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It is not that because you cannot see your great-great-great-grandfather, so you cannot say there was no such man as great-great-grandfather. There was or there Similarly, if we go on searching out what is the original father, that is God

Expressions researched:
"It is not that because you cannot see your great-great-great-grandfather, so you cannot say there was no such man as great-great-grandfather. There was or there Similarly, if we go on searching out what is the original father, that is God"

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

My father's body is generated from my grandfather's body. My grandfather..." Go on, go on, go on, go on. There must be. It is not that because you cannot see your great-great-great-grandfather, so you cannot say there was no such man as great-great-grandfather. There was or there Similarly, if we go on searching out what is the original father, that is God. Father must be there.
Lecture on SB 1.2.1 -- New Vrindaban, September 1, 1972:

Prabhupāda: So there are different types of bodies within this material world. We can compare. Just like ant's body, a fly's body, and my body. A fly's body may remain for few years, or, few hours. So our body may remain for few years. And similarly, there are other living entities like Brahmā, their body remains for a few decades. But every body, each body, is subjected to this law of nature: birth, death, disease, and old age. So God's body is not like that. It is eternal. Here in this material world we can possess a body which may exist for millions of years, but that does not mean it is eternal. It is not eternal. But God's body is eternal. Therefore, in the Vedic language, when it is said, nirākāra-nirākāra means "who has no form"—it does not mean that God has no form. He has got form, but His form is different from this form upon which you have got experience. Our experience is whatever form we can think of, even Brahma's form, that is liable to be annihilated. But God's form is not like that. So when in the Vedic language it is said, nirākāra—means nir, nir means "not," and ākāra means "form"—that means "God's form is not like ours." It is not that He has no form. He has form, but His form is different from ours.

And knowledge Now, knowledge, so far our knowledge is concerned, it is very limited. We do not know We can have some experience of our present knowledge, but we do not know what was in the past and what is going to happen in the future. Present also, our knowledge is imperfect. Just like we are seeing the sun daily, but what is our experience? The sun is bigger than this planet, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger. Fourteen hundred thousand pieces of this earthly planet can be thrown into the sun planet, it is so big. Unless it is so big, how it is possible the sun planet is distributing heat and light for millions and millions of years, and although it is situated ninety millions miles?

Devotee: Ninety-three.

Prabhupāda: Ninety-three million miles away from us, but it is giving us regular heat and light. And heat is so strong that ninety-three millions miles away, still, we cannot tolerate the heat. This is the position of this material world. And we cannot have any perfect knowledge. Therefore our knowledge is imperfect. But God's knowledge is not imperfect. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the beginning, it is said, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ (SB 1.1.1). The description of God: God is the origin of everything. Just like any one of us, we can understand that "My body is generated from my father's body. My father's body is generated from my grandfather's body. My grandfather..." Go on, go on, go on, go on. There must be. It is not that because you cannot see your great-great-great-grandfather, so you cannot say there was no such man as great-great-grandfather. There was or there Similarly, if we go on searching out what is the original father, that is God. Father must be there.

Therefore in every religion, God is accepted as the supreme father. The Christian religion also, they say, "O father, give us our daily bread." So God is accepted, actually He is the father. Must have. We must have original father. You cannot say there is no God. If you are existing, you are existing because of your father. Your father is existing because of his father, his father, his father. There must be somebody original father. That is logical conclusion, not that "I am born out of air" or "My father is born out of air, my grandfather is born..." No. There must be somebody—father. That is given to understand in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that He is the origin of everything. Origin must be there. Anything you take, there must be origin. The modern scientists, they cannot find out the origin. They simply say, "It existed like this." Wherefrom this existence came? "There was chemicals, hydrogen, oxygen, and mixed up, there was water." Who put the hydrogen, oxygen? So these answers they cannot give because they have no perfect knowledge. So logical conclusion is there must be somebody, origin. That is God, from whom everything emanates, everything takes birth.

Now what is the nature of that origin? He is a stone or living entity? Because we have got two experiences, matter and life. A stone may be very big, but it has no life. But a small ant, although it is very small, it has got life, movement. It has got his independence of moving. That is called life. So if somebody, God or whatever you say, is the origin of everything, then what is the nature of that origin? Is He, is it like a stone or having life force? Naturally we can experience that without God being living, how the living entities are coming? We have got experience that I am a living entity, I am coming out of my father who is also living entity. He is coming of his father, he is also living entity. So how the origin of everything can be a stone-like chunk? No. This is logic. This is philosophy. Therefore Bhāgavata says that janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). Abhijñaḥ means He is full of consciousness, knowledge. Sat cit. Cit means He is living. He is not like a dead stone. That cannot be, because we have no experience that from dead stone life is coming.

Page Title:It is not that because you cannot see your great-great-great-grandfather, so you cannot say there was no such man as great-great-grandfather. There was or there Similarly, if we go on searching out what is the original father, that is God
Compiler:Krsnadas
Created:21 of Oct, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1