If personally I have any credit in this matter, it is only that I have tried to present Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any adulteration. Before my presentation of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, almost all the English editions of Bhagavad-gītā were introduced to fulfill someone's personal ambition. But our attempt, in presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, is to present the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Our business is to present the will of Kṛṣṇa, not that of any mundane speculator like the politician, philosopher or scientist, for they have very little knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, despite all their other knowledge. When Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), etc., we, unlike the so-called scholars, do not say that Kṛṣṇa and His inner spirit are different. Kṛṣṇa is absolute, and there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's form, Kṛṣṇa's qualities, Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, etc. This absolute position of Kṛṣṇa is difficult to understand for any person who is not a devotee of Kṛṣṇa in the system of paramparā (disciplic succession). Generally the so-called scholars, politicians, philosophers, and svāmīs, without perfect knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, try to banish or kill Kṛṣṇa when writing commentary on Bhagavad-gītā. Such unauthorized commentary upon Bhagavad-gītā is known as Māyāvāda-bhāṣya, and Lord Caitanya has warned us about these unauthorized men. Lord Caitanya clearly says that anyone who tries to understand Bhagavad-gītā from the Māyāvādī point of view will commit a great blunder. The result of such a blunder will be that the misguided student of Bhagavad-gītā will certainly be bewildered on the path of spiritual guidance and will not be able to go back to home, back to Godhead.
Krsna is absolute
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Preface and Introduction
BG Chapters 7 - 12
The impersonalist philosophers, who wish to maintain that the Absolute Truth is without senses, cannot comprehend this verse of Bhagavad-gītā. To them, it is either a metaphor or proof of the mundane character of Kṛṣṇa, the speaker of the Bhagavad-gītā. But, in actuality, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Godhead, has senses, and it is stated that His senses are interchangeable; in other words, one sense can perform the function of any other. This is what it means to say that Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Lacking senses, He could hardly be considered full in all opulences.
The Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, has senses and a body like the ordinary man, but for Him there is no difference between His senses, His body, His mind and Himself. Foolish persons who do not perfectly know Him say that Kṛṣṇa is different from His soul, mind, heart and everything else. Kṛṣṇa is absolute; therefore His activities and potencies are supreme. It is also stated that although He does not have senses like ours, He can perform all sensory activities; therefore His senses are neither imperfect nor limited. No one can be greater than Him, no one can be equal to Him, and everyone is lower than Him.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
This was very difficult for them because the tears could not be checked. Therefore, they smeared their tears in their eyes, and their hearts throbbed. Therefore ladies who were the wives and daughters-in-law of those who died in the battlefield never came in direct contact with Kṛṣṇa. But all of them heard of Him and His great activities, and thus they thought of Him, talked of Him, His name, fame, etc., and became affectionate also, like those who were in direct contact. Therefore directly or indirectly anyone who thinks of Kṛṣṇa, talks of Kṛṣṇa or worships Kṛṣṇa becomes attached to Him. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, there is no difference between His name, form, quality, etc. Our intimate relation with Kṛṣṇa can be confidentially revived by our talking of, hearing of, or remembering Him. It is so done due to spiritual potency.
SB Canto 7
We should always remember the distinction between spiritual and material. That which is material is infected by material qualities, but these qualities cannot touch that which is spiritual, or transcendental. Kṛṣṇa is absolute, whether He is in the material world or spiritual world. When we see partiality in Kṛṣṇa, this vision is due to His external energy. Otherwise how could His enemies attain salvation after being killed by Him? Everyone who deals with the Supreme Personality of Godhead gradually acquires the qualities of the Lord.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Since Kṛṣṇa is absolute, His so-called unkind activities are as relishable as His kind activities. Therefore saintly persons and great devotees like the gopīs cannot give up Kṛṣṇa in any circumstances. Lord Caitanya therefore prayed, "Kṛṣṇa, You are free and independent in all respects. You can either embrace Me or crush Me under Your feet—whatever You like. You may make Me brokenhearted by not letting Me see You throughout My whole life, but You are My only object of love."
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Anyone who was killed, who died in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, in the presence of Kṛṣṇa, they all attained their original, constitutional position, spiritual form. They all went back to home, back to Godhead, everyone. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. Either His killing or His protecting, it is all the same. You don't think that Kṛṣṇa is killing. No. If anyone is killed by Kṛṣṇa, he immediately gets liberation: the liberation for which great great saintly persons, sages, they undergo severe austerities for life after life, simply by being killed, he gets that. So by becoming Kṛṣṇa's enemy, one gets this benefit.
So in this Kali-yuga, people are so much disturbed. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa has come in the form of His name, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has come not personally, but by His name. But because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, there is no difference between His name and Himself. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ (CC Madhya 17.133). Nāma-cintāmaṇi kṛṣṇa-caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-muktaḥ. Name is full. As Kṛṣṇa is full, complete, similarly, Kṛṣṇa's name is also full, complete. Śuddha. It is not material things. Pūrṇaḥ śuddhaḥ nityaḥ. Eternal. As Kṛṣṇa is eternal, His name is also eternal.
The name, the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, is as powerful as Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference with Kṛṣṇa and His name. Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. Therefore there is no distinction between Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's form, Kṛṣṇa's quality, Kṛṣṇa's entourage, Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, from Kṛṣṇa. Everything is Kṛṣṇa. If you hear about Kṛṣṇa, then you should know that you are touching Kṛṣṇa by aural reception. If you see Kṛṣṇa the Deity, that means you are seeing personally Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute. He can accept your service, any way. Because He is everything. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). His energy.
So the Bhagavad-gītā is going on for two varieties of business. One business is to give relief to the sādhu, to the devotee, and another business is to kill ignorance or kill personally the duṣkṛtinaḥ. Those who are nondevotees. For them, killing business. But the killing is also good for them. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Either Kṛṣṇa loves somebody or kills somebody, the result is the same. That is called absolute. Just like father or mother loves some child and chastises the other. The result is the same—affection. There is no jealousy.
There is Kṛṣṇa. Here is Kṛṣṇa, in His words. Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. He is not different from Kṛṣṇa. The words of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa, there is no difference. When you read Bhagavad-gītā, if you feel like that, that "Here Kṛṣṇa is speaking before me," then your life is successful. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Actually, it is a fact.
But I may say in this connection that so much difficult process for purifying the ātmā is very easily done, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Because the sound, this transcendental sound vibration, is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. His name is not different from Him. So when you chant His name with devotion, that means Kṛṣṇa is with you. And Kṛṣṇa, when Kṛṣṇa is with you, how you can remain impure? You become pure.
We can think of Kṛṣṇa. We have Kṛṣṇa's form. Kṛṣṇa Deity, we worship. So if we engage ourself in the worship of the Deity, the form of Kṛṣṇa, which is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa, or, in the absence of Deity, if we chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, that is also Kṛṣṇa. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ (CC Madhya 17.133). Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. Therefore, there is no difference between Him and His name. There is no difference between Him and His form. There is no difference between Him and His picture. There is no difference between Him and His topics. Anything about Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. This is called absolute knowledge. So either you chant the Kṛṣṇa's name or you worship Kṛṣṇa's form—everything is Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Idol worship, that is not idol. Just like if you worship your leader in some picture or some statue, that is not idol worship. That is actually fact. You show your respect to your leader. Similarly, when we worship the Deity of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, it is not idol worship. It is worshiping Kṛṣṇa. The difference is, as we have already discussed, Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. In the ordinary case the picture of your father and the father is different because it is material body. But Kṛṣṇa, being absolute, His form, Deity form, and He, there is no difference.
Kṛṣṇa cannot be understood by any other method than the Kṛṣṇa method. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Therefore if one wants to understand Kṛṣṇa, he must take the Kṛṣṇa method. Kṛṣṇa method. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and the method of attaining Kṛṣṇa. They are the same. Method... The bhakti method means Kṛṣṇa method. Bhakta-bhagavān. And the method to approach Bhagavān is called bhakti.
In Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that "Only īśvara is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme." Ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya (CC Adi 5.142). "All others, they are servants." Nobody is actually īśvara. And we find it practically. Everyone in this material world, he may become an īśvara is his group, but he is also controlled by somebody superior. That is the position of this relative īśvara. But Kṛṣṇa is absolute īśvara. Nobody is īśvara above Him. That is Kṛṣṇa. So, everyone is trying to be īśvara. This is the material world. Everyone is trying to be īśvara.
Because we are Kṛṣṇa's sons, we are all sons of Kṛṣṇa, He is very much anxious to see us happy. Just like father wants to see his sons, bewildered sons, to see that he is happy. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). That is also the same thing. To deliver the righteous person and to kill the demons, the same thing, because Kṛṣṇa is absolute. His maintaining the devotee and killing the demon, both of them are same thing.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
We are seeing Kṛṣṇa: here is Kṛṣṇa. But still, because we are conditioned souls, sometimes we think that "This is not actual Kṛṣṇa; this is a statue of Kṛṣṇa." But that is not the fact. Fact is Kṛṣṇa is one. Kṛṣṇa is absolute, advaya-jñāna. He is identified to everything. What is everything? Everything means manifestation of His energy.
Kṛṣṇa does not require to descend for killing the demons, but when He feels, just like a rich man sometimes feels to contest with some wrestler, that does not mean he requires it. That is the Kṛṣṇa spirit. He is all-blissful. So when Kṛṣṇa comes, descends, there are many demons. He especially comes for the devotee. But when He fights with the demon, that is also His favor, because anyone killed by Kṛṣṇa, he immediately attains liberation. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Either He fights or blesses, the result is the same.
Because Kṛṣṇa, so long Kṛṣṇa was present, he was discharging real religion. What was that discharge? Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). He was... So long Kṛṣṇa was present on this planet, He was killing so many demons and He was giving protection to the devotees. But Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. Either killing or giving protection, they are all the same. So this is the praśna. This is the question of the great learned scholars and sages and brāhmaṇas in the Naimiṣāraṇya.
The Lord's holy name is as powerful as the Lord Himself. Na 'bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ. This is the sastric injunction. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa name and the Kṛṣṇa person. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Advaya-tattva. Advaya-jñāna. So He has descended in this age, kali rūpe, kali yuge nāma rūpe kṛṣṇa-avatāra. This nāma, Hare Kṛṣṇa, is the sound incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Don't think it is ordinary sound. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
You have seen also God, because Kṛṣṇa says, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: "I am the sunshine." So who has not seen sunshine? So you have to begin seeing like that. Then if you remember Kṛṣṇa, that is also seeing. Seeing, spiritual seeing, does not mean simply to see by the eyes. Spiritual seeing means by chanting you can see, by describing you can see. Because Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. Absolute. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23). In either of these items, either you hear of Kṛṣṇa, then you are seeing Kṛṣṇa. When you chant about Kṛṣṇa, then you are seeing Kṛṣṇa. When you are thinking of Kṛṣṇa, you are seeing Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. This is called bhakti-yoga.
Kṛṣṇa is there. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Not that Kṛṣṇa is not present. Kṛṣṇa is present by His words. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and His words. The Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, they're the words of Kṛṣṇa. When you read Bhagavad-gītā, you should know that you are talking with Kṛṣṇa directly: kṛṣṇa-kathā.
Kṛṣṇa is Absolute Truth. So Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's activities are the same because it is absolute. It is not duality. In the material world, myself and my activities are different. But it is the... This world is dual world. But in the absolute world, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's quality, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's fame, they're all Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's associates, they're all Kṛṣṇa.
I am very pleased that you are doing nicely, dressing the Deity very nicely. More and more, in this way offer Kṛṣṇa nice prasādam, nice foodstuff, nice dress. Keep the temple very clean. Śrī-mandira-mārjanādiṣu. Mārjana means cleansing. Either you dress Kṛṣṇa or cleanse the temple, the effect is the same. Don't think that "I am a cleanser and he is a dresser." No. The dresser and the cleanser are the same. Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. In any way, be engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. Your life will be successful. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
So a devotee never takes dangerous position as very reverse position or very calamitous position. He welcomes. Because a surrendered soul, he knows either danger or festival, they are all different demonstration of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. In the śāstra it is said that just like there are two kinds, two sides, religiosity and irreligiosity, just the opposite. But in the śāstra it is said the religiosity is just the front portion of God, and irreligiosity is the back portion of God. So God's front portion or back portion, is there any difference? God is absolute.
We are envious of our enemy and we are friendly to our friends. So Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Even He appears to be inimical to some demon, actually He's friend. When a demon is killed, that means his demonic activities are killed. He becomes a saint immediately. Otherwise how he's promoted immediately to the brahmajyoti? All these demons who were killed by Kṛṣṇa, they immediately merge into the brahmajyoti-nirviśeṣa. The only difference is, of course, the brahmajyoti, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. They are one.
Just like Arjuna. He was driving the chariot, but when Arjuna wanted see His universal form, immediately He showed him. Thousands and millions of heads and weapons. This is Kṛṣṇa. So na yasya kaścit. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa has no enemy. Kṛṣṇa has no friend. He is completely independent. He does not depend on enemy. But He plays like that for the benefit of the so-called friend and so-called enemy. He's Kṛṣṇa... That is Kṛṣṇa's absolute nature. When Kṛṣṇa favors either as enemy or as friend, the result is the same. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is absolute.
Kṛṣṇa has got special impression under the feet, in the sole, and that is being impressed. Simply by impression. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, by Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet impression by vibration of His name, by glorifying Him—everything is Kṛṣṇa. Everything is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Either Kṛṣṇa's impression of the lotus feet, or chanting of His name, or His personal presence, or glorifying Him—it is the same; there is no difference. Therefore it will be our duty to keep..., keep Kṛṣṇa always present by chanting His holy name.
Just like for an electrical engineer, there is no such distinction that "This is heater" and "This is cooler." Heat and cool, opposite. But the, for the engineer, electrical engineer, he takes as much importance for the heater, as much for the cooler. So, for Him, there is no such distinction, material or spiritual. It is for us. Because we are now in the dual stage, the world of duality, relativity. This world is relativity. We cannot work so nicely with material consciousness. But Kṛṣṇa has no such thing. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. There is no distinction, material and spiritual.
So even we offer Kṛṣṇa prayer with broken languages, because Kṛṣṇa is Absolute, Kṛṣṇa will accept it. Bhāva-grāhī, bhāva-grāhī-janārdana. Janārdana, Kṛṣṇa, sees how much your heart is pure for serving Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa does not see the wording, the grammatical composition of your prayer. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja said... When other demigods were afraid of approaching Nṛsiṁhadeva, so Brahmā requested Prahlāda that "You offer prayer." So Brahmā's prayer is very..., Prahlāda Mahārāja's prayer... So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that "What prayer I shall offer to the Supreme Lord?
So these words, what we think "This is good word; this is bad word," so for Kṛṣṇa there is nothing like that. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Rather, what you think bad, that becomes good when it is applied to Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
You cannot create sky, nothing of the material elements. It is created by Kṛṣṇa, and this body is..., this external body is made of these eight elements. Similarly, I am also Kṛṣṇa's. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parāṁ jīva-bhūtām. Me parāṁ prakṛtiṁ jīva-bhūtām. Jīva, the living entities, they are parā-prakṛti, superior energy, but that is also me: "Mine." So I, as ahaṁ brahmāsmi, because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, in that sense, I, the energy of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa, we are one. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means that, or "I belong to Kṛṣṇa."
So this is the bhū-bhāraḥ. Bhū-bhāraḥ, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is also incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the same. That is absolute. In relative world consciousness is different from the person, but in the absolute world consciousness and the subject matter of consciousness is the same.
Kṛṣṇa killed many demons, because Kṛṣṇa has got two kinds of activities, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām: (BG 4.8) for sādhu, simply to deliver them, and for the demons, to kill them. But the result is the same. That is called Absolute. Whether Kṛṣṇa pats somebody and kills somebody, the result is the same. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. It is not ordinary fortune to be killed by God. It is a great fortune.
Although Kṛṣṇa is practically showing them that it is not māyā, it is completely spiritual, but their dull brain cannot accommodate that Kṛṣṇa is Supreme Absolute Truth. Therefore the so-called scholars, when Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65)—Kṛṣṇa says, "Just become My devotee, offer your obeisances unto Me, always think of Me," man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ—the scholar, the so-called scholar, says, "This is not to Kṛṣṇa the person. It is to the unborn which is within Him." The rascal does not know that Kṛṣṇa has no within-without. Kṛṣṇa is absolute.
Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's form is not different. Kṛṣṇa's hand and Kṛṣṇa's leg not different. Just like we have got difference: this left hand is different from the right hand; the nose is different from the ear. We have got. Because this is called sagata-vigata-vibheda(?). Kṛṣṇa hasn't got that thing. That is called Absolute. It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. Aṅgāni, we have got different parts of the body, limbs, for different purposes. But Kṛṣṇa can serve any purpose from any limbs of His body. Kṛṣṇa can eat by seeing only. Kṛṣṇa can go by thinking only. There are so many description that Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. So these contradictory things, how one can understand of the Absolute? He is absolute, advaya-jñāna. Absolute means no duality; everything is one.
Prabhupāda: Yes. The chanting of Kṛṣṇa's name is exactly, immediately associating with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Kṛṣṇa... Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Nāmādi means name, then form, then quality, then entourage, so many things. Kṛṣṇa is not alone. So they're all absolute. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name is not different. Identical. So when we chant Kṛṣṇa's name it means that we are directly associating with Kṛṣṇa. This is a fact.
The gopīs will never cease to think of Kṛṣṇa; therefore it is not possible for Kṛṣṇa to go out of Vṛndāvana, although physically He may not be present. He has no difference between physical or mental, or subtle or gross. He has no such difference. Kṛṣṇa is absolute any way. Similarly, if you also think of Kṛṣṇa, if you are also pure devotee, then Kṛṣṇa is always with you. That is the advantage.
There are two kinds of bhāgavatam. The living bhāgavatam is the devotee, and the representation Bhāgavatam is the Bhagavat-grantha. There is no difference. Absolute means there is no difference. Kṛṣṇa is Absolute; therefore either this grantha-bhāgavatam or the devotee bhāgavata or Kṛṣṇa, they are all one. That is Absolute conception. Advaya-jñāna. We should not distinguish a devotee from Bhagavān. We shall not distinguish Bhāgavatam from Bhagavān.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
Prabhupāda: Yes. Sometimes we are asked that "Why Kṛṣṇa induced Arjuna to become violent?" So then so many so-called scholars, they criticize Kṛṣṇa, but they do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. In whichever way He acts, it is the same thing. God is good. It does not mean when He fights in the Battlefield of Kurkṣetra He becomes bad. No. He's still good. That is the conception of God: absolute. He can do anything and anything. Still, He continues to be the Absolute Truth. That is Absolute Truth. There is no relative understanding, "This is good for God, this is bad for God," as (if) God has come before me to be judged by me. You cannot judge God, Kṛṣṇa.
Similarly, to consider a Vaiṣṇava as belonging to certain caste is as abominable as to think that the Deity is made of stone. Everyone knows it is made of stone. But are we worshiping the stone? We are spending so much money for decorating stone? No. Because we have no eyes to see, we see stone. Kṛṣṇa is not stone. Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. He can appear in any way, any form, as He likes. That is His mercy. Because we cannot see except stone. Similarly, therefore He appears as stone. But He's not stone. If we think that it is stone, then we are gone to hell.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
He is not relative. Here everything is relative, but God means He is Absolute. He has nothing to be dependent. Here everything, we are all dependent. To understand something, to understand light, we have to understand darkness. To understand good, we have to understand what is bad. So here it is everything duality. So Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. That is the first understanding, that there is no duality. Kṛṣṇa, His name, His fame, His pastimes, His quality, His association, associates—everything is one.
This is a test of progressing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
- kṛṣṇa-sūrya-sama; māyā haya andhakāra
- yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa, tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra
Yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa: wherever Kṛṣṇa is there. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. He can be present in His various potencies. He can be present by His name only. Just like we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa—He is present, because His name is not different from Him. That is the absolute sense.
Initiation Lectures
Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Anything about Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. It will be realized gradually. For the time being you have to take it for acceptance, that "I am chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. This means that Kṛṣṇa is personally present on my tongue. Therefore I am in direct touch with Kṛṣṇa." And we should be very careful so that we may not..., offense, commit offenses, as they are being described.
General Lectures
Devotee: Prabhupāda, a picture of Kṛṣṇa is absolute, right? That is Kṛṣṇa. Is the picture of a pure devotee absolute in the same way?
Prabhupāda: Picture of devotee?
Devotee: A pure devotee.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: Supposing you saw some ice, and you said, "Due to there being cold, this water has turned hard and become ice."
Prabhupāda: That is another proposition. Water is liquid, but when water becomes hard, that is artificial. But that hardness... Snow is white, that is truth. Otherwise nothing is truth except Kṛṣṇa. Relative truth. Kṛṣṇa is absolute truth. There are relative truths. So this is relative truth. Kṛṣṇa is substance. Now, from Kṛṣṇa everything is emanating by His energy. Water is also one of the energies, but that energy is not absolute truth, that water. But in that relativeness, the water's liquidity is truth. But it is relative truth.
Prabhupāda: When a businessman goes to please somebody, he wants the money for himself. That is the difference. But when we go to please somebody, to get some money, our ultimate aim is to please Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth. Therefore the means adopted, even if it is relative truth, that becomes Absolute Truth. The end justifies the means. Because the means is adopted, just like Kṛṣṇa advises Arjuna, "Just go and tell Droṇācārya that his son is dead," although his son was not dead. So this is not truth. But because by that action Kṛṣṇa will be pleased—Kṛṣṇa is Absolute Truth-therefore even that lying is also absolute.
Śyāmasundara: But in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy the ideas are not to be re-evaluated. Aren't they absolute, the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness?
Prabhupāda: Yes, the philosophy is absolute. Kṛṣṇa is absolute, so His consciousness is also absolute.
Prabhupāda: That is our—Kṛṣṇa is absolute. He can order anything He likes, but you have to carry out Kṛṣṇa's order. If Kṛṣṇa says you to kill, then you can kill. You cannot say that "Kṛṣṇa has said to Arjuna to kill, therefore I shall kill."
Conversations and Morning Walks
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So both the sādhu and the duṣkṛtina, by Kṛṣṇa's two activities, act differently to the devotees and to the demons. They realize. That is their achievement. By punishment, this Kāliya realized, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord." And devotees, by out of love, they realize. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. In either process He is realized.
| Page Title: | Krsna is absolute |
| Compiler: | Ramananda, ChandrasekharaAcarya, Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 13 of Apr, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=3, SB=2, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=44, Con=1, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 51 |