In this body there are two living entities. One is myself, the individual soul, ātmā; and the other is Kṛṣṇa, Paramātmā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). So actually the proprietor is Paramātmā. I am given the chance to use it, so my senses, so-called my senses, that is not my senses. I have not created my hand. The hand is created by God, or by Kṛṣṇa, through the agency of this material nature, and I am given the hand to use it for my purpose, for my eating, for my collecting. But actually it is not my hand. Otherwise, when this hand becomes paralyzed, I am claiming, "my hand"—I cannot use it because the power of the hand is withdrawn by the proprietor. Just like in a house, rented house, you are living. If the proprietor of the house, landlord, eject you, you cannot live there. You cannot use it. Similarly, we can use this body as long as the real proprietor of the body, Hṛṣīkeśa, allows me to stay here. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Hṛṣīkeśa.
Not created (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So you have, some Europeans, they have colonized. They accept: "It is America. It is..." So this is all designation.
Actual, the fact is the land belongs not to you, not to the Germans, not to the Englishman, not to the American, but it belongs to God. The land was created by God. So it is God's property. Where is the difficulty to understand? You did not create anything. You did not create even your own body. That proprietor is also Kṛṣṇa. Because as soon as Kṛṣṇa asks you, "Please vacate," you must vacate immediately. Can you remain in this body? The proprietor asks you to vacate somehow or other. You have to vacate. Or the proprietor does not repair it. Then you voluntarily vacate, that "This is not to be, no more useful." This is law, going on. And that is... How nicely it is explained. Dehinaḥ asmin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). As we have changed so many different types of body even in this duration of life...
Yes. Not created, expanded. Kṛṣṇa expanded. Created means that it comes to the historical point. But na jāyate. Expanded. The actual word is expanded. Eko bahu syāt. 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. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). So because everything expansion of Kṛṣṇa's, therefore nothing but Kṛṣṇa. But still they are different. This is the whole basic principle of philosophy. Simultaneously one and different.
Na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ (BG 5.14). Now you can ask that "If Kṛṣṇa is giving sanction, then He is responsible for my bad work also. Good work, of course, He is responsible. So bad work He is also responsible." Now, here the answer is na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ. Prabhu. Prabhu means the Lord. The Lord does not create work for you, neither He creates the result for you. Na karma-phala-saṁyogaṁ svabhāvas tu pravartate. Svabhāvas tu pravartate. As you have acquired your characteristics, so you create your own work and you create your result of own work and you become entangled. It is not the creation of God. You create. "How I create? If it is sanctioned, if it is controlled by God, then how I create?" The question may be. Yes. The answer is very simple. You can understand that a person who is criminal, who is condemned. Now he's condemned to death or he is condemned to be imprisoned. Now he makes appeal that "Oh, excuse me, what was done(?)." But the judge puts him into the jail or condemns to life.
Now, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, says that "The Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is not responsible for anyone's activities." He does not create. He does not say that "You act in this way." Not exactly He does not say. He says that "You act in this way," but the living entity, out of his individual independence sometimes, or always, so long he is conditioned, he does not carry out the orders of the Lord. Therefore he is responsible for his own work. Although the sanction is there by the Lord, still the Lord is not responsible for his work.
He has that guṇa. He has guṇa. His guṇas are not material qualities. Just like even the leader of the impersonalist school, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, he said, nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Nārāyaṇa is transcendental, para. Bhagavad-gītā also, paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyaḥ (BG 8.20).
So there is another nature, spiritual nature, that is not created. Here in the material world, everything is created. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Anything created in the material world, it has got a period, a date, historical date of creation. And again it is annihilated, again it is created. That is the nature of material world. But transcendental to this material sky, there is another sky, which is called paravyoma. That paravyoma is called, in English word, "the kingdom of God." Of course, it is not perfectly expressed, but there is word, "paravyoma," or Vaikuṇṭhaloka. That is Kṛṣṇa's dhāma. So that is existing eternally.
So that is existing eternally. So therefore the creative feature of this material world and the spiritual world are different. They are not created. They are existing eternally. So we have to cultivate such knowledge that we can be..., we may be transferred to the spiritual world, because Kṛṣṇa belongs to the spiritual world, acintya-guṇa-svarūpam.
So in order to think of that acintya-guṇa-svarūpam, we have to undergo certain process. Certain process. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). This process is sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. I cannot ask Kṛṣṇa that "Please come before me. I shall see You." And even if He comes, I cannot see Him, because my eyes are not so prepared to see Him. Just like when Kṛṣṇa was present upon this planet, not that everyone understood Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
If you want to keep yourself in the sunshine, there is no darkness. But if you voluntarily come to the darkness, what the sun will do? Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). "You surrender to Kṛṣṇa." But why don't you do it? That is māyā. It is up to you. Therefore you create māyā. Kṛṣṇa does not create. A man is hanged. Does it mean that the high-court judge who orders that "This man should be hanged," the high-court judge is enemy of that man he's hanging? No. He has created his situation that he should be hanged. God is very kind to everyone, but we have created situation so that we suffer. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1)—by our own work and under the supervision of the Supreme. Just like in the state you create some criminal activity. Under the supervision of the government you are punished. All right. (break)
So that puruṣa... Puruṣa means the living entity. Kṛṣṇa says here that prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva viddhy anādī. Anādī, eternal. It is not temporary; it is eternal. There are five things: the living entities, the prakṛti, God, and the work... There are... Prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva viddhy anādī. Anādī means eternal. It is not created. It is there but it becomes manifested. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19).
Another example: just like this body, my body, your body. I have got this body; you have got this body. This body will be destroyed. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. But my, that consciousness will not be destroyed. This body will be destroyed, but my consciousness will not be destroyed. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. Idaṁ tatam.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
There may be very strong arm department, there may be very well-equipped economic department or labor department, but because the head is not there, it is a dead body. Therefore the whole society is suffering; there is no brāhmaṇa, or the head. We are creating brāhmaṇas so that the society may be saved. We are not creating rascals; we are creating brāhmaṇas. So if you all are responsible, if you know your duty, try to save the society, especially in your country, America. By God's grace you have enough of everything. And you have got intelligence also, otherwise how you are coming? Unless you are born of intelligent father and mother, how you are taking this?
So we are creating first-class nationalists in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement who can save your country. We are not creating cats and dogs and bluffing the society. We are actually creating real nationalists of your country, real scholars. We don't decry material civilization, no. We don't say that.
At the present moment, there is no ruci, no taste. Vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ. There are so many exalted persons, but they have no taste. They have lost all taste. Vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ. There are two faults. Either people could not preach properly so that they could not create taste of the people in general... It is not the fault of the people in general. It is the fault of the so-called preachers also. Because they could not create taste, they wanted to take the place of Kṛṣṇa. That was their purpose. Imitation of Kṛṣṇa. Imitation of God. That will not do. You have to create taste. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu did. Namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, when he first met Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he offered this prayer: namo mahā-vadānyāya, "You are the most munificent incarnation because you are giving Kṛṣṇa. You are giving Kṛṣṇa. You are, You are greater than Kṛṣṇa." Mahā-vadānyāya. Because Kṛṣṇa asked everybody to surrender.
Then how every girl should be married? Therefore in India more than one wife was allowed. Now it is not allowed. That is the Vedic injunction, kanyā-dāna. The father must get, find out a husband for his daughter. There are many histories, the Kulīna brāhmaṇa.
So anartha. We should not create in the society anarthas, unwanted disturbances. The unwanted disturbance is illicit sex. And meat-eating. Meat-eating... Why one should eat meat? No animal foodstuff. Kṛṣṇa has given so many nice things. Produce. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, annād bhavanti bhūtāni (BG 3.14). Kṛṣṇa never says, māṁsād bhavanti bhūtāni, matsyād bhavanti bhūtāni. Never says. Annād. Anna, anna. Anna means food grain. Produce sufficient food grain. So the... In the village side you go, hundreds and thousands of acres of land is lying vacant. Nobody is interested.
So the material nature is created, everything here created at a certain point, but because He's above, therefore He is not within this creation. We cannot take Kṛṣṇa as one of the created beings like us. We are all created beings. But Kṛṣṇa is not created. He is above creation. Before creation, He was existing; therefore His existence is not within this creation. That is adhokṣaja. Within this creation we can understand by experimental science, but which is beyond this creation, because we cannot reach there, adhokṣaja... Because we take everything by direct perception, but that is beyond direct perception. Adhokṣaja. Kṣemāya kalpante ye 'nu tān iha. That is our real benefit, adhokṣaja. In the beginning also of this chapter it is said, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). The same word, adhokṣaje.
So we can very easily understand by the example of our own body. This body, as we, spirit soul, enter into this body, the existence of body continues. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So the body is not created first. The... Because the living entity enters into the body, therefore the body's created. Similarly, this gigantic body, universal body, cannot come into existence automatically. That is not a very good theory. How...? There is no such example. Unless the living entity is there, this body... We get this experience—it does not grow. If a child is born dead, that body does not grow. Therefore it is to be concluded there is something. Even if we do not accept the spirit soul, there must be something on account of the presence of that something, the body's growing.
So it is not fruitless. If you work piously, then you create next life. Life is continuous. We are simply transmigrating from one body to another. So by our work we are creating the next body. So if you be engaged in devotional service, then you do not create another material body. Karma means by working you create another future. But naiṣkarmya means you work, but don't create another future. Everyone has future, but devotional service means end of all future. That does not mean zero. The śūnyavādīs, the voidists, they also want to make it zero, but it is actually not zero. Zero of these material activities. Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so 'rjuna: (BG 4.9) "One who has understood about Kṛṣṇa, he, after giving up this body, he does not get another birth."
In this way, it is said, viṣān mahāgneḥ, set fire in shellac house... Just like nowadays this, what is called, plastic. It gets set fire very soon. Then puruṣāda, they took shelter in a house where there was a rākṣasa, cannibal. He was disturbing the whole village. So the settlement was that every day one family should hand over one man to him for eating, then he will not create disturbance. So the Pāṇḍavas were taking shelter in a house after escaping from the fire, and the... One day the turn came to that family that they would have to hand over one member of the family to that cannibal. So the Pāṇḍavas were present. They thought, "We are guest here, and they are in danger, so we must save them." This is obligation. If you become guest in a house, he's receiving you well, he's supplying you your necessities, so you are considered to be very intimate friend. So when they are danger, you must help. This consideration... Then it was decided that "This man should be hand over. Bhīma shall go."
To whom it will belong? The carpenter cannot say that: "Because I have transformed this wood into such nice closet, it is mine." No. It is not yours. Similarly, who is supplying the ingredients, rascal? That is Kṛṣṇa's. Kṛṣṇa says: bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva... prakṛtir me aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). "This is My property." You have not created this sea, the land, the sky, the fire, the air. It is not your creation. You can transform these material things, tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ, by mixing and transforming. You take earth from the land, you take water from the sea and mix it and put it in the fire. It becomes a brick. And then you pile up all this brick and make a skyscraper building. But wherefrom you got this ingredient, rascal, that you are claiming this skyscraper yours? This is intelligent question. You have stolen the property of God, and you are claiming that it is your property. This is knowledge. This is knowledge.
That is oneness. If we simply agree to abide by the order of Kṛṣṇa, there is no disagreement, that is oneness.
These Māyāvādī philosophers, they think that: "Why shall I keep my individual, separate existence? I shall become merged into..." That is not possible. Because we are created, not created, from the very beginning... We are separated part and parcel. We are separated parts and parcels. therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā: "My dear Arjuna, you, Me, and all these persons who have assembled in this battlefield, we were in the past individuals. We are, at present, individuals, and in the future, we shall continue to remain as individuals. We are all individual." Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He's the Supreme nitya, Supreme Living Force amongst many, innumerable living forces.
This is the beginning of creation. Those who are finding out the original cause of material creation, they should know this fact, that creation takes place when there is spirit soul. That means living. The matter is not created. Matter is created by the spirit soul. Not the soul is created by matter. This is rascal theory, that this living condition, living force, living energy which we have got, it is created by material condition. This is Buddhist theory. At the present moment, the whole world is going on on this Buddhist theory. That under certain condition the matter develops living force. No, that is not. Actually the fact is: upon the living force, matter increases.
That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You see the sunrise, immediately you can remember Kṛṣṇa. If you have read Bhagavad-gītā, it is stated there, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: "I am the shining of the sun. I am the shining of the moon." So if you have learned how to see Kṛṣṇa, you can see in the sunshine Kṛṣṇa. You have not created the sunshine. You have not created the sun, you so-called scientists. You can talk all jugglery of words only. But it is beyond your capacity to know what is the sun. It is beyond your capacity. You cannot know. But you can know śāstra-yonitvāt. The Vedānta-sūtra says, through the śāstra.
This is birth. Not that the living entity is taking birth. Because that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: na jāyate na mriyate vā. The living entity does not take birth, neither he dies. Anything which does not take birth does not die also. Death is for such thing which is created. Which is not created, it has no death. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. Kadācit, at any time. Kṛṣṇa says kadācit. It is not that now it is not taking birth; formerly it took birth. No. Na kadācit. "Oh, I see this is, this is child is now born." No, it is not born. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇaḥ: that living entity is eternal; śāśvataḥ, always existing; purāṇaḥ, very, very old. Very, very old. Then? Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Don't think that when this body will be destroyed that living entity will be destroyed. No, it will continue.
He is creating. Similarly, we are creating our next life. This life is a chance for creating next life. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to change your body. But that depends on your work. It is not the, na kaśca(?) (indistinct) karma. This karma is not created by Kṛṣṇa, or God. You create your karma. You like this. Somebody wants to come here and somebody does not want to come. That independence is there. That independence is; otherwise there are millions of people here in Los Angeles. Who is coming here? Nobody. Because they are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
So this is the position. You create a situation of your own. Just like when the surgical operation, you have got a boil, then you... You have created by contamination, and the surgeon is simply operating. He has not created that situation. Similarly your transference to another body is not God's creation, it is your creation. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). Those who have read Bhagavad-gītā, you have seen. Why one is born in low-grade family, one is born high-grade family, one is born animal, one is born human being, one is born as demigod? Why? What is the cause? Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. Kāraṇam. The cause is as he has infected the modes of material nature. The material nature is going on in three modes, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. It is up to you if you associate with tamo-guṇa, then you become next life animal or tree or fish.
The energy is conserved. Energy is never lost, avyaya. But this prakṛti, this material nature, is not eternal. It is temporary. The same example, the spider. The spider, suppose it is eternal, but the cobweb made by the spider, that is not eternal. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It is created and again wound up. Similarly, the point of creation comes from God. God is not created. They ask this question generally, that "Everything is created. Then God must be created." That idea comes because we have no other idea than the creation, maintenance and again annihilation. We have no other idea. In this material world, we have no other idea. We see this body is created by father and mother. Then it remains for a time, it grows, and then it become old. Then it vanishes. Ṣaḍ-vikāra, six kinds of changes. Janma-sthiti-pariṇāma...
"My body is everything. Exercise, keep this body very perfect to eat, eat meat and drink." But this body will give you trouble. The mind will give you trouble. This is called adhyātmika. Everything is analyzed. Adhyātmika and adhibhautika. You do not create any enemy, but your neighbor will be enemy, unnecessarily. Your friend will be enemy. Your brother will be enemy. Your son will be enemy. There are so many instance. This is called adhibhautika. Just like your, somebody's dog. Unnecessarily... We have seen. You are passing the road, and this dog is so faithful, he become your enemy. "Gow! Gow! Gow! Why you are passing here? Why you are passing?" You see? The mosquito will be enemy. The bugs will be enemy. The insects will be enemy. You go on killing. Go on killing with spray.
So, so many enemies, so much troubles is being created. Who has created?
That is intelligence. And miser, or foolishness, is that "I get some money from my father, but I spend it for nothing." So this human form of life is specially meant for becoming brāhmaṇa.
We are therefore creating brāhmaṇas. We are not creating śūdras. Śūdras are already there. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. Anyone born is a śūdra. Śūdra means who has no knowledge, ignorant. He is called śūdra. Paricaryātmakaṁ kāryaṁ śūdra-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). Śūdra is not intelligent. He cannot do anything nice, thoughtful. "Ehh, get some work, get some few dollars daily. Eat and sleep." That is śūdra. They cannot do anything independent.
A brāhmaṇa will not accept anyone's service. That is especially forbidden, that a brāhmaṇa. . . Brāhmaṇa, even if he is in difficulty, he should not accept anyone's service like a dog. Especially this word is used. A dog cannot live without master.
Just like the same example: A man is dreaming; there is no contact with tiger. Actually he has no contact with that. Similarly, actually we are not fallen. We cannot be fallen. But we have created a situation that we are, become... Try to understand understand. It is very important point. We have simply created a situation. We have not created a situation, Kṛṣṇa has given us a situation. Because we wanted to imitate Kṛṣṇa, so Kṛṣṇa has given an opportunity: "All right. Imitate. You want to be imitation king in the stage. So feel like this. Play like this. Do like this. People will applaud. 'Oh, a very nice king, very nice.' " That is the... So everyone in this material world, they are playing some part. They wanted, "I want to be prime minister." "All right." "I want to become very big business magnate." "I want to be leader." "I want to be a philosopher." "I want to be a scientist." So all this nonsense, they are trying to play—Kṛṣṇa is giving him the opportunity: "All right." But it is a nonsense, all nonsense. Simple dreaming.
So we should very careful that "Here is personally present Kṛṣṇa. Here is... Personally, Rādhārāṇī is there. Personally, Lord Caitanya is there, Lord Jagannātha is there." But He is keeping Himself is such a way that you can handle in any way. Even if you commit some mistake, He does not protest. But we should not commit any mistake. That is our duty. We should not create such thing as it is offensive. Therefore the direction is there in the śāstra that "You do like this. Do like this; there will be no offense." And offenseless service will make you more and more advanced in spiritual life.
Sarva-dehinām. Not that "I shall take care of my brother. I am good, and my brother is good." No. Suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. These are the Vaiṣṇava qualifications.
Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām, ajāta-śatravaḥ (SB 3.25.21). Because he is living in that way, why others will be enemy? Or, he does not create enemy. They become enemy out of their own character. We do not create enemy, but due to the demonic qualification... How we can create enemy? Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). We are simply teaching, "My dear human being, my dear friend, you become a surrendered soul to Kṛṣṇa." So what is our fault? So we don't create enemy, but they become enemy. We don't create enemy. Why shall I create enemy? Suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. Why shall I create enemy?
Why shall I serve God? I shall become independent," so immediately we are placed in this material world.
There is a verse in the Bhagavad-gītā, icchā-dveṣa samutthena sarge yānti parantapa (BG 7.27). Sarge means in creation. This is the creation, created world. The spiritual world is not created. That is eternal. How it is created? Just like the sky is eternal, but the cloud is created. That we have got experience. That is in the clear sky, clear sky is always there, but at some time, seasonal changes, the cloud is created. The water is taken from the..., the stock is already there, taken from the sea, ocean, and it is made into gas, and that appears as cloud. And it covers the sun. The sun is the cause of cloud, but the cloud covers the sun and we cannot see the sun. Similarly, everything—creator is the Supreme Lord. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). This material world is also created by God, and the work is going on. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).
This is sādhu. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29), he's friend, not only to the human society, but he's friend to the ant even. A devotee does not like that even an ant should be killed. No. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva, ajāta-śatravaḥ, he does not create any enemy, but unfortunately the demons becomes his enemy. What can be done? Suhṛdam sarva-bhūtānām, ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ. Again this same word, praśāntā, fully satisfied. He has nothing to hanker after because he has got Kṛṣṇa. Why he should hanker? Śāntā, praśāntā.
Because after all, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. So if He eats something, the responsibility is His. But we are not advocate of vegetarianism or nonvegetarianism. No. That is not our business. We are Kṛṣṇa-ites. What Kṛṣṇa said, we have to do. Therefore sādhu, suhṛt. Suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām. Sādhu is not enemy. Ajāta-śatrava. He does not create enemy, but the world is such that if you become devotee, even your father will be enemy. Prahlāda Mahārāja, five-years-old boy, what was his fault? He became a devotee and his father was prepared to kill him. This is world. So he does not create an enemy, but these demons, rascals, out of their jealousy they become our enemy. Otherwise our process is not to make enemy. We invite everyone, "Please come here, take prasādam, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, dance, and go home." Where is enmity? (laughter) But still, they'll become enemy. This is the world. But if he lives with the sādhava, suśīla, and follows the rules and regulation, then he also becomes sādhava.
So therefore so quickly we have become popular in the foreign countries. Even the priestly class, the Christian priestly class, they have recognized that "We are preaching about God, Bible; we could not create such nice boys and girls. And all these young boys, they were Christians and they are attracted, attached to Swami, and they are so nice." They can appreciate that their character and their behavior, everything is so godly. They are astonished.
It is constituted of these things: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and ego. And Kṛṣṇa says, bhinna me prakṛti aṣṭadhā: "These are Mine, My things." You cannot create water. You cannot create earth. You cannot create fire. You cannot create ether. Nothing. So this body is pañcabhūta, five elements. So you have not created. Kṛṣṇa has created. So how it is your body? It is Kṛṣṇa's body. He has given you the concession that you can live. "You can live peacefully. You can enjoy the products which are given to you. I have given you food grains. I have given you fruits, flowers. Or, even if you want to eat meat, that also I have given you." You cannot produce an animal. So everything you are eating, given by God. Your body is given by God. Your mind is given by God. And you, you also the soul, you're also part and parcel of God. So what is your independent existence? There is no independent existence.
So there cannot be any argument. Veda says, "This is this; this is that." We have to accept it. That is the following of religion. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). And vedaḥ sākṣāt... Vedo nārāyaṇaḥ sākṣāt svayambhūḥ. Svayambhūr iti śuśruma. Svayambhū. Svayambhū means which is not created by any man. Just like Brahmā is sometimes called Svayambhū. His another name is Svayambhū. Svayambhū means he was not created by father and mother. The father-mother... Ordinarily, a living entity take birth by the combination of father and mother. But Brahmā is called Svayambhū because he is not created by father and mother. Then again, you can argue that Brahmā was created by Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, so He is his father. But the argument can be defied that although He is the father, but he was not born of a mother.
Therefore it is clearly said that vedo nārāyaṇa sākṣāt. As Nārāyaṇa is beyond this created, manifested cosmic manifestation, similarly Vedas also are like that. Don't think it is written by... It is called therefore apauruṣeya. Apauruṣeya means it is not written by any mundane creature. Brahma, he is the supreme creature within... No. It is said that he is not created. Tene brahma hṛdā ya, hṛdā ya ādi kavaye. He was instructed the Vedic lessons by Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. He did not manufacture it. So Vedas means coming from directly Nārāyaṇa, not that Brahmā has created. Brahmā has Vedas in his hand, but he has received it from Nārāyaṇa. That is the information we get. And... So Brahmā instructed his sons. Then they got the knowledge. The sons instructed to the grandsons. In this way, Vedic knowledge is coming. Therefore it is called paramparā, disciplic succession. We don't manufacture. We receive the knowledge, the perfect knowledge by disciplic succession, beginning from Nārāyaṇa.
There will be so much insult, inconveniences, against party, everything. We have to tolerate. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇa. At the same time, we have to distribute the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikaḥ. Suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām, and friend of everyone, there is no distinction. Friend of everyone. Ajāta-śatravaḥ. By their action they'll not create any enemy. Ajāta-śatravaḥ santaḥ, peaceful. Ajāta-śatravaḥ santaḥ sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ. These are the decoration of sādhus, saintly persons. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikaḥ. I think this śloka is there in the Kapila's teaching to His mother. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikaḥ, ajāta-śatravaḥ santaḥ, sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇā (SB 3.25.21).
This is the society. Therefore my Guru Mahārāja used to say that "This is not the place for a gentleman to live," because surrounded by envious persons, especially to the devotees. Especially when a man becomes devoted to the Lord, he creates... He does not create, but the atmosphere is such—many enemies.
Just like Prahlāda Maharaja. He was a five-years'-old boy only, child. His father became enemy because the only disqualification Prahlāda Mahārāja had, that he was a great devotee. His father became enemy, what to speak of others? Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, taror api sahiṣṇunā. You will have many enemies, many envious persons, when you become pure devotee, but you should tolerate. Taror api sahiṣṇunā. Be tolerant just like a tree and be humble just like a grass. Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā. Don't be afraid of our enemies because Kṛṣṇa will protect you, but in order to stop more misunderstanding, better become tolerant, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that... Envious persons, automatically... Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu's time, Śrīvāsa. Śrīvāsa was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and his neighborers became enemies.
God consciousness does not mean that you have to revolutionize everything. No. Simply you have to change. And actually that is the fact. When I think it is God's... Say, for my country. I am claiming now, "My country," but actually it is not my country. Everything God's. Who has created this country, this vast land, the sky, the sea, the ocean? I have not created. So how can I claim that this is mine? I have come empty-handed from the womb of my mother, and I shall go empty-handed. So why do I claim it is mine? So this is ignorance. Actually, I am claiming others' property as mine. This is atheistic. Just like thieves. Bhagavad-gītā it is said, stena eva sa ucyate (BG 3.12). Stena eva sa ucyate. One who thinks that "The world belongs to me or to my nation or to my family or to my community," he is thief. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). The Vedic literature informs us that everything belongs to Īśa, God. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ yad kiñcit jagatyāṁ jagat. And by Him it is going on: the Supreme Spirit.
Now I have got the remedial measure, chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, but I shall not commit again." Then he's successful. Then it is successful, immediately. Nāmnād balād... But we should not take advantage of this.
So here Prahlāda Mahārāja said, evaṁ sva-karma-patitam: "By my own sinful activities I am now in this conditioned status of life, in this material world." It is not created by God. We create. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). God, or the supreme authority... Just like Yamarāja. He is there, representative of God. He gives his judgment, what kind of body I'll have to accept after death. So therefore this atheist class of men, they deny to accept the next birth. But that is not the fact. The next birth is there. The example is very nicely given by Kṛṣṇa:
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
So for our past karma, we have created this body and we are suffering. Therefore our mission should be not to create another body. And finish all suffering in this body and do not create another material body—that is actually our duty. But we have no education. We have no information. Our leaders are blind, foolish. They are leading us to misuse this valuable life of human form. This is our position. They are misleading us. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). They are impressing in us that "You are this body. You are born in this country. So your country, your nation is worshipable. Why you are after Kṛṣṇa? This is all bogus." This is our position. "Don't be after Kṛṣṇa. Just try to satisfy the senses of your body to the best capacity. Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy life. And next life? Oh, next life...
Actually, if we come to that stage then there will be Kṛṣṇa-prema, love of Kṛṣṇa. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī said that "What shall I chant with one tongue and two ears? If there were millions of tongues and trillions of ears, I could chant something." And we cannot finish even sixteen rounds, because we have not created our taste for chanting. Still we are in the nāmāparādha stage. But don't be disappointed. Go on chanting. You'll come to the right position, nāmābhāsa, then śuddha-nāma. Everything requires gradual development.
So this nāma is also another incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Nāma-rūpe kali-kāle kṛṣṇa-avatāra. Name is... Because name and Kṛṣṇa is not different. Abhinnatvād nāma-nāminoḥ. There is no difference. Here, in the material world, there is difference between the name and the substance, but advaya-jñāna, in the Absolute world there is no such distinction. The name and the person, the same, identical.
Therefore Arjuna was advised by Kṛṣṇa: āgama apāyino anityāḥ tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. You cannot avoid the miserable condition of this body. That is not possible. So we have to tolerate. There is no other excuse. But do not create another body. That is devotional service. Karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54). Due to our past karma, we have got a certain type of body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). By the supervision of superior order, superior vigilance, we get a certain type of body. This may be a king's body or a poor man's body, an animal body, or anything, we get. That is by superior order. So we should not create another body. That is the aim of human life. We should not create another body.
So Ṛṣabhadeva says, na sādhu manye, "This is not good." Yata ātmano 'yam. "As we have got this body, material body miserable..." Because as soon as you get a material body, you are put into the miserable condition of material nature. So we should not create another body so that we shall be put into, under tribulation again. That is intelligence.
So if we put ourself in the activities of devotional service, we save that risk. Not to create another body. If we do for indriya-prīti, yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti, then we create another body. But if you act in devotional service, then, even there are something, sinful activities, karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54). So for a devotee, he's saved. He's saved from creating another new material body. In this way, the stress is given that sinful or not sinful, we should not create another body. Karma-kāṇḍa. In the... Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says:
This is going on. Nānā yoni brahman kare. We have to wander in different species of life and we have to eat all abominable things. Tāra janma adhah-pāte yāya.
So we should not spoil our life in that way, for creating another body. We should be very careful that we may not create another material body. And what is that safety position? Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). If you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, how Kṛṣṇa takes His birth, how He becomes the son of Devakī, son of Nanda Mahārāja, how He becomes the son of Yaśodā, these things, if we study, if we try to understand Kṛṣṇa, if we don't accept Kṛṣṇa as ordinary man—avajānati māṁ mūḍhā—then, in this way, if we understand the science of Kṛṣṇa, yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei guru haya (CC Madhya 8.128), if one understands the science of Kṛṣṇa, he is spiritual master. Kibā vipra kibā śūdra nyāsī kene naya.
Just like in the darkness of night we cannot see anything perfectly or cannot see anything, but the, when there is sunrise, the sunrise, effect of sunrise is that we can see things as they are. The things are not manufactured. There is already... The things are al... The houses, the town and the everything is there, but when there is sunrise we can see everything nicely. Similarly, ācārya, or incarnation, they do not create anything. They simply give the light to see things as they are. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu pointed out this verse from Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa. The, the verse was already in the Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Yes. Very nice. So we should prepare ourselves to our healthy condition. That is our healthy condition. As soon as we understand that Kṛṣṇa created us... Kṛṣṇa created... There is no creation. Just like if I say that my hand is created, no, it is not created. As long as the body is there, the hand is there. Otherwise, there is no meaning of body. Similarly, we are not created. Kṛṣṇa is always there; we are also always there. And there are millions and millions of liberated souls who are engaged in Kṛṣṇa. They never misuse their independence. And we small quantity, we misused our independence. We wanted to enjoy separately. Therefore we are conditioned.
And so many demons used to visit daily. Kṛṣṇa used to go with the calves and cows, with His friends in the forest, and every day Kaṁsa used to send one kind of demon to kill them—Aghāsura, Bakāsura, Dhenukāsura, so many.
So although Kṛṣṇa is playing just like a cowherd boy, His supremacy as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is never absent there. That is God. God is not created by meditation. God is God. God is never manufactured. We should know this. God is God, and we living entities, we are living entities. That is the Vedic version. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Equality, when there is question of equality, the equality is that Kṛṣṇa, or God, is nitya, eternal; similarly, we are also eternal. So equality in eternity. Kṛṣṇa is conscious, cetana, and we are also conscious. That is equality: equality in quality. Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, therefore there is so many things equality. But that equality is just like the ocean and a drop of water of the ocean.
So this information... We are holding this class from Bhagavad-gītā, from Caitanya-caritāmṛta and scripture just to... With reference to the śāstra, scripture. And we are trying to follow. We are not creating anything. It is not a manufactured thing, concocted thing. It is standard, followed by great ācāryas like Caitanya. So we have to accept. That is the way. We have to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, and follow, as the śāstra says. Sometimes, as we... The law books are there. As we take help of a lawyer, how to utilize the law book, similarly you have to utilize the scriptures by accepting a spiritual master who can guide you. He's a lawyer. These are the process. If you don't accept, then go on suffering. If you accept, then everything is there. That is the way of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures
"People are starving in this way. In our country, there would have been revolution." Yes. But the people of India are so trained that in spite of creating this artificial famine, they did not commit any theft, stealing others' property. They died peacefully. Of course, this is a single instance. But the thing is that problems are not created by God. They are created by us. Just like in the... One, my German Godbrother, he said that during the First World War... Perhaps some of you know. The politicians created war and there was war. So people went to church. People means all women, because men were all in the active field. So they prayed, "My brother may come back. My husband may come back. My son may come back." But nobody came back, and they all became atheists: "Oh, there is no God." But the thing is that God does not say that "You create war, create problem and for solution of the problem you come to Me." No, you have created your problems; you have to take the result.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
So don't be diverted from the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and don't be afraid of because there is some danger and danger. Take shelter of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and dangers will be over.
But we should not create such position, dangerous. It is already dangerous. Because Caitanya Mahāprabhu was also very cautious about spiritual life. Sannyāsīra alpa chidra bāhu kori mane. Others may violate the laws, and so many sinful activities they are doing, but nobody takes very serious care. But when a religious group or a sannyāsī commits little offense, it is magnified a thousand times. Therefore we should be very careful not to make anything which may be magnified to the eyes of the public. Because we are preaching. We are preaching, and there is always demonic party who want to put us in difficulty. That is natural. Even Hiraṇyakaśipu, being the father of Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was also putting him into difficulty.
General Lectures
"Oh, my husband is not here. He is in that apartment or that palace." No. She is satisfied that Kṛṣṇa is there. This is called opulence. Compare His opulence. And so much strength is concerned, from when He was a child on the lap of His mother, He killed a great demon, Pūtanā-twelve miles long when she fell down.
So God is not created by such artificial meditation. God is God. Just like chemically you cannot produce gold. Gold is gold. Iron is iron. Law of identification. So His opulence, His strength, His reputation... His reputation, taking Kṛṣṇa as a great personality, I don't think any personality in this world is existing who is so reputed as Kṛṣṇa from historical point of view, five thousand years past. You may... "Kṛṣṇa was Indian. He is famous in India." No. Kṛṣṇa is famous in every country all over the world for His Bhagavad-gītā. You'll find Kṛṣṇa's name in the dictionary also. So in reputation nobody can compete, in wealth nobody can compete, in strength nobody can compete, in wisdom... Take Bhagavad-gītā.
Those who are mahātmās... Mahātmā means great soul. Mahātmā is not created. Mahātmā means... That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, who is mahātmā. Kṛṣṇa says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante: (BG 7.19) "After many, many births." Of course, at the present moment they do not believe whether there is birth after birth. But it is not the question of whether you believe or not believe. The truth is truth. So there is birth after death. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). You do not die after finishing this body. You accept another body. That you can experience daily. In your childhood... You can remember that you had a body just like this child. Now you are grown up. Where is that body? That body is gone. Now you have got a new body. But you know that "I had a childhood body like this. I was attending such and such meeting," but that body is now no longer existing.
Just like in the Bible it is said, "God said, 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." Is it not? It is fact. It is fact. Now you find out who created this universe. If you deny this fact, "No. God does not create," then you explain how it was created. So there is no difference between Bible and Vedic literature. We accept also, "God created." But in the Vedic literature you will find how God created. That you'll find. So if you are actually serious to understand how God created, why don't you come to Vedic literature? That is the duty of every student. If you are after the knowledge, why should you stick to one particular place or...? If the knowledge is available in other places, you must have it. That is inquisitiveness, seriousness. But if you say, "No. We are Christian. We have studied Bible. That is all.
Guest (2): Why God created sinful activities?
Prabhupāda: You have created. God has not created. You have created. Yes.
Guest (1): In what respect?
Prabhupāda: You have created.
Guest (1): In what respect I have created?
Prabhupāda: You want to kill animals. God does not say that "You kill animals." So you have created sinful activities.
Guest (1): I am a part and parcel of the almighty God.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest (1): So when animals are butchered, why the butcher does not get pain?
Prabhupāda: Butcher does not get pain? Do you know that? There is a Sanskrit verse that vyādha mā jīva, mā mara: "My dear butcher, you don't live, don't die." Do you think this butcher, that butchering work is very palatable work? Can you see it, before you, a man is killed, an animal is killed? So he has become accustomed. It pains him. But that work is so abominable that he should not live for executing that work. But what is the benefit of dying? Because after death, he will be butchered. Therefore the śāstra says, mā jīva mā mara: "Don't live, don't die." Yes.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: John Stuart, he may be able, but it is not possible for ordinary man to know what is duty. The child plays, he does not know that his duty is to study. So parents teach him that "This is your duty. You must go to school. You must learn." So duty is not created by the rascals and fools. Duty is created by higher authority.
Śyāmasundara: He would agree with that also, but here he says that the higher authorities who determine what is duty, that their rationale or their guiding principles should be what is the greatest good for the greatest number, and that should be our duty.
Prabhupāda: Then how he suggests that a man should know his duty, like that? Then he has to approach that greatest authority. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). That is our philosophy. In order to know our duty, in order to know what is knowledge, we must approach a guru. Gurum evābhigacchet. We must, eva, certainly.
Prabhupāda: No. God, evil is created by God undoubtedly, but the, it was necessary on account of the human being as, misuse of his free will. God gives him good direction but when he is disobedient, then naturally the evil power is there to punish him. Therefore the evil is not created by God but still it is created. It is necessary. Just like the government constructs the prison house. So this prison house creation is not the government's intention. Government wants that university is sufficient, people may be educated and highly enlightened, but because some, not all, misuses the independence, little independence, he creates evil circumstances, and he is compulsorily put into the prison house. Similarly, we suffer on account of our own evil activities but God, being Supreme, He punishes us for our evil activities. For God there isn't... When we are under the protection of God, there is nothing evil, only good thing. There is no evil. So God does not create evil but man's evil activities obliges God to create an evil situation.
Śyāmasundara: His idea is that truth is created in the same manner as health and wealth are created.
Prabhupāda: Truth is not created. Health can be created, but truth is existing always. It is not created.
Śyāmasundara: He sees that truth is developing in the same way as...
Prabhupāda: Truth is not developing, but you are gradually progressing towards truth. Truth is not developing. Just like the sun is not developing, but as the clouds disappear, you are developing your sight to see the sun. That's all. The sun is not developing. The sun is there in its position.
Śyāmasundara: He calls truth a system of verification; in other words, a process whereby ideas become true and they are made true by events in our experience. As we get more experience, then truth is created.
Prabhupāda: Not created. Truth is there. Truth is revealed. As you make progress, so the truth becomes revealed. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). Just like in Bhagavad-gītā it is said that "As one makes his surrendering process complete, I become revealed to him accordingly."
Śyāmasundara: But if an idea works when it is applied to concrete facts of experience, then it becomes a true idea, and we accept it as a true idea. So as we develop our experience, our life progresses, then we develop truth because we see that this idea works in my experience, so then it becomes true. Is this not the process?
Prabhupāda: The man or not man, there are living beings, varieties; we simply do not see the man as a living being. We see there are varieties of living beings, beginning from water up to the higher planetary system. There are different forms of living being, we have several times repeated. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, like that, nine millions, ah, nine hundred thousands forms of body within the water; then plants, trees, creepers, insects. So all of them are living beings. God is concerned with all of them. Why man is created? Every one of us in different form we are created. Or exactly not created; we are part and parcel of God. In one word God is the father of all living entities. So the simple relationship is that God is maintainer, we are maintained. This is our relationship. In the material world, as a man may have more than one wife, so similarly God has two prakṛtis, or subordinate energies—material and spiritual.
Prabhupāda: So what is the substance?
Śyāmasundara: Well, there is no meaning to anything. It's just here. There is no tracing out. It's not created; it's just here.
Prabhupāda: This kind of philosophy is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā as asuric philosophy, demonic philosophy, because the demons, they do not believe in any superior cause. They everything take as accidental. Just like a man and woman unite accidentally and a child is born. It is like that. There is no actually purpose. The Śaṅkara philosophy, atheistic Śaṅkara philosophy is also like that. Prakṛti and puruṣa meets. All of a sudden there is lust and they meet, and there is some product; otherwise there is no other cause. This sort of theory is called asuric.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Very good answer. Yes, Darwin says that all monkeys. "So you are monkey. How to teach you?" It is a very good answer, yes.
Śyāmasundara: So he said that God does not create man, that man creates God.
Prabhupāda: That is another nonsense. He is a nonsense rascal. That is being proved by his talks. Tāvac ca śobhate mūrkho yāvat kiñcin na bhāṣate. You cannot understand a rascal fool unless he talks. Now he is talking. And sooner I did not know that he is so fool, but I can understand now he is a great fool. This is the test. Tāvac ca śobhate mūrkho yāvat kiñcin na bhāṣate. Mūrkha, you can... A mūrkha can dress himself very nicely, like gentleman sitting amongst the gentlemen, but a learned man and a fool will be understood as soon as he speaks. As soon as talks like a foolish man, one can understand, "Oh, he is a rascal." And as soon as one speaks great subject matter, then one can understand, "Oh, he is learned." So by his talking, now we can understand he is a great fool.
Prabhupāda: That is going on. That is not a new thing. That is going on in the animal kingdom. What is the use of your philosophy? Without having philosophy, this is going on in the animal kingdom. So what is the use of your philosophy? By philosophy, you give something which will not create any conflict. But by conflict, by crushing, by subduing, if you want to establish your peace, then what is the value of this peace?
Śyāmasundara: He says we also have to prevent foreign intervention.
Prabhupāda: If your theory is perfect, why there should be foreign intervention?
Revatīnandana: How foreign intervention will be dangerous to you if you are perfect?
Śyāmasundara: Well, because the capitalists are...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Demigods, according to Vedic system, demigods... (Hindi:) Aiye. Demigods were created before man was created. (Hindi:) Aiye. Jaya. Demigods, just like demigod, Lord Brahmā, he was first created. From Brahmā, Lord Śiva was created. Then... Created means born, not created. So similarly, from Brahmā, other, Dakṣa, he was created, so many, one after..., Prajāpatis, then Manus.
Śyāmasundara: So even before inorganic life there was...
Prabhupāda: There is no such thing, from inorganic life. Inorganic life... Suppose just like Brahmā is coming from the navel of Viṣṇu. So where is the... We don't get any information. Viṣṇu is origin, and from Viṣṇu, Brahmā came. From Brahmā, other demigods came, other animals came. They create animals and others. The first created being is Brahmā, the most intelligent. He's not animal. Their proposal is from lower to the higher, but our theory is from the higher, from Viṣṇu. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). "I am the origin of everything." Now, how you can say there is development from the lower creatures? He is the origin. And Vedānta says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The origin, Absolute Truth, is that from whom everything is generating. So Absolute Truth means He is the supreme life. From life, life is coming. Where is the evidence that dead stone giving birth to a man or animal? Where is the evidence?
Hayagrīva: Now, concerning the creation, Plato says that material nature, or prakṛti, has always existed in a chaotic state, but that God takes prakṛti and fashions it into form in order to create the universe. So in this sense God is the hand worker or the master designer. God is the creator of forms from pre-existent matter, and yet He does not create directly.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Hayagrīva: It's stated...
Prabhupāda: No. Just like I have created a machine to manufacture something. I am, I set on in motion, and the products is coming automatically, products are coming automatically.
Hayagrīva: Automatically.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is... When the flower is in the material world..., material world is perverted reflection of the spiritual world. That's a fact. We have got experience that material things are created, but in the spiritual world things are not created; they are already there, everlasting. So it appears Aristotle has no knowledge of the spiritual world.
Hayagrīva: Aristotle defines God as pure form and pure act and purely nonmaterial. He is absolute spirit and is the unmoved mover.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He is absolute spirit, there is no doubt upon it, but why He should come to know Himself through material world? That is defective.
Hayagrīva: Aristotle's God contemplates Himself. He does not have any knowledge of the world...
Prabhupāda: Who?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hayagrīva: So again we see the Christian conception that God created the soul out of nothing.
Prabhupāda: No. The soul is created and... Actually not created. Soul is existing along with God, just like the sparks of fire is existing with the fire. But the difference between the two fire is that the sparks may be separated from the big fire, and when it is separated, is loses its illumination. Similarly, an individual soul is already there. The master is there and the servants are there, eternally. Just like the body is there, the parts of the body are also there. We cannot say that the parts of the body is separately created. As soon as the body is there, the fingers of the body are there, the other limbs and parts of the body are all there. The soul is never created or never dead. It is explained in the Bhāgavata, na jāyate vā mriyate vā. Soul has neither creation nor death. It appears, because the soul has accepted this material body, with the end of this material body it appears that somebody is dead. But he is not dead. He simply transfers from this body to another body, and when he is liberated, then he hasn't got to accept any more material body. Then in his original, spiritual body he goes back to home, back to Godhead.
Prabhupāda: ...that we shall consider later. First of all come to the reasoning, that this combination of air, water and bone and muscle and urine and stool is not life. You first of all come to that, then we have to find out that what is that soul. First of all you come to this conclusion. "This is not," neti. "This is not." Then what is the positive thing, that we have to search, athāto. That is brahma-jijñāsā. What is that Brahman? It is not matter. Then we will come to the conclusion that Brahman is the origin of this matter, because the matter is developing on the soul. That is also reasoning. Simply sex does not create pregnancy unless there is soul. They have so many times sex, so not every time there is pregnancy. Of course, it is expected, but... Anyway, when the soul is injected in the womb of the woman, then the pregnancy means the matter develops, and that we can see outside the pregnancy also—when the child comes out it develops a body. And if this child comes out dead, there is no development. Therefore the soul is the basic principle of material development.
Prabhupāda: We suffer. Just like the silkworm, he creates a cocoon and becomes entrapped and dies. He is creating this fiber, silk fiber, and becomes entrapped. That is his creation.
Hayagrīva: A co...
Prabhupāda: What is called? Cocoon?
Hayagrīva: Yes, a cocoon.
Prabhupāda: He becomes entrapped. So similarly, mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. Aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). Because he is acting independently without caring for God's instruction, then he is entangled; he suffers. That is the position. God has not created this suffering; he has created his suffering.
| Page Title: | Not created (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 26 of Apr, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=69, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 69 |