Greatest of the great

Expressions researched:
"greatest of the great"

SB Canto 3

That topmost devotee of the Lord will have expanded intelligence and expanded influence and will be the greatest of the great souls.

SB 3.14.48, Translation: That topmost devotee of the Lord will have expanded intelligence and expanded influence and will be the greatest of the great souls. Due to matured devotional service, he will certainly be situated in transcendental ecstasy and will enter the spiritual sky after quitting this material world.

The demon did not know that God is the greatest of the great and the smallest of the small.

SB 3.19.24, Translation and Purport: When the demon saw his magic forces dispelled, he once again came into the presence of the Personality of Godhead, Keśava, and, full of rage, tried to embrace Him within his arms to crush Him. But to his great amazement he found the Lord standing outside the circle of his arms. In this verse the Lord is addressed as Keśava because He killed the demon Keśī in the beginning of creation. Keśava is also a name of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the origin of all incarnations, and it is confirmed in Brahma-saṁhitā that Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, exists simultaneously in His different incarnations and expansions. The demon's attempt to measure the Supreme Personality of Godhead is significant. The demon wanted to embrace Him with his arms, thinking that with his limited arms he could capture the Absolute by material power. He did not know that God is the greatest of the great and the smallest of the small. No one can capture the Supreme Lord or bring Him under his control. But the demoniac person always attempts to measure the length and breadth of the Supreme Lord. By His inconceivable potency the Lord can become the universal form, as explained in Bhagavad-gītā, and at the same time He can remain within the box of His devotees as their worshipable Deity.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy.

SB 3.26.4, Translation: As His pastime, that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy, which is invested with three material modes of nature and which is related with Viṣṇu.

CC Adi-lila

An actual follower of Vedānta philosophy is a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu, who is the greatest of the great and the maintainer of the entire universe.

CC Adi 7.72, Purport: One who imperfectly knows Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot know Vedānta philosophy. A showy display of Vedānta study without Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a feature of the external energy, māyā, and as long as one is attracted by the inebrieties of this ever-changing material energy, he deviates from devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. An actual follower of Vedānta philosophy is a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu, who is the greatest of the great and the maintainer of the entire universe. Unless one surpasses the field of activities in service to the limited, one cannot reach the unlimited. Knowledge of the unlimited is actual brahma-jñāna, or knowledge of the Supreme. Those who are addicted to fruitive activities and speculative knowledge cannot understand the value of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which is always completely pure, eternally liberated and full of spiritual bliss. One who has taken shelter of the holy name of the Lord, which is identical with the Lord, does not have to study Vedānta philosophy, for he has already completed all such study.

“Now I understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be the greatest of the great. He is effulgent like the sun and is beyond this material world.”

CC Adi 7.112, Purport: Māyāvādī philosophers materialistically think that if the Supreme Truth expands Himself in everything, He must lose His original form. Thus they think that there cannot be any form other than the expansive gigantic body of the Lord. But the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad confirms, pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate: “Although He expands in many ways, He keeps His original personality. His original spiritual body remains as it is.” Similarly, elsewhere it is stated, vicitra-śaktiḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original person [puruṣa], has multifarious energies.” And the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad declares, sa vṛkṣa-kālākṛtibhiḥ paro ’nyo yasmāt prapañcaḥ parivartate ’yaṁ dharmāvahaṁ pāpanudaṁ bhageśam: “He is the origin of material creation, and it is due to Him only that everything changes. He is the protector of religion and annihilator of all sinful activities. He is the master of all opulences.” (Śvet. Up. 6.6) Vedāham etaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntam āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt: “Now I understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be the greatest of the great. He is effulgent like the sun and is beyond this material world.” (Śvet. Up. 3.8) Patiṁ patīnāṁ paramaṁ parastāt: “He is the master of all masters, the superior of all superiors.” (Śvet. Up. 6.7) Mahān prabhur vai puruṣaḥ: “He is the supreme master and supreme person.” (Śvet. Up. 3.12) Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate: “We can understand His opulences in different ways.” (Śvet. Up. 6.8 [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]) Similarly, in the Ṛg Veda it is stated, tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ: “Viṣṇu is the Supreme, and those who are actually learned think only of His lotus feet.” In the Praśna Upaniṣad (6.3) it is said, sa īkṣāṁ cakre: “He glanced over the material creation.” In the Aitareya Upaniṣad (1.1.1–2) it is said, sa aikṣata—“He glanced over the material creation”—and sa imāl lokān asṛjata—“He created this entire material world.” Thus many verses can be quoted from the Upaniṣads and Vedas which prove that the Supreme Godhead is not impersonal.

Nectar of Devotion

The highest material perfections, obtained by perfect yogīs, are listed as eight: to become the smallest of the small, to become the greatest of the great, etc.

Nectar of Devotion 22: 55. Possessing All Mystic Perfections There are many standards of perfection. The highest material perfections, obtained by perfect yogīs, are listed as eight: to become the smallest of the small, to become the greatest of the great, etc. All of these material perfections, as well as all spiritual perfections, can be found fully in Kṛṣṇa's personality.

Mukunda-mala-stotra (mantras 1 to 6 only)

The pleasure one gives the Lord by addressing Him by such names is many, many times greater than the pleasure He enjoys when He is addressed as the Supreme Father, the Greatest of the Great, Parameśvara, or anything of that nature, which indicate volumes of awe and veneration.

Mukunda-mala-stotra Mantra 2: Vasudeva and Devakī are confidential devotees of the Lord in the mood of parental love. Even greater than them are Nanda and Yaśodā, His foster parents in Vṛndāvana. The Lord takes great pleasure in being addressed as Devakī-nandana ("the son of Devakī"), Nanda-nandana ("the son of Nanda"), Yaśodā-nandana ("the son of Yaśodā"), Daśarathī ("the son of King Daśaratha"), Janakī-nātha ("the husband of Janakī"), and so on. The pleasure one gives the Lord by addressing Him by such names is many, many times greater than the pleasure He enjoys when He is addressed as the Supreme Father, the Greatest of the Great, Parameśvara, or anything of that nature, which indicate volumes of awe and veneration.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

God is greatest of the great, and the smallest of the small.

Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966: So we cannot restrict God, that "He cannot be like this. He cannot come here. He cannot take any shape." No. He is not under my restriction. Then how God is great? If I put God under my restricted knowledge or limited knowledge, then God becomes under my understanding. But the Vedic language says, avan mānasa-gocaraḥ. He's beyond the expression of words. He is beyond the conception of mind. He is greatest of the great, and the smallest of the small. How He's the smallest of the... We are also, because we are spirit spark. Now, do we know what is our measurement? That we can find in the śāstra. I have several times mentioned that one ten-thousandth part of the tip of your hair is the measurement of the soul. Now you have no instrument. You cannot measure even the tip of your hair, and what to speak of ten-thousandth part of it. Impossible. Therefore because you cannot find out by dissecting this body where is that spirit spark... There is, but your present eyes cannot find it out. Therefore you say nirākāra, or no form. But actually, it has form.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

He's the greatest of the great, and He's the smallest also.

Lecture on SB 1.2.30 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1972: There is no "within" and "without" Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa..., as we have got difference between within and without, Kṛṣṇa has no such difference. And those..., one who does not know, they think, such persons thinks Kṛṣṇa as one of the products of material creation. That is not the fact.

sa evedaṁ sasarjāgre

bhagavān ātma-māyayā

sad-asad-rūpayā cāsau

guṇamayāguṇo vibhuḥ

Vibhu. He's vibhu, we are aṇu. That is the difference. Kṛṣṇa is vibhu, unlimited. We are limited. So we, we cannot be equal to Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvāda philosophy that there is no difference between jīva and Bhagavān... There is sufficient difference. He is vibhu; we are aṇu. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. He's the greatest of the great, and He's the smallest also. So Kṛṣṇa cannot be equal..., or nobody can be equal to Kṛṣṇa, or greater than Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is asamordhva. Nobody can be equal or greater than Kṛṣṇa. Everyone is below Kṛṣṇa.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

That is God's power. He is not only great, greatest, but He is the smallest. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. Mahato mahīyān means greatest of the great, and aṇor aṇīyān, the smallest of the small. We cannot think how small He can become.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.294-298 -- New York, December 19, 1966: Within this universe there is a planet near the polestar which is called Kṣīrodakaśāyī planet, and there Lord Viṣṇu in His incarnation of antaryāmi, Supersoul... He is acting as the Supersoul. And He is the universal form. When you think of universal form of the Lord, that is the manifestation of this Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. And that Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu as Paramātmā, Supersoul, is situated in everyone's heart, even within the atom also. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham [Bs. 5.35]. Paramāṇu means atom. Within the atom also. We think of God as very great, universal form, but God can take also form less than the atom. That is God's power. He is not only great, greatest, but He is the smallest. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. Mahato mahīyān means greatest of the great, and aṇor aṇīyān, the smallest of the small. We cannot think how small He can become. That is His inconceivable potency. So within this material world, He is within the atom, and He is within everyone's heart, in everywhere, all-pervading, and at the same time universal form, the biggest form.

General Lectures

We have to satisfy the great, and the greatest of the great is God, or Kṛṣṇa. If by your action Kṛṣṇa, God, is satisfied, then it is all right.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968: The general principle is that if you think by certain type of fighting God is not satisfied, then you should not fight. But if in some fighting God is satisfied, then you should fight. We do not say anything outright that this is bad or this is good. We say, anything that has given satisfaction to God, Kṛṣṇa, that is good. Anything which has not given satisfaction to Kṛṣṇa or God, that is bad. Now you have to judge yourself how Kṛṣṇa is satisfied. That requires training; that requires understanding. But the standard of... The same example, that the same state, the same man, when he was fighting in the battlefield, he was being elevated to higher position, rewarded. But same man coming back from the battlefield, he has killed somebody, some of his neighbor, he's hanged. But the same state is there. But man is there, the action is there, the same, but why the judgment is different? Similarly, we have to satisfy the great, and the greatest of the great is God, or Kṛṣṇa. If by your action Kṛṣṇa, God, is satisfied, then it is all right. I don't say that this fight is good, that fight is bad. Fight or no fight. Even without fighting, he may be bad. Just like the instruction which we get from Bhagavad-gītā, Arjuna was denying to fight and he was considered by Kṛṣṇa bad, because He was not satisfied. This is the evidence. And when Arjuna decided to fight to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, it was taken as good. So whole thing should be tested, judged, by the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord.