The whole Vedas are divided into three states. Sambandha, what is our connection God. That is called sambandha. And then abhidheya. According to that relationship we have to act. That is called abhidheya. And why do we act? Because we have got the goal of life, to achieve the goal of life. So what is the goal of life? The goal of life is that, to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is goal of life. We are part and parcel of God. God is sanātana and He has His own abode, sanātana. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). There is a place ever-existing. This material world, it will not exist forever. It is bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It is manifested at a certain date. Just like your body and my body, it is manifested on a certain date. It will stay for some time. It will grow. It will give some by-product. Then we become old, dwindling, and then finished. This is called ṣaḍ-vikāra. of anything which is material. But there is another nature where there is no ṣaḍ-vikāra. That is eternal. So that is called sanātana-dharma. And the jīvas, we living entities, we are also described as eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). And the Lord is also addressed as sanātana. So our real situation is that we are sanātana, Kṛṣṇa is sanātana, and Kṛṣṇa has His abode, sanātana. When we go back to that sanātana-dhāma and live with the supreme sanātana, Kṛṣṇa... And we are also sanātana. The process by which we can achieve this highest goal of life, that is called sanātana-dharma. We are executing here sanātana-dharma.
So sanātana-dharma and this bhāgavata-dharma, the same thing. Bhāgavata, Bhagavān. From the word Bhagavān, bhāgavata has come. So this bhāgavata-dharma has been described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He says, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). We are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. This is. But at the present moment, with our material connection, instead of becoming the servant of God, or Kṛṣṇa, we have become servants of so many other things, māyā, and therefore we are suffering. We are not satisfied. There cannot be. It cannot fit. Just like you take one screw from the machine. If the screw somehow or other falls down it has no value. But the same screw, when you fit to the machine or the machine is not working for want of one screw, it is in disturbed condition, so you take that same screw and fit it and the machine working and the screw becomes very valuable. So we are part and parcel of god, Kṛṣṇa. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7), He says, Kṛṣṇa. So we are now separated. We are fallen down. Another example is just like big fire and the small sparks. The small spark is also fire so long it is with the fire. And if somehow or other the sparks fall down out of the fire, it extinguishes. There is no more fire quality. But if you take it again and put it into the fire, again it becomes spark.
So our position is like that. Somehow or other, we have come to this material world. Although we are a small particle, fragmental parts of the Supreme Lord, but because we are in this material world we have forgotten our relationship with God, and our... Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). We are struggling against the laws of material world, so many other things. Here also we are serving because we are eternally servant. But because we have given up the service of the Supreme Lord, we have been engaged as servant of so many things. But nobody is satisfied, as (the) honorable Justice said, that nobody is satisfied. That's a fact. It cannot be satisfied. It cannot be satisfied because we are constitutionally servant of God but we have been placed in this material world to serve so many other things which is not fitting. Therefore we are creating plans of service. That is called mental concoction. Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). A struggle, it is a struggle.
So we are making different plans but it will not be successful. That much I explained last night, that we are thinking independent and we are planning so many things independently to become happy. It is not possible. That is not possible. That is māyā's illusory play. Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā. You cannot surpass. Then what is the ultimate solution? Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). If we surrender to Kṛṣṇa, then we revive our original position. That is... Kṛṣṇa consciousness means instead of keeping so many things in consciousness... They are all polluted consciousness. The real... We have got consciousness, that is a fact, but our consciousness is polluted. So we have to purify the consciousness. To purify consciousness means bhakti. Bhakti, the definition given in Nārada Pañcarātra... Rūpa Gosvāmī... Rūpa Gosvāmī says,
- anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
- jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
- ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
- śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
- (Brs. 1.1.11)
This is first-class bhakti that there is no other motive. Anyābhilā... Because here in the material world, under the control of the material nature Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartā... (BG 3.27). We are under the full control of the prakṛti, material nature. But because we are foolish, we have forgotten our position, so ahaṅkāra, false ahaṅkāra. This is false ahaṅkāra: "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya." This is false ahaṅkāra. Therefore Nārada Pañcarātra says sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ (CC Madhya 19.170). So one has to become free, uncontaminated from all these designations, "I am Indian," "I am American," I am this," "I am that." "I am..." Sarvopādhi vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam. When he is purified, nirmalam, without any designation, that "I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi.
This is ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Kṛṣṇa is Para-brahman. He is described in the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā. Arjuna... Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān puruṣaṁ śāśvatam ādyam (BG 10.12). Arjuna recognized and he said, "You are recognized by all the authorities." Prahlāda Mahārāja is one of the authorities. I have described the authorities. Brahmā is authority, Lord Śiva is authority, and Kapila is authority, Kumāra, four Kumāras, they are authorities, and Manu is authority. Similarly, Prahlāda Mahārāja is authority. Janaka Mahārāja is authority. The twelve authorities. So Arjuna confirmed that "You are speaking, Yourself, that You are the Supreme Lord," mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7), "and from discussion of Bhagavad-gītā, I also accept You Para-brahman. And not only that, all the authorities, they also accept you." Recently, in our time, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, all the ācāryas, they also accept Kṛṣṇa. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he accepts Kṛṣṇa. Sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ. So Kṛṣṇa is accepted the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all the ācāryas.
So we have to learn from the ācāryas, not any common man or any self-made ācārya. No. That will not do. Just like we... Sometimes in the court we give some judgment from the other court and that is taken very seriously because it is authority. We cannot manufacture judgment. Similarly, ācāryopāsanaṁ, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is recommended. We have to go to the ācāryas. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda: "One who has accepted ācārya in the disciplic succession, he knows the things." So all the ācāryas, they accept Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nārada, he accepts, Vyāsadeva, he accepts, and Arjuna also accepts, who personally listened to Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavad-gītā. And Lord Brahmā. Yesterday somebody questioned that "Whether there was the name of Kṛṣṇa before Dvāpara-yuga?" No, there was. In the śāstras there are Kṛṣṇa. In the Vedas, in Atharva Veda and others, Kṛṣṇa name is there. And in the Brahma-saṁhitā—Lord Brahmā, he wrote Brahma-saṁhitā—it is clearly explained there, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), anādir ādiḥ. Anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). And Kṛṣṇa also says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo (BG 10.8). Sarvasya means including all the devatās, all the living entities, everything. And the Vedānta says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So Kṛṣṇa is the absolute Supreme Person, īśvaraḥ paramam, from Lord Brahma. He is the distributor of Vedic knowledge, and Kṛṣṇa says also, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). This is ultimate goal.