara: But he wanted to reverse this trend, from abstraction to concretion. He believed that every phenomenal object had its relationship with the whole and that the whole is reality. So in order to understand reality one had to examine every object and relate it to the whole, and to each other, then he would understand what is the truth.

Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner:

Śyāmasundara: He wants to design the culture.

Prabhupāda: What is his conception of God?

Śyāmasundara: Senior qualities.

Prabhupāda: That's right. (laughter) We accept that. Nityo nityānām. (laughter) We accept that. That is Vedic. That is Vedic. He is also living being, but who is the superior, chief living being? That is Kṛṣṇa. Just like we are also living beings, but you accept me as chief of the society. Similarly, there are innumerable living entities all over the universes, all over the creation, but who is the chief of them? That is God, the leader. Our philosophy is to follow the leader, Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: But Skinner has no idea that there is an actual representative of God on earth that could set up such a perfect society. Therefore he is dreaming about setting one up in the future while the real representative is actually present with us now. He is thinking of the future.

Prabhupāda: When was he thinking?

Devotee: He is thinking that someday... He is thinking that it can be done. He is living now.

Śyāmasundara: That is his picture. (shows book to Prabhupāda) That is Skinner playing the organ, and it quotes him, saying...

Prabhupāda: So inform him that "Your theory is that God's representative..." He is expecting God's representative?

Devotee: No, no. I'll tell you what he says about God. He says that the belief in God arose due to man's inability to understand his world, but that man no longer needs such a fiction.