So we should know that God is one. God is not different. There cannot be any competition of God. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). There cannot be any superior truth than God. Therefore God is called the great. God is called the Absolute. So religion means, first-class religion means, how the followers have developed the understanding of God. That is first-class religion. Not that how many animals we can sacrifice or how many times we can... So many rituals and so many other things are there in every religion. But the..., we have to test by the result, phalena paricīyate.
Everything... Just like we have studied so much, a scientific man, but there is examination. If one passes the examination, then it is understood that he has studied nicely. That is our common sense. In school, colleges, everywhere. If I cannot pass the examination, and if I advertise myself, "Oh, I have studied this, I have studied that," then what is the value of that? Suppose a man is doing business.
So if we see that by doing business he has acquired some money, he has become rich, then we can understand that he is successful businessman. But if he, he is a poor man, and he says, "I have done this, I have done that, I have done that," you can say so, but we want to know by the result. Phalena paricīyate. That is a Sanskrit version. But we have to understand by the result, phalena, what result you have got, what the value of your examination paper you have, how much mark you have received.
Similarly, we can declare ourself very religionist, great religionist, follower of great religion, but what is this? What is...? How much you have developed your sense of God consciousness, how much you have learned to love God. Just like in your Western countries, Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for God's. . . Can. . . He was charged that he was preaching something blasphemous. But he was a devotee of God. He, he preached to the people that "There is kingdom of God. You love God, and go to the kingdom of God." Simple truth. That is the actual business of human life. This human life is meant for understanding God, because we are part and parcel of God and we have forgotten.
Just like the same thing, I have given several times example, a person, he belongs to a rich father, but somehow or other he has left home and he is loitering. In your country this example is very applicable. So many boys, they have left their rich father, rich family, and lying down on the street. I have seen. Why? Maybe some reason, but he is not expected to lie down on the street, because he has got rich father, at least rich nation, your American nation.
Similarly, when we become puzzled and confused and want to live independently of God, the richest father... Who can be richer than God? God means the richest. No one can be richer than Him. That is another definition of God.
- aiśvaryasya samagrasya
- vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ
- jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva
- ṣaṇṇāṁ itī bhaga ganā
- (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47)
Bhāga, bhāga means fortune, one who is opulent with six kinds of fortunes. We can understand it very well. Just like in our, in this material world, if one man is very rich, he's attractive. Everybody speaks about him. Even he is a nonsense number one, if he has got money, everyone will speak about him. At least in this age it is going on. Nobody considers of anything, but if somehow or other one becomes very rich, he becomes a popular figure.