Prabhupāda: Our surrender means we agree with Kṛṣṇa in everything, although we are individual. If Kṛṣṇa says you have to die, we die; out of love. But we are individual, I can deny "Why shall I die?" That reality I have got. Just like Arjuna was asked, "Now I have taught you Bhagavad-gītā, now whatever you like you do," yathecchasi tathā kuru (BG 18.63), "as you like." He doesn't touch the individuality. But Arjuna voluntarily surrendered: "Yes," kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73), "yes, I shall do whatever You ask." He changed his decision. He decided not to fight, but he agreed, "Yes," kariṣye vacanaṁ tava. This agreement, this is oneness. Not oneness does not mean mix up homogeneously. No, He keeps his individuality. Kṛṣṇa keeps his individuality, yathecchasi tathā kuru: "Now whatever you like you do." He says, "Yes," kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73), "I shall do what you say." So this is oneness. Not to lose individuality. Because we cannot lose our individuality. We are individually made originally. Kṛṣṇa is individual, we are individual, everyone is individual. Merging means merging in that total agreement. That is liberation. Total agreement without any disagreement. And that is the perfection: to keep individuality and agree with God in total agreement. That is perfection.
Oneness (Conversations and Letters)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: No. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). When you are Kṛṣṇa conscious, there is no more accepting material body. Mām eti. And mām eti means whoever goes to Kṛṣṇa, he has as good a body as Kṛṣṇa. That is oneness.
Guest: Then what does it mean when Kṛṣṇa has told Arjuna, in the battlefield that "Do you think either you or I were not there in the past? And you and I will not be...?"
Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna existed. You are existing. You are eternal. You are simply changing body. So Kṛṣṇa is existing; you are also existing. What is the difficulty to understand this fact? Kṛṣṇa is existing and you are also existing. You are simply changing body, but Kṛṣṇa is not changing body. That is the difference.
Prabhupāda: It has stopped, but maybe just like the fan is stopped, but still moving. Like that.
Revatīnandana: So there are many different manifestations of energies. It is the oneness that they're all Kṛṣṇa's energies. But there is also diversities.
Prabhupāda: Therefore we say acintya bhedābheda. You cannot clearly distinguish. It is one and different, at the same time. It is spirit and not spirit. You have to take it like that.
Śyāmasundara: Somehow or other, we create our own ignorance.
Prabhupāda: Everything is like that. Everything is spirit but at the same time, not spirit. Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni (BG 9.4), "Everything is in Me, but I am not there." How is that everything is in Kṛṣṇa? How Kṛṣṇa is not there? He says like that.
Revatīnandana: A related question also: just like there is at the same time the oneness is there, there is distinction, then, between the spirit...
Prabhupāda: That distinction you cannot make clear.
Revatīnandana: I know. But still it's, not clear, but clear, there is some distinction, where a distinction...
Prabhupāda: Distinction, there is distinction, there is no distinction.
Revatīnandana: Yes, simultaneously.
Prabhupāda: Simultaneous. Now, which one will we accept? Therefore inconceivable.
Śyāmasundara: You can't accept one or the other; you have to accept them both.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Revatīnandana: Everything is related in Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Anyway, whatever you do, you do all together. That is merging. But you are all individual. Your personality is different from his. His personality different from him. He is from you. But because you have got one interest, therefore you one. Just like we. We are so many individuals. But our interest is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we are one. Try to understand what is merging into one. You are all individual. Nobody can be... It is not something material. We are all spirit soul, so we are all individual. But if our interest becomes one, then we merge into one. This is oneness. Try to understand this oneness. Oneness does not mean void, no. Oneness means when our interest becomes one; that is oneness. Real oneness means to be interested in Kṛṣṇa. That is oneness. Other oneness will not stand. Just like you are now in one. As soon as your interest little becomes different, you become separated. So that is... There is quite possibility. Because you are all individual, there is quite possibility of disagreeing with another individual person. There is quite possibility. So oneness does not mean that you lose your individuality. Oneness means you keep your individuality, but you take the same interest. Then it is oneness. It is not possible that you lose your individuality. That is not possible. You are individual eternally. Do you understand this? You have got anything to say about this oneness? Do you differ? Just like the sunlight. The sunlight, physically, they are very small, shining, molecular, what is called?
Prabhupāda: Well, intermarriage, that has introduced according to the social system. But so far we are concerned, we are allowing intermarriage from any country, any... If he's Kṛṣṇa conscious, we help him marry. There are so many intermarriages in our society. So try to understand this philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and spread it so that there will be oneness—one God, one scripture, one nation, one religion—according to Vedic injunction. Not that we are manufacturing something. That is the Vedic injunction.
Guest (2): What is the speciality of Vedic injunction compared to Hebrew scriptures?
Prabhupāda: Vedic injunction is, the ultimate goal of human life, to go back to home, back to Godhead. That's all. This is not... As... I have already explained that this is not our home, material world. We are spirit soul. Our real home is spiritual world. So in the lives, different species of life, 8,400,000's of species of life, they cannot understand it, that we are spirit soul, our home is in the spiritual world. They cannot understand it.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That is his ignorance. How it can be material? The stone is also Kṛṣṇa's energy. Just like electricity energy is there everywhere. The electrician knows how to utilize it, how to take electricity. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, even in the stone. The devotees know how to utilize stone to appreciate Kṛṣṇa. The devotees know. The rascal, they do not know. Because the devotee has no other view than Kṛṣṇa. Why stone should be without Kṛṣṇa? Here is Kṛṣṇa. That is real oneness. And the Māyāvādī philosopher they say oneness, but divide. This is stone, this is not Kṛṣṇa. Why second? Why you bring another thing?
Devotee: Good and bad, evil and...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Knower, knowledge and the object. The object is Kṛṣṇa and you are knower, or trying to know. And the process is bhakti. That's all. If you want to understand Kṛṣṇa, then you have to adopt the process of bhakti. No other process. It is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). No other process. No speculative philosophy or meditation. It is not possible. So bhakti is the process, you are the knower, and Kṛṣṇa is knowable. That's all. (break) ...vādī, impersonalists, they say ultimately the knower, knowable and the known becomes one. That is their philosophy. Monists. There is no more knower, no knowable, the knower... Simply knowledge. They say simply knowledge. Oneness.
Prabhupāda: Reflections. These are examples. Similarly, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). God is everyone's heart. That does not mean God is many. He's one. But He has got such inconceivable power that that oneness can be distributed into millions. Advaya. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Although God expands Himself in many forms, still, He's advaita, one. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣam nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). He's the original person; still, always fresh, young. Nava-yauvanaṁ ca. Therefore Kṛṣṇa, you'll find always fresh. That picture of Kṛṣṇa, you see. Nava-yauvanaṁ ca. Just a fresh, young man. In the Bhagavad-gītā, you see. Kṛṣṇa is driving. He's fresh, young man. But Arjuna has got moustaches.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: ...in the body, so we have to behave duality. (laughter) You cannot say oneness. When you are liberated from the body, that is another thing. For practical purposes... This philosophy was discussed by the mother of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He was a child, this philosophy. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was given very nice sweetmeats to eat. So instead of eating the sweetmeat, He was eating the dirt. So mother said, "My dear child, why You are eating dirt? I have given You sandeśa." "Mother, what is the difference between this dirt and sandeśa? It is all Brahman." You see? So His mother said, "My dear child, You are all right. Just like this is earth, and there is earthen pot. So if you want to keep water, you cannot throw the water on the ground. You have to take the earthen pot." So this philosophy of oneness and difference was already discussed when Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a child. Simultaneously one and different. Yes. Earthen pot and earth, actually, from the material point of view, they're the same thing. But if you want to keep water you cannot keep it on the ground. You have to take to the jug.
Prabhupāda: So unless you accept this difference, then it is Māyāvāda. Simply oneness is Māyāvāda.
Dr. Patel: That's right. You may... You accept one and the same, separate both or another explana..., another, only Kṛṣṇa knows and nobody knows.
Prabhupāda: No, no. No, why Kṛṣṇa knows? One who is Kṛṣṇa's devotee, he knows also.
Dr. Patel: All are Vaiṣṇava devotees, aren't they?
Prabhupāda: No, no. This is Māyāvāda. Not all of.
Dr. Patel: Ācchā. Vallabhācārya's devotees, Vaiṣṇavas are not...?
Prabhupāda: Vallabhācārya is a sampradāya.
Dr. Patel: But are they not Vaiṣṇavas?
Prabhupāda: That is a sampradāya. Viṣṇu Svāmī-sampradāya. That is accepted. That is accepted.
Dr. Patel: Rāmānujācārya's Vaiṣṇava was not Vaiṣṇava?
Prabhupāda: But Rāmānujācārya does not say that the devotee is God.
Dr. Patel: Nobody says so.
Prabhupāda: No. (break) ...oneness with diversity. Yes. That is viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy. And nirviśeṣa. Nirviśiṣṭa-advaitavādī sāṅkhya philosophy. Nirviśiṣṭa.
Guest (1): Nirviśiṣṭa means?
Dr. Patel: Vallabhācārya.
Prabhupāda: Nirviśiṣṭa means... No, Vallabhācārya... śuddhādvaita. Śuddhādvaita. That is called kevalādvaita. Kevalādvaita. (break) Kṛṣṇa is ādi. Viṣṇu is in the material world, He's accepted as one of the devas. Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. So Kṛṣṇa says, aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2).
Guest (1): So Kṛṣṇa is ādi of Viṣṇu...
Prabhupāda: Viṣṇu also.
Prabhupāda: As soon as they say anitya, then they are duality. There is no oneness.
Dr. Patel: So I have read both the type of acclamation (?), nitya and anitya.
Prabhupāda: No, then... One who says anitya... Anitya...
Dr. Patel: Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13).
Prabhupāda: Yes!
Dr. Patel: Yo vidadhāti...
Prabhupāda: Eko yo bahūnām.
Dr. Patel: Eko yo bahūnām.
Prabhupāda: Vidadhāti kāmān.
Guest (1): ...vidadhāti kāmān, tam ātmānam evānupaśyanti dhīras... netareśam (?).
Prabhupāda: Nityo nityānām. That means we, jīva, we are plural number, and the Supreme Lord is singular number. So what is the difference? The difference is that eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That bahu-vacana, nityānām, they are maintained by the singular number.
Prabhupāda: No, no, heart or not heart. Your heart or not heart, but Kṛṣṇa's position is like that. He has got eternal body. He is blissful, because there is no miseries. Temporary body means there is misery, so many miseries. At least these four miseries, birth, death, old age and disease. So eternal body has no such miseries. Therefore it is blissful. Therefore it is full of knowledge. As soon as you get your eternal body, which is already there within this temporary body, then you also become blissful and full of knowledge. That is oneness. One in quality. Kṛṣṇa has got this body, eternal, blissful, full of knowledge. So when you get this body, then you are becoming equal in quality, not in quantity. Your question is answered?
Prabhupāda: Yes, name, must be there. But name... Just like you are feeling as Irishman, but your name may be different from another Irishman. How do you feel that "We are all Irishmen"? The name may be different. That doesn't matter. But the quality can be one. That is required. So when acquires that quality, Kṛṣṇaite quality, that in spite of different names... That is called so 'ham. One feels... The same example: In a nation, in a group, the names may be different, but because they feel nationally or religiously one, so that is one. Varieties. Varieties may be different, but the object being one, that is oneness. What is that, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā?
Prabhupāda: The soul is different from the body.
Vedavyāsa: Yes, but at the same time, he says there must be a very intimate connection of, actually a oneness of body and soul. That is what is now.
Prabhupāda: No, no.
Dr. P. J. Saher: As long as we are alive.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is not oneness. Just like this room is important so long I am living. Otherwise it has no importance. (German) (break) ...soul is gone from the body, even the body is very dear, I throw it away. (German)
Vedavyāsa: He doesn't want to separate.
Prabhupāda: But you must separate. (laughter) As soon as your death comes, your body will be kicked out by your relatives.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Patel: Durban, there is a huge population of Indians, and all Gujaratis.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Dr. Patel: Somehow or other, Bengalis and Gujaratis are akin. Why they have one living in West and other in East? What must be the cause of oneness even in thought and action, in every way.
Prabhupāda: Oneness means Kṛṣṇa. (Hindi) (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya.
Dr. Patel: In temperament also. (laughs)
Prabhupāda: That is also external. Real unity is on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (Hindi) The Vedānta begins, athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Just inquire about the soul." And where is that education? This human life, they are opening so many colleges, schools, institutions. Where is the instruction about the soul? So go-kharaḥ. (Hindi) In spite of so much improvement, they are behaving just like cats and dogs. In South Africa the Indians are given the far away from the city.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So then they difference. They admit that there is difference, if they say like that, that "There is difference."
Yaśodānandana: But they say that oneness, that is the real knowledge.
Prabhupāda: No, no. That's all right. But why they say "different"?
Yaśodānandana: They say to see that our vision of difference, that our vision of difference, that is ignorance. When we understand the jīvātmā to be different from God, from Bhagavān, that is ignorance.
Prabhupāda: No. No.
Yaśodānandana: That your vision of seeing God...
Prabhupāda: Yes. So we admit that, that when we see that "I am separate from..." Then the same example: If the finger thinks that it is separate from the body, that is ignorance, because the finger is required by the body to serve the body. So if he thinks, "No, I'll not serve you because I am different," that is ignorance. That is ignorance. That is going on.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So we admit that, that when we see that "I am separate from..." Then the same example: If the finger thinks that it is separate from the body, that is ignorance, because the finger is required by the body to serve the body. So if he thinks, "No, I'll not serve you because I am different," that is ignorance. That is ignorance. That is going on. These Māyāvādīs, they refuse to serve God. That is ignorance. If they are part and parcel of God or one with God, how you can refuse to serve? That is ignorant. Here the finger is my part and parcel of the body. It cannot refuse to serve. I say; immediately it comes. So if the finger thinks that "I am one. Why shall I serve the whole body?" that is ignorance. Cetana. Cetana means activity. So if I am one with God, then my activities should be simultaneously with God. That is oneness. I don't disagree. God says, "You do it." I disagree. God says, "You surrender unto Me," but I refuse. That is ignorance. If I am actually one with God, just I am asking, "You do this"—you do immediately. But if you do not do it, that is ignorance. Gurur avajñā. Then he becomes aparādhī. Similarly, oneness means no disagreement. That is oneness, cetana. Cetana means I can disagree or agree. Two things are there. That is cetana. So cetana, cetanaś cetanānaṁ.
Vasughoṣa: So their big word is that you merge and you become that. So how... Prabhupāda: That is merging. They do not know what is merging. Merging means "I, so long I was disagreeing; now I agree to abide by Your..." That is merging. Just like several states they merge into one. So they agree to work unitedly. That is merging. Merging does not mean that you have got your discretion and that is finished. That is not merging. Then your cetana is lost. How it can be lost?
Prabhupāda: That is already taken, already explained. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. The atheist class and theist class, they will exist always. This is material world. Even at home the father is atheist, Hiraṇyakaśipu, and the son is theist. So even at home the father and the son different. So that atheist class and theist class men will always exist in family, in community, in nation, in the... as you go on. But the theist class should take to the proposition of the Bhagavad-gītā and take shelter at his lotus feet, giving up so-called religious principles. That is oneness. Religion without conception of God, conception of God is humbug, bogus. Religion means to accept the order of God. So if you have no conception of God, if you do not know who is God, so there is no question of accepting His order. It is stated in the Vedic literature dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Find out this verse in the Sixth Canto. (break) ...Yamarāja's instruction.
Prabhupāda: Eternally. That is nitya-yuktā upāsate. There is no oneness. Otherwise why it is nitya-yuktā upāsate? Nityo nityānām. The nityānām, plural number, and nitya, Bhagavān. So nitya-yuktā upāsate.
Indian man: If you take the kevala-bhaktas, if you take the life of a bhakta...
Prabhupāda: If you take logic, it is stated there in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Indian man: If you take bhakta-vidyā where so many sayings like Chakubhai and Namdev and all these people. If you take it... They had, they observed bhakti-mārga from the beginning, that is, they considered Kṛṣṇa...
Prabhupāda: No, they have considered that the bhakti-mārga is a means to become one.
Prabhupāda: No, that's all right. There is an eternal world, sanātana. That is never annihilated. So when you go to that sanātana-dhāma, God is there, sanātana, and there you live eternally and go on rendering service to God. That is (indistinct). There is no question of oneness. The variety is there, but there the varieties are eternal, here the varieties are temporary. That is difference. Everything is there. So thank you very much.
Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Devotee: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: What Kṛṣṇa says, you hear and do. Just like you are now acting, family conscious or country conscious or society conscious. The dog is also working as dog conscious. Monkey is working, monkey conscious. He is thinking, "I am monkey." You are thinking you are Indian. He is thinking he is American. He is thinking as..., so on, so on, different consciousness. But when you act Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is your real dharma. Now we are working under different consciousness, therefore varieties. And when you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it is oneness, perfection, to act according to the instruction of Kṛṣṇa. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). What Kṛṣṇa says, you act accordingly. You are acting... The Communists, they are acting Lenin consciousness. Is it not? Their god is Lenin. I have been in Moscow. Everywhere Lenin's picture, Lenin's book, and they are worshiping Lenin's tomb. That is Lenin consciousness. So similarly, you become Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Prabhupāda: Merge means you do not disagree. That is merge. Do not disagree. Just like when Arjuna was disagreeing, that is his condition, that is his conditioned identity, and when he agreed, "Yes, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73),"that is identity of oneness.
Mr. Malhotra: Surrender.
Prabhupāda: Surrender, that is oneness. Not that individually he has become different. Individually he is, but he does not disagree with Kṛṣṇa. That is oneness. Just like we are sitting, we are of different interests. But so far my disciples are, they will not disagree with me. That is oneness. But he is individual. He was individual, he is individual and he will continue his individuality. But as soon as he accepts me as the leader, then he is agreement. That is oneness.
Mr. Malhotra: Agreement with God is surrender.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). To serve Kṛṣṇa favorably, that is oneness. That is oneness.
Mr. Malhotra: This is bhakti-yoga.
Prabhupāda: Any yoga. You are individual, God is individual. That is already explained, I told you. God says, Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, "Me, yourself and all these people who have gathered, they are all individuals. They were individuals in the past, they are individuals now, and we shall continue to remain individuals in the future."
Mr. Malhotra: Even if we surrender.
Prabhupāda: Surrender means agreement.
Mr. Malhotra: Agreement. Individuality will all along exist.
Prabhupāda: Otherwise why is he asking, "You surrender," unless there is individuality? Why this request is there? Because you are individual, you can deny it. That individuality continues. But if you have love for God, then you agree, "Yes, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73)." So that is wanted. Not that he lost his individuality. Individuality is there.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. "You, Me, and all these kings, they were existing—the individual. You, Me, and... They're existing now, and they'll continue to exist." So where there is oneness? All individual eternally, as aṁśa, aṁśī, this finger and the body. You can say this finger is my body, but finger is not the body, whole body. Finger is finger. Not that if Kṛṣṇa's body is eternal, the finger is also eternal. Not that today it is finger, tomorrow is whole body. That is defective, Māyāvāda philosophy. Finger always exists as finger. Kṛṣṇa is eternal, His finger is eternal, but the finger and the body is the same material. They're not different. They become different when they come to material world without touch of Kṛṣṇa. This finger is finger even it is cut, but it is useless. When this finger is cut and fallen in the ground it will be said, "finger of Swamiji or somebody." It is not anything... But because it is cut from the whole, it has no value. One screw from this machine is the same screw. But when it is separate from this machine, it has no value. But when you want to add to it—you go to purchase that screw—it will cost you five rupees. But without this machine, nobody cares for that screw. So our position is like that.
Prabhupāda: That oneness is on the spiritual platform. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati, samaḥ sarveṣu (BG 18.54). That is another thing. But so long you have got a bodily concept of life, you must divide: cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). That is wanted. Just like in my body there is division. There is head. There is hand. There is leg. There is belly. So they have got different activities. The head is important. If you cut the head, then whole thing is finished.
Indian man (3): We need the substratum because of which we identify with the processes.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Indian man (3): We need the substratum because of which we see the differences.
Prabhupāda: Difference is there in your body. Do you think the head and the leg the same thing?
Correspondence
1967 Correspondence
I have already requested Brahmananda to stop Kirtanananda's speaking at any of our functions till my arrival. If he wants to preach anything he can do it on his own in a different place. Krishna is certainly one and different, but his oneness is stressed by the impersonalists which is distinct from our philosophy. Our philosophy of Krishna's oneness & difference is explained in the 9th ch, 4th verse of B.G. in which it is clearly stated that Krishna is one by distribution of his diverse energies. When Krishna controls his diverse energies he does not become impersonal. If Kirtanananda believes in one-Self, why does he stress the vibration & not the words? Why does he find difference in vibration & words? If he believes in one there is no difference between vibration & words? And why shouldn't one be attached to the chanting? All this means that he has no clear idea & he is talking nonsense.
The separation of Kirtanananda and Hayagriva is not a very happy incident. I was practically in tears for their attitude of separation on such flimsy grounds. In other words it is my incapability that I could not save these two souls, but this a great evidence that every soul is individual. The nonsense theory of oneness becomes null and void by the evidence presented in this incident. But we should not be angry with these poor souls. Try to convince them by argument and reason but do not become angry with them. Lord Nityananda when he was dealing with Jagai and Madhai maintained the maximum amount of tolerance and patience in spite of the greatest provocation. The two brothers, Jagai and Madhai, committed violence on Lord Nityananda. Even Lord Caitanya, the author of Siksastak, became agitated. But Lord Nityananda Prabhu in the matter remained calm and quiet and delivered the two rascals to the highest elevation.
1968 Correspondence
So, those who are aspirant of merging into the formless effulgence of Krishna, they also can worship Krishna. That is recommended in all Vedic literature. But Krishna is the Supreme Lord. He has decidedly said in Srimad-Bhagavatam, "Krishnas Tu Bhagavan Svayam". So, if the Indian transcendentalists, those who are very serious about spreading this message of Bhagavad-gita may join this movement, backed by the Sankirtana movement as enunciated by Lord Caitanya, it will be great success. And there is every possibility of oneness all over the world, without any communal differences.
What do the Saivite-like tilakas on His arms signify? And to whom was this form revealed?" The forked stick is a symbol of ekadandi. The Mayavadi sannyasis, they carry ekadanda, one stick. As we Vaisnava sannyasis carry 3 danda, or three sticks, combined together. The one stick is the symbol of understanding oneness. The monists only accept chin matra, there is only one spirit soul; they do not understand the varieties of the spiritual world. And so far our three sticks are concerned, we take it for granted that we have dedicated our life, for Krishna's service in 3 ways, namely, in our body, in our mind, and in our words. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura has sung in a poetry that my mind, my body, and my home is surrendered unto You. So a Grhastha or householder like you, you are also tridandi. Because you have sacrificed everything, your life, your home, and your child, so you are a tridandi sannyasi, in fact.
1970 Correspondence
In Paramatma or Brahman relationship the emotion is of oneness, which is considered to be on the lower stage. In the Santa Rasa stage there is a chance of meeting a devotee by the Grace of Lord Krishna, and therefore, generally, the next birth is human being. Unless there is a great fall-down on account of various reasons, any transcendentalist, either personalist or impersonalist, if he makes regular progress in the regulative principles, even though he does not finish, the whole program, is sure to get his next birth in a good family—generally a rich man's or a pure Brahmin's—that is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita.
| Page Title: | Oneness (Conversations and Letters) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 25 of May, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=31, Let=5 |
| No. of Quotes: | 36 |