When He descends into the material universe, His consciousness is not materially affected. If He were so affected, He would be unfit to speak on transcendental matters as He does in the Bhagavad-gītā. One cannot say anything about the transcendental world without being free from materially contaminated consciousness. So the Lord is not materially contaminated. Our consciousness, at the present moment, however, is materially contaminated. The Bhagavad-gītā teaches that we have to purify this materially contaminated consciousness. In pure consciousness, our actions will be dovetailed to the will of īśvara, and that will make us happy. It is not that we have to cease all activities. Rather, our activities are to be purified, and purified activities are called bhakti. Activities in bhakti appear to be like ordinary activities, but they are not contaminated. An ignorant person may see that a devotee is acting or working like an ordinary man, but such a person with a poor fund of knowledge does not know that the activities of the devotee or of the Lord are not contaminated by impure consciousness or matter. They are transcendental to the three modes of nature. We should know, however, that at this point our consciousness is contaminated.
Not that we... (Books)
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Preface and Introduction
In the effulgent rays of the spiritual sky there are innumerable planets floating. The brahma-jyotir emanates from the supreme abode, Kṛṣṇaloka, and the ānanda-maya, cin-maya planets, which are not material, float in those rays. The Lord says, na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ/ yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). One who can approach that spiritual sky is not required to descend again to the material sky. In the material sky, even if we approach the highest planet (Brahmaloka), what to speak of the moon, we will find the same conditions of life, namely birth, death, disease and old age. No planet in the material universe is free from these four principles of material existence.
The living entities are traveling from one planet to another, but it is not that we can go to any planet we like merely by a mechanical arrangement. If we desire to go to other planets, there is a process for going there. This is also mentioned: yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25). No mechanical arrangement is necessary if we want interplanetary travel. The Gītā instructs: yānti deva-vratā devān. The moon, the sun and higher planets are called Svargaloka. There are three different statuses of planets: higher, middle and lower planetary systems. The earth belongs to the middle planetary system. Bhagavad-gītā informs us how to travel to the higher planetary systems (Devaloka) with a very simple formula: yānti deva-vratā devān. One need only worship the particular demigod of that particular planet and in that way go to the moon, the sun or any of the higher planetary systems.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 4
The Lord can appear in any family. Sometimes He appears as a fish incarnation (matsya-avatāra) or a boar incarnation (varāha-avatāra). Thus the Lord is completely free and independent to appear anywhere and everywhere by His internal potency. It is stated that Ananta, an incarnation of the Lord who has unlimited mouths, cannot reach the end of His glorification of the Lord, although Ananta has been describing the Lord since time immemorial. So what to speak of demigods like Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and others? It is said that the Lord is śiva-viriñci-nutam (SB 11.5.33)-always worshiped by demigods like Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. If the demigods cannot find adequate language to express the glories of the Lord, then what to speak of others? Consequently reciters like the sūta and māgadha felt inadequate to speak about King Pṛthu.
By glorifying the Lord with exalted verses, one becomes purified. Although we are unable to offer prayers to the Lord in an adequate fashion, our duty is to make the attempt in order to purify ourselves. It is not that we should stop our glorification because demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva cannot adequately glorify the Lord. Rather, as stated by Prahlāda Mahārāja, everyone should glorify the Lord according to his own ability. If we are serious and sincere devotees, the Lord will give us the intelligence to offer prayers properly.
SB Canto 8
This is spiritual existence. By chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, consisting of names of the Supreme Lord, we find that the name has all the potencies of the person. The Lord's activities are many, and according to His activities He has many names. He appeared as the son of mother Yaśodā, and also as the son of mother Devakī, and therefore He is named Devakī-nandana and Yaśodā-nandana. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate: (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport) the Lord has a multitude of energies, and therefore He acts in multifarious ways. Yet He has a particular name. The śāstras recommend which names we should chant, such as Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. It is not that we have to search for some name or manufacture one. Rather, we must follow the saintly persons and the śāstras in chanting His holy name.
Although the material and spiritual energies both belong to the Lord, He is impossible to understand as long as we are in the material energy. And when we come to the spiritual energy, He is very easy to know. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.7.23): māyāṁ vyudasya cic-chaktyā kaivalye sthita ātmani. Although the external energy belongs to the Lord, when one is in the external energy (mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14)) He is very difficult to understand. However, when one comes to the spiritual energy, one can understand Him. Therefore in Bhagavad-gītā (18.55) it is said, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ: one who wants to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead in reality must take to the platform of bhakti, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This bhakti consists of various activities (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam/ arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam (SB 7.5.23)), and to understand the Lord one must take to this path of devotional service. Even though the people of the world have forgotten God and may say that God is dead, this is not a fact. One can understand God when one takes to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and thus one can be happy.
What to speak of human beings, even the demigods, demons, Siddhas, Gandharvas, Cāraṇas and the various directors of the universe, the Prajāpatis, have never touched You before. It is not that we are unable to understand Your identity.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
Therefore the inconceivable is called acintya, that which is beyond cintya, our thoughts and arguments. Acintya refers to that which we cannot contemplate but have to accept. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has said that unless we accept acintya in the Supreme, we cannot accommodate the conception of God. This must be understood. Therefore we say that the words of śāstra should be taken as they are, without change, since they are beyond our arguments. Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet: "That which is acintya cannot be ascertained by argument." People generally argue, but our process is not to argue but to accept the Vedic knowledge as it is. When Kṛṣṇa says, "This is superior, and this is inferior," we accept what He says. It is not that we argue, "Why is this superior and that inferior?" If one argues, for him the knowledge is lost.
This path of acceptance is called avaroha-panthā The word avaroha is related to the word avatāra, which means"that which descends." The materialist wants to understand everything by the āroha-panthā—by argument and reason—but transcendental matters cannot be understood in this way. Rather, one must follow the avaroha-panthā, the process of descending knowledge. Therefore one must accept the paramparā system. And the best paramparā is that which extends from Kṛṣṇa (evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2)). What Kṛṣṇa says, we should accept (imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ). This is called the avaroha-panthā.
Brahmā, however, adopted the āroha-panthā. He wanted to understand Kṛṣṇa's mystic power by his own limited, conceivable power, and therefore he himself was mystified. Everyone wants to take pleasure in his own knowledge, thinking, "I know something." But in the presence of Kṛṣṇa this conception cannot stand, for one cannot bring Kṛṣṇa within the limitations of prakṛti. One must submit. There is no alternative. Na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. This submission marks the difference between Kṛṣṇa-ites and Māyāvādīs.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
Śrutadeva said: It is not that we have attained the audience of the Supreme Person only today, for we have in fact been associating with Him ever since He created this universe with His energies and then entered it in His transcendental form.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Madhya-lila
The cult of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, is very nicely explained by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu authoritatively. It is not that everyone has to take sannyāsa like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Everyone can execute the cult of Kṛṣṇa consciousness at home, as ordered by the Lord. Everyone can congregationally chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. One can also discuss the subject matter of the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and install Deities of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa or Gaura-Nitāi or both and worship them very carefully in one's own home. It is not that we have to open different centers all over the world. Whoever cares for the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement can install Deities at home and, under superior guidance, worship the Deity regularly, chanting the mahā-mantra and discussing the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We are actually teaching in our classes how to go about this. One who feels that he is not yet ready to live in a temple or undergo strict regulative principles in the temple—especially householders who live with a wife and children—can start a center at home by installing the Deity, worshiping the Lord morning and evening, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and discussing the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Anyone can do this at home without difficulty, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu requested all the devotees present there to do so.
Those who are interested in material enjoyment are known as bhukti-kāmī. One who is interested in merging into the effulgence of Brahman or perfecting the mystic yoga system is not a devotee at all. Devotees do not have such desires. However, if a karmī, jñānī or yogī somehow contacts a devotee and renders devotional service, Kṛṣṇa immediately awards him love of God and gives him shelter at His lotus feet, although he may have no idea how to develop love of Kṛṣṇa. If a person wants material profit from devotional service, Kṛṣṇa condemns such materialistic desires. To desire material opulence while engaging in devotional service is foolish. Although the person may be foolish, Kṛṣṇa, being all-intelligent, engages him in His devotional service in such a way that he gradually forgets material opulence. The point is that we should not try to exchange loving service for material prosperity. If we are actually surrendered to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, our only desire should be to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Surrender means not that we demand something from the Lord but that we completely depend on His mercy. If Kṛṣṇa likes, He may keep His devotee in a poverty-stricken condition, or if He likes He may keep him in an opulent position. The devotee should not be concerned in either case; he should simply be very serious about trying to satisfy the Lord by rendering Him service.
| Page Title: | Not that we... (Books) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 20 of Nov, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=2, SB=5, CC=2, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 9 |