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Superior and inferior

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Preface and Introduction

BG Introduction:

What is material nature? This is also explained in Gītā as inferior prakṛti, inferior nature. The living entity is explained as the superior prakṛti. Prakṛti is always under control, whether inferior or superior. Prakṛti is female, and she is controlled by the Lord just as the activities of a wife are controlled by the husband. Prakṛti is always subordinate, predominated by the Lord, who is the predominator. The living entities and material nature are both predominated, controlled by the Supreme Lord. According to the Gītā, the living entities, although parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, are to be considered prakṛti. This is clearly mentioned in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. Apareyam itas tv anyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām/ jīva-bhūtām: "This material nature is My inferior prakṛti, but beyond this is another prakṛti-jīva-bhūtām, the living entity."

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 2.16, Purport:

One can understand the nature of the Supreme by thorough study of oneself, the difference between oneself and the Supreme being understood as the relationship between the part and the whole. In the Vedānta-sūtras, as well as in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Supreme has been accepted as the origin of all emanations. Such emanations are experienced by superior and inferior natural sequences. The living entities belong to the superior nature, as it will be revealed in the Seventh Chapter. Although there is no difference between the energy and the energetic, the energetic is accepted as the Supreme, and energy or nature is accepted as the subordinate. The living entities, therefore, are always subordinate to the Supreme Lord, as in the case of the master and the servant, or the teacher and the taught.

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 8.20, Purport:

Kṛṣṇa's superior, spiritual energy is transcendental and eternal. It is beyond all the changes of material nature, which is manifest and annihilated during the days and nights of Brahmā. Kṛṣṇa's superior energy is completely opposite in quality to material nature. Superior and inferior nature are explained in the Seventh Chapter.

BG 9.1, Purport:

When one's heart is thus cleared of material contamination, one can understand this science of Kṛṣṇa. Simply to understand that a living entity is not material is not sufficient. That may be the beginning of spiritual realization, but one should recognize the difference between activities of the body and the spiritual activities of one who understands that he is not the body.

In the Seventh Chapter we have already discussed the opulent potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His different energies, the inferior and superior natures, and all this material manifestation. Now in Chapter Nine the glories of the Lord will be delineated.

BG 10.38, Purport:

There are many suppressing agents, of which the most important are those that cut down miscreants. When miscreants are punished, the agency of chastisement represents Kṛṣṇa. Among those who are trying to be victorious in some field of activity, the most victorious element is morality. Among the confidential activities of hearing, thinking and meditating, silence is most important because by silence one can make progress very quickly. The wise man is he who can discriminate between matter and spirit, between God's superior and inferior natures. Such knowledge is Kṛṣṇa Himself.

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 13.27, Purport:

Both material nature and the living entity, which were existing before the creation of the cosmos, are explained in this verse. Whatever is created is but a combination of the living entity and material nature. There are many manifestations like trees, mountains and hills which are not moving, and there are many existences which are moving, and all of them are but combinations of material nature and the superior nature, the living entity. Without the touch of the superior nature, the living entity, nothing can grow. The relationship between matter and nature is eternally going on, and this combination is effected by the Supreme Lord; therefore He is the controller of both the superior and inferior natures. The material nature is created by Him, and the superior nature is placed in this material nature, and thus all these activities and manifestations take place.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 1

SB 1.2.11, Purport:

As it is explained in the first śloka of the First Chapter of the Bhāgavatam, the Supreme Truth is self-sufficient, cognizant and free from the illusion of relativity. In the relative world the knower is different from the known, but in the Absolute Truth both the knower and the known are one and the same thing. In the relative world the knower is the living spirit or superior energy, whereas the known is inert matter or inferior energy. Therefore, there is a duality of inferior and superior energy, whereas in the absolute realm both the knower and the known are of the same superior energy. There are three kinds of energies of the supreme energetic. There is no difference between the energy and energetic, but there is a difference of quality of energies.

SB 1.9.21, Purport:

He is Paramātmā, or the Supersoul, present in everyone as the supreme guidance, and therefore He is already the chariot driver and counsel of all living beings. When He, therefore, exhibits Himself as chariot driver of Arjuna, there is no change in His exalted position. It is the power of devotional service only that demonstrates Him as the chariot driver or the messenger. Since He has nothing to do with the material conception of life because He is absolute spiritual identity, there is for Him no superior or inferior action. Being the Absolute Personality of Godhead, He has no false ego, and so He does not identify Himself with anything different from Him. The material conception of ego is equibalanced in Him. He does not feel, therefore, inferior by becoming the chariot driver of His pure devotee. It is the glory of the pure devotee that only he can bring about service from the affectionate Lord.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.5.6, Translation and Purport:

Whatever we can understand by the nomenclature, characteristics and features of a particular thing—superior, inferior or equal, eternal or temporary—is not created from any source other than that of Your Lordship, thou so great.

The manifested world is full of varieties of created beings in 8,400,00 species of life, and some of them are superior and inferior to others. In human society the human being is considered to be the superior living being, and amongst the human beings there are also different varieties: good, bad, equal, etc. But Nārada Muni took for granted that none of them has any source of generation besides his father, Brahmājī. Therefore he wanted to know all about them from Lord Brahmā.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.5.37, Translation:

O gentle one, of all the physical elements, beginning from the sky down to the earth, all the inferior and superior qualities are due only to the final touch of the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB 3.32.25, Translation:

Because of his transcendental intelligence, the pure devotee is equipoised in his vision and sees himself to be uncontaminated by matter. He does not see anything as superior or inferior, and he feels himself elevated to the transcendental platform of being equal in qualities with the Supreme Person.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.29.28, Purport:

Those who utilize the energies of the worker are called capitalists, and those who actually perform the work are called laborers. In actuality they are both capitalists, and the workers are in the modes of passion and ignorance. The result is that there is always a distressful situation. In contrast to these men are those influenced by the mode of goodness—the karmīs and jñānīs. The karmīs, under the direction of Vedic instructions, try to elevate themselves to higher planetary systems. The jñānīs try to merge into the existence of Brahman, the impersonal feature of the Lord. In this way all classes of living entities in various species of life are existing within this material world. This explains superior and inferior life—forms within the material world.

SB 4.29.76-77, Purport:

"The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil among various species." The living entity may transmigrate to either a superior or inferior body according to his association with the modes of material nature. If he associates with the mode of ignorance, he gets the body of an animal or an inferior man, but if he associates with the mode of goodness or passion, he gets a body accordingly.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.1.49, Purport:

In any case, one receives an inferior or superior body at the discretion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramātmā. As stated in the previous verse:

manasaiva pure devaḥ
pūrva-rūpaṁ vipaśyati
anumīmāṁsate 'pūrvaṁ
manasā bhagavān ajaḥ

Everything depends on bhagavān, or ajaḥ, the unborn. Why doesn't one please Bhagavān to receive a better body? The answer is ajñas tamasā: because of gross ignorance. One who is in complete darkness cannot know what his past life was or what his next life will be; he is simply interested in his present body.

SB 6.9.26-27, Purport:

Both the prakṛti and puruṣa, which are inferior and superior energies, are emanations from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As explained in Bhagavad-gītā (gām āviśya (BG 15.13)), the Lord enters the prakṛti, and then the prakṛti creates different manifestations. The prakṛti is not independent or beyond His energies. Vāsudeva, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the original cause of everything.

SB 6.16.4, Purport:

Here it is made clear that the living being enters a material body that is like a machine created by the five gross elements of material nature (earth, water, fire, air and sky) and the three subtle elements (mind, intelligence and ego). As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā, there are two separate identities, called the inferior and superior natures, which both belong to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. According to the results of a living entity's fruitive actions, he is forced to enter the material elements in different types of bodies.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.8.7, Translation:

Prahlāda Mahārāja said: My dear King, the source of my strength, of which you are asking, is also the source of yours. Indeed, the original source of all kinds of strength is one. He is not only your strength or mine, but the only strength for everyone. Without Him, no one can get any strength. Whether moving or not moving, superior or inferior, everyone, including Lord Brahmā, is controlled by the strength of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB 7.15.57, Translation:

He who exists internally and externally, at the beginning and end of everything and of all living beings, as that which is enjoyable and as the enjoyer of everything, superior and inferior, is the Supreme Truth. He always exists as knowledge and the object of knowledge, as expression and the object of understanding, as darkness and as light. Thus He, the Supreme Lord, is everything.

SB Canto 9

SB 9.5.7, Translation:

O master of speech, by your effulgence, full of religious principles, the darkness of the world is dissipated, and the knowledge of learned persons or great souls is manifested. Indeed, no one can surpass your effulgence, for all things, manifested and unmanifested, gross and subtle, superior and inferior, are but various forms of you that are manifested by your effulgence.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.13.39, Purport:

"Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—all together these eight comprise My separated material energies. But besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which consists of all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe." Spirit and matter cannot be made one, for actually they are superior and inferior energies, yet the Māyāvādīs, or Advaita-vādīs, try to make them one. This is wrong. Although spirit and matter ultimately come from the same one source, they cannot be made one. For example, there are many things that come from our bodies, but although they come from the same source, they cannot be made one. We should be careful to note that although the supreme source is one, the emanations from this source should be separately regarded as inferior and superior.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.16.48, Translation:

Obeisances unto You, who know the destination of all things, superior and inferior, and who are the presiding regulator of all that be. You are distinct from the universal creation, and yet You are the basis upon which the illusion of material creation evolves, and also the witness of this illusion. Indeed, You are the root cause of the entire world.

SB 10.46.37, Translation:

For Him no one is especially dear or despicable, superior or inferior, and yet He is not indifferent to anyone. He is free from all desire for respect and yet gives respect to all others.

SB 11.16.2, Translation:

My dear Lord, although it is difficult for the impious to understand that You are situated in all superior and inferior creations, those brāhmaṇas who are actual knowers of the Vedic conclusion worship You in truth.

SB 11.17.15, Translation:

The various occupational and social divisions of human society appeared according to inferior and superior natures manifest in the situation of the individual's birth.

SB 11.20.2, Translation:

According to Vedic literature, the superior and inferior varieties found in the human social system, varṇāśrama, are due to pious and sinful modes of family planning. Thus piety and sin are constant points of reference in the Vedic analysis of the components of a given situation—namely the material ingredients, place, age and time. Indeed, the Vedas reveal the existence of material heaven and hell, which are certainly based on piety and sin.

SB 11.22.35-36, Translation:

Śrī Uddhava said: O supreme master, the intelligence of those dedicated to fruitive activities is certainly deviated from You. Please explain to me how such persons accept superior and inferior bodies by their materialistic activities and then give up such bodies. O Govinda, this topic is very difficult for foolish persons to understand. Being cheated by illusion in this world, they generally do not become aware of these facts.

SB 11.22.48, Translation:

Although the material body is different from the self, because of the ignorance due to material association one falsely identifies oneself with the superior and inferior bodily conditions. Sometimes a fortunate person is able to give up such mental concoction.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Preface and Introduction

CC Preface:

The eight principles of sāṅkhya-yoga—observing the regulative principles, following the rules, practicing the various sitting postures, performing the breathing exercises, withdrawing one's senses from the sense objects, etc.—are meant for those who are too much engrossed in the bodily conception of life. The intelligent man situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not try to forcibly stop his senses from acting. Rather, he engages his senses in the service of Kṛṣṇa. No one can stop a child from playing by leaving him inactive; rather, the child can be stopped from engaging in nonsense by being engaged in superior activities. Similarly, the forceful restraint of sense activities by the eight principles of yoga is recommended for inferior men; superior men, being engaged in the superior activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, naturally retire from the inferior activities of material existence.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 6.98, Translation:

Lord Kṛṣṇa is the source of all incarnations, and all others are His parts or partial incarnations. We find that the whole and the part behave as superior and inferior.

CC Adi 7.118, Purport:

The supreme cause is Kṛṣṇa (janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)), who is the origin of all energies, which work variously. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has both inferior and superior energies, and the difference between them is that the superior energy is factual whereas the inferior energy is a reflection of the superior. A reflection of the sun in a mirror or on water appears to be the sun but is not. Similarly, the material world is but a reflection of the spiritual world. Although it appears to be factual, it is not; it is only a temporary reflection, whereas the spiritual world is a factual reality. The material world, with its gross and subtle forms, is merely a reflection of the spiritual world.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 6.76, Purport:

The Bhaṭṭācārya wanted to reinstate Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu into the Sarasvatī sampradāya because he did not like the Lord's belonging to the Bhāratī sampradāya or Purī sampradāya. Actually, he did not know the position of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. As the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not depend on an inferior or superior sampradāya. The Supreme Personality of Godhead remains in the supreme position in all circumstances.

CC Madhya 6.156, Purport:

The material energy acts on the living entity in different degrees, according to how he acquires the association of the three modes of material nature. There are 8,400,000 species of life, some inferior, some superior and some mediocre. The gradations of the bodies are calculated according to the covering of material energy. In the lower categories—including aquatics, trees, plants, insects, birds and so forth—spiritual consciousness is almost nonexistent. In the mediocre category—the human form of life—spiritual consciousness is comparatively awakened. In the superior life forms, spiritual consciousness is fully awakened. Then the living entity understands his real position and tries to escape the influence of material energy by developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

CC Madhya 9.49, Purport:

The conclusion is that the cosmic manifestation is certainly created at a certain time, and the creator existed before the creation; therefore the creator is not a created being. The creator is Parabrahman, or the Supreme Spirit. Matter is not only subordinate to spirit but is actually created on the basis of spirit. When the spirit soul enters the womb of a mother, the body is created by material ingredients supplied by the mother. Everything is created in the material world, and consequently there must be a creator who is the Supreme Spirit and who is distinct from matter. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that the material energy is inferior and that the spiritual energy is the living entity. Both inferior and superior energies belong to a supreme person.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 4.174, Purport:

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu told Sanātana Gosvāmī, "Since you are a Vaiṣṇava, your body is spiritual, not material. Therefore you should not consider this body to be subjected to superior or inferior qualities. Moreover, I am a sannyāsī. Therefore even if your body were material, a sannyāsī should see no distinction between a good body and a bad body."

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 31:

False argument, determination, steadiness, remembrance, joyfulness, ignorance, humility and unconsciousness are also different symptoms of ecstatic love. Dependence is also grouped under ecstatic love, and this can be divided into superior dependence and inferior dependence. The direct differentiations between superior and inferior dependence are ascertained by Rūpa Gosvāmī and will be presented in due course.

Nectar of Instruction

Nectar of Instruction 6, Purport:

A mad elephant can create a disaster, especially when it enters into a nicely trimmed garden. One should therefore be very careful not to commit any offense against a Vaiṣṇava. Every devotee should be ready to take instructions from a superior Vaiṣṇava, and a superior Vaiṣṇava must be ready to help an inferior Vaiṣṇava in all respects. One is superior or inferior according to his spiritual development in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One is forbidden to observe the activities of a pure Vaiṣṇava from a material point of view. For the neophyte especially, considering a pure devotee from a material point of view is very injurious. One should therefore avoid observing a pure devotee externally, but should try to see the internal features and understand how he is engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. In this way one can avoid seeing the pure devotee from a material point of view, and thus one can gradually become a purified devotee himself.

Easy Journey to Other Planets

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

Matter itself has no creative power. When it is manipulated by the living energy, material things are produced. Matter in its crude form is therefore the latent energy of the Supreme Being. Whenever we think of energy, it is natural that we think of the source of energy. For example, when we think of electrical energy, we simultaneously think of the powerhouse where it is generated. Energy is not self-sufficient. It is under the control of a superior living being. For example, fire is the source of two other energies, namely light and heat. Light and heat have no independent existence outside of fire. Similarly, the inferior and superior energies are derived from a source, which one may call by any name. That source of energy must be a living being with full sense of everything. That supreme living being is the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, or the all-attractive living being.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

Because the Lord's two energies (inferior and superior) manifest the material and antimaterial worlds, He is called the Supreme Absolute Truth. Lord Kṛṣṇa explains this in the Bhagavad-gītā thus:

I am, Arjuna, the highest principle of transcendence, and there is nothing greater than Me. Everything that be rests on My energies exactly like pearls on a thread.

Long, long before the discovery of the principles of antimatter and the antimaterial worlds, the subject was delineated in the pages of Bhagavad-gītā. The Gītā itself indicates that its philosophy had previously been taught to the presiding deity of the sun, which implies that the principles of the Bhagavad-gītā were expounded by the Personality of Godhead long before the Battle of Kurukṣetra—at least some 120,000,000 years before. Now modern science has just discovered a fraction of the truths that are available in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 87:

From the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā we understand that the five gross elements—earth, water, fire, air and sky—plus the subtle elements—mind, intelligence and false ego—are the eight separated energies of the Supreme Lord. Beyond this inferior, material energy is a spiritual energy, known as the living entities. The living entities are accepted as the superior energy of the Lord. The whole cosmic manifestation is a combination of the inferior and superior energies, and the source of the energies is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has many different types of energies. This is confirmed in the Vedas: parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). "The transcendental energies of the Lord are variegated."

Krsna Book 87:

The Vaiṣṇava philosophers know how to utilize the temporary construction of this material world, just as a sane man knows how to utilize the temporary construction of the earthen pot. When the earthen pot is used for a wrong purpose, that is false. Similarly, the human body or the material world, when used for sense gratification, is false. But if the human body and the material creation are used for the service of the Supreme Lord, their activities are never false. It is therefore confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that even slightly using the body and the material world for the service of the Lord can deliver a person from the gravest danger. When properly utilized, neither the superior nor inferior energies emanating from the Supreme Personality of Godhead are false.

Krsna Book 87:

It is stated that just as the atoms and particles of dust are floating within the air along with the birds and their number cannot be calculated, so innumerable universes are floating within the pores of the transcendental body of the Lord. For this reason, the Vedas say that God is beyond the grasp of our knowledge. Avāṅ-mānasa-gocara: to understand the length and breadth of God is beyond the jurisdiction of our mental speculation. Therefore, a person who is actually learned and sane does not claim to be God but tries to understand God, making distinctions between spirit and matter. By such careful discrimination, one can clearly understand that the Supreme Soul is transcendental to both the superior and inferior energies, although He has a direct connection with both. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Kṛṣṇa explains that although everything is resting on His energy, He is different or separate from the energy.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.16 -- London, August 22, 1973:

Unfortunately, the people at the present moment, they do not know, neither they can imagine even that there is possibility of becoming immortal. This is very important point. There is not possibility, there is fact. And kṛṣṇa-kīrtana is so important. In the śāstra, many places, it is said. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). That param is, means spiritual. There are two kinds of, parā and aparā-prakṛti. Aparā-prakṛti, parā-prakṛti. Apareyam. I am, this material world is aparā, inferior energy. Itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. Besides this, there is another prakṛti, another nature, which is parā. Parā means spiritual. So we should be interested with the parā, not with the aparā. Why? Now that is real life. That is real life. Here it is said ubhayor api. Considering both this parā and aparā, the superior and inferior. Tattva-darśibhiḥ. Who will study? Tattva-darśibhiḥ. Tattva-darśī means those who have realized the truth, tattva-darśī. And we find this word tattva in various places. Tattvataḥ.

Lecture on BG 2.30 -- London, August 31, 1973:

When you want to give somebody something, you must give it with the right hand. If you give it by the left hand, it is insult. Two hand are required. Why this hand is superior, this hand...? So we have to accept the Vedic injunction. So although both the nature, the spiritual nature and material nature, is coming from the same source, Absolute Truth... Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Everything is emanating from Him. Still, there is inferior nature and superior nature. What is the difference between inferior and superior? In the inferior nature or the material nature, God consciousness is almost nil. Those who are in the modes of goodness, they have little God consciousness. And those who are in the modes of passion, they have got less degree; and those who are in the modes of ignorance, there is no God consciousness. Completely absent. Degrees.

Lecture on BG 4.6-8 -- New York, July 20, 1966:

Prakṛtiṁ svām adhi... The difference is that prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. Prakṛti. Prakṛti means nature. Now, we have got this body offered by the material nature. In the Seventh Chapter you'll find that God has two kinds of nature. One is called lower nature. One is called the lower nature and the other is called the higher nature. That thing will be very nicely analyzed in the Seventh Chapter, when we go to the Seventh Chapter. Now we are in the beginning of the Fourth Chapter. So the Lord has two kinds of nature. One is called lower nature, another is called higher nature, or superior nature or, I mean to say, inferior nature. This nature, this material nature, is inferior nature. And beyond this inferior nature, there is superior nature. And how superior, inferior is calculated?

Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:

In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa also, the same thing is confirmed, parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. Whatever we are experiencing, that is simply action and reaction of the different energy of the Supreme Lord. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. So when we understand Kṛṣṇa perfectly, then this distinction of superior, inferior, will disappear.

Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:

Now, how the same fruit becomes immediately from inferior condition to superior? Because it is offered to Kṛṣṇa. Do you follow? Because it is offered to Kṛṣṇa, ordinary rice, one say it is bhāta. But we say prasādam. A man may question how it has become prasādam? It is bhāta, rice. No. Because it is offered to Kṛṣṇa, therefore it has changed its quality from inferior to superior.

So anything engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, it is superior. In the higher sense, everything is serving Kṛṣṇa. So those who are highly elevated to understand... But that is not to be imitated. For them, there is no higher or lower or superior or inferior. Everything he sees in Kṛṣṇa connection. That is very higher stage of life. That is not to be imitated. Actually, when one is perfectly spiritually enlightened, for him there is no such distinction inferior or superior. Everything in connection with Kṛṣṇa is superior.

Lecture on BG 4.19 -- New York, August 5, 1966:

Because in the world there are many philosophies. They are informing that "There is no other nature. This nature, which we have experienced, it is troublesome. Make an end of it and become void." Oh, you cannot be void because you are living entity and eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Your change of body does not mean that you are finished. No. You are continuing. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni. Because I change my dress, that does not mean that I am finished. So I am eternal. If I have to finish the... If I have to get rid, out of the influence of material nature, then I have to seek: "Where is my place?" If we know or do not know, then we prefer: "All right, whatever it may be, inferior or superior, let us remain here and rot." So Bhagavad-gītā gives you information of the superior nature: yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6), na tad bhāsayate sūryo na candro na pāvakaḥ.

Lecture on BG 4.20-24 -- New York, August 9, 1966:

Śakti-śaktimator abheda. This is the Vedic injunction. Śakti, śakti means energy, and śaktimat, śaktimat means the person who has got the energy. So abheda, they are nondifferential. You cannot differentiate between the energy and the energetic. Just like electric powerhouse. The energy is electricity. Now, from the electricity energy we are working so many things. So far our household affairs are concerned, by the same electric energy we are getting heat and we are getting also cold. In the refrigerator we see everything is cold. In the heater we find everything is hot, warm. But the same energy is working. So one who knows that this is the electrical energy that is working in a different way, for him, there is no superior or inferior. That is called jñāna. If we are on the platform of knowledge, then there is no distinction between matter and spirit.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Vrndavana, August 10, 1974:

So Kṛṣṇa expands by His energy, one of the energy, external energy. Therefore it is called aparā. Kṛṣṇa will explain in the next verse, apareyam, inferior energy. For Kṛṣṇa there is no superior or inferior, but for us it is superior and inferior. Because Kṛṣṇa is the supreme spirit soul. Take, for example, just like electricity is producing heat and cool also. There is refrigerator. That is being worked out by the electric energy. And the heater is also being worked out by the electric energy. So we may distinguish this, that "This is heat and this is cold." But for Kṛṣṇa there is no such distinction. That will be understood by further explanation of this chapter.

Lecture on BG 7.5 -- Nairobi, November 1, 1975:

Just like in our body there are some superior part and some inferior part. We have got the brain, that is superior part. But there are other parts where we pass stool and urine. Everything is part of my body, but the position is different, superior and inferior. Similarly, everything is God—sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma—but still, there must be distinction between the superior and the inferior. Although it is Brahman, still, for practical use there is superior and inferior distinction. Those who do not make this distinction foolishly, they are called nirviśeṣavādī, impersonalist, without any varieties. But there are varieties actually. Although the body is one, there is no doubt about it, but different parts of the body are considered as superior and inferior.

Lecture on BG 13.16 -- Bombay, October 10, 1973:

So, the mind is within, the intelligence is within, the soul is within, and outside your body... So this body made of five elements, they are also Kṛṣṇa's energy, and within, the mind, intelligence and the soul, that is also Kṛṣṇa's energy. Two kinds of energies: supreme, er, inferior and superior. Therefore He is outside and inside both. Bahir antaś ca bhūtānām. Every living entity, Kṛṣṇa is existing outside and inside. Therefore we have to purify both outside and inside. That is our human life. Human life means to become purified. Because we are not purified, therefore we have to accept birth, death, old age and disease. This is the problem.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Visakhapatnam, February 20, 1972, At Ladies Club:

So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is directly giving this bhakti platform, by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, in the form of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is distributing Kṛṣṇa immediately, because in this age people are so fallen, mandaḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Alpayu: they're living for a short time, and mandaḥ, mandaḥ means very slow or inferior quality of human being. Not superior. Inferior quality means in this age there is practically no brāhmaṇa; all śūdras. Kalau śūdra sambhavaḥ, actually also it is so, because people in this age, if he gets one nice service, master, he is satisfied.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, August 27, 1971:

This is called inferior and superior. Pravṛtti-mārga is inferior. Therefore if you don't accept pravṛtti-mārga under regulative principle... Just like a diseased person, typhoid, suffering from typhoid. Typhoid means intestinal disease. He cannot digest anything. So just to satisfy him the doctor says, "All right, give him little glucose water." What is the glucose water? The water only. But the patient will think, that "I am eating." He does not know, if he eats, he will die. If he eats, he will die. But the doctor, just to bluff him, "All right. You take this glucose water." You see? But he must know that "I am eating something." And he cannot digest more than glucose.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Vrndavana, October 17, 1972:

Āśā-bandhaḥ samutkaṇṭhā nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ. This is the sign of pure, advanced devotee. He's never disappointed. Ahaitukī. There is no motive. "My Lord is there. My duty is to serve." That's all. "Whether I shall be benefited, whether my senses will be satisfied, gratified..." These are conditions. Unconditional. That is... Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Without any motive, without any condition, when we love Kṛṣṇa, that is first-class religion. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ. Para and apara. Apara means "inferior," and para means "superior." Just like there are two energies of Kṛṣṇa: para and apara, inferior and superior. So paro dharmaḥ means superior, the occupational duty in superior energy.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:

Anything you take material, material thing has no value, it is inferior, but by the touch of the superior energy, the living entity, it becomes important. Therefore there are two nature—inferior nature and superior nature. Similarly, there are two kinds of dharmas. Hindu, Muslim, Christian, this, that or white, black, so many ways, according to the designation of the body you have created dharma or characteristics. That is inferior quality. But when you come to the superior quality of characteristics, of dharma, then you become happy. Anywhere there are two qualities always-inferior and superior. When you are attached to the inferior quality you don't get very much satisfaction, but when you come to the superior quality then you get satisfaction, happiness. So here it is said, dharma, religion, or the characteristics of human beings, there are so many, but sa vai puṁsām paro dharmo (SB 1.2.6), that is superior quality of religion or characteristic.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:

The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart so how you can hide yourself from the vigilance of the Supreme Lord? The Supreme Lord is witness. So according to your karma... And that is also explained in another place in Bhagavad-gītā. Why people are getting superior and inferior types of bodies? That is explained, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu (BG 13.22). Sad-asad—good and bad, first-class and third-class. Sad-asad-janma-yonisu. Species of life, they are getting. The reason is, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. Because he's associating with different modes of nature. There are three modes of nature—goodness, passion, and ignorance. So if you associate with goodness, you get one type of body. If you associate with passion, you get another type of body.

Lecture on SB 1.7.32-33 -- Vrndavana, September 27, 1976:

You must know it. They are trying to mitigate all these difficulties in different ways, but śāstra says that it is not possible. Only, it is possible only by chanting the harer nāma, the holy name of the Lord. The holy name of the Lord is Kṛṣṇa, Rāma. Other names are there, but they are subordinate. Not subordinate. There is no question of "superior" or "inferior" in the holy name of the Lord. But we have to pick up the order of the śāstras. Tasmād śāstra-vidhānokta As the śāstra gives regulative, we have to accept that. And if we do not accept that, yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ (BG 16.23), if we do whimsically, then na siddhiṁ sāvāpnoti, you cannot get any perfection of life, na sukham, neither you'll be happy.

Lecture on SB 1.8.35 -- Los Angeles, April 27, 1973 :

When analyzing the energy of Kṛṣṇa in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is said, viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā. Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu's energy is parā, superior energy or spiritual energy. Parā. Parā and aparā, you have read in the Bhagavad-gītā. Apareyam itas tu vidhi me prakṛtiṁ parā. When Kṛṣṇa is analyzing, two kinds of nature, parā and aparā, inferior and superior. This is also nature, bhūmih, āpaḥ, analo, vāyuḥ, land, water, fire, air. This is also Kṛṣṇa's nature. Kṛṣṇa says vidhi me prakṛtiḥ aṣṭadhā. "These eight kinds of material nature, they are My nature, they are My energy. But they apareyam. But this is inferior energy. And there is another, superior nature." "What is that, Sir?" Jīva-bhūta, this living energy. And these rascals, they do not know that there are two natures working—material nature and spiritual nature.

Lecture on SB 1.8.44 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1973:

The head is working nicely because without brain, there is no work. So the working of the head certainly is very important. Similarly, the walking of the leg is also important. So Kṛṣṇa's thinking, taxing the brain or walking there is no such difference. In our body also there is no such difference. But because we are in the materialistic world, dual world, we make distinction: this is superior, inferior. But for Kṛṣṇa there is no such thing, "superior," "inferior." Everything is Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvādī philosopher says that when Kṛṣṇa comes, He accepts a material body. But these foolish people, they do not know that Kṛṣṇa has no material body. For Kṛṣṇa, everything is spiritual. Kṛṣṇa has no material body. It is for us to distinguish between matter and spirit. But Kṛṣṇa, being the original source of everything, He is absolutely spirit. That's all. The Supreme Spirit. He has no such distinction.

Lecture on SB 2.9.13 -- Melbourne, April 12, 1972:

Because that doll, wherever you lick up, is sweet, and this doll made of clay, you cannot lick. So that is the only explanation. This... Kṛṣṇa says that bhūmir āpo... Apareyam. Aparā. "These are My inferior energies." Itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā: "Beyond this, there is another prakṛti, another nature. That is parā, superior." The superior? How I can understand this inferior and superior? Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho (BG 7.5), that "Superior energies are jīva, living entity." Just like here the matter is there, and the living entity is there, but the living entity is controlling the matter, controlling the matter, not the matter is independent. The matter independently cannot become this here tape recorder. When the superior energy, living entity, collects them, applies his intelligence and converts into a tape recorder, it works.

Lecture on SB 7.9.20 -- Mayapur, February 27, 1976:

This is summarized in the Vedic language, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Without Kṛṣṇa there is nothing existing. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Whatever we see, very superior or inferior, good or bad, that is all from Kṛṣṇa. Bad is also Kṛṣṇa? Yes. Bad is also Kṛṣṇa because there cannot be anything existing without Kṛṣṇa, no existential position.

Lecture on SB 7.9.20 -- Mayapur, February 27, 1976:

Adhyakṣa means direction. So the sun, moon, or anything material that is working, we see they are working very wonderfully, but don't think that they are working automatically or independently. No. That is not possible. The foolish man may think like that, "automatically." No, there is no automatically, no accident. Therefore, yena yasmād yataḥ yad uta, superior, inferior—everything is systematically being done according to the desire. They say, "Not a blade of grass moves without the desire of Kṛṣṇa." That's a fact. Without Kṛṣṇa's desire... Every step we are going forward, it is guided by Kṛṣṇa. It is not directly by Kṛṣṇa but through the instrument of Kṛṣṇa. This is nature. Nature is nothing but instrument.

Lecture on SB 7.9.27 -- Mayapur, March 5, 1976:

It is very important verse. Discrimination. Sometimes the atheist class demons, they say, "Why God has made somebody so opulent and why somebody so poor?" This is the general question. Perhaps you have met, eh? So that is being solved. Parāvaratvam. Para means better, and apara means inferior. Superior and inferior. There are two things, superior and inferior, everywhere, but in the eyes of God, Kṛṣṇa, there is no such thing, superior or inferior. He's superior, and everything is superior. This should be understood. There is no such discrimination that "Here is a devotee, so he's superior, and here is a nondevotee, he's inferior." That is not God's discrimination. That is your discrimination. If you like to remain as inferior, you can remain. God has given you independence.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1972:

Real jñāna is how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. So this is jñāna. For yogi, this instruction also is there. Karmī, jñānī, yogi, and bhakta. There are four classes of men, transcendentalists. They're all transcendentalists, culturing spiritual... That's, that's all right. But even in the spiritual cultivation, there is superior, inferior. Not exactly superior or inferior, because that is the material. But still there are classification. This classification is ended when one comes to know Kṛṣṇa. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam evam vijñātaṁ bhavanti. If one understands Kṛṣṇa, then Paramātmā and Brahman becomes automatically known. Sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavanti. Just like if you have got 100,000 dollars, ten dollar is within it, fifty dollar is within it, five hundred dollars is within it.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.152-154 -- New York, December 5, 1966:

So Lord Caitanya is describing about the personal feature of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The (im)personal feature of Lord Kṛṣṇa, as described in the Bhagavad-gītā, that is the manifestation of His material energy. Now the personal feature as described by Lord Caitanya in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, this is the description of His spiritual feature. We have already studied in the Bhagavad-gītā that the Lord has two distinctive features: material and spiritual, superior and inferior. Of course, for Him there is no superior or inferior. But for us, it is superior, inferior. We cannot say that because everything is emanation from the Supreme, therefore there is no superior or inferior. No. Superior, inferior, in relationship with the energy. Just like īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati: (BG 18.61) "Īśvara, the Supreme Lord, is situated in everyone's heart." So He is in the heart of a hog, of a dog, and the learned brāhmaṇa as well. For Him there is no such discrimination—what is hog, what is dog, what is brāhmaṇa, what is good, what is bad—because He is Absolute. But here we have to distinguish between the hog and the dog, at least so far the material body is concerned.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.152-154 -- New York, December 5, 1966:

Everything in relation to Kṛṣṇa. Matter is energy of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore energy and the energetic, not being different, so even in the material world he sees Kṛṣṇa. So for him, there is no matter, everything spiritual. Advaya-jñāna. There is no matter at all. Just like in Kṛṣṇa, he has no distinction what is matter, what is spirit, but in our conditioned stage we have got superior, inferior conception. But when we are also in the higher stage of the Absolute Truth, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54), when we are actually in such pure devotional service in Kṛṣṇa, then we will see that everything is Kṛṣṇa. For example, just like we take Kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Kṛṣṇa-prasādam, we respect prasādam. We offer obeisances before taking prasādam. Why? Because the prasādam is also Kṛṣṇa. So by taking prasādam, I am contacting Kṛṣṇa. By hearing Kṛṣṇa, I am contacting Kṛṣṇa. By working for Kṛṣṇa, I am contacting Kṛṣṇa. This is called Absolute.

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

Just like in this store. This whole thing is store. That's all right. But we have to take advantage of the store, not sitting in this, I mean to say, lighted(?)... You have to sit here. If you say, "That is also sitting place. Why not go there? And deliver the lecture from there?" No. We have to utilize here. So you have to take advantage of the best. 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.

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- New York, July 28, 1971:

Simply to serve Kṛṣṇa. This is the program. From early morning at four o'clock til night, ten a.m., p.m., they are all engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. This is called kevalayā. They have no other business. So this process is recommended for all. That is the perfection of all religious process. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharma yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That is first-class religion. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharma. Paro means transcendental. There are two things: parā and aparā, superior and inferior, material and transcendental. There are material dharmas, religious process. For some material gain, generally, people go to church, go to temple, some material gain. Just like in your church you pray, "God, give us our daily bread." Your daily bread is a material gain.

General Lectures

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 10, 1971:

We are enjoying or we are capturing this material energy. We are using in so many ways. Sayatana (?). Just (like) I am sitting on this material cushion or sitting on the material floor, using this material microphone or having material bedstead, car. In so many ways we are enjoying this material world, yaya. The same prakṛti. Both of them are prakṛtis, energy. One energy is called superior, and another energy is called inferior. Matter is inferior, and the living entities are superior. But in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, both of them are energies. The energies in their particular field of activities, superior or inferior... But still, in connection with Kṛṣṇa, because Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Absolute Truth, for Him, there is no such distinction, superior and inferior.

Lecture -- London, August 23, 1973:

So dharma means first-class dharma which teaches the followers how to know God, how to love Him. That is first-class religion. So etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ. Paraḥ means superior, not inferior. Or transcendental. So what is that? Bhakti-yogo bhagavati. Bhakti-yoga. This bhakti-yoga, devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is dharma. Bhakti-yogo bhagavati tan-nāma grahaṇādibhiḥ. And it begins by chanting the holy name of God. This is dharma. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is preaching the saṅkīrtana movement just to make the whole world to know God and how to love God. Thank you very much.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: That we say. Just like the sun is expressed by the sunshine, by the heat and light. We understand sun through all spreading heat and light. Similarly, we understand God, Kṛṣṇa, by His two energies. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, the material energy and the spiritual energy, two energies. The spiritual energy is described as superior energy, and material energy is described as inferior energy. Superior, inferior, that is in our consideration because we cannot understand. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has said. Otherwise there is only one energy, the superior spiritual energy. When the spiritual energy is covered by ignorance, then it is called material energy. Just like the sky, in the sky naturally it is clear but when there is cloud, we cannot see the sun. So sun is there. When we cannot see Kṛṣṇa, cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, that is material. Otherwise there is nothing material. Everything is spiritual.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Śyāmasundara: So even though there may be an evolution from simple to more complex, there's no evolution from inferior to superior.

Prabhupāda: That is not improvement. No. Now human society has become very complex. I don't trust you, you don't trust me. I keep my dog so that you may not come in my house—"Beware of Dogs"—and if you enter I can fire you, there is law. So what is this (indistinct)? Therefore we get from our śāstra that even you will receive your enemy at home, you will receive him so friendly way that he'll forget that you are his enemy. Gṛhaṁ satram api prāptaṁ visvastham akuto 'bhayam. He should feel himself so confidential that he's not near his enemy. His dealing and behavior are so nice. The morality is that "Whatever you may be, you have come to my house, you are my guest, so I must offer you all kinds of hospitality, never mind you are my enemy. Now you are my guest."

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Prabhupāda: So we are..., what we are? Inferior or superior? Kṛṣṇa conscious, we think ourselves as servant of God. Is that inferior or superior?

Śyāmasundara: Well, our practice is not unconscious.

Prabhupāda: No. We are conscious.

Śyāmasundara: We are conscious, so we do not rely on the complex to guide us, or an unconscious impulse to guide us.

Prabhupāda: No. We are not guided by impulse. We are guided directly, instruction from the superior.

Śyāmasundara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Our process is to acquire knowledge from the superior. We are not guided by these complexes.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 28, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Count, count. That's all. Analytically. What are the ingredients? Analytical studies. That is called saṅ-khyā, count. Suppose you take this sand. You count. It is called sāṅkhya. So, from the saṅkhyā, the word, it comes sāṅkhya, knowing analytically. This is sāṅkhya philosophy. So you are also sāṅkhya philosopher. Everyone is sāṅkhya philosopher. We are also sāṅkhya philosopher. Because we are counting the material elements, as Kṛṣṇa says: bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). We are analyzing: "This is land, this is water, this is air, this is sunshine, fire." Then I am counting with my mind, intelligence, ego. And further, I do not know. Kṛṣṇa says: "There is further." That is the living force. That they do not know. They are thinking: "Life is combination of these matters." But Kṛṣṇa says: "No." Apareyam. This is inferior. The superior energy is living entity. So we are also sāṅkhya philosopher. But we are taking direction from Kṛṣṇa, and they're making their own attempt. That is the difference. They're depending on their own intelligence.

Morning Walk -- May 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No, how can you say rascal? Then you are rascal immediately. There is so much difference. Then immediately you talk like rascal. There is difference. You have to accept superior, inferior. Just like two things. When you go to purchase something the shopkeeper gives you, "Here is superior." Although there is no difference, but there is difference of superiority and inferiority. That you have to accept. Therefore you pay more price to the superior. How there is no difference? This is another rascaldom. You have to distinguish between superior and inferior.

Morning Walk -- May 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That's all not. That not all. He is the superior, He is getting respect. Therefore he is not equal to you. You cannot say that. You may say... A rascal may say that "A superior person is as good as I am." But people will not accept it. People will say, "No, you are a rascal. He is an intelligent." Although you have got two hands, he has got two hands, that doesn't matter. So you must distinguish between superior and inferior. We say it is one, but superior and inferior.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But in other words, the matter cannot grow without a living force.

Prabhupāda: No, that is another branch of, I mean to say, accepting matter as life. We have to distinguish them, that life is superior than matter. That we have to accept. You cannot say both of them are all the same. No. We have to distinguish them as superior, inferior.

Morning Walk -- May 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That's a fact. I have several times explained that in higher sense there is no matter. Did I not? So life and matter equal, that can be accepted, but there is superior and inferior position. Just like Kṛṣṇa is life, I am also life. Kṛṣṇa is also person, I am also person. Kṛṣṇa has got... What Kṛṣṇa, propensities He has got, I have also got. Kṛṣṇa wants to love another girl, so I want to love. A girl wants to love another boy, so Rādhārāṇī wants to love Kṛṣṇa. So everything qualitatively are all equal, but Kṛṣṇa can marry at a time millions of wives. You cannot maintain even one wife. That is the position. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaḥ, Vedas say. That is the difference. He is life, I am also life. All the life symptoms, there is in Kṛṣṇa and there is in me, but still I am inferior, He is superior. And that is the law, that the inferior should be subordinately serving to the superior. Therefore we want to..., our business is to serve Kṛṣṇa, although qualitatively we are one. That inferior, superior, that is the difference between God and the living entity.

Morning Walk -- May 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: What is Kṛṣṇa consciousness? The human being is the same. But as soon as he feels that "There is Kṛṣṇa," he is spiritualist. As soon as he does not feel, he is materialist. That is the difference. It is the question of feeling. Matter means where there is absence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In other things there is also consciousness. Because there is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is material. And so far we are concerned, we have got the same consciousness, but Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore we are superior, spiritual. So this material world means this part, and spiritual world means this part. This is the difference. Here you have got feeling. So the conclusion is when you have feeling in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is spiritual, that is superior. When you have no feeling of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is inferior. The same thing can be turned into superior and inferior by the change of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: He's always with Kṛṣṇa. Simply he has forgotten. Have you not been with Kṛṣṇa? We are standing on this sand. The sand is Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's energy. We are standing by the water. This is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). Don't you read that? So is it different from Kṛṣṇa?

Yaśomatīnandana: No, but it is...

Prabhupāda: My body is also Kṛṣṇa's energy. I am also Kṛṣṇa's energy. I am always with Kṛṣṇa. Simply I have forgotten it.

Yaśomatīnandana: But this is Kṛṣṇa's inferior energy, right?

Prabhupāda: That may be. That is a comparative study, inferior or superior. But it is energy.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Biochemist, Dr. Sallaz -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: Hm. Yes. It is... This matter is also energy, and life is also energy. So according to Bhagavad-gītā, this life, or the living being, is superior energy, and the matter is inferior energy. So this living being is combination of the superior and inferior energy. But the superior energy is not matter. It is spirit.

Dr. Sallaz: Exactly.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And it is the... Both the energy are coming from God.

Dr. Sallaz: Exactly.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our study. So the living energy, the spirit soul, it has got a formation, formation, form. That is also stated in the śāstra, that 1/10,000th part of the top of the hair. Hair, the point, hair. (Yogeśvara translates in French) 1/10,000 part of the... The exact version is keśāgra. Keśa means hair, and agra means the top. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya (CC Madhya 19.140). So that point, you divide into hundred, and take again one part of it, and again divide into hundred. That means you divide the top of the hair into ten thousand parts and then that one part is the magnitude of the soul, spiritual energy.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Therefore it is superior energy, and the material energy, inferior energy. Just like in your body there are some inferior parts and some superior parts. But they are body, parts of the body. This part is superior part, and the rectum is inferior part. But that does not mean it does not form the constitution parts of your body. Otherwise how you become whole? Whole means comprising everything, superior, inferior. But comparatively, there is superior part, inferior part. So the material energy is also God's energy. And spiritual energy is also God's energy, but the spiritual energy is described here as superior energy, and the material energy is described here as inferior energy. But altogether, they are energies. So those who are expert devotees of God, they can utilize inferior energy for the purpose of superior energy. That is the proper utilization. Just like the same brick and stone is required for constructing an ordinary house, and the same brick and stone can be used for constructing a church.

Television Interview -- July 9, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: It is not the question of inferior or superior. Different. Now you take one inferior or superior. That is your calculation. But the bodily features are different. That is material. But spiritually, they are all one. Materially... Just like your bodily feature and a man's bodily feature is different. Now, so far question of inferior, superior, that is your calculation. But we say that by nature, a woman and man is different.

Woman reporter: What does this mean as far as whether women can do the same things that men can do, or whether women can lead people?

Prabhupāda: Well, women can bear children, but the man cannot. Is it possible to bear children? A man can become pregnant? Is it possible?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: "Prahlāda Mahārāja said, 'My dear King, the source of my strength, of which you are asking, is also the source of yours, by which you are challenging. Indeed, the original source of all kinds of strength is one. He is not only your strength or mine, but the only strength for everyone. Without Him, no one can get any strength, whether moving or not moving, superior or inferior. Everyone, including Lord Brahmā, is controlled by the strength of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.' "

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Yes. We have already explained, there are two energies. So if the energetic is eternal, the energy is also eternal. But the difference between the inferior and superior means one is manifested eternally and one is sometimes manifested, sometimes not manifested. That is inferior. The matter is sometimes manifested, sometimes not manifested. Just like the cloud. What is this cloud? Cloud is also manifestation of the energy of the sun, is it not? But it is sometimes manifested, sometimes not manifested. But the sunshine is always manifested. So that is the difference between the inferior and superior. Both of them are energies of the sun. But the cloud is sometimes manifested, sometimes not manifested. But the sunshine is always manifested. But as energy, they are coming from the same source.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Mind is subtle matter. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir.... Bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). They are separated five material energies. Apareyam. They are inferior. Those who are in the mental platform, they are also inferior. The so-called philosopher, scientist and others, they are on the mental platform. Therefore they're inferior. Apareyam. These eight elements, those who are dealing with these eight elements, apara, inferior. And they are advertising that "We are superior." "The spiritual consciousness is brainwashed. We are superior." This is the fault. Of the inferior position, they are claiming superior position. Apareyam itas tu... And Kṛṣṇa is giving practical example: "Apareyam: this is inferior. Beyond this there is a superior nature. What is that? Jīva bhūta." Immediately. And still the rascal cannot understand what is superior, inferior. (Indian lady converses in Hindi with Prabhupāda) Chase after them, "Get out! Get out! Your visa is finished." (Hindi) Hundred cases. Hundred times hundred.

Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: And they are getting Nobel Prize. Just see. Such rascals. And we say on the authority of Bhagavad-gītā, apareyam. This is inferior and that is superior. So how you can make superior with inferior ingredients?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Impossible. Without the superior touch the inferior cannot have any life.

Prabhupāda: That's a fact. They're seeing every moment.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Everything has movement... If it's matter it only moves because of some superior force, living force, pushing it or entering it or something.

Prabhupāda: The superior energy is utilizing inferior energy for His purpose. You are utilizing this inferior, the lump of matter, for serving my purpose. That is superior energy. It cannot use me for its purpose.

Correspondence

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Atreya Rsi -- London 13 August, 1971:

So far your service is concerned, you should understand that Krishna's service is absolute. Anything you do for Krishna in the standard of Krishna's service is Krishna also. So cleansing Krishna's temple and working on the altar of Krishna, etc. there is no difference. So don't consider in Krishna's service that something is higher and something is lower. Neither Krishna's servants are materially superior or inferior. So you should stick to your present service. That will be very nice.

Now immediately we have got a very big project to construct a temple at Mayapur, the birth site of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So you can contribute the sums for our Mayapur construction scheme. Sannyasis should not be given any money. They should manage themselves and maintain themselves by taking small alms from different persons—not a lump sum from one person.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bombay 19 January, 1975:

Thank you very much for doing your work so nicely. I was very pleased to receive the review on the 1st volume of the third canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam written by professor Mehta from the University of Windsor. If you can send more similar reviews on my books, I would very much appreciate it. I am keeping a folder on such things and we can print a small book to distribute that will contain such reviews so that people will see what a great impression our books have on the intelligentsia of the world.

Regarding your question about the controversial talks going on, this kind of talk is not befitting my advanced students. This is childish. In Krishna's service, there is no inferior and superior. Deity worship is just as important as book distribution. It is not material. As mentioned in the Bhagavatam.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bombay 19 January, 1975:

Sravanam kirtanam is the beginning—to chant and hear. Book distribution is under this category of sravanam kirtanam. The next item is smaranam. If somebody simply remembers the Supreme Lord, that is also as good as sravanam kirtanam. Then there is arcanam. That is also as good as the others, but one who simply becomes engaged in arcanam and does nothing of sravanam kirtanam, his position becomes in the material field. Any one of the nine processes is as good as the other. There is no question of inferior or superior. But out of all of them sravanam kirtanam is very important. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu while instructing Srila Rupa Gosvami, has said how the seed of devotional service sprouts and increases by watering the root by the process of sravanam kirtanam. So, these two items are very important in devotional service, but that does not mean that the other items are inferior. Srila Jiva Gosvami has stressed kirtanam especially in the age of Kali. Even if there is arcanam for sanctifying the contaminated mind, it must be accompanied by sravanam kirtanam.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bombay 19 January, 1975:

So, you are all advanced students. You should understand the importance of each and every item of devotional service. Do not make any misunderstanding by devaluating any of the spiritual activities. You are one of the advanced students. One who distinguishes a particular type of service as inferior or superior, he does not know the value of devotional service. It is all transcendental. Whatever item is suitable, that is accepted as very elevated. Just like Maharaja Pariksit. He simply listened to Sukadeva Gosvami. That is sravanam. And Sukadeva Gosvami simply narrated Srimad-Bhagavatam. This is kirtanam. Prahlada Maharaja simply contemplated—smaranam.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bombay 19 January, 1975:

Everyone should feel proud of becoming sincere servant of Krishna, but the pure devotee never minimizes the importance of other devotees. Krishna is the enjoyer of varieties of service. It is not stuck up with any particular type of service. Krishna takes pleasure with devotees even by fighting service. When Grandfather Bhisma was trying to injure the body of Krishna by sharpened arrows, in full devotion in the mellow of chivalry, Krishna was feeling the piercing of the arrows as good as worshiping him with soft rose flowers. The conclusion is that everyone should be very very sincere. There is no more the question of inferior or superior.

Page Title:Superior and inferior
Compiler:Matea
Created:08 of Sep, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=6, SB=21, CC=7, OB=7, Lec=32, Con=13, Let=5
No. of Quotes:91