From the Caitanya-caritāmṛta we learn how Lord Caitanya taught people to break the shackles of māyā and become immortal. Thus, as mentioned above, the title may be properly translated as "the character of the living force in immortality." The supreme living force is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is also the supreme entity. There are innumerable living entities, and all of them are individuals. This is very easy to understand: We are all individual in our thoughts and desires, and the Supreme Lord is also an individual person. He is different, though, in that He is the leader, the one whom no one can excel. Among the minute living entities, one being can excel another in one capacity or another. Like each of these living entities, the Lord is an individual, but He is different in that He is the supreme individual. God is also infallible, and thus in the Bhagavad-gītā He is addressed as Acyuta, which means "He who never falls down." This name is appropriate because in the Bhagavad-gītā Arjuna falls into illusion but Kṛṣṇa does not. Kṛṣṇa Himself reveals His infallibility when he says to Arjuna, "When I appear in this world, I do so by My own internal potency." (BG 4.6)
Innumerable living entities
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
In the Vedas—in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad as well as in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad—it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the maintainer of innumerable living entities, in terms of their different situations according to individual work and reaction of work. That Supreme Personality of Godhead is also, by His plenary portions, alive in the heart of every living entity. Only saintly persons who can see, within and without, the same Supreme Lord can actually attain to perfect and eternal peace.
- nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
- eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān
- tam ātma-sthaṁ ye 'nupaśyanti dhīrās
- teṣāṁ śāntiḥ śāśvatī netareṣām
- (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)
The same Vedic truth given to Arjuna is given to all persons in the world who pose themselves as very learned but factually have but a poor fund of knowledge. The Lord says clearly that He Himself, Arjuna and all the kings who are assembled on the battlefield are eternally individual beings and that the Lord is eternally the maintainer of the individual living entities both in their conditioned and in their liberated situations.
BG Chapters 7 - 12
In the preliminary stage of devotional service they relish the transcendental pleasure from the service itself, and in the mature stage they are actually situated in love of God. Once situated in that transcendental position, they can relish the highest perfection which is exhibited by the Lord in His abode. Lord Caitanya likens transcendental devotional service to the sowing of a seed in the heart of the living entity. There are innumerable living entities traveling throughout the different planets of the universe, and out of them there are a few who are fortunate enough to meet a pure devotee and get the chance to understand devotional service. This devotional service is just like a seed, and if it is sown in the heart of a living entity, and if he goes on hearing and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, that seed fructifies, just as the seed of a tree fructifies with regular watering. The spiritual plant of devotional service gradually grows and grows until it penetrates the covering of the material universe and enters into the brahma-jyotir effulgence in the spiritual sky. In the spiritual sky also that plant grows more and more until it reaches the highest planet, which is called Goloka Vṛndāvana, the supreme planet of Kṛṣṇa. Ultimately, the plant takes shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and rests there. Gradually, as a plant grows fruits and flowers, that plant of devotional service also produces fruits, and the watering process in the form of chanting and hearing goes on. This plant of devotional service is fully described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya-līlā, Chapter Nineteen).
BG Chapters 13 - 18
It is distinctly clear that the ātmā and Paramātmā are different. The Supersoul, the Paramātmā, has legs and hands everywhere, but the individual soul does not. And because the Paramātmā is the Supreme Lord, He is present within to sanction the individual soul's desiring material enjoyment. Without the sanction of the Supreme Soul, the individual soul cannot do anything. The individual is bhukta, or the sustained, and the Lord is bhoktā, or the maintainer. There are innumerable living entities, and He is staying in them as a friend.
The fact is that every individual living entity is eternally part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, and both of them are very intimately related as friends. But the living entity has the tendency to reject the sanction of the Supreme Lord and act independently in an attempt to dominate nature, and because he has this tendency he is called the marginal energy of the Supreme Lord. The living entity can be situated either in the material energy or in the spiritual energy. As long as he is conditioned by the material energy, the Supreme Lord, as his friend, the Supersoul, stays with him just to get him to return to the spiritual energy. The Lord is always eager to take him back to the spiritual energy, but due to his minute independence the individual entity is continually rejecting the association of spiritual light. This misuse of independence is the cause of his material strife in the conditioned nature. The Lord, therefore, is always giving instruction from within and from without. From without He gives instructions as stated in Bhagavad-gītā, and from within He tries to convince the living entity that his activities in the material field are not conducive to real happiness. "Just give it up and turn your faith toward Me. Then you will be happy," He says. Thus the intelligent person who places his faith in the Paramātmā or the Supreme Personality of Godhead begins to advance toward a blissful eternal life of knowledge.
The idea of this verse is very nicely expressed in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.13) and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.13). It is clearly stated there that above the innumerable living entities, some of whom are conditioned and some of whom are liberated, there is the Supreme Personality, who is Paramātmā. The Upaniṣadic verse runs as follows: nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. The purport is that amongst all the living entities, both conditioned and liberated, there is one supreme living personality, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who maintains them and gives them all the facility of enjoyment according to different work. That Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated in everyone's heart as Paramātmā. A wise man who can understand Him is eligible to attain perfect peace, not others.
Another feature of Bhagavad-gītā is that the actual truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. The Absolute Truth is realized in three features—impersonal Brahman, localized Paramātmā, and ultimately the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth means perfect knowledge of Kṛṣṇa. If one understands Kṛṣṇa, then all the departments of knowledge are part and parcel of that understanding. Kṛṣṇa is transcendental, for He is always situated in His eternal internal potency. The living entities are manifested of His energy and are divided into two classes, eternally conditioned and eternally liberated. Such living entities are innumerable, and they are considered fundamental parts of Kṛṣṇa. Material energy is manifested into twenty-four divisions. The creation is effected by eternal time, and it is created and dissolved by external energy. This manifestation of the cosmic world repeatedly becomes visible and invisible.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 2
We have information from the Bhagavad-gītā (3.10-11) that Lord Brahmā, after giving rebirth to the conditioned souls within the universe, instructed them to perform sacrifices and to lead a prosperous life. With such sacrificial performances the conditioned souls will never be in difficulty in keeping body and soul together. Ultimately they can purify their existence. They will find natural promotion into spiritual existence, the real identity of the living being. A conditioned soul should never give up the practice of sacrifice, charity and austerity, in any circumstances. The aim of all such sacrifices is to please the Yajña-pati, the Personality of Godhead; therefore the Lord is also Prajā-pati. According to the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, the one Lord is the leader of the innumerable living entities. The living entities are maintained by the Lord (eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān). The Lord is therefore called the supreme Bhūta-bhṛt, or maintainer of all living beings.
There are innumerable living entities, one dependent on the other in the relationship of the controlled and the controller. But without the medium of perception, no one can know or understand who is the controlled and who is the controller. For example, the sun controls the power of our vision, we can see the sun because the sun has its body, and the sunlight is useful only because we have eyes. Without our having eyes, the sunlight is useless, and without sunlight the eyes are useless. Thus they are interdependent, and none of them is independent. Therefore the natural question arises concerning who made them interdependent. The one who has made such a relationship of interdependence must be ultimately completely independent. As stated in the beginning of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the ultimate source of all interdependent objectives is the complete independent subject. This ultimate source of all interdependence is the Supreme Truth or Paramātmā, the Supersoul, who is not dependent on anything else. He is svāśrayāśrayaḥ. He is only dependent on His self, and thus He is the supreme shelter of everything. Although Paramātmā and Brahman are subordinate to Bhagavān, because Bhagavān is Puruṣottama or the Superperson, He is the source of the Supersoul also. In the Bhagavad-gītā (15.18)
SB Canto 3
We should not understand the process of impregnation by the Personality of Godhead in terms of our conception of sex. The omnipotent Lord can impregnate just by His eyes, and therefore He is called all-potent. Each and every part of His transcendental body can perform each and every function of the other parts. This is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.32): aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. In Bhagavad-gītā (14.3) also, the same principle is confirmed: mama yonir mahad-brahma tasmin garbhaṁ dadhāmy aham. When the cosmic creation is manifested, the living entities are directly supplied from the Lord; they are never products of material nature. Thus, no scientific advancement of material science can ever produce a living being. That is the whole mystery of the material creation. The living entities are foreign to matter, and thus they cannot be happy unless they are situated in the same spiritual life as the Lord. The mistaken living being, out of forgetfulness of this original condition of life, unnecessarily wastes time trying to become happy in the material world. The whole Vedic process is to remind one of this essential feature of life. The Lord offers the conditioned soul a material body for his so-called enjoyment, but if one does not come to his senses and enter into spiritual consciousness, the Lord again puts him in the unmanifested condition as it existed in the beginning of the creation. The Lord is described here as vīryavān, or the greatest potent being, because He impregnates material nature with innumerable living entities who are conditioned from time immemorial.
At the end of the day, under the insignificant portion of the mode of darkness, the powerful manifestation of the universe merges in the darkness of night. By the influence of eternal time, the innumerable living entities remain merged in that dissolution, and everything is silent.
This verse is an explanation of the night of Brahmā, which is the effect of the influence of time in touch with an insignificant portion of the modes of material nature in darkness. The dissolution of the three worlds is effected by the incarnation of darkness, Rudra, represented by the fire of eternal time which blazes over the three worlds. These three worlds are known as Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ (Pātāla, Martya and Svarga). The innumerable living entities merge into that dissolution, which appears to be the dropping of the curtain of the scene of the Supreme Lord's energy, and so everything becomes silent.
That is the conclusion of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. For creation, maintenance and annihilation there are the three deities Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara (Śiva), but Brahmā and Maheśvara are qualitative expansions of Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is the central figure. Viṣṇu, therefore, takes charge of maintenance. No one can maintain the whole creation but He. There are innumerable entities, and they have innumerable demands; no one but Viṣṇu can fulfill the innumerable demands of all the innumerable living entities. Brahmā is ordered to create, and Śiva is ordered to annihilate. The middle function, maintenance, is taken charge of by Viṣṇu. Kardama Muni knew very well, by his power in progressive spiritual life, that Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead, was his worshipable Deity. Whatever Viṣṇu desired was his duty, and nothing else. He was not prepared to beget a number of children. He would beget only one child, who would help the mission of Viṣṇu. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, whenever there is a discrepancy in the discharge of religious principles, the Lord descends on the surface of the earth to protect religious principles and to annihilate the miscreants.
Marrying and begetting a child is considered to liquidate one's debts to the family in which one is born. There are many debts which are imposed upon a child just after his birth. There are debts to the family in which one is born, debts to the demigods, debts to the Pitās, debts to the ṛṣis, etc. But if someone engages only in the service of the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, who is actually worshipable, then even without trying to liquidate other debts, one becomes free from all obligations. Kardama Muni preferred to devote his life as a servant of the Lord in paramahaṁsa knowledge and to beget a child only for that purpose, not to beget numberless children to fill up the vacanc
Subject to the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the sky allows outer space to accommodate all the various planets, which hold innumerable living entities. The total universal body expands with its seven coverings under His supreme control.
It is understood from this verse that all the planets in outer space are floating, and they all hold living entities. The word śvasatām means "those who breathe," or the living entities. In order to accommodate them, there are innumerable planets. Every planet is a residence for innumerable living entities, and the necessary space is provided in the sky by the supreme order of the Lord. It is also stated here that the total universal body is increasing. It is covered by seven layers, and as there are five elements within the universe, so the total elements, in layers, cover the outside of the universal body. The first layer is of earth, and it is ten times greater in size than the space within the universe; the second layer is water, and that is ten times greater than the earthly layer; the third covering is fire, which is ten times greater than the water covering. In this way each layer is ten times greater than the previous one.
SB Canto 4
"O scion of Bharata (Arjuna), O conqueror of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, overcome by the dualities of desire and hate." This is an explanation of how the living entity falls down into this material world. In the spiritual world there is no duality, nor is there hate. The Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself into many. In order to enjoy bliss more and more, the Supreme Lord expands Himself in different categories. As mentioned in the Varāha Purāṇa, He expands Himself in viṣṇu-tattva (the svāṁśa expansion) and in His marginal potency (the vibhinnāṁśa, or the living entity). These expanded living entities are innumerable, just as the minute molecules of sunshine are innumerable expansions of the sun. The vibhinnāṁśa expansions, the marginal potencies of the Lord, are the living entities. When the living entities desire to enjoy themselves, they develop a consciousness of duality and come to hate the service of the Lord. In this way the living entities fall into the material world. In the Prema-vivarta it is said:
Actually every living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the living entities are overly engrossed in the material body. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, appears and gives instructions in the form of Bhagavad-gītā and Vedic literatures. The Supreme Lord gives these instructions because He is the eternal friend of the living entities. His instructions are important because by them the living entity can obtain liberation from bodily engagement. As water passes down a river, many straws and grasses are carried from the shore. These straws and grasses come together in the river's current, but when the waves toss this way and that, they are separated and carried somewhere else. Similarly, the innumerable living entities within this material world are being carried by the waves of material nature. Sometimes the waves bring them together, and they form friendships and relate to one another on a bodily basis of family, community or nationality. Eventually they are thrown out of association by the waves of material nature. This process has been going on since the creation of material nature. In this regard, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sings:
SB Canto 5
If the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement spreads all over the world, and if by the grace of Kṛṣṇa everyone accepts it, the thinking of envious people will change. Everyone will think of the welfare of others. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja prays, śivaṁ mitho dhiyā. In material activities, everyone is envious of others, but in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, no one is envious of anyone else; everyone thinks of the welfare of others. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja prays that everyone's mind may become gentle by being fixed at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa (bhajatād adhokṣaje). As indicated elsewhere in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18)) and as advised by Lord Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā (18.65), man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, one should constantly think of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Then one's mind will certainly be cleansed (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12)). Materialists always think of sense gratification, but Prahlāda Mahārāja prays that the Lord's mercy will change their minds and they will stop thinking of sense gratification. If they think of Kṛṣṇa always, everything will be all right. Some people argue that if everyone thought of Kṛṣṇa in that way, the whole universe would be vacated because everyone would go back home, back to Godhead. However, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that this is impossible because the living entities are innumerable. If one set of living entities is actually delivered by the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, another set will fill the entire universe.
My Lord, from the great leaders of the universe, such as Lord Brahmā and other demigods, down to the political leaders of this world, all are envious of Your authority. Without Your help, however, they could neither separately nor concertedly maintain the innumerable living entities within the universe. You are actually the only maintainer of all human beings, of animals like cows and asses, and of plants, reptiles, birds, mountains and whatever else is visible within this material world.
SB Canto 6
One who has the power to punish others should not punish everyone. There are innumerable living entities, the majority of whom are in the spiritual world and are nitya-mukta, everlastingly liberated. There is no question of judging these liberated living beings. Only a small fraction of the living entities, perhaps one fourth, are in the material world. And the major portion of the living entities in the material world—8,000,000 of the 8,400,000 forms of life—are lower than human beings. They are not punishable, for under the laws of material nature they are automatically evolving. Human beings, who are advanced in consciousness, are responsible, but not all of them are punishable. Those engaged in advanced pious activities are beyond punishment. Only those who engage in sinful activities are punishable. Therefore the Viṣṇudūtas particularly inquired about who is punishable and why Yamarāja has been designated to discriminate between who is punishable and who is not. How is one to be judged? What is the basic principle of authority? These are the questions raised by the Viṣṇudūtas.
SB Canto 8
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, however, is eternal, and similarly the living entities, who are parts of Him, are also eternal (mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7)). The Supreme Personality of Godhead is sanātana, eternal, and the individual living entities are also eternal. The difference is that Kṛṣṇa, or God, is the supreme eternal, whereas the individual souls are minute, fragmental eternals. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (13.3), kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. Although the Lord is a living being and the individual souls are living beings, the Supreme Lord, unlike the individual souls, is vibhu, all-pervading, and ananta, unlimited. The Lord is the cause of everything. The living entities are innumerable, but the Lord is one. No one is greater than Him, and no one is equal to Him. Thus the Lord is the supreme worshipable object, as understood from the Vedic mantras (na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate). The Lord is supreme because no one can evaluate Him by mental speculation or jugglery of words. The Lord can travel more quickly than the mind. In the śruti-mantras of Īśopaniṣad it is said:
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
Innumerable living entities are engaged in different types of worship of the Supreme, according to their abilities and karma, but everyone is engaged (jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa' (CC Madhya 20.108)); there is no one who is not serving. Therefore the mahā-bhāgavata, the topmost devotee, sees everyone as being engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa; only himself does he see as not engaged. We have to elevate ourselves from a lower position to a higher position, and the topmost position is that of direct service in Vṛndāvana. But everyone is engaged in service. Denial of the service of the Lord is māyā.
- ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya
- yāre yaiche nācāya, se taiche kare nṛtya
"Only Kṛṣṇa is the supreme master, and all others are His servants. As Kṛṣṇa desires, everyone dances according to His tune.' (CC Adi 5.142)
There are two kinds of living entities-the moving and the nonmoving. Trees, for example, stand in one place, whereas ants move. Brahmā saw that all of them, down to the smallest creatures, had assumed different forms and were accordingly engaged in the service of Lord Viṣṇu.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Preface and Introduction
CC Adi-lila
The cosmic manifestation is generated by the interaction of the three modes of material nature. The transcendental world has no such material modes, although it is nevertheless full of spiritual variegatedness. In that spiritual world there are also innumerable living entities, who are eternally liberated souls engaged in transcendental loving service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. The conditioned souls, who remain within the material cosmic creation, are subjected to the threefold miseries and pangs of material nature. They exist in different species of life because they are eternally averse to transcendental loving devotion to the Supreme Lord.
Saṅkarṣaṇa is the original source of all living entities because they are all expansions of His marginal potency. Some of them are conditioned by material nature, whereas others are under the protection of the spiritual nature. The material nature is a conditional manifestation of spiritual nature, just as smoke is a conditional stage of fire. Smoke is dependent on fire, but in a blazing fire there is no place for smoke. Smoke disturbs, but fire serves. The serving spirit of the residents of the transcendental world is displayed in five varieties of relationships with the Supreme Lord, who is the central enjoyer. In the material world everyone is a self-centered enjoyer of mundane happiness and distress. One considers himself the lord of everything and tries to enjoy the illusory energy, but he is not successful because he is not independent: he is but a minute particle of the energy of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa. All living beings exist under the control of the Supreme Lord, who is therefore called Nārāyaṇa.
In the realm of the Absolute, one plus one equals one, and one minus one equals one. Therefore one should not conceive of a fragment of the Supreme Lord in the material sense. In the spiritual world there is no influence of the material energy or material calculations of fragments. In the Fifteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that the living entities are His parts and parcels. There are innumerable living entities throughout the material and spiritual universes, but still Lord Kṛṣṇa is full in Himself. To think that God has lost His personality because His many parts and parcels are distributed all over the universe is an illusion. That is a material calculation. Such calculations are possible only under the influence of the material energy, māyā. In the spiritual world the material energy is conspicuous only by its absence.
In the category of viṣṇu-tattva there is no loss of power from one expansion to the next, any more than there is a loss of illumination as one candle kindles another. Thousands of candles may be kindled by an original candle, and all will have the same candle power. In this way it is to be understood that although all the viṣṇu-tattvas, from Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya to Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha and so on, appear with different features in different ages, all are equally invested with supreme potency.
Demigods such as Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva come in contact with the material energy, and their power and potency are therefore of different gradations. All the incarnations of Viṣṇu, however, are equal in potency, for the influence of māyā cannot even approach Them.
"The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil among various species." The soul is given different types of bodies. For example, were souls not given varieties of tree bodies, the different varieties of fruits and flowers could not be produced. Each class of tree produces a particular kind of fruit and flower; it is not that there is no distinction between the different classes. An individual tree does not produce flowers of different colors or fruits of different tastes. There are demarcated classes, as we find them among humans, animals, birds and other species. There are innumerable living entities, and their activities, performed in the material world according to the different qualities of the material modes of nature, give them the chance to have different kinds of lives.
There are different tattvas, or truths, including īśa-tattva, jīva-tattva and śakti-tattva. Īśa-tattva refers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu, who is the supreme living force. In the Kaṭha Upaniṣad it is said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām: the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme eternal and the supreme living force. The living entities are also eternal and are also living forces, but they are very minute in quantity, whereas the Supreme Lord is the supreme living force and the supreme eternal. The supreme eternal never accepts a body of a temporary material nature, whereas the living entities, who are part and parcel of the supreme eternal, are prone to do so. Thus according to the Vedic mantras the Supreme Lord is the supreme master of innumerable living entities.
The Māyāvādī philosophers, however, try to equate the minute living entities with the supreme living entity. Because they recognize no distinctions between them, their philosophy is called Advaita-vāda, or monism. Factually, however, there is a distinction. This verse is especially meant to impart to the Māyāvādī philosopher the understanding that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme controller. The supreme controller, the Personality of Godhead, is Kṛṣṇa Himself, but as a transcendental pastime He has accepted the form of a devotee, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
A pseudo incarnation of Kṛṣṇa once told his disciple that he had emptied himself by giving him all knowledge and was thus spiritually bankrupt. Such bluffers speak in this way to cheat the public, but actual spiritual consciousness is so perfect that the more it is distributed, the more it increases. Bankruptcy is a term that applies in the material world, but the storehouse of love of Godhead in the spiritual world can never be depleted. Kṛṣṇa is providing for millions and trillions of living entities by supplying all their necessities, and even if all the innumerable living entities wanted to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, there would be no scarcity of love of Godhead, nor would there be insufficiency in providing for their maintenance. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement was started single-handedly, and no one provided for our livelihood, but at present we are spending hundreds and thousands of dollars all over the world, and the movement is increasing more and more. Thus there is no question of scarcity. Although jealous persons may be envious, if we stick to our principles and follow in the footsteps of the Pañca-tattva, this movement will go on unchecked by imitation svāmīs, sannyāsīs, religionists, philosophers or scientists, for it is transcendental to all material considerations. Therefore those who propagate the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement should not be afraid of such rascals and fools.
CC Madhya-lila
When we speak of brahmāṇḍa, we refer to the whole universe, or to the cluster of many millions of universes. In all the universes there are innumerable planets, and there are innumerable living entities upon those planets—in the air, on land and in the water. There are millions and trillions of living entities everywhere, and they are engaged by māyā in suffering and enjoying the results of their fruitive activity, life after life. This is the position of the materially conditioned living entities. Out of many of these living entities, one who is actually fortunate (bhāgyavān) comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master by Kṛṣṇa's mercy.
Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart, and if one desires something, Kṛṣṇa fulfills one's desire. If the living entity by chance or fortune comes in contact with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and wishes to associate with that movement, Kṛṣṇa, who is situated in everyone's heart, gives him the chance to meet a bona fide spiritual master. This is called guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to bestow His mercy upon all living entities, and as soon as a living entity desires the Lord's mercy, the Lord immediately gives him an opportunity to meet a bona fide spiritual master. Such a fortunate person is fortified by both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master. He is helped from within by Kṛṣṇa and from without by the spiritual master. Both are prepared to help the sincere living being become free from material bondage.
The father and mother are known as Lord Śiva and goddess Durgā. Together, Lord Śiva's genitals and the vagina of goddess Durgā are worshiped as the śiva-liṅga. This is the origin of the material creation. Thus Lord Śiva's position is between that of the living entity and that of the Supreme Lord. In other words, Lord Śiva is neither the Supreme Personality of Godhead nor a living entity. He is the form through which the Supreme Lord works to beget living entities within this material world. As yogurt is prepared when milk is mixed with a culture, the form of Lord Śiva expands when the Supreme Personality of Godhead is in touch with material nature. The impregnation of material nature by the father, Lord Śiva, is wonderful because at one time innumerable living entities are conceived. Bhāgo jīvaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ sa cānantyāya kalpate (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.9). These living entities are very, very small:
- keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatāṁśa-sadṛśātmakaḥ
- jīvaḥ sūkṣma-svarūpo ’yaṁ saṅkhyātīto hi cit-kaṇaḥ
- (CC Madhya 19.140)
"If we divide the tip of a hair into a hundred parts and then take one of these parts and divide it again into a hundred parts, that very fine division is the size of but one of the numberless living entities. They are all cit-kaṇa, particles of spirit, not matter."
The innumerable brahmāṇḍas, or universes, come from the pores of the Lord's body, and innumerable living entities also come from the pores of the transcendental body of the Lord. This is the process of material creation. Without the living entities, this material nature has no value. Both emanate from the pores of the transcendental body of Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu. They are different energies. The material nature is explained as follows by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.4):
- bhūmir āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
- ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā
"Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—all together these eight constitute My separated material energies." Thus the material elements also come from the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they are a different type of energy from the living entities. Although the living entities also come from the Lord's body, they are categorized as a superior energy:
- apareyam itas tv anyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām
- jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat
"Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature." (BG 7.5) The inferior energy, matter, cannot act without the superior energy. All these things are very clearly explained in the Vedas. The materialistic theory that life develops from matter is incorrect. Life and matter come from the supreme living entity; therefore, being the source of both, that supreme living entity, Kṛṣṇa, is described in the Vedānta-sūtra (1.1.2) as janmādy asya yataḥ, (SB 1.1.1) or the original source of everything, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). This is further explained in the following verse.
“"At a time beyond memory, after agitating the material nature into three qualities, the Supreme Personality of Godhead placed the semen of innumerable living entities within the womb of that material nature. Thus material nature gave birth to the total material energy, known as the hiraṇmaya-mahat-tattva, the original symbolic representation of the cosmic manifestation."
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
From the Caitanya-caritāmṛta we learn how Lord Caitanya taught people to break the shackles of māyāand become immortal. Thus, as mentioned above, the title may be properly translated as "the character of the living force in immortality." The supreme living force is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is also the supreme entity. There are innumerable living entities, and all of them are individuals. This is very easy to understand: We are all individual in our thoughts and desires, and the Supreme Lord is also an individual person. He is different, though, in that He is the leader, the one whom no one can excel. Among the minute living entities, one being can excel another in one capacity or another. Like each of these living entities, the Lord is an individual, but He is different in that He is the supreme individual. God is also infallible, and thus in the Bhagavad-gītā He is addressed as Acyuta, which means "He who never falls down." This name is appropriate because in the Bhagavad-gītā Arjuna falls into illusion but Kṛṣṇa does not. Kṛṣṇa Himself reveals His infallibility when he says to Arjuna, "When I appear in this world, I do so by My own internal potency." (BG 4.6)
Beginning His ten days of continual instruction to Rūpa Gosvāmī, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "My dear Rūpa, the science of devotional service is just like a great ocean, and so it is not possible to show you its entire length and breadth. But I shall try to explain the nature of that ocean by taking just one drop out of it. In this way you can taste it and understand what that ocean of devotional service actually is."
The Lord then explained that within this brahmāṇḍa, or universe, there are innumerable living entities who, according to their own fruitive activities, are transmigrating from one species of life to another and from one planet to another. In this way their encagement in material existence has continued since time immemorial. In actuality, these living entities are atomic parts and parcels of the Supreme Spirit. It is said in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad Śrīmad-Bhāgavatamthat the length and breadth of the individual soul is 1/10,000th part of the tip of a hair. The atomic magnitude of the living entity is confirmed in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.16.11). And in the Tenth Canto (10.87.30) Sanandana-kumāra, while performing a great sacrifice, quotes the following statement by the personified Vedas: "O Supreme Truth! If the living entities were not infinitesimal sparks of the Supreme Spirit, each minute spark would be all-pervading and could not be controlled by a superior power. But if the living entity is accepted as a minute part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, one can automatically understand how he is controlled by the supreme power. The latter is his actual constitutional position, and if he remains in this position he can attain full freedom. If one mistakenly considers his constitutional position equal to that of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he becomes contaminated by the doctrine of nonduality and his efforts in transcendental life are rendered ineffective."
Thus the Lord gave sixty different meanings to the ātmārāma verse. In addition, He said that ātmā means "any embodied living entity, from the first living creature, Brahmā, down to the ant." He cited a verse from the Sixth Chapter of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa in which it is stated that all the energies of the Lord are spiritual. Although this is the case, the energy which is known as the source of the living entity is called spiritual, but the other energy, which is full of ignorance and is manifested in material activities, is called material nature. Even in the material creation, the living entities are innumerable. If by chance a living entity in the material world can associate with a pure devotee, he can engage in the pure devotional service of Kṛṣṇa. "Formerly I thought of sixty different meanings for the ātmārāma verse," the Lord told Sanātana Gosvāmī, "but here another meaning has come to My mind by your association."
After hearing the different explanations of the ātmārāma verse, Sanātana Gosvāmī was struck with wonder, and he fell down in devotion at the feet of Lord Caitanya. "I understand that You are personally the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa," Sanātana said, "and by Your breathing have come many manifestations of Vedic literature. You are the teacher of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and You best know the meanings of the verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It is not possible for others to understand the confidential meanings of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam without Your mercy."
Therefore Gadādhara and Śrīvāsa, although on the Viṣṇu platform, are dependent, diverse energies of the Supreme Lord. In other words, they are not different from the energetic, but they are manifest diversely for the sake of relishing transcendental relationships. The whole process of devotional service involves a transcendental reciprocation of the flavors of relationship between the worshiper and the worshiped. Without such a diverse exchange of transcendental flavors, devotional service has no meaning.
In the Vedic literature (Kaṭha Upaniṣad) it is stated that the Supreme Lord is the supreme living entity among all living entities. There are innumerable living entities, but there is one living entity who is the Supreme Absolute Godhead. The difference between the singular living entity and the plural living entities is that the singular living entity is the Lord of all. Lord Caitanya is that supreme living entity, and He descended to reclaim the innumerable fallen living entities. In other words, the specific purpose of Lord Caitanya's advent was to establish in the present age the Vedic fact that there is one Supreme Personality of Godhead predominating and maintaining all the other innumerable living entities. Because the impersonalist (Māyāvādī) philosophers cannot understand this, Lord Caitanya advented Himself to enlighten the people in general about the real nature of the relationship between the Supreme and the many dependent living entities.
Material things are enjoyed by the living entities because the living entities are superior in quality whereas material nature is inferior. Thus the superior nature, the living entities, can enjoy the inferior nature, matter. Because Lord Viṣṇu is in no way touched by matter, He has no tendency to enjoy material nature the way the living entities do. The living entities cannot attain knowledge of Viṣṇu by enjoying their habits of mental speculation. The infinitesimal living entities are not the enjoyers of Viṣṇu, but they are enjoyed by Viṣṇu. Only the greatest offender thinks that Viṣṇu is enjoyed. The greatest blasphemy is to consider Viṣṇu and the living entity on the same level.
The Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is compared to a blazing fire, and the innumerable living entities are compared to sparks emanating from that fire. Although both the Supreme Lord and the living entities are qualitatively fire, there is yet a distinction. Viṣṇu, the Supreme, is infinite, whereas the living entities, which are but sparks, are infinitesimal. The infinitesimal living entities are emanations from the original infinite spirit. In their constitutional position as infinitesimal spirits, there is no trace of matter.
The living entities are not as great as Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, who is beyond this material creation. Even Śaṅkarācārya accepts Nārāyaṇa to be beyond the material creation. Since neither Viṣṇu nor the living entity are of the material creation, someone may inquire, "Why were the small particles of spirit created at all?" The answer is that the Supreme Absolute Truth is complete in His perfection when He is both infinite and infinitesimal. If He were simply infinite but not infinitesimal, He would not be perfect. The infinite portion is the viṣṇu-tattva, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the infinitesimal portion is the living entity.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
“My conclusion is, therefore, that You are the Supreme Soul, the Absolute Truth, and the supreme original person; and although by Your inconceivable transcendental potencies You have expanded Yourself in so many Viṣṇu forms, and also in the living entities and other energies, You are the supreme one without a second, the supreme Supersoul. The innumerable living entities are simply like sparks of the original fire, Your Lordship. The conception of the Supersoul as impersonal is wrong, because I see that You are the original person. Persons with a poor fund of knowledge may think that because You are the son of Mahārāja Nanda You are not the original person, that You are born just like a human being. They are mistaken. You are the actual original person; that is my conclusion. In spite of Your being the son of Nanda, You are the original person, and there is no doubt about it. You are the Absolute Truth, and You are not of this material darkness. You are the source of the original brahma-jyotir as well as the material luminaries—the sun, moon and stars. Your transcendental effulgence is identical with the brahma-jyotir. As it is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā, the brahma-jyotir is nothing but Your personal bodily effulgence. There are many Viṣṇu incarnations and incarnations of Your different qualities, but all those incarnations are not on the same level. You are the original lamp. Other incarnations may possess the same candlepower as the original lamp, but the original lamp is the beginning of all light. And because You are not one of the creations of this material world, even after the annihilation of this world, Your existence as You are will continue.
As the Supersoul, He is the controller of all activities of the living entities. He lives within all of them and witnesses their actions, allowing them to act according to their desires and also giving them the results of their different activities. He is the living force of all things, but He is transcendental to the material qualities. He is omnipotent; He is expert in manufacturing everything, and on account of His superior, natural knowledge, He can bring everyone under His control. As such, He is everyone's master. He is sometimes manifest on the surface of the globe, but He is simultaneously within all matter. Desiring to expand Himself in multiforms, He glanced over the material energy, and thus innumerable living entities became manifest. Everything is created by His superior energy, and everything in His creation appears to be perfectly done, without deficiency. Those who aspire for liberation from this material world must therefore worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate cause of all causes. He is just like the total mass of earth, from which varieties of earthly pots are manufactured: the pots are made of earthly clay, they rest on earth, and after being destroyed, their elements ultimately merge back into earth,the original cause of all varieties of manifestation.
Then in the next millennium, according to this theory, Brahman again expands in different bodily forms. If we accept this theory, then Brahman becomes subject to change. But this cannot be accepted. From the Vedānta-sūtra we understand that Brahman is by nature joyful. He cannot, therefore, change Himself into a body which is subject to so many painful conditions. Actually, the living entities are infinitesimal parts and parcels of Brahman, and as such they are prone to be covered by the illusory energy. As explained before, the particles of Brahman are like sparks blissfully dancing within a fire, but there is a chance of their falling from the fire to smoke, although smoke is another condition of fire. This material world is just like smoke, and the spiritual world is like a blazing fire. The innumerable living entities are prone to fall down to the material world from the spiritual world when influenced by the illusory energy, and it is also possible for the living entity to be liberated again when by cultivation of real knowledge he becomes completely freed from the contamination of the material world.
Narada-bhakti-sutra (sutras 1 to 8 only)
The Bhagavad-gītā teaches the process of bhakti-yoga, and therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa explained it to Arjuna because he was a great devotee. As far as spiritual life is concerned, becoming a devotee of the Lord is the highest perfection.
People are generally misled by the spell of the illusory energy of material nature. There are innumerable living entities within the material nature, and only some of them are human beings. According to the Vedic literature, there are 8,400,000 species of life. In the Padma Purāṇa it is said that there are 900,000 species of life in the water, 2,000,000 species of plants, 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, 1,000,000 species of birds, 3,000,000 species of beasts, and only 400,000 species of human beings. So the humans are the least numerous species of all.
All living entities can be divided into two divisions: those that can move and those that are stationary, such as trees. But there are also many further divisions. Some species fly in the air, some live in the water, and some live on the ground. Among the living entities who live on the ground, only 400,000 are human species, and out of these 400,000 human species, many are uncivilized or unclean; they are not up to the standard of proper civilization. From the historical point of view, the Āryans are the most civilized section of human beings, and among the Āryans, the Indians are especially highly cultured. And among the Indians, the brāhmaṇas are the most expert in knowledge of the Vedas.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Prabhupāda: Therefore you are a fool." It is in a round about way... Just like, what is called in logic? Parenthesis? Or something like that, called. Yes. That if I say that "You look like that person who stole my watch," that means "You look like a thief." Similarly, (chuckles) Kṛṣṇa, in a round about way, says that "My dear Arjuna, you are talking just like learned man, but you are lamenting on a subject matter which no learned man laments." Go on.
Devotee: "In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the maintainer of innumerable living entities, in terms of their different situations according to individual work and reaction to work. That Supreme Personality of Godhead is also, by His plenary portions, alive in the heart of every living entity. Only saintly persons, who can see within and without the same Supreme Personality of Godhead, can actually attain to perfect peace eternal. The same Vedic truth enumerated herein is given to Arjuna and in that connection to all persons in the world who pose themselves as very learned but factually have very poor fund of knowledge. The Lord says clearly that He Himself, Arjuna, and all the kings who are assembled in the battlefield are eternally individual beings and that the Lord is eternally the maintainer of the individual living entities."
Because He's making differentiation. So if Kṛṣṇa is in illusion, then what is the use of taking His version? Because our proposition is that we have to take knowledge from the perfect person. So if Kṛṣṇa is in illusion, then how He can become perfect person, and the knowledge delivered by Him is perfect? No. Kṛṣṇa is not illusioned. We are in illusion. Kṛṣṇa is not in illusion. Kṛṣṇa cannot be in illusion.
(reads from purport:) "In the Vedas, in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad as well as in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the maintainer of innumerable living entities..." The Supreme Personality of Godhead... Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). There is eka and bahu. The bahu, they are also nitya and cetana. That means we living entities, we are also cetana and eternal. And Kṛṣṇa is also eternal and cetana. So so far the living symptoms and the eternity is concerned, both the living entities and God, Kṛṣṇa, they are one. But the difference is that eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, that one, that chief one, although He's eternal and living force as we are, but He is the chief. He maintains all others. That is the version. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān, tam ātma-sthaṁ ye 'nupaśyanti dhīrās teṣāṁ śāntiḥ śāśvatī netareṣām. This is the version from Kaṭhopaniṣad. Nityo nityānām. He's the supreme eternal amongst all the other eternals. Cetanaś cetanānām. He's the supreme living force amongst all other living forces.
Those who are not attracted, they are called nitya-siddha, eternally liberated. And those who are being attracted, they are called nitya-baddha, eternally conditioned. So you'll find always two classes of men. So one is attracted; one is not attracted. In the spiritual world the number of liberated person—many, many times greater than these conditioned soul. Just like the prison house and outside the prison house. The population outside the prison house, their number is very great, but within the prison house there are small number, criminals. So there are innumerable living entities. Out of them, some of them become attracted to this material enjoyment; others not. So one who does not want to serve Kṛṣṇa and wants to serve his senses, he's put into this material world. And he's given all facilities to enjoy, but he becomes entangled. This is the position. Yes?
You take a bag of mustard seeds and pick up one grain. In comparison to the pack of mustard seeds what is the value of this one grain? Similarly, this universe is like that. There are so many universes. The modern scientists, they are trying to go to other planets. Even they go, what is the credit there? There are koṭiṣu vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam. One cannot go so many planets. Even according to their calculation, if they want to go to the topmost planet, which we call Brahmaloka, it will take forty-thousand of years in the light-year calculation.
So in God's creation everything is unlimited. It is not limited with our perspective of knowledge. So there are so many, innumerable universes, innumerable planets, and there are innumerable living entities. And all of them are rotating according to their karma. And birth and death means changing, one body to another. I make one plan in this life and... Because everyone is in the bodily concept of live. So so long we are in the bodily concept of life... "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am vaiśya," "I am śūdra," "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am so and so." These are all bodily concept of life designations. So so long I am in bodily concept of life, I think, "I have got this duty to do. As brāhmaṇa, I have got to do such and such things." "As American, I have got to do so many things." So long this consciousness will continue, we'll have to accept another body. This is the nature's process. So long...
Yes, God is person, like you and me. You can go and talk with Him, he qualified for that pur... Nitya nitya... This is Vedic injunction. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). God is eternal among all other eternals. We are all eternal, and God is the chief eternal. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. We are also cognizant and God is also cognizant. The difference is that I am cognizant with a limited space and God is cognizant throughout the whole universe. But He is also cognizant. He is also person. I am also person. What is the difference? Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. That one maintains all these innumerable living entities. Therefore in the Bible you go and ask God give us our daily bread, He is maintaining. That is the difference between God and ourself. We are maintained and God is the maintainer. We are predominated and God is the predominator. That is the difference. Otherwise He is a person, we are also persons. He is eternal, we are eternal. He is cognizant, we are cognizant.
And all the desires and propensities what God has got, we have also got. God has got this propensity to love Rādhārāṇī. We have got also the same propensity to love another young girl or young boy. So originally it is there. Therefore in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). God means from whom everything has come. So if there is a question of love, the (indistinct) a man loving a woman and woman loving a man, that is in God. It must be there. Otherwise wherefrom it has come?
But that is pure and here it is impure on account of this material contamination. The thing is there but it is contaminated. Therefore you feel frustration. So intelligence is the why shall I remain in this contaminated position? I shall go to the pure platform. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
This is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Kṛṣṇa is appearing in so many incarnations. Just try to understand what is the position of Kṛṣṇa. He is situated as Paramātmā in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). And He's giving direction to everyone. And there are unlimited, innumerable living entities. So He has to give instruction in different ways to so many living entities. How much busy He is, just try to imagine. Still, His position is the same. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). Goloka eva nivasati. Kṛṣṇa is still in His own original place, Goloka Vṛndāvana, and He's enjoying in the company of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. That business is.... It is not the Māyāvādī philosophy. Because He has expanded Himself in so many hearts of the living entities, that does not mean that He is finished in His own abode. No. Still He's there. That is Kṛṣṇa. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). This is the Vedic information.
Even the... Here we have got material experience. If you have got one rupee, if you take one anna, then it is fifteen annas. Or if you take two annas, it is fourteen annas. If you take sixteen annas, it becomes zero. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that. He can expand Himself unlimited forms; still, the original Kṛṣṇa is there. That is Kṛṣṇa. We have got experience: one minus one equal to zero. But there, in the spiritual world... That is called Absolute. One minus, million times one minus, still, the original one is one. That is Kṛṣṇa. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33).
This is not Brahman realization. Brahman realization means to introspect the spiritual existence of all living entities. That is Brahman realization. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Then that oneness is still not sufficient. That means you have to engage yourself in Brahman activities. That is perfection. Therefore it is said that samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). After this Brahman realization, actual devotional service begins. Brahman realization means that "I am spirit soul and the Lord is the Supreme Spirit." Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13).
He is the Supreme Spirit, chief living entity, and we are innumerable, without any number. Asaṅkhya. The living entities are innumerable. These are stated in Vedic literature. The very word is used, asaṅkhya. Asaṅkhya means without any numerical estimation. And God is one. God is one, but the living entities are many. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. So, eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. That one is the supreme one who is supplying all the necessities of living entities.
Similarly, as you have got in your Bible, you pray in the church, "Oh God, give us our daily bread. Excuse us our faults." Because He is the prime one. He is supplying the necessities, He's giving you protection, He's giving you everything. You require sunlight. God has created sunlight for you. You require water, God has created immense water for you. You require air, there is immense air for you. So He is practically helping you. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. That one is supplying everything what we require.
Teeny, sample gods. Therefore, we are so much proud. But we should not be proud because we should know that all our qualities are taken from God. Because we are part and parcel. So originally all these qualities are there in God.
And therefore Vedānta-sūtra says what is God, what is the Absolute Truth? Athātho brahma-jijñāsā. When (we) inquire about God, about the Absolute Truth, the answer is immediately given: janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything comes, everything emanates. So everything is coming from God. He's the original source of all supplies. Now what is our position? There are innumerable living entities. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānāṁ (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That is Vedic information. God is also a living entity, like us, but He's the chief living entity. And we are also living entity.
Just like one father. Father may have got twenty children. Twenty sons. Formerly, they used to have one hundred sons. Now the fathers have no such power. But in the, up to five thousand years ago, King Dhṛtarāṣṭra gave birth to one hundred sons. Now we are... We say, we are saying that we are overpopulated. But that's not the fact. At the present moment, where there is the question of overpopulation? Now how many of us giving birth hundreds of children? No. Nobody. But formerly, a father could give birth to one hundred children. So there is no question of overpopulation. And even there is overpopulation, we get information from the Vedas: eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. That one chief living entity, God, He can maintain innumerable living entities.
The example, just like there is one sun in the sky. But if you keep on the earth millions of waterpot, you'll find in each waterpot the reflection of the sun. Or another example, at noontime you just inquire from your friend, ten thousand miles away, "Where is the sun?" He'll say, "On my head." So millions and trillions of people will see sun on his head. But the sun is one. And another example, the waterpot. The sun is one, but if there are millions of waterpots you'll find in each pot the sun is reflected. Similarly there may be innumerable living entities. There is no count. Jīvasya asaṅkhya. In the Vedic language it is said that living entities, there is no count. Innumerable. So similarly Viṣṇu is, if a material thing like sun can be reflected in each and every waterpot, so why not the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu live in each and everyone's heart. It is not difficult to understand. He's living. That is stated. And the yogi has to concentrate his mind on that Viṣṇu form. So this Viṣṇu form is plenary portion of Kṛṣṇa.
So one who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's already a perfect yogi. That will be explained. He's a perfect yogi. That we'll explain in the last verse of this chapter. Go on.
Without understanding Kṛṣṇa, whatever we do, we shall remain simply animals. That's all.
So how the animals can be interested in Kṛṣṇa? That is not possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3). "Out of many thousands of people." Just like we have started this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, in the Western countries for the last five years, but how many people have come to take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement? Not very many. We have got about three thousand followers. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that it is not attractive for everyone. But if one is attracted, his life is successful. His life is successful. Lord Caitanya also said the same thing. Brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva. There are many, innumerable living entities. They are wandering within this universe in different forms of body and different planets, transmigrating from one body to another, one planet to another. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa, kona... Out of them, if one is fortunate enough to associate with a bona fide spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa, his life is becomes successful.
- ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
- guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
- (CC Madhya 19.151)
Bīja means seed. As from the seed a big tree come out, similarly, if one is injected with this Kṛṣṇa consciousness understanding, then, gradually, it will grow into a big tree. And when the fruits will be there, he'll enjoy life.
You must act accordingly, that you are not material; you are spiritual. That spiritual activity is called Kṛṣ..., act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and that is called rāja-vidyā, the king of all education.
Rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyam. Rāja-guhyam. Rāja-guhyam means confidential, very confidential. It is not possible to accept this Kṛṣṇa consciousness very easily, but by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, it is very easily delivered to us through this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Lord Caitanya has discussed a very analytical study of the living entity. He has analyzed that the living entities... There are innumerable living entities all over the universe. If you dig earth, you'll find many living entities. If you make a study of the air, you'll find many living entities. If you go deep into the water, you'll find living entities. So all over the universe there are full of different types of living entities. And He has divided all these living entities into two classes. Some are moving and some are not moving. Just like trees, plants, grass, they cannot move. Stone. Stone has also life, but it is not developed conscious. It is too much covered, stone life. Similarly, a person, even in human body, if he does not understand his position, he's almost stonelike. So these are stones, trees, grass and so many others. They are "not-moving" living entities. And there are moving entities just like aquatics, beasts, birds, reptiles, human being, demigods, oh, celestial angels, so many. There are moving. So out of the moving entities, very small number are human beings. There are 8,400,000's of species of life. Out of that, only 400,000 species of life are this human body.
Oh, I will have to, I mean to say, place flatters on the street: "Please vote for me. Please vote for me. Please reelect me." So I am taking śaraṇam. I am flattering. I am taking shelter in every moment. Why not God? Oh, when I say, "Oh, what do you say? Why do you say, Swamiji, about God?" So they will take shelter of dog but not God. You see? This is going on. Śaraṇaṁ suhṛt. Suhṛt means well-wisher. Who can become more well-wisher than God? Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. He is... I can be friend, well-wisher, to a limited circle, but God is friend and well-wisher of all living entities. I can take care of my family members, how they are happy, how they are eating, but God is taking care of innumerable living entities. You see? I don't take care of the ants in my room, what they are eating, I do not take care of the bugs in my bed, but God is taking care also of them. He is taking care. He is suhṛt. He wants that "You live. You are given freedom, whatever you like. But if you want to be happy, then give up all this nonsense. Come to Me. Take shelter, Me. I will give you all protection." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66).
So suhṛt prabhavaḥ, development. You are trying to make economic development, but how we can develop economic development provided there is no material supplied by God? Can you manufacture, can you build, construct, a big skyscraper building without the materials being supplied by God? Can you manufacture wood? Can you manufacture stone? Can you manufacture lime? You cannot manufacture. Can you manufacture iron? You can work, labor. The materials supplied by God, by your labor, by intelligence, you can transform from one thing to another. Economic experts, they say like that, that man cannot manufacture anything.
That's all right. Similarly, to worship demigods may be accepted if people know that these demigods are authorized agents of the Supreme Lord. There is acceptance of Supreme Lord. But those fools who do not accept the Supreme God and misunderstand that "This particular type of demigod is all in all," oh, they are doing nonsense. They are doing nonsense. They are keeping, placing, so many competitors of the Supreme Lord. That is avidhi-pūrvakam. Avidhi-pūrvakam. That is illegal. Nobody can be competitor of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is known as asamordhva. Asama-ūrdhva. Nobody is greater than the Supreme Lord, and nobody is equal, on the same level.
Everyone, whatever he may be, however powerful he may be, they are all living entities. There are innumerable living entities, and some of them are, by degree, one is powerful more than the other. So in the material world we can see that Brahmā, Lord Brahmā, is the most powerful demigod. Similarly, Lord Śiva is also next to Brahmā or equal to Brahmā. Somebody says he's more than Brahmā. Whatever it may be. So Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā are considered to be the most powerful demigods, but still, it is prohibited that one should not think of them as equal to the Supreme Lord. It is strictly prohibited in Vaiṣṇava Purāṇas. It is said like this: yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devam...
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Indian man (1): When you say "He descends," does it mean "got down"?
Prabhupāda: Yes. "He descends," it does not mean that He is absent in His abode. That is God. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). You understand this? Ananta-rūpam. He can expand Himself in unlimited forms. Otherwise how it is possible-īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61)? God is situated in everyone's heart. "Everyone" means within your heart, within my heart, within cat's heart, within dog's heart—everyone's heart. So there are innumerable living entities. How He is situated everywhere? Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35): "He is within this universe and He is within the atom." That is God.
Indian man (2): Swamiji?
Prabhupāda: Yes?
Indian man (2): You are accepting to you questions put by a young man. Will you still kindly answer all questions put by an old? (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Hm? What is that?
Brahmānanda: He says that—excuse me—that you have already accepted one question from a young man, so now would you kindly accept a question from an old man?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. You are neither old; he is neither young. (laughter) Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). Yes. Yes?
Indian man (2): In your lecture, Swamiji, if I don't mistake, you have mentioned many authorities, beginning with the Veda, Brahma-sūtra, Bhagavad-gītā or wisdom of the Mahābhārata. Do you accept all truth?
So He's not different. As like the dāruṣu, as the fuel wood are different, and therefore the flame appears to be different, similarly although Viśvātmā, the Supersoul, is one, because He's acting with individual soul different according to his different association, mentality, desires... Every account is kept. Just imagine how many numberless there are living entities. Asaṅkhya. Jīva-bhāgo sa vijñeyaḥ sa cānantyāya kalpate. There is no, you cannot... Innumerable. And each and every individual soul is doing according to his own desires and every account is kept. Just imagine how expert accountant is required. Every account is kept. Because He has to be offered again another body, taking account of his activities. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). He's acting. Innumerable living entities. So how big brain is Kṛṣṇa, you can just imagine. And not only one planet—there are innumerable planets, there are innumerable universes. Everything innumerable. That is called unlimited. Everything innumerable. And still, some rascal claims that he is God. How much brain a God requires, he does not know. How big brain... Anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ. These are analyzed, what is the nature of the Absolute Truth. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. How He is? What He is? Immediately the answer is janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "From Him, everything is emanating." Everything is taking birth from Him. Janma. Not only janma, birth, but existence, maintenance, janmādi. Janmādi means birth, maintenance and death. Creation, maintenance and annihilation. Janmādi. Asya, anything you take, asya. Janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1).
Upendra: "In the Bhagavad-gītā this is also mentioned that the material world is created at certain intervals and then again it is destroyed. This creation and destruction is done by the Supreme will on account of the conditioned souls or the nitya-baddha living beings."
Prabhupāda: Nitya-baddha. This word is also technical. Nitya-baddha means ever-conditioned. There are nitya-muktas. Nitya-mukta means ever-liberated. In the spiritual world, there are also innumerable living entities. The... This material world is only one-fourth manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's energy, God's energy. And the three-fourths energy is manifested in the spiritual world. So we can just imagine that in one-fourth manifestation of energy of the Lord, we are so many living entities which is impossible to count. Now you can imagine how many more living entities are there. But here we are conditioned and they are liberated. Those who are conditioned, they are called nitya-baddha, ever-conditioned. Nitya-baddha means we do not know when our, this conditional stage has begun. It is impossible to trace out the history. But we are conditioned. There is no doubt about it. Conditioned means no freedom. No freedom. As spirit soul we are free. Sarva-ga, we can go everywhere, anywhere. Even those who get some mystic powers by perfection of yoga practice, they can also exhibit some powers. So why? As we become free from material conditions, our original freedom comes.
So one of the qualification of the spirit soul is sarva-ga. Sarva-ga means he can go anywhere and everywhere. But because we are conditional stage, we are trying so much to go to the moon planet, we cannot go. But Nārada, because he is free, he has got full spiritual body, he can go anywhere he likes. Go on.
There are innumerable universes, and each and every universe there are so many planets, so many different kinds of living entities, and He has to manage everything. Therefore He is called Parameśvara. Parameśvara means the supreme controller. And Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15). "I am living in everyone's heart." Now, imagine. There are innumerable universes, and each and every universe, there are innumerable planets, and in each and every planet, there are innumerable towns and cities, and each and every town, there are innumerable living entities, and Kṛṣṇa has to manage all of them. That is Kṛṣṇa. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). Kṛṣṇa has to act in such a way that whatever we are doing, that is under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says mattaḥ smṛtiḥ. Just like in the morning you get up and immediately you understand that you were sleeping, "Now I have got to do so many things." So wherefrom this memory comes? Kṛṣṇa says mattaḥ, "from Me." So just imagine how Kṛṣṇa is busy. So this māyā as described here, apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ māyāṁ tad-apāśrayam. Māyā means his meaning, that will be explained in the next verse—which is controlling this material world, that māyā. Māyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayam.
That is not possible. Because we are created, not created, from the very beginning... We are separated part and parcel. We are separated parts and parcels. therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā: "My dear Arjuna, you, Me, and all these persons who have assembled in this battlefield, we were in the past individuals. We are, at present, individuals, and in the future, we shall continue to remain as individuals. We are all individual." Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He's the Supreme nitya, Supreme Living Force amongst many, innumerable living forces. We are jīva, innumerable, ananta. There is no counting how many we are. Sa anantyāya kalpate. So this ananta, innumerable living entities, and Kṛṣṇa is also a living entity, but He's the chief. That is the difference. Nityo nityānā...
Just like there is leader. Leader is one, and followers, there are many. Similarly Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Living Entity, and we are subordinate, dependent living entities. That is the difference. Dependent, we can understand, if Kṛṣṇa does not supply us food, we starve. That's a fact. We cannot produce anything. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. So Kṛṣṇa is maintaining, and we are being maintained. Therefore Kṛṣṇa shall be the predominator, and we shall be predominated. That is our natural constitutional position. Therefore if we want to become predominator falsely in this material world, that is illusion, That we must give up. That we must give up. We shall always try to become predominated by Kṛṣṇa. That is successful life.
In this way, all the living entities, beginning from Brahmā down to the microscopic germ, everyone is rotating in different species of life, in different planets, in different position. Innumerable. As the living entities are innumerable, so varieties of bodies are also innumerable. Not innumerable, they are counted, 8,400,000 species of life. This is Vedic knowledge. Exactly giving the number. Exactly. 8,400,000. It doesn't say 9,000,000, or 500,000. No. Exact.
Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. In the aquatics, there are 900,000 species of life. Now, if you have got your science, now go and see. This is Vedic knowledge. Perfect, without any doubt. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And the plants and trees, they are 2,000,000 species of life. So, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite (CC Madhya 19.151). We are transmigrating from one species of life, one species of life, another, another, another, another... They cannot explain why there are so many varieties of life. The varieties of life is there because we have desire, kāma. "I want this." "All right, take this." Kṛṣṇa is immediately prepared. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). "If you want, you can take it." But Kṛṣṇa says, ultimately, that "You'll never be happy in this way. Therefore you give up this business. Simply surrender unto Me." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). So that is called akāma. So here it is said that akāmaḥ yajet puruṣaṁ param. If you want to be akāma, devoid of all material desires, then surrender to Kṛṣṇa.
It is very nice to offer respect to a godly person. Is described very nicely. Why? Now, patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo. A godly person's business is to reclaim the fallen souls. They cannot see... A godly person sees that "Here is my brother. He is son of God. I am son of God. Without enlightenment, without knowledge of God, he is suffering. So let me give him some knowledge of God." This is godly person's business. He has no other business. He has no business to find out where to eat, where to sleep. Oh, that God provides for him. If God can provide food and shelter for cats and dogs, do you think God will not provide food and shelter for His confidential devotee? Is God so blind or ingratitude or unable? If He is able to feed innumerable living entities within this universe, does it mean that one who has sacrificed his life for God's service, he will starve? No. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ pranaśyati: (BG 9.31) "My dear Kaunteya, Arjuna, you declare it to the world that My devotee will never be vanquished." Never be vanquished. Another place it is said, teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham: (BG 9.22) "Those who are constantly engaged in My service, for them, I personally carry all the necessities to his home." So rest assured that if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, if you become God conscious, there will be no scarcity of happiness. Don't think that "If I devote my life only for Kṛṣṇa consciousness I will be starving." No. So this enlightenment is given by godly persons.
So here Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he was very godly person. He was so great devotee that there is no comparison.
Now make your choice. There are different planets. These rascals say that only living entities are in this planet, and all planets are vacant. Just see their scientific knowledge. What the other planets have done? It is made of the same ingredient, five elements, earth, water, air, fire, and we find innumerable living entities within this planet, and why other planets made of the same ingredient and there is vacant? Why? This is not scientific knowledge. The other planets are also filled up with living entities. Even in the sun planet. We cannot think... The sun planet is made of fire. How living entities can live there? Yes. Why not? You have to little consider about your rascal senses. What is the fault in the sun planet that there shall be no life? The five elements means earth, water, fire, air, ether. So fire is as good as the earth, one of the elements. Earth, water, fire, air, ether or sky. So we are experiencing that on earth, on the land, there are so many lives. And in the water there are so many lives. In the air there are so many lives. And why not in the fire? What is the reason? You have got some concocted ideas that in fire, nobody can live there. But Bhagavad-gītā says, "No, you can live there." There is a verse—I now forget—that "Fire cannot burn it." Can anyone recite that verse?
He eats according to the necessity of his doggish body. So we also know, human body. So that is natural. That is... The supplies are already there. You cannot manufacture supplies. That is the Vedic instruction: eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). There are many millions and trillions of living entities, and there is another living entity: that is God. So this another, one, singular number. There is no second, duplicate, of this one. But we ordinary living entities, we have got many millions of duplicates. Therefore two things are used: nitya, nityānām. Nityānām means plural number. Many, many, innumerable. You cannot count. Asaṅkhyā. The jīva is. Asaṅkhyā means nobody can count. And above this asaṅkhyā innumerable living entities, there is one prime living entity. God is also a living entity. He is also like us. In your Bible there is there: "Man is made after God." Is it not? So God is living entity, and we have got this form after the form... God is two-handed; we have got two hands. So that is a fact. This human form of life is made according to the form of Lord. It is imitation; that is real. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). But we are thinking that God has no form. Why? Wherefrom you got your form? You are daily praying, "O God, O Father, give us our daily bread," and we accept God as the supreme father. So if I have got form, the father must have got form. It is reasonable. How you say, "There is no form"? This is all not very reasonable argument. God is also a living entity, but what is the difference between God and all these living entities? They are all dependent on God. That's all. God is great; we are small. Just like father maintains all the children, so we are all children, and the supreme father maintains. So if the children have got forms, so it is naturally concluded the father has got, even though you have not seen the father. Suppose a posthumous child, a child is born after the death or disappearance of the father. So that does not mean because he has not seen the father, he will conclude that "My father had no form." This is not conclusion. He should know from the mother that "Yes, my child, your father had form." So this is intelligence.
Suppose you are working in a private firm. Fortunately you get a very good job in the government service where there are so many regulations. You get pension, you get this, that. So everyone aspires to get some government service. And he becomes satisfied. So if you can become satisfied by becoming a government servant, how much satisfied you will be, just imagine, by becoming the servant of the supreme government, Kṛṣṇa. What is this government? A tiny government. But don't you know how big government is this? This planetary system is running on: the sun is rising in due course; the moon is rising in due course; there is seasonal changes; there are so many demigods, innumerable living entities; their foodstuff is being supplied; it is being produced in different planets, different varieties. So there is a huge, big government of Kṛṣṇa. So if you become a servant of that big government, how much you will be satisfied, just imagine. If you can become satisfied by serving this tiny government, why not become satisfied being the servant of the supreme government? So to become servant of Kṛṣṇa, or God, is the supreme satisfaction. It is not that that service is very valuable service. Sa-nātha-jīvitaḥ. Sa-nātha-jīvitaḥ means that service is not ended, only few minutes' notice. Just like government servant cannot be dismissed simply by saying, "Oh, don't come, come tomorrow. We don't want." So if government service cannot be terminated so whimsically, how Kṛṣṇa's service can be terminated whimsically? No.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
That is not possible. So Kṛṣṇa... Try to understand. Here it is said that svayaṁ bhagavān kṛṣṇa ekale īśvara. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa also says. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) "Nobody is superior than Me." And how these rascals, they think that "I am equal to Kṛṣṇa"? Kṛṣṇa cannot be two. Kṛṣṇa is one. But He can expand. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu-kalā-niyamena-tiṣṭhan (Bs. 5.39). Kala, aṁśa-kala, avatāra. There are description in the śāstra. So we have to understand how Kṛṣṇa expands. There are expansion. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Ananta-rūpam. Just like Kṛṣṇa... Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna... (BG 18.61). Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart, innumerable living entities. And not only that. Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. Aṇḍāntara-stham. Kṛṣṇa, as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, is within this universe. Not only within this universe, but within the atom, every atom. Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ-paramāṇu-cayāntara. So Kṛṣṇa is so all-pervasive. But that does not mean everything Kṛṣṇa. (break) The dogs and hogs of Vṛndāvana, they are also fortunate because they are in Vṛndāvana. So one life of dogs and hogs, then they will be liberated. But why should we take the risk of becoming dogs and hogs? Finish this business of understanding Kṛṣṇa in this life by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Remain pure, observing the rules and regulations. Then your life is successful. At the end: tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). This is the highest success of life.
How He'll give me...? He's not poor man. He's, He's... What you are? Your human, human being, they are very few. If you compare with other animals, other living entities, you are most insignificant number. Your number is very little, especially for the civilized. If you search out a hole in your room, you'll find millions of ants coming out. Even in your room you'll find. You'll be over-voted. So who is supplying their necessities? Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. In the Vedic language we can understand that one singular entity... God is also a living entity. He's not void. He's just like a person, like you and me. But He's so powerful. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. One single number, He is providing so many, innumerable living entities. So our business is... And the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham: (BG 10.10) "I supply whatever he needs. Who is constantly engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I supply it. I take the goods personally and deliver there." Why should you be anxious? Kṛṣṇa will take hundred pounds of flours, hundred pounds of rice, and deliver you. Just be Kṛṣṇa conscious. In ordinary home you don't find more than five pounds. You see in our stock, all hundred pounds.
So these are facts. These are not stories. But foolish people, they have no knowledge or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. All your material necessities will be... But don't be extravagant. Take only whatever you need to maintain your body and soul together and execute this... Make this primary and other things secondary. Kṛṣṇa will supply you. But if you want to make your sense gratification, if you want to accept more than what you need, then you'll be in trouble. That is māyā. So Kṛṣṇa has provided for everyone, everything. There is no need of being anxious. But that does not mean that I shall feel, "Oh, I shall do everything and anything." No.
They are the incarnation. They come. They are called yugāvatāras. And then there is śaktyāveśa-avatāra. Śaktyāveśa-avatāra, they are counted just like Lord Buddha, Jesus Christ. They are counted amongst the śaktyāveśāvatāras. They are also incarnation of śaktyāveśāvatāra, powerful. In this way the Supreme Lord manifests all over the universes. There are innumerable universes, and some of His incarnation are working always.
So God's kingdom is not vacant. Just like we are thinking that except this earthly planet, all planets are vacant. Somebody is suggesting it is a lump of ashes. Just like they are thinking of this moon planet—a lump of dust. I cannot, of course, think like that. How dust can remain in a lump and how so much illumination come out from the dust? But they are putting the theory that the moon planet is a lump of dust. So let them do. But from the scripture we understand that there are innumerable universes, and each and every universe is full with innumerable planets, and each planet is full with innumerable living entities, and God's incarnation is working somewhere, other, to reclaim these conditioned souls.
Now, what is the constitution of Brahmā? Brahmā... Just there are so many innumerable living entities. If some of them, they are devotee, but they want to enjoy this material world... They want to enjoy. So they are devotee for taking some favor for God and want to enjoy this material world. He is called Brahmā. Brahmā's constitutional position is that.
- bhakti-miśra-kṛta-puṇye kona jīvottama
- rajo-guṇe vibhāvita kari' tāṅra mana
- garbhodakaśāyi-dvārā śakti sañcāri'
- vyaṣṭi sṛṣṭi kare kṛṣṇa brahmā-rūpa dhari'
Sometimes such pious living entities are not available, so sometimes Kṛṣṇa Himself becomes Brahmā and for maintenance, for creation...
Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Therefore foolish creatures, when they see Kṛṣṇa is here, they think that "Kṛṣṇa is like one of us." But He is not. So here it is stated, pālanārtha svāṁśa viṣṇu-rūpe avatāra. He is providing. Bhūta-bhṛt. Kṛṣṇa's name or Viṣṇu's another is Bhūta-bhṛt. He is providing our necessities. Always know that. This is also another knowledge. Don't think that you are producing your foodstuff, you are producing your necessities. No. You cannot do anything. He is providing. God is giving you. God is giving you. So you should always remember that pālanārtha. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Eko, that one supreme eternal, He is providing all the necessities of so many, innumerable living entities. Don't you see? We are mad after economic development from morning to late at night. In our cars, in our trucks we are going hither and thither. But there are many, many millions of living creatures; they have no economic problem. Who is providing them? Who is providing them? Providing, Kṛṣṇa is providing them. Viṣṇu is providing them.
- pālanārtha svāṁśa viṣṇu-rūpe avatāra
- sattva-guṇa draṣṭā tāte guṇa-māyā-pāra
He is, although in this material world, He is transcendentally situated. He has nothing to do with this material world.
General Lectures
Just like the drop of sea water and the vast mass of sea water—both are qualitatively one. The chemical composition of the drop of sea water and that of the mass of sea water are one and the same, but the quantity of salt and other minerals in the whole sea is many, many times greater than the quantity of salt and other minerals contained in the drop of sea water. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement maintains the (sic:) speciality of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul. From the Vedic Upaniṣads we can understand that both the Supreme Person, or God, and the individual person are eternal and living entities. The difference is that the supreme living entity, or Supreme Person, maintains all the innumerable living entities. In the Christian way of understanding, the same principle is admitted because in the Bible it is taught that the individual entities should pray to the supreme father for supplying means of maintenance and giving pardon for their sinful activities.
So it is understood from any source of scriptural injunction that the Supreme Lord, or Kṛṣṇa, is the maintainer of the individual living entities, and it is the duty of the individual entity to feel obliged to the Supreme Lord. This is the whole background of religious principle. Without this acknowledgement, there is chaos, as it is happening in our daily experience at the present moment. Everyone is trying to become the Supreme Lord, either socially, politically or individually. Therefore there is competition for this false lordship and there is chaos all over the world, individually, nationally, socially or collectively. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to establish the supremacy of the Absolute Personality of Godhead. The human society is meant for this understanding because this conscious
Can anyone count what is the number of mustards seeds in a bag, in a one-ton or two-ton bag? Innumerable. It is beyond our experience. But there are so many universes just like packed up in a bag. This is called material world. So what to speak of the spiritual world? The spiritual world is at least three times greater than this material world. That information we get from Bhagavad-gītā. Ekāṁśena sthito... Ekam means one part. Even you take... One part, maybe, one hundred. But even not going so far, one part means divide the whole thing into four parts. That will be one fourth. This material world is only one fourth of the whole creation, and the three-fourth part is spiritual world. In the spiritual world there is similarly innumerable planets, innumerable living entities. Just like, as I have already explained, that this material world is the just like prison house of the criminals. So our criminal department in the state, say, jail or prison house, that is not the countrywise, as big as the country. That is a fractional part only. Maybe a few hundred people or few thousand people living there, but the state is very big. Similarly, the Lord's state is so big, though the criminal living entities are living in a corner only. This material world is in a corner. So what information we can get about God? "God is great," we simply theoretically say, but we do not know how great it is, He is, and how His greatness is working. That we do not know. But Kṛṣṇa conscious persons, because they are getting knowledge from Kṛṣṇa directly, they have got all this knowledge. Therefore their knowledge is perfect.
How they are evolving one after another—everything is there. It is not a new thing. But people are giving stress only to the Darwin's theory. But in the Vedic literature we have got immense information of this living condition in this material world.
So apart from that, here it is said, deha-bhājām. Deha-bhājām means "those who have accepted this material body." That means there are some, not some... There are many who have not accepted this material body. But they have no experience who has not accepted this material body, in this material world. That is there in the spiritual world. These living entities, innumerable living entities in so many universes in the material world or material universe or material nature, they are only fractional portion of all living entities. Only a fractional portion. Because they are condemned. Those who are in this material world, with this material body, they are condemned. Just like you take another example: just like in the prison house. The prison house, population in the prison house, they are condemned by the government. But their number is only fraction of the whole population, not that whole population of the state goes to the prison house. Some criminals who are disobedient to the laws of the state, they are put into the prison house under confinement. Similarly, these conditioned souls within this material world, they are only fractional portion of the whole living enti..., number of living entities in the creation of God, and because they have disobeyed or declined to obey or abide by the orders of Kṛṣṇa, or God, they have been put into this material world. Now, the problem is: if one is sensible, if one is inquisitive and serious, he should try to understand that "Why I am put into this material conditional life?" That should be the inquiry. This is called brahma-jijñāsā. In the Vedānta-sūtra this is the first inquiry, that people should be educated to that standard of life when he will be inquisitive to know, "Why I am put into this conditional life? What is the condition? I do not wish to suffer."
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: What is his conception of God?
Śyāmasundara: Senior qualities.
Prabhupāda: That's right. (laughter) We accept that. Nityo nityānām. (laughter) We accept that. That is Vedic. That is Vedic. He is also living being, but who is the superior, chief living being? That is Kṛṣṇa. Just like we are also living beings, but you accept me as chief of the society. Similarly, there are innumerable living entities all over the universes, all over the creation, but who is the chief of them? That is God, the leader. Our philosophy is to follow the leader, Kṛṣṇa.
Devotee: But Skinner has no idea that there is an actual representative of God on earth that could set up such a perfect society. Therefore he is dreaming about setting one up in the future while the real representative is actually present with us now. He is thinking of the future.
Prabhupāda: When was he thinking?
Devotee: He is thinking that someday... He is thinking that it can be done. He is living now.
Śyāmasundara: That is his picture. (shows book to Prabhupāda) That is Skinner playing the organ, and it quotes him, saying...
Prabhupāda: So inform him that "Your theory is that God's representative..." He is expecting God's representative?
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Again, the same... You are comparing with yourself. Because your person can stay in one place only. That means you are simply comparing the Personality of Godhead with your personality. That you have to forget. He, He stays everywhere. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). Therefore we have to consult the authoritative Vedic literature. This answer is there, that goloka eva nivasaty, "He is living in Goloka Vṛndāvana; still, He is everywhere." You cannot think of. You are in this apartment. You are not in your office. But Kṛṣṇa, although He's in Goloka Vṛndāvana, He's everywhere, in everyone's heart. He's seeing everything. That you cannot imagine, how it is possible. That means you want to compare with your, this foolish, imperfect personality with God's personality. That is our defect. He's distinct from our personality, but He's a person. Yes. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He's also a person like us, He's also living entity like us. But what is the difference? He's the maintainer; we are maintained. How many persons you can maintain? A family of two children and one wife, you are embarrassed. And He's maintaining everyone. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti... Innumerable living entities, He's supplying food everyone. He's supplying food the ants within the hole of your room there are thousands of ants. You are not supplying food. How they are getting food? Similarly, you go to the African jungle. There are thousands and millions of elephants. They eat one at a, oh, huge quantity. He's giving food. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. In the air, within the water, there are so many living entities. In the air there are so many living entities. On the land there are so many living entities. Everywhere. How He's feeding? That is the distinction between God's personality and our personality. We are embarrassed to maintain a family of four, five members, and He is maintaining the whole family of living entities. Not only one planet, there are innumerable planets.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That is "Teachings to Rūpa..."
Satsvarūpa: It's called "Teachings to Rūpa Gosvāmī."
Prabhupāda: So you can go on reading it, where it is stated that "In this way, wandering, the living entity by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, fortunate..." It is on the beginning of the... Why don't you read the chapter.
Satsvarūpa: (reading) "Within this brahmāṇḍa or universe there are innumerable living entities..."
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Satsvarūpa: " ...and according to their own fruitive activities they are transmigrating from one species of life to another and from one planet to another. In this way their engagement in material existence is being continued since time immemorial. The living entities are atomic parts and parcels of the supreme spirit. There is, however, a measurement for the length and breadth of the atomic spiritual spark. It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Tenth Canto, Eighty-seventh Chapter, thirty-sixth verse, that if you divide the top of a hair into one hundred parts and again if you divide one part of that into another one hundred parts, such 1/10,000th part of the tip of a hair is the length and breadth of the individual soul. This is also confirmed in the Vedas in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. This atomic magnitude of the individual living entity is again described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Eleventh Canto, Sixteenth Chapter, eleventh verse, as follows. This is a speech given by one of the four Kumāras known as Sunanda on the occasion of performing a great sacrifice. He said, 'O supreme truth, if the living entities were not infinitesimal sparks of the supreme spirit, then each minute spark would have been all-pervading and there would be no necessity of its being controlled.' "
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: This is not for everyone.
Hari-śauri: There's a nice purport. Should I read the purport? "When we speak of brahmāṇḍa, we refer to the whole universe, or to the cluster of many millions of universes. In all universes, there are innumerable planets and innumerable living entities upon those planets in the air and in the water. There are millions and trillions of living entities everywhere, and they are engaged by māyā in suffering and enjoying the results of their fruitive activity life after life. This is the position of the materially conditioned living entities. Out of many of these living entities, if one is actually fortunate (bhāgyavān), he comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master by Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart, and if one desires something, Kṛṣṇa fulfills one's desire. If the living entity by chance or fortune comes in contact with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and wishes to associate with that movement, Kṛṣṇa, who is situated in everyone's heart, gives him the chance to meet a bona fide spiritual master. This is called guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to bestow His mercy upon all living entities, and as soon as a living entity desires the Lord's mercy, the Lord immediately gives him an opportunity to meet a bona fide spiritual master. Such a person is fortified by both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master. He is helped from within by Kṛṣṇa and from without by the spiritual master. Both are prepared to help the sincere living being become free from this material bondage. How one can become this fortunate can be seen in the life of Śrīla Nārada Muni. In his previous life he was born of a maidservant. Although he was not born into a prestigious position, his mother was fortunately engaged in rendering service to some Vaiṣṇavas.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: You recite that verse, nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). The instruction of King Ṛṣabhadeva to His sons. He said that "This body, human body..." Ayaṁ dehaḥ. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Deha. Everyone has got deha, body. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: (BG 2.13) "After this body is finished, another body...," because ātmā, na jāyate na mriyate vā, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Ātmā is eternal. There is no birth, no death. Nitya, eternal; śāśvataḥ purāṇaḥ, the oldest; and na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Therefore this is the problem. The ātmā has no birth, no death, and neither he is dead after the annihilation of this body. But we are put into this condition. We are not put, but we have put ourself. We are putting ourself in this condition of repetition of birth and death. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Once we take birth, and again we annihilate this body. So Ṛṣabhadeva says, "This ignorance of self-realization must be removed." Therefore He says, ayaṁ dehaḥ: "This body should not be misused like animals," āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna. This is the advice. Ayaṁ dehaḥ nṛloke. He especially mentions, nṛloke: "in the human form of body." The dog, cat, or doglike man, catlike man, they may remain in ignorance. They have no chance. There are uncivilized men. Although they have got two hands, two legs, but because there is no knowledge, they have been described as dvi-pada-paśu. They are animal with two legs. Other animals, they have got four legs, and this rascal has got two legs. That is the difference. So ayaṁ dehaḥ, this body, na ayaṁ dehaḥ nṛloke... Nāyaṁ dehaḥ nṛlo..., deha-bhājām. Deha-bhājām. This is also very significant. There are innumerable living entities. Jīva-bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ sa anantyāya kalpate (CC Madhya 19.140). These jīvas, living entities, part and parcel of God, anantyāya kalpate. Just like the sunshine.
Prabhupāda: Dūre parjakanam(?) tīrtham. If gaṅgā-jala is pure, it is pure here and there also. So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, tīrtha-yātrā pariśrama, kevala manera bhrama: "It is simply satisfying the mind." Otherwise, wherever there is Ganges, there is Yamunā, that is sacred place. Delhi also, sacred place. There is Gaṅgā. Anyway, so, we should take advantage of the knowledge of sādhu. And that is real progress. So catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtinaḥ. Four kinds of men, they come to God, Kṛṣṇa. God means Kṛṣṇa, not ordinary... Caitanya Mahāprabhu said,
- ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
- guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
- (CC Madhya 19.151)
Kṛṣṇa also says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). To approach Kṛṣṇa is not so easy thing. After many, many births... We are rotating... (break) ...superintendent of this egglike aṇḍa, universe. It is all Brahmā's. And there are innumerable planets. That we can see. So we are wandering in all these places, sometimes down, sometimes up, sometimes in the middle, according to our karma, in different species of life, in different planets, in different position. So we are rotating. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "Out of these innumerable living entities who are entrapped with this brahmāṇḍa and janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi... (BG 13.9)." Mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). Life after life, life after life, they are... That we do not know. This is called mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. You die, accept another body, another place, another situation, another position.
Correspondence
1969 Correspondence
I thank you very much for your very nice letter dated January 23, 1969, and I have read the contents with great satisfaction. Your eagerness to spread the Krishna Consciousness movement in that party of the country is certainly dictated by Krishna, Who is situated within your heart. There are innumerable living entities wandering within the universe in different forms of life and conditions in different planetary systems. Out of many, many of such conditioned souls, only one will come into contact with a bona fide Spiritual Master by the Grace of Krishna. Krishna can understand from within the sincerity of purpose of a particular living entity, and He gives direction to such sincere devotee to the path of realizing Krishna Consciousness. So you have already achieved to this stage of life. Please do not miss the opportunity. Although you are not formally initiated, you have associated with our devotees in the New York temple, and it has acted. The seed is already there in you and it has to be helped to grow and fructify. The best means of watering this seed of Krishna Consciousness is to chant and hear Hare Krishna. Now you have got our book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and also you have available our regular publication, Back To Godhead. In the latest issue there is an article you should read called the Isopanisad. So with these literatures you can immediately start a center wherever it is possible for you. I think that Florida will be a very nice place for this, and I have always had a great desire to open a center there.
Civilization without God consciousness scientifically is animal society. Our students are preaching this philosophy under authorized version of Bhagavad-gita, so they must be classified under the 4-D section. We must fight for this cause.
In the meantime you should study Bhagavad-gita very seriously, and try to assimilate the following points of our philosophy. God is one. He is the Father of all living entities. There are innumerable living entities residing in different planets, the majority of which are spiritual planets, and some of them are material planets. Those who are in material planets, they are conditioned by the laws of material nature, and, due to their forgetfulness of relationship with God, there is always struggle for existence. Therefore there is war and other miserable conditions of material life. We are trying to educate people how they can be transferred to the spiritual world, so this is an essential movement, and we require many preachers to present this case all over the world. So our students may not be unnecessarily called for fighting, which is not at all suitable occupation for them. So ultimately, if you are required to fight this case let us see how Krishna will help us.
1970 Correspondence
God is a person like us, but He is all-powerful with all opulences in full. The living entities are His eternal servants. There are varieties of living entities that have inherited the opulences of God in different degrees. There are two kinds of nature, the spiritual nature and the material nature. The living entities belong to the spiritual nature and being part and parcel of God they have all the qualities of God in minute proportion.
There are innumerable living entities both in the spiritual world and in the material world. The spiritual world is far, far greater than the material world. As such, the number of living entities living in the spiritual world is many more times greater than the number of living entities living within the material world. The living entities, when they try to lord it over the God's property, forgetting their constitutional position to remain as eternal servant of God, they are given the material world to act according to their desires.
In such endless varieties of desires the living entities are seen in varieties of bodies beginning from Brahma, down to the most insignificant insect. In this way, when someone is fortunate, he, by the grace of Spiritual Master and Krsna, revives his Krsna Consciousness. And if he makes progress under the direction of the Spiritual Master, then he revives his original Krsna Consciousness in full and thus he regains his position in the eternal Kingdom of God.
| Page Title: | Innumerable living entities |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 27 of May, 2013 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=5, SB=15, CC=10, OB=9, Lec=32, Con=5, Let=3 |
| No. of Quotes: | 79 |