Student (1): But Christians might say the same thing. They might say, "Look at the Bible, This is our logic."
Prabhupāda: Yes, that's all right. They accept God; we accept God. The only difference is they do not know who is God, but we know who is God.
Student (1): No, they know who is God.
Prabhupāda: No.
Revatīnandana: You won't get any good information about God. "God is great. God created"—finished. That's not very much information. God's son? A little more information about God's son.
Student (1): But you've got no more right to say you know who is God than they have.
Revatīnandana: Oh, well, we have a lot more information about God, you see.
Student: In which way?
Revatīnandana: In these Vedas. There's a difference between the arithmetic book you get in the first grade of school and the calculus book in terms of the amount of information. We can tell you more about God because the Vedas give more information than the Bible. But the basic principle—"God is there. God is a person"—is in both places.
Prabhupāda: Jesus Christ is son of God. Therefore God must be person. A person can beget a son.
Student (1): God exists now.
Prabhupāda: Yes, always exists.
Student (1): But therefore where is He?
Prabhupāda: Why is He?
Revatīnandana: Where is He?
Prabhupāda: Where is He? He is with you. He is here. But you have no eyes to see, that's all.
Revatīnandana: He says, "I'm sitting in everyone's heart, and from Me comes knowledge, remembrance and forgetfulness." If you turn toward Him, He will give you knowledge, and you'll be able to see Him. But you have to find out who to turn toward. Then you can turn. So from saintly authorities, the line of masters and the Vedas, we find out where to turn. And if you turn properly, then by Kṛṣṇa's grace, you'll see Kṛṣṇa. He'll reveal Himself in the course of time.
Student (2): Have you all seen Kṛṣṇa?
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Revatīnandana: He asked if we have all seen Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: We are daily, every moment, seeing, every moment. Otherwise, do you mean to say we are blindly following something?
Student (2): No, I'm not saying that. I'm just asking if someone comes along and joins you, do they see Kṛṣṇa?
Prabhupāda: Yes, why don't you see Kṛṣṇa? There is picture of Kṛṣṇa. Why don't you see, driving horse? Here is Kṛṣṇa. Why don't you see? If you see the photograph of your father, is it not seeing your father?
Student (2): No.
Prabhupāda: No, then what can I talk with you?
Student (2): All I was saying was is it, when someone comes...
Prabhupāda: Your the photograph of your, seeing the photograph of your father, is it not seeing your father? That's your argument?
Student (1): No, it's seeing a photograph of your father.
Prabhupāda: False?
Revatīnandana: It's seeing a photograph of your father.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Now, but God is Absolute. God and God's photograph, there is no difference. God and God's name, there is no difference. Therefore God is Absolute. He is not relative. You can say, "The photograph is not my father," that because it is relative. But God is Absolute. God's name, God's form, God's pastimes—everything is God. That you have to understand, Absolute nature. Otherwise are these boys and so many thousands and thousands of devotees... They are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa, this name, is different from Kṛṣṇa, are they foolishly simply chanting Kṛṣṇa?
Student (2): I don't know but...
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name is the same. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's photograph is the same. That you have to understand. Kṛṣṇa is Absolute.
Student (3): Do you mean Kṛṣṇa is Absolute, and Kṛṣṇa is everything?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Student (3): Then why does Kṛṣṇa have a specific form?
Prabhupāda: And why not? Kṛṣṇa is everything. Suppose I if I say, "I am everything in this, my institution," does it mean I have lost my personality? No, no, if I say, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement... If somebody says that "Bhaktivedānta Swami is everything," does it mean I have lost my personality? That is material understanding. Kṛṣṇa keeps His personality; still, He is everything.
Revatīnandana: Just see. In the government there are so many cabinet ministers, offices, etc. And in every cabinet minister and in every office the will of the Prime Minister is going on. Therefore in one sense the Prime Minister is everything. Still, the Prime Minister is a person who is in control of all those cabinet officers and offices. And you won't find the Prime Minister in each office, but he's there, because of his influence. In the same way you are in Kṛṣṇa's energies, and He is everywhere through His energies, but He remains the person in control. The same thing.
Prabhupāda: That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtani na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ (BG 9.4). Although you do not find Kṛṣṇa in somewhere, but His energy is acting, there. So one who has eyes to see how Kṛṣṇa's energy is acting, he sees Kṛṣṇa. Same example. Because the Prime Minister's energy is working in that office, so the Prime Minister is there present. So everything is demonstration of the energy. Just like you are in the room, you have not seen the sun, but as soon as the sunshine is there, you know that sun is there. You see the sun through the sunshine, although it is not that sun has come into your room. The sunshine, coming of the sunshine within your room, is sufficient knowledge to know that here is sun. Sun is there. That is the Vedic statement, that you can understand there is fire when there is heat. If there is light and heat, then you can understand there is fire. That heat and light is sufficient, now, what is the heat and light? This is energy of the fire. So when Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "These material elements," bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4), earth, water, fire, air, they are My energies, so if one has studied Kṛṣṇa, then as soon as He sees a great ocean, He sees Kṛṣṇa: "Oh, this is Kṛṣṇa's energy." As soon as sees a big anything, fire, water, anything, He sees Kṛṣṇa, nothing but Kṛṣṇa because He knows. Exactly in the same way, as soon as you feel heat, you know that there is fire. You don't require to see the fire. But if you feel, "Oh it is hot, oh, there must be fire." This is studying Kṛṣṇa. And this is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to feel the presence of Kṛṣṇa everywhere. So everything requires training, undergoing the process. Then it is possible. It is not impossible. So if you also go, the training, the process, you'll also understand. It is not difficult.
Student (3):. To be Kṛṣṇa conscious, one needs faith that Kṛṣṇa exists, and...
Prabhupāda: Not only "Kṛṣṇa exists," "What is my relationship with Kṛṣṇa? What is my duty in that relationship?" everything.