Power (Lectures, BG chapters 1 - 4)

Expressions researched:
"power" |"power's" |"powered" |"powerhouse" |"powers"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: power or powered or powerhouse or powers or power's not "supreme power" not "power* of" not "no power*" not "without * power*" not "without power*" not "mystic power*" not "mystic * power*" not "power to" not "powers to"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966:

A child may think that "How this motor car is running without the help of any horse or any pulling agent?" But a sane man or an elderly person, he knows that in spite of all engineering arrangements in the motor car, without the driver it cannot move. That engineering arrangement of a motor car, or in electric powerhouse... Now at the present moment it is the day of machinery, but we should always know that behind the machinery, behind the wonderful working of the machinery, there is a driver. So the Supreme Lord is the driver, adhyakṣa. He is the Supreme Personality under whose direction everything is working.

Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is -- Los Angeles, November 23, 1968 :

With some wife He is talking, with some wife He is playing, with some wife He is looking after the children. In this way Nārada travelled all the houses, all the palaces, he saw Kṛṣṇa is there engaged. This is called opulence. So far power is concerned, there were so many fights with Kṛṣṇa, nobody could conquer. So far beauty is concerned, you know Kṛṣṇa's beauty, even from the picture. And the, all the gopīs, in Vṛndāana... Kṛṣṇa at the age of fifteen, sixteenth year, naturally at that time boys are very beautiful, any, any man even. So He was so beautiful that they, all the gopīs prayed to Yogamāyā. Everyone prayed, "My dear mother, please give me Kṛṣṇa as my husband."

Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is -- Los Angeles, November 23, 1968 :

There is no saying, "No, no. I don't like this sort of life." No. He will be forced. That is material energy. Forced, just like criminal law. "Oh, you have to go to the prison." "I don't want." You will be forced. "I don't want." He will be arrested, immediately. There is sufficient power. There is police, thre is military, there is so many things. You cannot say no.

Lecture on BG 1.2-3 -- London, July 9, 1973:

None of them joined with Arjuna. Because Arjuna or Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was not king at that time, the financial control was not in their hands, and these people, sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, they were on the government political power. The financial control was in their hands. So they were giving enough money for maintenance to Dronācārya and Bhīṣmadeva. So they felt obliged. Of course, they knew everything. But externally, they felt obligation: "Arjuna, I am getting money from Duryodhana. So in this point of danger, if I do not join him, it does not look well. I am getting financial maintenance."

Lecture on BG 1.4-5 -- London, July 10, 1973:

So everything, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's, this material world or spiritual world, everything is working in order, under different energies.

So these, I mean to say, warriors' name mentioning, we should not neglect. Kṛṣṇa wanted to gather all the demoniac power in that Battlefield of Kurukṣetra and kill them. That was His plan. So there is a plan of Kṛṣṇa. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe. We should not be attached to things as there, but we should try to understand that there is relationship with Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as there is relationship with Kṛṣṇa, we shall properly utilize it. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on BG 1.20 -- London, July 17, 1973:

This is the bhakta's business. Why shall I think of Kṛṣṇa as like me, ordinary man? This is the difference between a bhakta and not bhakta. A bhakta knows that "I am insignificant, a small spark of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is individual person. I am also individual person. But when we consider about His power and my power, I am most insignificant." This is understanding of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 7, 1972:

One may have one thousand, another man, one lakh, one man, one crore, but nobody can say that "I have got all the monies." No, that is not possible. But Bhagavān has all the monies. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya. Similarly, strength, bodily strength or power. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ. And similarly, reputation. We are also reputed. But nobody can be reputed than Kṛṣṇa. Just like five thousand years ago He spoke this Bhagavad-gītā, and He's so reputed that Kṛṣṇa spoke Bhagavad-gītā and still it is running on. Not only in India, but we are traveling all over the world. There are so many editions of Bhagavad-gītā. So He's so reputed. So aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47). And beautiful. The most beautiful.

Lecture on BG 2.1-11 -- Johannesburg, October 17, 1975:

"You have killed one man; you must be killed." This is justice. A brāhmaṇa, he may excuse, "All right, you have killed my man. Never mind. I excuse you." That is a brāhmaṇa's business. But a kṣatriya, the government, the ruling power, he cannot do so. It is his mercy. It is the government's mercy when a murderer is hanged. That is the injunction in the Manu-saṁhitā. "So parantapa, you are kṣatriya. Your business is to punish the unjust." Kṣudraṁ hṛdaya-daurbalyam: "For a kṣatriya this kind of poor-heartedness, that 'I shall not fight...' Give it up. Don't indulge in such thing."

Lecture on BG 2.4-5 -- London, August 5, 1973:

I know that. But what is the use of it? Why shall I ask You for any benediction? I have seen my father. Materially, he was so powerful that even the demigods, Indra, Candra, Varuṇa, they were threatened by his red eyes. And he gained over, control over the universe. He was so powerful. And riches, wealth, power, reputation, everything complete, but You have finished it in one second. So why You are offering me such benediction? What shall I do with them? If I take that benediction from You and I become puffed up and do everything wrong against You, then You can finish it within a second. So kindly do not offer me such benediction, such material opulence. Better give me benediction to be engaged in the service of Your servant. I want this benediction. Let me be benedicted by You that I may be engaged in the service of Your servant, not directly Your servant."

Lecture on BG 2.6 -- London, August 6, 1973:

The best course is not eat, not that you eat. But if you eat, then you can eat in the month of December, Pauṣa. Why? It is... In Bengal... Bengal is tropical climate, but when it is winter season, it is advised that "If you eat it is not so harmful because it will be digested." The night is very long, or the cold season, the digestive power, is nice. So when we are confused, "to do or not to do," jābo ki jābo nā yadi jāo tu śauce: "When you think, 'Whether I shall go or not?' better don't go. But when it is a question of answering the call of nature, you must go." Jābo ki jābo nā yadi jāu tu śauce, khābo ki khābo nā yadi khāo tu pauṣe.

Lecture on BG 2.7 -- London, August 7, 1973:

It is going to the moon planet." But that is not perfect. It is coming back. But God has produced so many flying planets, millions and trillions of planets, very, very heavy planets. Just like this planet is carrying so many big, big mountains, sea, but still it is flying. It is floating in the air just like a cotton swab. This is God's power. Gām āviśya (BG 15.13). In the Bhagavad-gītā, you'll find: ahaṁ dhārayāmy ojasā. Who is sustaining all these big, big planets? We are explaining gravity. And in the śāstra we find that it is being carried by Saṅkarṣaṇa.

Lecture on BG 2.11 -- London, August 17, 1973:

Silence is for those who are nonsense. "Be silent, don't talk." For them. At least they practice silence means at least they stop talking nonsense. But those who are actually advanced, for them there is no such restriction. Vācāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. We should use our talking power for describing the glories of the Lord. Vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. That is kīrtana. That is chanting. Abhavad naiyāsaki-kīrtane. Just like for seven days when Parīkṣit Mahārāja was going to die... He had only seven days left. So twenty-four hours without any eating or without any drinking a drop of water, he went on hearing from Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Mauritius, October 1, 1975:

"Everything is resting on Me." Any factory, every worker knows that the whole factory function resting on that supreme person. He knows that. So actually fact is that mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni nāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ: "But I am not there. I am not there." Similarly, Bhagavān means that. Under His will, under His power, everything is working so nicely, systematically, but if you want to see God, Kṛṣṇa, you cannot see Him. He is not there. He is in Goloka Vṛndāvana, but His influence is so extensive that even without His personal presence, things are going on so nicely. This is called Bhagavān. Bhagavān means this.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 7, 1966:

Those things are called acintya. Acintya means inconceivable. Inconceivable.

Now, how to understand that which is beyond our conception? The scriptures says like this, acintyaḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet: "Anything which is beyond our conception, beyond our reasoning power, beyond our approach of the material senses, such things we should not try to have conception simply by arguments." So in the Vedic injunction it is said that tarkaḥ apratiṣṭha: "By... What should be the... What should be our real understanding, that we cannot establish simply by argument."

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 9, 1966:

Now suppose, suppose, take for example the sun. The chief, chief living entity or the chief man, or chief living being in the sun planet. Now his position and my position, there is vast difference. He has, he is maintaining such a planet and he is situated there as the chief man or the chief living being. So his degree of power is far, far greater than the degree of power here like President Johnson or something else. You see? So that degree of power does not make him that he's God. He's not God. He's also servant of God. Anyone, even Brahmā, anyone. There is a verse in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta: ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa āra saba bhṛtya (CC Adi 5.142). That the individual living entities, there are so many, multi, but all of them, they are servant of the Lord.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 9, 1966:

Prabhupāda: Now demigods, demigods are just like you and me. Demigods, just like you and me. But they have got a degree of power than me and you.

Woman: Now you just said the sun.

Prabhupāda: Sun, yes. He's also a living...

Woman: The sun is a planet.

Prabhupāda: Sun is a planet, but there is a controlling deity also.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 9, 1966:

These devas, they are all obedient servant of the Lord. They are very powerful. So when you become obedient devotees of the Lord we can get such post. In the sun planet, in the moon planet, in the heavenly planets, in the Brahmā planets. So the devotees of the Lord, they are not loser. They get more power. For controlling power. Therefore they are called devas, devas. Devas means those who are the... There are two words used in Sanskrit, devas and asuras. Asuras. Now the definition of these devas and asuras are like this: viṣṇu-bhaktaḥ smṛto daiva āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ. Āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ. Viṣṇu-bhakta. Those who are devotees of the Lord, they are devas.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 9, 1966:

That is all right. But on the primary facie, prima facie, there is no difference. Similarly, in the sun planet, in the moon planet, there are also human beings like us, and they are called devas because they are high, intellectual. They are all very powerful than ourself, and they have got different bodies with different power and everything. Otherwise, there is no question... Even great scientists like Dr. Meghanatha Sar(?) in India, he, he said that there is no reason to disbelieve that in other planets there is no life. How can you? Just like because you have not seen India you cannot say, "Oh, there, there is no living being. It is vacant." So these people are going to the moon planet. They are saying it is full of dust. It is full of clay, or something like that. All these foolishness. You see? That means they have not reached. Outside they take some photo and they come out.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:

So the Māyāvādī theory that impersonal, how it stands? Neither God is impersonal, nor the living entities are impersonal. Every one of us—person. The difference between the Supreme Person and our personality is that He is all-powerful; we are limited. Our power is limited. Everything, ours, limited. Aṇu, vibhu. He is great; we are small. He is infinite; we are infinitesimal, very small. Otherwise, in all other qualities, we are one. There is no difference. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). In eternity, in blissfulness, and in knowledge. Everything is there.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:

God can create millions of universe by His breathing. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). You can create one small sputnik, and take credit. But God can create innumerable universes simply by breathing. So your energy, your power, is different from God's power. But in quality, you are one with God.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

Air is passing, the breathing. You know. The air is always there. This, this outer skin is earth, and there is heat in the stomach. Without heat, you cannot digest anything. You see? As soon as the heat is diminished, your digesting power becomes bad. So many things. This is arrangement. Now, in this planet we have got this body which is where earth is very prominent. Similarly, in other planets, other planets, somewhere water is very prominent, somewhere fire is very prominent. In the sun planet, the bodies there... There are also living entities, but their body is so made that it is fiery. They can exist in the fire. They can exist in the fire.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya. Now, the point of the hair, you divide into hundred. That is imaginable. That is not imaginable by you, how the point of the hair can be divided into hundred. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya. Now, you take one part of that division and again divide into hundred. This is beyond your experience, beyond your power. The, by arithmetic calculation the mathematicians say that "The point has no length and breadth." Oh, this is, this is, this is a disappointment. Because he cannot measure the length and breadth of the point, therefore he says like that. But point has length and breadth.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

And anumāna means speculation, simply, "It may be like this. It may be like that." Oh, that is also imperfect because our thinking is also limited, because our senses are limited. So our thinking power, mind, is one of the senses. Out of the ten, mind is considered to be the eleventh sense. There are five karmendriya and five sensory organs and working organs, ten, and the mind is the chief. So mind is also considered as one of the senses, the chief senses. You see? So because it is sense, it is imperfect.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 18, 1972:

It is a breeding ground of Gods, so many. So that is, means they do not know what is God. Mūḍha. They think God is so cheap thing. But from the śāstra we understand, from Bhagavad-gītā we understand... When Kṛṣṇa was asked by Arjuna, "How You are controlling the whole cosmology, Your vibhūti, Your power, energies?"

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 18, 1972:

In the Vedānta-sūtra also the Absolute Truth is described as janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates.

So here is Kṛṣṇa. From śāstric evidences, by His opulences, by His power... Because Bhagavān means full of six opulences. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47). He must be the richest. He must be the strongest. He must be the most famous. He must be the most beautiful. He must be the great renouncer.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 18, 1972:

So quantitatively different—ātmā, Paramātmā; and qualitatively one—ātmā is spirit, Paramātmā is spirit. It is called acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, simultaneously one and different. One in quality, different in quantity. You can create. You are also qualitatively one with God. You have got creative power. Just like we are creating this flying machine, sputniks. That is also flying in the sky, and the Paramātmā has created the millions of planets floating in the sky. So you have got the creative power, but you cannot create like that, Paramātmā. That is the difference. Can you?

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- London, August 19, 1973:

So when Kṛṣṇa comes, He comes in His original form. But unfortunately, we understand Kṛṣṇa as one of us. He is one of us because He is father, we are sons. One of us. But He is the chief. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is more powerful, the most powerful, supreme powerful. We have got little power. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa... We cannot be equal. Nobody can be equal with Kṛṣṇa, or God, or greater than Him. Everyone, under Kṛṣṇa. Ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa āra saba bhṛtya (CC Adi 5.142).

Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968:

According to the chemist there is no taste of pota cyanide. Because what is this... Whether it is sour or sweet, because there was no chance of tasting it. As soon as the taste is, the man is finished. He cannot say what is the sour or sweet. So if a material thing, a small particle, has got so much power that immediately it can stop the function of the body, immediately spreads all over the body, so the soul, the spiritual spark, grain, a small grain, just like atom, it is so powerful that so long that spiritual grain, spirit is in the heart, this body is so nice. As soon as it is passed, immediately body begins to decompose.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Mexico, February 14, 1975:

Very small particle, that is spirit soul. The dimension is given. You have got your hair. You can just imagine only; you cannot measure. And you divide the top of your hair into ten thousand parts, and that one part is the measurement of the spirit soul. That small particle is so powerful. Just imagine what is spiritual power. It is less than the atom. Therefore it is described in the Vedic lit..., aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān: "The spirit is greater than the greatest, and the smaller than the smallest."

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Hyderabad, November 21, 1972:

"This thing is very good, this thing is very bad," it is simply mental concoction. Everything here is bad. Nothing good. So this is our mental creation only. "This is good, this is bad." We are doing that. Just like in political field. "This party is nice. This party's bad." But any party goes in the power, your condition is the same. The commodities price are increasing. It has no decreasing, either you change this party or that party. So these are all concoctions. If you want really happy, happiness, if you want real goodness, then you try to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That will make you real happy. Otherwise, if you are simply disturbed by this material condition, that is not a very good position.

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- London, August 21, 1973:

"My dear father," or "My dear demon, I have got this courage wherefrom you have got this courage. But you are forgetting. That is the difference. You have got so much power that you can defeat anyone, even the demigods. You should know that you have got this power from the powerful. But you are not obedient to the powerful." That is demon. Demons, when they get power, they think that "I have got it, I have earned it. It is my thing. Who can challenge me?" But he forgets that everything can be withdrawn within a second by the powerful. That is demoniac. And Vaiṣṇava, devotee means although he is very, very powerful, he never thinks that "I am powerful." He thinks that "I am acting simply by the order of the powerful." This is the difference.

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- London, August 21, 1973:

Blissful, full of knowledge and eternal. That is the aim of life. But people do not know. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). Viṣṇu means the Supreme Lord who is eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. So our aim should be how to approach Viṣṇu. Then we get the same power, same eternity, same blissfulness. Just like a motorcar is running at the speed of sixty miles, and if a cyclist someway or other catches the motorcar, he can also go at the speed of sixty miles. Sometimes boys do that. Similarly, you approach Kṛṣṇa. You approach Viṣṇu. You get all the powers because you become under protection.

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- London, August 21, 1973:

Why elephant? Any strong thing you give. Even big, big ships, oh, it will be washed away. But a small fish, it doesn't care the waves; it goes against the waves. Why? It has taken the shelter. It has taken the shelter of the ocean. Similarly, all power belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Yatra yogeśvaraḥ hariḥ. But if anyone takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa, he becomes as powerful as Kṛṣṇa. This is the process.

So, but we do not know. We want to become powerful here by so-called science, so-called yoga, kuṇḍalinī and what other nonsense they are think... They are trying to be immortal, powerful. No, sir, that is not possible. It is not possible. Therefore, people do not know. Na te viduḥ.

Lecture on BG 2.16 -- London, August 22, 1973:

So one who is representative of Vyāsadeva, he can sit on this throne. So guru, by paramparā system, guru is seated on the vyāsāsana because he is the representative. Just like in the high-court, the bench, it is called bench. Actually, the bench is to be used by the head of the executive power, the king or the president. But the high-court judge is the representative of the head executive; therefore, he sits on that bench.

Lecture on BG 2.16 -- Mexico City, February 16, 1975:

And there is another example. Just like the big fire and the sparks of the fire. The spark of the fire, when it falls on your cloth, a pointlike space it can burn. But the big fire can burn the whole building. So the quality of God is in every one of us. We may take as a small god, that's all. But the power is different. God can create a planet like the sun, which is floating in the air, and you can create a small airplane floating in the air. God can create a mosquito which has got the same construction like the aeroplane, but you cannot do it. That is the difference between God and you. You can create; He can create. But His creation and your creation is not equal. Who put this question, "What is the difference between God and us?" You put? What did you...?

Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968:

Then both your life and the person who is under your instruction, he, everyone is successful. And without being devotee, you cannot make others devotee. That is also a secret. If you remain nondevotee, you cannot convince others. That is not in your power. Therefore the nondevotee class of men, they cannot understand God, they cannot convince others about God. That's a fact. They'll simply present hodge-podge thing, they do not understand clearly, and they present hodge-podge. That's all. Without being...

Lecture on BG 2.22 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:

Therefore we have to see with the eyes of Vedic knowledge. Not with these eyes. What is the value of these eyes? It has no value. We are very much proud: "Can you show me?" What is value of your seeing? Even if I show you, the value of your seeing power is nil. It sees only under certain conditions. That's all. If there is a light, you can see. What is the value of your eyes? Therefore the real seeing is through Vedic knowledge. That is seeing. Śāstra-cakṣus. Real knowledge, real seeing power, should be through the śāstras. And śāstra means infallible, not theory. Not theory. Just like a conditioned soul writes some book on some thesis. What is the value of it? It has no value. Because the man who is putting forward the thesis, he is blind. He's imperfect. So how you can get perfect knowledge from him?

Lecture on BG 2.22 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:

Yes. Control. It is very difficult. To control. But if you put it under the control of the Supreme, it will be controlled. You want to see very beautiful thing. But if you engage your seeing power on the most beautiful, Kṛṣṇa, then you forget, other things. This is sense control. You are going to restaurant to enjoy your tongue, but if you take kṛṣṇa-prasādam, then you'll forget going to restaurant. This is sense control. Sense control means to engage the senses in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170).

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

Just like everything should be within my experience. This is going on. They never admit that "What is your experience?" You are imperfect, your senses are imperfect, how you can be perfectly experienced? It is not possible. Acintya. There are so many inconceivable powers acting on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. What are you? You may cheat some people that you have become God. That is another thing. But the inconceivable potency of Kṛṣṇa, they are working differently. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that unless we accept this principle that Kṛṣṇa or God has got inconceivable power, acintya-śakti, we cannot understand.

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). That inconceivable power is also within us. We do not know. So many things are happening. The example, as I gave many times, that the one nail was taken off. Still, it grew exactly to the size of the nail. In my personal body, in the nails. So the doctors cannot make exactly fitting nail, but it is growing exactly to the size. Even it is inconceivable to me how it is growing. Even my hair grows inconceivable, I do not know. I cut every week, and it still grows. There are so many little inconceivable power within me. I am part and parcel of God. Just imagine how much inconceivable power is there in Kṛṣṇa. It is common sense.

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

"That is my energy." So everything is Kṛṣṇa's energy. He can produce. Try to verify from the example. Because you are little sample of Kṛṣṇa. You can study what you are doing, what you are feeling, what you are acting. The same thing in unlimited quantity, Kṛṣṇa has got the power. That's all.

So here it is said, Arjuna might be thinking that "Kṛṣṇa says this body is different from the soul. The soul is within. So now suppose when I place my sword on the body of my grandfather or my kinsmen, the body will cut, and, in the meantime, the soul is within the body. It may be cut because the soul is there. By accidentally, he may be cut."

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

He could go anywhere. They were going to the heavenly planets. That is Kṛṣṇa. Not Guruji. (laughs) That one slap, and he's blind. Not like that. Kṛṣṇa could go, Kṛṣṇa can do... All, this is called omnipotent, all-powerful. So unless we think of Kṛṣṇa possessing unconceivable powers, we cannot understand Kṛṣṇa.

Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. Another study from this verse is that the Māyāvāda philosophy, they say that spirit is one. The Supreme Spirit, impersonal. When the spirit is embodied, it becomes individual. This is their philosophy. Otherwise, they give the example... Just like there is water on the sea. It is also sustained on the earth.

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:

Kṛṣṇa is speaking as person. And He is warning the rascals: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). "Because I am speaking as a human being, the rascals, they deride." Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. They do not know what is My influence, what is My power."

So this Personality of Godhead... It is a fact. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). The last word is Bhagavān. From Bhagavān, the expansion is Paramātmā, localized aspect. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). That is expansion. Ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42).

Lecture on BG 2.32 -- London, September 2, 1973:

American boys and girls, simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra they are becoming purified? How? Unless there is spiritual potency in chanting, how they are becoming so purified? Even in..., so-called Hindus they are surprised that "How these Europeans and Americans they have become so nice devotees." The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra has got the power, has got the potency.

Lecture on BG 2.40-45 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1968:

Devotee: Verse 41. "Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched. Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to the heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing wrong in this (Bg. 2.41-3)."

Prabhupāda: In the Vedas there are many allurements for elevating oneself to higher standard of life. Just like in this life also the father says, "My dear boy, if you become highly educated, then you'll get a very nice job, you'll get good salary, and you'll have nice apartment, and nice wife, children."

Lecture on BG 2.46-47 -- New York, March 28, 1966:

That is our position. We are in quality... Just God is..., similarly, we are also in quality the same, chemically or constitutionally or qualitatively. But God's power and my power is different. Just like the mass water in the ocean, it can play a havoc. But a drop of water, that... It is not possible by the drop of the water.

Similarly, that is the difference between ourself and God. We are minute particles, minute particles, just like the sun and the sun rays. The sunshine, the sun rays, they are also combination of molecules of some shining material, material. So shining material... So that sunshine is not different from the sun, but at the same time, sunshine is not the sun.

Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:

So the consciousness is love. Out of love, you think of Swamiji. Similarly, Swamiji is thought because he is in relation with God. So similarly, we can think of also God. God or anything, relation with God, that is God consciousness. Just like electric charge. Anything connected with the powerhouse and anything later on connected with that powerhouse link—everything is surcharged with electricity.

Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:

There is calculation. There is calculation that suppose God is cent percent perfect. So when you get your spiritual body, you may not be as powerful as God, but almost near to God. You get seventy-eight percent. You get seventy-eight percent of the whole power. That is a calculation by the great sages. They have calculated that a living entity can attain to the perfection of seventy-eight percent. Now, in our present material condition we have no spiritual power at all. We are always encumbered and conditioned by material forces. You see?

Lecture on BG 2.55-56 -- New York, April 19, 1966:

"Why I shall agree to change my body life after life?" We have taken it as usual. This is our foolishness. We have got our eternal life, and in eternal life we have got immense measure of freedom, immense measure of power, almost equal to God. But we do not make any research in that part of our life. We are simply satisfied the..., to have a little more of the necessities of our, this present material life. Suppose I have got one, one hundred millions of dollars. I think, "If I get ten thousand millions of daughters, dollars, then I shall be happy."

Lecture on BG 2.55-58 -- New York, April 15, 1966:

We have several times discussed this point, that all our miseries, distresses, are due to this body. There are three kinds of distresses—adhyātmika, adhibhautika, and adhidaivika: distresses due to this body and mind; distresses due to the other living entities; and distresses which is beyond our power, distresses, natural distresses, adhidaivika, distresses offered by the supernatural power. So three kinds of distresses we are suffering always. There is no, I mean to say, rescue either from the three, or at least from one or two. There is always... It is going on. So one who is situated in this pure consciousness platform, his symptoms will be like this, that duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ:

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Yes. If you... Suppose on the Pacific Ocean you are on a boat or on a nice seat, but if you have no controlling capacity, one wave of that Pacific Ocean can immediately bring you to the bottom of the sea. So this is required. We are in the midst of the Pacific Ocean of this māyika world. Saṁsāra-samudra. It is called samudra. So at any moment our boat can be topsy-turvied if we have no controlling power. Yes.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

At the present moment, everyone, we are, we have made our svāmī or master the senses, and when you actually become the master of the senses, then you are svāmī or gosvāmī. That is the significance of svāmī and gosvāmī. It is not the dress. One who has controlling power, one who is not dictated by the senses, one who is not servant of the senses. My tongue is dictating, "Please take me to that restaurant and eat sticks." What is that sticks?

Lecture on BG 3.8-13 -- New York, May 20, 1966:

Now, as soon as a living being is born in this material world, he has got many obligations. He has got obligation to the different demigods. Why obligation? Now, because just like the sun is also one of the demigods. He is supplying you light, so you have got some obligation. Don't you have any obligation? If you have got obligation to the electric powerhouse for supplying this light, which you are enjoying now, have you got no obligation to the sun who is supplying so much profusely light? Yes, you have got. The Vedic literature confirms it that you are indebted to the sun. Similarly, you are indebted to the moon.

Lecture on BG 3.8-13 -- New York, May 20, 1966:

The Vedic literature confirms it that you are indebted to the sun. Similarly, you are indebted to the moon. Similarly, you are indebted to air. And so many things we are taking advantage of the supernatural power. So we are actually indebted. Similarly, we are indebted to the ṛṣis, great sages, because they have left behind them all this Vedic knowledge. You are taking advantage. Just like this Bhagavad-gītā, or any scripture, any book of knowledge.

Lecture on BG 3.11-19 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1968:

Yes. This is very important point. The godless society, they are thinking that everything is being done by nature. Nature is there, but there is a controller of nature. Just like this electricity. Electricity is natural power but there is a powerhouse and there is a resident engineer. Similarly, everything supplied by nature, water supply, heat supply, air, so there is a controller and he is called demigod. They are all appointed servants by the Supreme Lord. It is simply foolishness that nature is working automatically. This is rascaldom. They do not know. The so-called scientists who are thinking that everything is going on automatically.

Lecture on BG 3.13-16 -- New York, May 23, 1966:

The highest yogi is he who is only Kṛṣṇa conscious. Simply his life is full of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He is always trying to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That's all. And to satisfy Kṛṣṇa is the easiest thing. Is the easiest thing of all yogic process. You haven't got to show your gymnastic power. No. Simply prepare your good foodstuff, offer to Kṛṣṇa, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and enjoy life. Yoginām api sarveṣām. He is the best yogi. Best yogi. That is, You will find it. So begin it. What is the difficulty there?

Lecture on BG 3.13-16 -- New York, May 23, 1966:

Regular rainfall will be possible when people are engaged in the yajña. Otherwise, nature will control rainfall. For want of rain, all your arrangement—mechanical arrangement, tractors, and all these things—will all fail if there is rainfall, there is no rainfall. So control of the rainfall is not in your hand. It is in supernatural power. So here it is said that rainfall is made possible by offering yajña, by sacrifice. Parjanyāt... Or yajñād bhavati parjanyo yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ: (BG 3.14) "And yajña is prescribed according to the Vedic rituals."

Lecture on BG 3.21-25 -- New York, May 30, 1966:

So these are some of the chemical process, physical process, which is being done by scientific advancement of knowledge. There are many yogis who can do by yogic power. Just like by physical process...

Now people are trying to travel in the space, but the yogis can travel in the space very swiftly, more swifter than any sputnik. Just like the other day I narrated, the Durvāsā Muni traveled all over the space in the universe and outside the universe, and he came back within one year. So therefore Kṛṣṇa's another name is Yogeśvara. Yogeśvara. There are many yogis and many yogic principle, but Kṛṣṇa is the master of all yoga.

Lecture on BG 3.21-25 -- New York, May 30, 1966:

So Kṛṣṇa says, "I have nothing to do," triṣu lokeṣu kiñcana, "not only in this earth, but in the three worlds, anywhere, anywhere I can go, anywhere I can work, anywhere I can see. But still, I have nothing to do."

Na anavāptam avāptavyam: "It is not that I am deficient in My possession." We work because we find deficient ourself. In any power, in any, either spiritual power or material power, we have to work because we are deficient. So Kṛṣṇa is not deficient so that He has to fill up the deficiency. No. Na anavāptam. So still, varta eva ca karmaṇi. Now, He says that "Arjuna, you see that still, I have engaged Myself in the worldly duties." Why? Just to become the ideal man. Although He was not man, He was God, because He was playing the part of a man, therefore He was...

Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Melbourne, June 27, 1974:

Just like we see through the telescope and we come under certain conclusion, but the fact is that I am the same person seeing through the telescope, and telescope is also manufactured by me or by you. So machine is imperfect and my seeing power is also imperfect. Then how you can have perfect knowledge? The machine is created by a person who has got imperfect knowledge, and the seer is also a person; he is also imperfect. The imperfect person is seeing through the imperfect machine. Then how we can conclude perfect knowledge? This is not possible.

Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Melbourne, June 27, 1974:

Just like a tiger. He is also enjoying. He is thinking, "I am very strong. I have got so power, so much jaws and nails. I can jump over any animal and immediately kill him." He is pleased in that position, but, you know, the tiger or the lion, they are so unfortunate that they do not get daily food, in spite of becoming so strong. Because prakṛti-jān guṇān, he is under the influence of the material nature. He... The tiger may be very powerful, but he remains always hungry. Very powerful. Because the other animals, they know that in that corner of the forest there is tiger, nobody goes there. Where he can get food? Hardly chance, by chance he gets one animal and jumps over it. This is called prakṛti-jān guṇān.

Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Madras, January 1, 1976:

In the Brahma-saṁhitā also it is stated that sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni vibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). Durgā, Goddess Durgā, she is the prakṛti power, and she can create, she can maintain, she can annihilate. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni vibharti (Bs. 5.44). But she is acting just like shadow, not independently. Icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. So Govinda is the ultimate background. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1).

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

This description are there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto. And in this planet also there are many yogis even still existing, they can travel in this planet very swiftly by yogic power. There are many yogis who daily take bath in four places: in Prayāga, in Rāmeśvaram, in Jagannātha Purī, and in Hardwar. Still there are some yogis in India. So they can transfer themselves, transport themselves, from one place to another very quickly. So there was no difficulty in communicating with Manu or Manu's son, Ikṣvāku. The communication was there, or the radio system was so nice that communication could be transferred from one planet to another.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna. Now He says also, sa kālena iha mahatā yogaḥ... (break)...spoke the secret of this Bhagavad-gītā to his son Manu. Manu spoke the secret of the Bhagavad-gītā to his son Ikṣvāku. So now that system is now lost. Kālena mahatā. By the great power. Kāla means time. Time has got his influence, very great influence. Time's business is, whatever you make, time will try to kill you. That's all. You make a nice house, very nice house, but as soon as it becomes older it is being killed. You have very good body, nice body, but the influence of time is trying to kill you. That is the influence of time. So in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll also find that when Arjuna saw the universal form of Kṛṣṇa, he asked that "Who are You?" And Kṛṣṇa said in that universal form that "I am Kāla. I have come to kill." That's it. This was the answer.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971:

"My position is like this," then you understand very easily. You cannot speculate. By speculating, you cannot understand God. That is not possible. He's so great, our speculating power is very poor.

In Sanskrit there is a logical conclusion, Dr. Frog. A frog within the well. You know, well, a three-feet circumference, and there is a frog. Another frog friend comes and informs the frog in the well, "My dear friend, today I have seen a very big span of water, Pacific Ocean." So the frog in the well, he considers that Pacific Ocean may be four feet. "My water is three feet, so Pacific Ocean may be four feet." So, he replied to his friend, "Is that Pacific Ocean four feet?" "No, no it is very big."

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971:

You can understand. The difference is, as I have already explained, God and we, individual souls, are of the same quality. The quality is not different.

Just like we have got creative power, God has got also creative power, but by your creative power you can manufacture a big airplane or a sputnik to fly in the sky, but God's creative power, millions and trillions of planets are floating in the sky. Just like the sun. You see every day, the sun is there in the sky, and it is lying in one corner of the sky, but this one planet itself is fourteen hundred thousand bigger than this planet.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971:

That's a fact. So that is the difference between God and me. I can create a small aeroplane, and I can take the credit that our science is so much advanced that we don't care for God. No, you cannot do, sir. You cannot manufacture a planet. That is not in your power. Similarly, there are so many things. You have creative power, God has got creative power, but your creation and God's creation there is vast difference. So this is the understanding of God. So God is great. How great? Nobody is equal to Him, nobody is above Him. Everyone is down. This is the conception of God. So God is eternal, I am also eternal. God is within this universe, therefore the universe is working, and because I am within this universe, this body is working. It is very easy to understand. If you simply study...

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971:

So the chemical composition of the gold ring and the chemical composition of the gold mine, the same. This is the position. Qualitatively we are one. Quantitatively we are different. Quantity, God's quantity, God's power, God's opulence, God's riches, God's beauty, God's wisdom, they are very, very, very, very great than ours. That is the difference between God and us. Now try to understand your constitutional position. Don't think that after this body is finished, or we meet death, then everything is finished, as it is going on. The greatest mistake, the world is going on, on the mistaken platform. They do not know what is going to happen after death. There is no education. There is no department of knowledge in the universities, what is going to happen after death.

Lecture on BG 4.1-2 -- Columbus, May 9, 1969:

Therefore, advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Ananta means unlimited—but one, advaita. There is no difference. Just like the electricity power. I give you a crude example. Unlimited factories are running in electricity. Different types of work is being utilized by electric energy, but the electricity is one. Similarly, God is one, but He can expand. That is His potency. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport).

Lecture on BG 4.3-6 -- New York, July 18, 1966:

Suppose if you have not seen a man who is not mortal, who is not mortal. There may be. Because you are going on with your personal experience, but your personal experience is always imperfect. That I have already discussed. Because we have got our senses with limited power. And there are so many defects in our conditioned stage. Therefore inductive process is not always perfect. The deductive process, from the authority, the knowledge received, is always perfect. So Vedic process is deductive process. Vedic process is deductive process.

Lecture on BG 4.4 -- Bombay, March 24, 1974:

Because he is bhakta. Bhakta, and Bhagavān, they must be together. That is the advantage of bhakta. Although he has got the frailty.... Because the living entity is the minute particle of God, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7), therefore his intelligence, his power, is also very minute. But God's power is unlimited. By unlimited power Kṛṣṇa knows the past, future, and present, everything perfectly. But our limited knowledge, we cannot know that. Therefore we have to receive knowledge from Kṛṣṇa. This is our position. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet, samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12).

So we have to approach either Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's representative. Then we can understand Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, simply by mental speculation, by so-called erudite scholarship, nobody can know.

Lecture on BG 4.4 -- Bombay, March 24, 1974:

Otherwise, those who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they will accept another material body. Immediately they'll have to enter into the womb of a mother, particular mother. Daiva-netreṇa. As soon as decision is made by superior power that "This living entity has done such and such thing, he should be promoted or degraded. He should enter into such mother's body through the semina of the father," so immediately he's given place in the material body of a mother.

But those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, immediately they are transferred where Kṛṣṇa is there. This is the process. Immediately, by spiritual force.... Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Mām eti. "Immediately he comes to Me." Kṛṣṇa is there.

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Bombay, March 25, 1974:

Mad-āśrayaḥ yogaṁ yuñj... Yogaṁ yuñjan, mad-āśrayaḥ. Mad-āśrayaḥ, this word is very significant. Mat means... "Either you take directly..."That is not very easy thing. "...shelter of Me, or one who has taken shelter of Me, you take shelter of him." Just like there is electric powerhouse, and there is a plug. That plug is connected with the electric powerhouse, and if you push your wire in the plug, you also get electricity. Similarly, as it is stated in the beginning of this chapter, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). If you take shelter of the paramparā system.... The same example. If you take the shelter of the plug which is connected with the powerhouse, you get immediately electricity. Similarly, if you take shelter of a person who is coming in the paramparā system...

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Bombay, March 25, 1974:

So many people are studying Bhagavad-gītā, but they do not understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Because they do not receive through the evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). The paramparā, unless you go to the paramparā... The same example. If you do not take electricity from the plug which is connected with the powerhouse, what is the use of your bulb and wire? It has no use.

Therefore how Kṛṣṇa is expanding, it is vedeṣu durlabha. If you simply have got academic knowledge, then it will not be possible. Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Bs. 5.33). This is the statement of Brahma-saṁhitā. Adurlabham ātma-bhaktau. One who is Kṛṣṇa's devotee, pure devotee...

Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:

And as soon as that small particle, atomic particle, is gone from this body, it is useless, a lump of matter.

So if so much power is there for the small particle of the Supreme Soul, how much the Supreme Soul, who is all-pervading, universal form, how much potency he has got, you can just imagine. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, ajo 'pi: "Although I have no birth and death." Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Ātmā means this body, ātmā means this mind, and ātmā means the soul. Three things, they are called ātmā. So Kṛṣṇa's either body or mind or the soul, there is no difference. Kṛṣṇa's body is avyaya. Our body is vyaya, it deteriorates, changes. (sound of children talking in background) Ask them to stop. Or no, let them go away.

Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:

We are not supreme īśvara.

The so-called incarnations of God, they declare that "I am God." But... He may be God. God means a subordinate god. Not the Supreme God. The Supreme God is Kṛṣṇa. God means controller. You have, you may have some controlling power, admitted, but you are not Supreme Controller. The Supreme Controller is Īśvara. Therefore here Kṛṣṇa... Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi. Īśvaraḥ. All bhūtas... Bhūtānām means all living entities, or everything which has appeared within this material world. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). He is the Supreme Source of everything. That is also described in the Tenth Chapter that aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2). Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate. Everything. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7).

Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:

He can change matter into spirit and spirit into matter. Because He is the controller, īśvaraḥ. Bhūtānām īśvaraḥ. He can change that.

Just like electrician. He can change a refrigerator into a heater, and a heater into a refrigerator. Because the same power, electricity, is working. He knows the art, how to change it. But we cannot do that. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourselves. Hm. Then?

Lecture on BG 4.6-8 -- New York, July 20, 1966:

Just like here, you are hearing the barking of the dog, "Gow! Gow!" always. So it is sometimes disturbing. So such kind of miseries offered by other living being is called adhibhautika. We have got so many miseries. And then adhidaivika. Daivika means miseries offered by the supernatural power. Just like there is earthquake, famine, pestilence, war. So we are always... There are three headings of miseries, and we are, either we are suffering either from the three all, or at least one. There must be. This is the nature of our life in this material existence. But we are trying to make a solution of it. That is our struggle for existence.

Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:

So for Kṛṣṇa, there is no difference between material energy and spiritual energy. For Kṛṣṇa it is all the same because He has got one energy. Just like electricity. Somewhere it is working for cooling purpose and somewhere it is working for heating purpose. But the generation of electric from the electric powerhouse, the energy is the same, electric. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's energy is always spiritual. There is no difference His energy and He. But it is acting in a different way. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). Vividhaiva śrūyate. Parāsya śaktiḥ, the Supreme Lord, He has got energy. The energy is one. And similarly, He is, in some of the Purāṇas it is described that Durgā is also Rādhārāṇī. In the Brahma-saṁhitā you'll find it. Have you read it?

Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Bombay, March 27, 1974:

There is one verse by a learned scholar that here we are surrendering to somebody... I am not surrendering to somebody for his satisfaction, but for my satisfaction. I join some political party because I am finding out the opportunity how I can become a minister or how I can capture some power by going through this political party. This is my real aim. I do not go to serve the country. Maybe one or two. But my real purpose is how to get some opportunity, some position. Therefore I am not serving that party but I am serving my ambition.

Lecture on BG 4.7-10 -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969:

Devotee: Prabhupāda? You've said many times that in this material (world) we have no guarantee what our next birth will be. But, say, can't mystic yogis who perfect certain mystical powers, do they have any guarantee of a human birth in their next life?

Prabhupāda: You have also guarantee. You have also guarantee. Those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously, even they do not make perfection... Generally you can make perfection. It is not very difficult, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have to keep your consciousness always absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa. Our consciousness must be absorbed in some thought. Without thought, your consciousness is not existing. There must be some thought.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Bombay, March 30, 1974:

Kṛṣṇa is adhokṣaja, beyond the perception, sense perception. But through the śāstra we can understand little bit of Kṛṣṇa. It is very difficult to know. We cannot understand. Kṛṣṇa is unlimited. We are limited. Still, whatever limited power we have got, we can understand Kṛṣṇa if we follow the śāstra, sādhu and guru. Sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya tinete kariyā aikya.

So this bhāva stage has to be attained. It is not that artificially we come to the bhāva stage. No. Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ (BG 4.10). These are the qualifications. Kṛṣṇa is personally saying. Not all of a sudden we can understand Kṛṣṇa. Vīta-rāga. The first qualification is to be detached from... Our present qualification is we are too much attached to this material sense enjoyment.

Lecture on BG 4.11 -- Vrndavana, August 3, 1974:

Therefore ye yathā māṁ prapadyante. Māṁ prapadyante.

Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's energy... Śakti-śakti-mator abhinnā. Kṛṣṇa's energy is also controller, Durgā. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni vibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). Durgā is the śakti, external energy. She has got also immense power. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana. The material nature is very strong, creating, maintaining and destroying. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-śaktiḥ chāyeva. But she's acting under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).

Lecture on BG 4.12 -- Vrndavana, August 4, 1974:

So anyone who has got all these assets, so how it should be utilized? Avicyutaḥ arthaḥ, infallible decision has been made. What is that? Yad-uttamaśloka-guṇānuvarṇanam: "Just try to glorify the Supreme Lord." With your money, with your intelligence, with your power, with your influence, whatever you have got. Education, departmental knowledge. Try to glorify the Supreme Lord. Then it is perfect.

And if you spoil it or simply sense gratification, the Bhāgavata, Ṛṣabhadeva says, na sādhu manye: "Oh, this is not good. This is not good."

Lecture on BG 4.13 -- New York, April 8, 1973:

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.

Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Bombay, April 2, 1974:

People will go to consult with you. But if you do not practice, simply you have passed legal examination, nobody will come to you. So two things are required: the brahminical qualities and work like a brāhmaṇa. These two things.... If you are born in a brāhmaṇa family and you are, "Oh, all blessing to you," oh, what power you have got to bless me? You are not in quality, not in work. But people accept it, paṇḍitajī.

What kind of paṇḍitajī? Paṇḍita. Paṇḍita means one who knows. Then the Bhagavad-gītā says, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ.

Lecture on BG 4.14 -- Bombay, April 3, 1974:

This is Kṛṣṇa's energy.

How the moon is shining, 200,000 miles away? Still, the shining is so perfect. Can you make any lamp like that? Have you got such brain? Then how you can compare yourself with Kṛṣṇa? Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate. But he has got the power. You can create one imitation moon or imitation sun, but that is not in your power. But still, you are so falsely proud of your scientific knowledge. What scientific knowledge you have got? So in this way, if we study Kṛṣṇa, then we can understand that, as Kṛṣṇa says, na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā.... Karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14).

Lecture on BG 4.20 -- Bombay, April 9, 1974:

Therefore he is a mūḍha. That is the sign. A big mūḍha. Small mūḍhas, they are working hard only to become happy, and the big mūḍha, he wants to become God. The small mūḍha wants to become a minister or a president, and the big mūḍha wants to become God. The disease is the same: "I shall become the most powerful." But that is not possible.

Therefore these big mūḍhas who simply falsely thinking that "I have become now liberated by meditation or by some jugglery of powers," so they have been described in the Bhāgavatam as vimukta-māninaḥ. They are falsely thinking that they have become liberated, they have become Nārāyaṇa. How you can become Nārāyaṇa?

Lecture on BG 4.20-24 -- New York, August 9, 1966:

This is the Vedic injunction. Śakti, śakti means energy, and śaktimat, śaktimat means the person who has got the energy. So abheda, they are nondifferential. You cannot differentiate between the energy and the energetic. Just like electric powerhouse. The energy is electricity. Now, from the electricity energy we are working so many things. So far our household affairs are concerned, by the same electric energy we are getting heat and we are getting also cold. In the refrigerator we see everything is cold. In the heater we find everything is hot, warm. But the same energy is working. So one who knows that this is the electrical energy that is working in a different way, for him, there is no superior or inferior. That is called jñāna. If we are on the platform of knowledge, then there is no distinction between matter and spirit.

Lecture on BG 4.20-24 -- New York, August 9, 1966:

Whatever we are seeing in this, in our presence, whatever we are seeing, they are nothing but different energies of the Supreme Lord.

And how they are acting? Just like the electric powerhouse is situated far away from your residential apartment, but from there the energy is being distributed and you are finding heat, cold, and so many things, electrically, you are working, so although the Supreme Lord is far, far away... Of course, He is not far, far away, but in our conception, in the material conception, because we cannot see... We are on a different planet. So by His energy He is not far away. Just like the sunlight, the sunshine, in the morning you find the sunshine is within your room, the sun is just within your room. It is actually.

Lecture on BG 4.25 -- Bombay, April 14, 1974:

The sun-god I have already said. Five, pañcopāsanam. Five: the sun-god, the Gaṇeśa, and the Durgā-devī, then Lord Śiva, and then Viṣṇu. This is also gradual evolutionary. People in the most lowest stage of humanity, they are struck with wonder by the power. As soon as there is some electricity, they feel some power. So when there are power worshipers... The modern scientists, they are power worshiper. They have gone up to the sun-god. Not god, the sun globe. The power is received from the sunshine. So this is one stage, power. In this way, one after another, when one comes to the supreme powerful, Viṣṇu, because that is the ultimate powerful...

Lecture on BG 4.25 -- Bombay, April 14, 1974:

This power, material nature, is called Durgā. So Durgā, the material nature... Durgā means the predominating Deity of this fort. Durgā. Durgā means "fort". And durgā means "where it is very difficult to enter." The fort is fortified. Therefore it is called Durgā. Ga means going, and duḥ means difficult. Therefore fort is... The Sanskrit name of fort is called durgā. And the predominating deity, it is called Durgā.

Similarly, this material world, universe, it is covered by seven layers, and one layer, the first layer is there, and the second layer is ten times thicker than the first layer.

Lecture on BG 4.25 -- Bombay, April 14, 1974:

In this way, this universe is covered tight, very fortified. And there are innumerable universe. They are clustered together. And all these universes together is called the material world. And this is a very fortified place, and the predominating deity of this material world... Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā (Bs. 5.44). There is a power. That is called Durgā. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā, icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā (Bs. 5.44). Although this Durgā is so powerful that she can create, she can maintain and she can dissolve, the whole cosmic manifestation... It is so powerful. At any moment it can dissolute.

Lecture on BG 4.34-39 -- Los Angeles, January 12, 1969:

Suppose you buy, purchase one knife. You know what is knife. It must be a sharpened instrument. You see how it is cutting. You test it. So suppose if you go on to somebody to see God, how you'll test it if you do not know what is God? Then he will give you, supply you, deliver you one dog, and you understand, "This is God." So what is your testing power? At least, you must have some theoretical knowledge what is God. So these things are going on, absurd things. You must know what is God.

Just like here the Bhagavad-gītā is the description, what is God, how He is creating. You know that God has created this world. Now, here there is description how He creates.

Lecture on BG 4.37-40 -- New York, August 21, 1966:

And the perfection of yoga is indicated like this, that a yogi dies according to his own will. He is not, I mean to, pressed to leave this body just like ordinary people. They leave this body under the pressure of nature's law. So they get so much power. When they find that "Now I shall leave this body," they fix up in which planet they will go, and they transfer their soul into that planet. That is the highest yogic perfection. And hardly you'll find such a yogi.

So my point is that the living entity has got the tendency to move freely, to move freely. There are living entities in other, higher planets which is called Siddhaloka.

Lecture on BG 4.39-42 -- Los Angeles, January 14, 1969:

The same qualities are there, but it is unlimited; ours are limited. It is not difficult to understand God. Why they are bewildered to understand God? God is also... And it is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā and all Vedic literature. God is just like us, a person, an individual person, but very powerful. That is the difference. My power... There are different kinds of power. Your power is different from another man. Another man's is different from another man, another man, go on, go on, go on. When you find the supreme man or Supreme Personality, He is God.

Lecture on BG 4.39-42 -- Los Angeles, January 14, 1969:

Janma karma (ca) me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). God also working. He is also creating; I am also creating. I am creating a sputnik, a toy planet, and God is creating innumerable, unlimited planets. That is the difference. I can also create something, but that is not as good creative power as God. But I have got some creative power. I have got the tendency for enjoyment. Similarly, God has got the tendency for enjoyment. So there is nothing different from you, God. Only the difference is that He is unlimited; I am limited. I am very small; He is very great. He is infinite; I am infinitesimal.