Divine will

Expressions researched:
"divine will"

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 7.14, Purport:

The living entities belong to the eternal superior nature of the Lord, but due to contamination by the inferior nature, matter, their illusion is also eternal. The conditioned soul is therefore called nitya-baddha, or eternally conditioned. No one can trace out the history of his becoming conditioned at a certain date in material history. Consequently, his release from the clutches of material nature is very difficult, even though that material nature is an inferior energy, because material energy is ultimately conducted by the supreme will, which the living entity cannot overcome. Inferior, material nature is defined herein as divine nature due to its divine connection and movement by the divine will. Being conducted by divine will, material nature, although inferior, acts so wonderfully in the construction and destruction of the cosmic manifestation. The Vedas confirm this as follows: māyāṁ tu prakṛtiṁ vidyān māyinaṁ tu maheśvaram. "Although māyā (illusion) is false or temporary, the background of māyā is the supreme magician, the Personality of Godhead, who is Maheśvara, the supreme controller." (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 4.10)

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1:

It is indeed true that Indians are especially able to benefit others world-wide. But if the Indians do not meet this responsibility and instead get enticed and bedazzled by the illusory energy as it is manifest in the West in such variegated forms, then they will become known as misers and end their lives in disgrace. The sun is not visible at night because of the rotation of the earth, yet the sun is very much present in the sky, and the entire solar system is working under its influence. Similarly, the light of India's knowledge, contained in the sublime philosophy of the Vedas, the Upaniṣads, the Vedānta-sūtra, the Purāṇas, the Gītā, and their corollaries, is certainly available, but by divine will it is temporarily beyond our view due to the influence of ignorance and passion. Of course, by the Lord's will and by the mercy of His pure devotee, this knowledge will again spread everywhere. Lord Caitanya has made this prediction;

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma

sarvatra pracāra haibe more nāma

My holy name will be propagated in every town and village of this globe.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 7, 1966:

Devotion to God is considered to be the great practical value, as much as it forms a part of practice of yoga. Those who are practicing yoga, they must be devotee of God. Otherwise, yoga will be a failure. You see? So inasmuch as it forms a part of practice of yoga and is one of the means for the final attainment of samādhi-yoga or the restraint of the mind... That yoga, citta-niruddha. The whole purpose of practicing yoga is to control the mind, control the mind. Now, here Patañjali system, that unless you, I mean, conduct devotional service of Lord, or bhakti, there is no success of yoga. The subsequent commentators and interpreters... The difficulty is that wrong interpretation of the original text delude the audience. You see? So they are... The subsequent commentators and interpreters of the yoga reveals also a theoretical interest in God and discuss more fully the speculative problems as to the nature of God and the proof for the existence of God. They practically take up the speculative way. But Patañjali, as he is, he takes practically, that without devotion of God, there is no success of yoga. Thus the yoga system has come to have both a theoretical and practical interest in the divine will. According to the yoga, God is the Supreme Person. Now just see. This is authoritative statement.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Prabhupāda: Well, that I have already answered. Anything manufactured by man, that is not religion. That is not religion. That I have already answered. Religion is not manufactured, but it is given by God. That is our point, that God is giving religion, "Here is religion: surrender unto Me." So any religious system may be different in method, but ultimately if it comes to this point, (surrendering to God), then it is religion. Otherwise it is not religion; reject it.

Śyāmasundara: He says that prompted by this vital impulse, the human will identifies with the divine will in a mystical union...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: ... and that this is real religion.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are teaching people that you agree with the divine will. The divine will is that you surrender. So you agree to surrender. That we are teaching. That is real religion.

Śyāmasundara: He says that real religion is a mystic oneness with God.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: So this philosopher Bergson, he sees two types of morality. The "closed morality," which is the compulsive forms of behavior, which conform to prevailing convention or social pressure or tradition; static morality, one simply follows the tradition blindly.

Prabhupāda: That can be changed according to the... Just like in some scriptures it is said that "Thou shall not kill." So the killing is ordinary thing there. But in some society killing is already prohibited by so much culture that they do not want to kill even an ant. So that depends on education of the particular society. It is not static, that "This will be like this." No. Not like that. "One man's food another man's poison." What is morality in one society, it may be immorality in another society.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. So the other type of morality he calls "open morality." This is determined by individuals in a dynamic way, blazing new trails, guided by...

Prabhupāda: As soon as it is invented by individual men or society, this is all rascaldom. It has no value.

Śyāmasundara: He calls it "the higher morality." Just like St. Paul or some great saint receives inspiration from God and he blazes a new trail to morality in a society.

Prabhupāda: That is nice. Because he is God conscious, he can dictate what is real morality.

Śyāmasundara: He's speaking of the case of St. Paul.

Prabhupāda: So St. Paul, he's a sādhu. So our process is that: sādhu-guru-śāstra. We have to accept everything through saintly person, confirmed by the scripture, and described or explained by guru. Then it is perfect. The scriptures are already there, and we have to see how the scriptures are being followed by saintly persons. And if there is any difficulty, they should be explained by the spiritual master. Then it is perfect. Sādhu-guru-śāstra-vākya, tinete kariyā aikya. Scriptures you cannot understand directly. Then you have to see how the scriptural injunctions are being followed by saintly persons. Even if you cannot understand, then the spiritual master will explain to you.

Śyāmasundara: And he sees also in the same way two types of religion. He sees the static religion and he calls this static religion "myth devised by human intelligence as a means of defense against the depressing experiences of life. Being fearful of the future, man attempts to combat his fate by constructing religious myths."

Prabhupāda: Just that... Anything created by human being, that is not acceptable. We do not follow that principle. Because a human being is always imperfect. So we cannot take anything manufactured, myth, by any human being. We take directly from God. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). The religious principles, they are given directly by God. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, "This is religion: surrender unto Me." This is religion. It is not man-manufactured. Man is manufacturing, "Oh, this is my type of religion. It is Muhammadanism." "This is Hinduism." "This is Christianism." All these isms, they are imperfect, man-made. But this is perfect. This is perfect because it is given by God Himself. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat... (SB 6.3.19). Very simple thing. "You surrender unto Me." That's all. So any religious system which leads the follower to this point, surrendering to God, that is religion. Otherwise bogus. Real religion is this, surrender to God. So any system of religion, it doesn't matter whether Hinduism, Christianism, Muhammadanism, if it teaches ultimately surrender to God, then that is perfect religion. Otherwise it is not religion.

Śyāmasundara: He says that the opposite of static religion is dynamic religion. He says that this type of religion...

Prabhupāda: Dynamic because he has no idea of God and God consciousness. He thinks it is dea..., static. But they can see practically. We are Kṛṣṇa conscious, how much activities we have got. Deny it. So he does not know what is God, what is religion, and he is philosopher. You see?

Śyāmasundara: He says that... He would probably call our type of religion dynamic religion.

Prabhupāda: Dynamic, yes.

Śyāmasundara: But there is also a type that is static religion.

Prabhupāda: Static religion... Religion is not static because religion (?) (ritual?) is on the spiritual platform. The spiritual platform is not static because the spirit is the dynamic force in this body. So when it is uncontaminated by this material body, then how it can be static? Because the spirit soul is there within the body, therefore my body is moving.

Śyāmasundara: But, for instance, in ancient Greece, they fabricated so many myths, mythology...

Prabhupāda: Well, that I have already answered. Anything manufactured by man, that is not religion. That is not religion. That I have already explained. Religion is not manufactured, but it is given by God. That is our point. God is giving religion, "Here is religion. Surrender unto Me." So any religious system may be different in method, but ultimately, if it comes to this point, surrendering to God, then it is religion. Otherwise, it is not religion. Reject it.

Śyāmasundara: He says that prompted by this vital impulse, the human will identifies with the divine will in a mystical union...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: ...and that this is real religion.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are teaching people that you agree with the divine will. The divine will is that you surrender. So you agree. You surrender. That we are teaching. That is real religion.

Śyāmasundara: He says that real religion is a mystic oneness with God.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: The conditioned soul is therefore called nitya-baddha, or eternally conditioned. No one can trace out the history of his becoming conditioned at a certain date in material history. Consequently, his release from the clutches of material nature is very difficult, even though that material nature is an inferior energy, because material energy is ultimately conducted by the supreme will, which the living entity cannot overcome. Inferior material nature is defined herein as divine nature due to its divine connection and movement by the divine will. Being conducted by divine will, material nature, although inferior, acts so wonderfully in the construction and destruction of the cosmic manifestation.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview with Jackie Vaughn (Black Congressman) -- July 12, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: The conditioned soul is therefore called nitya-baddha, or eternally conditioned. No one can trace out the history of his becoming conditioned at a certain date in material history. Consequently, his release from the clutches of material nature is very difficult, even though that material nature is an inferior energy, because material energy is ultimately conducted by the Supreme Will, which the living entity cannot overcome. Inferior material nature is defined herein as divine nature due to its divine connection and movement by the divine will. Being conducted by the divine will, material nature, although inferior, acts so wonderfully in the construction and destruction of the cosmic manifestation that the Vedas confirm this as follows: māyāṁ tu prakṛtiṁ vidyān māyinaṁ tu maheśvaram. Although māyā is false and temporary, the background of māyā is the supreme magician, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is Maheśvara, the supreme controller.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to R. Prakash -- Allahabad 22 June, 1951:

As followers of Bhagavad-gita we are firmly convinced that the onslaught of nature which is constantly being inflicted upon human society is a sort of police action by the laws of the Almighty and as soon as we surrender unto the Divine Will of the Almighty we not only become Mahatmas & saints but also the attack of unkind Nature is vanquished at once. That is the teaching of Bhagavad-gita and that is the demonstrative preaching of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Candanacarya -- Los Angeles 12 March, 1970:

I am so much obliged to you that you are all helping me in the discharge of my duties towards my Spiritual Master, although I was so much reluctant to execute it. After all, we are the eternal servants of Krsna, and by the Divine Will of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura we are now combined together, although originally we are born in different parts of the world, unknown to one another.

This is the way of Krsna transaction; so let us, with great enthusiasm, preach this cult all over the world and make the people happy.