Summum Bonum

Expressions researched:
"summum bonum"

BG Preface and Introduction

BG Introduction:

One does not need highly developed intelligence. The point is that anyone who accepts the principle of bhakti-yoga and accepts the Supreme Lord as the summum bonum of life, as the highest target, the ultimate goal, can approach the Lord in the spiritual sky. If one adopts the principles enunciated in Bhagavad-gītā, he can make his life perfect and make a permanent solution to all the problems of life. This is the sum and substance of the entire Bhagavad-gītā.

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 13.5, Purport:

It is mentioned here that the codes of the Brahma-sūtra are very nicely arranged according to cause and effect. Some of the sūtras, or aphorisms, are na viyad aśruteḥ (2.3.2), nātmā śruteḥ (2.3.18), and parāt tu tac-chruteḥ (2.3.40). The first aphorism indicates the field of activities, the second indicates the living entity, and the third indicates the Supreme Lord, the summum bonum among all the manifestations of various entities.

SB Preface and Introduction

SB Introduction:

The conception of God and the conception of Absolute Truth are not on the same level. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam hits on the target of the Absolute Truth. The conception of God indicates the controller, whereas the conception of the Absolute Truth indicates the summum bonum or the ultimate source of all energies. There is no difference of opinion about the personal feature of God as the controller because a controller cannot be impersonal.

SB Introduction:

According to the Bhagavad-gītā any controller who has some specific extraordinary power is called a vibhūtimat sattva, or controller empowered by the Lord. There are many vibhūtimat sattvas, controllers or gods with various specific powers, but the Absolute Truth is one without a second. This Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam designates the Absolute Truth or the summum bonum as the paraṁ satyam.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.1.1, Purport:

If a man's brain can produce a space satellite, one can very easily imagine how brains higher than man can produce similarly wonderful things which are far superior. The reasonable person will easily accept this argument, but there are stubborn atheists who would never agree. Śrīla Vyāsadeva, however, at once accepts the supreme intelligence as the parameśvara. He offers his respectful obeisances unto the supreme intelligence addressed as the para or the parameśvara or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And that parameśvara is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as admitted in Bhagavad-gītā and other scriptures delivered by Śrī Vyāsadeva and specifically in this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that there is no other para-tattva (summum bonum) than Himself. Therefore, Śrī Vyāsadeva at once worships the para-tattva, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose transcendental activities are described in the Tenth Canto.

SB 1.3.28, Purport:

In this stanza the word svayam is particularly mentioned to confirm that Lord Kṛṣṇa has no other source than Himself. Although in other places the incarnations are described as bhagavān because of their specific functions, nowhere are they declared to be the Supreme Personality. In this stanza the word svayam signifies the supremacy as the summum bonum.

SB 1.3.28, Purport:

The summum bonum Kṛṣṇa is one without a second. He Himself has expanded Himself in various parts, portions and particles as svayaṁ-rūpa, svayam-prakāśa, tad-ekātmā, prābhava, vaibhava, vilāsa, avatāra, āveśa, and jīvas, all provided with innumerable energies just suitable to the respective persons and personalities. Learned scholars in transcendental subjects have carefully analyzed the summum bonum Kṛṣṇa to have sixty-four principal attributes. All the expansions or categories of the Lord possess only some percentages of these attributes. But Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the possessor of the attributes cent percent.

SB 1.3.43, Purport:

He spoke the Bhagavad-gītā specifically and eradicated all pretentious principles of religiosity. And prior to His departure from this material world, He empowered Śrī Vyāsadeva through Nārada to compile the messages of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and thus both the Bhagavad-gītā and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are like torchbearers for the blind people of this age. In other words, if men in this age of Kali want to see the real light of life, they must take to these two books only, and their aim of life will be fulfilled. Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of the Bhāgavatam. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the summum bonum of life, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa personified. We must therefore accept Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the direct representation of Lord Kṛṣṇa. One who can see Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam can see also Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in person. They are identical.

SB 1.7.5, Purport:

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the summum bonum remedy for suffering humanity in the clutches of māyā. Śrīla Vyāsadeva therefore first of all diagnosed the actual disease of the conditioned souls, i.e., their being illusioned by the external energy. He also saw the perfect Supreme Being, from whom illusory energy is far removed, though He saw both the diseased conditioned souls and also the cause of the disease. And the remedial measures are suggested in the next verse. Both the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living beings are undoubtedly qualitatively one, but the Lord is the controller of the illusory energy, whereas the living entity is controlled by the illusory energy.

SB 1.11.34, Purport:

They are the lowest of human beings because the human life is especially meant for reestablishing the lost relation with the Lord, and they miss this opportunity by being engaged in material activities. They are robbed of their knowledge because even after prolonged speculation they cannot reach to the stage of knowing the Personality of Godhead, the summum bonum of everything. And all of them are men of demoniac principle, and they suffer the consequences, as did such materialistic heroes as Rāvaṇa, Hiraṇyakaśipu, Kaṁsa and others.

SB 1.13.2, Purport:

Vidura retired from putting questions before Maitreya Muni when he was convinced by Maitreya Ṛṣi that the summum bonum of life is to be finally situated in the transcendental loving service of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is Govinda, or one who satisfies His devotees in all respects. The conditioned soul, the living being in material existence, seeks happiness by employing his senses in the modes of materialism, but that cannot give him satisfaction. He then searches after the Supreme Truth by the empiric philosophic speculative method and intellectual feats.

SB 1.15.6, Purport:

As the living being is the important factor in the material body, for without the living being the material body has no value, similarly without Paramātmā the living being has no status quo. Similarly, Brahman or Paramātmā has no locus standi without the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. This is thoroughly explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. They are all interlinked with one another, or interdependent factors; thus in the ultimate issue the Lord is the summum bonum and therefore the vital principle of everything.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.7.47, Purport:

The supreme enjoyer, the Personality of Godhead, is the Supreme Brahman or the summum bonum because of His being the supreme cause of all causes. The conception of impersonal Brahman realization is the first step, due to His distinction from the illusory conception of material existence. In other words, impersonal Brahman is a feature of the Absolute distinct from the material variegatedness, just as light is a conception distinct from its counterpart, darkness. But the light has its variegatedness, which is seen by those who further advance in the light, and thus the ultimate realization of Brahman is the source of the Brahman light, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the summum bonum or the ultimate source of everything. Therefore, meeting the Personality of Godhead includes the realization of the impersonal Brahman as realized at first in contrast with material inebriety. The Personality of Godhead is the third step of Brahman realization. As explained in the First Canto, one must understand all three features of the Absolute—Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān.

SB 2.7.52, Translation:

Please describe the science of Godhead with determination and in a manner by which it will be quite possible for the human being to develop transcendental devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead Hari, the Supersoul of every living being and the summum bonum source of all energies.

SB 2.10.1, Purport:

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there are ten divisions of statements regarding the following: the creation of the universe, subcreation, planetary systems, protection by the Lord, the creative impetus, the change of Manus, the science of God, returning home, back to Godhead, liberation, and the summum bonum.

SB 2.10.2, Purport:

To isolate the transcendence of the summum bonum, the symptoms of the rest are described sometimes by Vedic inference, sometimes by direct explanation, and sometimes by summary explanations given by the great sages.

SB 2.10.7, Purport:

Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). The original source of all energies, or the summum bonum, is the Absolute Truth, which is called Parambrahma, etc., and Bhagavān is the last word of the Absolute Truth. But even with the synonyms for Bhagavān, such as Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu and Puruṣa, the last word is Kṛṣṇa, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ samaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8), etc. Besides that, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the representation of Lord Kṛṣṇa as a sound incarnation of the Lord.

SB 2.10.7, Purport:

In the matter of the changes of the Manus or manvantaras, such as the Svāyambhuva-manvantara and Cākṣuṣa-manvantara, as they are discussed in the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Kṛṣṇa is indicated. In the Eighth Canto the Vaivasvata-manvantara explains the same subject indirectly, and in the Ninth Canto the same purport is there. In the Twelfth Canto the same is further explained, specifically regarding the different incarnations of the Lord. Thus it is concluded by studying the complete Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate summum bonum, or the ultimate source of all energy. And according to the grades of worshipers, the indications of the nomenclature may be differently explained as Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā, Paramātmā, etc.

SB 2.10.8, Purport:

The supreme controlling summum bonum is the Personality of Godhead in His plenary portion of Paramātmā, or the Supersoul manifestation. In the Bhagavad-gītā (10.42) it is said:

athavā bahunaitena

kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna

viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam

ekāṁśena sthito jagat

All the controlling deities like Viṣṇu, Brahmā and Śiva are different manifestations of the Paramātmā feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who exhibits himself in such manners by entering into each and every universe generated from Him. But still apparently there are divisions of the controller and controlled. For example, in the food-controlling department the controller of food is a person made of the same ingredients as the person who is controlled.

SB 2.10.22, Purport:

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, by advancement of knowledge one should try to know about the Supreme Lord, the summum bonum of everything. Knowledge does not mean knowledge only of the laws of nature or physical knowledge, which are working by the direction of the Lord. The scientists are eager to hear about the physical laws working in material nature. They are eager to hear through the medium of radio and television about things taking place far away from them on other planets, but they should know that the power of hearing and the instruments for hearing were given to them by the Lord for hearing about the Self, or about the Lord.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.24.33, Purport:

The six opulences—wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation—are indicated here by Kardama Muni, who addresses Kapila Muni, his son, as param. The word param is used in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the phrase paraṁ satyam, to refer to the summum bonum, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. param is explained further by the next word, pradhānam, which means the chief, the origin, the source of everything—sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1)—the cause of all causes. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is not formless; He is puruṣam, or the enjoyer, the original person. He is the time element and is all-cognizant. He knows everything—past, present and future—as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.5.15, Translation:

If one is serious about going back home, back to Godhead, he must consider the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead the summum bonum and chief aim of life. If he is a father instructing his sons, a spiritual master instructing his disciples, or a king instructing his citizens, he must instruct them as I have advised. Without being angry, he should continue giving instructions, even if his disciple, son or citizen is sometimes unable to follow his order. Ignorant people who engage in pious and impious activities should be engaged in devotional service by all means. They should always avoid fruitive activity. If one puts into the bondage of karmic activity his disciple, son or citizen who is bereft of transcendental vision, how will one profit? It is like leading a blind man to a dark well and causing him to fall in.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 2.8, Translation:

Kṛṣṇa, the original form of the Personality of Godhead, is the summum bonum of the all-pervading Viṣṇu. He is all-perfect knowledge and all-perfect bliss. He is the Supreme Transcendence.

CC Adi 2.91-92, Purport:

Āśraya: the Transcendence, the summum bonum, from whom everything emanates, upon whom everything rests, and in whom everything merges after annihilation. He is the source and support of all. The āśraya is also called the Supreme Brahman, as in the Vedānta-sūtra (athāto brahma jijñāsā, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)). Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam especially describes this Supreme Brahman as the āśraya. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is this āśraya, and therefore the greatest necessity of life is to study the science of Kṛṣṇa.

CC Adi 2.96, Purport:

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī states in his Bhagavat-sandarbha (16) that by His potencies, which act in natural sequences beyond the scope of the speculative human mind, the Supreme Transcendence, the summum bonum, eternally and simultaneously exists in four transcendental features: His personality, His impersonal effulgence, particles of His potency (the living beings), and the principal cause of all causes. The Supreme Whole is compared to the sun, which also exists in four features, namely the personality of the sun-god, the glare of his glowing sphere, the sun rays inside the sun planet, and the sun's reflections in many other objects. The ambition to corroborate the existence of the transcendental Absolute Truth by limited conjectural endeavors cannot be fulfilled, because He is beyond the scope of our limited speculative minds.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 6.89, Translation:

Gopīnātha Ācārya replied, "Knowledge of the summum bonum, the Absolute Truth, is evidence of the mercy of the Supreme Lord."

CC Madhya 6.89, Purport:

Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya informed his brother-in-law, Gopīnātha Ācārya, "The Supreme Personality of Godhead may not have shown mercy to me, but what is the proof of His having shown it to you? Kindly let us know about this." In reply to this, Gopīnātha Ācārya said that the summum bonum, the Absolute Truth, and His different potencies are identical. Therefore one can understand the substance of the Absolute Truth by the manifestation of His different potencies. The summum bonum includes all potencies in one unit. The Absolute Truth combined with different characteristics is the original substance (vastu): parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport).

CC Madhya 7.128, Purport:

The real purpose of human life is to attain the spiritual platform and return to Godhead. That is the summum bonum of spiritual realization. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to elevate human society to the perfection of life by pursuing the method described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His advice to the brāhmaṇa Kūrma. That is, one should stay at home, chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and preach the instructions of Kṛṣṇa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

CC Madhya 22.64, Purport:

The word śraddhāvān (faithful) means understanding Kṛṣṇa to be the summum bonum—the eternal truth and absolute transcendence. If one has full faith in Kṛṣṇa and confidence in Him, one becomes eligible to discharge devotional service confidentially. According to one's faith, one is a topmost, intermediate or inferior devotee.

CC Madhya 24.71, Translation:

“The word "brahma" indicates the summum bonum, the Absolute Truth, which is greater than all other truths. It is the original identity, and there can be nothing equal to that Absolute Truth."

CC Madhya 24.72, Translation:

“"I offer my respectful obeisances to the Absolute Truth, the summum bonum. He is the all-pervasive, all-increasing subject matter for the great yogīs. He is changeless, and He is the soul of all.""

CC Madhya 25.58, Translation:

"The words of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu are a shower of nectar. Whatever He concludes to be the ultimate truth is indeed the summum bonum of all spiritual knowledge."

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 3.54, Purport:

For the yavanas the words hā rāma mean "abominable," whereas the devotee exclaims the words hā rāma in ecstatic love. Nevertheless, because the words hā rāma are the spiritual summum bonum, the fact is the same, whether they are uttered by yavanas or by great devotees, just as fire is the same both for a child and for an elderly man. In other words, the holy name of the Lord, hā rāma, always acts, even when the holy name is chanted without reference to the Supreme Lord. Yavanas utter the holy name in a different attitude than devotees, but the holy name hā rāma is so powerful spiritually that it acts anywhere, whether one knows it or not.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 23:

Śrīla Vyāsadeva at once accepts the supreme mind as the parameśvara, the supreme controller. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā and all other scriptures written by Śrīla Vyāsadeva, that parameśvara is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. This is specifically validated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In Bhagavad-gītā also the Lord Himself says that there is no paratattva (summum bonum) superior to Himself. Therefore the author at once worships the paratattva, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose transcendental activities are described in the Tenth Canto.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

The Lord says that even a human being in the lowest status of life, lowest status of life, or even a fallen woman, or a mercantile man, or a laborer class of man... The mercantile class of men, the laborer class of men, and the woman class, they are counted in the same category because their intelligence is not so developed. But the Lord says, they also, or even lower than them, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ (BG 9.32), not only they or lower than them, or anyone, it does not matter who is he, or who is she, anyone who accepts this principle of bhakti-yoga and accepts the Supreme Lord as the summum bonum of life, the highest target, highest goal of life, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ, te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, that parāṁ gatim in the spiritual kingdom and the spiritual sky, everyone can approach. Simply one has to practice the system. That system is hinted in the Bhagavad-gītā very nicely and one can adopt it and make his life perfect and make a permanent solution of life.

Lecture on BG 2.55-56 -- New York, April 19, 1966:

You just try to dovetail your consciousness with My supreme consciousness. That will make you happy." The same thing. As Arjuna did not, wanted to fight, Kṛṣṇa said that "I desire that you should fight." But he did not agree in the beginning. But at the last moment, when Arjuna was inquired, "Now what is your decision," he said that naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā tvat prasādān mayācyuta kariṣye vacanaṁ tava: (BG 18.73) "My dear Lord, now my misgivings, my misunderstanding, is now gone by Your mercy. Now I have decided to fight because You desire." That is the summum bonum of learning. That one should decide what God desires. That's all. That will make his life perfect. He should not desire anything.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- New York, November 22, 1966:

Rāja-vidyā. Vidyā means education, and rāja means king. So what is the king of education? Just like we have got a different status of life in the material world, similarly, in the education also, somebody is M.A., somebody is B.A., somebody is school-leaving certificate, somebody is three years, somebody is four years. There are different grades of education. Now, what is the summum bonum, highest, topmost education? This topmost education is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, topmost education. Rāja-vidyā. Jīvātmā yathātmādi-rahasyānāṁ rājaḥ. Real knowledge is: "So what I am?" This is real knowledge. Unless we come to this point, that "What I am?" that is not knowledge.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 18, 1971:

It is said, vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam. There is vastu. Vastu means summum bonum, original, and the vāstava. Just like Kṛṣṇa and His different energies. The different energies are called vāstava, "in relationship with vastu," and Kṛṣṇa is vastu. So here it is said that vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu. Vāstava, you can understand Kṛṣṇa in all His features. And if you understand, then śivadam, it is auspicious. Tāpa-trayonmūlanam. As soon as you understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because it is auspicious, then all the tāpa-traya, three kinds of miserable condition of material existence pertaining to the body, mind, pertaining to the infliction offered by others, adhibhautika, adhidaivika, or adhyātmika... So these are, three kinds of tribulations are always going on. So when we understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the vastu, the substance, and the categories, then immediately it becomes auspicious and we become free from these threefold miseries of material life.

Lecture on SB 1.5.9-11 -- New Vrindaban, June 6, 1969:

So pertaining to the Lord, everything. Vāstava-vastu vedyam atra. In the beginning of Bhāgavata it is said vāstava-vastu. Vastu means substance, the summum bonum. And vāstava, in relation to the summum bonum. So if we try to understand everything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, then we understand vāstava reality. That is reality. If we study something minus Kṛṣṇa, that is not real knowledge. Actually, Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of all. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). So unless we come to the point of Kṛṣṇa, any understanding, any knowledge is imperfect.

Lecture on SB 1.7.24 -- Vrndavana, September 21, 1976:

So this material life, however opulent it may be, it is māyā-mohita-cetasaḥ. It has no value. It has no value. Why? Because in this life I may be very favorably situated by arrangement by improving my material condition. But after death—dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13)—you do not know, we do not know what kind of body we are going to get. It may not be as comfortable. So karmīs, they, those who are little advanced than the ordinary foolish persons... There are... First of all, ordinary foolish person means animals. They are just like animals. And little above that, they are karmīs, and little above that, there are jñānīs. And little above that, there is yogis. And above all them is the bhakta. Therefore bhakta life is the summum bonum of life.

Lecture on SB 6.1.13-14 -- New York, July 27, 1971:

Just like in the Bhāgavata Vyāsadeva is offering his respect, obeisances: satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). "I offer my respect to the Supreme Truth, not to the relative truth." We are concerned with relative truth, categorical truth, not the summum bonum. Śaucābhyām: cleanliness. This is also required. Cleanliness. You should take bath, twice, thrice, at least once. That is hygienic. Bāhyābhyantara-śuciḥ. One should be cleansed. Bāhya means externally, and abhyantara, internally. Externally, you take soap, water, soda, and cleanse yourself, body. Take bath, cleanse, keep your clothing very cleansed. Unclean habit will not help you, unclean habit. Cleanliness is godliness. Truthful. Truthfulness. These are the qualities of brāhmaṇa. Satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjavam āstikyaṁ jñānaṁ vijñānaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:

The Vedānta-sūtra also confirms this, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Athāto brahma jijñāsā. What is Brahman? This is explained in one code word: Janmādy asya yataḥ, Brahman is that from whom everything is emanating. That... Brahman is that from whom, or from which, whatever you like, everything is emanated. So that Supreme Source, summum bonum, of everything is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ. That Supreme Source of everything, what is the nature of that Supreme Source of everything? Now the Bhāgavata says, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca arthesu abhijñaḥ. He is conscious.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:

Everything is energy of Kṛṣṇa. That's all right. But we have to take the advantage of the better energy, superior energy. So na te viduḥ, they do not know how to take advantage of that superior energy. So there are two energies, the superior and inferior, or the spiritual and material. The material energy... This is the definition and the sum and substance of the definition and activities of the supreme summum bonum, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), the Supreme Source of everything.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.40-50 -- San Francisco, January 24, 1967:

But Vedānta philosophy does not say that. Vedānta philosophy, from the very beginning it asserts that athāto brahma jijñāsā, "Now it is the time for discussing on the Absolute Truth." And what is that Absolute Truth? Janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "Absolute Truth is the summum bonum substance from which everything emanates."

yei grantha-kartā cāhe sva-mata sthāpite

śāstrera sahaja artha nahe tāṅhā haite

This is the secret of modern fashionable interpretation. If you want to establish... Suppose you have got some conviction, and if you want to establish it by evidence of an approved literature... An approved literature.

Initiation Lectures

Brahmana Initiation Lecture -- New Vrindaban, May 25, 1969:

You cannot conquer māyā by so-called meditation or this or that. No. Simply by surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. Mām eva ye prapadyante. Kṛṣṇa. Only He. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. He can overcome the stringent laws of māyā. So don't think that after finishing this ceremony you become all right. No. Māyā is always strong. Kṛṣṇa-nāma karo bhaya āra sab miche, palāivera path naya yo māche piche. The instruction is that you always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Āra sab miche. Whatever except... Nāma vinā kichu nāhika āra, cauddha-bhuvana-majhe. "Within this fourteen world, if there is anything summum bonum substance, this is this Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is this Hare Kṛṣṇa. Mind that." Nāma vinā kichu nāhika āra, cauddha-bhuvana-majhe. So this is secondary, this ceremony. Real strength is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So of course, people may not think you otherwise, that you are not brāhmaṇa, you are not purified. Therefore this ceremony is there, the thread ceremony here, that "Yes, we are properly... According to scriptural rules and regulations, we have become brāhmaṇa.

Initiation and Brahma-samhita Lecture -- New York, July 26, 1971:

So origin must be person. Ādi-puruṣam. Therefore Brahmā..., this Brahma-saṁhitā is made by Brahmā. He's the original creature within this universe. He's recommending that "My origin is also a person." Ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi: "I worship that original person." Therefore the origin of everything, the Absolute, the summum bonum, cannot be impersonal. What is the reason? Where is the experience that from imperson a person comes? There is no such instance within our experience. From person, a person comes. My father is a person, so I am a person. His father is a person; therefore my father is a person. Go on searching, you'll find the original person. Try to understand this philosophy. The whole world is impersonal. They do not know anything, of course, but they have got an impersonal philosophy.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Bombay, November 2, 1970:

The Kṛṣṇa is to be understood. Vedic culture means to understand Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa. Vedic culture... All the Vedas, they're meaning how to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva... Vedānta. Vedānta means... Veda means knowledge, and anta means the end. There is... Everything has got the ultimate, the supreme summum bonum. The summum bonum of Vedic knowledge, or Vedānta, is Kṛṣṇa. So that Vedānta knowledge, Kṛṣṇa personified, He is explaining Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā. Everyone is searching after God: "Where is God?" "What is God?" "What is the meaning of God?" "What God does?" "What is the power of God?" So many things. So everything He explains in the Bhagavad-gītā, what is God. Sarvasya... In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said... "What is God?" That is the first question of Vedānta-sūtra. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. The human life especially meant for inquiring about God.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 14, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa is to be understood. Vedic culture means to understand Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa. Vedic culture... All the Vedas, they are meaning how to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva. Vedānta. Vedānta means... Veda means knowledge and anta means the end. There is... Everything has got the ultimate, the supreme summum bonum. That summum bonum of Vedic knowledge or Vedānta is Kṛṣṇa. So that Vedānta knowledge, Kṛṣṇa personified, He is explaining Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā. Everyone is searching after God: "Where is God. What is God? What is the meaning of God? What God does? What is the power of God?" so many things. So everything is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, what is God. Sarvasya. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said what is God. That is the first question of the Vedānta-sūtra.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: That monad, as we say, Kṛṣṇa, as we understand from Brahma-saṁhitā, that Kṛṣṇa is within the atom also.

Śyāmasundara: He says that a monad is the force or activity which constitutes the essence of a substance.

Prabhupāda: But Kṛṣṇa is the substance, summum bonum. Aṇḍāntara-stha paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). He is within everything. That is His all-pervasive nature.

Philosophy Discussion on David Hume:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then what is the supreme relative?

Śyāmasundara: He doesn't admit any supreme.

Prabhupāda: His knowledge is imperfect.

Śyāmasundara: He says just like a cherry, say a fruit...

Prabhupāda: In logic there is relative study, and at the end of all relative truth there is absolute truth, the summum bonum. So he has no idea of the summum bonum, or the substance.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: But there is the summum bonum of that realization. That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). After many, many births of this mental evolutionary process, when actually he becomes wise he becomes God conscious and surrenders to God. That is real evolution(?). That evolution will go on. But when it comes to the summit, that is God realization. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). God is cause of all causes. That is final realization. Unless one comes to that point he has not come to the perfection of evolutionary process of the mind and intelligence.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Darsana -- July 11, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: You take Bhagavad-gītā as standard. Who is the Hindu or Indian there who can refuse the authority of Bhagavad-gītā? So you present them Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then it will not happen. I don't think any Indian or any Hindu can deny the authority of Bhagavad-gītā. Is there anyone?

Devotee: No.

Prabhupāda: Then you present them. That is, I have taken, that this is the summum bonum of Indian culture, Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā is accepted all over the world as the greatest book of knowledge, so take this standard and preach, and people will be enlightened, without misinterpretation.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Raja Mohendra Pratap -- Cawnpore 13 July, 1947:

If you have time to discuss on it, I shall be glad to substantiate my contentions as far as possible. My basis of arguments will be Bhagavad-gita which is the most authoritative, scientific and universal. To summarise the conclusions of Bhagavad-gita it may be said that,

1) God is one and everything is in Him and He is in everything.

2) To render transcendental service unto God is to serve everything that be, just like to water the root of the tree is to water the different branches and numerous leaves of the tree or to supply food to the stomach is to vitalize all the senses and the sense organs of the body.

3) The parts are automatically served when the Whole is served but when the parts are served the whole may not be served or not served at all.

4) The parts and the Whole being eternally related, it is the eternal duty of the parts to render service unto the Whole.

5) A recipient of the services of the parts, God's sat-cit-ananda vigraha i.e. the all-attractive Cognizant and all-blissful Personality eternal. He can reveal Himself by His own potency without any help of the external potency called maya in order to be cognizable by the limited potency of the parts and as such He is not only the greatest of all but he is the smallest of all. That is His prerogative.

6) He is better realized when He by His causeless mercy agrees to descend in this mortal world but he He is never realized by the partial speculations of the empiric philosophers however systematic and long-termed it may be.

7) Sri Krishna is the Personality of Godhead and is the Summum Bonum Cause of all Causes proved by fact and figures in the statement of Bhagavad-gita, but He reserves the right of not being exposed to the sensual speculations of the empiric philosophers.

Letter to Jawaharlal Nehru -- Allahabad 20 January, 1952:

Absolute Truth is described in the Vedas as Satyam Param Dhimahi—the summum bonum. And from this Absolute Truth everything emanates. "Janmadyasya yatah". This Absolute Truth is described in the Vedic literatures as Sanatana or Eternal. And the philosophy or science which deals in such eternal subjects is described as Sanatana Dharma.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Jayapataka, Acyutananda -- Tokyo 20 August, 1970:

Krsna Consciousness Movement is not a sectarian religion, but it is a solution for all the problems of life. In other words, Krsna is good for everyone. The idea is Krsna is substance and Maya is illusion. Illusion is accepted as void and impersonal, but Krsna is the Summum Bonum Person. Krsna is one and Maya is zero. Zero by the side of One is ten, but thousands of zeros clogged together do not make one. So there are many ideas within this world put forth by many philosophers, politicians, religionists, philanthropists, etc., but all of them are considered as illusion or zeros if there is no Krsna Consciousness. We have to push forward this philosophy throughout the whole world. We have sufficient support for acknowledging this philosophy.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Radhavallabha -- Vrindaban 7 September, 1976:

Titling of the Ninth Canto as Liberation is good, and the Tenth Canto should be called "The Summum Bonum". As far as the 11th and 12th Cantos are concerned they shall be named when they are presented. The title which you have given to the Eighth Canto was a little hard to understand at first but if it refers to pralaya, then it is alright. You must consult with me on such matters. Do not manufacture anything.