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All powerful means

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Bhagavān, all-powerful means that aiśvaryasya, all opulence, all wealth, all reputation, all knowledge, all beauty, all renunciation. In this way, Bhagavān is opulent.
Lecture on SB 3.25.5-6 -- Bombay, November 5, 1974:

Tasmin bindu-sarovare avātsīt. They lived there in the Bindu, on the bank of the Bindu-sarovara, lake. Avātsīd bhagavān kapilaḥ. Now, Kapiladeva is Bhagavān. There is another Kapiladeva, Kapila Ṛṣi. He is atheist. But here, this Kapiladeva is authority and Bhagavān, incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān. Most powerful. Bhagavān means most powerful, all-powerful.

aiśvaryasya samagrasya
vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ
jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva
ṣaṇṇāṁ bhaga itīṅganā
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47)

Bhagavān, all-powerful means that aiśvaryasya, all opulence, all wealth, all reputation, all knowledge, all beauty, all renunciation. In this way, Bhagavān is opulent. Six opulences. And these six opulences is fully represented in Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is accepted: kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). And others, they are expansion or incarnation. Viṣṇu-tattva. In the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, the Gosvāmīs, they have analyzed the characteristics of Bhagavān. The first Bhagavān is Lord Brahmā. Lord... Not first... First Bhagavān is Kṛṣṇa, but the Bhagavān realization, the opulences realization, begins from Lord Brahmā. He is jīva-tattva. Jīva-tattva means he's ordinary living being like us. If you become powerful in spiritual strength, then you can also have the post of Lord Brahmā. And better than Lord Brahmā is Lord Śiva. And better than Lord Śiva is Viṣṇu, or Lord Nārāyaṇa. And the best of all of them is Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). That is the analysis of the Vedic śāstra. So all śāstras accept... the Brahma-saṁhitā and, I mean to say, other, all śāstras... Kṛṣṇas tu... Even Śaṅkarācārya accepts. Sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ. Śaṅkarācārya. He... These Māyāvādī philosophers, impersonalists, he also accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And all the ācāryas-Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Nimbārka, and lately, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu—all accept kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam.

General Lectures

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. He may be ten times powerful than me." Or somebody says, "twenty times." "All right, let us compromise. Fifty times." (laughter) This kind of speculation is like the frog's speculation within the well.
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. He may be ten times powerful than me." Or somebody says, "twenty times." "All right, let us compromise. Fifty times." (laughter) This kind of speculation is like the frog's speculation within the well. There is a frog within the well, and one of his friends came to him, "My dear friend, I have seen a vast mass of water, Atlantic Ocean." "What is that Atlantic Ocean?" "It is vast." "How much? Maybe ten times more than this? Or twenty times? Come on." (laughter) "No, no. It is very, very vast." So these rascal speculation of God is like that the speculation of the frog about Atlantic Ocean. These mundane philosopher, scientists, they are thinking of God in that way, the Dr. Frog's philosophy. The Dr. Frog's philosophy will not help you to understand what is God.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Mahimā-śakti. All-powerful means not that "I cannot do, I cannot, I can do this only." No, anything He can do. That is all powerful.
Morning Walk -- April 8, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...them, the form is meant for killing them, chastising them. Therefore dangerous. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). So for the nondevotees the form is very dangerous. Sadā paśyanti yoginaḥ. Yogis, they concentrate their mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. That is real yoga. (break) ...boat, he crossed over.

samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām
(SB 10.14.58)

This is the process.

Mahāṁsa: This śloka is... Where is that śloka, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: It is in the Tenth Canto. Bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padam. Just like this ocean, if it becomes a small pit, then don't require a big ship to cross over. You just... Like this. It can be reduced. By Kṛṣṇa's desire, it can be done so. Just like at the present moment... Formerly, people used to go to London from India, from Bombay, at least, in fifteen days. Now it doesn't take even fifteen hours. It takes only nine hours. How it has been reduced? Because there is a process to reduce. Similarly, the supreme spiritual process is like that. It can be reduced to any quantity. Aṇi... This is called aṇimā-siddhi. It can be expanded also, to the greatest length. Mahimā-śakti. All-powerful means not that "I cannot do, I cannot, I can do this only." No, anything He can do. That is all powerful. Aṇimā, laghimā, mahimā. Just like all these big, big planets, they are floating in the sky. This is called laghimā, weightless, no weight. Those who are going to the moon planet, they are finding out weightlessness. How it has become weightless? Such a big, huge... Just this planet. With so many seas and mountains and cities and buildings. But it is floating. That's a fact. It is floating like a swab. How it is floating? You can say something nonsense, but the actual fact is this.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

If Kṛṣṇa helps one to know everything, who can check it? That is not possible. This science must be there. We are not all-powerful. Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful means He can do everything.
'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: In Bhagavad-gītā it is said bhaktyā mām abhijānāti: (BG 18.55) "One can understand Me through bhakti." And the Vedic injunction is that "If one knows Me, or knows the Absolute Truth, God, then he knows everything." Kasmin tu bhagavo vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. If somehow or other one knows the Absolute Truth, then he knows everything. Kasmin tu bhagavo vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. That is the benefit of knowing the Absolute Truth. So a devotee knows everything. How it is possible? That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā,

teṣām evānukampārtham
aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ
nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-stho
jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā
(BG 10.11)

One may challenge, "How a person can know everything?" So Kṛṣṇa immediately replies that "I help him specifically." Teṣām evānukampārtham. "Just to show My personal, especial favor upon him, I light up the torch of knowledge, and he knows everything." So if Kṛṣṇa helps one to know everything, who can check it? That is not possible. This science must be there. We are not all-powerful. Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful means He can do everything.

Page Title:All powerful means
Compiler:Jamuna Priya, Alakananda
Created:17 of Nov, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=2, Con=2, Let=0
No. of Quotes:4