Just like you can see a tree green by pouring water in the root. Or you can become healthy... The parts of the body—the hands, the legs, the eyes, the ears, the fingers—everything keeps in healthy stage when the parts of the body cooperate with the stomach. Similarly, the supreme living being, the Lord, He is the enjoyer. He is the enjoyer and He is the creator. And we, I mean to say, subordinate living beings, the products of the energy of the Supreme Lord, we are just to cooperate with Him. That cooperation will help. Just for example, a good foodstuff taken by the fingers. If the fingers think that "Why should we give it to the stomach? Let us enjoy." That is a mistake. The fingers are unable to enjoy. If fingers want the fruit of enjoyment of that particular foodstuff, the fingers must put it into the stomach. So the whole arrangement is that the central figure, central figure of creation, central figure of enjoyment, is the Supreme Lord, and the living entities, they are simply cooperator. By cooperation, by cooperation they enjoy.
Mistake (Lectures, BG)
Expressions researched:
"mistake"
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|"mistakes"
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Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
The only yajña, saṅkīrtana-yajña, is possible. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ (SB 11.5.32). So if this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is taken seriously all over the world and they perform saṅkīrtana-yajña, everything will be adjusted immediately. Everything. But these rascals will not take it. They will suffer. Otherwise all directions are there. People have to take the advantage of direction, perfect direction, without any mistake, and they will be happy. So we are trying to introduce this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement so that people may come to their senses, take advantage of it and be happy. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
So energy is prakṛti. The prakṛti is not puruṣa. So Māyāvāda philosophy is wrong. They pose them as so 'ham. So 'ham "I am the same." How you can be same? In the śāstra it is said that "You living entity, you are prakṛti." How you can become same, you puruṣa. This is mistake. How prakṛti, how a woman can become man? Artificially one can become. Here also so-called woman, they are also puruṣa. They are thinking puruṣa. Puruṣa means enjoyer. Here woman is also thinking to enjoy, and the so-called man is also thinking to enjoy. Everyone.
The Māyāvādī philosophers, they simply stop these material activities. Just like Buddha philosophy, nirvāṇa. He simply advises to stop this. But after stopping, what is, sir? "No, zero. Zero." That cannot be. That is not possible. This is their mistake. But the people to whom Buddha philosophy was preached, they are not so intelligent that there can be better service after giving up this service. Therefore Lord Buddha said, "You stop this service. You become happy because ultimately everything is zero." Śūnyavādī. Nirviśeṣavādī.
"Such beautiful body. He has nice hair. Now it is shaven." So she became very much overwhelmed and was crying. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately fell down on her lotus feet and He said, "My dear mother, this body is yours. My dear mother, this body is yours. This body should have been engaged for your service, but some way or other, I mistake, I have taken this sannyāsī. Kindly excuse Me." Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "This body belongs to you. This is your body." Every son should think like that. This is Vedic culture. Actually, the body supplied, mother. From the very beginning, after sex...
How he can become? Sarvātmā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyam. One who has fully surrendered unto the lotus feet of the Lord, śaraṇyam. Śaraṇyam means here is the real place where one can surrender fully. Others, if I surrender to a cats and dogs, what he will help me? Therefore they are not śaraṇyam. But, by mistake, if they take shelter of such cats and dogs, what benefit they will get? Therefore śaraṇyam, the worthwhile surrender is to the lotus feet of Mukunda. Therefore it is said, sarvātmā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartum (SB 11.5.41).
He's given railway line and so many things. He can understand how railway system is working, or engineering, so that from the very beginning of his life he's getting idea and he may catch up some line of activities. Similarly this Kṛṣṇa conscious education also should be given from the very beginning of life. That is the mistake of the modern civilization. Everyone is becoming engineering, technologist, or medical man or so many. But the real problem of life is to understand the self. But there is no educational system throughout the whole world what is the self, what is his need, how it is constituted, how it is working, so many things. In Boston, there was a Massachusetts Technological...
A conditioned soul... Just like we are, I am different from my soul. "I am" means my body, or I am soul, different from the body. So Kṛṣṇa has no such differentiation. He does not know that. Because he's not following Kṛṣṇa, the perfect spiritual master. He's following some rascal spiritual master. Therefore he has this mistake. But if we follow Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa, then we get the perfect knowledge. We may not be cent percent perfect, but as far as possible, if we follow the instruction as it is, that much perfect. In this way one will get perfection.
Otherwise it is not possible, because he can say what is good for you, what is bad for you. He is asking, yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tat (BG 2.7). Niścitam. If you want advice, instruction, niścitam, which is without any doubt, without any illusion, without any mistake, without any cheating, that is called niścitam. That you can get from Kṛṣṇa or His representative. You cannot get right information from the imperfect person or a cheater. That is not right instruction. Nowadays it has become a fashion; everyone is becoming guru and he is giving his own opinion, "I think," "In my opinion."
Everything is given by Vyāsadeva in writing, and we'll accept it, Nārāyaṇa, incarnation of Nārāyaṇa, mahāmuni-kṛte. He is also Vyāsa-muni, but He is also mahāmuni-kṛte. So there cannot be any mistake in the words of Vyāsadeva. This is the difficulty. If one does not come through the channel of disciplic succession, so they are in so many ways mistaken. Vyāsadeva is above all this. He is not an ordinary writer, material description or material name and faith. He cannot be mistaken. As Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa cannot be mistaken. Similarly, Vyāsadeva, incarnation of Bhagavān, he also cannot be mistaken. Neither devotee of Kṛṣṇa can be mistaken. Devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he does not say anything as his own opinion.
So we should not conclude final simply by heat and light. So Brahman understanding, impersonal understanding of the Absolute Truth, is imperfect understanding, partial understanding. It is not full understanding. Full understanding is Bhagavān. Therefore it is stated here, śrī-bhagavān uvāca. There cannot be any mistake. That is final.
So ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). So this behavior of Kṛṣṇa, how ordinary men can understand? Because they have got their ordinary senses, therefore they mistake. Why Kṛṣṇa? Even Kṛṣṇa's devotee, Vaiṣṇava. That is also stated. Vaiṣṇavera kriyā mūdra vijñeha nā bujhaya (CC Madhya 23.39). Even a Vaiṣṇava ācārya, what he is doing, even the most expert intelligent man cannot understand why he is doing this. Therefore we should not try to imitate the higher authorities, but we have to follow the order, injunction, given by the higher authorities. It is not possible. Kṛṣṇa is exciting Arjuna to fight. That does not mean we can also do that, excite, no. That will be immoral.
The man who has left it, he would come; he will collect. You cannot take." Even hundred years ago. So this capital punishment is required. Nowadays the capital punishment is excused. Murderers are not hanged. This is all mistake, all rascaldom. A murderer must be killed. No mercy. Why a human killer? Even an animal killer should be immediately hanged? That is kingdom. The king should be so strict.
A devotee of Kṛṣṇa, if need be, if he's unqualified guru... Unqualified guru means who does not know how to guide the disciple. Guru's duty is to guide. So such kind of guru can be at least rejected. That is Jīva Gosvāmī's... Kārya-kāryam ajānataḥ. A guru who does not know what to do and what not to do, but by mistake, by mistakenly I have accepted somebody as guru, he can be rejected. By rejecting him, you can accept an actual bona fide guru. So guru is not killed, but he can be rejected. That is the injunction of the śāstra. So Bhīṣmadeva or Droṇācārya, certainly they were gurus, but Kṛṣṇa indirectly giving indication to Arjuna, that "Although they are in the position of guru, you can reject them."
That, he was, like a child, he was thinking. Śreya. But when he came to his consciousness... Not actually consciousness, because he's intelligent. He's asking for preya, uh, śreya. Yac chreyaḥ syāt. "What is the, actually, my ultimate goal of life?" Yac chreyaḥ syāt. Yac chreyaḥ syāt niścitaṁ (BG 2.7). Niścitam means fixed-up, without any mistake. Niścitam. In Bhāgavata, there is, called niścitaṁ. Niścitam means you haven't got to make research. It is already settled up. "This is the decision:" Because we, with our teeny brain, we cannot find out what is the actual niścitaṁ, fixed-up sreya. That we do not know. That you have to ask from Kṛṣṇa. Or his representative. These are the things. Yac chreya syāt niścitaṁ brūhi tan me.
That glorious... First of all we must know what we are. The mistake is that we are accepting this body as ourself. I am thinking Indian, you are thinking Australian, he is thinking American, he is thinking Mohammedan, he is thinking Hindu. In this way, because we are thinking different way, we have got difference of opinion. But as soon as we come to the spiritual platform. There will be no more different opinion. That we are trying, that come to the spiritual platform. Then everything will go on. The first lesson of coming to the spiritual platform is to understand that "I am not this body." This the first lesson of spiritual understanding.
That's all right. But don't live like animals, simply increasing sense gratification. The human effort is going on how to live comfortably, but they want to live comfortably for sense gratification. That is the mistake of the modern civilization. Yuktāhāra-vihāraś ca yogo bhavati siddhiḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said yuktāhāra. Yes, you must eat, you must sleep, you must satisfy your senses, you must arrange for defense—as much as possible, not to divert attention too much. We have to eat, yuktāhāra. That's a fact. But not atyāhara.
The whole world is struggling for sense gratification. Here is the simple philosophy, truth, that "First of all let enjoy, let Kṛṣṇa enjoy. He is the master. Then we enjoy." Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā. The Īśopaniṣad says everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam: (ISO 1) "Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa." This is the mistake. Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, but we are thinking, "Everything belongs to me." This is illusion. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Ahaṁ mameti. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti. This is illusion. Everyone is thinking, "I am this body, and everything, whatever we find in this world, that is to be enjoyed by me." This is the mistake of civilization.
If you actually become very much advanced in knowledge, you can get a body in a brāhmaṇa family, in a very educated family. But I'll have to go through the transmigration of the soul, repetition of birth and death. There is risk. I do not know what I am going to get. It is not guaranteed. Little mistake. Little mistake... Just like Bhārata Mahārāja, little mistake. At the time of..., he was thinking of a deer. Next life he got the life of a deer. Little mistake. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajanty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Because nature is so perfect, at the time of your death, what is the mental condition, you will get a similar body, next life.
Will You show me Your universal form?" And Kṛṣṇa agreed and showed him the universal form. That means in future any intelligent man, accepting a so-called God, may also ask him, "Just show something, that you are God." Without showing something, simply by false advertisement, one cannot be God. So whole mistake is that we do not know what is God. We consider God may be just like one of us. No. The God who is controlling such a huge affairs of universal administration, He cannot be, He is superconscious. That is superconsciousness.
You have to understand only three things then you become peaceful. What is that? The first thing is that "God is enjoyer, I am not enjoyer." But here, our mistake is, everyone is thinking, "I am enjoyer." But actually, we are not enjoyer. For example, because I am part and parcel of God... Just like my hand is part and parcel of my body. Suppose the hand catches one nice fruit cake, nice palatable cake. The hand cannot enjoy it. The hand picks it up and puts it in the mouth. And when the mou..., it goes into the stomach, when the energy is created by eating that food, that is enjoyed by the hand. Not only by this hand—this hand also, the eyes also, legs also. Similarly, we cannot enjoy anything directly.
This business is going on, not only in the human society, even in the animal society. Anywhere, even in demigod society, things are going on like that. Therefore we should know, whatever Bhagavān says, there cannot be any mistake, any illusion, any cheating or any imperfectness. Then it will be very nice. And that is the fact. The word used, bhagavān uvāca, means this instruction is neither mistaken nor illusion nor cheating nor imperfect. Whatever we teach, we speak, we conditioned soul... As I said, that we are very much proud of our eyes, but we cannot see without sunrise... We cannot see without electricity.
Woman: Does an animal make that mistake? I thought the animals...
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Woman: ...wouldn't, would, uh...
Prabhupāda: No, no. This is a...
Woman: ...not see the water that our eyes tell us that there is a mirage in the desert.
Prabhupāda: Yes. I mean to say, any sane man who has got the knowledge that "This is only reflection of the sun; it is not water," he will never go there. He knows that it is useless to search water in the desert. Similarly, if Śrī Kṛṣṇa is in full knowledge, He cannot say that in future also we shall all remain individuals. He says that in the future also we shall continue to be individuals. Now, He cannot give us misdirection.
So Arjuna was calculating as a human being about Kṛṣṇa. That was his mistake. That was his not mistake. That was his inquiry to clear the mistake of our. We mistake Kṛṣṇa as one of us. Because Kṛṣṇa comes down as human being, we, due to our lack of knowledge, poor fund of knowledge, we think Kṛṣṇa is as good as we are. But actually it is not. Kṛṣṇa is God. We are ordinary living entities. His knowledge, His power of remembrance, His power of knowing everything perfectly is different from our knowing. But unfortunately we think, "God may be little greater than me." That is that Dr. Frog philosophy. We have explained several times.
So his name was Hiraṇyakaśipu. And the Prahlāda, his son... Prahlāda means prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa āhlāda. Āhlāda means pleasure. He's always full of pleasure. He has nothing to do with material... Because material pleasure cannot give us pleasure. It is our mistake. But because we have no information of the spiritual pleasure and because we are conditioned by this material body, therefore we seek pleasure through matter. Now we have to raise ourself from this position. Then we can get unlimited pleasure. We want pleasure, but we do not want such pleasure which ends. We want nonending pleasure. That is our heart's desire. But in material pleasure we cannot have that bliss.
Just like our Captain sāheb is here. I have seen in the ship he has got very serious duty in the ocean. He's always consulting the chart and the latitude, longitude, which side the ship is going. That is anxiety because so many lives, so many property, is under his control. Any, a slight mistake, would play havoc. We do not know. I was asking the Captain sāheb, "Where you are going?" But I do not know. I see simply vast of water. But he has got responsibility. He knows the thing. So any responsible officer... Any responsible... Your President Johnson, he's also full of anxiety. I am also full of anxiety. You are also full of anxiety. Even a, a small bird, you'll find... You give a small bird some grains.
So we are presenting the knowledge of the Bhagavad-gītā, as it is, without any malinterpretation, because we cannot interpret Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā is spoken by God, so what He has spoken, there cannot be any mistake, there cannot be any illusion, there cannot be any cheating, and there cannot be any imperfectness of the senses. Others, those who are called conditioned soul... Just like we have got our eyes, but the eyes, we are very much proud of our eyes. We say, "Can you show me God?" But the thing is that whether you can see God, whether you have got the requisite eyes to see God. Just like in your presence, there are so many planets. Leaving aside all other planets, the sun and the moon. Every one of us can see in day and night, but still they haven't got sufficient knowledge about the sun and the moon. Why?
One scientist proposes, theorizes something today and another scientist makes this proposition, this theory, null and void and he speaks something else. That is also due to the imperfect of senses. So that is called mistake or illusion. Mistake means calculation, mathematical calculation. Two plus two equal to four, but sometimes by mistake we may put three or five. That is called mistake. And illusion, to accept something for something. Just like we are accepting. When somebody inquires, "who are you?" You just give identification of your body: "I am such and such, I am an American, I am born of such father and mother." But this body is not yourself, you are spirit soul. Therefore, it is called illusion. And because we are standing on the platform of illusion, there is mistake, there is cheating, and the senses are imperfect.
Prabhupāda: That I will explain. In quality, you are one. Because a particle of gold is also gold. But the gold mine is not equal to the gold earring. That is mistake.
Indian: They say ātmā is the Paramātmā.
Various Indians: Not, not, the... Not the whole.
Prabhupāda: Not the... One is great. Another is small. That is the difference. Quality is the same.
Indian: That means Paramātmā and the ātmā...
Prabhupāda: Quality same.
Prabhupāda: There is a mistake. "Is best," it should be "the best," not "is best" "The best." It is address. Not nominative. Go on.
Pradyumna: Finished.
Prabhupāda: Finished?
Pradyumna: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa is addressing Arjuna, puruṣarṣabha, the best of the men. "O the best of the men." Certainly, Arjuna is the best of the mankind. Because he is directly friend of Kṛṣṇa, who can be better man than him? The best of the men. So the best of the men, why he's distressed in executing his duty? Therefore, this very word is used, that "You are the best of the men." Actually, the best of the men should not be disturbed by any material condition.
That Mr. Brown, he is acting as attorney on behalf of the landlord. So he has no responsibility. He is acting in landlord capacity or landlord consciousness. He is trying to save the interest of the landlord as far as possible. But if there is any mistake, the landlord will suffer or gain. He has nothing to do. Similarly, if we work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if there is something wrong... Because we can act two ways, wrongly or rightly. That's all. If we do rightly, it is all right. Even if we don't do it rightly, wrongly, still, it is right because the cause is the Supreme. Yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). The best, safest way of acting is to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness or under the order of Kṛṣṇa.
So take it, this body or the country or the nation or the world or the universe, nothing belongs to you. The owner is Kṛṣṇa. The owner is sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the owner." So mistake is that we do not know the owner, and we are, although we have occupied, improperly using our occupation. That is material condition. Improper. Otherwise, the direction is there, the director is sitting there. He's always helping you. But the disease is that we are claiming to be owner and want to act according to my whims, and that is material condition. My business is to work for the owner, not for me.
So our proposition is that to receive knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, the perfect person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We accept śāstra, means which is infallible. There is no mistake. Just like when I was walking near the cowshed, heaps of, piles of cow dung was there. So I was explaining to my followers that if such heaps of animal, I mean to say, man stool was heaped up here, nobody would come here. Nobody would come here. But the cow dung, there are so much heaps of cow dung, still, we find it pleasure to go through it. And in the Vedas it is said, "Cow dung is pure." This is called śāstra. If you argue, "How it can, it has become pure?
Our morality is to satisfy Kṛṣṇa or His representative, guru. Yasya prasāda. If he's satisfied, then it is moral. If he's not satisfied, then it is immoral. Na gatiḥ kuto 'pi. So this karma-vāda, that you act nicely and you'll get nice result, that is all right, but there may be some mistakes. There are so many instances. One very great charitable king, he was giving in charity so many cows to the brāhmaṇas. So there was some mistake, and for that purpose, although he was all throughout his whole life he was giving in charity, a little mistake, he became a big lizard in the well. Therefore the conclusion is that this material morality has no value. Spiritual morality. Spiritual morality means to abide by the order of Kṛṣṇa. That is morality. Whatever Kṛṣṇa says, if we accept, saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam. Many places.
Prabhupāda: You are noting down the mistakes and...? Noting down the mistakes, yes.
Pradyumna: Note down, yes. "Therefore get up and fight with determination."
Prabhupāda: So Arjuna's position is very precarious. There is a Bengali proverb naste bose bhunkata.(?) A girl, he, she is very famous dancing girl. So it is the system... As we have introduced, the girls and ladies, they have their veil, guṇṭhana. It is called guṇṭhana in Indian language.
That is not brāhmaṇa's business. But in modern civilization, everyone should go to factory. Never mind whether you are brāhmaṇa or śūdra or a... This is the mistake. Therefore, if I am not fit for a certain thing and if I am engaged in that business, that will be failure. That will be failure. For a particular type of business, occupation, one must have particular type of brain. So therefore this is division. Not that everyone is of the same type. You cannot find. There is not... Because the world is being conducted by the three modes of nature, you cannot find all men of the same category. There must be intelligent class of men, there must be martial spirit, administrative class of men, there must be business minded men.
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.
Because we have got better intelligence, we are not satisfied with the nature's product, but we are endeavoring to turn the nature's product by industry into some other thing, and the result is my high intelligence is being used only for the satisfaction of the body without any culture of spirit. That is the whole mistake of civilization, that I have got better understanding, I have got better intelligence than the animals. But how I am utilizing it? In the same principles of eating, sleeping, fearing and mating. So my energy is being... (break) "...not make you happy. You just try to... (break)
...Me. You just try to dovetail your consciousness with My supreme consciousness. That will make you happy." The same thing.
"O My Lord, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, I am Your eternal servitor, and, somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean of misconception. Kindly pick me up and fix me up as one of the atoms of the dust of Your lotus feet." That is the prayer.
So we should be conscious in this way, that "I am Your eternal servitor. I am not the Lord." As soon as we make mistake that "I am the Lord, I am the Supreme," then this illusory energy entraps us. This is also illusion. This is the last snare of illusory energy, that "I am God." It is a long philosophy. Of course, there is a class of philosophers who proclaim that "I am God. I am God." This is, of course, due to imperfect knowledge of the Supreme Lord that people can claim that "I am God."
Guest: When the people realize there's no more butter will they get attached to other things or will they realize the mistake they made?
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Guest: When people realize, when there's no more butter will people realize they've made a mistake or will they get attached to something else?
Prabhupāda: A sinful, sinful man never realizes his mistake. Therefore he's miscreant. You ask any miscreant, any criminal, "So you have done wrong," he'll be angry. Upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ prakopāya na śāntaye.
You can live peacefully without any creating animosities or quarrel with your neighbors and prosecute your spiritual life so that you get rid of this material existence. That is the whole program of material nature. But misusing our developed consciousness, we are trying to misuse the resources of material nature in a different way for aggravating the sense gratification. That is the whole mistake. So Kṛṣṇa says that "Whatever mistakes you have done, I don't mind. But you act in this way." Yajñārthe: "You work."
"We are working, and the stomach is sitting idly, and he is simply eating. So let us get into strike. We shall not work." Just like there is strike system now. Now, all the hands and legs and all parts of the body they, "No, no more we are going to work for the stomach." Now, what happened? Gradually the hand become weak, the fingers become, the eye could not see, the ear... Oh, they thought that "What is happening this? We are becoming weaker, weaker, weaker." Then they decided, "It was a mistake not to supply foodstuff to the stomach. It was good for us."
The name, name Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa person, there is no difference. There is no difference. You don't think that "Arjuna was fortunate to receive instruction of Kṛṣṇa directly, but we are unfortunate. We are not in the presence of Kṛṣṇa." No, no, no, no. That is a, our mistake. Kṛṣṇa is present by the sound representation. Because God is Absolute, therefore there is no difference. Just like here we have got difference; nothing is Absolute.
Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu. He was very, very proud of his possession. He was controlling over the three worlds. He was chastising his Vaiṣṇava son, Prahlāda Mahārāja. In this way he was very, very proud. But when Kṛṣṇa came as Nṛsiṁha-deva, everything was finished within a second. So we should not mistake this, I mean to say, fact.
Yena sarvam idam. Sarvam means the whole body, idam. But your consciousness is not spread in others' bodies. You must know it. If you say that "My consciousness is spread all over the universe," that is also another mistake. Your consciousness is limited within your body. Just like my consciousness is limited within my body, your consciousness is limited within your body. And everyone... We are all living entities and we are, everyone, conscious, but our consciousness is limited. We should not falsely claim that "I am the supreme consciousness."
That is another mistake. I am not the supreme consciousness. Supreme consciousness means that... Just like with my consciousness I can feel what is happening in my body, but with my consciousness I cannot feel what is going on in your body, similarly, you also cannot feel what is going on in my body. But the supreme consciousness is that which can know what is going on in your body, which is going on in my body, which is going on universally, everyone's body; He is, He knows. That is supreme consciousness.
The process is bhakti, devotion. As it is advised in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Now the present civilization, mistake of the present civilization is that they are accepting this body (to be) everything. After this body is finished—big, big philosophers, big, big professors, I have talked with... I was talking with one professor, Mr. Kotovsky, in Moscow. He is in charge of a big department. He said, "Swamijī, after finishing this body, everything is finished. There is nothing more." Just see, and he is a great professor. He has no knowledge that after finishing this body, there is another body. We are going to accept another body, not that after death, everything is finished. This conception is going on very strong, but this is a great mistake.
Don't think that after this body is finished, or we meet death, then everything is finished, as it is going on. The greatest mistake, the world is going on, on the mistaken platform. They do not know what is going to happen after death. There is no education. There is no department of knowledge in the universities, what is going to happen after death. They are simply taking account of this body, which exists, say for twenty years or fifty years, or utmost hundred years. And they have no knowledge what is after this body.
So many defects. I commit mistake. I become illusioned. I accept something for something. In this way, our position is very imperfect.
But in spite of possessing imperfect senses, people are proud of their knowledge. That is mistake. We are not concerned with imperfect knowledge. We want perfect knowledge. Therefore we are going to Bhagavad-gītā. Otherwise what is the use? If it is an ordinary book—you can interpret in your own way, I can interpret in my own way—then what is the value of Bhagavad-gītā with other books? No. It is not like that. Therefore the words of Kṛṣṇa should be understood through the devotees: perfect channel. As Kṛṣṇa..., Kṛṣṇa says, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). Avyayam, the... It is eternal. It is spiritual, avyayam.
So similarly, if we think that Kṛṣṇa is like us, He is also assumed a material body and He is one of us, then it is a mistake. It is a mistake. That is explained. In the later chapters you'll find. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam: (BG 9.11) "Oh, because I appear just like a man, the foolish man considers Me as one of them. But I am not as one of... I am not one of them." Here it is clearly said that "I appear, I appear." Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. "I appear in My own spiritual nature. I don't accept this lower nature, this material nature." So we are, when we appear... Just like we have appeared. We have appeared in this material world, accepting this material body, the lower nature.
How I can believe that You told this truth to sun-god?" In answer to that question, Kṛṣṇa says that bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni tava cārjuna. "Both you and Me had many, many births, or appearance and disappearance, in the past. I remember all those things as it is, without any mistake. But you do not know." Eka evāham eko 'pi san bahudhā yo 'vabhati ity ādi śruty-uktāni nitya-siddhāni bahūni rūpāni vaiduryavad-ātmani dadhanaḥ pura rūpantareṇa taṁ pratyupadiṣṭavān iti bhavenaha bhagavān.(?)
He expanded Himself in so many. Not created. Expand means the things are there, now it is expanded. Just like the sun and sunshine. Sunshine is not created. Wherever there is sun, there is sunshine. But if you get sunshine in the morning, if you say, "Now the sunshine is created," that is a mistake. It is our misconception. The sun and the sunshine are always there. It is a question of appearance and disappearance, that's all. Everything expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Without any exception. Some of them are expansion of His material energy, some of them are expansion of His spiritual energy, some of them are expansion of His marginal energy. So everything expansion of Kṛṣṇa.
Now, we are individual souls. So we are also associated with Kṛṣṇa, as Paramātmā within the heart. Paramātmā is there. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15). Where the Paramātmā is there, that is also stated: hṛdi, "in the heart." Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ. There is no, I mean to say, mistake. Kṛṣṇa says, "I stay within the heart of everyone."
And when we give up that body and go to another to take another body, that we call death. So this birth and death is due to this inferior nature.
So here Lord Kṛṣṇa says that "When I come, I do not come in this inferior nature." It will be a great mistake if somebody thinks that Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa's representative... Just like bona fide representative, Jesus Christ or other great, I mean to say, leaders of the religious faiths, they do not come with the inferior nature. They come with the superior nature of God. That we have to accept. If we have to accept the truth explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, then we must accept that, that God and His representative, they do not come, who come directly from the kingdom of God, they do not come, accepting this inferior nature.
The mistake of the Māyāvāda philosophy is that "You are the same." You are the same in which way? I am the same in quality, not in quantity. Just like if I say, "You are as good as President Nixon," there is nothing wrong because you are American, he is American. Is there anything wrong? From the point of view, American citizenship, you are as good as President Nixon. But when you go deep into the matter, you will find, oh, you are far, far away from President Nixon. Similarly, we are identifying ourself with this matter, but Vedas says that "You are not matter. You are supreme spirit soul." Not supreme, "You are spirit soul."
You cannot change your fortune. That means, fortune means, you are, with this body, you have got certain amount of enjoyment and certain amount of distress. That is made already according to your past activities. That you can change. Just like due to some mistake, I may have some disease, infection, but there is medicine also to counteract that infection. That is possible. It is not that because I am misfortunate, it cannot be changed. It can be changed.
Our position is to be predominated but we are trying to become predominator. That is called dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata.
But there are certain persons who are above this mistake, illusory energy. Who are those? The devotees. The devotees, who are called sādhu. Sādhu. There is a word, sādhu. Sādhu means honest, good behaved. They are called sādhu. There is description of sādhu. Sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ. What are they, sādhu?
And when the spirit soul is active, sometimes the Māyāvādī philosophers, they think, "Now I've realized that I am not this body, I am not matter, I am spirit soul, so now I have become Nārāyaṇa. I have become the Supreme." But no, that is also mistake. When you realize that "Supreme is the Supreme Brahman, Para-brahman, I am part and parcel of the Supreme, I am also Brahman, but I am not the Supreme Brahman, therefore my business is to serve Para-brahman." That is real spiritual life. That is the beginning of spiritual life.
One has to understand Kṛṣṇa, tattvataḥ, in truth. Not superficially. What is Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is the supreme leader. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). supreme leader, perfect leader, without any mistake, without any illusion, without any cheating, and without any imperfection of the senses. We have to take direction from such a leader, then our life will be successful. And because we are taking direction from imperfect leaders, cheater leaders, therefore we are meeting with so many problems.
So you should not take Kṛṣṇa that because He appeared in India therefore He is Indian or Indian god. That is a mistake. Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. Do not consider that Kṛṣṇa belongs to the Hindu community or Kṛṣṇa belong to the India or any way, kṣatriya, no. He does not belong to any material designation. He is above.
And you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, Fourteenth Chapter, He claims sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ (BG 14.4). There are eight million four-hundred-thousands of forms of living entities including human being. And Kṛṣṇa says ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā, "I am their seed-giving father."
We have got some experience nowadays. The pilot is sitting in front of the airplane, and there are very fine electronic machine, and he's pushing one button. Immediately the wings is working, and it is going down, it is, it is very, mean, a delicate position in the air. A little mistake in the pushing of the button, the whole plane may be crashed. So nowadays scientists, they have invented so many fine machineries that it is working very nicely. We came from London to Bombay in eight hours. So this is very nice.
We are part and parcel of God. The example is: just like this finger is the part and parcel of my body, so the strength of the finger is not as big as the whole body strength. It is very easily understood. The bodily strength is different from the finger's strength. The finger is also part and parcel of this body. If I say... If you ask, "What is this?" if I say, "It is my body," so there is no mistake. It is part of the body. But it is not the whole body. The whole body is different. Therefore God and the living entity, they are the same quality, but quantity different.
By His transcendental nature. That is being described in this verse. Tasya kartāram api. Tasya kartāram api māṁ viddhi: "Although I have established these divisions of the human society into four classes, so I am not one of them." This has to be understood. Means as soon as we make it a mistake that "Oh, Kṛṣṇa, He appeared in the royal family of Vasudeva, so He belonged to the kṣatriya community, or the administrative class," no. Then you can understand the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa.
Therefore His name is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His vigraha is sac-cid-ānanda. His vigraha is not like us. The Māyāvādīs, they mistake. Therefore they imitate Kṛṣṇa. The rascal Māyāvādīs, they imitate Kṛṣṇa. "I am Kṛṣṇa. I can play flute like Him. I become Kṛṣṇa, by playing flute." This is all rascaldom. Kṛṣṇa's vigraha is different. You cannot imitate Kṛṣṇa. Even you imitate, that does not mean you become Kṛṣṇa. This is rascaldom. Kṛṣṇa is not... Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, this, janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). That is all transcendental. Kṛṣṇa's body... Just like sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa's body is eternal. My body is not eternal. So how can I imitate Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa's body is eternal, sat.
His only fault was that he was preaching the message of God, and people, some people, not all people, become his enemy, and he was crucified. So this is the world. Anyone who comes as a most, I mean to say, beneficial friend of the world, people take him as the enemy, and they do the same mistake again so that they are bound up again by their own work and they remain in this material world to repeat birth and death, one after another, one after another. So we should be very much cautious.
Just like the greatest example is the United Nations. The United Nations is trying to adjust things, the whole worldly affairs, by a United Nations organization, UNO. But they could not do anything. Because they do not know that how the nation should be united. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum. They do not know. All their activities are without God, without God consciousness. Therefore they have failed. Everyone will fail, because they do not know what is the aim of life. That is the mistake.
Because Kṛṣṇa, when He appeared, when He spoke Bhagavad-gītā and He said, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You give up all engagements; just become under My shelter. I give you protection," ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi, some people misunderstood. Even in Dr. Radhakrishnan's book, you'll find, he said,"Oh, not to Kṛṣṇa." You see. Even great scholars make mistake. The clear indication is that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam... (BG 18.66). Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa says that "Just surrender unto Me," and the scholar says, "Oh, this surrender is not to Kṛṣṇa."
Suppose a family man, he renounces the family connection, but if he has no better connection and better attachment, then he will feel, "Oh, I was better in my family life. I have done mistake." Kṛṣṇa says, sannyāsas tu mahā-bāho duḥkham āptum ayogataḥ. Ayogataḥ means if we have no link with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then simply detachment will be cause of misery. Duḥkham āptum. It will be a cause of misery. Yoga-yukto munir brahma. But one who is in dovetail, one who is dovetailed with the Supreme, yoga-yukto munir brahma na cireṇādhigacchati. Brahma. Yoga-yuktaḥ. If I am dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then acireṇa.
Revatīnandana: "He is therefore never bewildered by mistaking the gross body for the soul, nor does he accept the body as permanent and disregard the existence of the soul. This knowledge elevates him to the station of knowing the complete science of the Absolute Truth, namely Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān."
Prabhupāda: Yes. The complete knowledge, Absolute Truth, means to understand three features of the Absolute Truth. One feature is Brahman, impersonal. The next feature is Paramātmā, localized. And the next feature is Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
I am proprietor of this land. I am proprietor of this country." Or "I am proprietor of this planet." You can go on increasing. There are many instances who became proprietor of many other planets also. In the history I have got. Not only this planet, but many other planets. But this is mistake. Actually, the proprietor is the Supreme Lord. We are just guest in His house. We are not proprietor. We must have, we must develop this sense, that Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor, or the Supreme Lord is the proprietor.
We cannot either renounce or enjoy. Both are illegal. Simple thing is that we must know that as it is formulated here, that everything belongs to God.
So everything should be engaged for the service of God. That is real knowledge. Just like suppose here is a hundred dollar note somebody left by mistake. Now, what is to be done with that hundred dollar notes? If somebody takes that hundred dollar notes, "Oh, here is a hundred dollar note. Take me. Let me take it and enjoy it," that is illegal. And if that hundred dollar note is neglected, "All right, let it remain there. The owner will find it," that is also not good because if I do not find out the person and hand over that hundred dollar note, that is not my duty because others may take it away. Similarly, to leave that hundred dollar note is also not good, and to enjoy that hundred dollar note is also not good.
So our process is how to please Him so that He will be revealed to me. That is real process. You cannot, therefore they are mistaking a nonsense God. Because they cannot see God, anybody says that "I am God," are accepted. But they do not know what is God. Somebody says that "I am searching after the truth." But you must know what is the truth. Otherwise how you will search out truth? Suppose if you want to purchase gold. You must theoretically know, or at least some experience what is gold. Otherwise people will cheat you. So these people are being cheated, accepting so many rascals as God.
Yes. Simply because you have got some titles: M.A., Ph.D., D.A.C., you'll understand Bhagavad-gītā, it is not possible. This is transcendental science. It requires different senses to understand. And that sense you have to create, you have to purify by rendering service. Otherwise, even great scholars, like so many doctors and Ph.D.s, they mistake what is Kṛṣṇa. They cannot understand. It is not possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa comes as He is. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Although He is unborn, He comes to make us know how God is, you see? Go on.
Now, by attainment of that perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the upaiti śānta-rajasam. We are agitated due to the passion, modes of passion. Now, by practice of this yoga, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this passionate hankering will be stopped. Passionate hankering..., śānta-rajasaṁ brahma-bhūtam akalmaṣam. Then you become ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am the soul. I am not this body." Akalmaṣam. Without any deviation, without any mistake, we shall be firmly situated in our transcendental position. Thank you very much. Any questions?
These boys are inviting outsider, "Come on," this love feast. What is the idea? The idea, let them come, take little prasāda and it will act someday in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It will act. So that is their propaganda. They are seeing everyone. Kṛṣṇa, they are seeing Kṛṣṇa in everyone, in that way. Not that everyone is Kṛṣṇa. Don't make this mistake. Kṛṣṇa is all-pervading. Why in this human being, He is there in the atom also. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). You'll find in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Paramāṇu means atom. So he's there within atom also. Why not every living being? You should have that knowledge. So "the true yogi observes Me in all beings. And also sees every being in Me." How "in Me"?
He becomes. Similarly, in a brāhmaṇa family also... Just like we have seen in India. There are many persons who are born in a big, I mean to say, very pious family. But because he has taken his birth in a pious family, he thinks, "I am brāhmaṇa. Oh, what I have to do? I am very pious family." They mistake in that way. So they degrade.
So in the pious family or in the rich family, there is chance of degradation. But one who takes his birth in a family of yogis, devotees, oh, he has got better chance for cultivating the same spiritual culture from which in his past life he had fallen. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, etad dhi durlabhataram: "This is very rare, that a man gets his birth, a parent, a yogi." This is very rare.
Prabhupāda: You think you are eating more? So you can eat more. Yes, you can eat more. Yes, it is medical advise, that there are two kinds of mistakes in eating. Over-eating and under-eating. So under-eating mistake for old man is very good. And over-eating mistake for boys, that is good. So you can overeat. I cannot.
Young boy: How about Tamāla and Viṣṇujana? (laughter)
Prabhupāda: He cannot. You can. You can eat as much as you like. Free pass. (laughter) Yes.
Similarly, your relationship with Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is there within you. Otherwise, how could you accept the Kṛṣṇa consciousness? "I've imported Kṛṣṇa from India," that is also a mistake. Kṛṣṇa is not for India or America. Just like the sun. This is same sun which I have seen in India, the same sun is in your America. So nobody can claim, "Oh, this is Indian sun and this is American sun." Sun is one. It is our miscalculation that we say, "This is American land, this is American sun, this is American atmosphere." No. Everything in relationship with God. That is jñānam. That is knowledge. And vijñānam. And practical also.
So this defect is there in conditioned life. And to make error and mistake, that defect is there. And the third defect is that we want to cheat and we want to be cheated. We are also very expert. We are always thinking how I shall cheat somebody. And naturally, he's also thinking to cheat me. So the whole conditional life is the association of cheaters and cheated, that's all. So this is another defect. And the fourth defect is that our senses are imperfect. Therefore all knowledge that we receive, that is imperfect knowledge. A man may speculate, but he may speculate with his mind. That's all. But his mind is imperfect.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: When I see all the blunders I make, all the mistakes.
Prabhupāda: Sometimes... This is nice. To accept the blunders... Even there is no blunder. This is the symptom of sincere service. Just like a father is very beloved to his son or the son is very beloved to the father. A little ailments of the son, the father is thinking, "Oh, my son my die. I may be separated." It is the sign of intense love. Not always that the son is dying immediately, you see, but he's thinking like that. Separation. You see? So that is a good sign. We should not think that we are doing very nicely. We should always think that "I am unable." This is not bad.
"Oh, I cannot... If I put into the water I shall die, so there is no living entity within the water," this is nonsense. You don't compare with your situation with others.
That is the mistake of civilization. We think everything in our own standard. Ātmavat manyate jagat. That is the nature, that ātmavat, what he is thinking of himself, therefore, others must be like that. No. Others may be different from you. So, similarly, you will find so many differences in so many planets. Their habits, their mode of living, civilization, standard of living is completely different. Even in this planet, if we find, the standard of living in America is different from the standard of living in South America or Africa or India, so why not in other planets?
Suppose a smoker he has taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, at least has promised that "I shall not smoke, I shall...," but all of a chance, sudden, suppose his friend seduces him: "Oh what is that, smoke today, doing." So sometimes we become induced, but we should always remember that "I have taken this vow. Why shall I be induced by my friend to smoke?" That is very nice. But even if by mistake you do that, that can be excused, but not willfully: "Now nobody is seeing, Kṛṣṇa is not here. Let me smoke now." Not that. (laughter) Kṛṣṇa's eyes are everywhere. You cannot escape Kṛṣṇa's eyes.
In the Kali-yuga it is not possible to practice any other system of yoga. Mind is so agitated, you cannot concentrate. But if you chant loudly, "Hare Kṛṣṇa!" your mind will be forced to be drawn and hear Kṛṣṇa. Then mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. If you practice this, then asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu: (BG 7.1) "If you try to hear Me attentively..." Bhagavān uvāca. Who is speaking? Bhagavān, the Supreme Person, the Absolute Person. There is no mistake, there is no cheating, there is no imperfection, and there is no illusion. It is perfect.
So how He got this knowledge to float these big, big planets in the air? That is knowledge, that is art. Just like when you float a big aeroplane in the sky, it requires knowledge, it requires technology, art. It is not flying automatically; that is a mistake. So if to float an ordinary airship it requires so much knowledge, so much technology, how much knowledge is there when you see that the biggest planet, the sun is floating in the air, and it is lying in one corner of the sky and exactly in time it is rotating, yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ? There is knowledge. There is art who has fixed it. Therefore in the Vedas it is said yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ. He is also rotating in the orbit by the order of Govinda. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **.
That is sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). And if we daily manufacture a kind of dharma according to my concoction or we accept everything as real dharma, that is a mistake. Dharma means the order given by God, and if you follow that, or execute that order as Arjuna did, then you are dharmika, you are religious. Just like Arjuna, he followed Kṛṣṇa's order. Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight. Of course, he was a kṣatriya, his duty was to fight, and Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight, but he was hesitating because the other party with whom he had to fight, they happened to be his family members, most dear kith and kin, some of them nephews, some of them gurus, teacher, grandfather.
So Kṛṣṇa became guru and Arjuna became a śiṣya, disciple, not friend. Of course, he knew what is Kṛṣṇa. So śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam. So similarly, we have to find out guru for perfect instruction. That is the only way. Otherwise we shall keep ourself in ignorance, in mistake, in illusion, in imperfectness and so many other things.
So we have to rectify this mistake, that we are not this body. This is our external covering. We are spirit soul, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. And that is the stage of liberation. Svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6). Now we are acting according to the covering. When we shall not act according to the covering but according to our constitutional position, that is liberated platform. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means when we understand that "We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore our duty is to serve Kṛṣṇa," this is self-realization, this is liberation.
This is a fact. These are explained here. Everything, that is there. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).
But we should not, like Māyāvādī, we should not make mistake: because the electric bulb, or electric light, is being caused by Kṛṣṇa, therefore the electric lamp is Kṛṣṇa. No, not that. Kṛṣṇa—always separate from the electric light. The Māyāvādī says that "Because Kṛṣṇa is there in the electric lamp, or in the tree, or in the seed, or in the color, or in the flavor, therefore Kṛṣṇa is finished. There is no more Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa has spread Himself in so many ways, therefore Kṛṣṇa is finished." This is material consideration.
So our simple method is to see whether somebody is speaking about Kṛṣṇa or what Kṛṣṇa has said. If he does not do so, then immediately accept him āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ, a rākṣasa. How you can accept him as guru? A rākṣasa? That is your mistake. How can you accept a person as guru who has imbibed with rākṣasa. So then what is their position? Duṣkṛtinaḥ. Very sinful. Mūḍhaḥ, rascal, ass. Narādhamaḥ, lowest of the mankind. "No, he's so educated." Māyayāpahṛta-jñānaḥ. His so-called education has no value because māyā has taken away the essence of... Because education means... Veda means knowledge. So the Vedas are there for education. So vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15).
This is the beginning. Mūḍhā, this word is used, very word. Mūḍhā means rascal. Because Kṛṣṇa comes as this child of Yaśodā-mātā, or as the son of Vāsudeva, therefore these Māyāvādīs, they mistake that Kṛṣṇa or Brahman has taken the form, accepting the body from māyā. But that's not the fact. Kṛṣṇa is not under māyā. Kṛṣṇa says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā: not accepting this material energy. He's ordering, sambhavāmi yuge yuge, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6).
This is called acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says here that mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni: (BG 9.4) "Everything is resting on My energy, but I am not them." The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are mistaken, mistaking that when everything is expanded as God's energy, then why there is separate God? This is material conception. God is always separate from His energy. That is distinctly said here: mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Everything is emanation of God's energy, but still God is not there. If you worship the energy of God, that is not God-worshiping. Indirectly it is, but directly it is not.
That is also Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa in everything. Kṛṣṇa's energy, how we can say it is mithyā? It is not mithyā; it is fact, but we do not know it is Kṛṣṇa. We are claiming, "This is our land," but we do not know it is, it is whose land. That is our mistake. Land is not mithyā; land is fact. But we do not know whose land, to whom this land belongs. That we do not know. But a devotee knows that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1), everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa also says, sarva-loka-maheśvaram: (BG 5.29) "I am the proprietor of all lokas." But we are claiming, "This is Indian land, it is our land," "This is Chinese land," "This is American land," and you are fighting.
And another person, na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni paśya me yogam, bhūta-bhṛn na ca bhūta-sthaḥ. Bhūta-bhṛt, He is maintaining everyone. But that does not mean that He is one of them. He is also being maintained. That is mistake. This is explained in the Vedic literature, that nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Two kinds of living entities, nityo nityānām. He, the Supreme Lord, is also eternal; we are also eternal. We are plural number, and He is singular number. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. Cetana means with consciousness. We are also conscious, and Kṛṣṇa is also conscious, so He is the supreme conscious.
A leaf, just symmetrically... You don't find any change. So this is going on. This is going on automatically. This is God's power. This is God's power. If you have got to paint one picture, one flower, oh, you have to take so much attention, and still, it may not be symmetrical. There may be some mistake. But in nature's way you see how many flowers, fruits and so many things are coming out automatically. Foolish people, they think it is being done automatically. No. Behind this thing there is the brain of Kṛṣṇa, behind everything. And because we do not see how it is being done due to our lack of knowledge, our less intelligence, we think it is being automatically done. No. That is explained. That is explained in the next verse.
Therefore kindly try to understand Bhagavad-gītā. There is full of knowledge. The knowledge is given by the most perfect, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no deficiency. In the knowledge received from imperfect person there are four deficiencies: illusion, mistake, cheating and imperfectness. So from so many deficiencies... You cannot get full knowledge, perfect knowledge from an imperfect person. You have to receive knowledge from the perfect. Then your life will be successful.
Otherwise if we simply waste our time for the animal propensities of life, then again we glide down to the animal life. That is a great loss. After many, many births, we have got this human form of life. If we simply waste like cats and dogs, then again we become cats and dogs or tree or anything. There are so many species of life. That will be great mistake, great loss. Havoc it will be.
Therefore our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to educate people to God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that his life may be success. Thank you very much.
This is knowledge. This is called brahma-jñāna. If anyone understands the simple thing, that "I am not this body..." But education is given, "No, I am this body." This nationalism, this nationalism also the same mistake, but they are fighting so much. Great, great, big, big men. In this country, Napoleon fought. In Germany, Hitler fought. And so many others, in our country Gandhi fought. But he is in ignorance. All these big big leaders, they are ignorance, andha, blind. Blind. They do not know that he is not this body and neither this land belongs to him. But they fight. The whole history of the world means this mistaken idea. "I" and "mine."
So we should not mistake this that we accept the field of activities identified with myself. That is going on. Suppose you have got a piece of land as agriculturist, and you produce your food grain in large quantity or small quantity. It doesn't matter. Similarly, this body we are utilizing.
That is Kṛṣṇa; that is God, that he is always existing in His abode, but akhilātma-bhūtaḥ, at the same time He is existing everywhere within the creation. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). Some philosophers attempt, say that "He is everywhere, but He is not in His abode." That is mistake. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāviśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). In his fullness, if He is presented everywhere, still, in his fullness He is in his abode. Just like I am not in fullness in my apartment. Maybe there is some message I can leave, but I am not in fullness. But Kṛṣṇa, God, can remain everywhere in fullness. Akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37).
"We shall enjoy it," you spoil it. But if the fingers put it to Kṛṣṇa, then you'll enjoy it. Unless you know this art, that we cannot enjoy independently, that is not possible. If we enjoy through Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's prasādam, then we'll be happy. This is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness art. Directly you cannot enjoy, that is not possible. They are making this mistake. They want to satisfy their senses directly. That is not possible. That is spoiling the life. And if you satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa, the through Kṛṣṇa you satisfy yourself. This is the technique. The same analogy. The fingers cannot directly enjoy the sweet ball, but when the sweet ball is put into the stomach, these five fingers enjoy, also these five fingers enjoy. These five fingers, whole body will enjoy.
Devotee: Why is it sometimes if we are sincerely trying to serve Kṛṣṇa we still make mistakes? We make in our service some mistakes.
Prabhupāda: You must always remember that service means by the order of the master. So if you should always be ready to take order from the master, there will be no mistake.
Devotee: Does that mean that our mistakes come from the false ego?
Prabhupāda: Yes. When you disobey the order of master, that is mistake.
Big, big scholars, big, big philosophers, they also become bewildered. Just like in India, there is a party called Arya-samaj. They accept Kṛṣṇa as a very big person but not God, not God. There is some mistake some time. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ: (BG 9.11) "Those who are rascals, they sometimes take Me as ordinary human being." That is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā. He is Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, when there is an authoritative judgement is required, you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, śrī bhagavān uvāca.
| Page Title: | Mistake (Lectures, BG) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 23 of Nov, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=102, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 102 |