Prabhupāda: Because you cannot do like this. Kṛṣṇa says that mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). "Nobody is superior than Me." That is Kṛṣṇa. Are you able to become superior of everyone?
Mr. Malhotra: That is so, but how is that creator. His own creation went against and Kṛṣṇa became after His creation to worship and become devotees of superior...
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) For this reason Kṛṣṇa says janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). One who knows what are the activities of Kṛṣṇa he is liberated. So
- manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
- kaścid yatati siddhaye
- yatatām api siddhānāṁ
- kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ
- (BG 7.3)
So to understand Kṛṣṇa, tattvataḥ, it is not possible for ordinary person.
Mr. Malhotra: Why this trying to understand Kṛṣṇa? Why not try to understand one's self? Kṛṣṇa passed 5000 years ago. Now ashes are there in our hands. Why not...
Prabhupāda: That means you do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore you do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is... Why Kṛṣṇa? You are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. You are nitya, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, you are nitya. Why do you say Kṛṣṇa existed 5000 years ago? He is existing always.
Mr. Malhotra: Always existing there. (indistinct) Within you, within oneself.
Prabhupāda: No no. You are also nitya, but you are part and parcel of that nitya. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). God is nitya, you are also nitya, God is also living, you are also living. What is the difference between the two? That one person He is maintaining all of us. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. So this is knowledge of Kṛṣṇa. God is one. I am also individual. But we are many because we are all living entities. But God is one. We are controlled by God or God's nature. We are not one.
Mr. Malhotra: Aren't we the images of God?
Prabhupāda: Apart from images... That is another thing. That we shall describe later on. First of all you cannot claim that you are God because you are under the control of material nature.
Mr. Malhotra: You said part and parcel of God.
Prabhupāda: Part and parcel, just like the finger is part and parcel of my body, but it is not the whole body.
Mr. Malhotra: It is the body.
Prabhupāda: It is body, you can say that, but part of it.
Mr. Malhotra: Part of my body. All enjoined together, it makes the whole body. If it is separated...
Prabhupāda: That's all right. But still you say it is aṅguli (finger). It is not the body.
Mr. Malhotra: Aṅguli. (Laughs) It is one part, to say many.
Prabhupāda: No. You should be, should be senses. Just like this aṅguli, I am asking, "Do like this." It is my servant. After all, it is part of the body, it is my servant. If it cannot serve my body then it is diseased. Similarly we are part and parcel of God. If we cannot serve God, that is our diseased condition. The same example. This finger is part and parcel of my body. But I ask finger, "Please come here, to my nostrils." If it cannot do, then it is diseased. It is not in normal condition. So anyone who does not serve the whole, part and whole, he is diseased. He is not in normal condition. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇera dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Therefore because we have forgotten this relationship with God, declared ourself as God, that is diseased condition. Therefore God comes and He orders, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). "Surrender unto Me. Don't talk nonsense." That is God. So when we agree, that is our perfection. Not to artificially become God, but to agree to serve God. That is liberation.