View source for I'll cite one story. It is very interesting story. If you go to India, you'll find one nice temple in Orissa. It is called the temple of "Witness-Gopala," Saksi-Gopala, Witness-Gopala. This Gopala was situated in a temple at Vrndavana

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{{terms|"I'll cite one story. It is very interesting story. If you go to India, you'll find one nice temple in Orissa. It is called the temple of"|"Saksi-Gopala, Witness-Gopala. This Gopala was situated in a temple at Vrndavana"|"Witness-Gopala"}}
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[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1966 - 1977]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1966]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, Bhagavad-gita As It Is]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in USA, New York]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Stories]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonBG947NewYorkNovember241966_1" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="309" link="Lecture on BG 9.4-7 -- New York, November 24, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 9.4-7 -- New York, November 24, 1966">
<div class="heading">I'll cite one story. It is very interesting story. If you go to India, you'll find one nice temple in Orissa. It is called the temple of "Witness-Gopāla," Sākṣī-Gopāla, Witness-Gopāla. This Gopāla was situated in a temple at Vṛndāvana.
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<mp3player>https://s3.amazonaws.com/vanipedia/clip/661124BG.NY_clip.mp3</mp3player>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 9.4-7 -- New York, November 24, 1966|Lecture on BG 9.4-7 -- New York, November 24, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So the Lord says that "All these planets, all this universe, they are resting on My impersonal energy." So His energy is impersonal, but He is person. He is person. We have so many examples in our experience that a person, by his energy, he can play wonders, by his energy. But still, the person remains as person. Because he is expanding energy in various ways, he does not become imperson. So if a ordinary man in this world, he can expand his energy in various ways and at the same time, he can remain a person, why not the Supreme Personality of Godhead? So that, that impersonal feature of the Lord is His energy. But the Lord Himself is a person. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Just, just like we are persons, so He is also person. But He is the Supreme Person. We are all dependent person. That is the difference. He's the Supreme Person.</p>
<p>The Lord says again that na ca mat-sthāni, na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni paśya me yogam aiśvaram. Now, you can say, "Oh, Lord, He may be overburdened because He is bearing so many..." Just like, with our material conception... Just we see... We have seen the picture of Atlas: one stout man is bearing a big planet on his head. So we may think, "Oh, Lord is bearing so many big, huge planets on His shoulder. He must be troubled." No. The Lord says, na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni paśya me yogam aiśvaram: "Although they are in My energy, still they are not in Me." Paśya me yogam aiśvaram: "This is My mystic power." Paśya me yogam aiśvaram. Bhūta-bhṛn na ca bhūta-stho mamātmā bhūta-bhāvanaḥ: "I am maintaining all these living entities." Bhūta-bhṛt bhūta-sthaḥ. "And My energy is all-pervading. Still, I am not there." Paśya me yogam aiśvaram. This is His mystic power. Nanu rati-gurum bharam vahaste(?) mahan kheda syad iti cety aha, gatadau udaka aniva bhara-bhūtāni ca bhūtāni samsrsttani mayi na santi, tarhi mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtānity ukte viruddhe iti ceti tatraha paśyateti.(?)</p>
<p>So this is the wonderful power, inconceivable power, that He is in everywhere, but still, He is aloof, He's aloof from that place. We can feel His energy, but we cannot see because in this material eye we cannot see. But when we develop our spiritual quality—we sanctify our senses—then even within His energy we can see Him. Take for example. Just like electric power is transmitted everywhere. There is wiring. Now, if some electrician is there he can take electric power from anywhere and utilize the electricity. Similarly, His energy is spread all over the universe. When we are transcendentally situated, just like when we become the electrician, then from anywhere we can see God eye to eye. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38). That creation, spiritualization of the senses, is possible by devotional service and love. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). Therefore, as the Lord says, that mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam jagad avyakta-mūrtinā, the Lord is all-pervading all over the universe. Therefore He is within the stone, He is within the earth, He is within the water, He is within the air—everywhere. Therefore, if we make an image of God from anything, either of water, either of stone, either of anything, oh, that is not doll. That is also God. If we have got sufficient devotion, that image also will speak with me, because God is everywhere. Mayā tatam idam sarvam: "I am spread all over, impersonal." But if we make His personal form from anything, either from the stone or from earth or from wood or from anything, or if we create an image of God within myself... There are eight kinds of images recommended in the śāstra, in the Vedic literatures. So any kind of images can be worshiped because God is everywhere.</p>
<p>Now, you can say that why God should be worshiped in images, not in His original form, spiritual form? Yes. That may be a question. But I cannot see spiritual form. That is my difficulty. My senses are so imperfect that I cannot see God immediately in His spiritual form. Therefore, out of His causeless mercy, He appears before you as you can see you, Him. We cannot see just now with our material eyes except stone, earth, wood, something tangible. Therefore He becomes... These forms are called arcāvatāra, incarnation of arcā, conveniently presented by the Supreme Lord so that we can actually see. But the result will be that in the image, if you concentrated your energy, and if you love and offer your, I mean to say, devotion, this will be responded, even from that image.</p>
<p>There are many instances, very many instances. I'll cite one story. It is very interesting story. If you go to India, you'll find one nice temple in Orissa. It is called the temple of "Witness-Gopāla," Sākṣī-Gopāla, Witness-Gopāla. This Gopāla was situated in a temple at Vṛndāvana. Now, two brāhmaṇas, one young and one old, they went to visit Vṛndāvana, the place of pilgrimage, and the old man... Because at that time there was no railway, the journey was very hardship. The old man felt very obliged, and he began to say to the young man, "My dear boy, you have done so much nice service to me. I am obliged to you. So I must return that service. I must give you some reward." So the young man said, "Oh, my dear sir, you are old man. You are just like my father. So it is my duty to serve you, to give you all comforts. I don't require any reward." Formerly, the boys were so gentle. And still, there are many boys like that. So the old man also thought that "No, I am obliged to you. I must reward you." So he promised that "I shall get you married with my youngest daughter." Now, the old man was very rich man, and the young man was not rich. He was poor. Although he was brāhmaṇa, learned. So he said that "You are promising. You don't promise this because your kinsmen, your family men will not agree. I am poor man, and you are rich man. You are aristocratic. So it will be not. This marriage will not take place. Don't promise in that way before the Deity. It is not good because Deity is there." But he was firm faith that "Kṛṣṇa is hearing," because the talks were going on in the temple. "So it will not be fulfilled." "No." The old man became still more persistent. "No, my daughter I shall offer you. Who can forbid me?"</p>
<p>So in this way, when they came back, one day the old man proposed to his eldest son that "Your youngest sister should be married with that boy. That I have promised." Oh, the eldest son of that old man become very angry: "Oh, how you have selected that boy to be husband of my sister? He's unfit. He's poor man. He's not so educated. Oh, this cannot take place." He did not agree. Then the mother of the girl, he(she) came to the old man: "Oh, if you get my daughter married with that boy, then I shall commit suicide." Now the old man is perplexed. Then, one day, the boy was anxious that "The old man promised before the Deity. Now he is not coming." So he... One day he came to his house: "Well, my dear sir, you promised before the Lord, Kṛṣṇa, and you are not fulfilling your promise? How is that?" The old man was silent because he was praying to Kṛṣṇa that "I am now perplexed. If I persist in offering this daughter to this boy, now there will be great trouble in my family." So he was silent. So, in the meantime, the eldest son came out and he began to quarrel with: "Oh, you, you plundered my father in the place of pilgrimage. You gave him some LSD or something, (laughter) intoxication. You took all the money from my father. Now you say that he has promised to offer you my youngest sister. You fool!" He began to say like that.</p>
<p>Then all the neighboring gentlemen, they: "Oh, what is the trouble? Here there is so much howling." "This is the... Do you think, sir, that this boy is fit for my sister? We are aristocratic family and this and that...," so on. So the young man said... Young man could understand the old man is still agreeable, but these, his sons and family members, as he suggested, they are not agreeable. So he explained the whole thing before all the gentlemen who came, that "This is the fact. Now, he promised. Now, for the sake of his son and wife, he cannot fulfill his promise. This was a promise before the Lord." In the meantime, the old man's eldest son... He was atheist. He voluntarily says, "Well, if your God comes and gives witness, then I shall offer my sister to you." But he was confident that God will come. He said, "Yes. I shall ask God. I shall ask Kṛṣṇa to come and give witness." So... Now, before all gentlemen this was done. Then the young man said, "All right, let us now come to agreement that I shall call Kṛṣṇa from Vṛndāvana to give witness in this matter, and when He comes, you'll have to." All the other gentlemen, they also persisted. So there was some agreement. So this boy went again to Vṛndāvana to his Gopāla, and he prayed that "Sir, You have to go with me." He was so staunch devotee, just like talking with friend. He did not think that He's a statue; it is image. He knew God. That was his conviction. So God said, "How do you think that a statue can go with you? I am a statue. I cannot go." Then this boy replied, "Well, if a statue can speak, He can go also." (laughter) Then Kṛṣṇa said, "All right, I shall go with you." Then there was some arrangement that "You will not see Me, but I will go with you. I'll go with you, and you hear, you'll hear the sound of My nūpura." A nūpura is an instrument which is fixed up in the leg of Kṛṣṇa. It sounds like "Ching, ching, ching, ching," just like that. So He was going with him, and daily he was offering some foodstuff, taking alms from the village. In this way he was coming, but when he came in the precincts of the village, of his own village, he could not hear the sound of the nūpura. So he saw back: "Oh, where is Kṛṣṇa?" He saw that statue there, the statue standing.</p>
<p>So he informed all the villagers that Lord has come to be witness, and... It is about some thousands years before this thing happened. People were convincing: "Yes. There was no... Such a big statue, this boy could not bring." So they believed, and there was a temple constructed by the king of that country. And still that temple is there, and it is named, the Lord is named, as Sākṣī-Gopāla. Sākṣī-Gopāla. Gopāla means... Gopāla is the name of Kṛṣṇa's boyhood. So because He came to give witness in that controversy, so that temple is still there. So the whole idea is the statue, statue... Because God is everywhere. So He's also in statue. God is everywhere. How can you say that He's not in statue? He's also in statue. So it is my devotion, it is my qualification, that I can induce that statue to speak with me. Just like the same way—if I am electrician, then I can fit any electrical instrument or machine or light from the electric energy which is all over—similarly, God's energy, He is present everywhere...</p>
<p>When we are advanced in spiritual consciousness, then we can see God everywhere. Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā ([[Vanisource:BG 9.4 (1972)|BG 9.4]]). So He is everywhere, and He is not everywhere also. Just like you have got this post box. The post box means the Post Office. You put your letter. It will go to the destination because it is authorized. Similarly, the authorized Deity, established in a temple, that is worshiped by thousands and thousands of men in India still. There was an occasion to worship the temple of Jagannātha at Purī. In one day about 600,000 people assembled there, in one day. So still, India, they have got this faith, and they worship the Deity in the temple. There are thousands and thousands of temples. And they receive the result. They are happy. So if we are prepared to accept these things and do according to the devotional rules and regulation, then it will be possible for us to see God anywhere and everywhere. It requires our own qualification.</p>
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