Unless Kṛṣṇa becomes available to your service, then how you can serve? We have, at the present moment, no eyes to see Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa, out of His causeless mercy, He has appeared in His original form just to receive or accept service from you. You cannot serve Kṛṣṇa in His virāḍ-rūpa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has come to you to accept your service in this metal or stone form. But He is not metal or stone. This is called kṛṣṇa-tattva-jñāna.
Arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ (Padma Purāṇa). These things are forbidden. You cannot . . . arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīḥ. Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu—the same thing—if you think that this mūrti is made of stone, śilā-dhīḥ, or Śālagrāma-śilā, if you think it is śilā, or stone, this is nārakī-buddhiḥ. This is not recommended. It is . . . don't think. Arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matiḥ. And those who are guru, spiritual master, Vaiṣṇava, if you think of them that he is ordinary human being, that is forbidden. Gāṅga-jala or caraṇāmṛta, if you think ordinary water, that is forbidden. Vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ: Vaiṣṇava, who has become devotee of Kṛṣṇa, if you think that he belongs to this caste, he belongs to that caste, that is also forbidden. Nārakī-buddhiḥ. These things are nārakī-buddhiḥ. At least, those who do not know how Kṛṣṇa can be transcendental in all His features . . . therefore we are forbidden, "Don't take like that." It is a fact that this Kṛṣṇa in this temple is the same origin Kṛṣṇa who is in the Vaikuṇṭha, but because we have no eyes to see, because we are not mature to see Kṛṣṇa, therefore we should accept this, I mean to say, negation that, "Don't think like that." Then we will be able to understand.
So that janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). Nothing is Kṛṣṇa's anything material. Everything is spiritual. But by His līlayā, to manifest different līlā, He accepts different types of body. But they are all Kṛṣṇa, the same original person. Advaitam acyutam . . . acyuta, He does not fall down. Therefore His name is Acyuta. Acyuta means never falls down, never deviates. He is always in His sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Not that because He has appeared for my convenience to accept my service in this form which I am seeing or the atheist is seeing, that it is stone. No. He is not stone. Advaitam acyutam. He doesn't fall. He does not deviate. Otherwise, there are many stories. That, in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the Sākṣi-gopāla. Sākṣi-gopāla temple is there in Jagannātha Purī. Just one station before Purī there is Sākṣi-gopāla station. And there is a temple, Sākṣi. Sākṣi means the witness. That vigraha, that Deity, was in Vṛndāvana. He came to give evidence for His devotee. Therefore He is known as Sākṣi-gopāla. So devotee talks. Even if you think, "This is stone" or "This is metal," but devotee can talk, and Kṛṣṇa talks with him. There are many instances. That requires advancement of spiritual life.
So this is called tattva, to know about Kṛṣṇa perfectly. And the informations are there in the śāstras. And simply to understand it, we require a little qualification. We require little qualification. Otherwise, everything is there. That qualification is to increase the, I mean to say, temper of your devotion, or increase the quality of your love for Kṛṣṇa.