Tiny brain
Expressions researched:
"tiny brain"
|"tiny brains"
|"tiny brain's"
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
Foolish people have manufactured, out of their tiny brains, many remedial measures for removing the threefold miseries pertaining to the body and mind, pertaining to the natural disturbances and in relation with other living beings.
SB 1.5.32, Purport: Śrī Nārada Muni personally experienced that the most feasible and practical way to open the path of salvation or get relief from all miseries of life is to hear submissively the transcendental activities of the Lord from the right and bona fide sources. This is the only remedial process. The entire material existence is full of miseries. Foolish people have manufactured, out of their tiny brains, many remedial measures for removing the threefold miseries pertaining to the body and mind, pertaining to the natural disturbances and in relation with other living beings. The whole world is struggling very hard to exist out of these miseries, but men do not know that without the sanction of the Lord no plan or no remedial measure can actually bring about the desired peace and tranquillity. The remedial measure to cure a patient by medical treatment is useless if it is not sanctioned by the Lord. To cross the river or the ocean by a suitable boat is no remedial measure if it is not sanctioned by the Lord. We should know for certain that the Lord is the ultimate sanctioning officer, and we must therefore dedicate our attempts to the mercy of the Lord for ultimate success or to get rid of the obstacles on the path of success.
The activities of the Lord are always inconceivable to the tiny brain of the living entities. Nothing is impossible for the Supreme Lord, but all His actions are wonderful for us, and thus He is always beyond the range of our conceivable limits.
SB 1.8.16, Translation and Purport: O brāhmaṇas, do not think this to be especially wonderful in the activities of the mysterious and infallible Personality of Godhead. By His own transcendental energy, He maintains and annihilates all material things, although He Himself is unborn.
The activities of the Lord are always inconceivable to the tiny brain of the living entities. Nothing is impossible for the Supreme Lord, but all His actions are wonderful for us, and thus He is always beyond the range of our conceivable limits. The Lord is the all-powerful, all-perfect Personality of Godhead. The Lord is cent percent perfect, whereas others, namely Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā, Śiva, the demigods and all other living beings, possess only different percentages of such perfection. No one is equal to or greater than Him. He is unrivaled.
SB Canto 2
Brahmājī admits Lord Kṛṣṇa to be the supreme cause of all causes. But persons with tiny brains within this petty planet earth think of the Lord as one of them.
SB 2.4.6, Purport: Brahmājī admits Lord Kṛṣṇa to be the supreme cause of all causes. But persons with tiny brains within this petty planet earth think of the Lord as one of them. Thus when the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā that He (Lord Kṛṣṇa) is all in all, the speculative philosophers and the mundane wranglers deride Him, and the Lord regretfully says:
- avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
- mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
- paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
- mama bhūta-maheśvaram
"Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be." (Bg. 9.11) Brahmā and Śiva (and what to speak of other demigods) are bhūtas, or powerful created demigods who manage universal affairs, much like ministers appointed by a king. The ministers may be īśvaras, or controllers, but the Supreme Lord is maheśvara, or the creator of the controllers. Persons with a poor fund of knowledge do not know this, and therefore they have the audacity to deride Him because He comes before us by His causeless mercy occasionally as a human being. The Lord is not like a human being. He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], or the Absolute Personality of Godhead, and there is no difference between His body and His soul. He is both the power and the powerful.
Brahmā, Nārada and Lord Śiva know about the Lord to a considerable extent, and therefore one should follow the instructions of these great personalities instead of being satisfied with a tiny brain and its playful discoveries such as spacecraft and similar products of science.
SB 2.6.37, Translation and Purport: Since neither Lord Śiva nor you nor I could ascertain the limits of spiritual happiness, how can other demigods know it? And because all of us are bewildered by the illusory external energy of the Supreme Lord, we can see only this manifested cosmos according to our individual ability.
We have many times mentioned the names of twelve selected authorities (dvādaśa-mahājana), of which Brahmā, Nārada and Lord Śiva head the list as the first, second and third in order of merit of those who know something of the Supreme Lord. Other demigods, semi-demigods, Gandharvas, Cāraṇas, Vidyādharas, human beings or asuras cannot possibly know fully about the potencies of the Absolute Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The demigods, semi-demigods, Gandharvas, etc., are all highly intelligent persons in the upper planets, the human beings are inhabitants of the intermediate planets, and the asuras are inhabitants of the lower planets. All of them have their respective conceptions and estimations of the Absolute Truth, as does the scientist or the empiric philosopher in human society. All such living entities are creatures of the material nature, and consequently they are bewildered by the wonderful display of the three modes of material nature. Such bewilderment is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.13). Tribhir guṇamayair bhāvair ebhiḥ samam idaṁ jagat: every entity, beginning from Brahmā down to the ant, is individually bewildered by the three modes of material nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance. Everyone thinks, in terms of individual capacity, that this universe, which is manifested before us, is all in all. And so the scientist in the human society of the twentieth century calculates the beginning and end of the universe in his own way. But what can the scientists know? Even Brahmā himself was once bewildered, thinking himself the only one Brahmā favored by the Lord, but later on, by the grace of the Lord, he came to know that there are innumerable more powerful Brahmās as well, in far bigger universes beyond this universe, and all of these universes combined together form ekapād-vibhūti, or one fourth of the manifestation of the Lord's creative energy. The other three fourths of His energy are displayed in the spiritual world, and so what can the tiny scientist with a tiny brain know of the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa? The Lord says, therefore, mohitaṁ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam: [Bg. 7.13] bewildered by such modes of material nature, they cannot understand that beyond these manifestations is a Supreme Person who is the absolute controller of everything. Brahmā, Nārada and Lord Śiva know about the Lord to a considerable extent, and therefore one should follow the instructions of these great personalities instead of being satisfied with a tiny brain and its playful discoveries such as spacecraft and similar products of science. As the mother is the only authority to identify the father of a child, so the mother Vedas, presented by the recognized authority such as Brahmā, Nārada or Śiva, is the only authority to inform us about the Absolute Truth.
The incarnation of the Lord appears under certain extraordinary circumstances, and the incarnation performs a task which is not even imaginable by the tiny brain of mankind.
SB 2.7.1, Purport: Since the beginning of creation, the demons and the demigods, or the Vaiṣṇavas, are always the two classes of living beings to dominate the planets of the universes. Lord Brahmā is the first demigod, and Hiraṇyākṣa is the first demon in this universe. Only under certain conditions do the planets float as weightless balls in the air, and as soon as these conditions are disturbed, the planets may fall down in the Garbhodaka Ocean, which covers half the universe. The other half is the spherical dome within which the innumerable planetary systems exist. The floating of the planets in the weightless air is due to the inner constitution of the globes, and the modernized drilling of the earth to exploit oil from within is a sort of disturbance by the modern demons and can result in a greatly harmful reaction to the floating condition of the earth. A similar disturbance was created formerly by the demons headed by Hiraṇyākṣa (the great exploiter of the gold rush), and the earth was detached from its weightless condition and fell down into the Garbhodaka Ocean. The Lord, as maintainer of the whole creation of the material world, therefore assumed the gigantic form of a boar with a proportionate snout and picked up the earth from within the water of Garbhodaka. Śrī Jayadeva Gosvāmī, the great Vaiṣṇava poet, sang as follows:
- vasati daśana-śikhare dharaṇī tava lagnā
- śaśini kalaṅka-kaleva nimagnā
- keśava dhṛta-śūkara-rūpa
- jaya jagadīśa hare
"O Keśava! O Supreme Lord who have assumed the form of a boar! O Lord! The planet earth rested on Your tusks, and it appeared like the moon engraved with spots."
Such is the symptom of an incarnation of the Lord. The incarnation of the Lord is not the concocted idea of fanciful men who create an incarnation out of imagination. The incarnation of the Lord appears under certain extraordinary circumstances like the above-mentioned occasion, and the incarnation performs a task which is not even imaginable by the tiny brain of mankind. The modern creators of the many cheap incarnations may take note of the factual incarnation of God as the gigantic boar with a suitable snout to carry the planet earth.
The sane person ceases to speculate on subjects beyond the jurisdiction of his tiny brain, and as a matter of course he tries to learn to surrender unto the Supreme Lord, who alone can lead one to the platform of real knowledge.
SB 2.7.43-45, Purport: All the great devotees of the Lord, as mentioned above, who flourished in the past or present, and all the devotees of the Lord who will come in the future, are aware of the different potencies of the Lord along with the potency of His name, quality, pastimes, entourage, personality, etc. And how do they know? Certainly it is not by mental speculation, nor by any attempt by dint of limited instruments of knowledge. By the limited instruments of knowledge (either the senses or the material instruments like microscopes and telescopes) one cannot even fully know the Lord's material potencies, which are manifested before our eyes. For example there are many millions and billions of planets far, far beyond the scientist's calculation. But these are only the manifestations of the Lord's material energy. What can the scientist hope to know of the spiritual potency of the Lord by such material efforts? Mental speculations, by adding some dozens of "if's" and "maybe's," cannot aid the advancement of knowledge—on the contrary, such mental speculations will only end in despair by dismissing the case abruptly and declaring the nonexistence of God. The sane person, therefore, ceases to speculate on subjects beyond the jurisdiction of his tiny brain, and as a matter of course he tries to learn to surrender unto the Supreme Lord, who alone can lead one to the platform of real knowledge. In the Upaniṣads it is clearly said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead can never be known simply by working very hard and taxing the good brain, nor can He be known simply by mental speculation and jugglery of words. The Lord is knowable only by one who is a surrendered soul. Herein Brahmājī, the greatest of all material living beings, acknowledges this truth. Therefore, the fruitless spoiling of energy by pursuing the path of experimental knowledge must be given up. One should gain knowledge by surrendering unto the Lord and by acknowledging the authority of the persons mentioned herein. The Lord is unlimited and, by the grace of the yogamāyā, helps the surrendered soul to know Him proportionately with the advance of one's surrender.
SB Canto 3
The dimensions of the universe are all inconceivable to the tiny brain of a human being.
SB 3.26.52, Purport: The dimensions of the universe are estimated here. The outer covering is made of layers of water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva, and each layer is ten times greater than the one previous. The space within the hollow of the universe cannot be measured by any human scientist or anyone else, and beyond the hollow there are seven coverings, each one ten times greater than the one preceding it. The layer of water is ten times greater than the diameter of the universe, and the layer of fire is ten times greater than that of water. Similarly, the layer of air is ten times greater than that of fire. These dimensions are all inconceivable to the tiny brain of a human being.
SB Canto 4
The word durvibhāvyā means "inconceivable by our tiny brain," and vibhakta-vīryaḥ means "divided in varieties of potencies." The word "inconceivable" has been used. It is not within the power of one's small brain to comprehend; unless one accepts the inconceivable power and energy of the Lord, one cannot make any progress.
SB 4.11.18, Translation and Purport: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His inconceivable supreme energy, time, causes the interaction of the three modes of material nature, and thus varieties of energy become manifest. It appears that He is acting, but He is not the actor. He is killing, but He is not the killer. Thus it is understood that only by His inconceivable power is everything happening.
The word durvibhāvyā means "inconceivable by our tiny brain," and vibhakta-vīryaḥ means "divided in varieties of potencies." This is the right explanation of the display of creative energies in the material world. We can better understand the mercy of God by an example: a government state is always supposed to be merciful, but sometimes, in order to keep law and order, the government employs its police force, and thus punishment is meted out to the rebellious citizens. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always merciful and full of transcendental qualities, but certain individual souls have forgotten their relationship with Kṛṣṇa and have endeavored to lord it over material nature. As a result of their endeavor, they are involved in varieties of material interaction. It is incorrect to argue, however, that because energy issues from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the actor. In the previous verse, the word nimitta-mātram indicates that the Supreme Lord is completely aloof from the action and reaction of this material world. How is everything being done? The word "inconceivable" has been used. It is not within the power of one's small brain to comprehend; unless one accepts the inconceivable power and energy of the Lord, one cannot make any progress. The forces which act are certainly set up by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He is always aloof from their action and reaction. The varieties of energies produced by the interaction of material nature produce the varieties of species of life and their resultant happiness and unhappiness.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
Since we belong to this chain of disciplic succession from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, this edition of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta will contain nothing newly manufactured by our tiny brains, but only remnants of food originally eaten by the Lord Himself.
CC Adi 1: Since we belong to this chain of disciplic succession from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, this edition of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta will contain nothing newly manufactured by our tiny brains, but only remnants of food originally eaten by the Lord Himself. Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu does not belong to the mundane plane of the three qualitative modes. He belongs to the transcendental plane beyond the reach of the imperfect sense perception of a living being. Even the most erudite mundane scholar cannot approach the transcendental plane unless he submits himself to transcendental sound with a receptive mood, for in that mood only can one realize the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. What will be described herein, therefore, has nothing to do with the experimental thoughts created by the speculative habits of inert minds. The subject matter of this book is not a mental concoction but a factual spiritual experience that one can realize only by accepting the line of disciplic succession described above. Any deviation from that line will bewilder the reader’s understanding of the mystery of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, which is a transcendental literature meant for the postgraduate study of one who has realized all the Vedic literatures such as the Upaniṣads and Vedānta-sūtra and their natural commentaries such as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Bhagavad-gītā.
The ambition to corroborate the existence of the transcendental Absolute Truth by limited conjectural endeavors cannot be fulfilled, because He is beyond the scope of our limited speculative minds. In an honest search for truth, we must admit that His powers are inconceivable to our tiny brains.
CC Adi 2.96, Purport: Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī states in his Bhagavat-sandarbha (16) that by His potencies, which act in natural sequences beyond the scope of the speculative human mind, the Supreme Transcendence, the summum bonum, eternally and simultaneously exists in four transcendental features: His personality, His impersonal effulgence, particles of His potency (the living beings), and the principal cause of all causes. The Supreme Whole is compared to the sun, which also exists in four features, namely the personality of the sun-god, the glare of his glowing sphere, the sun rays inside the sun planet, and the sun’s reflections in many other objects. The ambition to corroborate the existence of the transcendental Absolute Truth by limited conjectural endeavors cannot be fulfilled, because He is beyond the scope of our limited speculative minds. In an honest search for truth, we must admit that His powers are inconceivable to our tiny brains. The exploration of space has demanded the work of the greatest scientists of the world, yet there are countless problems regarding even fundamental knowledge of the material creation that bewilder scientists who confront them. Such material knowledge is far removed from the spiritual nature, and therefore the acts and arrangements of the Absolute Truth are, beyond all doubts, inconceivable.
Revealed knowledge may in the beginning be unbelievable because of our paradoxical desire to verify everything with our tiny brains, but the speculative means of attaining knowledge is always imperfect.
CC Adi 5.14, Purport: Revealed knowledge may in the beginning be unbelievable because of our paradoxical desire to verify everything with our tiny brains, but the speculative means of attaining knowledge is always imperfect. The perfect knowledge propounded in the revealed scriptures is confirmed by the great ācāryas, who have left ample commentations upon them; none of these ācāryas has disbelieved in the śāstras. One who disbelieves in the śāstras is an atheist, and we should not consult an atheist, however great he may be. A staunch believer in the śāstras, with all their diversities, is the right person from whom to gather real knowledge. Such knowledge may seem inconceivable in the beginning, but when put forward by the proper authority its meaning is revealed, and then one no longer has any doubts about it.
The Māyāvādī philosophers' tiny brains and poor fund of knowledge cannot afford them sufficient enlightenment to realize that when a man’s energy is transformed, the man himself is not transformed but remains the same person.
CC Adi 7.121, Purport: In the Brahma-sūtra, Second Chapter, the first aphorism is as follows: tad-ananyatvam ārambhaṇa-śabdādibhyaḥ. Commenting on this sūtra in his Śārīraka-bhāṣya, Śaṅkarācārya has introduced the statement vācārambhaṇaṁ vikāro nāmadheyam from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (6.1.4) to try to prove that acceptance of the transformation of the energy of the Supreme Lord is faulty. He has tried to defy this transformation of energy in a misguided way, which will be explained later. Since his conception of God is impersonal, he does not believe that the entire cosmic manifestation is a transformation of the energies of the Lord, for as soon as one accepts the various energies of the Absolute Truth, one must immediately accept the Absolute Truth to be personal, not impersonal. A person can create many things by the transformation of his energy. For example, a businessman transforms his energy by establishing many big factories or business organizations, yet he remains a person although his energy has been transformed into these many factories or business concerns. The Māyāvādī philosophers do not understand this simple fact. Their tiny brains and poor fund of knowledge cannot afford them sufficient enlightenment to realize that when a man’s energy is transformed, the man himself is not transformed but remains the same person.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Sri Isopanisad
Many philosophers and great ṛṣis, or mystics, try to distinguish the Absolute from the relative by their tiny brain power. This can only help them reach the negative conception of the Absolute without realizing any positive trace of the Absolute.
Sri Isopanisad 12: Many philosophers and great ṛṣis, or mystics, try to distinguish the Absolute from the relative by their tiny brain power. This can only help them reach the negative conception of the Absolute without realizing any positive trace of the Absolute. Definition of the Absolute by negation is not complete. Such negative definitions lead one to create a concept of one's own; thus one imagines that the Absolute must be formless and without qualities. Such negative qualities are simply the reversals of relative, material qualities and are therefore also relative. By conceiving of the Absolute in this way, one can at the utmost reach the impersonal effulgence of God, known as Brahman, but one cannot make further progress to Bhagavān, the Personality of Godhead.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
The impersonalists, the Māyāvādī philosophers, they think that because the past, present, and future, and this duality is finished, therefore there is no variegatedness. They cannot understand. They cannot accommodate in their tiny brain that this is possible.
Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968: So when there is no these material impediments, naturally the life is eternal, the knowledge is eternal, the bliss is eternal. As soon as we are free from this material body, then these questions of past, present, future, pleasure, not pleasure, knowledge, no knowledge, these dualities, this world of duality will finish. The impersonalists, the Māyāvādī philosophers, they think that because the past, present, and future, and this duality is finished, therefore there is no variegatedness. They cannot understand. They cannot accommodate in their tiny brain that this is possible.
One minus one equal to one. And one plus one equal to one. That is Absolute idea. But we calculate from materialistic point of view. As we with our tiny brain, we think like that.
Lecture on BG 13.17 -- Bombay, October 11, 1973: So that is Kṛṣṇa Consciousness perception. And He is living. Because He... The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are accepting that Kṛṣṇa, or Parabrahman, or God, because He is in everywhere, He has no personal feature. That is a poor fund of knowledge. That is not God. Because we are thinking materially. Just like if I take a piece of paper and tear it into small pieces and throw it then the original paper has no existence. This is called Māyāvāda, Māyāvāda, or imperfect knowledge. Because I am thinking that materially, if one thing is broken into pieces and thrown, the original form is lost, no more. It becomes impersonal. No. The Veda says that pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate [Īśo Invocation]. You take the full God, full... Even God fully represented in every atom, still, He is pūrṇa. That is... One minus one equal to one. And one plus one equal to one. That is Absolute idea. But we calculate from materialistic point of view. As we with our tiny brain, we think like that.
To understand Brahman is not the business of tiny brain.
Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hawaii, February 3, 1975: To understand Brahman is not the business of tiny brain. Alpha-medhasam. There are two Sanskrit words, alpa-medhasa and su-medhasa. Alpa-medhasa means having little brain substance. Physiologically, within the brain there are brain substance. It is found that the brain substance in man is found up to 64 ounce. They are very highly intellectual persons. And in woman the brain substance is not found more than 34 ounce. You'll find, therefore, that there is no very great scientist, mathematician, philosopher, among women. You'll never find because their brain substance cannot go. Artificially do not try to become equal with men. That is not allowed in the Vedic śāstra. Na striyaṁ svatantratām arhati. That is called śāstra.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
You cannot see. What is your strength? That we are studying with our tiny brain, "Oh, it has got no breathing. It has no soul," that is our tiny brain.
Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:
Devotee: Your Divine Grace, is this also true that every species of life... For instance, plants and trees, don't appear to be breathing as we do, but they breathe through their...
Prabhupāda: Don't appear to you. What do you know about plant life? Something does not appear to you, that does not mean there is nothing such thing. You don't be so courageous that you know everything. You have to know from the śāstra. They have got breathing. They have got feeling also. That is already proved by modern scientists, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, that when you cut a plant, it feels the pain and it is recorded in the machine, the feeling. So everything is there. As soon as you find some living entity... A small full stop-like... Sometimes you find in the book. It is lesser than the full-stop. It is moving, (makes sound) "but, but, but, but." It has got heart; it has got legs; it has got everything within it. Otherwise, how it is working? Everything is there. This is rascaldom, that "This has got soul; this has got no soul." This is rascal's theory. Living entity so small, one ten-thousandth part of the top tip of the hair, we are. Very... You cannot imagine. So any life he takes, any form, it has got all the, I mean to say, functional thing. Everything is there. That is God's creation. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. The biggest of the biggest. He has got the same, what is called, physiological construction. And the ant, he has got the same physiological construction. You cannot see. What is your strength? That we are studying with our tiny brain, "Oh, it has got no breathing. It has no soul," that is our tiny brain.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
You cannot understand the method of creation by your tiny brain's speculation. You give up this idea. This is not possible at all. You take knowledge from the śāstra, from the person who is perfect in knowledge.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.10 -- Mayapur, April 3, 1975: You cannot imagine the process of creation by your sporadic thoughts. That is not possible. So the creation means that first of all the universes are created through the breathing period of Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Then in each and every universe He enters as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and He creates... Half of the universe is filled up with water. The water came from His perspiration, and then He lies down there. Then He creates the lotus flower. And upon the lotus flower, a Brahmā is first-born. This is creation. That Brahmā means not an uncivilized human being; the most intelligent person, first creation. We cannot accept the rubbish theory of Darwin that there was no human being. That is his theory. That is not fact. He admits also that "I have made this by speculation." He has admitted. Our Dr. Svarūpa Dāmodara has quoted from his letter to a friend that he admits that he simply speculated. He has no factual knowledge. So you cannot understand the method of creation by your tiny brain's speculation. You give up this idea. This is not possible at all. You take knowledge from the śāstra, from the person who is perfect in knowledge. We have got knowledge. We have got knowledge. Somebody has got more knowledge than me, than you. But Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya [Bg. 7.7]. You cannot find out a person who has got more knowledge than Kṛṣṇa. And God means one who has got full knowledge.
- aiśvaryasya samagrasya
- vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ
- jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva
- ṣaṇṇāṁ bhaga itīṅganā
- (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47)
So Kṛṣṇa has got full knowledge, and Kṛṣṇa's expansion has got full knowledge. So we have to receive knowledge.
The universes are ananta, unlimited. That is creation. You cannot conceive of the creation by your, this tiny brain. That is not possible.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.10 -- Mayapur, April 3, 1975: So Kṛṣṇa has got full knowledge, and Kṛṣṇa's expansion has got full knowledge. So we have to receive knowledge. The same thing is supported in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- atha vā bahunaitena
- kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
- viṣṭabhya aham idaṁ kṛtsnam
- ekāṁśena sthito jagat
- [Bg. 10.42]
This whole material creation is existing in one part of His energy. That is also confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā: eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. One part of His energy, just to create the whole universes, so..., the material world... Eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa koṭi, aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham [Bs. 5.35]. He does not enter only within the universe, aṇḍāntara-stham, but He enters within the atom. Paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. Yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antam. Yac-chakti, whose energy is there within the universe... And ananta. That is... The universes are ananta, unlimited. That is creation. You cannot conceive of the creation by your, this tiny brain. That is not possible. That is Dr. Frog's philosophy. He's contemplating about the Atlantic Ocean, living in a three-feet well. That's all. That is not possible.
Just like even though I do not know who is my father, but if I take information from my mother, then I can know. Is there any difficulty? But because we are rascals, will not believe mother, will not believe father. We, with our tiny brain, we shall make research and make things topsy-turvy and pass on as great scientist doctor. This is our position.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.113 -- London, July 23, 1976: So less intelligent, for them, it is inconceivable, but those who are intelligent, they take knowledge from the right source. Just like even though I do not know who is my father, but if I take information from my mother, then I can know. Mother says, "My dear child, he's your father." There's no question of research. You can immediately understand your father. Father must be there. But I do not know, that may be a problem, but when the mother says, "Here is your father," then where is the difficulty? So mother is the source of knowledge of the father. The Vedas, they are called mother. Veda-mātā. These books, Vedic knowledge, this is the mother. From mother you can take information that there is father. And here is father. Who is father? Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28]. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda [Bs. 5.1]. And the father comes personally and He informs, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya [Bg. 7.7]. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg. 14.4]. Then where is the difficulty? Is there any difficulty? But because we are rascals, will not believe mother, will not believe father. We, with our tiny brain, we shall make research and make things topsy-turvy and pass on as great scientist doctor. This is our position. Therefore śāstra says that "You rascals, do not waste your time in that way." Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet.
The Māyāvādī philosophers cannot accommodate within their tiny brain that Kṛṣṇa is so powerful.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.137-146 -- Bombay, February 24, 1971: Acyuta means thing which does not fall down. So just like we are, we are living entities, we fall down in the clutches of māyā. But Kṛṣṇa does not fall down. The Māyāvādī philosophers mistake that. They think that as we come to this material world with a material body, similarly, Kṛṣṇa also comes with a material body. No. That is not the fact. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā manuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ [Bg. 9.11]. Mūḍha. Mūḍha means those who are not intelligent. "They think that I am also ordinary man." Therefore there is controversy, "Why I shall worship Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa cannot... The Supreme Lord cannot come in this way, just like ordinary man, and making friendship with Arjuna and driving his chariot, or dancing with the gopīs." They cannot conceive. They cannot accommodate within their tiny brain that Kṛṣṇa is so powerful. He's so... We say that Kṛṣṇa, God is all-powerful, God is all omnipotent, but when God shows actually that He's omnipotent, all-powerful, they do not believe. That is their defect. But the manifestation which Kṛṣṇa showed when He was actually present, He's the Supreme Lord.
People are after something new manufactured by this tiny brain. What new you can manufacture? That is all nonsense. If you want really thing, then you have to take the old, the oldest.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.144-146 -- New York, December 1, 1966: So similarly, as Kṛṣṇa says, this is called disciplic succession. Lord Caitanya, although He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He has accepted the disciplic succession from Kṛṣṇa... I have given you the process of disciplic succession: from Kṛṣṇa, Brahmā; from Brahmā, Nārada; from Nārada, Vyāsa; from Vyāsa, Madhva; from Madhva, Mādhavendra Purī; from Mādhavendra Purī, Īśvara Purī; from Īśvara Purī, Lord Caitanya. So evaṁ paramparā. So in the paramparā system in that disciplic succession, you will find no change. The original word is there. That is the thing. They are not foolish to manufacture something new. What new? People are after something new manufactured by this tiny brain. What new you can manufacture? That is all nonsense. If you want really thing, then you have to take the old, the oldest. You cannot change anything.
We have to follow the ācāryas; otherwise we cannot... Our own interpretation, our own tiny brain, cannot conceive. We have to follow.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.146-151 -- New York, December 3, 1966: I do not know why these fools explain, from Bhagavad-gītā, impersonalism. Where is the chance of explaining impersonal about conception of God from Bhagavad-gītā? Now, how they can surpass the speaker and the student? The student is Arjuna. He is accepting that "You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead." And the speaker, Kṛṣṇa, He is also establishing Himself that "I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Now, wherefrom these fools take impersonal idea, I do not know. How they can? There is no chance. But still, they will poke their nose in that way. It is very sorry plight. You see? They are simply misleading persons. So God is person. God, so far Vedic literature is concerned, God is person and accepted by the ācāryas. We have to follow the ācāryas; otherwise we cannot... Our own interpretation, our own tiny brain, cannot conceive. We have to follow. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam [Bg. 4.2]. Śrī Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, and from Arjuna there are paramparā. There are disciplic succession. We have to follow that way. Now, here Lord Caitanya, although He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, still, He is in that paramparā, in that disciplic succession.
You cannot manufacture anything. You should always remember that "I am a tiny brain here, so I have to receive knowledge from superior sources."
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.5 -- New York, January 7, 1967: What education we have got, what intelligence, that we can interpret on Vedic injunction? No. It should be accepted as it is. That is called Vedic injunction. This is called śruti. You have to simply hear and act accordingly. That is called Vedic. And smṛti. Smṛti means if you are learned scholar in the Vedic injunction, if you have heard from the bona fide souls, and if you are convinced, then if you write something, that is smṛti. You cannot write nonsense. You have to write something which corroborates with the Vedic injunction. That is called smṛti. You cannot manufacture anything. You should always remember that "I am a tiny brain here, so I have to receive knowledge from superior sources." Then whatever knowledge you have received, if you can expand that in your, by your, I mean to say, capacity, that is called smṛti.
General Lectures
Because with our tiny brain we think that "We are all successful." We are all perplexed. Therefore, we rascals, we take it as chance and necessity, and like that.
Lecture Excerpt -- Tokyo, April 28, 1972: There is no question of chance. Everything, there is arrangement; everything is direction. But our insufficient brain... Because with our tiny brain we think that "We are all successful." We are all perplexed. Therefore, we rascals, we take it as chance and necessity, and like that. There is no chance. Even Brahmā could not—the actual creator of this universe. What you have created? He has created so many planets. So he could not, and what we are? So these are rascaldom only. There is no question of chance, there is no question of accident. Everything is working under subtle laws, under subtle direction of Kṛṣṇa. Read it.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
What is scientific? A tiny brain, what is their science?
Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:
Harikeśa: I become very fascinated when I read these descriptions in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about the creation and the universal...
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. That's gist idea of the universal position. That is sufficient.
Harikeśa: So, in other words, Śukadeva Gosvāmī is always bringing Mahārāja Parīkṣit to the platform of "Why bother with all of this? Simply perform devotional service"?
Prabhupāda: Huh? No, no. He's giving full knowledge of the universal affairs. He also says at the end that "I have described whatever I have heard." That's all.
Harikeśa: So we should simply describe it without being concerned that the scientific mind may make sense out of it or not?
Prabhupāda: What is this nonsense scientific? That is... We reject immediately. What is scientific? A tiny brain, what is their science? Phene bare dhake nate ute. A snake catcher... There is a kind of snake which has no poison. So he cannot catch even that non-poisonous snake, and he's trying to catch one cobra. So these scientists, what is their value?
These so-called scientists cannot accommodate within their tiny brain what is going on in the creation.
Morning Walk -- October 25, 1975, Mauritius:
Indian man: If Kṛṣṇa says, then there must be.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. That is our business. But you cannot interpret. They cannot accommodate within their tiny brain what is going on in the creation. They think in their own way. That's it. Now, they say that the water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. And who supplied so much hydrogen, oxygen?
Indian man: God.
Prabhupāda: So therefore it is, everything, in God's hand. Their difficulty is that they'll not accept God. That is the... Therefore we are very much angry with them. We want to kick on their face. The atheist number one, all these so-called scientists.
Correspondence
1972 Correspondence
We don't perform any ritualistic ceremonies for some material gain or economic development, nor do we waste our time in mental speculation to try to find out the Lord with our tiny brain, nor do we perform so many difficult penances and austerities or gymnastic exercises for becoming one with God. We simply surrender to Krishna and His representative, and serve Him with the consciousness that "My Lord, I am Yours. Please always keep me engaged in Your service and protect me from maya."
Letter to Niranjan -- Honolulu May 5, 1972: In the verse that you refer to, Krishna says to Arjuna, "Give up all varieties of religiousness, and just surrender unto Me; and in return I shall protect you from all sinful reactions. Therefore, you have nothing to fear." This verse is actually the essence of the whole Bhagavad Gita. Throughout the Gita, Krishna describes the different processes of spiritual realization to Arjuna - karma yoga, jnana yoga, samkhya yoga - but at the end He says to give up all the different religious systems and just surrender to Him. This is the topmost yoga system, and is the goal of all the others. So this is our process. We don't perform any ritualistic ceremonies for some material gain or economic development, nor do we waste our time in mental speculation to try to find out the Lord with our tiny brain, nor do we perform so many difficult penances and austerities or gymnastic exercises for becoming one with God. We simply surrender to Krishna and His representative, and serve Him with the consciousness that "My Lod, I am Yours. Please always keep me engaged in Your service and protect me from maya." This is real religion, and is the natural position of the living being.
Page Title: | Tiny brain |
Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Labangalatika |
Created: | 25 of Feb, 2009 |
Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=8, CC=4, OB=1, Lec=31, Con=5, Let=1 |
No. of Quotes: | 50 |