God is the father. He is supplying us. In the Vedic mantra it is said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is the supreme living entity amongst all living entities. He is singular number, nitya. And nityānām, plural number—we are all plural number. We are also as living entity, as good living entity as Kṛṣṇa, or God. God is also living entity, we are also living entity. Just like father and son. The father is also living entity and the son is also living entity. There is no difference so far living conditions are there. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's sons, or God or God's sons.
Now, in the Bible, Lord Jesus Christ is described as the son of God. Now, so far I have heard, that it is claimed that he is the only one son of God. Now according to Bhagavad-gītā, every living entity is son of God. Now how to adjust? If the Bible says that Lord Jesus Christ is the only one son, then how these so many innumerable sons can be adjusted? There is adjustment. There is very nice adjustment. One should know it. He is the only one son means one who can sacrifice his life for God, he is real son. And one who is simply taking from father, "O God, give us our daily bread," and He is supplying, and eating and enjoying sense enjoyment, he is not real son. The real son is he who sacrifices his life for glorifying his father.
Similarly, anyone who will sacrifice his life . . . of course, it is not required that everyone shall be crucified like Lord Jesus Christ, but he should sacrifice his energy for the Supreme Lord. And that person who has devoted his energy for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, he is called Kṛṣṇa conscious person.
We have got a limited, measured amount of energy throughout our life. We are not going to live forever, but we have got some energy by which we can create so many things. Everyone is coming as a small child. As he grows up, by his energy he is becoming Ford, he is becoming Rockefeller, he is becoming Carnegie, or in our country just like Birla, so many things. It is simply energy. One has got sufficient energy, intelligence, he is utilizing, he is becoming Rockefeller, Ford or Birla, or something like that. Another man, he has got energy, he cannot utilize his energy; he remains a poor man, a loafer class. It is all question of energy.
So, so long we have got this energy in our control, that means so long we live, we have got a certain amount of . . . that should be employed for Kṛṣṇa, for God. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not mean anything wonderful. It is not an ordinary . . . but a simple thing. Simply you have to employ your energy for Kṛṣṇa. That is expected by Kṛṣṇa. And what will be the result? The result will be, at least individually you shall be peaceful, you shall be happy. If everyone becomes like that, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or everyone tries to apply his energy for the service of the Lord, then this world becomes kingdom of God actually.
But that is not possible. Here there is another, opposing element, which is called māyā, or Satan, who is acting against this principle. So we cannot expect that cent percent people will be God conscious, or Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is not possible, because here in this material world . . . this material world means it is a place where māyā is predominant. Māyā is predominant means the forgetfulness of God is predominant. Māyā means nothing. Māyā is not a ghost. Māyā is a condition of consciousness. That's all. When you forget God, or Kṛṣṇa, that is called māyā. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is very nicely explained in the Seventh Chapter that daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14): "The influence of māyā is so strong that it is very difficult to surmount." Yes. Māyā is energy of God also.
So as your energy can produce so much wonderful thing, why not Kṛṣṇa's energy, or God's energy, is very strong? Yes. It is very strong. Just like you are also energy, but why you are not strong? Just like when you are criminal, when you are in the custody of police energy of the government, you are weaker. You are all the . . . one of the energies of this government. The whole population is the energy of the government, producing. This is an example. But one energy is civil population, another energy is criminal population, and another energy, the government. So the criminal population means against the principles of government. And civil population means law-abiding principle of government. And the law-order energy means to punish the criminals.
So this māyā is law-and-order energy of God. And we, those who have come to this material world, we are all criminal energy now. We are not actually criminal. Just like a man born is not criminal, but by association he becomes a criminal, or by association he becomes a godly man. It is a question of association. Similarly, the spirit soul, as son of God, he is pure. He is as pure as anything. As God is pure, similarly, the son of God is also pure. But as soon as he forgets God and wants to become free, or wants to become imitation God . . . here in this material world everyone is trying to become an imitation God. God is one. God cannot be two. But here the struggle for existence means that these, I mean to say, living entities who are put into this material world, every one of them is trying to become an imitation God. Therefore there is struggle.
I am trying to . . . either collectively or individually, everyone is trying to become a certain type of God. What is that God? God means, I have several times explained, that God means the richest man, the richest, famous man, the most famous man, the strongest man, the beautiful man, the learned man and the renounced man. You just find out who is God. That is defined in the Vedic literature, that the person who has got the utmost opulence, utmost strength, utmost beauty, utmost knowledge and utmost renunciation, He is God. This is the definition of God. You can find out some rich man, but you cannot find out the richest man. Every day you will find so many competitors. So as soon as you find the richest man—nobody can surpass Him—then He is God.