In the English dictionary when you consult the word God, it is stated there, "the Supreme Being." What is that Supreme Being? We are all living being, but amongst ourself there is comparative, superlative positions

Expressions researched:
"What is that Supreme Being? We are all living being, but amongst ourself there is comparative, superlative positions"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Bhagavān means the Supreme Being. In the English dictionary when you consult the word God, it is stated there, "the Supreme Being." What is that Supreme Being? We are all living being, but amongst ourself there is comparative, superlative positions.

Lecture on BG 2.11 (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 11, 1975:

Prabhupāda:

śrī bhagavān uvāca

aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ

prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase

gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca

nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ

BG 2.11

Śrī bhagavān uvāca. Bhagavān means the Supreme Being. In the English dictionary when you consult the word God, it is stated there, "the Supreme Being." What is that Supreme Being? We are all living being, but amongst ourself there is comparative, superlative positions. I am here; you are here; he is there. So you may be better than me, he may be better than you, and somebody else may be better than him. In this way you go on searching after one better than the other. When you ultimately come to a point that nobody is better then him, that is Bhagavān.

Bhaga means opulence. So there are six kinds of opulences. One opulence is to become very rich, another opulence is to become very powerful, another opulence is to become very strong, another opulence is to become very famous, another opulence is to become very wise, and another opulence is to become very much renounced. So these six kinds of opulences, when present in the superlative degree, that is Bhagavān. This means, as it is stated in the Vedic literature, na tasya samaḥ adhikaś ca dṛśyate: "Nobody is found equal to Him or greater than Him." In this material world any person you take, next moment you'll find somebody equal to him and somebody greater than him. But the Vedic information is: God means who has no equal and who has no greater person than Him. Actually Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by Kṛṣṇa, and here it is said, bhagavān uvāca. So Bhagavān, the Supreme God, means Kṛṣṇa. That is the statement in all Vedic literature.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ

anādir ādir govindaḥ

sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

(Bs. 5.1)

Means that īśvara, controller, the supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa. We are also controller. I control a few people, you control a few men, another control more men, another, more men, or... You can go on. But the supreme controller, who controls everyone, all big controllers, that is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, when it is said, bhagavān uvāca, that means the version which is presented herewith was spoken by the supreme controller.

So our process of receiving knowledge is from the supreme controller because, according to the definition already given—wise, the most wise—Kṛṣṇa, or Bhagavān, is the most wise. Therefore, if we receive knowledge from the most wise, then there is no flaw. That is our principle, that we are receiving from Kṛṣṇa, the supreme controller, directly.