Supreme Person (Lectures, Other)

Expressions researched:
"approach all these five supreme persons" |"supreme person" |"supreme persons"

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 23, 1972:

The spiritual master is worshiped as good as the Supreme Person. Sākṣād dharitvena. This is not artificial, but in all the śāstras, this is recommended. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ **. Those who are learned devotees, advanced devotees, they also accept this that spiritual master should be treated as good as Hari, the Supreme Person. Why? Now...

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 4, 1973:

Yes. Supreme beloved, Kṛṣṇa. Supreme Person, supreme beautiful, supreme rich, supreme famous, supreme wise. Everything supreme. We love somebody, or, out of these six opulences, if one opulence is there... Suppose one man is very rich and charitable, we love him. And... Just think over how Kṛṣṇa is rich and how He's charitable. He is giving His charity, He's distributing foodstuff, millions and millions of living entities every day. We are taking prou..., pride if we can feed, say, hundred, two hundred, five hundred, two thousand. But just imagine.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 28, 1972:

When we speak of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa means all Viṣṇu forms, all Viṣṇu forms. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu, kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavad paramaḥ pumān yo (Bs. 5.39). All incarnations, they are also Kṛṣṇa, expansion of Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa, this Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, He's the Supreme Person. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). So these things are explained in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, as they are in the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The summary, the juice of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, devotional service is given in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. We have translated this book as Nectar of Devotion. And you'll be pleased to hear that in some of the universities in U.S.A. this book has been recommended as study book in the religious class. They're now reading regularly.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972:

Therefore if we receive knowledge from Arjuna or his disciplic succession, then our knowledge is perfect. Kṛṣṇa..., Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Brahman: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). So if we accept the version of Arjuna, that Kṛṣṇa is Paraṁ Brahman, He's the Supreme Person, He's the origin of everything, then our knowledge is perfect. I may be imperfect, but because I receive knowledge from a perfect person, my knowledge is perfect. This is called paramparā system.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.1 -- Mayapur, March 25, 1975:

We cannot approach Kṛṣṇa directly. We should approach through guru. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). That is the injunction of the śāstra, that one should approach the guru who can transfer the service from the disciple to the Supreme Person. So... Therefore the first offering is guru, vande gurūn. Then guru creates many devotees. Guru's business is to canvass on behalf of Supreme Lord. That is guru's business. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), so, "You give up all material, engage..." Sarva-dharmān means in the material world we have created so many so-called duties.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.1 -- Mayapur, March 25, 1975:

Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). These few words, if you simply understand... Blindly or openly, it doesn't matter. Because if you touch fire, either blindly or openly, it will act. It will act. It is not that because I blindly accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Person, that will not act. No, it will act. Even if you have accepted Kṛṣṇa blindly, it will act. Because the thing is the same. Either you accept in open eyes or blind eyes. So similarly, if you accept this theory—it is not theory; this is fact, that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead—these few words, then you are advanced student, immediately. Take it from me, that simply this conviction, that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead," then you are advanced student in spiritual life.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.1 -- Mayapur, March 25, 1975:

One in this sense, they are all interested how to push on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He's trying personally, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And Nityānanda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, Śrīvāsa, Gadādhara, they are trying to help. So..., and to approach all these five supreme persons, you require the help of guru. Therefore the guru is offered first the respectful prayers, vande gurūn. And gurūn, bahu-vacana, plural number, that many gurus. But they are not many; they are one, guru-tattva. Just like Kṛṣṇa has many forms, but that does not mean Kṛṣṇa is different. No. Kṛṣṇa is one.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.5 -- Mayapur, March 29, 1975:

We should know this, that in the spiritual world, to remain as girlfriend and boyfriend, that is the topmost pleasure, and in the material world, the same thing is the most abominable thing. Therefore it is adho-śākha. We cannot imitate the loving affairs of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī unless we understand the real fact.

The real fact is described here, that rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktiḥ. Śaktiḥ means potency. So from Vedas we understand that the Lord, the Supreme Person, has got multi-energies.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.5 -- Mayapur, March 29, 1975:

There are twelve kinds of rasas, mellow. Of all of them, the ādi-rasa... Ādi-rasa means the loving affair between man and woman. This is called ādi-rasa. So, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains, janmādy asya means the ādi-rasa, loving affairs between man and woman, that is from the Supreme Person. That's a fact. Unless the loving propensity is there in the Supreme, how it can be reflected? Because this is perverted reflection only, so there must be the origin. So the Māyāvādī philosophers, they cannot understand this. Because they have got bitter experience of this material world, they try to make zero or without any varieties the ultimate goal. Śūnyavādi. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.5 -- Mayapur, March 29, 1975:

When he is describing Kṛṣṇa's pastimes with the cowherd boys, so Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, "These cowherd boys are playing with the Supreme Person who is the source of brahma-sukha." Itthaṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā. And for the devotees... There are two kinds of transcendentalist: one Brahmavādi and other, Vaiṣṇava. A Vaiṣṇava takes this philosophy, that we are servant. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). And the Māyāvādī philosophers, they imperfectly think that they have become one with the Supreme, they have become Nārāyaṇa. That is a misleading philosophy. We should not accept that.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.7 -- Mayapur, March 9, 1974:

Swamijī has brought in saṅkīrtana." That also they admit. Yes. So God cannot be dead. If we are not ever dead—na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20)—how God can be dead? That is another foolishness. God cannot be dead. Nitya. Then there is no meaning of nitya. So this is the position of Kṛṣṇa; He is the Supreme Person, supreme ruler without any competitor. Advitīya, no competition. Here we have got competition, but Kṛṣṇa there is no competition. There cannot be any competition. You cannot say that Lord Śiva or Lord Brahmā or any other demigods, they are also as good as Kṛṣṇa, equally. No. That is not possible. Then he would not have used this word advitīya. There cannot be any competition. If somebody puts any competitor before Kṛṣṇa, he's a pāṣaṇḍī.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.7 -- Mayapur, March 9, 1974:

"Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Person, if one compares with Nārāyaṇa with such exalted demigods like Lord Śiva, Lord Brahma...," brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ, "what to speak of other Indra, Candra—they are nothing in comparison to Brahmā. Brahmā is the creator of this universe. So even such creator, even so powerful demigod as Lord Śiva, cannot be compared with Kṛṣṇa." Advitīya. Cannot be compared. That is pāṣaṇḍī. Sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam. So those who are comparing, "All the demigods and Kṛṣṇa, they are on the same level. You can worship anyone," they are all rascals. Because here it is said advitīya, Kṛṣṇa cannot be compared with anyone else. That is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). They may be īśvara. Lord Śiva may be īśvara, Lord Brahmā may be īśvara, but they cannot be parama īśvara. That is not possible. Parameśvara is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1).

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.106-107 -- San Francisco, February 13, 1967:

How he can become imperson?" although I have not seen it. So these require, janmādy asya yataḥ... Vedānta-sūtra says that "from whom everything is emanated." So He's not imperson. Therefore Bhāgavata explains this verse, this sūtra, very nicely. Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ (SB 1.1.1). That Supreme Person, God, is cognizant. He's sentient, not imperson, because He knows everything. Because everything is... Just like your father knows almost everything of you because he has created you. This is crude example. But He's perfect. We fathers, we are not perfect. But He's perfect.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967:

That is māyā. That is māyā.

Similarly, there are other statements. Sa vṛkṣaḥ kalaḥ kṛtibhiḥ paro 'nyat yasmād prapañca-parivartateyaṁ dharmavahaṁ pāpamaruddham. Then another statement, vedāham etat puruṣaṁ mahāntam āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastād, that vedāham: "I understand that Supreme Person." Vedāham. Vedāham means "I understand." Puruṣa. He's again puruṣa. In the Bhagavad-gītā also you'll find, when Arjuna is recognizing Kṛṣṇa, he said, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān puruṣam (BG 10.12). Again puruṣam. So God is never woman. The foolish person who says that God is, can be worshiped as woman, as mother... No.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.113-17 -- San Francisco, February 22, 1967:

So there are so many statements in the Upaniṣads about the Absolute Truth being the Supreme Person. Patiṁ patīnāṁ paramaṁ parastāt mahān prabhur vai puruṣaḥ parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate... (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). This, this, up to this we discussed yesterday. So parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate. This is from Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad. So the commentator says that in the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad it is stated, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate: "That Supreme Personality of Godhead's energies are variously manifested." Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.113-17 -- San Francisco, February 22, 1967:

So He says that "Jīva, the living entities, they are in the categories of energy. They are not energetic." Energetic and energy, you should try to understand. Just like the fire, fire and its heat. Heat is the energy, and the fire is the energetic. Similarly, the Supreme Lord, He is the energetic, Supreme Person, and we, the living entities, we are energy. But as you cannot separate energy and energetic separately... Wherever there is energy, wherever there is fire, there is heat also. You cannot separate the fire... So as soon as we are separated, that is our conditional state. How we are separated? Just like the sparks of the fire, as soon as he's come out of the fire and falls down on the ground, it loses its illumination immediately. Immediately. That illuminating spark which was dancing with the fire, as soon as falls down, it becomes black, charcoal. It is just like carbon.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.119 -- Gorakhpur, February 17, 1971:

That is deficiency of knowledge. But anything has length and breadth. That is a fact.

So nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). This Vedic version, Upaniad, means that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person and we are also persons. We are... What is our position? Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. We are dependent persons, and He is the maintaining person. So your position is always dependent. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). That is the version of Lord Caitanya. And Kṛṣṇa also says.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.119 -- Gorakhpur, February 17, 1971:

You are dependent on the government. These things are very easy to understand. Similarly, a living entity has got independence, but not full independence. He cannot do anything without the sanction of God. That is his dependence. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭa. "I am sitting there." The living entity and the Supreme Person as Paramātmā, both of them are sitting in this body. That is explained in the Upaniṣad. Two birds are sitting in the same tree. One bird is eating, and one bird is witnessing. Anumantā upadraṣṭā. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, anumantā.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.149-50 -- Gorakhpur, February 13, 1971:

So here the Absolute Truth, when He is realized as the Supreme Person, as Brahmā is realizing, yan-mitram... He is realizing that Kṛṣṇa, who is playing as a cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana, and He has become the most intimate friend of the residents of Vṛndāvana, headed by Nanda Mahārāja... Nanda Mahārāja was the zamindar rāja. He was vaiśya. He had 900,000's of cows, and he was the head of Vṛndāvana. All other cowherds men were his tenants or friends or family members. So Kṛṣṇa automatically became their very, very dear friend. That is the significance of the residents of Vṛndāvana. They... Their love for Kṛṣṇa was so ecstatic that they did not know anything except Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.149-50 -- Gorakhpur, February 13, 1971:

He is not a person like any one of us. Therefore He is confirmed by the Vedas, apāṇi-pāda javano grahītā: "This Absolute Truth has no leg or hand; still, He can walk very swiftly and He can accept anything you offer." That means His hands and legs are not like ours. That is transcendental. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is trying to explain before Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya that the Absolute Truth is a person, a person like you and me. Cetana... Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is the Supreme Person, the chief person. We are all also individuals, Kṛṣṇa is also individual, but He is the chief and we are subordinate. That is the way.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.112 -- Bombay, November 24, 1975:

So such a small particle, atomic particle of the Supreme Lord, has got so much potencies. We see different varieties of life, different intelligence all over the world. What is that? Potency. So if we have got so much potencies, just imagine what Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person, has got, potency.

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

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

Either you go through this process to come to the platform of your spiritual understanding, or kecid, those who are fortunate, kecid kevalayā bhaktyā, the same result is open. Sometimes other people, the so-called yogis, jñānīs, karmīs, or followers of religious, ritualistic ceremonies, they think, "How it is possible that these Hare Kṛṣṇa people have become so quickly self-realized simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, without undergoing so many processes?" That is the gift of Lord Caitanya. Caitanya, Lord Caitanya seeing, or Lord Kṛṣṇa... Lord Caitanya, Kṛṣṇa—the same person. Kṛṣṇa is Supreme Person; Lord Caitanya is the same Supreme Person, but He's teaching us how to approach the Supreme Person. Just like sometimes my disciple is massaging my body, I take his hand and show him: "Do like this."

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

Outside jail, they are not criminals; they are lawful. Similarly there is spiritual world and material world, and everywhere God is providing food, either in the spiritual world or material world, for everyone. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. The Vedas says that one person, Supreme Person, is supplying food to this many living entities, bahūnām. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. So for fulfillment of your material desires, you need not go to God. That is, that arrangement is already there.

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- Bombay, January 3, 1973:

So he has explained about Kṛṣṇa by his experience, by his realization.

In the Vedānta-sūtra, Kṛṣṇa is described, janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) the Supreme Person from whom everything has emanated. So that Kṛṣṇa has confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2). Devānām means in the beginning there was Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. And Kṛṣṇa is ādi of these devas also. Aham ādir hi devānām. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo: "Everything has emanated from Me."

Festival Lectures

Sri Gaura-Purnima Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.38 -- Mayapur, March 16, 1976:

"Who is this person ordering like that, Sarva-dharmān parityajya? What right?" That is our material disease. If somebody is ordered to do something, he protests, "Who are you to order me?" This is the position. God Himself, Kṛṣṇa, what can He say? He orders, the Supreme Person, Supreme Being. He must order. He's the supreme controller. He must order. That is God. But we are so foolish that when God orders that "You do this," we take it otherwise: "Oh, who is this man? He's ordering like that. And sarva-dharmān parityajya, 'giving up everything'? Why shall I give Him?" Sarva-dharmān: "I have created so many dharmas, 'isms.' I shall give it up? Why shall I give it up?" Therefore the same Lord came again as Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 16, 1968:

The point is how can these individual entities exist except as the shadow of the perfect entity, God? Of course, we can understand from the Bhagavad-gītā or Vedic literatures that living entities are atomic particles of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as such they reflect the potencies of that Supreme Person.

So because Kṛṣṇa has personality and because Kṛṣṇa has individuality, we have individuality. Kṛṣṇa's existence, because He is perfect, is the most certain.

Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 30, 1968:

He appears as human being, that is māyā. māyā means actually He is not an ordinary man. He is the Supreme Personality of God, but the rascals they think that "Because Rāma and Kṛṣṇa has appeared like one of us, He is a man, He's an ordinary man." This is the version of the rascals. That Rāma, especially there is a class who are known as Ārya-samājīs. They do not agree that the Supreme Person can, Supreme God can appear as Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. They do not know that although He appeared as one of us in the form of human body, He is not a human being. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore it is called rāmākhya, māyā mānuṣya hari. He is the Hari... Hari means the Supreme Personality of Godhead who can give you all pleasure, taking all your miserable condition. He is Hari.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Bombay, December 22, 1975:

The yoga means controlling the senses. Without controlling the senses you cannot practice any yoga. Nowadays it has become a fashion, meditation yoga, but that is not bona fide. That is not only (not) bona-fide; that is farce. Real yoga is controlling the senses and concentrating the mind to the Supreme Person. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). That is the... And farce yogi is going like that.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

"Brāhmaṇa means one who knows the Absolute Truth, Brahman." He is brāhmaṇa. But that is not very fixed up. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). Brahman is impersonal effulgence, and then further progress, realization of the localized aspect, Paramātmā, Antaryāmī, and finally, understanding the Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa, Supreme Person, that is the final understanding.

So people cannot understand that how the Supreme, the origin of everything, can be a person. That is their difficulty. Because they are thinking, "A person, God? How it is possible. God is great, and He is the creator of everything. How a person can do that?" Yes. That is the Vedic version.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Lecture -- Dallas, March 3, 1975:

So I am very much pleased to see the atmosphere here. Education means Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is education. If simply we understand that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person. He is great, and we are all subordinate. So our duty is to serve Kṛṣṇa," these two lines, if we understand, then our life is perfect. If we simply learn how to worship Kṛṣṇa, how to please Him, how to dress Him nicely, how to give Him nice foodstuff, how to decorate Him with ornaments and flowers, how to offer our respectful obeisances unto Him, how to chant His name, in this way, if we simply think, without any so-called education we become the perfect person within the universe. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It doesn't require A-B-C-D education.

Arrival Address -- Mauritius, October 1, 1975:

So if we concentrate our mind by controlling the senses, then we can gradually understand. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). The yogis, they meditate upon the Supreme Person, Viṣṇu, and by that process they realize the self. Self-realization is the prime object of human life. So the beginning of self-realization is to understand that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi.

Initiation Lectures

Initiations and Lecture Sannyasa Initiation of Sudama dasa -- Tokyo, April 30, 1972:

So sannyāsa, sannyāsa, the derivative meaning is sat-nyās. Sat means the Supreme Truth. Oṁ tat sat. Here in this material world everything is relative truth. Nothing is Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Absolute Truth is a person like us, but He is the Supreme Person. That is the Vedic information. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Nitya means eternal. We living entities, we are all eternal. That is very nicely explained in Bhagavad-gītā. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Those who under the impression that after finishing annihilation of this body, everything is finished, they are not in perfect knowledge. The living entity continues to exist either in this body or in another body.

Excerpt from Sannyasa Initiation of Viraha Prakasa Swami -- Mayapur, February 5, 1976:

'One who works devotedly for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa is a sannyāsī.' The dress is not sannyāsa, but the attitude of service to Kṛṣṇa is. The word paramātmā niṣṭhā means being a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Parātmā-vigraha. Parātmā, the Supreme Person, is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Those who are completely dedicated to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa in service are actually sannyāsīs. As a matter of formality, the devotee accepts the sannyāsa dress as previous ācāryas did. He also accepts the three daṇḍas. Later, Viṣṇu Svāmī considered that accepting the dress of a tridaṇḍa was parātma-niṣṭhā. Therefore sincere devotees add another daṇḍa, the jīva daṇḍa, to the three existing daṇḍas.

Wedding Ceremonies

Paramananda & Satyabhama's Wedding -- Montreal, July 22, 1968:

And praṇaya-keli-kalā-vilāsam: "And He is engaged in transcendental, conjugal love, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa." So this love which is in our experience within this material world, man and woman, it is not unnatural. It is in God also there. And the Brahma-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra, in the beginning says that "Who is Brahman, the Supreme Person or the Absolute Truth?" Athāto brahma jijñāsā, questioning "What is that Absolute Truth?" The answer is janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates." Very simple definition. That means the fountainhead of everything, the source of everything. Therefore here in this material world we see that the attraction for man and woman, woman's attraction for man, man's attraction for woman, is so prominent.

Wedding Ceremony and Lecture -- Boston, May 6, 1969:

So everyone is hankering after that pure, joyful life, but he does not know where to get it. That is the defect. That information we are giving. Here is the life. You just try to approach Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and you'll have full life of enjoyment. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). In the Vedānta-sūtra it is stated that the Supreme Person, the Supreme Lord, is full of enjoyment. He's not morose. He's not old. He is not without a joyful life. He is full of joyful life. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to transfer everyone to that platform of full joyful life. So in order to give them facility for acquiring this highest goal of life, we have introduced the marriage... The marriage system is there also according to our Vaiṣṇava smṛti.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, September 27, 1968:

When there is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, this Hare Kṛṣṇa, this vibration, is not different from Kṛṣṇa. Everything is absolute. Therefore pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. This is simultaneously one and different. Acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. This philosophy has to be understood, that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person energetic, and everything, what we see, what we experience, they are all different energies of Kṛṣṇa. And the energy and the energetic cannot be separated. Therefore they are all on the absolute platform. Simply when it is covered by māyā or ignorance, it is different. That's all.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 2, 1968:

The Supreme Lord is situated in one place. That we cite in our Brahma-saṁhitā: govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. He's a person. Just like your President, Mr. Johnson, he's sitting in his room in Washington, but his power, his energy, is acting all over the state. If it is possible materially, similarly Kṛṣṇa, or God, the Supreme Person, He is situated in His place, abode, Vaikuṇṭha or kingdom of God, but His energy is acting. Another example, the sun. The sun, you can see sun is located at a certain place, but you see the sunshine is overflooding the whole universe. The sunshine is within your room. So similarly, whatever you are using, you yourself also, we are all display of the energy of the Supreme Lord. We are not different from Him. But when the cloud of māyā or illusion covers my eye, we cannot see the sun. Similarly, when the material concept of life covers me, we cannot understand what is God. We say God is dead.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 2, 1968:

That Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is Śyāmasundara. Śyāmasundara. Śyāma means blackish but very, very beautiful. That beautiful person, Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa, is being observed and seen by saintly persons always. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena. Why they are seeing? Because their eyes have been cleared by the ointment of love of God. Just like if your eyes are defective, you apply some ointment, some lotion from the physician, and your eyesight becomes clear and bright, you can see things very nicely. Similarly, when your, these material eyes will be ointmented with love of God, then you'll see God, "Here is God." You will not say God is dead.

Lecture to College Students -- Seattle, October 20, 1968, Introduction by Tamala Krsna:

This is natural, because the love is there. But we have created certain circumstances that love is being frustrated. Why? Everyone is frustrated. Husband, wife, boys, girls, man to man, states to states, everywhere, the love is not being utilized properly. Why? The missing point is that we have forgotten to love the Supreme Person. That is the disease.

So the purpose of religion is to train persons how to love God. That is the purpose of all religion. Either you take Christianism or Hinduism or any "ism," the purport is that you try to love God, because that is our natural inclination. Even in uncivilized society, when there is some thunderbolt, they immediately offer obeisances. That is natural. And in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6).

Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 4, 1968:

Why cow is loved by Him? Why not another animal? There are many other animals. Why particularly cow? Because cow protection is the most important business of the human society. In offering obeisances to Kṛṣṇa, it is said, namo brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca: "I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Person, who is the protector of the brāhmaṇas and the cows." Go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca jagad-dhitāya. The first qualification is that He protects the brāhmaṇas and the cows. Next, He protects the whole world. Jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇa. And He is Kṛṣṇa, govindāya, this Govinda.

Press Release -- Los Angeles, December 22, 1968:

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement maintains the (sic:) speciality of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul. From the Vedic Upaniṣads we can understand that both the Supreme Person, or God, and the individual person are eternal and living entities. The difference is that the supreme living entity, or Supreme Person, maintains all the innumerable living entities. In the Christian way of understanding, the same principle is admitted because in the Bible it is taught that the individual entities should pray to the supreme father for supplying means of maintenance and giving pardon for their sinful activities.

Lecture Excerpt -- New York, April 11, 1969:

Not only in the bygone ages, just like Nārada, Vyāsa, but in the recent ages, within, say, one thousand years. Within one thousand years, there happened to be many great scholars, just like Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Lord Caitanya. They were very, very learned scholars. They have accepted Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Person... Even Śaṅkarācārya. Śaṅkarācārya is more than one thousand years ago. Śaṅkarācārya's time is just after Buddha's age. Buddha, 2,500. Śaṅkarācārya, about 1,500 years ago. He also accepted. Although he was impersonalist, he accepted, sa bhagavān svayam kṛṣṇa. "Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has come, has descended as the son of Vasudeva and Devakī." He has clearly mentioned.

Lecture Engagement and Prasada Distribution -- Boston, April 26, 1969:

There is no, I mean to say, difference between the Supreme Person and His name. Just like in the material conception there is difference. If you want water, simply by chanting, "water, water," your satisfaction will not be there. But in the spiritual world, everything being absolute, there is no difference between the name Kṛṣṇa and the person Kṛṣṇa. Therefore by... And it is the easiest process for you. You can chant this name "Kṛṣṇa." That means by sound contact, you contact the Supreme Person. That is a point of realization. You have to practice it, and you know it really.

Lecture -- London, September 26, 1969:

So these are gradual processes, but... Just like if you actually serious about studying the sun subject matter, then you have to study the sunlight, then sun globe, then enter into sun planet and try to understand; similarly, if you want to understand the Absolute Truth, you have to make progress in that way: Brahman realization, Paramātmā realization, then personal, Bhagavān realization. The crude example: as in the sun there is a supreme person, Sūrya-nārāyaṇa, or the predominating deity in the sun globe, and then the sun globe is there, and then the sunlight is there, similarly, Absolute Truth means the, in the beginning, the Supreme Personality of Godhead—person—and then His plenary expansion.

Lecture at Harvard University -- Boston, December 24, 1969:

And at that stage, you can see God also. You can talk with God also. Just like in the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). You have... Most of you know the yoga. The yoga system means to see the Supreme Person, or the Absolute Truth, or the Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, within your heart. That is the perfection of yoga. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yam... Dhyānāvasthita, by meditation, one can see. So this perfectional stage can be achieved when you are in the brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, Brahman realization stage. So Lord Caitanya said that if you chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the first installment of your gain will be that your heart, which is contaminated now with so many materialistic dust, it will be cleansed.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 6, 1971:

What is mukti? Mukti means when one gives up his engagement, activities, hitvā anyathā rūpam, identifying himself with something material, and he is engaged in his own original, constitutional position, and that is called mukti. The original constitutional position is every living entity is a part and parcel of the Supreme Person. I have given you several times example. This is stated in the śāstras also. Just like this finger is my part and parcel of this body. It is the duty of the finger to serve the whole body. I want to do like that; the finger helps me. That is the duty of the finger. If the finger cannot do it, then it is to be understood that he is diseased. It is diseased.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, July 20, 1971:

He accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His spiritual master, Nārada, he accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His spiritual master, Brahmā, he accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Person. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1), Brahmā says. "The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa." Īśvara. Īśvara means controller. We are controller, everyone. Nobody can say that "I am without controller." No, that is not possible. Everyone has got a controller. However big officer you may be, you have a controller over your head. But Kṛṣṇa has no controller; therefore He is God. He is controller of everyone, but He has no controller; therefore He's God. So there are many so-called Gods nowadays. Very... God has become very cheap, especially they are imported from India. They are not manufactured in here. You are fortunate.

Lecture -- Bombay, March 19, 1972:

He sometimes gives me direction that "Yes, you forget like this." And anyone who wants to remember Kṛṣṇa, to revive Kṛṣṇa consciousness, He helps you also. This is Kṛṣṇa. Why? Because we are parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is fully independent. That is also explained here-abhijñaḥ svarāṭ. Svarāṭ means fully independent. The Absolute Truth, the Supreme Person, is fully independent. Not only conscious, abhijñaḥ, but He is independent. But we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa; therefore the quality of independence of Kṛṣṇa is there, but in minute quantity. Our independence and Kṛṣṇa's independence is not the same.

Lecture at Christian Monastery -- Melbourne, April 6, 1972:

Generally, the jñānīs, the philosophers, the speculators, by dint of their own knowledge, they realize the Absolute Truth in His impersonal Brahman feature. And those who are yogis, they realize this God, the Supreme Lord, as Paramātmā within the heart. And those who are devotees, they realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the Supreme Person. But the Paramātmā and impersonal Brahman and this person God, they are all the same thing.

Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:

This word should be interpreted like this." So, "This fight of interpretation will not save you. Better from the very beginning you worship Govinda. That will save you." This is his instruction. Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate. And so far we are concerned, Vaiṣṇavas, we all accept govinda, ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi, Govinda, the Supreme Person, the original Personality Godhead, govindam.

Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:

hese are the Vedic versions, that highest yogi... There are many kinds of yogis. The topmost yogi is he who... Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gata āntarātmanā. The yogis, they try to find out by samādhi the Supreme Person within the heart... Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). Yogi's, yogi's business is dhyānāvasthita, in meditation, in full samādhi, he is seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, four-handed Nārāyaṇa. Viṣṇu-devānanda. Ānanda. They are taking pleasure by seeing Viṣṇu within the heart. Viṣṇu is within your heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The Supreme Person in His Paramātmā feature, localized feature, He is existing in everyone's heart.

Hare Krishna Festival Address -- San Diego, July 1, 1972, At Balboa Park Bowl:

"Kṛṣṇa, I understand that You are the Supreme Personality, Absolute Truth." Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma: "You are the reservoir of everything." Pavitram: "You are the Supreme Pure." Pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān. Puruṣaṁ śāśvatam ādyam: "You are the Supreme Person." Kṛṣṇa, or the Absolute Truth, is not imperson. He's the Supreme Person. He's Supreme Person. He is the Absolute Truth. And we are presenting Kṛṣṇa before you, and you take it. Most of the Western country, they are Christian. So the Christians believe in Lord Jesus Christ as son of God. But we are presenting the father, God Himself. So there is no contradiction. If there is son, there must be a father also. Without father, there cannot be son. So if you believe in the son, then you must believe in the father also.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:

And the philosophical speculators, they are called jñānīs. So jñānī, yogi. So the jñānīs, they reach up to the impersonal Brahman effulgence, and the yogis, they reach up to the localized aspect of the Supreme Person. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Īśvara, the Supreme Person, is within your heart, everyone's heart. Sarva-bhūtānām. Not only human beings, but also animals, trees, insects, aquatics. There are 8,400,000 forms of life. So in each and every living entity, within the heart, there is representation of God, who is known as Paramātmā. So brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11).

Rotary Club Lecture -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:

The Supreme Person, or Īśvara... The word īśvara means controller. So everyone is controller. All of you are present here, to some extent, every one of us is a controller to a limited extent. But here it is mentioned, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ. Parama means ultimate. We are controller, every one of us, but we are controlled also. That is our position. Nobody can say... All the gentlemen, ladies present here, nobody can say that "I am controller absolute." That is not possible. Everyone is relative controller. But if you try to find out who is the absolute controller, then He's Kṛṣṇa. This has been analyzed by great scholars in the Vedic śāstras, by the Gosvāmīs, and this is the statement of Lord Brahmā, who's supposed to be the first creature within this universe.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:

So he says, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1): "Īśvara, the supreme ultimate controller, is Kṛṣṇa. And He's vigraha." Vigraha means person, with body. Just like we have got body, similarly, the Absolute Supreme Person has also body. But His body is different from ours. Sac-cit-ānanda-vigraha. His body is eternal. Our body, this material body, is not eternal. Sat cit. His body is full of knowledge. Our, this body, is full of ignorance. And ānanda. He's full of joyfulness. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). The Supreme Person is always joyful, abhyāsāt, naturally. So our, this body is not ānandamaya; it is, rather, always miserable. Therefore we must distinct the body of the Supreme Person from our body.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:

We are plural number, nityānām. Cetanaś cetanānām. He's the supreme living force amongst all other living forces.

So therefore... In the Bhagavad-gītā also, it is said that, when Kṛṣṇa was advising Arjuna in the Battlefield, He said, "My dear Arjuna, all these persons, you and Me, and all these persons, it is not that we did not exist in the past. Neither it is so that we shall not exist in the future." This is... So these three things are pointed out: "You, Me and all these soldiers and kings." So all of them are individual. All of them are individual persons. And Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person, He's also individual person. But what is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourself? That Kṛṣṇa, as it is stated in the Vedas, eka, that one singular number person. Vidadhāti kāmān. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He's supplying the necessities of life to all these plural number living entities. So therefore He's the supreme controller.

Lecture -- London, August 23, 1973:

It is said that dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Dharma, it is Sanskrit word, and the English translation, generally, it is made as "religion." Religion is accepted as a kind of faith. But faith may be wrong or right—according to the different time, persons, climate, condition, so many consideration. But Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam. Dharma, or religion, means the law given by God. Simple formula. As there are laws given by the state, similarly, the supreme state, supreme governor is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. God means the supreme being, supreme person. So... Or the supreme authority. Supreme means the greatest authority.

Lecture -- London, August 23, 1973:

So many humanitarians, philanthropists, they are thinking of good welfare for the human being, but they are not thinking any welfare for the poor animals. They are being sent to the slaughterhouse under some plea. So they are all punishable because every living being is the son of the Supreme Person. Bhagavad-gītā says. We also address the Supreme Being, God, as "Father." Father means every one of us, we are sons. But we are disobedient son. One who is obedient son, he is perfect. One who is disobedient son, he is imperfect. Therefore we have to ask. Father is giving food even to the disobedient son. He is so kind. So God is always kind upon us. But we are suffering because we have forgotten God.

Pandal Speech and Question Session -- Delhi, November 10, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa said, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). But people did not take it very seriously. Therefore Kṛṣṇa came as a devotee in the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu to teach people how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. This is the... Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya is also Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Person, He demanded that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, but people did not take it very seriously. Therefore He again came, how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Just like some servant is massaging your legs, but you do not like it. You sometimes take his leg, "You do like this, do like this, do like this." So that master has not become servant, but he's teaching how to massage. Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He is teaching rascals like us how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. This is the difference.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

So we cannot imagine what is the potential power, energy of the Supreme Person, just like we cannot estimate what is the temperature of the sun globe, sun-god. It is in our front. We have got aeroplanes. We can go there. But before going there we will be finished, the temperature is so high. Everyone knows it. So if the ordinary sun-god or sun globe is such high temperature, how much higher temperature is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His potency, His power. We say God is almighty, all-powerful, but we have no idea what is meant by "all-powerful." We think that all-powerful means "I am so much powerful.

City Hall Lecture -- Durban, October 7, 1975:

Similarly, the prayer is, "My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, I am your eternal servant. Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean. Please pick me up and fix me again as the dust of Your lotus feet." This is the prayer. So we should know in what dangerous position we are. Then there is necessity of prayer. And prayer to whom? To the Supreme Person to save us. Therefore there are so many prayers in the śāstra. Prayers means addressing the Lord to save us from this. The real saving is to pick us up from this ocean of nescience, ignorance. Then everything is all right. As soon as we come to the knowledge that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul, part and parcel of God," then our knowledge is perfect. This is called brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā. This is called Brahman realization.

Lecture with Translator -- Sanand, December 25, 1975:

Absolute Truth can be realized in the beginning as impersonal Brahman, which is the objective of the jñānīs, and next, Paramātmā, which is the objective of the yogis, and at last, the last word in the absolute understanding is person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Ultimate issue is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, just like we understand that in the sun globe there is the Supreme Person or the sūrya-nārāyaṇa, or the chief person within the sun planet. His name is also given in the Bhagavad-gītā-Vivasvān. The Lord says in the Fourth Chapter, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam: (BG 4.1) "I first of all explained this science, this yoga system of Bhagavad-gītā, to Vivasvān, the sun-god."

Lecture with Translator -- Sanand, December 25, 1975:

Because He comes for our benefit in the human form, the fools and rascals consider Him as ordinary person. If Bhagavān says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4), "I am the seed-giving father," so we, every one of us, we know that my father is person, his father is person, his father is person, and why the Supreme Person or the supreme father should become imperson? Why? And therefore we have to learn from Bhagavān, the Supreme Person, full knowledge. This Bhagavad-gītā is therefore full knowledge from the full Personality of Godhead. We cannot change even one word in this Bhagavad-gītā. That is folly.

Lecture with Translator -- Sanand, December 27, 1975:

Then Kṛṣṇa, out of His causeless mercy, He appears to teach us how to divert your attention and āsakti to Kṛṣṇa. So dharmasya glāni, deviation in the path of religious system, means to forget our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa ultimately, at the end of the Bhagavad-gītā, He says, as the Supreme Person, He orders, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Therefore He did not come to establish the so-called Hindu dharma or Mussulman dharma or Christian dharma, this dharma or that. He came to establish the real dharma, that is, to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is establishing also in the beginning, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo atra: (SB 1.1.2)

Lecture -- Nellore, January 4, 1976:

Bhārata-bhūmi, those who are born in India, their business is to do welfare activities throughout the whole world, because the whole world is in darkness about understanding the Supreme Person with whom we have got very intimate relationship because we are part and parcel. Just like your son is part and parcel of your body. Somehow or other, if he forgets and goes out of home, you are anxious to see that your son comes back. A son may have become mad. So similarly, Kṛṣṇa, He is the son of... Kṛṣṇa is the father of all living entities. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrt..., ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā: (BG 14.4) "I am the seed-giving father." So Kṛṣṇa is very, very anxious to take us back to home, back to Godhead.

Tenth Anniversary Address -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

And he also confirmed that "I am accepting You like this, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma (BG 10.12). So people may be in doubt because I am Your friend. So they may say, 'Out of friendship, regard or affection, out of sentiment, he is speaking like that, that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme person, paraṁ brahma.' " But Arjuna immediately rectifies this impression, that "Not only myself, but great authorities like Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Asita, they are also affirming." Vyāsadeva is authority. Veda-vyāsa, he is the giver of Vedic knowledge. So he is accepting. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam he is writing, ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).

Address to Rotary Club -- Chandigarh, October 17, 1976:

So he understood Kṛṣṇa. He says, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma (BG 10.12). So we have to accept this paramparā system. If we take Bhagavad-gītā seriously then we should follow the footprints of Arjuna as he understood. He accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Paraṁbrahman. So what is spoken by Paraṁbrahman, the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Person, how we can interpret His words and squeeze out some meaning and mislead myself and mislead others? This is not good.

Address to Rotary Club -- Chandigarh, October 17, 1976:

So our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to rectify this mistake. Bhagavad-gītā is the most authorized scripture in the Vedic literature. Vedic literature means it is not spoken by any ordinary human being. Apaureṣaya means this literature, Vedic literature, is spoken directly by the Supreme Person or Lord. So it was instructed through Brahmā, Lord Brahmā. Tene brahma hṛda ādi-kavaye. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Oṁ namo bhāgavate vāsudevāya. These are the Vedānta philosophy's beginning. The Vedānta philosophy begins with the word athāto brahma jijñāsā. This human form of life is meant for inquiring about Brahman. The human life is not meant for any other purpose.

Evening Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 19, 1977:

That is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Īśvara... All of us may be īśvara. I am īśvara amongst my disciples. You may be īśvara amongst your family members. But none of us is Parameśvara. So this mistaken knowledge is very much spread at the present moment. So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is specially meant for removing this misconception of understanding God and the jīvas. So our first principle is that we have to discard or disregard the persons who are very much anxious to establish that īśvara and Parameśvara, or the living entity and the Supreme Person, they are equal. We do not support this theory.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Śyāmasundara: He is a person.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa is always person, Supreme Person. But He can expand innumerably.

Śyāmasundara: And Paramātmā—is Paramātmā a person?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Paramātmā is a person. Every expansion—just like we are also expansion, atomic expansion of Kṛṣṇa. So we are persons. Every individual soul is a person. But we are expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Paramātmā is another expansion, viṣṇu-tattva. Rāmādi mūrtiṣu. That is another expansion, different kinds of expansions.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That truth is devotion. Everyone wants to be devoted to somebody else. And because such devotion is misplaced, he becomes unhappy. When that devotional spirit will be rendered to the Supreme Person, then he will be happy. But the devotional spirit is there.

Śyāmasundara: Everyone is born with this?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like this child, he was asked to obey, immediately he offered obeisances. So this is devotion. Every politician, everyone has got some followers. That means the devotional spirit is there. Even a rogue, dacoit, plunderer, he has got also some follower, and one could not follow others without devotional spirit. Is it not? Therefore this devotional spirit is innate in everything. That is truth.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ: (BG 9.11) "The rascals, they think, because I am just like a human being, they think I am another human being." He is not human being; He is the Supreme Person. And when He said that "I remember," this is also another proof, that "I spoke to the sun-god millions of years ago." Because He remembers, that means He does not change His body. Just like we can remember of this body so many things, so long as..., but we do not remember what I was in the past life because the body has changed. And Kṛṣṇa remembers because His body has not changed. He is in the same body.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: (BG 9.10) "Under My direction the whole material nature is working, and everything is going on," hetunānena kaunteya, jagat viparivartate. On this account, everything in this cosmic manifestation is going on regularly. All Vedic śāstras describe like that, that behind these phenomena there is a direction of a person, and He is the Supreme Person.

Śyāmasundara: So he says that this is a natural impulse, that it is the nature of reason itself to find regularity, a total regularity, for everything. So that it must suppose that there is a Supreme Being in order to find that total synthesis.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: World spirit? That is a person. Unless you accept a person where there is question of reason? That he does not know. He's trying to explain (how could God be) but he has not clear knowledge. But as soon as speaks of reason there must be some person. That reason is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10), under my superintendence, under my guidance, direction. So direction means reason. So as soon as we speak of reason, you must accept the person, the supreme person who is giving this reason, who is directing all these things.

Śyāmasundara: So would you say that all world events, all phenomenon of the world are expressions of this world reason unfolding itself? There is a gradual development.

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Prabhupāda: Yes. One can understand. It is very easy. That I explained in the meeting, that we see, that any way you take, I have got my father, my father has got father, his father, his father, his father—so there must be some original father. That is supreme father. Another way: I don't find myself free. I am in American state, so I have to submit report to the immigration department. Or you, American citizens, you have got some obligation to the state: the draft man is there, calling you; if you don't go then you have to go to jail. So nobody is control-free; everyone is being controlled. Again, I see that the man who is controlling me, he is also controlled, and that man is also controlled, that man is... So here you see relative—I am controller and controlled. So when I approach the person who is simply controller, not controlled, that is God. How can you deny this definition of God? Simply (indistinct). Here by our experience we see, everyone is rejecting the controller and controlled. But if you can find out the Supreme Person, who is controller but not controlled, then He is God.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Prabhupāda: He takes only that the willing and satisfaction willing, that is the only business. But he does not see the person who is willing. That is his defect.

Hayagrīva: Supreme Person.

Prabhupāda: Not Supreme Person.

Hayagrīva: The individual.

Prabhupāda: The individual, who is put in this temporary world, willing and satisfaction, but he is reality behind this willing and satisfaction. (break) So Schopenhauer's defect is that he does not see the, there is a person behind this willing; the individual soul, he is willing. So when he stops this flickering willing, then what is next, that he does not see.

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That I was complaining, that none of these rascals have any clear idea of God. They are simply speculating. Therefore they cannot speak anything about religion or God, because they have no clear conception. But so far we are concerned, we have got clear conception of God: "Here is God, Kṛṣṇa." And we want to give that conception to the world. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Person, Supreme God, by everyone, all authorities, past, present, future must be. So why they do not accept this personal God? If they have got any reason, if they have got any logic, any philosophy, here is Kṛṣṇa, perfect God. So He, according to Vedic scripture, He is complete, cent percent God. Other incarnation of God, they are not cent percent. It has been analyzed in our Nectar of Devotion. Up to Nārāyaṇa, ninety-four percent God, ah, ninety-six percent God. Lord Śiva, eighty-four percent God, Lord Brahma, er, eighty...

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Prabhupāda: There is Supreme Person, and we should be all obedient servant to Him. Then the society will be in order. That, that is responsibility. God gives us some duty, and if we carry that, that is our responsibility, and that makes the whole society perfect. That should... In the beginning if we reject God, so then it is chaotic. So religion means to avoid this chaotic condition, and in order, fulfilling the responsibility given by God, we make progress, and finally we live with God personally. That is our eternal right.

Philosophy Discussion on Plotinus:

Prabhupāda: Kingdom. Yes. That is his falldown. When he decides to give up the spiritual life, he falls down in the material life, and that is the beginning of his material tribulations. And so long he will maintain a tinge of material happiness, the nature's life, that he has to accept, a type of material body, and there are varieties. So in all condition the spirit soul remains the part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, but according to the different body he gets different circumstances. A dog is thinking, on account of the dog's body, that he is a dog. A man is thinking that he is a man on account of the human body. The same thing—an American is thinking, because the body has been gotten from America, he is thinking "American." That similarly an Indian, a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, all these designations, due to the body. So when he understands that "I am not this body," this is spiritual education. That "I am different, I am part and parcel of God," then he becomes liberated, impersonally. And when he makes further advancement, and he comes to the platform of understanding the Supreme Truth as the Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa, and he engages himself in Kṛṣṇa's service, that is his actual life.

Philosophy Discussion on Origen:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is real preacher. That is explained in the Vedic literature, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. First of all he becomes perfect by hearing. This is called śravaṇam. And when he is perfectly situated in spiritual life by hearing perfectly from the perfectly authorized person, then his next stage begins, kīrtanam. That is preaching. That śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam, everyone is hearing in this material world. Everyone is hearing. Even this material educationist, he also hears from the material person, professor. That hearing is there. Then he acts when he is grown-up, passed his examination, sometimes acts as professor. The same process: if one hears from the perfect spiritualized person, he becomes perfect, then he becomes actual preacher. Preaching, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam, about Viṣṇu, not for any other person within this material world. The Supreme Person, transcendental Personality of Godhead, to hear about Him and to preach about Him, that is the duty of a liberated soul.

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Aquinas:

Prabhupāda: Yes. We can obey such man who obeys the laws of God. Otherwise they..., it is useless to obey an imperfect person. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). To obey the imperfect person means just like a blind man following other blind man. So what benefit he will get? If one blind man is begging help from others, "Please help me in crossing the road," if another blind man comes and he says, "Yes, come on with me," so what will be the result? Both will be crushed by accident. So any, any person who does not follow the instruction of the Supreme Controller, he is a blind person. He cannot lead. As we are concerned, we therefore don't accept the so-called scientist's or philosopher's belief. They say, "We believe," "Perhaps it may be like this." These are all doubtful declaration. There is no truth in it. If there is any truth, that is also doubtful. Why should we risk our life by following such blind man who is thinking, who is believing, but he has no clear knowledge? Therefore we have decided to take lesson from the Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa, who knows everything perfectly well. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni (BG 7.26). He knows past, present and future, and what is our benefit, welfare, everything. So we should follow Kṛṣṇa instead of so-called blind philosophers.

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Aquinas:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That's a fact. The so-called philosophers, they are imperfect, so there is no need of consulting them. Our path is that you directly contact the Supreme Person in knowledge, who has got complete knowledge—Kṛṣṇa—and we take His instructions and try to follow Him.

Hayagrīva: This knowledge based on revelation or scripture is called sacred doctrine or scripture. He says it, this scripture, "does not provide information about God and about creatures in equal fashion, but about God principally and about creatures as they are related to God as to a source or to an end. Hence the unity of the science is not ended." So scripture for him is the science of God.

Prabhupāda: This is science of God.