At Purī, when He entered the temple of Jagannātha, He became at once saturated with transcendental ecstasy and fell down on the floor of the temple unconscious. The custodians of the temple could not understand the transcendental feats of the Lord, but there was a great learned paṇḍita named Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, who was present, and he could understand that the Lord's losing His consciousness upon entering the Jagannātha temple was not an ordinary thing. Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, who was the chief appointed paṇḍita in the court of the King of Orissa, Mahārāja Pratāparudra, was attracted by the youthful luster of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and could understand that such a transcendental trance was only rarely exhibited and only then by the topmost devotees who are already on the transcendental plane in complete forgetfulness of material existence. Only a liberated soul could show such a transcendental feat, and the Bhaṭṭācārya, who was vastly learned, could understand this in the light of the transcendental literature with which he was familiar. He therefore asked the custodians of the temple not to disturb the unknown sannyāsī. He asked them to take the Lord to his home so He could be further observed in His unconscious state. The Lord was at once carried to the home of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, who at that time had sufficient power of authority due to his being the sabhā-paṇḍita, or the state dean of faculty in Sanskrit literatures. The learned paṇḍita wanted to scrutinizingly test the transcendental feats of Lord Caitanya because often unscrupulous devotees imitate physical feats in order to flaunt transcendental achievements just to attract innocent people and take advantage of them. A learned scholar like the Bhaṭṭācārya can detect such imposters, and when he finds them out he at once rejects them.
Feats
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
No one can reach the spiritual sky (Vaikuṇṭha) or enter into the Lord's eternal abode (Goloka Vṛndāvana) without the proper understanding of Kṛṣṇa and His plenary expansion Viṣṇu. Therefore a person working in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the perfect yogī, because his mind is always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa's activities (sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18)). In the Vedas also (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.8) we learn, tam eva viditvāti mṛtyum eti: "One can overcome the path of birth and death only by understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa." In other words, perfection of the yoga system is the attainment of freedom from material existence and not some magical jugglery or gymnastic feats to befool innocent people.
When the yogī is once situated in that transcendental position, he is never shaken from it. Unless the yogī is able to reach this position, he is unsuccessful. Today's so-called yoga practice, which involves various sense pleasures, is contradictory. A yogī indulging in sex and intoxication is a mockery. Even those yogīs who are attracted by the siddhis (perfections) in the process of yoga are not perfectly situated. If yogīs are attracted by the by-products of yoga, then they cannot attain the stage of perfection, as is stated in this verse. Persons, therefore, indulging in the make-show practice of gymnastic feats or siddhis should know that the aim of yoga is lost in that way.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Preface and Introduction
In the meantime the companions of the Lord, who reached the temple a little after Him, heard of the Lord's transcendental feats and of His being carried away by the Bhaṭṭācārya. The pilgrims at the temple were still gossiping about the incident. But by chance, one of these pilgrims had met Gopīnātha Ācārya, who was known to Gadādhara Paṇḍita, and from him it was learned that the Lord was lying in an unconscious state at the residence of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, who happened to be the brother-in-law of Gopīnātha Ācārya.
SB Canto 1
The doctrines of anthropomorphism and zoomorphism are never applicable to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, or the Personality of Godhead. The theory that a man becomes God by dint of penance and austerities is very much rampant nowadays, especially in India. Since Lord Rāma, Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu were detected by the sages and saints to be the Personality of Godhead as indicated in revealed scriptures, many unscrupulous men have created their own incarnations. This process of concocting an incarnation of God has become an ordinary business, especially in Bengal. Any popular personality with a few traits of mystic powers will display some feat of jugglery and easily become an incarnation of Godhead by popular vote. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was not that type of incarnation.
This will be clearly explained in the next ślokas. So the Lord is the inexhaustible source for innumerable incarnations which are not always mentioned. But such incarnations are distinguished by specific extraordinary feats which are impossible to be performed by any living being. That is the general test to identify an incarnation of the Lord, directly and indirectly empowered. Some incarnations mentioned above are almost plenary portions. For instance, the Kumāras are empowered with transcendental knowledge. Śrī Nārada is empowered with devotional service. Mahārāja Pṛthu is an empowered incarnation with executive function. The Matsya incarnation is directly a plenary portion. So the innumerable incarnations of the Lord are manifested all over the universes constantly, without cessation, as water flows constantly from waterfalls.
King Yudhiṣṭhira, who was much aggrieved, could not be convinced, despite instructions by great sages headed by Vyāsa and the Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, the performer of superhuman feats, and despite all historical evidence.
Although the queens' beautiful smiles and furtive glances were all spotless and exciting, and although they could conquer Cupid himself by making him give up his bow in frustration, and although even the tolerant Śiva could fall victim to them, still, despite all their magical feats and attractions, they could not agitate the senses of the Lord.
The conditioned soul, the living being in material existence, seeks happiness by employing his senses in the modes of materialism, but that cannot give him satisfaction. He then searches after the Supreme Truth by the empiric philosophic speculative method and intellectual feats. But if he does not find the ultimate goal, he again goes down to material activities and engages himself in various philanthropic and altruistic works, which all fail to give him satisfaction. So neither fruitive activities nor dry philosophical speculation can give one satisfaction because by nature a living being is the eternal servitor of the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and all the Vedic literatures give him direction towards that ultimate end. The Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) confirms this statement.
House, country, family, society, children, property, and business are some of the material coverings of the spirit, ātmā, and the yoga system helps one to become free from all these illusory thoughts and gradually turn towards the Absolute Person, Paramātmā. By material association and education, we learn simply to concentrate on flimsy things, but yoga is the process of forgetting them altogether. Modern so-called yogīs and yoga systems manifest some magical feats, and ignorant persons are attracted by such false things, or they accept the yoga system as a cheap healing process for diseases of the gross body. But factually the yoga system is the process of learning to forget what we have acquired throughout the struggle for existence.
SB Canto 2
The spiritual master must be satisfied with the disciple; only then is knowledge automatically manifest before the student of spiritual science. The process should not, however, be misunderstood to be something like magical feats whereby the spiritual master acts like a magician and injects spiritual knowledge into his disciple, as if surcharging him with an electrical current. The bona fide spiritual master reasonably explains everything to the disciple on the authorities of Vedic wisdom.
The different parts of the gigantic form of the Lord are described in the following verses. The materialistic men are very anxious to have some mystic powers as a result of such a controlling process, but the real purpose of yogic regulations is to eradicate the accumulated dirty things like lust, anger, avarice and all such material contaminations. If the mystic yogī is diverted by the accompanying feats of mystic control, then his mission of yogic success is a failure, because the ultimate aim is God realization. He is therefore recommended to fix his gross materialistic mind by a different conception and thus realize the potency of the Lord. As soon as the potencies are understood to be instrumental manifestations of the transcendence, one automatically advances to the next step, and gradually the stage of full realization becomes possible for him.
SB Canto 3
Five thousand years ago Lord Kṛṣṇa recommended yoga practice to Arjuna, but Arjuna frankly expressed his inability to follow the stringent rules and regulations of the yoga system. One should be very practical in every field of activities and should not waste his valuable time in practicing useless gymnastic feats in the name of yoga. Real yoga is to search out the four-handed Supersoul within one's heart and see Him perpetually in meditation. Such continued meditation is called samādhi, and the object of this meditation is the four-handed Nārāyaṇa, with bodily decorations as described in this chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If, however, one wants to meditate upon something void or impersonal, it will take a very long time before he achieves success in yoga practice. We cannot concentrate our mind on something void or impersonal. Real yoga is to fix the mind on the form of the Lord, the four-handed Nārāyaṇa who is sitting in everyone's heart.
Even famous yogīs and demons can sometimes enact very magical feats by their mystic power, but in the presence of the Sudarśana cakra, when it is let loose by the Lord, all such magical jugglery is dispersed. The instance of the quarrel between Durvāsā Muni and Mahārāja Ambarīṣa is a practical example in this matter. Durvāsā Muni wanted to display many magical wonders, but when the Sudarśana cakra appeared, Durvāsā himself was afraid and fled to various planets for his personal protection. The Lord is described here as tri-pāt, which means that He is the enjoyer of three kinds of sacrifices. In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord confirms that He is the beneficiary and enjoyer of all sacrifices, penances and austerities. The Lord is the enjoyer of three kinds of yajña. As further described in Bhagavad-gītā, there are sacrifices of goods, sacrifices of meditation and sacrifices of philosophical speculation. Those on the paths of jñāna, yoga and karma all have to come in the end to the Supreme Lord because vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19)—the Supreme Lord is the ultimate enjoyer of everything. That is the perfection of all sacrifice.
It does not take even a moment for the Lord to kill any powerful demon, including Hiraṇyākṣa. The Lord could have killed him long before, but He allowed the demon to display the full extent of his magical feats. One may know that by magical feats, by scientific advancement of knowledge or by material power one cannot become the equal of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His one signal is sufficient to destroy all our attempts. His inconceivable power, as displayed here, is so strong that the demon, despite all his demoniac maneuvers, was killed by the Lord when the Lord desired, simply by one slap.
Therefore it is said here that for a great devotee like Kardama Muni, nothing is impossible. Although yogīs can perform wonderful feats, as Kardama has already displayed, Kardama was more than a yogī because he was a great devotee of the Lord; therefore he was more glorious than an ordinary yogī. As it is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā, "Out of the many yogīs, he who is a devotee of the Lord is first class." For a person like Kardama Muni there is no question of being conditioned; he was already a liberated soul and better than the demigods, who are also conditioned. Although he was enjoying with his wife and many other women, he was above material, conditional life. Therefore the word vyasanātyayaḥ is used to indicate that he was beyond the position of a conditioned soul. He was transcendental to all material limitations.
Here is the example of a perfect yogī; he could travel all over the universe. Similarly, there is a description of Durvāsā Muni, who also traveled in space. Actually, the perfect yogī can do that. But even if one can travel all over the universe and show wonderful feats like Kardama Muni, he cannot be compared to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose power and inconceivable energy can never be attained by any conditioned or liberated soul. By the actions of Kardama Muni we can understand that in spite of his immense mystic power, he remained a devotee of the Lord. That is the real position of every living entity.
Thus all other living entities, both viṣṇu-tattva and jīva-tattva, are subordinate to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. The same concept is confirmed here. Na hy asya varṣmaṇaḥ puṁsām: amongst the living entities, no one can surpass the Supreme Person because no one is richer, more famous, stronger, more beautiful, wiser or more renounced than He. These qualifications make Him the Supreme Godhead, the cause of all causes. Yogīs are very proud of performing wonderful feats, but no one can compare to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
An example is given in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ: (SB 7.5.31) when a blind man leads several other blind men, the result is that all of them fall down in a ditch. This is actually happening. There are many leaders to lead the ignorant public, but because every one of them is bewildered by the bodily conception of life, there is no peace and prosperity in human society. So-called yogīs who perform various bodily feats are also in the same category as such ignorant people because the haṭha-yoga system is especially recommended for persons who are grossly implicated in the bodily conception. The conclusion is that as long as one is fixed in the bodily conception, he has to suffer birth and death.
SB Canto 4
The great ṛṣis approached Dhruva Mahārāja at a time when his mind was very perplexed due to the magical feats exhibited by the Yakṣas. A devotee is always protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By His inspiration only, the sages came to encourage Dhruva Mahārāja and assure him that there was no danger because he was a soul fully surrendered to the Supreme Lord. By the grace of the Lord, if a devotee, at the time of death, can simply chant His holy name—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—simply by chanting this mahā-mantra, he immediately surpasses the great ocean of the material sky and enters the spiritual sky. He never has to come back for repetition of birth and death. Simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord, one can surpass the ocean of death, so Dhruva Mahārāja was certainly able to surpass the illusory magical feats of the Yakṣas, which for the time being disturbed his mind.
Of course in the modern age one may be amazed how the princes could stand in the water for ten thousand years. However, living within air or living within water is the same process; one simply has to learn how to do it. The aquatics live within water for their whole life-span. Certain favorable conditions are created to enable them to live within water. In those days, however, people used to live for one hundred thousand years. Out of so many years, if one could spare ten thousand years for the sake of austerity, he would be assured of success in his future life. This was not very astonishing. Although such a feat is impossible in this age, it was quite possible in Satya-yuga.
SB Canto 7
Maya Dānava, for example, is mentioned here as mahā-yogī, a great mystic, but his business was to help the asuras. Nowadays we are actually seeing that there are some yogīs who cater to the senses of materialists, and there are imposters who advertise themselves as God. Maya Dānava was such a person, a god among the demons, and he could perform some wonderful feats, one of which is described here: he made a well filled with nectar and dipped the asuras into that nectarean well. This nectar was known as mṛta-sanjīvayitari, for it could bring a dead body to life. Mṛta-sanjīvayitari is also an Āyur-vedic preparation. It is a kind of liquor that invigorates even a person on the verge of death.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
In this way the Supreme Lord, whose soft lotus feet are personally attended by the goddess of fortune, concealed His transcendental opulences by His internal potency and acted like the son of a cowherd. Yet even while enjoying like a village boy in the company of other village residents, He often exhibited feats only God could perform.
Hearing of this magnificent feat of the two brothers, the demigods and other elevated living beings rained down flowers and offered music and prayers in glorification.
Once Lord Govinda and Lord Rāma, the performers of wonderful feats, were playing in the forest at night with the young girls of Vraja.
Everyone except Kaṁsa rejoiced at the wonderful feat Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma had performed. The exalted brāhmaṇas and great saints exclaimed, "Excellent! Excellent!"
When they saw the glorious Pradyumna perform that amazing and mighty feat, all the soldiers on both sides praised Him.
The brāhmaṇa said: Neither Saṅkarṣaṇa; Vāsudeva; Pradyumna, the best of bowmen; nor the unequaled warrior Aniruddha could save my sons. Then why do you naively attempt a feat that the almighty Lords of the universe could not perform? We cannot take you seriously.
To diminish the burden of the earth, the unborn Lord will take birth in the Yadu dynasty and perform feats impossible even for the demigods. Propounding speculative philosophy, the Lord, as Buddha, will bewilder the unworthy performers of Vedic sacrifices. And as Kalki the Lord will kill all the low-class men posing as rulers at the end of the age of Kali.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
One can ascertain the meaning of this Sanskrit śloka only when one is endowed with the causeless mercy of Lord Caitanya. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being the absolute Personality of Godhead, cannot be exposed to the mundane instruments of vision. He reserves the right not to be exposed by the intellectual feats of nondevotees. Notwithstanding this truth, even a small child can easily understand Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental pastimes in the land of Vṛndāvana by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
To draw the attention of common men, sometimes saintly persons, ācāryas and teachers exhibit extraordinary opulences. This is necessary to attract the attention of fools, but a saintly person should not misuse such power for personal sense gratification like false saints who declare themselves to be God. Even a magician can exhibit extraordinary feats that are not understandable to common men, but this does not mean that the magician is God. It is a most sinful activity to attract attention by exhibiting mystic powers and then to utilize this opportunity to declare oneself to be God. A real saintly person never declares himself to be God but always places himself in the position of a servant of God. For a servant of God there is no need to exhibit mystic powers, and he does not like to do so, but on behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead a humble servant of God performs his activities in such a wonderful way that no common man can dare try to act like him. Yet a saintly person never takes credit for such actions because he knows very well that when wonderful things are done on his behalf by the grace of the Supreme Lord, all credit goes to the master and not to the servant.
CC Madhya-lila
Therefore the jñānī cannot be niṣkāma, desireless. Nor can the yogīs be desireless, for they desire yogic perfections in order to exhibit some magical feats and gain popularity. People gather around these yogīs, and the yogīs desire more and more adulation. Because they misuse their mystic power, they fall down again to the material platform. It is not possible for them to become niṣkāma, desireless.
The conclusion is that only the devotees, who are simply satisfied in serving the Lord, can actually become desireless. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says here, kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma. Since the kṛṣṇa-bhakta, the devotee of Kṛṣṇa, is satisfied with Kṛṣṇa, there is no possibility of falldown.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Then Brahmā saw each of the cowherd boys become a four-handed Nārāyaṇa, and he also saw innumerable Brahmās from different universes offering obeisances to the Lord. He saw that all these personalities were emanating from the body of Kṛṣṇa and, after a second, entering into His body. Lord Brahmā became struck with wonder by this extraordinary feat of Kṛṣṇa's, and in a prayer he stated that although anyone and everyone could say they knew all about Kṛṣṇa, as far as he was concerned, he did not know anything about Him. "My dear Lord," he said, "the potencies and opulences You have exhibited just now are beyond the ability of my mind to understand."
Nectar of Devotion
Anyone who is in the material world is also sleeping, as he is ignorant of his actual self or his actual duty and his relationship with God. So materialistic life means that one is bitten by the snake of māyā, illusion, and thus, without any Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is almost dead. Now, the so-called dead man bitten by a snake can be brought back to life by the chanting of some mantra. There are expert chanters of these mantras who can perform this feat. Similarly, one can be brought back into Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the deadly unconscious state of material life by hearing of the mahā-mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
In the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fourth Chapter, verse 37, the great sage Nārada informs Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira about Prahlāda Mahārāja, who was a devotee from the very beginning of his life. The proof of Prahlāda's natural devotion is that even when he was a small child he did not play with his playmates, but was always eager to preach the glories of the Lord. Instead of joining in their sportive acrobatic feats, he remained an inactive child because he was always in trance, meditating on Kṛṣṇa. As such, there was no possibility of his being touched by the external world.
The following is a statement which describes different mellows of devotional service: "Although Kṛṣṇa was invincible to any enemy, the cowherd boys of Vṛndāvana became almost blackish with astonishment upon seeing His wonderful royal garments and His fighting feats on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra." In this statement, although there is a mixture of chivalrous activities and dread in devotional service, there is no perverted reflection of mellows.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
The demigods in the celestial planets showered flowers on Kṛṣṇa for His wonderful achievement. Kṛṣṇa was already the life and soul of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, and after killing this demon in the shape of a bull, He became the cynosure of all eyes. With Balarāma, He triumphantly entered Vṛndāvana village, and the inhabitants glorified Him and Balarāma with great jubilation. When a person performs some wonderful feat, his kinsmen and relatives and friends naturally become jubilant.
Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma learned the art of dressing hair in various styles and fixing a helmet in different positions on the head. They also learned how to set up a theatrical stage, how to decorate dramatic actors with costumes and with flower ornaments over the ear, and how to sprinkle sandalwood pulp and water to produce a nice fragrance. They also learned the art of performing magical feats. Within the magical field there is an art called bahu-rūpī, by which a person dresses himself in such a way that when he approaches a friend he cannot be recognized.
By releasing twenty-five such arrows, Pradyumna severely injured Śālva's commander in chief. He then released another one hundred arrows toward the body of Śālva. After this, he pierced each and every soldier by releasing one arrow, he killed the chariot drivers by firing ten arrows at each one of them, and he killed the carriers like the horses and elephants by releasing three arrows directed toward each one. When everyone present on the battlefield saw this wonderful feat of Pradyumna's, the great fighters on both sides praised his acts of chivalry.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Prabhupāda: Yes. If you think that if Kṛṣṇa is in His abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, then how you think that in your temple there is Kṛṣṇa? No. The Brahma-saṁhitā says therefore we require to hear from the authorized mother. The Brahma-saṁhitā says: goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). Although He is living in His abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, He is everywhere. He's everywhere. The same example can be used. That sun is ninety millions miles or something like that, away from us. But it is within your room.
Devotee: "Therefore a person working in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the perfect yogi because his mind is always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa's activities. In the Vedas also we learn, 'One can overcome the path of birth and death only by understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead.' In other words, the perfection of the yoga system is the attainment of freedom from material existence and not some magical jugglery or gymnastic feat to befool innocent people."
Prabhupāda: Thank you, that's all.
Simple method. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan. That is the perfect form of yoga. All other yogas, they may help you to come to this platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but if you fail to come to this platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then all those troubles will be useless labor. That is not possible. If you take that slow process of yoga, it is not possible in this age. Not only in this age, five thousand years ago also. This is not possible. You may do your gymnastic feats, but it will never be successful. This yoga process, as it is confirmed by Kṛṣṇa in the last chapter... This is Seventh Chapter. In the Sixth Chapter also, He has said the very thing, that yoginām api sarveṣām: (BG 6.47) "The first-class yogi is he whose mind is always attached to Me, Kṛṣṇa."
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
"All right, take it." So that is the facility for the devotees. A devotee is under the care of the Yogeśvara. Yatra yogeśvara hariḥ. If you can catch up the hand of Yogeśvara Hari, then you can show wonderful magic, which no magician, no yogis can display. That is the position of devotee. They do not care for practicing yoga to show some magical feats. Neither they require it. Neither they want it. Because devotee's position is āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā (CC Antya 20.47). "Whatever You like, You can do." That's all. He has no desire.
Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)
- vyāsādyair īśvarehājñaiḥ
- kṛṣṇenādbhuta-karmaṇā
- prabodhito 'pītihāsair
- nābudhyata śucārpitaḥ
- (SB 1.8.46)
Translation: "King Yudhiṣṭhira, who was much aggrieved, could not be convinced, despite instructions by great sages headed by Vyāsa and the Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, the performer of superhuman feats, and despite all historical evidence."
Prabhupāda: So Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was very much aggrieved. He was thinking, Vaiṣṇava, that "I am a petty king, and for giving me the throne, so many people have been killed." That is the greatest war within the recollection of five thousand years, Kurukṣetra, battle of Kurukṣetra. What is this figures? Six million, four hundred thousand people died in that battle. What is the statistics of the last war? How many people died? Is there any statistics?
Devotee: Two million.
Prabhupāda: Two million. And here it is six million.
Devotee: 640,000,000.
Pradyumna: "King Yudhiṣṭhira, who was much aggrieved, could not be convinced, despite instructions by great sages headed by Vyāsa and the Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, the performer of superhuman feats, and despite all historical evidence."
Prabhupāda:
- vyāsādyair īśvarehājñaiḥ
- kṛṣṇenādbhuta-karmaṇā
- prabodhito 'pītihāsair
- nābudhyata śucārpitaḥ
- (SB 1.8.46)
After the Battle of Kurukṣetra, when everything was settled, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, who is well known as Dharmarāja, very pious king, he was very much aggrieved. It is said that sixty-four crores of men were dead within eighteen days in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. So Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira is very much pious, he did not like the idea of so many persons being killed simply for the sake of enthroning him on the throne of the kingdom. He was very much aggrieved that "For me so many men have died. How much sinful I have become, although I am going to be the king."
That is also another labor. Speculating. They have to interpret all these Vedic literature to make God dead, void, impersonal, nullified. So they have to gather their arguments. That is another labor, hard labor. So they are also working hard. Yogis, they want to show some magic: "I can walk on the water. I can fly in the air without any airship. I can go this planet, that planet." Yogis can do that. They have got this magical power. "I can create immediately gold." And if you can show these magical feats, immediately you get so many...
But that kind of yogi also very rare to be found, and now, in your country, yogi means who can show some gymnastics, that's all. So they are also working hard. Because they have got kāma.
So they are of different qualities, vibhūti-bhinnam. Just like the sun planet is very hot, the moon planet is very cold. Similarly, other planets, they are watery, airy-variety. Just like even on this planet we have got varieties of climate. So we should know how much creative force God has, wonderful. So out of that wonderful creative force, we living entities, we have got a little particle, and therefore we can manufacture these wonderful machines, and we are struck with wonder, "Oh, we have done so great feat." No. We should try to understand still further, still further.
So sakṛd api kṛṣṇa manaḥ. Mind has to be fixed up to something. The yogis, karmīs, the jñānīs and the bhaktas. The karmīs, their mind is fixed up, "Where to get money? Where to get money?" That's all. This is karmī. Just to live comfortably, enjoy sense gratification, this is karmī. And jñānī means they want to... Because they are disgusted. They are better than the karmīs. They want to merge into the impersonal Brahman effulgence, jñānī. And yogi, they... Actual, their business is, yogi, dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). The yogis, they are always in meditation and thinking of Kṛṣṇa. That is real yogi, not to show some gymnastic feats.
So this is brahminical qualification, to practice how to fix up the mind at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and that is the perfection of yoga. Yoga means not to show some magical feats. No. Real perfection of yoga means to fix up the mind at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā you will find the last conclusion of this yoga chapter, Sixth Chapter,
- yoginām api sarveṣāṁ
- mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā
- śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ
- sa me yuktatamo mataḥ
- (BG 6.47)
That was encouraging to Arjuna because Arjuna thought, "Then I am useless. I cannot fix up." But his mind was already fixed up. Therefore Kṛṣṇa encouraged him, "Don't be discouraged.
One who sees the Supreme Viṣṇu always within his mind by concentration, he is called yogi. Yogi does not mean to show some magical or gymnastic feats. These are This practice of āsana or breathing exercise, that will help you for concentrating, pratyāhāra. There is a term, pratyāhāra. Pratyāhāra means you draw your engagement of the senses from matter, and you engage them in the Viṣṇu. That is yogi.
Initiation Lectures
So this initiation means beginning of purificatory process of the senses, and that beginning with the tongue. Very simple method. We are not asking you to show some gymnastic feats, or... No. Simply try to control your tongue. It is in your hand. And what is the means of controlling? Just engage chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and take Kṛṣṇa prasāda. Some others will supply you nice prasādam. You see? It is very easy. Don't take anything which is not Kṛṣṇa prasādam and don't talk anything which is not Kṛṣṇa. Then you become liberated. Your path of liberation is open. Two things: don't talk anything except Kṛṣṇa, don't eat anything except Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Is it very difficult? All right.
General Lectures
Five thousand years ago in the Bhagavad-gītā dialogue Lord Kṛṣṇa recommended the yoga practice to his disciple Arjuna. But Arjuna flatly expressed his inability to follow the stringent rules and regulations of yoga. One should be practical in every field of activity. One should not waste his valuable time simply in practicing some gymnastic feats in the name of yoga. Real yoga is to search out the four-handed Supersoul within one's heart and to see Him perpetually in meditation. Such continued meditation is called samādhi. If however, one wants to meditate upon something void or impersonal it will require a very long time to achieve anything by yoga practice. We cannot concentrate our mind on something void or impersonal. Real yoga practice is to fix up the mind on the person of the four-handed Nārāyaṇa, who dwells in everyone's heart.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
and disease. Even in the highest planet of this universe.
Reporter: Well, what I'm getting at is that if for instance you say that first this conviction that they would not be able to land, and secondly that whatever earth people would go there would be opposed and would not be able to safely return, if you say this, based on Vedic literature, and other members of the Kṛṣṇa movement heard this, and then if the feat were accomplished, would this not seem a contradiction or something that had been said would be the case and then the opposite was proved true? Would this...
Prabhupāda: What is that contradiction? There is nothing contradiction. We say that if you get a suitable body you can enter there. So if by your scientific process you can equip yourself with suitable body you can enter there. Where is the contradiction?
Reporter: Well, you said that spacesuit was not a suitable...
Prabhupāda: That is a fact. That is a fact. That is not suitable.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Worship. That is their advancement of... After taking so much university education, they have learned how to love hogs. Just see the fun. (pause) They are living within the sand. How these rascals are speaking that because in the moon planet there is sand only there is no living entity. How we can believe? We see practically. They do not go to the garden. They live within the sand. How they are living? (pause—break) ...and they do some acrobatic feats, like that. Still they're in no condition.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: But he is not that man. He is trying to kill the mosquito to save himself from death. But that he cannot. That is my proposal.
Dr. Patel: Yes. He could at least save the American government from catastrophe, how to drain before finishing this Panama Canal. The Panama Canal is an engineering feat, sir. The two sides, seas, are uneven, and they have made locks in the.... You must have seen that. No? They have locks. One side, sea is higher than the other, and they allow the ships to get to the middle lock, then pump in water and then bring on that side. Engineers must be knowing, you know. We had to study all these things, medical history.
Prabhupāda: So many medicines, vitamin D, vitamin C...
Dr. Patel: All medicines, sir, vitamins, and all even hormones...
Prabhupāda: But why not discover something that you will save from death?
Dr. Patel: But what is death, after all? Our forefathers found it out...
Prabhupāda: Then why you are trying to live?
Correspondence
1947 to 1965 Correspondence
Above these senses or sense-organs is a dymitric force which is subtler than the sense-organs and is known as the mind but acts in terms of thinking, feeling & willing. The empiric philosophers speculating on an imperfect process of induction, generally indulge intellectual feats without knowing that behind the mind there is human intelligence which is able to analyse the process of psychology but is unable to find out the ultimate force or spirit behind their intelligence.
| Page Title: | Feats |
| Compiler: | Rishab, Mayapur |
| Created: | 03 of May, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=2, SB=27, CC=3, OB=7, Lec=12, Con=4, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 56 |