Prabhupāda: So Vyāsadeva, he was liberated soul. So in clean heart, clean mind, he experienced, he saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and māyā, tad-apāśrayam, and māyā standing behind Him. Māyā is darkness. Māyā cannot stand before Kṛṣṇa. Just like darkness cannot stand in front of the light. Now here is light. There is no darkness. In the backside you'll find some darkness. Is it not? Not in the front. So māyā cannot stand before Kṛṣṇa. Māyā stands behind Kṛṣṇa. So if you put always Kṛṣṇa or if you are always Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then māyā cannot touch you. Kṛṣṇa sūrya-sama māyā haya andhakāra, yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra. So Vyāsadeva, in clear consciousness, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he saw Kṛṣṇa and this māyā. And what is this māyā? That is said, yayā sammohito jīva. That māyā which has enchanted all these conditioned souls. Yayā sammohito jīva ātmānam anarthaṁ manute (SB 1.7.5). Considering himself that "I am material product." I am coming to this point. Those who are thinking that "I am a material product," they're completely in darkness of māyā. Yayā, manute anarthaṁ tat-kṛtaṁ ca abhipadyate. And identifying himself with this body, they are acting in bodily consciousness and increasing their problems of life and conditional life in material existence. Horrible condition. Therefore Vyāsadeva says, anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje (SB 1.7.6). Anartha, this anartha, this misconception of life, if you want to discard this misconception of life, that "I am this body," and you act according to that consciousness and suffer... This is your disease.
Now if you want to get out of this disease, then sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje. You just try to be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sākṣāt. Lokasyājānata. The rascal people, they do not know it. Therefore vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām. Therefore vidvān. Vidvān means this learned scholar, Vyāsadeva, he prepared the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Lokasyājānata. The rascal people, they do not know. They are being carried off by this misconception that "I am this body, and my body will be finished within so many years. Now I have got this chance, I have got my strong body, let me have sex life as far as possible, then finish it. Who knows where I am going, what is the path?" You see? It is dangerous civilization. Dangerous. And anyone who will come and say, "Yes, you enjoy your senses and simply sit down for fifteen minutes. And you chant this one alphabet—bas. You finish your business." This is going on. So don't be misled in that way. Try to understand Bhagavad-gītā perfectly. You'll be happy in this life and next life. Go on.
Devotee: "According to the vaibhāṣika philosophy, the so-called soul or ātmā vanishes along with the deterioration of the body. So, in any case, whether Arjuna accepted the Vedic conclusion that there is an atomic soul or whether he did not believe in the existence of the soul, he had no reason for lamenting. According to this theory, since there are so many entities generating out of matter every moment and so many of them are being vanquished at every moment, there is no need to grieve for such an incidence."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Material creation, just like bubbles in the ocean. You have seen standing on the bank of the Pacific Ocean, oh, so many thousands of bubbles created in a second, and again thousands of bubbles gone, in a second. Now, who is crying there? "Oh, so many bubbles were created, and they are gone, they are gone, they are gone." (laughter) It's nonsense. (laughs) So Kṛṣṇa is very nicely giving argument that "If you think there is no soul, it is being manufactured by the interaction of the physical element, so it is just like bubbles in the ocean. So many bubbles are created and destroyed every moment. So what is there cause of lamentation? What is your reason?" Then?
Devotee: "However..."
Prabhupāda: Just like modern people, they are after peace, stopping war. And suppose you stop war. Can you stop death? Then why you are after stopping war? Why you forget your real business? They are after stopping war. And suppose war is stopped, nobody takes to war anymore. Now, how you'll stop the war of this material nature? She is fighting always with you. From the beginning of your birth she is fighting. A child is born and the material nature is killing this child every moment. The child has grown, two years old. That means material nature has already killed this child for two years. How you can stop this? These nonsense, they do not consider these cases. Suppose if I stop war, there will be no more war, no more disease. No more disease cannot be possible. You can make by some way no more war... That is also not possible. Anyway, if you stop it by the efforts of the United Nations, a veke(?) by some way no more war... That is also not possible. Anyway, if you stop it by the efforts of the United Nations, a very large organization, then how you are going to stop death? What is your proposition? There is no, nothing. So what is the use of stopping war? Suppose in the war some young men die. That's all right, so many young men die within the hospital in the disease. And sometimes old men, they do not die even in the war.
So life and death is not in your hand. You don't think that stopping this or increasing this, you'll be able to stop all inconveniences. Just take, for example, this boy, Vīrabhadra was struck by a car. All right, he was in the street. But another boy, he fell on the staircase and broke his leg. He was at home; he met accident. So how you can stop this, the onslaught of material nature? Everywhere, either you are at home or you are outside, either you are young, you are old, either you are scientist or philosopher. Whatever you are, the material nature will not allow you to live in peaceful condition. That is her business. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). You cannot live peacefully, that is not possible. The only peaceful condition is that you become in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is no other alternative. Kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. Lord Caitanya clearly says, "There is no other alternative, no other alternative, no other alternative." It is not that our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is one of the so many movements. No. It is the only one movement that can give peace and life and prosperity to the people. Yes.
Devotee: "However, since he was not risking rebirth of the soul, Arjuna had no reason to be afraid of being affected with sinful activities due to his killing grandfather and teacher. But at the same time, Kṛṣṇa sarcastically addressed Arjuna as mahā-bāhu, mighty-armed, because He, at least, did not accept the theory of the vaibhāṣikas which leaves aside the Vedic wisdom. As a kṣatriya, Arjuna belonged to the Vedic culture, and it behooved him that he continue to follow its principles." Twenty-seven.
Prabhupāda: He is, as a friend, He's criticizing that "You are professing to be followers of Vedic culture, and you are accepting some nonsense culture. That is not good for you."
All right, stop there. So you read carefully Bhagavad-gītā. Everything is there. Every word, every line is so, I mean to say, instructive. It is simply... That is the basic principle of spiritual knowledge. Now we have presented. Every one of you should very carefully read. Every one of you must have one book and read it carefully and appear in the examination next Janmāṣṭamī. You'll get designation, (laughs) Bhakti-śāstrī. Yes. So any question? Now invite people to come here. We have got now a nice place. What do you think?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Wow. That will be very nice. It will be a great pleasure to invite people here.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And have meeting. On Love Feast day, supply them Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Invite some prominent gentlemen to preside over, to become our chief guest. And in this way make propaganda. And put signboards all through the street with electric light, make the gardens very nicely. This is service. Now you have got the chance to serve. Do it. Here is a chance. We are... Whether a man understands Kṛṣṇa philosophy or not, we don't care for it. Of course, if he understands, it is a great pleasure for us, but we are working on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, on behalf of Lord Caitanya. That should be our philosophy. Don't be disappointed that the whole day you work, you got no collection, and nobody was interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. No. Don't be disappointed. You have worked sincerely the whole day, that is your credit. That's all. That's your credit. Kṛṣṇa will see, bhāva-grāhī-janārdana. Kṛṣṇa wants to see that how much you are spending your valuable life and energy for Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Don't be disappointed that many men are not coming here or we are very poorly pushing on. Never mind. Whatever Kṛṣṇa has given us, chance, let us utilize it. Now here is a chance, Kṛṣṇa has given us. We were searching after a place. Now I think you have got the best place. Better than that storefront or better than that Mel... What is called?
Devotees: Melrose.
Prabhupāda: Melrose Avenue upstairs. It is very nice. So you organize it and let us see what Kṛṣṇa does. There is no question of disappointment. Yes?
Madhudviṣa: Prabhupāda, what is a Manu, and how is Manu the father of mankind, as it is stated in Bhagavad-gītā?
Prabhupāda: Yes, Manu is the name, and because mankind is born, therefore they are called manuṣya. Manuṣya, "born of Manu." Manu is the name. Just like in some parts of England they are called Angels? In the past history during the Roman occupation of England, they are known as Angels? You don't know?
Woman devotee: Anglos?
Prabhupāda: Angles, yes.
Woman devotee: Anglo-Saxon.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So from Angles, they have become English. Similarly, Manu. Manu is the name of the son of Brahmā, Vaivasvata Manu. Just like Nārada is one of the sons. So there are so many sons. Brahmā was the original living being. So he created so many sons, and they created so many sons. In this way the population of the whole universe has increased. So Manu is one of the sons. There are fourteen Manus in one day of Brahmā. These things I have discussed many times. And the mankind, they come from Manu. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam, vivasvān manave prāha (BG 4.1). Manu, this Manu, there are different Manus, fourteen Manus in one day. This present Manu under whom we are now living within this universe, he's the son of sun-god, Vivasvān. So he has got his different planet, as the sun has got different planet. So his son Ikṣvāku was given this earthly planet to rule over and from that generation, Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, Lord Rāmacandra appeared. In this way the kṣatriyas, they spread all over the world. I have several times said that most of the Europeans, they belong to the original kṣatriyas.
So the human history has spread. Not only in this planet, in many other planets. So Manu is the father of mankind. From the word man... This is Latin? Latin word? Man? Sanskrit word is manuṣya, from Manu, that is "man." So Manu is accepted as the father of the mankind in Sanskrit literature. And in Bible it is said the man is made after God. So actually Brahmā is the son of Viṣṇu, and Manu is the son of Brahmā, and we are also son of Manu in different aspect. So gradually, if you go up, God comes to be our original father. And we say also, God is the original father. And the history, Vedic history, also says like that. So God... Because we have got form, therefore God has form, must be. Just like my father had form; so I have got this form. This is commonsense knowledge. How my father can be impersonal? Unless my father was a person, how I am a person? If God is the original father, He must be a person. Otherwise how we are persons? These are common sense, knowledge. There is no need of very great knowledge. A child can understand. How you can say God is impersonal? If God is the father, original, then how He can be impersonal? What do you say? Can anybody say, "Yes, He can be impersonal in this way"? God cannot be impersonal. He is person. And we get so many information. Kṛṣṇa says Himself that "In the past I was a person, you were a person, and all these men who have assembled here in the battlefield, they are also persons. We existed in the past as persons, and we shall continue to exist as individual persons. So at least we cannot, we Vaiṣṇava followers of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we cannot accept, neither there is any reason behind it. What do you think? Huh?
Madhudviṣa: I agree.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Anyone who does not agree? Where is Aravinda? He sometimes does not agree.
Madhudviṣa: He's minding your house.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) All right. What is that?
Viṣṇujana: There are people not here who don't agree, who think God can be realized as a clear light or an abstract (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: That is for the less intelligent, less intelligent. Just like from a distant place, if you see that a railway engine is coming, you'll see the light. So a rascal will say, "A light is coming." (laughter) But one who knows, he will say a train is coming. So it is less intelligent. That's all. A rascal will say light is coming. That's all. So they are all rascals. They have no sufficient knowledge. What do you think?
Viṣṇujana: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Tell them that "You are all rascals." (laughter) "You just come and learn here from us. Then you say what is God. You have no knowledge." Just like somebody says that the sunlight, the dazzling sunlight. Clear sun planet is there. And because they cannot enter even into the moon planet, how they can enter in the sun planet? If they enter sun planet, they will find that there is a person whose bodily effulgence is this sunlight. Similarly the original person, Kṛṣṇa, has got His effulgence. We get information from Brahma-saṁhitā, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Just like the sun-god is diffusing the effulgence of his bodily light in this universe, in one universe. Similarly the original person, He is diffusing that light. So those who are less intelligent, they simply can see that light; therefore they say light. But in the Vedic literature there is information that you have to search out the Supreme Person penetrating the light. In the Īśopaniṣad it says, "My dear Lord, please wind up this effulgent light so that I can see Your face actually." That is stated in the Vedic literature. So originally the Absolute Supreme Truth is a person. If you want proof from Vedas, there is proof. Bhagavad-gītā is proof. Why should we accept a third-class man who is speaking something against? Is that man greater than Kṛṣṇa? Then why shall I talk about him? He's not important even ordinary man. We shall treat all these persons less intelligent, foolish. They have no perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth.