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Impersonalist (Lectures, SB)

Expressions researched:
"impersonalist" |"impersonalist's" |"impersonalistic" |"impersonalists" |"impersonality"

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 6, 1971:

These are all transcendental knowledge. They are not ordinary knowledge. Divyam, transcendental. His appearance, His disappearance, His work, His activity, His pastimes, they are all transcendental. So anyone who can try to understand Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental position beyond creation, beyond creation... Even Śaṅkarācārya, the impersonalist, he says nārāyaṇa paraḥ avyaktāt: "Nārāyaṇa is beyond this material creation." Avyakta. Avyakta means there is a total stock of material elements beyond this universe. There are so many things to be learned. This universe we see just like a ball, and this ball is covered by layers of water, fire, air, earth, like that. Circling. And each layer is ten times bigger than the previous layer. In this way the universe is covered. And beyond that covering, there is another sky. We are prisoned here within this universe. We are thinking that we are very free to move in the sky with, what is called, sputniks. But you cannot go beyond your limitation. That is not possible. They are going to the moon planet, again coming back. You see. That is our conditional life, that you are conditioned, packed up under certain regulations. If you violate, then you are punishable. You cannot violate. You have to remain within the conditions of material nature. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama... (BG 7.14). You cannot violate. If you want to violate the laws of nature, then you will create another difficulty. Another difficulty. (end)

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 7, 1971:

Vyāsadeva is offering his obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Bhagavate, "unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is known as Vāsudeva." Vāsudeva means the son of Vasudeva. Even the leader of the impersonalists, namely Śaṅkarācārya, he has accepted that the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared as the son of Vasudeva and Devakī. People may not misunderstand. Just like we give identification by giving the name of father, mother, similarly, Kṛṣṇa's identification is that He is son of Vasudeva or son of Nanda Mahārāja, friend of Śrīdāmā, Sudāmā, lover of Rādhārāṇī. In so many ways He has got hundreds of thousands of names. So people who protest that God cannot have any name... They say that God cannot have any name. Yes, we agree with them. God cannot have any name. Or God has so many names, how we'll address Him? The śāstra says that He has got many names, but the chief name is Kṛṣṇa. In the Atharva Veda it is said. Kṛṣṇa is the son of Devakī, Vasudeva. Those who are very much strict to understand everything on the evidence of Veda, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has given them quotation from Vedas, that "In the Vedas, Kṛṣṇa's name is there, His father's name is there." Like that.

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- Caracas, February 21, 1975:

By His personal incarnation He expands as Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, Vāmana and so many, thousands. That is His personal expansion. Here is Lord Caitanya, Nityānanda. They are also personal expansion. So that is one type of expansion. Another type, expansion, is the vibhinnāṁśa, just like we are. We are also expansion of God. But this is... Vibhinnāṁśa means a smallest particle. Just like the sunshine. The sunshine is combination of bright molecules. So very small parts, bright, brightened part, combined together, that is called sunshine. So we living entities, we are also small bright particles as part and parcel of God. In this way God is expanded everywhere. The Māyāvādī, impersonalists, they think "If God is expanded everywhere, then where is God personally?"

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 15, 1971:

So because it is not fully realized, therefore such living entities who take sāyujya-mukti, they again fall down in due course of time. Because he doesn't get in the sāyujya-mukti the other two parts, component parts of his life, blissfulness and knowledge, full knowledge. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). The impersonalist Māyāvādīs, they undergo severe austerities, penances, and rise up to the Brahman effulgence, becomes merged into it, but again falls down. Just like the spark: it enters the flame of the fire, but there is again chance of falling down.

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 18, 1971:

Pradyumna: "They are well-wishers to everyone, and they strive to establish a competitionless society with God in the center. The contemporary socialist conception of a competitionless society is artificial because in the socialist state there is competition for the post of dictator. From the point of view of the Vedas, or from the point of view of common human activity, sense gratification is the basis of material life. There are three paths mentioned in the Vedas. One involves fruitive activities to gain promotion to better planets, another involves worshiping different demigods for promotion to the planets of the demigods, and another involves realizing the Absolute Truth in His impersonal feature and becoming one with Him. The impersonal aspect of the Absolute Truth is not the highest. Above the impersonal feature is the Paramātmā feature, and above this, there is the personal feature of the Absolute Truth, or Bhagavān. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives information about the Absolute Truth in His personal feature. It is higher than impersonalist literatures and higher than the jñāna-kāṇḍa division of the Vedas. It is even higher than the karma-kāṇḍa division, and even higher than the upāsanā-kāṇḍa division, because it recommends the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In the karma-kāṇḍa, there is competition to reach heavenly planets for better sense gratification, and there is similar competition in the jñāna-kāṇḍa and the upāsanā-kāṇḍa. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is superior to all of these because it aims at the Supreme Truth, which is the substance or the root of all categories. From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam one can come to know the substance as well as the categories. The substance of the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Lord, and all emanations, are relative forms of energy."

Prabhupāda: It is said, vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam. There is vastu. Vastu means summum bonum, original, and the vāstava. Just like Kṛṣṇa and His different energies. The different energies are called vāstava, "in relationship with vastu," and Kṛṣṇa is vastu. So here it is said that vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu. Vāstava, you can understand Kṛṣṇa in all His features. And if you understand, then śivadam, it is auspicious. Tāpa-trayonmūlanam. As soon as you understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because it is auspicious, then all the tāpa-traya, three kinds of miserable condition of material existence pertaining to the body, mind, pertaining to the infliction offered by others, adhibhautika, adhidaivika, or adhyātmika... So these are, three kinds of tribulations are always going on. So when we understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the vastu, the substance, and the categories, then immediately it becomes auspicious and we become free from these threefold miseries of material life.

Lecture on SB 1.1.3 -- London, August 19, 1971:

We have got so many different types of knowledge, but what is the ultimate knowledge? That is called Vedānta. Ultimate knowledge means to inquire about the Supreme. We are getting knowledge... We are inquiring, "What is the newspaper today? What has happened?" That is also knowledge. But that is not ultimate knowledge. Ultimate knowledge is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). Ultimate... Vedānta means to know the Supreme Absolute Truth. That is ultimate knowledge. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ.

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham
(BG 15.15)

People are after so-called Vedantists, but they do not know Kṛṣṇa, so-called Vedantist. But one who is actually Vedantist, he knows Kṛṣṇa. Therefore sometimes ago some of these Vaiṣṇavas, they gave me this title, Bhaktivedanta. Bhaktivedanta means ultimate understanding of Vedānta is bhakti, not to become impersonalist.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, August 27, 1971:

o the whole aim is liberation. We are conditioned by material nature. We have got this material body. Therefore our aim should be how to become liberated from this contamination, accepting birth after birth, material body. This is the need of human being. The animals cannot know that there is a thing like liberation. They cannot understand. The human being also says that after finishing this body everything is finished. That is liberation. No. This is animalism. So dharma artha kāma mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). So mokṣa, there are different types of mokṣa, or liberation. The Māyāvāda philosophers, the impersonalists, they think mokṣa means to merge into the effulgence of Kṛṣṇa, brahma-jyotir. That is also accepted, merging. But that kind of mokṣa is not accepted by the Vaiṣṇava, because to merge into the effulgence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead may be liberation from this material world, but that does not mean that is actual liberation. Just like if you, from darkness of night, if you come to the sunlight, it is light of course, but sunshine or sunlight, if you go up with your airplane, "Now I shall live in the sunshine or sunlight and travel for millions of years...," you cannot travel millions of years. One day or three days or four days, then you come back again to this... If you can approach the sun planet, then there is stay. Otherwise you have to come back. Similarly, those who are taking shelter of the effulgence, which is the bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa, they will have to come back. Many, many big, big sannyāsīs, they have come back again to these material activities.

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:

So those who are anxious to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of imperfect knowledge, this is right conclusion. If your senses are imperfect, whatever your knowledge may be, that is imperfect, because you are gathering knowledge from..., by imperfect senses. You know the story of studying..., blind man studying an elephant. So blind man is going, somebody is catching the leg. So they, "Oh, elephant is just like a pillar, a column." And somebody is studying the tail, somebody is studying the trunk. So different knowledge, because they have no eyes. And one who sees the elephant as it is, he can understand that elephant is neither column, nor a trunk, nor this; he is a complete body. Similarly, those who are trying to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of blind knowledge, they come to the understanding of impersonal Brahman, brahmeti. That is also truth, just like you touch the elephant, a blind man touching the elephant, but because he hasn't got eyes he is concluding that elephant is like, just like a column. But he has touched. Similarly, either the impersonalist or the yogi or the bhakta, they have come to the Absolute Truth; therefore it is called advaya-jñāna. There is no difference between impersonal Brahman and localized Paramātmā and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no difference, but still there is difference. This is called acintya-bhedābheda-tattva: inconceivable one and simultaneously different. The same example can be given, that when the sunshine enters into your room, it means that sun has entered, but at the same time the sun is far, far away from you. Similarly, to understand Brahman means the Absolute Truth is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). If you simply try to understand impersonal Brahman, then you simply understand sat aṁśa, the eternity; paramātmā, citaṁśa; and ānandāṁśa is Kṛṣṇa. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12).

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:

Kṛṣṇa therefore wants this submissiveness. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). Just like we speak sometime to our disobedient son, "First of all you submit. Then I shall do whatever you are require." The same. We have to... Our, this material position is we are all puffed-up, unnecessarily. Although we are on the grip of material nature, we are very much puffed-up. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamāyī (BG 7.14). We are beaten every step, we are so beaten by the material nature, still I am thinking, "I am God." Every step. This position should be given up, and we have to become namanta eva, submissive. Then, becoming submissive, san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām, we have to hear about Kṛṣṇa from the Kṛṣṇa devotee, not from others, not from professional men, not from the impersonalists, even not from the yogi, but from the devotee, san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya. Because they will misrepresent it. A devotee will not, never misrepresent. A devotee will say exactly what Kṛṣṇa says. He'll not adulterate. That is not his business. Therefore it is recommended that you should hear about the Supreme from the realized devotee. San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtāṁ sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ manobhir. You remain in your position. Remain in Calcutta, Bombay or any big city. Because nowadays, in this age is city life. No gentleman, no intelligent man lives in the village. So you remain there, but try to hear from the devotee about Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.2.11 -- Tirupati, April 26, 1974:

So Bhagavān is the ultimate Absolute Truth. Therefore Kṛṣṇa confirms it, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat. You go, make progress. You understand the impersonal Brahman feature. You understand Paramātmā feature by yogic process. By yogic... The yogis, they try to understand the Paramātmā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 18.61). The Paramātmā is sitting in everyone's heart. The yogis try to understand the Paramātmā. And the jñānīs, impersonalists, they try to understand the all-pervading feature of the Supreme Lord. But one who understands Kṛṣṇa, then he understands both the features, the Paramātmā feature and Brahman feature. Therefore in the Vedas it is said, yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. If you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, then the Brahman feature and Paramātmā feature will be automatically understood. You haven't got to understand Brahman and Paramātmā separately. Simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa, you will understand both.

Lecture on SB 1.2.12 -- Delhi, November 18, 1973:

One who does not understand the bhakti philosophy through śruti, through Veda, smṛti... Just like Bhagavad-gītā is smṛti. Śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi (Brs. 1.2.101), and Nārada Pañcarātra. Without reference to these books of knowledge, if one becomes a so-called devotee, that is not accepted by Rūpa Gosvāmī. Here also it is said, bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. Śruta-gṛhītayā, knowledge, full knowledge, through Vedas, bhaktyā, with devotion. Dry Vedic knowledge makes you impersonalist, only a partial realization. Therefore bhakti must be there. Bhakti means without any result or karma and jñāna. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). People are interested with dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). But Bhāgavata says that above that, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). Here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam... Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa, they are cheating, because they are not giving directly the devotional service to the Lord. Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. Therefore Vyāsadeva says, dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣa, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ vāstavaṁ vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2).

Lecture on SB 1.2.18 -- Vrndavana, October 29, 1972:

Now, the next verse is that if you hear about Kṛṣṇa from Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's representative, not from bogus men... According to this Vedic philosophy, if somebody speaks about Bhagavad-gītā, but he's not a Vaiṣṇava... Sanātana Gosvāmī has forbidden that "Don't hear from him." Because he will create rascal. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). If you hear about Kṛṣṇa from an impersonalist, so-called Māyāvādī, then your future is doomed, finished. And Sanātana Gosvāmī has said,

avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ
pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam
śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ
sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ

Avaiṣṇava. Those who are not following the principles of Vaiṣṇava behavior, professional. There are some professional reciters. That is forbidden. Don't hear from them. Now here it is said, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). It is not said saptāhaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Where this saptāha comes, I do not know. Is Bhāgavata such a thing that by hearing one saptāha he'll understand everything? He cannot understand one word by reading Bhāgavata-saptāha, what to speak of eighteen thousand verses. The whole Vedic knowledge is there. Nigma-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam. What you'll understand? This is profession.

Lecture on SB 1.2.18 -- Calcutta, September 26, 1974:

So in this verse it is confirmed... The same thing. In the Vedic literature the same thing is spoken in a different way, in different circumstances. But the ultimate goal is how to know Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). So if we follow this principle, hear Bhāgavatam... Bhāgavatam means the words or the activities of Bhagavān. But the impersonalists, they think the ultimate goal, ultimate truth, Absolute Truth, is not a person. So there is no activity. If one is person, he has got activities. But if one is not person, void, just like a sky... In the sky, there is no activity. The only activity is the sky is covered with cloud, and you cannot see the sun. That is the only activity.

Lecture on SB 1.2.21 -- Vrndavana, November 1, 1972:

This is also another doubt. Because the impersonalists, they think, ghaṭākāśa-poṭākāśa. Just like the sky. The sky is within the pot, and the sky is outside the pot. So when the pot is broken, the inside sky becomes one with the outside sky. That is their theory. So these doubts are also dissipated when one comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That this poṭākāśa means the sky within the pot, no, ghaṭākāśa, the sky within the pot, it cannot be made analogy with the sky in the pot and outside. Because they are individual souls. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that they are part and parcel of God sanātana, eternally, not that they have been cut off. Just like the sky within the pot is walled by the wall of the pot, but actually we are not walled. We are individual. Every, every one of us are individual. We are not surrounded by some material wall. This material wall is supposed to be this body. Actually, we are individual, and therefore, because we are individual, according to our individual karma, we have got different types of body. So these are the doubts. When one become completely, I mean to say, cognizant with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness science, his all doubts are removed.

Lecture on SB 1.2.21 -- Vrndavana, November 1, 1972:

Yes. One can speculate about the Absolute Truth to certain extent. Therefore, generally, these speculators become impersonalists. Because they cannot go beyond that. But that impersonal knowledge is not complete. As we have several times stressed on this point, one has to go further, onward: realization of Paramātmā, realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But they stop only in impersonal view. That's all. Go on.

Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Los Angeles, August 28, 1972:

Previously, all the great sages rendered service unto the transcendental Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān, due to His existence above the three modes of material nature. They worshiped Him to become free from material conditions. Whoever follows such sages is also eligible for liberation from the material world."

So, in the beginning, there was no impersonalists or voidists. These are later additions. In the Vedas it is stated oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ. It is a Vedic mantra. Sūrayaḥ, those who are great sages, they're always looking forward to see the lotus feet of Viṣṇu, tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam. So, in another Vedic mantra there is:

yaṁ brahmā varuṇendra-rudra-marutaḥ stunvanti divyaiḥ stavair
vedaiḥ sāṅga-pada-kramopaniṣadair gāyanti yaṁ sāma-gāḥ
dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yogino
yasyāntaṁ na viduḥ surāsura-gaṇā devāya tasmai namaḥ

Yaṁ brahmā. Brahmā is the original living creature within this universe; so he worshiped the Supreme Lord, Personality of Godhead. He worshiped not the impersonal brahma-jyotir; he worshiped the person. Yaṁ brahmā varuṇendra—they were the first creation, and the sages Marīci, Vasiṣṭha, Ātreya... There are seven great sages, first-born.

Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972:

From the very beginning. Bhagavantam adhokṣajam. Adhokṣajam, we have described many times: "beyond our sense perception." The Absolute Truth is a person, it is very difficult to understand. "Beyond our sense perception." They, generally they think that "How a person can create such huge cosmic manifestation?" That is their bewilderment. They cannot accommodate, accommodate in the teeny, poor brain that the original Absolute Truth is a person. That is their problem. So their idea is that by personal worship, one has to reach again to the impersonal transcendence. But we don't find from the śāstra like that. Now, the most authentic śāstra is Vedānta. Vedānta is accepted by all classes of men. Because without accepting Vedānta, nobody will be bona fide. Generally they think that the impersonalists are Vedantists. Generally they think, but that's a wrong conception. They... All the Vaiṣṇava—Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya—they are also Vedantists. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Vedantist. We are also Vedantist. It is not that Vedānta is the monopoly of the impersonalists. No.

Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972:

So one who has not reached to that point, to realize Kṛṣṇa, it is to be understood that his knowledge is still imperfect. But these persons who have got imperfect knowledge, they are passing as Vedantists and knows everything. They do not know. Kṛṣṇa therefore says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante: (BG 7.19) "These impersonalists, the so-called men of knowledge, after many, many births..." Because it is not so easy to understand Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. They'll have to wait to understand Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. They'll have to wait for thousands of births to understand Kṛṣṇa. They'll have to wait. Although they are very much proud of their knowledge, we know where they are: partial realization. Of course, they are also in the same field. But they'll not understand the Supreme Person. Those who understood, the great sages in the beginning, in the beginning of the creation, munayaḥ, great, great sages, Marīci, Ātreya, Vasiṣṭha and others, so they worshiped the Supreme Person, bhagavantam, not the impersonal feature. Impersonal, actually, there is, there cannot be any worship of the impersonal feature, Brahman. It is simply accepting some trouble. Kleśaḥ adhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām. It is simply troublesome. But unfortunately, these impersonalists have spread all over the world. They have no sharp brain to understand the Supreme Person, and they are misguiding the whole population that either impersonalism or voidism. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi.

Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972:

But this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is against this. We are giving directly the name and address and the activities, everything, of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They are trying to find out the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person. Anvayāt and abhijñaḥ. Abhijñaḥ means conscious. And what kind of conscious? What kind of knowledge? Sva-rāṭ. Our, my knowledge, your knowledge is received from others. Without... The Vedantists... The Vedantists, they also receive their knowledge from another Vedantist—the so-called Vedantists. Vedantists are... Real Vedantists are the Vaiṣṇavas. And the impersonalist Vedantists, because their knowledge is not perfect. Therefore their knowledge of Vedānta is also imperfect, because they do not know anything about the Supreme Person.

Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972:

Our, this philosophy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we are pointing out the Supreme Person. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Everyone is searching after God; we are delivering. Kṛṣṇa is delivering Himself. That is His kindness. That is His mercy. And Lord Caitanya is delivering Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). Not only Kṛṣṇa, He's giving love of Kṛṣṇa. So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness people, they should not be misled by so-called Vedantists or impersonalists, or voidists. They should stick to the principle, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore we present Bhagavad-gītā as it is.

Lecture on SB 1.2.30 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1972:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa, or God, is not one of these created, material created things. That is admitted even by the staunchest impersonalist, Śaṅkarācārya: nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Vyakta avyakta, this mahat-tattva, from which this material cosmic manifestation is there, but nārāyaṇa-para, Nārāyaṇa is above. That means above this creation. Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, is not one of the product of this creation. Just like our existence: we are one of the products of this creation. So Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, is not one of the products of this material creation; therefore it is to be understood that Kṛṣṇa's body is not material. But the Māyāvādī philosophers, they think like that, that Kṛṣṇa is God, but He has accepted a material body. This is Māyāvādī philosophy. But how Kṛṣṇa can accept a material body, because He existed before the material creation? Another consideration is that even if He accepts a material body, that is not material for Him. That is also spiritual. It appears to us as material, but that is spiritual. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got multi-energies, and because He is spirit, complete spirit, therefore His energies are also spiritual.

Lecture on SB 1.2.34 -- Vrndavana, November 13, 1972:

Everything is described there—Lord Caitanya. So we have to accept one incarnation with reference to the description given in the śāstra. Not that any rascal comes and he becomes incarnation and we accept. No. There are incarnations. That is a fact. As it is said: deva-tiryaṅ-narādiṣu, hundreds and thousands of incarnations. But if we are intelligent, if we are actually well versed in the śāstras, then we should corroborate. Not that anyone comes to become incarnation, we have to accept. No. That is not our business. Sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya, cittete kariyā aikya. We have to test sādhu, whether sādhus are accepting. Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is accepted by all the sādhus as Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Even Śaṅkarācārya, who's an impersonalist, he says, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ devakī-nandanaḥ. He accepts. And what to speak of other Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya. They all accept. Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepts. Formerly, Vyāsadeva accepted. Nārada accepted. Everyone... Vedas. The other day, when we met Gaṅgeśvarānanda, he quoted so many Vedic passages Kṛṣṇa, about Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on SB 1.3.1-3 -- San Francisco, March 28, 1968:

Upendra: "His body is eternally in spiritual existence par excellence." Purport: "The conception of virāḍ-rūpa or viśva-rūpa of the Supreme Absolute Truth is specially meant for the neophyte materialist who can hardly think of the transcendental form of the Personality of Godhead. To them a form means something of this material world and as such an opposite conception of the absolute is necessary for them in the beginning to concentrate their mind in the power extension of the Lord. As stated above the Lord extends His potency in the form of mahat-tattva which includes all material ingredients. The extension of power by the Lord and the Lord Himself personally are one in one sense but at the same time the mahat-tattva is different also from the Lord. Therefore the potency of the Lord and the Lord are non-different. The conception of the virāḍ-rūpa specially for impersonalist is thus non different from the eternal Form of the Lord. This eternal form of the Lord exists prior to the creation of the mahat-tattva and it is stressed here that the eternal Form of the Lord..."

Prabhupāda: Just like in the Bible it is said "God said, 'Let there be creation.' " That means before the creation, before this material creation, God was there. And the material... There was nothing material. Therefore, God's body cannot be material, because He existed before the creation of matter. So before creation of matter, there was nothing like matter, though God was there. Therefore conclusion is that God has no material body. He spoke, "Let there be creation." "He spoke" means He's a person; otherwise how He can speak? But His personality is not material, because when He spoke there was no material creation.

Lecture on SB 1.3.1-3 -- San Francisco, March 28, 1968:

Therefore the persons with less intelligence, they cannot understand that God's body is not matter. They think that anything has got a body is matter; but that is not the case. The real thing is that God has got body, but not material body. And it is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā that īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His body is eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. Just opposite. You have got this body which is neither eternal, nor full of bliss, nor full of knowledge. This body is full of ignorance and full of miseries and temporary. Therefore God hasn't got a body like this. When in the Vedic literature it is said that God has no body, that does not mean that He has no body. He has no body like this body, material body. Apāni-pādo javana gṛhīta. The Vedic literature says like this, that God has no leg, no hand. Therefore the impersonalists take advantage of it. "Oh, here it is stated God has no legs, no hands." But the next line is, javana gṛhīta: "He can accept everything which you offer Him in devotion."

Lecture on SB 1.3.8 -- Los Angeles, September 14, 1972:

It is said in the Nārada Pañcarātra that a person who is not a Vaiṣṇava, he cannot become a guru. "A person born or qualified brāhmaṇa and knows all the mantras and tantras, but if he is an impersonalist, then he cannot become guru," avaiṣṇavo gurur na syāt, "whereas a person born in a low family, but he is a great devotee, he shall be accepted as a devotee, he shall be accepted as a guru." Tantra means Vedic knowledge expanded.

Lecture on SB 1.3.11-12 -- Los Angeles, September 17, 1972:

So here we see that you can have God as your son. There are so many instances. Just like Devakī got Kṛṣṇa as his (her) son; Mother Yaśodā got God as his (her) son; Śacī-mātā, (s)he also got Caitanya Mahāprabhu as son. So this is better philosophy than to accept God as father. That is especially in the Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Others, the impersonalist, voidists, they have no conception of God. Voidists—"Ultimately everything is zero," and the impersonalists, "God has no form." Both are the same thing, in a different language. The voidists, they say, "Ultimately there is nothing but zero," and the impersonalists statement that "Maybe something, but it is not person, it is imperson."

Therefore in the Padma Purāṇa this Buddhist theory, voidism, and the Śaṅkara's theory, impersonalism, they are taken as one and the same. Pracchannaṁ bauddham ucyate. Pracchannaṁ bauddham. The Buddhists, they decline to accept the authority of Vedas, and the Māyāvādīs, the impersonalists, they want to accept the authority of Vedas, but under the garb of Buddhism. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given His remark, veda nā māniyā bauddha haya ta' nāstika. According to Vedic line of thought, anyone who does not accept the authority of Vedas, he is called atheist. Just like the Muhammadans, they also call "kafir." One who does not accept the authority of Koran, they call "kafir." And the Christians also, they call "heathens." So there are different terms. So according to our Vedic line of thought, anyone who does not accept the Vedic way of life, he is called atheist. Therefore Buddhist, according to Vedantists, Buddhist are called atheist. Actually Buddha philosophy does not accept God, neither soul. They simply philosophize on the material elements, and they want to finish the material exis..., dismantle the material elements. Nirvāṇa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has remarked that the Buddhists are honest. They frankly say that "We don't accept your Vedas." But the Shankarites, they are cheaters, because they are accepting Vedas, but on the basis of Buddha philosophy. That is cheating.

Lecture on SB 1.3.29 -- Los Angeles, October 4, 1972:

So seeing God is very mysterious, but it is very easy also, very easy, provided we know the method how to see God. So that is bhakti-yoga. And therefore Kṛṣṇa recommends in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ: (BG 18.55) "Only through devotional service one can understand Me as I am." Otherwise he will commit mistake. There are different processes undoubtedly: jñāna, yoga, karma, bhakti. But if you want to see God, then you have to accept this bhakti-yoga, no other yoga. Neither jñāna-yoga, nor karma-yoga, nor haṭha-yoga. You cannot see. You can see. Kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām (BG 12.5). Those who are impersonalists... All of them are impersonalists. For them, it is very difficult, troublesome, to see God. They may try their process, but it will take long, long time to see God. But if one takes to bhakti-yoga, immediately... Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55).

Lecture on SB 1.3.30 -- Los Angeles, October 5, 1972:

So this universal form... The impersonalists, they are very much fond of this universal form. It is very favorable. But what is this universal form? This universal form is external expansion of the supreme form, Kṛṣṇa. You can understand it very easily, that we all living entities, we are a spiritual form, very minute. Materially we cannot understand. But there is a form. We get the information from the śāstra, although we cannot see it with our material eyes. Śāstra says that every living entity is one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Śāstra says. Everyone has seen the tip of the hair, but he has no idea how to divide it into ten thousand parts. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). Keśāgra. Agra. Agra means tip, keśa means hair. So you just imagine only that you see the top, tip of the hair, and divide it into ten thousand parts. That one part is the form of the living entity. (aside:) Who is extending the...? This is not good.

Lecture on SB 1.5.1-8 -- New Vrindaban, May 23, 1969:

So (Sanskrit commentary:) kiṁ ca yat sanātanaṁ nityaṁ paraṁ brahma ca tac ca tvayā jijñāsitaṁ vicaritam adhītam adhigataṁ prāptam cety arthaḥ. Ātma-bhavaḥ, avyaktam asphutam, he nārada. Tva tvaṁ pṛcchāmi. Ātma-bhavaḥ avyaktaṁ brahma tasya ātmano dehodbhutams tam.(?) "So because you are directly from Brahmā, therefore I am asking you, what is this?" Sa vai bhavān veda samasta-guhyam upāsito yat puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ. Puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ. Puruṣa, the puruṣa... God is puruṣa. God is never female. This is another rascaldom. There are many rascals who think that God is female. "Kālī, Goddess Kālī is God." Goddess Kālī, how can be God? She is śakti. Śakti. Every Vedic scripture it is said that parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. Everything is energy. So how God can be... That is the impersonalist. He can think of God, imagine, imagine. It is imagination. The Māyāvādī theory is that God..., there is no God. The impersonal, there is voidness. You can imagine any form. That's all. Sādhakānāṁ hitārthāya brahmaṇo rūpaḥ kalpanaḥ.(?) Kalpanaḥ means imagination.

Lecture on SB 1.5.8-9 -- New Vrindaban, May 24, 1969:

Sakalam eva vihāya dūrād caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam. You just try to submit yourself on the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya. By His mercy you'll find that, kaivalyaṁ narakāyate, you'll find that to become one with the Supreme, it will appear to you just like hell. To merge into the Supreme, that is the highest ambition of the impersonalists. But if you submit yourself to the lotus feet of Caitanyacandra, then you'll find that this conception is just like hell. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. Naraka means hell. You'll find kaivalyam, to become one. And tridaśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate. Tri-daśa-pūra means the planets, higher planets where demigods live. Thirty-three million demigods, there are at least thirty-three million planets. Tri-daśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate. They are just like phantasmagoria.

Lecture on SB 1.5.8-9 -- New Vrindaban, May 24, 1969:

Just like in the Brahma-saṁhitā, we are giving respect to all the demigods. We are giving respect to Lord Śiva, we are giving respect to Durgā, we are giving respect to Gaṇeśa, we are giving respect to the sun-god. They are very big demigods. Lord Śiva, or Durgā, Gaṇeśa, and Brahmā, and... We don't disrespect. We give respect even to the ant. Why not to Lord Śiva or Lord Brahmā? They should have their due respect, but that does not mean we consider them as the Supreme Lord. That is the mistake of the karmīs and the impersonalists. No. We know that nobody can be greater than or equal to Kṛṣṇa or viṣṇu-tattva, Nārāyaṇa.

yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ
brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ
samatvenaiva vīkṣeta
sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam
(CC Madhya 18.116)

It is said in the Vaiṣṇava Tantra, that anyone who, I mean to say, considers on the equal level Nārāyaṇa with such great demigods like Brahmā and Śiva, brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ, such big demigods, sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam. He becomes pāṣaṇḍī. Pāṣaṇḍī means atheist. Atheist will compare that the Supreme Lord and other demigods are on the equal footing. No. They are never. Nobody can be greater or equal with the Supreme Lord. Therefore vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate.

Lecture on SB 1.5.11 -- New Vrindaban, June 10, 1969:

He has no other business except Kṛṣṇa. That is mahātmā. That is explained in the Bhagavad... So we, the people gave a title, this Gandhi, a politician. His business was how to get independence politically. He was given the title mahātmā. So this mahātmā, when there was meeting, hundreds of thousand people gathered. But no... Actually, there are persons in India who are called sādhus, sādhu-samāja. A great number. Not, I mean to say, a small number. They are three million in India still. There is statistics. Three millions persons who are in renounced order of... Sādhu, they are called sādhu. They do not come. So these three millions mahātmās, those who are engaged, they may be, some of them may be impersonalists, some of them may be yogis, some of them are devotees. That doesn't matter, because they are also engaged in understanding the Absolute Truth. The impersonalist, they're in the beginning stage, but they are not materialists. They are not materialists. They are trying to understand the Absolute Truth. They cannot accommodate the Absolute Truth, the Supreme, can be a person. That is their less intelligence. But they are engaged in searching out. Similarly, yogis... Real yogis, not these fat-reducing yogis. I mean to say... (laughter) Real yogis. They are concerned with understanding the Supersoul, Paramātmā. And devotees, they are engaged in serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on SB 1.5.11 -- New Vrindaban, June 10, 1969:

So Nārada Muni is inducing his disciple, Vyāsadeva, to write Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, will be, which will be heard and, śṛṇvanti, will be accepted, and gṛṇanti, and śṛṇvanti gāyanti, and chanted. So those who are actually in the transcen..., they accept Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam... Śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam, yasmin pāramahaṁsyaṁ gīyate. Paramahaṁsa-saṁhitā. This is paramahaṁsa-saṁhitā. This Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is meant for the topmost transcendentalists. It is not for ordinary... Not for the impersonalists, or for the yogis. The topmost transcendentalist means devotees. Because Kṛṣṇa says... Who is transcendentalist? Who wants to know God, he is transcendentalist. Not ordinary person. No, no, who is topmost transcendentalist? The devotees. Why? Why not the yogis, and the jñānīs, impersonalists, and the, the meditators about...? Why they are not? Because Kṛṣṇa says that bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55), "Only through devotional service one can understand Me."

Lecture on SB 1.5.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969:

Enjoyment is the goal of everyone's life. But the difference is that the materialist is trying to hanker after flickering enjoyment, and the transcendentalists, they are hankering after the spiritual enjoyment, or eternal enjoyment. Enjoyment... Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Because enjoyment is our life. We cannot be void. That is not possible. Therefore the impersonalists, about impersonalists, this Bhāgavata version is that although they rise up almost to the spiritual platform, but because they cannot enjoy... Impersonalists means there is no enjoyment. There is simply light, a life of knowledge. But simply knowledge will not make me happy. I must enjoyment. I must have enjoyment. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), because my nature is to enjoy. That enjoyment cannot be done in the impersonal or void philosophy. That is not possible. Therefore Bhāgavata says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ: "If somebody thinks that he has become liberated after undergoing the process of impersonal philosophy and austerities and penances..." The impersonalists, they also practice severe penances to attain to that Brahman stage. That is also nice thing. But they cannot stay there, because there is no enjoyment.

Lecture on SB 1.5.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969:

Therefore they have no, I mean to say, shelter. The same example can be explained: just like if you go on a plane or sputnik very high, very high, it is void, all side void. If you go very high, 25,000 miles, you'll see void. But that, there you cannot stay. You can travel for many years in that void, but if you don't take shelter in a planet, then you'll come back again to this planet. Similarly, the impersonalists, they cannot stay in their impersonal understanding. Simply they suffer some trouble. Kleśa... Bhagavad-gītā says, kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām (BG 12.5). Those who are attached, those who are attached to that impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth, they undergo greater trouble. We transcendentalists, we personalists, we also, from the materialistic point of view, we are... Our standard of living is not very opulent. We lie down anywhere. We are... Our dresses are not so clean. Our rooms are not clean. From the materialistic point of view, somebody comes. He says, "Oh. How wretched these people are living!" That is also another kind of austerity. They have adopted. But that is pleasing. Even they are in so-called wretched condition, they are happy. They are happy. So they're in both ways. But those who are simply attached to the impersonal feature, their trouble is more painful. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture on SB 1.5.15 -- New Vrindaban, June 19, 1969:

So here the point is that just direct people to Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord. Don't misguide them that "Here is another god, here is another god, here is another..." The Bhagavad-gītā also, in the last instruction, Bhagavān says, mām ekam. Ekam means one. "Only surrender to Me." So this is the verdict of all Vedic literatures. But if somebody thinks that "I can worship Brahmā, I can worship Kālī, I can worship Śiva, or many other demigods, and still the same thing," this is impersonalist view. It is not a fact. Because according to them, "The Absolute Truth is impersonal. There is no question of personality. But because we cannot concentrate our devotional energy or attention in the impersonal feature, therefore let us imagine some form of God." This is the, I mean to say, principle of the impersonalists. They imagine some form of God, and they get perfection. And ultimately they become impersonal, merge into the effulgence, brahma-jyotir. That is their philosophy. The Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy differs here. Our Bhāgavata says that ultimate truth, Absolute Truth, is a person. Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti (SB 1.2.11). Vyāsadeva says that "You direct people, attention, to the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

Lecture on SB 1.5.18 -- New Vrindaban, June 22, 1969:

So tad eva bhagavad-līlā pradhanarena anuvarṇaya; ity uktam bhakti-bhāvam ka ca kasya līlā iti apekṣama ilam bhagavān eva satu asmad iti araha.(?) So Nārada Ṛṣi, Nārada Muni says, "You just try to describe the glories of Kṛṣṇa." And what is that? The question may be, "Then how shall I glorify Him?" He says, idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ: "You study everything and dovetail with Kṛṣṇa." Idam: "This world, this cosmic manifestation..." Idaṁ jagat. Jagat means this cosmic manifestation, idam, this, bhagavān... "It is Kṛṣṇa." That means, "Try to preach or try to teach the people in general that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, everything is manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's energy." But not impersonalism. If... The impersonalists' view is that if everything is Kṛṣṇa... That is the... That is their material way of thinking. Just like if you take a big paper and, I mean to say, cut into pieces and the pieces are distributed, strewn over, then the original paper is lost. So their theory is, "If Kṛṣṇa is everything—Kṛṣṇa has expanded in this world, in cosmic manifestation—then Kṛṣṇa has no form, separate form." That is their theory. But the Vedic injunction is: "No, it is not like that." Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate: (Īśo Invocation) Kṛṣṇa is so full that even Kṛṣṇa expands million times, still, He's the same thing, Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is person. And even He expands, Kṛṣṇa, in many ways... Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). This is the fine philosophy. One has to understand how Kṛṣṇa, in spite of His being a person—He's person, without any doubt—He has expanded in so many universes, so many manifestations. Yes.

Lecture on SB 1.7.6 -- Vrndavana, September 5, 1976:

So bhakti-yoga means chanting. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). This is the beginning. Hear about Viṣṇu, chant about Viṣṇu. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. No, not any other. Śāstra says Viṣṇu. But there are many rascals, they say you can chant any name. Why? Why the śāstra says śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, chanting and hearing about Viṣṇu, not for any other god? That is not recommended. But they make. Because they are impersonalists, they have no God, they have made "God means imagination." But God is not imagination. God—here is Kṛṣṇa. He's not imagination. He says aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2), "I am the origin of everyone."

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
iti matvā bhajante māṁ
budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
(BG 10.8)

So because you do not know what is God, so our life is void. But here Kṛṣṇa is personally coming, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). What is that glāni? Dharmasya glāniḥ. That you are very dharmika, so-called dharmika, but you have no understanding what is God—that is nonsense. That is not dharma. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Dharma means the order of God. That if you do not know God, if you manufacture your God, "God has no head, no mouth, no nose, no nothing, no, no, no, ultimately zero..." Ultimately zero. So there are two kinds of dangerous person. One person is atheist, agnostic. And another person is Māyāvādī, impersonalist. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādī. Therefore these two things are mentioned: Māyāvādī, "God means has no head, no leg," and śūnyavādī, "There is no God." So the person who says "There is no God," he's gentleman, because he does not believe. But the person who takes the shelter of Vedas and professes that "I am vaidika, I am vedāntī," and refuses the form of God, he's more dangerous.

Lecture on SB 1.7.27 -- Vrndavana, September 24, 1976:

Suppose for the impersonalist, virāḍ-rūpa, the sky is the head of the Personality of Godhead. They think like that. And the big, big mountains are the bones, and big, big oceans are the holes of the body, and the trees, they are... In one sense, it is all right. But if you take the virāḍ-rūpa, how you can capture? It is impossible. He has virāḍ-rūpa. He has shown virāḍ-rūpa to Kṛṣṇa (Arjuna), but you cannot capture that virāḍ-rūpa. You are tiny. Therefore He is so kind that He has appeared before you in this temple so that you can touch Him actually, you can serve Him, you can dress Him, you can offer Him eatables. It is... Therefore, if we think like that... Not think. It is a fact. Because God is not only very big. Mahato mahīyān aṇor aṇīyān. He can become smaller than the smallest. That is God. Brahman does not means simply big so that you cannot capture. That is omnipotency. Whatever He likes, He can become. He can put all the universes within His mouth. When Yaśodāmāyi challenged that "Kṛṣṇa, You are eating earth. Your friends are complaining," "No, mother, I did not. They are telling false." "Now Your elder brother, Balarāma, also is saying." "No, He has... This morning He is angry with Me; therefore He has joined with them." "I want to see Your face."

Lecture on SB 1.7.30-31 -- Vrndavana, September 26, 1976:

You have to approach such guru. And who is that guru? Vaiṣṇava. Not any ordinary person. Therefore anyone who is not Vaiṣṇava, you should not approach. It is false knowledge. Its knowledge has no value. Sanātana Gosvāmī has strictly forbidden: avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam, śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyam. Don't hear. You'll be spoiled. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). If you hear from a Māyāvādī impersonalist, then your spiritual progress is doomed, finished. No more spiritual progress. Māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile. Māyāvādī haya kṛṣṇe aparādhī. The Māyāvādīs, they are offenders to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person, and the Māyāvādī wants to make Him imperson; therefore they are offenders.

Lecture on SB 1.7.30-31 -- Vrndavana, September 26, 1976:

Now how the fact is working, that is given by the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, especially Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90) is all cheating, all cheating. Up to mokṣa. The aspiration to become one with the Supreme, mokṣa, that is kaitava, cheating. That is the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. When you understand that the so-called monism, to become one with the Supreme, it is cheating... That is not fact. Because you cannot remain in the zero. That is not possible. We are part and parcel of God. God is ānandamaya, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). By nature, God is ānandamaya. So if you are part and parcel of God, how you can be nirānandamaya? You are also ānandamaya. That quality is there. But do you enjoy alone? You sit down in a room alone for three hours, you'll feel disturbed, immediately. And what to speak of eternally. It is impossible to remain alone. And for want of ānanda you'll again fall down in this material world. The impersonalists who think that "I have become one with the Supreme..." One with the Supreme means that is eternity, fact, sat. Sat cit ānanda. Simply by becoming sat, eternal, you don't get ānanda. That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 1.8.21 -- New York, April 13, 1973:

So in the beginning Kuntīdevī said that namasye puruṣaṁ tvādyam īśvaraṁ prakṛteḥ param: (SB 1.8.18) "I offer my obeisances unto the person, puruṣam, who is prakṛteḥ param, who is beyond this material manifestation." Kṛṣṇa is complete spirit soul, Supersoul. He has no material body. So in the beginning Kuntīdevī gave us this understanding that God, the supreme puruṣa... Puruṣa means person. He's not imperson. Puruṣa. But He's not a puruṣa of this material world, not a personality of this material creation. That is to be understood. The impersonalists cannot accommodate in their poor fund of knowledge how the Supreme Absolute Truth can become a person, because whenever they think of person they think of a person of this material world. That is their defect. So they have poor fund of knowledge. Why God should be a person of this material world? So that was cleared in the beginning. Prakṛteḥ param, beyond this material creation, but He is a person.

Lecture on SB 1.8.21 -- New York, April 13, 1973:

So now that personality, although alakṣyam, invisible, now, by the grace of Kuntī, we can understand that although the Supreme Person is invisible, now He has appeared to be visible, Kṛṣṇa. Therefore she says: kṛṣṇāya vāsudevāya (SB 1.8.21). Vāsudeva conception. Sometimes the impersonalists, they have vāsudeva conception, means all-pervading. So Kuntīdevī is pointing out, "That Vāsudeva is Kṛṣṇa, all-pervading." Kṛṣṇa, by His Vāsudeva feature, He is all-pervading. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). This feature of Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa, the original person, has got three features: as the Supreme Personality of Godhead; as all-pervading Paramātmā, Supersoul; and impersonal Brahman effulgence. So those who are interested in bhakti-yoga, they have no business with the impersonal Brahman effulgence. That is for common men. Common men. Just like you can try to understand: those who are inhabitants of the sun planet, what they have got to do with the sunshine? That is a most insignificant thing for them, sunshine. Similarly, those who are advanced in spiritual life, they are interested in the person, puruṣam, Vāsudeva. Puruṣam. That realization takes place, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, after many, many births. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante: (BG 7.19) at the end of many, many births. These impersonalists who are very much attached to the Brahman effulgence, such persons, they are called jñānīs. They are trying to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of their knowledge, but they do not know that their knowledge is very imperfect and limited. And Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, is unlimited. You cannot approach the unlimited by your limited knowledge. That is not possible. So, by the grace of devotees like Kuntīdevī, we can understand that here is Vasudeva. The all-pervading Absolute Truth, Paramātmā, Vasudeva, is here. Kṛṣṇāya vāsudevāya (SB 1.8.21). So this vāsudeva realization is possible by the impersonalists after many, many births. Not very easily.

Lecture on SB 1.8.21 -- New York, April 13, 1973:

So in this way, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement should be realized by you by the process prescribed and try to give to the people. This is the greatest welfare activities in the world, to awaken Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is, of course, practically, you can see, four or five years ago, none of you were in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but it has been awakened. Now you are Kṛṣṇa conscious. So others can be awakened also. There is no difficulty. The process is the same. So by following the footprints of devotees like Kuntī, we shall be able to understand as she's pointing out: kṛṣṇāya vāsudevāya devakī-nandanāya ca, nanda-gopa-kumārāya (SB 1.8.21). This is Kṛṣṇa's identification. Just like we take identification of a person: "What is your father's name?" So here we're giving, presenting God with His father's name, with His mother's name, with His address. We are not impersonalists, vague idea. No. Everything complete. Perfect. The identification. If you take advantage of this propagation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you are certainly benefited.

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Los Angeles, April 22, 1973:

Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī is describing Kṛṣṇa in a description when He was playing with the cowherd boys. Kṛṣṇa. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī is pointing out who is this cowherd boy? He said: itthaṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā, satām. The impersonalists, they are meditating upon the impersonal Brahman and feeling some transcendental bliss. And Śukadeva Gosvāmī says the source of that transcendental bliss is here, Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). Kṛṣṇa is the source of everything. Therefore the transcendental bliss which the impersonalists try to experience by meditating upon impersonal Brahman, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says: itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā (SB 10.12.11). Brahma-sukham, the transcendental bliss of realization of Brahman. Dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena. Here is the person who is the source of brahma-sukha and dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena. Dāsyaṁ gatānām means devotees. A devotee is always prepared to render service to the Lord. Dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena. Supreme Personality of Godhead. And... And māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa. And those who are under the spell of illusory energy, for them He is ordinary boy.

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Los Angeles, April 22, 1973:

So He is, according to the conception, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). If Kṛṣṇa is taken as ordinary boy, human being, Kṛṣṇa will deal with him as ordinary human being. If Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the devotee will enjoy the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And if the impersonalists are very much fond of Brahmajyoti, He's the source. So therefore He's everything. Brahmeti, paramātmeti, bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11).

So with such exalted Personality of Godhead, these boys are playing. How, why, how they have been so much fortunate, to play with the Supreme Personality of Godhead?

itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā
dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena
māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa
sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ
(SB 10.12.11)

These boys, cowherd boys, now who are playing with Kṛṣṇa, they're also not ordinary. They have got now the highest perfection, that they have been able to play with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How they have achieved this position? Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ. Many, many lives pious activities. Because these boys for many, many lives underwent austerities, penances to achieve the highest perfection of life. Now they have got the opportunity-playing with Kṛṣṇa personally on equal level. They do not know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is vṛndāvana-līlā. The cowherd boys, they simply love Kṛṣṇa. Their love is unending. Everyone in Vṛndāvana.

Lecture on SB 1.8.31 -- Mayapura, October 11, 1974:

So in ignorance you go on struggling whole life, and then you become dead, finished. The same thing. There is no difference between the life of the insect... Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that, that the, these big, big demigods... Yat kāruṇya-katākṣa-vaibhavavatām. There is a verse. I just now forget it. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that kaivalya, the impersonalists' theory of becoming one, monist, with the Absolute... That is called kaivalya. So he says: kaivalyaṁ narakāyate: "For a devotee who has got little favor of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for him, this kaival ya-sukha, happiness of becoming one with the Supreme, is as good as the hell." Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. And tri-daśa-pūra ākāśa-puṣpāyate. Tri-daśa-pūra means where thirty-three millions of demigods live, heavenly planets. It is something like phantasmagoria, ākāśa-puṣpa, which has... Just like in Bengal they say, jokingly, ghoṛā ḍim. Ghoṛā ḍim means a ghoṛā, a horse, never gives eggs. It is fantastics. It is not possible. Similarly, these heavenly planets, for a Vaiṣṇava, is ghoṛā ḍim. They don't care for it. It is no fact.

Lecture on SB 1.8.32 -- Mayapura, October 12, 1974:

So Brahman realization without activity of Brahman will not allow you to stay in the Brahman position. You'll fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Patanty adhaḥ. By great austerities and penance, they can rise up to the paraṁ padam, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, brahma-pada. But āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ, from that place, patanty adhaḥ, again falls down in this material world. Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ: "Because they did not learn how to honor Your lotus feet." Because they are impersonalists, they are—"God, or the Brahman, has no leg." So how they will take shelter of the leg or lotus feet? Impersonal. Therefore the very word is used, anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. Aṅghrayaḥ means this leg, or lotus feet. So because they have no information, or they, even they have got information, they are not inclined to render service, therefore they fall down. This is the position.

Lecture on SB 1.8.33 -- Mayapura, October 13, 1974:

This is to be understood, that everyone thinking that He is born in the Yadu family, He is born of Vasudeva, or He is the son of Mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja. This is Kṛṣṇa's pastime. When the impersonalist says, or there are many philosophers, that "God has no name," actually that is a fact. God has no name. But He has name according to His activities. Just like when He acts as the chariot driver of Arjuna, His name is Pārtha-sārathi. When He plays as the child of Mother Yaśodā, He is called Yaśodā-nandana. When people say that He is born of Nanda Mahārāja, He is called Nanda-nandana. When people say that He came to protect Vasudeva and Devakī, He is called Vāsudeva, or Devakī-nandana. Or when He is in the Yadu dynasty, He's said as Yādava. In this way, Kṛṣṇa has unlimited pastimes and unlimited names. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Ananta. Ananta means unlimited. He has got unlimited because so many devotees, not one devotees, and He has to satisfy everyone, as Nanda-kumāra, as Yaśodā-nandana, as Vāsudeva, as Yādava, as Pārtha-sārathi. So in this way, when one becomes bewildered that how many names He has got, so one should understand He has unlimited names or no name, but because He has to act unlimitedly, therefore He has got unlimited names.

Lecture on SB 1.8.36 -- Mayapura, October 16, 1974:

So here the devotees, they are not impersonalists. They first of all see the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, not that "No hand, no leg, no head." They means... Just like Upaniṣad, the Brahma Samaj, Rabindranath Tagore. So he addresses, "Ohe, tumi..." No, "Ohe tumi..." Who is that "Ohe," they do not know. Ohe. Impersonalist. Ohe tumi. In the Brahma Samaj, they pray, "Ohe." "Ohe." Why "Ohe"? If you know God, then you address Him by His name. Just like we say, he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho... We know what is God. We don't say, "Ohe." Ohe. Why...? No. We know, "He Kṛṣṇa," directly address Kṛṣṇa, he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate. So that is the benefit of the devotee. By this process, śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti, you immediately, acireṇa, very soon, the more you are sincere, you'll be able to see first of all the lotus feet of the Lord. Padāmbujam, the lotus feet of the Lord, you'll be able to see.

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Los Angeles, May 4, 1973:

We also say the same thing. But what is the difference? The difference is that you are living entity. You want enjoyment. Enjoyment means varieties. Without varieties you cannot enjoy. Just like here is a flower vase. There are so many flowers. Why has God created so many colors, so many forms? They create enjoyment, variety. Variety is the mother of enjoyment. That's a common saying. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they spoil the varieties, impersonalists. So what the result is? The result is āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Bhāgavata says. They labor hard. They undergo severe penances. Just like our sannyāsīs, they can sit down here although there are many women. So Māyāvādī sannyāsī will not sit down. Where there are women, they will not sit down. They are very strict. And if some, some of the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, if, by chance, they touch one woman someway or other, then he has to undergo some penances. Of course, a sannyāsī should be very cautious about intermingling with woman.

Lecture on SB 1.8.43 -- Los Angeles, May 5, 1973:

We are also living beings. We all living beings in different forms, 8,400,000 forms. We are all living beings. And Kṛṣṇa is also a living being. Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal. God is not impersonal. Just like we are persons, you are person, every one of us sitting here, we have got person, personality. We have got individuality. So the impersonalists, they cannot adjust that we are individual persons and how the Supreme, the original cause of everything, He also can be person. Because we have our experience that my knowledge or any individual persons knowledge, opulence, they're limited. But how the unlimited can be person? Because we are limited and God is unlimited, therefore these Māyāvādīs, with poor fund of knowledge, that, because we being persons, we are limited, therefore God, being unlimited, He must be imperson. He must be. They compare the material things. Just like the sky. We think it unlimited. The sky is impersonal. So their philosophy is because God is unlimited, therefore he must be impersonal.

Lecture on SB 1.8.43 -- Mayapura, October 23, 1974:

So here Kuntīdevī says that "Please help me in cutting my affection with my family." Sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi: "Please cut off. Please help me cutting this family connection." Then Kuntī says that tvayi me ananya-viṣayā matir madhu-pate asakṛt. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to cut off family connection and enter into Kṛṣṇa's family, not void. We are not impersonalists or voidists. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are impersonalists. They think, "Kṛṣṇa is person. Kṛṣṇa's activities are all personal. So this is also māyā." Because they are Nirviśeṣavādī, their ultimate goal is nirviśeṣa-brahman. So anything personal, they cannot accept it. And the Buddhist philosophy is to zero, śūnyavādi. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi. The whole world is now corrupted with these two kinds of philosophies: nirviśeṣa-śūnyavāda, impersonalism and voidism. But Vaiṣṇava philosophy is not voidism, not impersonalism. Vaiṣṇava philosophy means to know the Absolute Truth as person. Impersonal realization of the Absolute Truth is partial knowledge. It is not complete, because the Absolute Truth is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha means form. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate.

Lecture on SB 1.8.44 -- Mayapura, October 24, 1974:

So in this way Kṛṣṇa should be described in connection with different activities. But those who are impersonalists, they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, and being impersonalists, they do not believe in the activities of the Supreme. They think that when the Supreme Absolute Truth comes in the material world, in the material form, then "There is activity?" They cannot understand. Athāpi te deva padām... Therefore nobody can understand Kṛṣṇa without being trained up by a self-realized devotee. If a... If one takes the shelter of Kṛṣṇa's representative, devotee, then it doesn't matter what he is. Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ, ye 'nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ (SB 2.4.18). If he has taken shelter of a pure devotee—never mind he's a kirāta, hūṇa, āndhra, pulinda, pulkaśā—he is śudhyanti. He becomes purified, and gradually he understands Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.8.45 -- Mayapura, October 25, 1974:

When Kṛṣṇa was playing like that, taking His friend on the shoulder, so Śukadeva Gosvāmī made a statement, "Who is this person, taking His friend on His shoulder?" Now, itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā. The great, great sages, impersonalists, they merge into the brahma-sukha. So brahma-sukha... Brahman is the effulgence of the body of Kṛṣṇa. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Brahman, impersonal Brahman, is the rays of the body of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī's pointing out that "Here is the source of brahma-sukha. The impersonalists, they take pleasure to merge into brahma-sukha, but here the Personality, Kṛṣṇa, who is taking His friend on His shoulder, He is the source of brahma-sukha." In other words, the impersonalists enjoy brahma-sukha, and the devotee enjoys that Supreme Brahman by rising up on His shoulder. That is the position of the devotee.

Lecture on SB 1.8.45 -- Mayapura, October 25, 1974:

Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that "Out of many, many karmīs, one who is jñānī..." Jñānī means one who knows that "I am not this body. I am spirit." But still, there is some mistake. They think that "I am the Supreme Spirit." So 'ham. Māyā is so strong. Even after so much austerities, coming practically on the verge of perfection, they are misled by māyā. This so 'ham. So 'ham means "I am the same." But "I am the same" does not mean "I am the same Supreme." "I am the same in quality." So 'ham does not mean that "I am as good as the Supreme Brahman." It does not mean. Part is never equal to the whole. We are part of the Supreme Brahman. Mamaivāṁśaḥ. So in quality, just like a small particle of gold is also gold-quality is the same. A small drop of sea water is the same quality, salty. But that does not mean the drop of sea water becomes the sea. The māyā is so strong. Therefore Bhāgavata says, "The impersonalists, Māyāvādīs, although they think that they have become one with the Supreme, but their intelligence is not yet complete." Ye 'nye, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. They think like that: "Now we have become perfect, Nārāyaṇa." But Bhāgavata says, "Sir, you may think like that, that you have become liberated, but you are not liberated because you are still in ignorance, because you are thinking one with the Supreme." Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ: "Your intelligence is not yet perfect."

Lecture on SB 1.9.40 -- New York, May 22, 1973:

Pradyumna: By intense ecstasy in loving service, the damsels of Vrajabhūmi attained qualitative oneness with the Lord by dancing with Him on an equal level, embracing Him in nuptial love, smiling at Him in joke, and looking at Him with a loving attitude. The relation of the Lord with Arjuna is undoubtedly praiseworthy for devotees like Bhīṣmadeva, but the relation of the gopīs with the Lord is still more praiseworthy because of their still more purified loving service. By the grace of the Lord, Arjuna was fortunate enough to have the fraternal service of the Lord as chariot driver, but the Lord did not award Arjuna with equal strength. The gopīs, however, practically became one with the Lord by attainment of equal footing with the Lord. Bhīṣma's aspiration to remember the gopīs is a prayer to have their mercy also at the last stage of his life. The Lord is satisfied more when His pure devotees are glorified, and therefore Bhīṣmadeva has not only glorified the acts of Arjuna, his immediate object of attraction, but has also remembered the gopīs, who were endowed with unrivalled opportunities by rendering loving service to the Lord. The gopīs' equality with the Lord should never be misunderstood to be like the sāyujya liberation of the impersonalist. The equality is one of perfect ecstasy where the differential conception is completely eradicated, for the interests of the lover and the beloved become identical.

Prabhupāda: So Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu said ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā, and there is no better method of worship than the system invented by the gopīs. So gopīs invention of worshiping Kṛṣṇa was to remain always Kṛṣṇa conscious without any material profit. That is the super excellence of (the) gopīs. They never expected any return from Kṛṣṇa. That was not their business. "Kṛṣṇa, we have done so much for You, You cannot give me this benediction?" No, they never asked like that. That is the first-class worship. "Kṛṣṇa, You take whatever you like from us, but we do not ask anything, neither we have any need." This is gopīs' worship. We have got everything to give You and we have no need to ask You. This is gopīs' worship.

Lecture on SB 1.15.39 -- Los Angeles, December 17, 1973:

So even though one is expert, paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana dāna pratigraha, avaiṣṇavo gurur na sa syāt. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ, he is expert in reciting all the mantras, Vedic mantras, he knows everything—but he is not a Vaiṣṇava. You find nowadays, impersonalists, voidists, so many brāhmaṇas, they have no idea what is God, who is God. That is called avaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava knows what is Viṣṇu, what is God. But avaiṣṇava, non-Vaiṣṇava, they do not know. So this is the formula, that even one brāhmaṇa is expert in all knowledge, but he does not know who is God, gurur na sa syāt, he cannot become guru. This is the stricture. Sad-vaiṣṇavaḥ śva-paco guruḥ. That is śva-paca. Śva-paca means dog-eaters. They are considered to be lowest of the mankind, dog-eaters. There are different types of eaters, cow-eaters, goat-eaters and camel-eaters, this eaters, that eaters. There are so many. Out of that eaters, one who eats the dog, he is considered the lowest. So even a person coming from the family of dog-eaters, if he knows who is God, he can be guru. This is the injunction of the śāstra. One who knows God, he cannot remain dog-eaters. But sometimes he comes from there. So... But śāstra says, "Yes. When he has learned the science of God, then he can be accepted as guru."

Lecture on SB 1.16.5 -- Los Angeles, January 2, 1974:

Because that impersonalist, impersonal person, those who are attached to impersonal philosophy, they do not care to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They say, "It is māyā. To become impersonal is perfection." So they cannot remain imper..., in the impersonal feature for very long time because nature... We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. The only fault is that we have tried to imitate Kṛṣṇa here in this material world. Otherwise, that instinct is there. Just like Kṛṣṇa is enjoying with gopīs and Rādhārāṇī. Now, because I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, that instinct must be in me also, in minute quantity. But that must be in me. Therefore we also want to enjoy with so-called lover or beloved or girls or boys, but we are trying to enjoy in a false platform—this material world. Therefore we are becoming baffled. The same enjoyment is, Kṛṣṇa is offering, by His descendance, that "If you want to enjoy like this in the society of beautiful young boys and girls, come to Me. Here it is, reality." But that they will not. That they will make impersonal. Being frustrated in this material platform, they want to make it zero, śūnyavādi, śūnyavādi, being disgusted... Because you cannot be happy in this material enjoyment. So at time it will be disgusting. That is jñāna-bhumika.(?) "So we have tried our best. What is the use of this enjoyment? Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. This is all false. Now let us become Brahman, become one with Brahman." But that is also false. That idea, to become one with the Brahman, that is also false.

Lecture on SB 1.16.25 -- Hawaii, January 21, 1974:

So as somebody, anything, they require four legs... Just like this platform, it has got four legs. Animal stands on four legs. Anything, it requires four pillars. So to remain steadily on the platform of dharma, these four legs required: dharma, artha, kāma... If I simply remain engaged in religious principles and nobody is engaged where to get food... Because food also is required. So therefore not only religious principle, there must be economic development attempt also. But not one-man show. We should divide our society in such a way that somebody, some group of men is engaged in studying the dharma principle and spreading it. Just like we have taken the principle, generally, to spread what is meant by real dharma. That is the business of the brāhmaṇa. And similarly, some group of men should be kṣatriya for ruling over. Unless there is discipline, ruling, everything will be chaos. The government must be there. The principle of directors must be there. So dharma, artha, kāma. And we must live peacefully. Our senses should not disturb us. Because we have got senses, they want satisfaction. So we must give food them also, senses. Dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa. But ultimate goal is how to get out of this material existence. This is four principles: dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. And mokṣa, by the impersonalists, their mokṣa and real mokṣa... Real mokṣa... Mokṣa means liberation. Liberation means to get out of this material existence.

Lecture on SB 2.1.1 -- Los Angeles, July 1, 1970:

So this om means addressing the Lord. In the all the Vedic mantras they are addressing. Our this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, mahā-mantra, that is also addressing. Hare, Hare, addressing the energy of the Lord, Harā. The energy is Harā, Rādhā, Sītā. So when a female is addressed, it is like that: Hare, Late, Sīte, Rādhe. So Hare means addressing first, first of all the energy. The impersonalists, they do not know this, this addressing first of all Kṛṣṇa's energy. We Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, we don't worship Kṛṣṇa alone, ekala-vāsudeva. No. We must worship Kṛṣṇa along with His energy. Just like Kṛṣṇārjuna, Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Arjuna is also energy, living entity, and Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, His internal energy, and marginal energy. So Kṛṣṇa means with His energy. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. This bhagavate means full of energies. I have several times explained bhagavān. Bhaga means opulence, and vān means one who possesses. Bhagavān. That is the meaning of word bhagavān. So when this bhagavān word is addressed, it is addressed as bhagavate. The word is bhagavat, bhagavat-śabda. Of course, these are grammatical arrangement. Vat, this affix, is there when it is meant... Sanskrit, every word, every syllable, has got meaning. That is Sanskrit language. It is not like that "beauty but, (?) beauty put." No. If you say "beauty but," then you must say "peauty put." But in English, "beauty but, peauty put." So in Sanskrit language, you cannot do like that. If you have to follow the rules, then the same rule will go on. So bhagavate address, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Vāsudevāya. This is the form of, fourth form of, śabda, sound vibration, fourth form. Just like kṛṣṇāya. When I offer something, kṛṣṇāya, viṣṇave. Similarly, bhagavate, vāsudevāya.

Lecture on SB 2.1.1 -- Delhi, November 4, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa, You are the Para-brahman, Para-brahman. Not that Kṛṣṇa may say... Or anyone can say, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are friends. Therefore Arjuna has eulogized his friend, 'Para-brahman.' " No. Kṛṣṇa..., Arjuna said, "It is not that simply because I am appreciating you... You are appreciated, you are approved by Devala, Asita, Vyāsa and Nārada." That is called ātmavit-sammataḥ. Ātmavit. Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Devala, Asita, all the great sages, they accept. Similarly, at the present moment we have got four ācāryas—even take five ācārya—Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, they all approve, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Even Śaṅkarācārya, he is this impersonalist, still, he has commented on his Bhagavad-gītā, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ: "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead." So Kṛṣṇa is approved. And because Parīkṣit Mahārāja wanted to talk about Kṛṣṇa, the whole Bhāgavata is full of kṛṣṇa-kathā. That is the beginning. Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī said, ātmavit-sammataḥ. And what is the next one?

Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Paris, June 12, 1974:

Similarly, every religion, simply by rubber stamp, "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," but they do not know what is religion. They do not know. Therefore (in) the Bhāgavatam you'll find religion, religious person, who is a religious person first-class religion? Religious person means who has learned to love God. That is religious person. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, ahaituky aprati... (SB 1.2.6). And this religion is universal. To love God, you don't require any education, don't require any rubber stamp. God is one, and you are part and parcel of God. You try to love. You have got the loving propensity. You love God, and you'll be satisfied, you'll be happy. Everyone is trying to love God, somebody else. Love is not alone. Love must be two. So that two, Kṛṣṇa and myself, that is called love. Not that...

Impersonalists, they do not know what is love. Because he's one. Their philosophy is oneness. So how there can be love, one? Is it possible? Have you got any such experience? Love means one? No. Love means two. There must be two, the lover and the beloved. So lover... Kṛṣṇa is already lover. He's so lover of you that He's trying to get you back. That is Kṛṣṇa's attempt. "Please, My dear boy, or My dear friend, My dear servant..." Any way, as we are related, He's after us.

Lecture on SB 2.1.5 -- Los Angeles, August 13, 1972:

So Kṛṣṇa's or God's position is always transcendental. Therefore those who are impersonalists, they are not attracted with the variegatedness of this material life. They want to make it void, because they have no information of the spiritual variegatedness. But this Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he became attracted with the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa's pastimes are not variegatedness of this material world. It completely spiritual. And to discuss about Kṛṣṇa, to hear about Kṛṣṇa, to chant about Kṛṣṇa, to glorify about Kṛṣṇa, everything is spiritual. So if you are engaged twenty-four hours in this business you are not in this material world. You are in the spiritual world.

Lecture on SB 2.3.11-12 -- Los Angeles, May 29, 1972:

Prabhupāda: This is the secret, association of the pure devotee of the Lord. Without association of pure devotee of Lord, nobody can come to the stage, unflinching faith and devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I think last purport we did not read? Read it.

Pradyumna: No, we didn't read the last one. "Purport. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as the Puruṣottama, or the Supreme Personality. It is He only who can award liberation to the impersonalists by absorbing such aspirants in the brahma-jyotir, the bodily rays of the Lord. The brahma-jyotir is not separate from the Lord, as the glowing sun ray is not independent of the sun disc. Therefore one who desires to merge into the supreme impersonal brahma-jyotir must also worship the Lord by bhakti-yoga, as recommended here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhakti-yoga is especially stressed here as the means of all perfection. In the previous chapters it has been stated that bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of both karma-yoga and jñāna-yoga, and in the same way in this chapter it is emphatically declared that bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of the different varieties of worship of the different demigods. Bhakti-yoga, thus being the supreme means of self-realization, is recommended here. Everyone must therefore seriously take up the methods of bhakti-yoga, even though one aspires for material enjoyment or liberation from material bondage.

Akāmaḥ is one who has no material desire. A living being, naturally being the part and parcel of the supreme whole puruṣaṁ pūrṇam, has as his natural function to serve the Supreme Being, just as the parts and parcels of the body, or the limbs of the body, are naturally meant to serve the complete body. Desireless means, therefore, not to be inert like the stone, but to be conscious of one's actual position and thus desire satisfaction only from the Supreme Lord. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has explained this desirelessness as bhajanīya parama-puruṣa-sukha-mātra-sva-sukhatvam in his Sandarbha. This means that one should feel happy only by experiencing the happiness of the Supreme Lord. This intuition of the living being is sometimes manifested even during the conditioned stage of a living being in the material world, and such intuition is expressed in the manner of altruism, philanthropy, socialism, communism, etc., by the undeveloped minds of less intelligent persons.

In the mundane field such an outlook of doing good to others in the form of society, community, family, country, or humanity is a partial manifestation of the same original feelings in which a pure living entity feels happiness by the happiness of the Supreme Lord. Such superb feelings were exhibited by the damsels of Vrajabhūmi for the happiness of the Lord. The gopīs loved the Lord without any return, and this is the perfect exhibition of the akāma spirit. Kāma spirit, or the desire for one's own satisfaction, is fully exhibited in the material world, whereas the spirit of akāma is fully exhibited in the spiritual world.

Thoughts of becoming one with the Lord, or being merged in the brahma-jyotir, can also be exhibitions of kāma spirit if they are desires for one's own satisfaction to be free from the material miseries. A pure devotee does not want liberation..."

Prabhupāda: Prahlāda Mahārāja said that "I don't want my liberation alone. Unless I deliver all these fools who are rotting in this material world, I do not want my personal liberation." This is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are going to Himalayas or some secluded place for personal benefit. But a Vaiṣṇava, he has no desire for personal benefit. The personal benefit is already there in Vaiṣṇava because he's in touch with the Supreme Lord by his service.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20 -- Los Angeles, June 16, 1972:

So the impersonalists or the voidists, so where is their God? So there is no God for them. Impersonal. So there is no activity. What they will hear and where they will chant? If you have no activity, then what shall I hear about you? If you are a dead stone, then what can I hear? Simply one, "A big stone." That's all. So they have no this opportunity. These impersonalists, they are so unfortunate that they cannot hear. As soon as there is some activity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they will say, "It is māyā." That is called Māyāvāda. "These are ... our activities, māyā, and therefore God's activities are also māyā." A poor fund of knowledge or rascaldom. "Because I cannot do this, therefore God cannot do this. I am pleased in this way; therefore God can be ... Permanent, they are identical." Big, big sannyāsī explained like that. "When I am pleased, God is pleased. When I am dissatisfied, God is dissatisfied." So roundabout way, their philosophy is to satisfy one's own sense gratification.

That's all. The Māyāvāda philosophy means, impersonalist means, the same material condition. The material condition means everyone is busy in sense gratification. And ... therefore they cannot understand. And when there is a question of sense gratification ... Just like, "We are dancing here, ball dance. So this is material māyā. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's dance with the gopīs, that is also māyā." This is Māyāvāda symptom. The example can be given like this: Just like a patient, since his birth, he is sick, and he is lying in the hospital, cannot walk freely or cannot eat nice things. All bitter medicine, injections, always suffering. So if he is informed that "After your cure, you shall be able to eat nice rasagullā, sandeśa," he cannot believe it. He says, "Again eating? Oh, it is horrible." Because he has got bad experience of eating in sick condition, he thinks that eating in healthy condition is also the same. This is Māyāvāda. He has no experience what is healthy eating.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20 -- Los Angeles, June 16, 1972:

How it is pleasurable? So all the rasas ... The Māyāvāda philosopher, they have eaten sweet rice with grains, with sand grains. Therefore when you offer him next sweet rice, "Oh, I have got taste. Don't supply it." Or, "I wish to live without eating-zero." This is Māyāvāda philosophy. Try to understand, impersonal, making everything zero, without any varieties. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi. Nirviśeṣa means without any varieties, and śūnyavādi means zero, voidist. The two kinds of Māyāvādīs, generally headed by Saṅkara philosophy and Buddha philosophy. But our position is transcendental, above. Karmīs ... Karmīs, they are on the material field. They are trying to enjoy on the material platform. Jñānīs, they are trying to make it varietyless, and the Buddhists, they are trying to make it zero. Our philosophy is substance. This is difference, substance, reality. Vāstava-vastu, real reality, not the false thing. So these people, the voidists and impersonalists, because they have no information of the Supreme Lord and His activities ...

Lecture on SB 2.3.23 -- Los Angeles, June 20, 1972:

The nostrils... We smell. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness smelling means we should offer all nice flowers and tulasī on the lotus feet of the Lord. And we shall accept prasādam. The priest will offer, and if we smell that, then our smelling power is fulfilled. That means... These Kumāras, catuḥsana Kumāras, Sanaka-kumārādi, they were first of all impersonalists, but after smelling the tulasī leaves which were offered to the lotus feet of Viṣṇu, they become personalists. So this is an opportunity. If anyone comes, smells the flowers and the tulasī offered to Viṣṇu, tastes the viṣṇu-prasāda, and sees the Lord's form, in this way he develops Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So this is opportunity. This temple means an opportunity, a process, a simple process. Not simple for ordinary man, but actually it is simple. Anyone can smell the flowers offered to Kṛṣṇa. Anyone can eat the foodstuffs offered to Kṛṣṇa. Anyone can see the Deity so nicely decorated. Anyone can hear Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.

So we have got these senses. So if we engage our senses in this way-our seeing power, our hearing power, our talking power, our smelling power, our touching power, our tasting power—in this way, if we engage everything in connection with Kṛṣṇa, very easily we become Kṛṣṇa conscious. And as soon as we become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then our life is successful. We become liberated from this bondage of birth and death. So this is the process. Now read.

Lecture on SB 2.4.3-4 -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1972:

Just like Kṛṣṇa's mother. Motherly affection of Mother Yaśodā upon Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa is playing as child, pleasing Mother Yaśodā. So that thing is also in this material world. Here also, the mother likes to raise his beloved child, the child also plays to give pleasure to the mother. The rasa... Rasa means the humor or mellow. Exchange between the mother and child is there and here also. Similarly friendship, similarly conjugal love. Everything, all the five rasas, mellows, are there. The impersonalists cannot understand. They're afraid of... As soon as they hear "love," "Oh, love? Here is love, frustrated. Then it is māyā. Then Kṛṣṇa's love is also māyā." Therefore they are called Māyāvādī. They are carrying this material idea to the spiritual idea. And when they cannot accommodate, they make it zero or impersonal. Śūnyavādi. That is their position. They cannot understand that these very things are existing in the spiritual world in a blissful way. So there is sex, but there is blissful sex. Not that... Here, we want to enjoy sex life, but at the same time want to get out of the result of sex life; therefore we use contraceptive tablets.

Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:

He manifested His form to Brahmā. That means God is not formless. If He is formless then how He could show His form? Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam avyalīka. Avyalīka means without any cheating. Where is avyalīka? "Without any deceptive motive." So those who have realized impersonal form, not form, impersonal feature, they are cheated. They do not know actually what is God, what is the Absolute Truth. Avyalīka-vrata. And why Brahmā was favored to see the form of the Lord? Because he underwent severe tapasya, vow, worship. So God, or the Absolute Truth, is not formless. He has his form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). But that can be seen only by persons who underwent severe austerities, penances, or engaged in devotion. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). Otherwise, they will remain impersonal. The conclusion is, those who are impersonalists, their knowledge is imperfect. They have still to go forward.

Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). After many, many births of continued impersonal views, when he actually comes to the right platform of knowledge, he surrenders to Vāsudeva. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ: (BG 7.19) "That mahātmā, that saintly person, is very rare." All the so-called swamis or yogis, they are all impersonalists. Therefore our swamis, they are very rare. They are not ordinary, these so-called swamis and yogis because they know the personal feature of God.

Lecture on SB 3.25.1 -- Bombay, November 1, 1974:

So there is information in the śāstra, accepted by the ācāryas. Just like kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam, that is accepted by the ācāryas. Ācāryopāsanam. The Śaṅkarācārya even, although he is impersonalist, he has accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and what to speak of others? Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya and Viṣṇu Svāmī, Nimbārka and, latest, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His followers—all accept Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Personality of..., following the same principle as Arjuna said, "Kṛṣṇa, You are paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12)." So this is simple thing. There is no need of speculation, "What is God?" "Where is God?" Here is God, sir. Here is God. You see. Why you foolish, you are searching? Here is God. He is not... Although Kṛṣṇa has come in a form which you can see... Kṛṣṇa has appeared before you just like stone statue. But He is not stone statue. Of course, stone is also God because stone is another energy of God, just like fire is also heat and light. And the heat is also fire, and light is also fire. Without fire, there cannot be light. Without fire, there cannot be heat So this material world is just like the heat and light of the supreme light, of the supreme fire. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. Eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā, tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. Just like fire is in one place... Just like sun. It is a, mean, a practical example. The sun is in one place. You have seen.

Lecture on SB 3.25.3 -- Bombay, November 3, 1974:

Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā. Everything is being done perfectly. So there are activities. Those who are impersonalists, they cannot understand. They cannot understand what is the Personality of Godhead. Nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, tribhir guṇamayair bhāvaiḥ, mohitam. Because they are covered by the influence of three kinds of material modes of nature, one cannot understand what is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25). But He reveals Himself to the devotees. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55).

Lecture on SB 3.25.5-6 -- Bombay, November 5, 1974:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa is accepted: kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). And others, they are expansion or incarnation. Viṣṇu-tattva. In the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, the Gosvāmīs, they have analyzed the characteristics of Bhagavān. The first Bhagavān is Lord Brahmā. Lord... Not first... First Bhagavān is Kṛṣṇa, but the Bhagavān realization, the opulences realization, begins from Lord Brahmā. He is jīva-tattva. Jīva-tattva means he's ordinary living being like us. If you become powerful in spiritual strength, then you can also have the post of Lord Brahmā. And better than Lord Brahmā is Lord Śiva. And better than Lord Śiva is Viṣṇu, or Lord Nārāyaṇa. And the best of all of them is Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). That is the analysis of the Vedic śāstra. So all śāstras accept... the Brahma-saṁhitā and, I mean to say, other, all śāstras... Kṛṣṇas tu... Even Śaṅkarācārya accepts. Sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ. Śaṅkarācārya. He... These Māyāvādī philosophers, impersonalists, he also accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And all the ācāryas-Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Nimbārka, and lately, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu—all accept kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam.

Lecture on SB 3.25.7 -- Bombay, November 7, 1974:

So He was, from social point of view, He was son of Jagannātha Miśra, grandson of Nīlāmbara Cakravartī. Personally, He was learned scholar, born in a very high class brāhmaṇa, very beautiful body, young man—all qualified. And He was taking instruction from Rāmānanda Rāya, who was a śūdra. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta, you'll find. So Rāmānanda Rāya, he was not only śūdra, he was gṛhastha. And he was a politician, governor of Madras. Governor of Madras. But he was very exalted in spiritual knowledge. So after converting Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, when Caitanya Mahāprabhu decided to go to the southern part of India, South India, at that time... Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he was a very learned scholar, logician, nyāyī. So he wanted to teach Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Because He was a young man. But later on he accepted Caitanya Mahāprabhu as his guru. He was impersonalist, Māyāvādī. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained to him the Vedānta-sūtra, that Vedānta-sūtra is personal philosophy. So he was convinced, and he became his disciple.

Lecture on SB 3.25.10 -- Bombay, November 10, 1974:

So this dharma is taught by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His incarnations, by His devotee, by saintly persons. This is real dharma. But we do not take it. That is another thing. But if we take it, then we become benefited. So here it is said, "You are my spiritual master, although You are my son. But I accepted You as my spiritual master. I know You can deliver me from this darkness of ignorance." So atha deva sammoham apākraṣṭum: "I am attached to this material world. That is illusion." Sammoham apākraṣṭum: "Now You dissipate this sammoham." So guru means repeatedly his business is to enlighten the disciple how to become detached to this material world. Simply detachment will not help you. The other philosophy, Śūnyavādi, that you make zero this material detachment... No. That is not possible. We have got... Because we are ānandamaya, we want ānanda, sac-cid-ānanda. Actually, we are searching after eternal life, sat. That is sat, eternal life. And cit means knowledge. And ānanda... Sac-cid-ānanda. We are seeking that. Partially, if we simply understand eternity, that will not help us. We must have blissful knowledge. So the Māyāvādīs, those who are impersonalists, they want to make these material varieties of life zero. Because they are very much disgusted with this material life. So jagan mithyā. They say, "This is mithyā. This is false."

Lecture on SB 3.25.17 -- Bombay, November 17, 1974:

So that is... Because we are after ānanda, sac-cid-ānanda... Simply to rise to the platform of Brahman, that is sat, partial realization of the Absolute Truth, sat. Then cit. Cit means knowledge. That is also partial. Ānanda. Sac-cid-ānanda. When there... Ānanda you cannot get. Just like if you, simply in the sky you fly, you don't get ānanda. Therefore you have come to down, come down again to the airplane, airport. Without that, there is no ānanda. Similarly, simply rising up to the Brahman effulgence, there is no ānanda. Ānanda means you have to enter into the spiritual planet, where Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, is there. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). You have entered to that eternal planet. You must get some residence. The impersonalists, they do not get that. They remain... Just like you remain in the sky. You cannot be happy. You want some planet, but if you cannot get planet, then again you come back in this planet. So āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Again in this material world. Therefore we have to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real self-realization. And what is that? Very simple thing. Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ.

Lecture on SB 3.25.22 -- Bombay, November 22, 1974:

I have repeatedly said that cure of disease is all right, but after curing, if you are not engaged in your healthy activities, then means, that means that your disease is again, will be relapsed. The śāstra says therefore, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). One sometimes, after practicing much severe austerities and penances, he can approach the Brahman, paraṁ padam, that is Brahman realization, or Brahmaloka. Patanty adhaḥ. But from there also you will fall down. Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. Because they did not care to worship the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore Māyāvādīs, the impersonalists, they fall down. Because they cannot stay. It is not possible. Simply impersonal effulgence, Brahman effulgence, you cannot stay. You can... That example I have given many times, that you can go very high in the sky by your very powerful sputnik and airship, but if you have no place to stay there, then you'll come back again. You'll come back again. Similarly, you can go to the Brahman effulgence, but within the Brahman effulgence, there are Vaikuṇṭha planets, or the spiritual world, there is Vaikuṇṭha planet. If you have no place to stay in the Vaikuṇṭha planets, then you'll come down again to this material world.

Lecture on SB 3.25.25 -- Bombay, November 25, 1974:

There are so many Māyāvādīs and avaiṣṇava, they practically do not accept Kṛṣṇa even the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they dare to speak on Bhagavad-gītā. Just see the fun. He does not accept Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and he wants to comment and give his ṭīkā. So you'll never derive any benefit. Therefore here it is said, satāṁ prasaṅgāt. You should hear Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the devotees, not from a third-class man, no. Third class means those who are materialistic. So therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned that māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa. If you happen to hear from a Māyāvādī, impersonalist, who does not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or does not know what is Kṛṣṇa, if such person reads Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you will never derive any benefit. You can go on hearing them for hundreds of years; still, you will never understand what is Kṛṣṇa. That is forbidden. Sanātana Gosvāmī has forbidden, that avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam. Hari-kathā, talks, discussion on Hari, or Kṛṣṇa, that is amṛta. Amṛta means nectarine. If one hears, then he gets his amṛta. Amṛtatvam.

Lecture on SB 3.25.29 -- Bombay, November 29, 1974:

So understanding of Bhagavān means understand of Brahman and Paramātmā. But understanding of Brahman or Paramātmā is not understanding Bhagavān. Therefore the Brahmavādīs, the Paramātmavādīs, they are impersonalists. They cannot understand the Supreme Being Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. They cannot understand. That is the defect. Therefore some yoga system, jñāna-yoga system, or dhyāna-yoga system, and there is bhakti-yoga system. That bhakti-yoga system is the perfect. And jñāna-yoga system or dhyāna-yoga system, that is partial understanding, Paramātmā feature. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). In that way you can understand, you can come to the platform of understanding samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. But that is not perfection. Still you have to go. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). After realizing samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, this principle, then you will have to enter into the devotional service, parā-bhakti. Parā-bhakti means transcendental. Bhakti means parā. Bhakti does not mean material. Material, it looks like material activities, but it is not material activities. Just like the example can be given just like a man, a boy is flying kite. He is, what is called, the reel? So sometimes he brings down the kite and sometimes he allows the kite to go. There are two kind of playing. So similarly, the one kind of activity means you are becoming free from the resultant action of activities, and one kind of activity is you are becoming entangled.

Lecture on SB 3.25.32 -- Bombay, December 2, 1974:

So desireless is not possible. Desirelessness means you have to purify your desire. Don't desire anything except the service of Kṛṣṇa. That is desirelessness, animittā. Animittā bhaktiḥ siddher garīyasī. If you come to that position... As Caitanya Mahāprabhu, teaching us, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye, mama janmani janmanīśvare... (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). He says, janmani janmani, "birth after birth." That means He does not require even salvation, because salvation means apunar bhava-janma, no more janma, no more birth. No more birth—there are two kinds of more more birth. For the Māyāvādīs, or impersonalists, they want to stop birth, to merge into the existence of the Supreme, brahma-nirvāṇa. Brahma-nirvāṇa... The Buddha philosophy teaches nirvāṇa, devoid of all material desires, that much. He does not give any more. Śaṅkarācārya gives further, more, that brahma-nirvāṇa, that "You become desireless of this material world, but you enter, merge into Brahman." That is called brahma-nirvāṇa. And the Vaiṣṇava philosopher says that "You make null and void all your material desires, enter into Brahman and be engaged in the service of the Lord." This is called bhakti. So brahma-nirvāṇa is also siddhi, but more than that siddhi is to be engaged in the service, Brahman service.

Lecture on SB 3.25.36 -- Bombay, December 5, 1974:

The faith is explained by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī. He says, 'śraddhā'-śabde—viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya (Cc. Madhya 22.62). Faith means one who has got firm faith in the words of Kṛṣṇa. That is called faith. "I am reading Bhagavad-gītā, but I do not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead or He is a person, as He says in the Bhagavad-gītā..." He says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). Mattaḥ, when He says He's a person... So Kṛṣṇa says that "There is no more better personality or better superior existence than Myself." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). He says, "Me." Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Ahaṁ sarvasya... Aham, "Me," "I." He says everywhere. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa is person. Kṛṣṇa is not imperson. Kleśaḥ adhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām. It is said that "One who is impersonalist, he takes more trouble to come to Me. He will come later on, but it will take some time." The impersonal feature of understanding of the Supreme Absolute Truth, it is partial understanding.

Lecture on SB 3.25.36 -- Bombay, December 5, 1974:

So Arjuna is person, and Kṛṣṇa is person. Therefore the..., in the sun planet the predominating deity is a person. He is not imperson. So you cannot understand that person simply by seeing the sunshine. That requires better qualification, how to enter the sun planet, how to see the predominating deity. The impersonalists, they simply conclude that, the same way as we foolish persons conclude, that the sun planet is simply a fiery substance, and there is nothing, no... If there is nothing, if there is no sun-god, predominating deity or the president of the sun globe, then how Kṛṣṇa could speak with him? In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān. Just like we talk. We are talking with you. We are not talking in the sky, vacant. We are talking with persons. These are intelligent. These require intelligence. So how we can imagine that "How the sun-god can be person? It is a fiery, big fire substance, and how one can live?" This is also foolishness. "Because I cannot live in the fire, therefore nobody can live in the fire." That is my foolishness. My body is not so made. Just like you cannot live in the water. It does not mean that there is no living entity in the water. It requires intelligence. Similarly, if you cannot live in the fire, it does not mean that nobody lives there. Yes. There are living entities whose body is so made. Just like the fish and other aquatics, they live. Their body is so made. This is intelligent study. Otherwise, if you simply compare with my intelligence, my position, my circumstances, and we'll conclude all others like that, that is blindness. That is not... Blindness.

Lecture on SB 3.26.2 -- Bombay, December 14, 1974:

Kṛṣṇa is everywhere. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (Bs. 5.35). He is everywhere. So how it can be impersonal? Therefore the jñānam, which considers of impersonality without any varieties, that is not jñānam. That is not niḥśreyasārthāya, that is simply a temporary appeasement. That because I am disgusted with this material varieties, let it be zero, void. That is a temporary solace. We cannot remain without varieties. That is not possible. If there is nobody here, and you sit down, make meditation, you can sit down for fifteen minutes or twenty minutes, then you will go away. This is not possible because the spirit soul, either the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Soul, or the living entity, he is also spirit, both of them are Brahman. Para-brahman and ordinary Brahman. We are ordinary Brahman and Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Brahman. So Brahman, either Supreme or ordinary is seeking after happiness. That is Brahman life. Seeking after happiness. Just like Kṛṣṇa is Para-brahman, but He is also seeking happiness with Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs and the cowherds boy and the cows and the calves.

Lecture on SB 3.26.27 -- Bombay, January 4, 1975:

You cannot stop desire. That is not possible. The kāma-sambhavaḥ... Saṅkalpa-vikalpābhyāṁ vartate kāma-sambhavaḥ. This is the mind's position. I am desiring something, and if it is not very palatable, then I reject it. I accept another desire. This is. You cannot keep the mind vacant even for a single moment. Nobody has got this experience, that mind is vacant. If, by force, you are trying to do that, it is simply laboring. It is not possible. Just like to concentrate one's mind in the vacant... Kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām (BG 12.5). Kleśaḥ, kleśaḥ adhikataras teṣām. Impersonal and void. If you want to engage your mind in the impersonality or voidness of variegatedness, it is simply very, very difficult. The best, easy way of controlling the mind... Because Kṛṣṇa has said that yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā (BG 6.47), antar-ātmanā, śraddhāvān bhajate yo mām. This is the way. Anyone who is making plan, the plan-making... Kāma-sambhavaḥ means plan-making. You see the whole world, the big, big politicians. In our government, central government, there is a planning commission. Perhaps every one of you know it, planning commission. From, for the last twenty years they are making simply plans, and no plan has become successful. Every plan (chuckling) is unsuccessful, and the result is eight rupees kilo rice, your staple food. The plan has come successfully to bring rice eight rupees per kilo.

Lecture on SB 3.26.42 -- Bombay, January 17, 1975:

So we are part and parcel of that variety-maker. We are also one of the varieties, jīva-śakti. We are also one of the varieties. So how we can become variety-less, nirviśeṣa? That is not possible. Even artificially we try to become nirviśeṣa, variety-less, our constitutional position is that we want variety. How it can be stopped? Therefore in the śāstra it is said, the so-called Māyāvādī, impersonalist, monist, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ (SB 10.2.32), although they get up to the position of oneness, monist, but from that position they fall down. Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Because they have no information of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, where to enjoy ānanda, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), and they are by nature seeking after ānanda, this so-called oneness, monism, that will not please them. They will require again ānanda. But because anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ, they have not worshiped Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, they come down again in this material world and worship the feet of māyā. That is their position. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). And as soon as you are engaged in the service of māyā, that is your adhaḥ patanti. Adhaḥ patanti. As we, all these materialistic person who are within this material, you are serving māyā... Everyone is serving. Nobody is without serving. But they are serving māyā. So you have to transfer your service from māyā to Kṛṣṇa. Then your life will be successful and you will taste different varieties of prasādam perpetually and enjoy life eternally and blissfully.

Lecture on SB 3.26.47 -- Bombay, January 22, 1975:

Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has described this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, "not of this material sky." Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. Hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, this is not a material sound. And in the Vedānta it is stated, śabdād anāvṛtti. By chanting the spiritual sound... The impersonalists, they chant oṁkāra. Praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu. All Vedic mantras are preceded by the spiritual oṁkāra. That oṁkāra... Kṛṣṇa says, akṣarāṇām akāro 'smi. Vedeṣu, praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu, A, U, M, These are described in the Bhagavad-gītā. So either you vibrate oṁkāra or Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, they belong to the spiritual world. This sound does not belong to this material. Material sound, if you chant once, twice, thrice, you will feel disgusted. But spiritual sound, if you chant twenty-four hours, you will never feel disgusted, but you will feel more and more spiritual bliss. That is the difference. Actually, you see these boys and girls and others, they are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa practically from early in the morning, 5:00 till 10:00, daily, but nobody is feeling any disgust. They like to chant. That is the difference between material sound and spiritual sound.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Bombay, March 25, 1977:

Bhavānanda:

mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes
tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam
mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā
vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo ye
(SB 5.5.2)

"One can attain the path of liberation from material bondage only by rendering service to highly advanced spiritual personalities. These personalities are impersonalists and devotees. Whether one wants to merge into the Lord's existence or wants to associate with the Personality of Godhead, one should render service to the mahātmās. For those who are not interested in such activities, who associate with people fond of women and sex, the path to hell is wide open. The mahātmās are equipoised. They do not see any difference between one living entity and another. They are very peaceful and are fully engaged in devotional service. They are devoid of anger, and they work for the benefit of everyone. They do not behave in any abominable way. Such people are known as mahātmās."

Prabhupāda: So Mr. Jyesthish(?) Gandhi, ladies and gentlemen, the instruction of Ṛṣabhadeva is very important. Ṛṣabhadeva was the father of Mahārāja Bhārata, under whose name this planet is called Bhāratavarṣa. So before retirement, Ṛṣabhadeva instructed His one hundred sons about the aim of life. So this is Vedic civilization. So He says, "My dear boys, don't spoil your life by living like hogs." This very word has been used. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛ-loke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). Viḍ-bhujāṁ. Viḍ-bhujāṁ means there are hogs who are very much enthusiastic to eat stool. So why this particular animal has been named? Because we can find especially in Indian villages, the hogs, day and night, they are working very hard to find out where there is stool. And as soon as he eats stool, the hog very easily become fatty and strong. Therefore a class of men, they like to eat the flesh of hog because it becomes easily fatty. And the hog's business is, as soon as he gets little strength, then next business is sex, without any discrimination. The hog has no discrimination who is sister, who is mother, who is daughter. So therefore this particular animal has been named, and Ṛṣabhadeva warns His sons that "Don't live the life of hogs. Live like human being."

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Vrndavana, October 24, 1976:

Pradyumna: "Translation: One can attain the path of liberation from material bondage only by rendering service to highly advanced spiritual personalities. These personalities are impersonalists and devotees. Whether one wants to merge into the Lord's existence or wants to associate with the Personality of Godhead, one should render service to the mahātmās. For those who are not interested in such activities, who associate with people fond of women and sex, the path to hell is wide open. The mahātmās are equipoised. They do not see any difference between one living entity and another. They are very peaceful and are fully engaged in devotional service. They are devoid of anger, and they work for the benefit of everyone. They do not behave in any abominable way. Such people are known as mahātmās."

Prabhupāda:

mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes
tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam
mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā
vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo ye
(SB 5.5.2)

So in the previous verse it was recommended, tapo: "Don't live the life of cats and dogs." This is the advice. But be tapasvi. Tapasya. Human life is meant for tapasya, and tapasya means beginning tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13). This is tapasya. Tapasya begins with brahmacarya, celibacy. No sex life. That is tapasya.

Lecture on SB 5.5.17 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1976:

So one class. First-class man, first of all teacher, they require. Therefore the brāhmaṇa class must be there, I mean to say, the properly trained-up brāhmaṇa, not by caste brāhmaṇa or... Śamo damo titikṣa... Otherwise where is the ideal class who will teach? And it is the business of brāhmaṇa to teach. Those who are śūdras, avidyāyām antare vartamāna, how they can teach? They cannot teach. Therefore brāhmaṇa business is paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana dāna pratigrahaḥ. Six. Ṣat-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ. Still, if he is not a Vaiṣṇava, avaiṣṇavo gurur na sa syāt. If one is qualified brāhmaṇa but..., mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ, everything is well equipped, but if he is not a Vaiṣṇava, if he is impersonalist, Māyāvādī, he cannot teach others. Avaiṣṇavo gurur na sa syāt. He cannot be guru. Sad-vaiṣṇavaḥ śva-paco guruḥ. And if a person born in a family of dog-eaters, śva-paca, means caṇḍāla... There are many kinds of meat-eaters. So the class of men who are dog-eaters, they are the lowest. They are the lowest, caṇḍāla. So if a person born in a dog-eaters' family, he can be also trained up. Sad-vaiṣṇavaḥ śva-paco guruḥ. So guru does not mean a rascal. A śva-paca, a person born in the family of śva-paca, he can be also trained up to become Vaiṣṇava. That is also a claim by Kṛṣṇa. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). This person who is born in the śva-paca family, caṇḍāla family, he is called pāpa-yoni. Yoni means mother, and bīja means father. Bīja may be nice, but if the yoni is not nice, that is called varṇa-saṅkara. These are the things. Yathā bījaṁ tathā yoni. Therefore they must be equally qualified. Anyway, so papa-yoni, born in the womb of a low-class yoni. But he can be trained. How? Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya. If he takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he can be trained. There is no harm. Māṁ hi... Kṛṣṇa says, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya (BG 9.32).

Lecture on SB 5.6.3 -- Vrndavana, November 25, 1976:

So in this Kali-yuga, to control the mind the yoga practice and this practice and..., this is all failure. It will never be possible. It was possible in the Satya-yuga. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇum (SB 12.3.52). Now they have manufactured so many meditation. The real meditation is dhyāyato viṣṇu, the Viṣṇu form, four-handed Viṣṇu form, and always try to see Him. That is wanted. These rascals have manufactured something, some light, some this, some that—yoga practice, sleeping. This will not help. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). Yogis' meditation means to see Viṣṇu mūrti. That is wanted. But they are impersonalists: "Viṣṇu is māyā. Why shall I think of Viṣṇu? Let me see some light." What is that nonsense light? That is also māyā. So what is the wrong there, instead of seeing the light if you see the Viṣṇu form? "No, the light is good. Oṁ is good." But when there is question of personal meditation, they protest.

Lecture on SB 6.1.14 -- Bombay, November 10, 1970:

So others, they are finding who is God, what is God, they have got doubt. And they do not know also completely what is God. But we know what is God: Supreme Personality, Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Because we have taken the path of devotional service that with firm conviction, and we are making progress in that way. Asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu (BG 7.1). Mayā mano buddhiḥ. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Anyone who, yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ, by accepting a devotee, by taking shelter of a devotee, one who practices this yoga, Kṛṣṇa says in the Seventh Chapter, then "He can understand Me," asaṁśayam, "without any doubt," and samagram, "completely." Yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu. In other part.... Actually, there are so many parties, especially the impersonalist party, they are also searching after the Absolute Truth, but they have got only vague idea, not complete, perfect idea. It is saṁśayam, with doubts, and asamagram, not complete. That's a fact. They cannot give you any clear idea of the concept of God. That is not possible. And sādhu. The Bhagavad-gītā... Who is sādhu? That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). One who is performing devotional service without any deviation, ananya-bhāk, undivided mind, simply unto Kṛṣṇa, he is sādhu.

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- London, August 3, 1971:

So up to the understanding to become God is materialism. All endeavors up to the point of becoming God is materialism. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "You cannot be happy by all these religious systems." Religious system, there are two kinds of religious systems. Some of them are pravṛtti-mārga, increasing the path of enjoyment, sense enjoyment. That dictates that "You come to the heavenly planet. You'll have ten thousands of years duration of life and very beautiful women to enjoy. Very nice garden, and drinking soma-rasa." So this is called pravṛtti-mārga. And nivṛtti-mārga means a little more advanced, when one understands that there is no actual happiness in this way, then he says, "This is all false." Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: "The world is false. Now let me search out Brahman." Athāto brahma jijñāsā. But... That sort of brahma-jijñāsa is called nivṛtti-mārga, negativating this path of enjoyment. But śāstra says that simply by understanding that "This is false, and I'll have to become away from these false engagements," so without knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, such elevators, they become impersonalists and voidists, to make negative this material enjoyment.

Lecture on SB 6.1.21 -- Honolulu, May 21, 1976:

Everyone is executing his occupational duty. I give this meaning, "Dharma means occupational duty." It is not a sentiment, faith. Occupational duty. That is called dharma. Brahmācāri's dharma, gṛhastha's dharma, vānaprastha's dharma, occupational duty. So by discharging one's occupational duties very nicely—not as a machine regulation, no—the result will be dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viśvaksena kathāsu yaḥ: (SB 1.2.8) he will gradually be interested to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). That is Vedic study. Not that after studying Vedas he becomes nirviśeṣavādī, impersonalist, or śūnyavādī. Then useless. Śrama eva hi kevalam. Vedas means knowledge, and Vedānta... Anta means last status or the end, end of. Everything has got some end, that "This is final, end." End means final. So Vedas means knowledge, and anta means end. So what is that end? That Vedānta is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore you'll find in every, at the end of every chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, brahma-sūtra-bhāṣye. Brahma-sūtra means Vedānta.

Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Indore, December 13, 1970:

That is another thing. All-pervading we also accept. He is brahma-jyotir. He is spread all over the creation. That is His nirākāra. Another meaning of nirākāra, that He hasn't got His form like us—sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1)—you may say that. Or nirākāra means where the varieties are not manifested. Just like you go to the sunshine. You don't find any rest. Your plane must fly on, fly on, fly on, unless you get a support in some planet. Either you go to the moon planet or remain in this planet, you must have a support. Otherwise the effulgence, the sun effulgence, the sunlight is not (indistinct). Similarly, brahma-jyotir is like that, just like sunshine, but you cannot rest there. If you want rest, then you have to take shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. That is stated in the Bhāgavatam. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas: (SB 10.2.32) Those who are in the impersonal situation, they think themselves that they have become liberated. Exactly the same example. Suppose you are very high in the sunshine. Do you think, "Now I am liberated from worldly connection. I am far, far away, or high"? But unless you have shelter, you have to fly. This is crude example. Similarly, these impersonalists, they are in the liberated atmosphere, that's a fact. Brahman. He has realized that "I am not this matter. I am Brahman." And because he has no information in the brahma-jyotir there are innumerable planets, he thinks that "This is all in all, this jyoti, brahma-jyotir." That is his imperfect knowledge.

Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Indore, December 13, 1970:

Ultimate end means you can remain. Go on flying, flying, flying. But that will exhaust your energy and you'll like to take shelter in any planet. And because they have no information of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, they again come to these material planets. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Because they have no rest, they become perturbed. Therefore this śloka says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ: (SB 10.2.32) "Because these impersonalists, although they are almost liberated, still, on account of their negligence to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, without having shelter, their intelligence is not purified still." They are simply accepting something opposite to these imperfect varieties of this material world. They want to make the spiritual world without varieties because they have got a very bad experience of this material varieties. So their conception is just the opposite. Just the opposite. There must not be any varieties.

Lecture on SB 6.1.25 -- Chicago, July 9, 1975:

So the śūnyavādī and the nirviśeṣavādī, they want to make these varieties of enjoyment zero. That is called nirvāṇa philosophy, Buddha philosophy, that "These varieties of enjoyment is followed by painful condition, so you should make this variety zero." Just like sometimes one commits suicide. When these varieties become intolerable, social condition unbearable, then he commits suicide. So this śūnyavādī, māyāvādī, means it is spiritual suicide, because they have no information of the spiritual varieties. Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. They do not know that these varieties of enjoyment can be executed with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that will endure eternally, and we shall enjoy eternally. That they cannot understand. That is the difference between Vaiṣṇava and others. They, being disgusted... Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, Śaṅkara's philosophy, impersonalist, that "Take to Brahman. The so-called varieties of enjoyment in this material world is mithyā, false. So take to Brahman, merge into the Brahman, and remain there perpetually. Don't seek after these varieties of enjoyment."

Lecture on SB 6.1.27-34 -- Surat, December 17, 1970:

Therefore the result of yogic performances are achieved by the inimical personalities. In the impersonal Brahman effulgence, not only the highly learned scholars who are trying to attain brahma-jñāna, they enter, but also the enemies who are unfavorably thinking of Kṛṣṇa, they also enter into that spiritual kingdom, impersonal effulgence, nirviśeṣa-brahma-jyotir. Therefore a devotee's position is different from the jñānīs', impersonalists'. Because the destination which is achieved by the jñānīs is also achieved by the enemies of Kṛṣṇa. So that is not a very high position. Therefore devotees' position is very exalted. They do not... They go through the impersonal effulgence of Brahman, but they are not attracted. They are attracted in the Vaikuṇṭha planets, Goloka Vṛndāvana planets, where the Supreme Personality of Godhead lives eternally with His associates.

Lecture on SB 6.1.31 -- Honolulu, May 30, 1976:

So we should not be impersonalists. We should not be voidists. Nirviśeṣa śūnyavādī. Śūnyavādī means voidist, and nirviśeṣa means impersonalist. The whole world is going on like that. So we should be careful about this voidists and impersonalists. We should take direct instruction from Kṛṣṇa, and He advises, yat karoṣi, yat juhoṣi, yat aśnāsi, yat tapasyasi kuruṣva tat mad-arpaṇam: "You can do whatever you like, but the result should be given to Me." karmāṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadā... "Then you become Kṛṣṇa conscious." Of course, Kṛṣṇa does not advise that "You become a thief, and all the money stolen, you bring to Me." He does not say that. That is not. But even if you are a thief, still you can offer. Don't use it for your sense gratification. Yat karoṣi. "Whatever you've got. If you cannot earn honestly, dishonestly, you give it to Me."

Lecture on SB 6.1.32 -- Surat, December 16, 1970:

So here is a description of the Vaikuṇṭha-puruṣā. Sarve padma-palāśākṣāḥ: "Your eyes are so beautiful, just like petals of the lotus flower." And pīta-kauśeya-vāsasaḥ. Saffron and yellow. These two kinds of colors of garments because... Those who are Māyāvādīs, impersonalists, they cannot understand that there is another spiritual world and there are spiritual planets, and their inhabitants, their bodily features are like this, their dress are like... Everything is there. But unfortunate persons, they cannot understand. They think everything is here. They are that kūpa-maṇḍūka, frog philosophy, that the frog in the well, he cannot understand beyond that well. Similarly, these materialistic persons, frog, they cannot understand that there is a Pacific Ocean, or spiritual world. They are satisfied with this well, three-cubic-feet well. That's all. And simply imagining, "God may be like this, may be like this, may be like this, and therefore I am God." So God is so easy that "Everyone is God. God is loitering in the street as daridra. God as Nārāyaṇa has become that poor, and I am so rich that I can provide Nārāyaṇa also." This is going on.

Lecture on SB 6.1.32 -- Surat, December 16, 1970:

Just like sun planet. It is a different thing from this planet, but... And the moon planet is a different thing from this planet. And the scientists, they are thinking that the sun planet being fiery, there cannot be any living entity. No. There are. There are living entities. Their bodies are also fiery. Fire is also one of the elements. Here we have body with material elements. Major portion is earth, and there major portion is fire. So somewhere major portion is water. So therefore there are vibhūti-bhinnam, different atmosphere. That is God's creation.

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam
tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
(Bs. 5.40)

Govinda's bodily rays is brahma-jyotir. The impersonalists, by their ascending process they realize brahma-jyotir and they think, "This is end." No. You have to go further, further. Brahmaṇo 'haṁ pratiṣṭhā, Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the," what is called, "reservoir, or the background of this brahma-jyotir." Background. Because Kṛṣṇa is there, therefore brahma-jyotir is there. You'll find always in Kṛṣṇa's picture there is a auri. It is called auri?

Lecture on SB 6.1.41-42 -- Surat, December 23, 1970:

So this is brahminical business. Paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. Again... (aside:) You can... Again, in the śāstra it is said that ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ: "If a brāhmaṇa has become very much expert in this six kinds of business," and mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ, "and he knows also all the mantras and tantras, but he is impersonalist or voidist, then he cannot become guru." Avaiṣṇavo gurur na syāt. In spite of having all these qualities, if he is impersonalist and voidist, he cannot become spiritual master. Avaiṣṇavo gurur na syād vaiṣṇavaḥ śvapaco guruḥ: "On the other hand, if a person is Vaiṣṇava, devotee of the Lord, even if he is born in the family of caṇḍāla, less than the śūdra, he can become the spiritual master." These are the injunctions of the śāstra.

Lecture on SB 6.1.43 -- Los Angeles, June 9, 1976:

We existed in the past as person, we are existing now as person and we shall continue to exist as person. There is no question of imperson. If past, present, future, everywhere is a person, where is the question of imperson? So imperson means... Just like the sun-god is person, but the sunshine is imperson. Those who are in the sunshine, they cannot understand what is sun-god. That is not possible. It requires strength. If you want to go and see the sun-god Vivasvān, that requires qualification. It is not so easy. You cannot enter even the sun planet, what to speak of talking with him. But Kṛṣṇa could talk. Kṛṣṇa can go anywhere. And when there is sun-god, then "god" means not alone. A king does not mean alone. King means he has got his kingdom, he has got his subjects, he has got minister, he has got military strength. Everything is there. So similarly, if we accept Kṛṣṇa's statement that "I spoke to sun-god," the sun-god is there in the sun globe, and he has his kingdom, so dazzling kingdom. It looks like fire, blazing. But don't think it is impersonal. Impersonal? How Kṛṣṇa could talk with him? There is no question of impersonality.

Lecture on SB 6.1.46 -- Detroit, June 12, 1976:

So nirviśeṣa-vādī, impersonalists, are like that. In the creation of God, there are varieties, not impersonal. Therefore we see, we are sitting here, you won't find two men of the same feature of the body. Even there are twin, still, we'll find some difference. The father, mother can see. There is variety. Here it is said, bhūteṣu guṇa-vaicitryāt. They are guṇa-vaicitryāt. Therefore we don't find two men of the same nature, two men of the same thinking. Varieties, varieties, this is going on. But that is our cause of bondage, varieties. But if we can surpass these varieties, as Kṛṣṇa advises in the Bhagavad-gītā, trai-guṇya-viṣayā vedā nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna. Nistrai-guṇyo, nirguṇa. Nirguṇa does not mean no varieties. Nirguṇa means not these material varieties—the spiritual varieties. So they misunderstand. Spiritual varieties they think material varieties. So nistraigunyo: we have to overcome the varieties of this material nature. We have come to the spiritual platform. And how it is possible?

Lecture on SB 6.2.11 -- Allahabad, January 16, 1971:

Ajāmila in his previous life, although he became fallen in later age, but he was a brahmacārī. He was being trained by his father and he knew the pastimes, the form, the name of Nārāyaṇa. But by bad association for the time being, he forgot. But as soon as he chanted the name of Nārāyaṇa he remembered all these. Therefore he was saved. Try to understand this. One should know the offenseless chanting means remembering the form. Therefore Māyāvādī, those who are impersonalists, they cannot think of the form of the Lord, neither of the pastimes. They do not believe in the pastimes of the Lord. They think these pastimes means it is māyā. Kṛṣṇa's transcendental pastimes, they think it is māyā. Kṛṣṇa's form, it is māyā because they are impersonalists. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that janma karma me divyam. The rascals, they cannot understand what are the activities, pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. They think it is māyā. But they are divyam, transcendental, not of this material nature. Kṛṣṇa-līlā is not of material nature. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Anyone who knows factually, in truth, he only is immediately liberated. Just try to tally. Here it is said that Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, simply by chanting this holy name, if immediately you remember what is the nature of the form of Kṛṣṇa, what is the nature of His pastimes, what is the nature of entourage, then you immediately become liberated. That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture on SB 6.2.14 -- Vrndavana, September 17, 1975:

Our nature is to search after ānanda. So simply Brahman realization will not give you ānanda. Therefore we see sometimes big, big sannyāsīs, they gave up this world as brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, but because they could not get ānanda, they come down again. Again they become busy in opening hospital and school and philanthropic work, politics, because they could not get ānanda. That is the defect of the impersonalists. They can simply understand ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am not this body. I am not matter. I am spirit." But that much understanding will not help. It may be helpful for some time, but because he is bereft of ānanda, he will fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Ānanda you cannot get without being a servant of the Supreme Lord. That is ānanda, reciprocation(?). That is Vṛndāvana. There is ānanda, cinmāya, ānanda, because everyone is engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa. The cowherd boys, the calves, the cows, the birds, the beasts, the trees, the water, the father, mother, playmates—everyone—Kṛṣṇa is the center. That is ānanda. And if you make Kṛṣṇa minus, then there is no ānanda. You may be Brahman realized, you may be seeing the Paramātmā, but there is no ānanda.

Lecture on SB 6.2.16 -- Vrndavana, September 19, 1975:

Why an impersonalist, although very advanced in knowledge, in Vedic knowledge, still he does not know what is Kṛṣṇa? He inquires, "What is God?" Just see. God is canvassing, "Here I am," and he is inquiring, "What is God?" So this is our misfortune. Why they cannot realize? Duṣkṛtina. Duṣkṛtina means acting sinfully. Specifically denying the existence of God. That is the greatest offense. Suppose you are a gentleman, and if I say, "You are blind. You are lame. You are handless. You are armless. You have no head. You are...," will you be sat..., happy? Will anybody be happy? Similarly, those persons who are describing the Absolute Personality of Godhead, "He has no eyes..." In other words, he is blind. "He has no hand" mean armless. "He has no leg," then he is lame man. "He has no tongue." In this way it is the definition by negation, and after all, make it zero. If you cut my hand, leg, my head, my eyes, ears, then what I remain?

Lecture on SB 6.3.12-15 -- Gorakhpur, February 9, 1971:

Arjuna says also in the Bhagavad-gītā, "It is very difficult to understand Your personality." Everyone becomes... The other day in the Melā, Māgha-melā, one Gangeshvarananda, retired high-court judge, he said that "This is the first time, Swamijī, that we are hearing from you on solid basis about the Personality." The whole world, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi... Nirviśeṣa... Means the impersonalists and voidists, that's all. They have no understanding what is Personality of Godhead. Gobhir indriyair hṛdā cittena na vicakṣate. One cannot, a gobhiḥ, by exercise of the senses. Gobhiḥ and indriyair hṛdā, heart also, meditation. The jñānīs, the speculators, they are speculating by sensual activities, and the yogis, they are trying to find out the Supreme within the heart, cittena. So na paśyanti: "But they cannot see." They cannot see. So jñānīs, the yogis, they cannot understand. Although they are trying for it, they cannot understand. It is clearly said, hṛdā girā vāsu-bhṛto vicakṣate. Yad vāca nābhūd dhṛtaṁ yan manaḥ manute ityādi śruteḥ.(?) And he is giving recitation from the Vedas: yad vāca nābhūd dhṛtaṁ yan manaḥ manute ityādi śruteḥ. Avann mānasa-gocaraḥ.(?) He is beyond the reception of mental speculation or philosophical topics.

Lecture on SB 6.3.18-19 -- Gorakhpur, February 12, 1971:

Revatīnandana: In the Bhāgavatam and also in the Teachings of Lord Caitanya you talk about the oṁkāra and tat tvam asi vibration. Now, the impersonalists improperly emphasize tat tvam asi over the original oṁkāra. I was wondering what are the significance of these two vibrations and what is their relationship to Kṛṣṇa? What is tat tvam asi?

Prabhupāda: Oṁkāra is Kṛṣṇa also. Kṛṣṇa is everything. Why not oṁkāra? So tat tvam asi means "You are the same." Tat tvam asi. That means you are spirit soul. So what is the objection? And for every Vedic mantra, the oṁkāra is there. Praṇāma. Every Vedic mantra. Just like we also chant oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramam. Oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur vareṇyam. So every Vedic mantra is preceded by the oṁkāra.

So who is going to mop these two rooms? The ladies (indistinct). It is the ladies' business. Ladies' business. First after this, cleansing (indistinct). Then get some flowers, change dress. This is the procedure. And then offer breakfast. In this way. (end)

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- New York, April 9, 1969:

Yes. He said that "I am speaking to you Bhagavad-gītā because you are My devotee, you are My confidential friend." That is the qualification to receive this from disciplic succession. That is the qualification. He, he, Arjuna did not go to instruct, yes, Kṛṣṇa did not like to instruct the confidential system of yoga to any so-called impersonalist or so-called Vedantist. Arjuna was ordinary householder. He was, of course, belonging to the royal family. He was a great warrior, that's all, but he did not belong to the brāhmaṇa family or any learned scholar. He was a military man. Then why Kṛṣṇa to discuss the mystery of Bhagavad-gītā to him? Because his qualification is accepted by Kṛṣṇa that, "I am speaking to you that old system of Bhagavad-gītā, Arjuna, because you are My devotee and you are My confidential friend." So we have to become a devotee or we have to establish a transcendental relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Then it is possible to understand what is the mystery of Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā cannot be understood by so-called scholars by academic degrees. One has to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. One has to become a friend or some way related with Kṛṣṇa. Then it is possible to understand Bhagavad-gītā. Otherwise it is impossible.

Lecture on SB 7.7.22-26 -- San Francisco, March 10, 1967:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to understand Kṛṣṇa, and as soon as you understand Kṛṣṇa, you understand everything. That is stated in the Vedic language, yasmin eva vijñāte sarvam eva vijñātaṁ bhavati: "One who understands that one Supreme, he understands everything immediately." There is no need of understanding separately or analyzing things separately. That will defeat. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness means real oneness. But that oneness is not of the oneness of the impersonalists. That oneness is a little different. It is called śuddhādvaita, pure oneness. In spite of that being one Kṛṣṇa, He is manifested by His different varieties of energies. Just like the fire. Fire is one, electricity is one, but it is acting in different varieties. It is acting in your refrigerator. It is acting in your heater. It is acting in your machine. It is acting in your television. Act... Everywhere. But the what is that? That electricity. Similarly, if you understand electricity, as of Kṛṣṇa, then you understand your whole thing, one. But there are varieties. Just like in electricity there are so many varieties at work. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (alarm clock buzzes for second time) (aside:) You stop this disturbance. (end)

Lecture on SB 7.9.3 -- Mayapur, February 17, 1977:

But those who are devotees, they are allowed to enter into the planet, Vaikuṇṭha planet or Goloka Vṛndāvana planet. In this way one gets his original position. But if we do not take to bhakti, then we may enter into the Brahman effulgence, but there is chance of falling down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yusmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). So those who are impersonalist, they may enter into the spiritual kingdom. That is called paraṁ padaṁ. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām (SB 10.14.58). But there is also chance of fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa. After severe austerities and penances one can enter into the Brahman effulgence. But unless one gets information of the paraṁ padaṁ-samāśritā ye pada pallava plavam—there is chance of falling down. In the material world there is bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). But in spiritual also, if you enter into the spiritual kingdom, from there also... Even sometimes it so happens. Of course, that is by God's desire. Just like Jaya-Vijaya. They were personal associates.

Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Calcutta, March 5, 1972:

So this is Brahman platform. The brahma-jñāni, impersonalist, they think simply by coming to the Brahman platform, business is finished now. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. No. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi is there, but what is the duty of the Brahman? That they do not know. Just like again I say the same example. Just like you are going to the moon planet. The so-called aeronautics, they are going, "Now we have come to moon planet." That's nice, but stay there. Unless you stay there, it is useless. It is useless. Actually, they could not stay there. Why they come back? Why they come back? That is either false or they have no qualification to stay there. So who cannot stay in the Brahman platform? The nondevotee. That is stated. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Just like as you go to the moon planet but if you cannot stay there, you must have to come down again to this planet; similarly, one may rise up to the Brahman platform, paraṁ-pada, which is called paraṁ-pada, but if you cannot stay there, then again you fall down. Just like many so-called sannyāsīs, they rise to the brahma-pada, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, but because they cannot stay there, they come down again to this material world and they are busy for opening hospitals, schools, and philanthropism.

Lecture on SB 7.9.29 -- Mayapur, March 7, 1976:

If you enter the Vaikuṇṭha planets... There are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, and above them there is the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, Kṛṣṇaloka. So in either of them, if you enter, then that is not impersonal. Personal. Impersonal Brahman is outside. Although impersonal Brahman is also spiritual existence, but it is outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets. So the demons and the impersonalists, they cannot enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planet. And because they cannot enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planet, they again fall down, again fall down in this material world. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yusmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Patanty adhaḥ. Adhaḥ means in this material world. Those who are impersonalists, they may enter into the Brahman effulgence, āruhya kṛcchreṇa, with severe execution of penance and austerities. The Māyāvādīs, they perform severe austerity. Those who are actually Brahmavādīs, their mode of life is very, very strict and severe also. So even after severe penances and austerities one enters into the Brahman effulgence, there is no security. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ (SB 10.2.32). Why they come down? Now, anādṛta-yusmad-aṅghrayaḥ: "Because they did not get the information about Your lotus feet." That means person. When we speak of "feet" or "hand" that means the Supreme Person, a person. But they do not accept the person. That is their difficulty. They'll never accept that the Absolute Truth is person. Therefore they fall down again and again. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19).

Page Title:Impersonalist (Lectures, SB)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Mayapur
Created:25 of Mar, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=113, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:113