A dying person, at the time of death, if he remembers the form of Kṛṣṇa and while remembering in that way, if he quits the present body, then surely he approaches the spiritual kingdom, mad-bhāvam. Bhāvam means the spiritual nature. Yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti. Mad-bhāvam means just like the nature or the transcendental nature of the Supreme Being. As we have described above, that the Supreme Lord is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). He has His form, but His form is eternal, sat; and full of knowledge, cit; and full of bliss, ānanda. Now just we can compare our present body, whether this body is sac-cid-ānanda. No. This body is asat. Instead of being sat it is asat. Antavanta ime dehā (BG 2.18), Bhagavad-gītā says that this body is antavat, perishable. And... Sac-cid-ānanda. Instead of becoming sat, it is asat, just the opposite. And instead of becoming cit, full of knowledge, it is full of ignorance. We have no knowledge of the spiritual kingdom, neither we have got any perfect knowledge of this material world.
Nature of God (Lectures)
Expressions researched:
"nature of god"
|"nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth"
|"nature of the Supreme Being"
|"nature of the Supreme Brahman"
|"nature of the Supreme Godhead"
|"nature of the Supreme Lord"
|"nature of the Supreme Lord's"
|"nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead"
|"nature of the lord"
|"nature of the supreme"
|"natures of the Supreme Lord"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Similarly, we are exactly of the same quality as Kṛṣṇa. We can study. Why people say God is impersonal? If I am of the same quality, so God is also person, how He can be imperson? If, qualitatively, we are one, then as I feel individually, so why God should be refused individuality? This is another nonsense. The impersonalist rascals, they cannot understand what is the nature of God. In the Bible also it is said: "Man is made after God." You can study God's quality by studying your quality, or anyone's quality. Simply the difference is quantity's different. I have got some quality, some productive capacity. We also produce, every individual soul is producing something. But his production cannot be compared with production of God. That is the difference. We are producing one flying machine. We are taking very much pride that: "Now we have discovered the sputnik. It is going to the moon planet." But that is not perfect. It is coming back. But God has produced so many flying planets, millions and trillions of planets, very, very heavy planets.
The difficulty is that wrong interpretation of the original text delude the audience. You see? So they are... The subsequent commentators and interpreters of the yoga reveals also a theoretical interest in God and discuss more fully the speculative problems as to the nature of God and the proof for the existence of God. They practically take up the speculative way. But Patañjali, as he is, he takes practically, that without devotion of God, there is no success of yoga. Thus the yoga system has come to have both a theoretical and practical interest in the divine will. According to the yoga, God is the Supreme Person. Now just see. This is authoritative statement. A Supreme Person. Did you ever hear...? You have been in so many yoga societies. Did you ever hear that God is the Supreme Person? Now just see.
Removal of this ignorance means reestablishment of the eternal relationship between the worshiper and the worshipable and the consequent understanding of the difference between part-and-parcel living entities and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One can understand the nature of the Supreme by thorough study of oneself, the difference between oneself and the Supreme being understood as the relationship between the part and the whole. In the Vedānta-sūtra as well as in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Supreme has been accepted as the origin of all emanations. Such emanations are experienced by superior and inferior natural sequences. The living entity belongs to the superior nature, as will be revealed in the Seventh Chapter. Although there is no difference between the energy and the energetic, the energetic is accepted as supreme and the energy, or nature, is accepted as the subordinate. The relationship of the living entities therefore is always to be subordinate to the Supreme Lord, as with master and the servant or the teacher and the taught. Such clear knowledge is impossible to grasp under the spell of ignorance. To drive away such ignorance, the Lord teaches the Bhagavad-gītā for enlightenment of all beings for all time." Seventeen: "That which pervades the body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul."
So we cannot understand God by our mental speculation. Neither we can understand what is the measurement of the soul. That is not possible. Therefore we have to take information from the highest authority, Kṛṣṇa, what is the nature of God, what is the nature of Absolute Truth, what is the nature of the soul. We have to hear. We have to hear. Therefore the Vedic literature is called śruti. You cannot make experiment. That is not possible. But unfortunately, there is a section of people who think that they can make experiment, they can know the Absolute by mental speculation. The Brahma-saṁhitā says:
- panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo
- vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām
- so 'py asti yat prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.34)
Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyaḥ. For many millions of years, if you make your progress in the sky to find out God, where is God... Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi. Not this ordinary plane, but on the plane of air, the velocity of air. Or mind.
Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti: (BG 4.9) "He comes directly to Me." Simply by knowing. Just like you are coming here. Apart from doing any practical work... If you do some practical work, oh, it is very, very nice. Even if you do not know any practical work, simply you give your reception, aural reception, submissive aural reception, and understand that what is the nature of God, what is the nature of our self, what is the relation between God and myself, what is this world, what is my relation with this world, so many things, simply if you hear and have an idea, then, even then, you'll be free from this material bondage. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9).
Why he takes such, I mean, a grave responsibility, a family man. That "why" is answered—just to have happy and enjoyable life. That's all.
Similarly, God has expanded into so many living entities because He wants enjoyment. He wants enjoyment. Because you will find in the Vedic literature that the nature of God is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt: (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12)"By nature He is enjoying." So we must understand that God has expanded Himself into so many living entities just for His enjoyment. Now, we are meant for... Just like sons, children are meant for satisfying the father, similarly this is a common sense affair, that we living entities, we are meant for satisfying the Supreme. That satisfaction of the Supreme can be done by performance of yajña. That is the beginning.
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. That is being explained here by Kṛṣṇa. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptir (BG 2.13). This is the first state to understand God. What is the nature of God. This is the first state. That I am spirit soul, part and parcel of God. If I study myself as sample of God, a little sample of God, then you can understand God. Just like you take a drop of Pacific Ocean water, and you chemically analyze the constituents of that drop of water, then you can understand what is the constituent ingredients in the Pacific Ocean. You can understand. The difference is, as I have already explained, God and we, individual souls, are of the same quality. The quality is not different.
Madhudviṣa: "The Lord and the living entity can never be equal in all respects even if the living entity is as liberated as Arjuna. Although Arjuna is a devotee of the Lord, he sometimes forgets the nature of the Lord. But by the divine grace a devotee can at once understand the infallible condition of the Lord, whereas a nondevotee or a demon cannot understand this transcendental nature. Consequently these descriptions in the Bhagavad-gītā cannot be understood by demonic brains."
Prabhupāda: There are six opulences, transcendental qualification of God. One is that He is full of knowledge. So if God is full of knowledge, how He can be in forgetfulness? That is impossible. Go on.
Madhudviṣa: "Kṛṣṇa remembered acts which were performed by Him millions of years before, but Arjuna could not, despite the fact that both Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are eternal in nature. We may note herein that a living entity forgets everything due to his change of body."
Madhudviṣa: "He is advaita, which means there is no distinction between His body and Himself. Everything is spirit, whereas the conditioned soul is different from His material body. And because the Lord is identical in His body and self, His position is always different from the ordinary living entities, even when He descends to the material platform. The demons cannot adjust themselves to this transcendental nature of the Lord, as the Lord explains in the following verse."
Prabhupāda: Therefore, if we try to understand God by our limited knowledge, it will be a failure. We have to understand God from God. Then that will be perfect knowledge. So this Bhagavad-gītā is the science of God where God is speaking about Himself. And it is accepted by all great scholars, philosophers, and, I mean to say, religionists, everyone. Go on.
Madhudviṣa: "Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form."
Now, you should know there are two kinds of prakṛti. Prakṛti means nature. You'll find it in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā that the Lord says that He has got two... Why Lord says? In the Vedic scripture also we'll find, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate: (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport) "There are different kinds of nature of the Supreme." Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. So out of many kinds of nature of the Supreme Lord, they have divided the whole thing into three divisions. One is called external nature, and the other is called internal nature. And there is another nature which is called marginal nature. The external nature, the material world, manifestation of this material world, is external nature. And this is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, as we'll find it in the Seventh Chapter, that apareyam. Aparā. Aparā means inferior or lower nature, lower nature. So He has got higher 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.
Now the question may be "Why God and His representative do come? They are in superior nature. They are in the eternal kingdom. Why do they bother themselves to come here? Why do they bother themselves to come here?" This question may be raised. As soon as we hear that God and His representative come, so next question: "Why do they come?"
"Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified, and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me."
Purport: "As described above, it is very difficult for a person who is too materially affected to understand the personal nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Generally, people who are attached to the bodily concept of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is almost impossible for them to understand how the Supreme can be a person. Such materialists cannot even imagine that there is a transcendental body which is nonperishable, full of knowledge, and eternally blissful. In the materialistic concept, the body is perishable, full of ignorance and completely miserable. Therefore people in general keep this same bodily idea in mind when they are informed of the personal form of the Lord."
The whole world is the representation of the energy—that you will learn in the Seventh Chapter—is the manifestation of the energy of Kṛṣṇa. And it has been described. There are two kinds of energies: the lower energy and the higher energy. And the higher energy is the living entities. Just like we are. We living entities, we belong to the higher nature of the Supreme Lord. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). This world is moving, this world is made of lower nature, material, and the higher nature is the living entity. So anything which is connected with Kṛṣṇa, it becomes to the higher nature. Even in this material things, if it is dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it turns into higher nature.
The example I have several times repeated: just like you put an iron rod in the fire. It becomes warm, warmer, and gradually it becomes red hot. When it is red hot, it is transformed into the nature of fire. It is no longer iron.
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Seventh Chapter. Matter is described as the lower nature of the Supreme Lord, and the spirit soul or the living entities, they are called the higher nature. Now, my present position is that I belong to the higher nature. Now, I am entrapped with the lower nature. So whole mission of my life should be get out of the lower nature and be installed again in my higher nature. That is the whole philosophy.
Guest (2): Does the higher nature include anything outside of you? That is, any communication of your fellow man, helping him in some way, that is, perhaps some way alleviating his material suffering. If he is suffering materially, is there anything that Kṛṣṇa... In my readings of the Bhagavad-gītā I haven't seen where Kṛṣṇa deals with the social aspect of man, helping the man who is starving, say, to overcome his suffering or providing his material needs. Rather, the emphasis is on away from the material.
Devotee: "Whereas others who stick to the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth and regard the forms of the demigods as temporary sacrifice their individual selves in the supreme fire and thus end their individual existences by merging into the existence of the Supreme. Such impersonalists relinquish their time in philosophical speculation for understanding the transcendental nature of the Supreme. In other words, the fruitive workers sacrifice their material possessions for material enjoyments whereas the impersonalist sacrifices his material designations with a view to merging into the existence of the Supreme. For the impersonalist the fire, altar, and the sacrifice is the Supreme Brahman and the offering is the self being consumed by the fire of Brahman. The Kṛṣṇa conscious person, however, sacrifices everything for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa and as such all his material possessions as well as his own self, everything, are sacrificed for Kṛṣṇa as with Arjuna. Thus he is the first-class yogi for he does not lose his individual existence."
Prabhupāda: That's it. Question? Yes?
One who does not understand the instructions of the Gītā is faithless and is considered to be misusing the fragmental independence awarded to him by the Lord. In spite of such instructions, one who does not understand the real nature of the Lord as the eternal, blissful, all-knowing Personality of Godhead is certainly fool number one. This ignorance of the so-called student of Bhagavad-gītā can be removed by the gradual acceptance of the principles of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is awakened by different, by different types of sacrifices to the demigods, sacrifice to Brahman, sacrifice in celibacy, sacrifice in household life, sacrifice in control of the senses, sacrifice in practicing mystic yoga, sacrifice in penance, sacrifice of material possessions, sacrifice in studying the Vedas, and sacrifice in observing the scientific social institution of varṇāśrama-dharma, or the divisions of the human society. All of these are known as sacrifice, and all of them are based on regulative action. And within all these sacrifices, the important factor is self-realization. One who seeks that objective is the real student of the Bhagavad-gītā."
That, you may question, "Then if He is so powerful, wise and cognizant, He must have learned it from similar..." No. We say that if he learns knowledge from somebody else, then he is not God. Svarāṭ. Automatically. He's self-independent. This is jñāna-yoga. The study what is the nature by just analyze what should be the nature of the supreme from whom everything is emanating. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the supreme jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga combined. Jñāna-yoga process means to search out the Absolute Truth or to understand the nature of the Absolute Truth by philosophical way. And this is called jñāna-yoga. And our is bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga means, the process is the same, target is the same. One is trying to reach the supreme ultimate goal by philosophical way, one is trying to concentrate his mind on the supreme and the other, the bhaktas, they are simply engaging themselves to serve the Supreme Lord so He reveals. One process is to understand by the ascending process.
If you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa and if you think of Kṛṣṇa always, your consciousness becomes always overwhelmed with Kṛṣṇa thoughts, then Kṛṣṇa says the result will be asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu (BG 7.1). "Then you will understand Me perfectly, without any doubt."
Everyone is hankering after what is God, what is the nature of God. Somebody says there is no God, somebody says God is dead. These are all doubts. But here Kṛṣṇa says, asaṁśaya. You'll be doubtless. You'll feel, you'll know perfectly well that God is there, Kṛṣṇa is there. And He is the source of all energies. He is the primeval Lord. These things you will learn without any doubt. The first thing is we do not make progress in transcendental knowledge on account of doubts, saṁśayaḥ. These doubts can be removed by culture of real knowledge, by real association, by following the real methods, the doubts can be removed. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness persons, they are not after will-o'-the-wisp, phantasmagoria. No.
You have to accept the yoga system under the protection of Kṛṣṇa personally or His bona fide devotees, representative. Then you will be... Then what will be the result? The result will be asaṁśayam, without any doubt. Now people are educated in all other institution about God, but they are all full of doubts, full of doubts: "What kind of God? What is the nature of God? Whether there is God? Whether there is no God?" So many doubts. But if you accept this Kṛṣṇa consciousness yoga system, then you can understand Kṛṣṇa asaṁśayam, without any doubt. And samagram, in fullness, not that partial. Partially understanding of God, that is also understanding, but it will again take time, because unless you fully understand what is God, you cannot go back to home, back to Godhead. That is the formula.
This is all-pervasive nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We should mark the important word in this verse: aham. Aham means the person. Kṛṣṇa never says that "I am imperson." Imperson is the feature of Kṛṣṇa. Just like in the Ninth Chapter, Kṛṣṇa says, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā (BG 9.4). Mayā, "I am all-pervasive by My energy."
We have already explained that Kṛṣṇa has multi-energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). That is the Vedic version, that the Absolute Truth, Supreme Person, has got multi-energies. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa also: whatever we are experiencing, that is simply Kṛṣṇa's energy. Just like we can experience the heat and light from the sun. We can understand the constitution of the sun globe. Although we are ninety-three million miles, away from the sun, but by his energy, heat and light, we can understand what is the sun. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, He has got multi-energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate.
Apart from these classes of men, the four classes of men who come to God, just like ārta, distressed, inquisitive, arthārthī... Arthārthī means poverty-stricken. And jñānī means philosopher. Now, out of these four classes, Lord Kṛṣṇa says, teṣāṁ jñānī nitya-yukta eka-bhaktir viśiṣyate: "Out of these four classes, men, one who is philosophically trying to understand the nature of God with devotion, with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is viśiṣyate."
Viśiṣyate means he's specially qualified. He's specially qualified. Priyo hi jñānino 'tyartham ahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ. The... "For a person who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, at the same time philosophically trying to understand what is the nature of God, so he is very dear to Me," Kṛṣṇa says. "He is very dear to Me because he has no other business than to understand what is God." Others, just like a distressed man, he is in distress, but because he's pious, therefore he believes in God, he goes to the churches or to the temple or to the mosque and prays, "My dear Lord, I am very much distressed.
And jñānī or jijñāsuḥ, these qualities are supposed to be belonging to the tyāgīs. The bhogīs... The gṛhasthas are called bhogīs, and the tyāgīs are brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs. So jñānī, when he makes searching after God, there is no question of being put into distressed condition or in need of money. They are searching after God for God's sake, what is the nature of God. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. They are inquiring, inquisitive about Brahman, what is the nature of Brahman. They are called jñānī. And jijñāsuḥ, they are also within the category of the jñānīs. So the jñānīs and the jijñāsuḥ, inquisitive, they are better than the ārta and the arthārthī. Ārta means distress, and arthārthī means those who are in need of money. So even being ārta or even being distressed and in need of money, we approach Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa says mām. Not any other demigods. Catur-vidhā bhajante mām. Mām means, Kṛṣṇa says, mām means Kṛṣṇa. So four kinds of men, those who are leading pious life, sukṛtino 'rjuna... Because they have no other alternative than to approach God for mitigating their distress. Actually our inventions or so many distressed mitigating instruments... Just like medicine. Take for example.
So this is the process. So similarly, if we understand about God through the lips of Arjuna or his bona fide representative, that is the process. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva: "Submissively, one who tries to understand the transcendental nature of God from the reliable source..." Sthāne sthitāḥ. Never mind what he is. Never mind what he is. Either Indian or European or American or Japanese or Hindu or Muslim, never mind. So sthāne sthitāḥ: "Just be situated in your place. That doesn't matter." Śruti-gatām: "Just try to understand through your ears by aural reception, aural reception." San-mukharitām, śruti-gatām. Śruti means this ear, reception through the ear. San-mukharitāṁ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Then just try to practice it in your practical life. Tanu-vāṅ-manobhir ye prāyaśaḥ ajita: "My dear Lord, You are unconquerable, but by this person, You become conquered, simply by hearing." It is such a nice process. God is not conquerable, but He becomes conquerable, He is conquered, by a devotee who gives up this nonsense process of understanding Him by his limited knowledge and becomes submissive. And just try to hear from the right source, and try to appear, apply in your life. Then you become a conqueror of the Supreme.
So as soon as we are fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the immediate relief. Immediately. There is no question about it. It is such a nice thing.
So although we cannot perceive the transcendental nature of the Supreme Lord, His name, His fame... Simply by speculating that what is the name of God, he cannot understand what is the name of God. Simply by speculating what is the form of God, it is not possible to understand. But as soon as you become situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). If you engage yourself in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness business, then gradually God will reveal Himself before you. Oh, you cannot see God by your own endeavor. But if you qualify yourself, God will reveal Himself and you'll see Him. This is the process. You cannot order, "O God, please come before me and dance before me." No. He cannot be order-supplier. But you have to do in such a way that He'll be pleased to reveal Himself before you and you'll see Him fully.
The deviation is that we are sometimes inclined to become a devotee for some material benefits. So here it is said that ananyayā, ananya-bhakti, without any deviation, without any material profit, you have to become a pure devotee. Then you can attain that spiritual planet.
Now, what is the nature of God? That is also... Mmmm. Yasyāntaḥsthāni bhūtāni yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. The Supreme Lord, although He's person, just like exactly a person like you and me, still, He's so, I mean to say, great that all this manifestation, spiritual or material, that is within Him. And He is also all-pervading, all-pervading by His different... Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport), by His different energies, He's all-pervading everywhere. You can... If you develop pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you can see Kṛṣṇa always before you.
They are floating in the Kṛṣṇa's energy.
So mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni: "Everything is resting on Me, but don't think that I am finished because you cannot see there. I am here." Na cāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ. It is not necessarily that we have to see everywhere. Ataḥ sa bhakti udi, uditam adbhūtam aiśvaryam ahaḥ.(?) Now, this transcendental nature of God, all-potential nature of God, to a devotee it will give pleasure, and to a nondevotee it will be seeming like, oh, so many bluff is being spoken by Kṛṣṇa. As soon as I become a nondevotee, I'll think all these statement as bluff given by Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as I am a devotee, oh, I'll think, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful." He becomes full with love and adoration. That is the difference. One who believes, he becomes, oh, puffed-up with pleasure, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful." And those who do not believe will say, "Oh, it is simply bluffing. Kṛṣṇa is a person, driving the chariot of Arjuna, and He says..." They are imitating.
Therefore in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "Everything is emanating from God." The original source of everything is God. So when we study our self minutely, that "what is our position?" Or by studying ourself we can study the nature of God. The difference is only that He is huge, the great, we are small particle, but the qualities are the same. You take a drop of the ocean water. The chemical composition is the same. The taste is the same. So that is the difference between a living entity and God. We are a small sample of God but God is great. If we understand this philosophy, then it is not difficult to understand what is God, and then we can establish our original relationship. And if we act accordingly, then our life is successful. Thank you very much.
This material manifestation is... Sometimes it is created, and sometimes it goes into the nature of the Lord. But spiritual creation is not like that. Spiritual creation is permanent. In the material creation everything is temporary, nonpermanent. Just like this body. This body is created. And take for example. In our personal self, we are spiritual spark, fragmental. We have several times discussed this point, that we are all spiritual spark, fragmental part of the Supreme Lord. As we are creating our body and it is finishing, and again I am creating my body and again finishing... That is a fact. I have created this body; you have created your body. You are a small particle, atomic spiritual portion. And when you are put into the womb of your mother you get your body and develop, develops. Everything is developing like that. Similarly, as we are developing our own body, unless that spiritual spark is there within the body, the body will not develop. This example we have given several times. A child comes out. If the child is dead, no, it will not develop. But if he has got life, if the spiritual spark is there, the child grows to a man. Similarly, the whole universe, the whole material manifestation, they are going on the presentation, on the, I mean, the presence of the Supreme Lord.
The Lord says, the Bhagavad-gītā says, that He is the destination. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā, durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). Bahir-artha-māninaḥ means... This material nature is the external nature of the Supreme Lord. Because we have been entrapped in this material nature, therefore we are thinking that to make material advancement of life, that is the perfection. Durāśayā. This is called durāśayā. Durāśayā means... Duḥ means very distant, or duḥ means very difficult, and āśayā means hope. This hope is never to be fulfilled. This is a hope which will never be fulfilled. This is called illusion. We are making progress to make perfect life by this material advancement. This is our undue hope. It will never be fulfilled. Durāśayā, bahir-artha-māninaḥ.
So we are following that system. Caitanya Mahāprabhu approved this system, that one may remain in his position, never mind what he is. It doesn't matter, either he is Indian or American or a brāhmaṇa or a kṣatriya or white or black. But a human being with common sense, if he simply gives up his false, puffed-up knowledge that "I am God," and becomes humble and meek, and tries to understand the science of God from a realized soul, then one day it will so happen that God has become within his hand. Prāyaśo 'jita jito 'pi. God cannot be conquered, God cannot be understood, but jito 'py asi, by following this process, God becomes conquered, or one can understand actually the nature of God by this process.
So our propagation for opening different centers is for this purpose, that we give chance. This is our duty. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Kṛṣṇa also recommended this process, that if you give chance to the people to understand the real knowledge from the Bhagavad-gītā... Now it remains to the people to accept it or not accept it. That is his choice.
That Mahā-Viṣṇu is partial representation of Govinda. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. So this is called knowledge. One has to know what is God, what is the nature of God. So one has...
The first qualification is amānitvam. Don't be puffed up with your false knowledge. Having this little degree from the university, you are thinking that you have become so learned, you don't care for God even. This is nonsense. Therefore first qualification to get progress in knowledge is amānitvam, amānitvam. Don't be proud falsely. Our present education is simply teaching people how to become falsely proud. Just like here is, Bhagavad-gītā is going on. They are falsely proud: "Oh, what you have to learn here? We know everything. We know everything. We are M.A., Ph.D., that's all. We have finished already this." Therefore the first thing is amānitvam, pridelessness. Go on reading the purport.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
God's body is eternal. Therefore He hasn't got a body like this. This body is not eternal. Everyone can understand. But His body is eternal. Another symptom, sat, cit. Cit means knowledge. So we have got also knowledge, but not full knowledge. That has been described in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, what is the nature of God. Nature of God is described, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Nature of God means He is the supreme source of everything. Whatever, janma... Janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1). Janma ādi. Ādi means "beginning with janma."
Just like I have already described my body, your body, has a history of janma, or birth, a date of birth. So janma ādi means birth and sustenance and death. We have got this body produced or born at a certain date. It keeps, sustains, for a certain period-say fifty years, sixty years, or a hundred years, utmost—and then again it is destroyed. Therefore janma ādi means birth is also coming from Him, maintained also by Him, and when it is destroyed, it goes unto Him. That is called janma ādi, means birth, maintenance, and annihilation. Janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1). All this material world, they are undergoing the same process. Janma, sustenance, and end. Everything.
So we may have some experience of direct perception, but God has got both direct and indirect perception. We do not know how a flower is coming out, but God knows how the flower is coming out.
So in this way, if we study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we can understand what is the nature of God. Not we manufacture, but the reason, the philosophy, the authority, is everything there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So if we simply scrutinizingly study how, what sort of body God has got. It is a simple language, it is given. Sac-cid-ānanda, and ānanda means blissful. Always blissful. You have seen our Kṛṣṇa, how blissful He is. He is playing on His flute, and His eternal consort, Rādhārāṇī, is there. He's not blissful? You like, because you are part and parcel of God, therefore you also like that blissful life. You want, young girl wants young boy, and the young boy wants a young girl, live together blissfully. But that is not possible, because it is material world. But the idea comes from God, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).
We don't take anything as our own. That is called Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Assimilate. Anubhāva.
So it is stated here yaḥ svānubhāvam. Svānubhāvam. Svānubhāvam means personally convinced. Anubhāvam. God can be realized at the present stage by anubhāva. We cannot see God now, but anubhāva, appreciating or understanding the nature of God and seeing God, there is no difference. Absolute. So our business is at the present moment to feel the presence of the Lord in every action. To... Presence... The presence of the Lord, that is wanted. So someday, if you continue in that Kṛṣṇa consciousness, presence of Lord in everything, then it will be possible some day to see Kṛṣṇa eye to eye. Just like we are seeing. 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.
Or He doesn't care for all these opulences. That is another qualification of God. So this human form of life is meant for understanding God and scientifically, with full knowledge. That is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore we are preaching this Bhāgavata discourse. In the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam what is the nature of God? That has been described, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ (SB 1.1.1). God, God is cognizant, He knows everything. He is a sentient being. Not that a dead stone. If God is not sentient being, if God is not a person, how so many powerful persons, sentient persons coming from Him? If the father is not intelligent, how the sons and daughters can become intelligent? A dog cannot give birth to an intelligent person, a person who is intelligent, he can give birth to intelligent children. This our practical experience.
Just like Brahmā is offering prayer, surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). "Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, You are so fond of Your surabhi cows, surabhi, that You are always engaged in taking them to the forest and enjoy with Your cowherd boys." The Māyāvādī will think, "What is this? The God has become a cowherd boy? How it is? He must be very exalted. How it is that He is cowherd boy?" But he does not know the nature of the Lord. He's free. He loves everyone. He loves His great devotee, He loves the cows, He loves the calves, He loves the trees, fruits, flowers, water, everything, because everything is manifestation of His energy. Just like you love any part of your body. Not that if there is some pain on your head, you take very much care, and when there is pain on your toe, you do not take care. No. You spend as much money for the pain of headache. Similarly, you can spend as much money when there is some pain on the toe. So Kṛṣṇa, being Absolute, there is no such distinction that, "Here is head, important, and here is leg, nonimportant." No.
Generally, they worship God, needy ārtaḥ arthārthī. Ārtaḥ means diseased, arthārthī means in need of money. People generally go to church (or) temple when they are suffering from some ailments or need of money, these two classes. Another two classes, jijñāsuḥ jñānī. Jñānī means who is after pure knowledge and jijñāsuḥ means inquisitive—what is the nature of God. These are, they are higher section but they are not bhaktas. Just like there are many philosophers, they also talk of God, but they are not bhaktas. But because they are talking of God, they are getting some benefit. Just like if you handle with fire, you perceive some warmth automatically. So these four classes of man they are not bhaktas, devotees, ārtaḥ, arthārthī, jñānī, and jijñāsuḥ. But because they come to Kṛṣṇa for some benefit, somehow or other they offer their service, because praying is also another service. There are nine kinds of services: śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam, arcanaṁ vandanam (SB 7.5.23).
As He is dancing with the gopīs in rāsa-līlā, similarly, He is dancing with the snake. Because He is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. He is ānandamaya, always jolly. Always. You will see Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa... Just like in Kurukṣetra the fighting is going on. Kṛṣṇa is jolly. Arjuna is morose because he is living entity, but He is not morose. He is jolly. That is the nature of God. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. This is the sūtra, in the Brahma-sūtra, that "God is ānandamaya, always jolly, always cheerful." So you can become also cheerful when you go back to home, back to Godhead. That is our problem.
Therefore how we can go there? The first thing is we must hear. Śrotavyaḥ. Just try to hear what is God, what is His kingdom, how He acts, how He is cheerful. These things are to be heard. Śravaṇam. Then as soon as you are convinced, "Oh, God is so nice," then you will be eager to demonstrate or to broadcast this news to the whole world. This is kīrtanam. This is kīrtanam.
Pradyumna: "As previously stated, both the material and spiritual natures, being emanations from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are eternal. The living entities belong to the eternal, superior nature of the Lord. But due to contamination by the inferior nature, matter, their illusion is also eternal."
Prabhupāda: Just like a citizen is supposed to remain free, but sometimes is put into the jail because he has worked under different criminal energy. So therefore he is put into the jail. But when he becomes perfectly civil, so there is no jail for him, he is free to move. So we have preferred to act under material energy; therefore we are suffering, there are problems. And if we prefer to act under spiritual energy, then we'll be happy. This is the difference.
Devotee (5): Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were saying that only if one can understand the nature of God, then he can go back home.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee (5): But we have the case of the four Kumaras who were wandering in the Vaikuṇṭha planets, and yet they had not become fully God-realized at that point, and yet they were allowed to enter...
Prabhupāda: Those who are going to Vaikuṇṭha planets, they are not fully realized of God? What does he say?
Madhudvīṣa: He was citing the instance of the four Kumaras who were traveling through the gates of the Vaikuṇṭha world, but actually they were not completely God-realized...
This breathing, exhaling and inhaling, that is going on. So that exhaling and inhaling is the duration of this material existence. When Viṣṇu exhales, whole creation takes place. And when He inhales, the whole creation again is... Prakṛtiṁ yānti māmikām. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, "Then it again enters into the nature of the Supreme." So with the exhaling of breathing, innumerable universes are being generated. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam atha. Niśvasita-kāla, that period. Now, imagine what is that period. Jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ. And also from the holes of the body, many universes are coming out. Such Viṣṇu, the Brahma-saṁhitā says, yasya iha kalā-viśeṣaḥ, such Viṣṇu, Lord Viṣṇu, Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, He is also a plenary portion of Govinda. Just imagine what is Govinda. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā (Bs. 5.48). That is also confirmed by Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, in the Bhagavad-gītā: ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). When Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṇa, "What is Your opulence?" then He is describing the opulence, and in that opulence He concludes that "There is no necessity of describing My opulence very much. You simply understand that the whole material creation is existing in one fourth of My energy." So that is understanding of Bhagavad-gītā. We have to understand what is Kṛṣṇa.
So that is the significance of the presence of the soul. So as the body grows on account of presence of the soul, similarly, the soul, individual soul, is the part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ: (BG 15.7) "All these living entities, they are My part and parcels." We are part and parcel of God. You can study. You can understand what is the nature of God by studying yourself because you are sample God. You are miniature, small God. Just like particle of gold is also small particle, it is also gold, similarly, because we are part and parcel of God, therefore there all the ingredients, all the chemical compounds in the God, we have got. (end)
So Nṛsiṁha-deva was very, very angry. Now the atheist class of men, who do not know what is the nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they will say, "Why God should become angry?" So God, why He should not be angry? God must have everything; otherwise how He is God complete? Pūrṇam. The anger is also another quality of living symptom. The stone does not become angry because he's stone. But any living being, he becomes angry. That is a quality. And why God should not be angry? They imagine God; not they have got any factual conception of God. They imagine that "God must be like this. God must be nonviolent. God must be very peaceful." Why? Wherefrom the anger comes? It comes from God. Otherwise there is no existence of anger.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
The Lord is ānanda-mayo. This māyā-prātyaya, there is controversy between the Śaṅkarites and the Vaiṣṇavas. They say that māyā-prātyaya... This prātyaya, from Sanskrit verbal root, is affixed in two cases—when there is excess and when there is transformation. So either cases, the ānanda, or the blissful nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is extensive, unlimited. Prācurya. Prācurya means extensive. So ṣaḍ-aiśvarya pūrṇānanda vigrahaḥ yāṅhāra. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that one who has got transcendental form, full of ānanda... Hena bhagavāne tumi kaha nirākāra. And you think of such Personality of Godhead as impersonal, how it is possible? Without being person, there cannot be ānanda anubhava. Just like we are persons. We can feel pains and pleasure. Unless one is person, there is no question of enjoying ānanda. So that is His challenge, that if the Supreme Personality of Godhead is full of ānanda, as it is stated in all the Vedic scriptures, especially in Vedānta-sūtra, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt, then how He can be imperson? There is no possibility. And He gives other Vedic evidences also.
So Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he was a great logician. He was unfaithful. Not... He was moralist, but he had no faith in God, or impersonalist. There are many persons who have faith in something superior or absolute, but they do not believe in the personal nature of God. But here, from the Bhagavad-gītā, we can clearly understand, from Bhāgavata we can clearly understand, from Vedānta philosophy we clearly understand that God is person, a person like you and me. Take, for example, in the Vedānta-sūtra, the first aphorism is janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The first sūtra is athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now you have to understand what is Brahman, or what is the Absolute Truth." The next aphorism is, immediately, that "The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates, the original source of all emanation." Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Janma, janma means birth. Ādi means et cetera. But janma, where there is birth, there is death and there is existence.
General Lectures
They have gone for Kṛṣṇa, and others, they have gone for sense gratification. That is the difference. In this way you can mold your life in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, twenty-four hours engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and you live in brahma-bhūtaḥ. You haven't got to try for becoming brahma-bhūtaḥ or you have to realize Brahman separately. You are already in brahma-bhūtaḥ stage. Sa guṇan samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). These statements are in the Bhagavad-gītā.
So in the Bhagavad-gītā it is taught what is God, what is nature of God and who is God, and what are these living entities, we living entities, and what is our relationship. These things are taught in the Bhagavad-gītā. We have to find out.
Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. "Those who are mūḍhas, rascals, they think Me as if one of the human being." Actually He is not. So we have got the chance to know about Him. Provided we read the right literatures under right direction, we can know. That possibility is there. And if we simply can know what is the nature of God, or Kṛṣṇa, simply by understanding this fact one becomes liberated. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). A person who has understood the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead... It cannot be understood completely. That is not possible with our human intelligence, but with the help of Bhagavad-gītā, the statement given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the spiritual master, we can know Him to the best of our capacity. And if we can know Him, then the result is that immediately after leaving this body we enter into the kingdom of God. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti: (BG 4.9) "After giving up this body he does not come again to this material world, but he enters into the spiritual world and comes to Me." That is the statement.
These things are stated. And everyone will be obliged to take meat and roots. Gradually the condition of the people will be so dull that they'll not be able to understand what is God. At the present, even in the beginning, even 5,000 years have passed, people cannot understand actually what is God. A vague idea. They do not know actually what is the nature of God. So gradually it will be forgotten. But still, because still people have got some sense, therefore this preaching work is going on. At the end they will be all nonsense, just like animals. Therefore there will be another incarnation, Kalki, at the end of Kali-yuga. He'll simply kill the whole population.
In Sanskrit there are letters beginning from a, a, i and, at last, kṣa. So beginning from a to kṣa, a-kṣa, means we understand by combination of words. So you can combine so many words, but still, it is beyond that expression. That is called adhokṣaja. So God is realized... Not by vocabulary we can understand what is the nature of God, or, in one word, that God is beyond our this material sense perception.
It is said in the Vedic literature that ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Kṛṣṇa is a name of God. So it is said that Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's form, Kṛṣṇa's attributes, Kṛṣṇa's activities... Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi begins from the name. So ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Indriya means senses. We cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa, or God—His name, His form, His attributes, His pastimes... We cannot understand by these blunt material senses. Then how it is to be understood?
That Viṣṇu, Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is breathing millions of brahmāṇḍas and Brahmās during the breathing period, such Mahā-Viṣṇu is also āṁśa-kāla. Svāṁśa, and then part of svāṁśa. So govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam aham. So it is not possible to understand the nature of God, or Kṛṣṇa, by our tiny speculation. It is not possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa comes down to explain Himself. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). This is dharmasya glāni, godlessness. This is called dhar... Everyone is dependent. In the modern civilization, especially in the Kali-yuga, everyone is dependent, but he is thinking that he is independent. That is the folly. In minute to minute, step to step, he is completely dependent. But still he is thinking, "Independent." He is speculating independently to understand what is God. So especially mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā (SB 1.1.10). This Kali-yuga they are very slow or bad, manda. And sumanda-matayo, and they accept some "ism."
Philosophy Discussions
Hayagrīva: He says, "All the new discoveries in astronomy which prove the immense grandeur and magnificence of the works of nature are so many additional arguments for a Deity according to the true system of theism," that is his natural, what he calls natural religion. In this way Hume rejects the necessity or desirability of miracles as well as the conception of a God transcendental to his creation. He says it's not the being of God that is in question but God's nature. This nature cannot be ascertained through study of the universe itself. However, if the universe can only be studied by imperfect senses, what is the value of our conclusion? How can we ever come to know the nature of God?
Prabhupāda: Nature of God, it can be explained by God Himself. That is our Vedic process. We know who is God, and He explains, "My nature is this." Just like He says, "I am the greatest principle," mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). "There is no more higher principle than Me." This is fact. If something is greater than God, then how one can become God? That is not possible. So greatest means He is great in everything. He is great in richness, He is great in reputation, He is great in influence, He is great in bodily power, He is great in beauty and He is great in renunciation. If we can find out somebody that He tallies with this greatness, then He is God. So that we find in Kṛṣṇa; therefore Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, and what He says in the Bhagavad-gītā we accept as fact. And if we analyze His statements intelligently, pruriently, then we will find that what Kṛṣṇa says, that is fact.
Prabhupāda: This is to be understood, that however expert logician you may be, this is not possible, by your reasons, by your knowledge, to approach the Supreme Absolute. That is not possible. This process that when God descends Himself and He speaks about Himself, He demonstrates about His pastimes, then it is possible. So the Bhāgavata is the record of God's descents. The whole Bhāgavata is philosophy about God, theology about God, and practical demonstration of God. Therefore anyone who takes to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the process of understanding God through Bhagavad-gītā, therefore it is called Bhāgavata, and it is simply about God. Bhagavad-gītā, God speaks Himself about His activities, and Bhāgavata is the record of God's activities, pastimes, and when He appeared on this earth, just like the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Ninth Canto. Nine cantos are devoted for understanding the transcendental nature of God, and the Tenth Canto is practical demonstration of God's activities before the eyes of the people of the world. But those who are miscreants, they think that Kṛṣṇa, or God, He is like an ordinary man but a superhuman being. That's all. But that is actually the position of God. By His causeless mercy He demonstrates Himself to be convincing. So instead of philosophizing, the people take to these two books, Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and if he practices the process, then he will understand God.
Prabhupāda: Because they do not know, that is vairasana(?). Nirākāra, nirākāra, the Sanskrit word... When one cannot actually specify what is the nature of God, what is the form of God, and by thinking, speculative speculating, they cannot come to the right conclusion, so out of frustration they say, "No, there is no God."
Śyāmasundara: Just like to analyze an object they would divide it up into smaller and smaller parts until they came to nothing.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Śyāmasundara: That was their process.
Prabhupāda: (indistinct). The absolute cannot be divided into parts. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi, in the Bhagavad-gītā. In the material thing, if you want to cut into pieces, that is (indistinct), but a spiritual being, avyaya, inexhaustible, there is no possibility of dividing the spirit into pieces. The Māyāvāda theory is that the absolute is all-pervading. Then when the question of His form, that is their poor fund of knowledge. The absolute, keeping His form as He is, He can expand Himself. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad-avyakta mūrtinā (BG 9.4), "I am spread all over the creation, avyakta, My impersonal form." So God, or Kṛṣṇa, has two features, rather three features, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11), impersonal feature, localized feature and personal feature. So unless we come to understand this science, tattva, it is very difficult to come to the conclusion what is the right form of the absolute truth.
Prabhupāda: So man's general position is as good as animal. Therefore in the human society there is system of education. But man, being advanced in consciousness, he can be properly educated so that he can understand what is God by the teachings of authority, and that is our Vedic system. In the human form of life—not generally but in special cases—they are very much inquisitive to understand about God. That is technically called brahma-jijñāsā. inquiring about the Absolute. And that is only possible in the human form of life. Generally, any human being can be educated in the spiritual life or God consciousness, but if anyone awakens his inquiry, as it is stated, tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21), if one is actually anxious to inquire about God or the supreme knowledge, then he has to approach a guru. That's a fact. Without approaching a bona fide guru there is no possibility of understanding the nature of God and our relationship with Him. So one has to approach a guru. To accept a guru is not a fashion, it is necessity. If one is actually inquisitive, it is a necessity. So the qualification of guru is also given there, that what sort of guru you should search out. Śābde pare ca niṣṇātam (SB 11.3.21). A guru is he who has taken full training in the ocean of spiritual knowledge or Vedic knowledge, śābde pare. Śābde means the Vedic words, or vibration of sound, but that is not ordinary sound, material sound, but spiritual sound.
Prabhupāda: Purport.
Hari-śauri: The group of transcendentalists who follow the path of the inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord are called jñāna-yogīs, and persons who are in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, engaged in devotional service to the Lord, are called bhakti-yogīs. Now, here the difference between jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga is definitely expressed. The process of jñāna-yoga, although ultimately bringing one to the same goal, is very troublesome, whereas the path of bhakti-yoga, the process of being in direct service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is easier and is natural for the embodied soul. The individual soul is embodied since time immemorial. It is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not the body. Therefore, the bhakti-yogī accepts the Deity of Kṛṣṇa as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind, which can thus be applied. Of course, worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form within the temple is not idol worship. There is evidence in the Vedic literature that worship may be saguṇa and nirguṇa—of the Supreme possessing or not possessing attributes. Worship of the Deity in the temple is saguṇa worship, for the Lord is represented by material qualities. But the form of the Lord, though represented by material qualities such as stone, wood, or oil paint, is not actually material. That is the absolute nature of the Supreme Lord.
Prabhupāda: No. The material nature is also inferior nature of God. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca (BG 7.4). Apareyam, the material nature, means earth, water, fire, air, ether, and the subtle materials, mind, intelligence, ego. They are all emanation from God, so actually they are not unreal but inferior. They are, it is called, bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā. They are separated material energy. We can have a little idea, just like we are speaking in the microphone, and it is being recorded in the tape recorder. When the tape recorder is replayed, the sound coming from exactly like the original person's sound, but it is not in touch with the person, but it has come from the person. If somebody does not see wherefrom the sound is coming, he can conjecture that such and such person speaking, although such and such person is away from that speaking engagement. Similarly, this material world is emanation, is expansion, of energy of the Supreme Lord, but it is not that this material world has come into existence from nothing. No. It has come from the Supreme Truth, but it is inferior energy. The superior energy is the spiritual world, which is reality. This, this cannot be supported, that material world has come from nothing.
| Page Title: | Nature of God (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 24 of Sep, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=57, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 57 |