Panthās tu koṭi-vatsara-sampragamyaḥ. For many millions of years if you make your progress in the sky to find out God, where is God . . . panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi: not this ordinary plane, but on the plane of air, the velocity of air. Or mind. The velocity of mind is very quick. Immediately, you are sitting here, your mind can go many millions of miles away if you have got idea.
So either on the plane of mind or by the plane of air, and traveling for many millions of years, you cannot find out. Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅga . . . (Bs. 5.34). Muni-puṅgavānām. Not only ordinary person, but great saintly person, sages, they also cannot.
So another place it is said in the Brahmā-saṁhitā: vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Bs. 5.33). Vedeṣu. If you simply study Vedas, although the ultimate goal of studying Veda is to know Kṛṣṇa, but if you want to study Vedas by your own speculative process, then He'll always remain rare. Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau. But if you approach a devotee of the Lord, he can deliver. He can deliver.
Mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-'bhiṣekaṁ niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat, naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghrim (SB 7.5.32). Prahlāda Mahārāja says that, "You cannot have Kṛṣṇa consciousness . . ." Naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghrim. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not so easy. You cannot have it unless you surrender yourself.
Niṣkiñcanānām, mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-'bhiṣekaṁ niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat. So long you do not take the dust of the lotus feet of a devotee, niṣkiñcanānām, who has nothing to do with this material world—he's simply concerned with the service of the Lord—unless you are in touch with such a person, it is not possible to attain Kṛṣṇa consciousness. These are the statements of the śāstra.
So Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Absolute Truth, and He is person. But we cannot understand Him unless we go through a kṛṣṇa-bhakta. Therefore to understand Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa has come down as a bhakta, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. So we have to understand Kṛṣṇa through Lord Caitanya. Because Kṛṣṇa Himself has come . . . Kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne. Rūpa Gosvāmī, when he met first Caitanya Mahāprabhu . . . not first, for the second time. First time he met when . . . while he was minister in the government of Nawab Hussain Shah. And then, after meeting, Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted them to fulfill His mission. So they decided to resign from the government service and join Caitanya Mahāprabhu to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Therefore when Rūpa Gosvāmī met Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Allahabad, Prayāga, the first verse he composed in this connection, he said, namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53): "My Lord, You are the most munificent incarnation." Why? "Because You are distributing kṛṣṇa-prema. People cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa, and what to speak of kṛṣṇa-prema. But that kṛṣṇa-prema, You are distributing like anything." Namo mahā-vadān . . . "Therefore You are the most munificent, charitable person." Namo mahā-vadānyāya. Vadānya means one who is very charitable, gives in charity as much as you like.
So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, because people misunderstood Kṛṣṇa . . . Kṛṣṇa asked in the Bhagavad-gītā that "You surrender unto Me." What can He do? He's God. He's Kṛṣṇa. He's asked you, orders you: "You surrender. I take charge of you." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpe . . . but still, people misunderstood: "Oh, why shall I surrender to Kṛṣṇa?
He's also a man like me. Maybe a little important. But why shall I surrender unto Him?" Because here the material disease is not to surrender. Everyone is puffed-up, "I am something." This is material disease. Therefore, to become cured from this material disease, you have to surrender.
- tad viddhi praṇipātena
- paripraśnena sevayā
- upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ
- jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
- (BG 4.34)
So unless you are prepared to surrender . . . that is a great difficult job for the materialistic person. Nobody wants to surrender. He wants to compete. Individually, person to person, family to family, nation to nation, everyone is trying to become the master. Where is the question of surrendering? There is no question of surrendering.
So this is the disease. Therefore Kṛṣṇa demands that to cure this rascaldom, or most chronic disease, you surrender. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). "Then? If I surrender, then whole thing will be failure? My business, my plans, my so many things . . .?" No. "I take charge of you. I take charge of you."
Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ. "Don't be worried." So much assurance is there. Still, we are not prepared to surrender. This is our material disease. Therefore Kṛṣṇa came again as a devotee just to show how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa—Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam (SB 11.5.32).
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very scientific and authorized. It is not a bogus thing, something manufactured by concoction of the mind. It is authorized, based on the Vedic instruction, as Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So we teach only this philosophy, that you . . .
Kṛṣṇa, here is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You are searching after God. You cannot understand what is God. Here is God, Kṛṣṇa. His name, His activities, everything is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. You accept and surrender unto Him. And as Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65).
So we are speaking the same thing as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. We don't misinterpret. We don't spoil the whole Bhagavad-gītā. We don't do this mischief. Sometimes people, they say, "Swāmījī, you have done wonderful." But what wonderful? I am not a magician. My only credit is I have not spoiled the Bhagavad-gītā. I have presented as it is. Therefore it is successful.