Sunshine (Lectures, Other)

Expressions researched:
"sun shines" |"sunbeam" |"sunshine" |"sunshinelike" |"sunshining"

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:

Those who are saintly devotees, they are seeing God, Kṛṣṇa, in every moment. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). If you become saintly person by your austerities, penances, then you can see God in every step. Otherwise, if you think that "I cannot become saintly person," yes, nobody can become saintly immediately. It requires time. But so long you are material person you can see God also in the water. You drink water. You can see God. You can see sunshine. God is there. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. So who has not seen the sunshine? Who has not seen the moonshine? So therefore if you have seen moonshine, if you have seen sunshine, you have seen God.

But especially those who are impersonalists, they can see God in that way. Śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu. There are descriptions in the Seventh Chapter, how you can see God in your common dealings. Still, if you do not see God, then you can see, you must see one day God at the time of your death. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). Death is God.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 4, 1973:

I should have died long, long ago." Caitanya Mahāprabhu says. So this much ecstasy, this much eagerness, when we come, then can see always. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilo..., santaḥ sadaiva. Twenty-four hours, he can see Kṛṣṇa. He cannot see anything but Kṛṣṇa. Just like the sunrise. As, as soon as the sun rises, you start your aeroplane, and you go on, towards the eastern, western side, you'll find always day. A practical... There will be no sunset. We have seen it while coming from Paris to London. Was it not? There was sunshine. We started from Paris at twelve o'clock and we reached London at three o'clock.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 6, 1973:

We are perceiving. Suppose there have been no rain for one or two years. There is a time when for hundreds of years there will be no rain. You have to wait for that time. That time is coming at the end of Kali-yuga. For hundreds of years there will be no rain, and everything on the earth will be burned into ashes. Not only there will be rain, but the sunshine will be twelve times hot, twelve times hotter than the present. The temperature will increase. These are stated in the Bhāgavata. Then everything will be turned into ashes. And then there will be torrents of rain. So these descriptions are there.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 7, 1973:

Mukti means you come out from darkness to the light. That is real mukti. Now we are in the material world. This is darkness, tama. Tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. This is the Vedic interest. "Don't remain in the darkness." That means in the material world. "Come to the world of light," jyoti, brahmajyoti. So take this example. Suppose you are in a dark room and I take you to the sunlight, come out. So this is also light. And the sun globe, that is also light. And the sun-god, that is also light. But this light, sunshine light, or sunshine temperature, is not as good as the temperature in the sun globe. Similarly, if you make progress...

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 7, 1973:

So sāyujya-mukti is also liberation. Sāyujya-mukti, to become one, Brahman, brahmajyoti. Brahmajyoti means assembly of small spiritual sparks. Just like the sun, sunshine, a combination of shining molecular parts; similarly, brahmajyoti, sāyujya-mukti means you become... Because you are spiritual spark. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). So you are also spark, part and parcel of God; therefore you assemble with the other sparks, brahmajyoti. Those who have no information of the other spiritual planets, Vaikuṇṭha or Goloka Vṛndāvana, they think to become one with the spiritual sparks, that is ultimate. For them, this is the place, sāyujya-mukti. But this sāyujya-mukti, you cannot stay here. Either by further progress you have to go to the spiritual planets, otherwise you'll fall down. Just like the same example. Suppose you have got some aeroplane and you go very high in the sunshine. So what is the benefit? If you do not get shelter in the moon planet or in another planet, then you have to come back again.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 8, 1973:

Mukti, she'll stand with folded hands, "My dear sir, what can I do for you?" This is the position of bhakta. One, if one becomes bhakta, then mukti becomes her maidservant. Why shall I ask for mukti? Mukti is nothing. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. What is the mukti? It is as good as hell. Mukti means to merge into the Brahman effulgence, but there is no service of Kṛṣṇa. It is simply merging, to become one. Just like sunshine, and if you are put into the sunshine, what benefit do you get? Simply to have scorching heat on, that's all. What benefit would you get? And mukti is like that. That is light. Sunshine is light. Similarly from darkness, if I go to the light and don't get any shelter, anywhere, simply I remain in that sunshine, what benefit do I get? So, for a devotee, the mukti is bothersome. Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī Prabhupāda says that kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. Mukti means kaivalya. Simply ahaṁ brahmāsmi, that's all. Kaivalya. This perception, Brahman perception, brāhmaṇanda. But for a devotee, he says kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūr ākāśa-puṣpāyate (Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5). So for devotee, these things are not very much alluring, mukti, bhukti, siddhi. It is so sublime, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so sublime, that other things very insignificant in the front of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 8, 1973:

The ocean water is evaporated. The sun is always evaporating. Now you will be perhaps surprised, the modern science, they believe that the ocean water is, turns into cloud, but actually that is not the fact. The fact is that the ocean water is taken by the sun. Now, now there is heat, ocean water is evaporated always, where is the cloud? Where is the cloud? For three years the ocean water is being taken away by the sunshine, but why there is no cloud and no rain? Why? What is the answer of the scientist? Actually the cloud, when the sun, sun god that he ejects the water again, that becomes cloud. The rain comes from the sun, and the sun is taking the water, reserving, and when you deserve, it gives it. There is some control.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 9, 1973:

Just like the Sun, you can understand. What is this material world? It is the expansion of sun's heat and light, that's all. Any scientist knows. But there are so many varieties of expansion. It is due to the sunshine that the trees are growing in different foliage, different color. There are so many fruits and flowers, they're growing, and as soon as there is no sunshine, everything becomes desert. There are seven colors in the sunshine. From material point of view, you can understand how much potency is God, Kṛṣṇa. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis. Our philosophy is that God, everything is God. That is śakti pariṇāmavāda. He is everything by His potency. Not that He is finished.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 3, 1972:

We are taking sunshine. We are obliged to sun-god. We are taking moonshine. We are obliged to moonshine, uh, moon-god, the air-god, Varuṇa. Everyone, they are helping us. We cannot do without this. You cannot live without water. You cannot live without light. You cannot live without heat. So who is supplying? Of course, Kṛṣṇa is supplying, but we cannot see Kṛṣṇa directly. They are being supplied by different demigods. Therefore deva-yajña is recommended. Deva-yajña means, ultimately, to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. So these are the processes. But if one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he has no more obligation to all these devatās. Devaṛsi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṟṇām (SB 11.5.41). We have got so many obligations, but if you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, everyone will be pleased, and you haven't got to oblige them by your service to them. Otherwise, you are bound to give them obeisances for their beneficial contribution.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1972:

When one understands Kṛṣṇa in truth, then he's allowed to enter; otherwise, he cannot enter. He remains outside. Just like if we have got capacity to enter into the sun planet then we can enter. Otherwise we remain in the sunshine. To remain in the sunshine and to enter into the sun planet is not the same thing. Although the sun and the sunshine are light, illumination, still there is difference between the sun and the sunshine. Similarly, impersonal Brahman effulgence and Vaikuṇṭha planets, both of them, absolute, but still Brahman effulgence and entering into the Vaikuṇṭha planets or Goloka Vṛndāvana planets are not the same. Or, in other words, those are not, those who are not devotees, but impersonalists, they can stay outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets in the Brahman effulgence, but they cannot enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planets.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 11, 1972:

As soon as he sees anything we call material, he sees this is the conversion of the energy. Pariṇāma-vāda. Sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. Parasya bra... Just like as soon as you see the sunshine, you see immediately sun. Is it not? In the morning, as soon as you see within your window the sunshine, immediately you remember sun and you are confident sun is there. Without sun, how there can be sunshine? Similarly, whatever we see, if we immediately see Kṛṣṇa, with reference to that particular thing... Because that particular thing is the manifestation of the energy of Kṛṣṇa. So those who have understood Kṛṣṇa along with His energies, he sees the energy, because energy is not different from the energetic, he sees immediately Kṛṣṇa.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 11, 1972:

The scientists are calculating the actual temperature of the sun. So similarly, although Kṛṣṇa is far, far away from us... Goloka eva nivasati. He's residing in His abode, Goloka, Vṛndāvana. This is the replica of that Vṛndāvana. So akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. How He's akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37)? How He's all-pervading? By His energy. By His energy. Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā: mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagat avyakta-mūrtinā (BG 9.4). That energy is avyakta, impersonal. But Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal. Kṛṣṇa is person. Just like the sun-god, he's a person, but his energy, sunshine and heat, that is impersonal. To reach impersonal feature of the sun or the sunshine is not approaching the sun. It is approaching and not approaching. It is approaching in the sense that directly in touch with his energy, but still, the sun globe and the sun-god is far away. Similarly, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11).

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.1 -- Mayapur, March 25, 1975:

So when God, Kṛṣṇa, wants to enjoy His pleasure potency, that is Rādhārāṇī. So He manifests Himself, manifests His energy... His energy and He, there is no difference. Śakti-śaktimator abhedaḥ. The śāstra says śakti and the śaktimat—means one who possesses the śakti (śakti means power, potency)—they are equal. There is no difference. Just like the sun. Sun is the powerful, and the sunshine is the power. So there is heat in the sun and there is heat also in the sunshine. There is light in the sun and there is light in the sunshine also. Therefore qualitatively they are one so far heat and light is concerned. But the temperature of the sun and the temperature of the sunshine may be different. May be not. Actually there is difference. This is the basic principle of all philosophies. Acintya-bhedābheda. Acintya means inconceivable, bheda means different, and abheda means nondifferent. The whole situation... The one is there, God, but He has expanded Himself in different way. Eko bahu syām.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.2 -- Mayapur, March 26, 1975:

So Nityānanda means prakāśa, svayaṁ-prakāśa, Balarāma. Balarāma is, I mean to say, presenting Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Balarāma is guru-tattva. Guru is representative of Balarāma, of Nityānanda, Guru Nityānanda, because He is exhibiting Kṛṣṇa. He is presenting Kṛṣṇa, prakāśa. Just like when there is sunshine you can see everything very correctly. That is called prakāśa. In the darkness everything is covered. At night we cannot see, but during daytime, when there is prakāśa, illumination, then we can see everything. So Nityānanda Prabhu is Balarāma. Balarāma is prakāśa-tattva. He's manifesting Kṛṣṇa. Balarāma hoila nitāi. So vande śrī... Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya is the Supreme Absolute Personality of Godhead, and next, Nityānanda, or, yes, Nityānanda, is exhibiting Him. When Nityānanda was preaching in Bengal, He first of all delivered the Jagāi and Mādhāi. That was his first business. He showed how to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.5 -- Mayapur, March 29, 1975:

Teṣām evānukampārtham aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ, nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-sthaḥ (BG 10.11). This is the process. You cannot understand God, or Kṛṣṇa, without being a faithful servant. This is the secret. And if we become faithful servant under the guidance of proper spiritual master, then we can understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is Parabrahman, and what is loving affairs with Rādhārāṇī, what is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. These things are revealed. It is not acquired by so-called mundane knowledge. That is not possible. Svayam eva sphuraty adhaḥ. Just like in the darkness, if you want the sunshine, it is not possible. But in the morning the sun comes out automatically and the darkness is dissipated. Svayam eva. So we should always remain faithful servant of Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa is within everyone's heart, and He will be pleased by your service, and then He will reveal Himself, what He is. Otherwise it is not possible.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.6 -- Mayapur, March 30, 1975:

So Brahman is spiritual, undoubtedly, but more than Brahman is Paramātmā, and more than Paramātmā is Paraṁbrahman, Kṛṣṇa. Yad advaitaṁ brahma upaniṣadi. If you study the Upaniṣads, then you can realize Brahman. And if you practice yoga, then you can realize Paramātmā. And if you practice bhakti-yoga, then you can realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the process. The more you advance... Just like the sunshine. Sunshine and the sun globe or the sun-god—they are of the same quality, heat and light. But the sunshine is not the sun globe, neither the sun globe is the sun-god. It is this; therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's philosophy, acintya-bhedābheda, inconceivable one and different simultaneously.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.8 -- Mayapur, April 1, 1975:

We are trying to be happy here in this material world—how? Suta-mitra-ramaṇī-samāje. Suta means children. Mitra means friends. Society, friendship and love, wife, children... Tāta... So one may say, "Unless there is no happiness, how they are struggling for this suta-mitra-ramaṇī-samāja?" So Vidyāpati says, "Yes, there is happiness." Certainly there is happiness. Otherwise why these vimūḍhān, foolish people, running after it? So he says that the value of their happiness is a proportion of a drop of water in the desert. Tātala saikate. Tātala means, very hot, and saikate means sand. Those who have seen desert, they have got experience how it is intolerable during sunshine, vast, I mean to say, tract of land with sand. So naturally they require water. So if somebody says, "Yes, I'll give you water," and a drop of water... What is called? Proportionate, token. It is called token. "Yes, you want water. Take this water, drop." "What this water will do? This is desert. I want ocean of water and you are giving me drop of water? What is the value?" So still, we are seeking water there.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.12 -- Mayapur, April 5, 1975:

Explosion, yes. So they are seeing that explosion and the chunk, but they cannot explain how the chunk became exploded. Sometimes we see that some earth, by the sunshine heating, heating, heating, it breaks all of a sudden. So this explosion of the chunk does not take place automatically. It is due to the sunshine drying it, drying it, drying it, and at a point it breaks. Similarly, the chunk is also, we can accept, the total material energy. You can take it as chunk. But this material energy in the form of chunk is agitated by the glance of Mahā-Viṣṇu. That is stated, sa aikṣata sa asṛjata. Material energy itself cannot explode.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.12 -- Mayapur, April 5, 1975:

Those who are not devotee, they cannot see that over the chunk, total material energy, there is the vision of Mahā-Viṣṇu. That they cannot see. Just like you'll find on the ground, so many flowers and grasses are coming up. How? By the sunrise, the glance of the sun. Where there is no sunshine, there the vegetables do not grow. We have got practical experience. Similar... Therefore the field or the earth is not exploding with the vegetation. It is due to the sunshine. Therefore it is coming out. It is the real cause. Similarly, accepting that chunk, the total material energy, it is agitated by the glance of Mahā-Viṣṇu. Then it explodes and things are coming out.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.16 -- Mayapur, April 9, 1975:

Everyone has got his particular propensity. So someone is serving as the land there, someone is serving as the throne, someone is serving as the supplying agent of fruits and flowers, someone is engaged in His service as the gopīs, confidential servitors. The cows, calves, everything—they are all different living entities. They are not made of these material things, material body. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). They are all also expansion of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. In one sense they are also Kṛṣṇa; they are not different from Kṛṣṇa. Śakti-śaktimatayor abheda: "The power and the powerful, they are not different, identical." Just like the sun and the sunshine. So in the sun globe there is heat and light, and the sunshine, there is heat and light. So, so far heat and light is concerned, they are one.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.106-107 -- San Francisco, February 13, 1967:

We fathers, we are not perfect. But He's perfect. Therefore, because He's perfect, He knows everything in the nook and corner of this creation. He knows everything. And Bhāgavata says abhijñaḥ. Abhijñaḥ means He knows. How He knows? Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇām. His knowing process is different. And we simply apply our nonsense, I mean to say, ideas to God. Now here, Vedas, Vedas says now this sun is the eye of God. Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakalā-grahāṇāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ. This sun, which is so illuminating and so powerful, it is the eye of God. Now how we can hide yourself from the eyes of God? The sunshine is within your room. You are thinking that "I am alone in this room. Nobody can see. Let us do all nonsense." Oh, the sunshine is there. How can you hide yourself? Therefore He's perfect. He can see what... Besides that, that is outside looking. Inside—īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). He's sitting within you. So how can you hide yourself? This is not possible. There is no flaw.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967:

Woman is supposed to be enjoyed. Therefore this very word is used: puruṣa. And Purāṇa, the oldest man, oldest man. Nobody... Because He's the cause of all causes; therefore He should be the oldest. And we are also oldest because we are part and parcel. We are also oldest. That is stated in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit, pūrṇo nityaḥ purāṇaḥ... Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit na bhūtvā na bhūyaḥ bhavitā vā, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇaḥ. Nityaḥ śāśvataḥ ayaṁ purāṇaḥ. Purāṇa means the oldest. We are also the oldest. So because part and parcel, it is always with the Supreme. Just like the molecule of sunshine: they are part and parcel of the sun. Whenever there is sun, oh, the molecules of sunshine is also there. Similarly, we are molecules of the Supreme. Therefore whenever the Supreme is there, we are also there.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967:

Now, again, patiṁ patīnāṁ paramaṁ parastād. That, that puruṣa, that... (break) ...mahāntam, the greatest, mahāntam. Mahāntam means the last word of the greatest. Antam means the last, and mahā means great. We have got idea of great, great, greater, greater, greatness, greatness. Where we finish all greatness, He's mahāntam. Mahāntam āditya-varṇam. Āditya-varṇam. Āditya means the sun. Just like sun. Wherever the sun planet is there, oh, there is sunshine, always shining. So where the sun planet... Wherefrom... The sun planet is also a material thing like this earth. Wherefrom the... (break) ...inhabitants, they're all fiery. Therefore their glaring effulgence is being manifested. So if you can see in the material world such effulgence of a certain point, particular planet, how can you disbelieve that Kṛṣṇa planet is more dazzling? Kṛṣṇa planet is more dazzling, and from Kṛṣṇa planet the brahmajyoti is emanating.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967:

The same example you can take, that all these planets... This is scientifically true, I mean to say, that all these planets, they have generated from the sunshine. Similarly, spiritual world, that effulgence of the body of Kṛṣṇa, that is spread, and there are hundreds and millions of Vaikuṇṭha planets are there. Mahāntam āditya-varṇam. And then where is that āditya? Where is that supreme sun? Tamasaḥ parastāt. Oh, that is beyond this darkness. This material world is dark by nature. We have several times explained. Therefore in the temporary... Now, just see the arrangement. The sun is there to drive out darkness, but the night is also there so that we can understand that by nature it is dark. Simply by timely appearance of the sun, it becomes day.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967:

Prabhupāda: It is here also. Just like the sunshine, when it is covered by cloud, the sunshine is also there. Do you follow? You see that the sky is covered, but still you say, "It is day." Why? The sunshine is there. Similarly, brahmajyoti is here also. Sarvaṁ khalu iti brahma: "Everything is Brahman." But it is covered by māyā. Therefore the full-fledged brahmajyoti, you cannot see.

Ravindra-svarūpa: I thought it was a place that was far away.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is... Just like above the cloud there is sunshine, fully. We have seen it in an aeroplane. This airlines, U.S. airlines, they say, "Friendly skies." So go to the friendly sky. Why do you remain here, nonsense sky, always covered with cloud? Go to the friendly sky. Just go above the cloud. The cloud is māyā. Go above the māyā. Then you see. You are seeing already, but it is not full-fledged experience. Everything we are seeing. We have experienced God's power, God's energy. But because we are in ignorance, therefore we cannot conceive perfectly. And as soon as you are above the māyā... Māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). That māyā you can, I mean to say, surpass simply by Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967:

The cloud is generating in the sky and it is vanquished in the sky. Similarly, this material world is sometimes being manifested and sometimes there is no manifestation, simply spiritual. Spiritual is always eternal. The sky, sunshine, is always eternal. Take this crude example. But the cloud is not eternal. It comes and goes, although cloud is a product of the same sunshine. Cloud is not independent. By interaction of sunshine, there is cloud, and that cloud is... There is no cloud. Similarly, this material world is just like cloud. It appears. It acts. When there is cloud, there is torrents of rain. Oh, there are so many productions on account of rain. Everything becomes green. So we give so much importance to the cloud, and it is important also, but it is temporary. As soon as the cloud is over, the greenness is gone. There is no rain. Nothing, nothing. And when the sky is clear, you'll see, "Oh, where is cloud? Where is cloud?" Similarly, this māyā means it appears like the cloud, and it disappears like the cloud, but the eternal brahmajyoti remains.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.118-121 -- San Francisco, February 24, 1967:

So the distinction between energy and energetic we have discussed several times. Energy is almost the same qualitative as the energetic. The same example, that the sun planet is hot; therefore the energy of the sun planet, sunshine, it is also hot. Sunshine, the sun is illuminating; therefore the energy of the sun, sunshine, it is also illuminating. So there are so many qualitative equality with the supreme, I mean to say, living entity. But Śaṅkarācārya's statement that "We living entities, we are God, and now we are illusioned in māyā. As soon as we become free from this māyā, we become God," that is not fact. You do not become God, but you are already in godly quality, qualities, to some extent, not fully. So when you are free from these material clutches, you attain your original quality, spiritual quality.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.118-121 -- San Francisco, February 24, 1967:

All right. So He's quoting another verse from Viṣṇu Purāṇa, where it is stated that viṣṇu-śaktiḥ para prokta: (CC Madhya 6.154) "The energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also transcendental." Energy, that means of the same quality. The same example: Just like sunshine and the sun, they are of the same quality, similarly, the energy of the Supreme Lord, because the Supreme Lord is all spiritual, therefore His energy is also all spiritual. So we are the energy of the Supreme Lord. We are also all spiritual. Viṣṇu-śaktiḥ para prokta kṣetrajñākhya tathā para. Kṣetrajñā-śaktiḥ. Kṣetrajñā-śaktiḥ means the living entities. So they are also transcendental, superior. Avidya-karma-samjñānya tṛtiya śaktir isyate. And this material energy, it is the product, product of avidya. Avidya means ignorance or nescience.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.118-121 -- San Francisco, February 24, 1967:

The real fact is that because we are, although we are energies, therefore we are prone to be in the darkness of ignorance. Just like the same example. It is very easy to understand that the sunshine and the sun, both of them are illuminating and warm, but there is cloud, and the cloud cannot cover the sun. The cloud can cover the sunshine. This is a fact. Everyone can understand. When there is cloud... Suppose immediately there is cloud, say, two miles or three miles above the surface. So we do not see the sun or the sunshine. Does it mean the cloud has covered the sun? No. Sunshine is so great that cloud's father's, there is no capacity of the cloud's father to cover sun. It is not possible. Therefore ignorance... Here it is stated, avidya-karma-samjñānya. This ignorance cannot cover God. That is nonsense. Ignorance covers the God's energy, living entity. Therefore we say that "We are God, but now we have become dog." That is another ignorance. He's never God. He's the energy of God. This is the difference between Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.118-121 -- San Francisco, February 24, 1967:

We should always know that we are energies of God, and because we are energies, we are, there are so many things qualitatively equal. Just the same example: The warmth and the illumination of the sunshine and the sun planet is practically the same, but the sun is never covered by cloud, but the sunshine is covered—sometimes, not always.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.118-121 -- San Francisco, February 24, 1967:

Just like you see that the sunshine is..., the immense sunshine all over the universe, a part of the sunshine is covered, not all; similarly, a part of the energy, living energy, is covered by this māyā, and not all. Therefore there are millions and billions of liberated souls above this material world, just like there is millions and billions of miles' sunshine above the cloud. You go by airplane above the cloud. Oh, the cloud is, appear to be very insignificant. But sunshine? Oh, so nice, sunshine. Similarly, when you are above this material world, jyotir gamaḥ... Jyotir gamaḥ. Tamasi mā. The Vedānta, the Vedas inform you that "Don't remain in this darkness. Just try to get out of it." Jyotir gamaḥ. Similarly... Just like the same way, airplane. As soon as you penetrate the cloud and go to the sky, you'll see: "Oh, there is immense sunshine." But while you are in, within the covering of the cloud, you say, "Oh, there is no sunshine today." We see as soon as we go out, "Today is very bad." The day is very good, but you are in the cloud. Therefore you say, "It is very bad." So similarly, those who are in the clutches of māyā, for them, this world is very bad. You see? But those who are above this māyā, it is pleasant because it is Kṛṣṇa's kingdom.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.118-121 -- San Francisco, February 24, 1967:

So this avidyā, this ignorance, this forgetfulness, is another energy, another energy. So just like a cloud... This is also another energy of the sunshine. It is not different. When the sunshine warms the sea water, it evaporates and becomes cloud. So therefore cloud is also another energy. So similarly, this material energy is also energy of God, but it cannot cover God. That is the difference. God is never covered by ignorance. This is nonsense. Those fools and rascals say that "God... We are God. We are now covered." It is the most rascaldom. How? If we are God, how we can be covered by ignorance? Then what is your value of your becoming God? You are not God. You are... This is very nicely explained here. Try to understand.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.119 -- Gorakhpur, February 17, 1971:

Within the sun globe, there is sun-god. So which one is the chief? That we have to consider. The sun-god or the sun globe or the sunshine? Everything is light. Sunshine is also light, sun globe also light, and the original source of this light, the sun-god, is also light. So sunshine is impersonal, sun globe is localized, and the sun-god is personal. If you be satisfied that "I am in the sunshine," be satisfied. That is called sāyujya-mukti. The sunshine means combination of different molecular shining parts. Any scientist knows it that what is the sunshine.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.119 -- Gorakhpur, February 17, 1971:

The sunshine appears to be a homogeneous thing, but actually, in minute analysis it will be found that there are innumerable shining sparks, molecular sparks only—their combination. (baby making noise) (aside:) They're disturbing. (speaks to some men in Hindi) So those who are merging into the Supreme Absolute, the jñānīs... Their ultimate goal is to merge into the Absolute Truth in His impersonal feature. That's all right; you can do so. That is also not this material; that is also spiritual. That is not material. If you want to merge... Generally, people think that is the ultimate goal. But that is not the ultimate goal. In the Īśopaniṣad you'll find that it is said that "Please wind up Your effulgence so that I can see the actual face." The same example that the sunshine is light. There is no doubt about it. This is different from darkness. This material world is darkness. Tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. The jyoti, the brahmajyoti... It is recommended in the Vedas that you try to approach the jyoti; don't remain in this darkness of material world. That is the injunction of Vedas. And the whole process of emancipation is to, how to approach that Brahman effulgence.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.149-50 -- Gorakhpur, February 13, 1971:

So this Vivasvān, the sun-god, he heard from Kṛṣṇa for the first time about the yoga system stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Kṛṣṇa spoke and the sun-god heard; therefore he is a person. And the sun-god's abode is the sun planet. And from the sun planet, the effulgence, the sunshine, is coming. By this example one can understand what is Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān—tattva-vastu, the Absolute Truth. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Absolute Truth... (aside:) Not like that. Don't sit... Not like that. Why don't you tell him? The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.151-154 -- Gorakhpur, February 14, 1971:

Spiritual energy covered by something else. How that something else? That is... Just like sun is covered by the cloud. The cloud is not separate from the sun. The cloud is created by the sunshine, so it cannot be separate from the sun. But its business is to cover the sun. When there is cloud, you cannot see the sun. Similarly, this material energy is not different from God. There is another example. The same electricity, energy, one apparatus is heater and another apparatus is refrigerator, cooler. The energy is the same.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.154-155 -- Gorakhpur, February 19, 1971 (Krsna Niketan):

If you keep the sun back side, there is a big dark, shadow. The shadow is māyā. It has no existence. It is simply impeding the sunshine. Therefore it is shadow. Māyā means which has no existence of its own accord. It is also created by the sun, the darkness. Similarly, this avidyā, when you forget Kṛṣṇa, there is avidyā. That is also Kṛṣṇa's creation. Because you want to forget Him, therefore He covers you with avidyā. Avidyā-karma-saṁjñā anyā. Another, another energy of Kṛṣṇa which is known as avidyā, or darkness, covers you. And what is the symptoms, that avidyā? Karma-saṁjñā. Karma-saṁjñā means you have to work hard. Those who are covered by the avidyā, they are working day and night. And actually those who are not covered by avidyā, they are depending on Kṛṣṇa. Actually everyone is depending on Kṛṣṇa. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Whatever you are getting for your sense gratification, that is supplied by Kṛṣṇa. You cannot create anything. But by avidyā, he thinks that "I am creating."

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.154-155 -- Gorakhpur, February 19, 1971 (Krsna Niketan):

One śakti... Every śakti... Kṛṣṇa śakti... Just like Kṛṣṇa... Just like the sun is light, effulgence, and the sunshine is the energy of sun; it is also light. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His energy is also cit-ānanda, sat-cid-ānanda. Therefore says, viṣṇu-śaktir parā. Parā means superior or spiritual. Kṛṣṇa is spiritual, and His śakti, it is called material. Actually, in the higher sense, there is no material energy. It is covered only. Just like sunshine, when it is covered by the cloud, there is light, but the light is not so strong, so in the material world we cannot feel the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We are forgetful. Therefore so many people, those who are covered by this material energy, they say, "There is no God" or "God is dead," "You are God; I am God," "God is loitering in the street," so many theories of God. That is due to our covering of the knowledge how to appreciate God.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.154-155 -- Gorakhpur, February 19, 1971 (Krsna Niketan):

The cloud is covered... (break) ...little hazy, and when you go above the cloud, it is sunshine. So different stage of covering... Similarly, this avidyā or māyā is covering us in different stages, in different features. Māyā has got three qualities. Guṇamayī, māyā, Bhagavad-gītā says. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī (BG 7.14). Guṇamayī means having three modes of material nature: sattva, tamaḥ, rajaḥ. So here also the same thing is. Yayā kṣetra-jña-śaktiḥ sā veṣṭitā nṛpa sarva-gā. That veṣṭitā... Either you are covered by the quality of goodness, or you are covered by the quality of passion, or you are covered by the quality of ignorance.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110 -- New York, July 17, 1976:

So anyway, our point is, either the sun or the moon, they are localized. They are situated in one place, we can see. But the illumination, the heat or the cool illumination... Sun illumination is hot, and moon illumination is cold, very soothing. Kṛṣṇa is so kind that both things are there, and both things are required. It is not that unnecessarily. No. Kṛṣṇa says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūrayoḥ (BG 7.8). This prabha, this illumination, the light coming from the moon, from the sun, śaśi-sūrayoḥ... Śaśi means the moon, and sūrya means the sun. So those foolish persons who are challenging, "Can you show me God?" rascal, why don't you see God here, śaśi-sūrayoḥ? You do not see the sunshine, the moonshine? Why do you say that "I did not see God"? Huh? What is this argument? If Kṛṣṇa said, God said, "Here I am. I am the moonshine, I am the sunshine," why don't you see Him? Huh? You have to see according to your capacity. You cannot see with your, these present eyes the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is not possible. Now see the illumination of God. Just like, practical, we can experience the sunshine. Everyone knows what is sunshine, but everyone is not aware of the temperature of the sun or the person within the sun. But that's a fact. Otherwise, Kṛṣṇa is liar. Kṛṣṇa said, "I spoke this philosophy to the sun-god." So sun-god is there, that's a fact. And then if the sun-god is there, his devotees or his associates are also there.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110 -- New York, July 17, 1976:

Caitanya Mahāprabhu is going to explain the potency of the Lord—three potencies: spiritual potency and material potency and the marginal potency. How they are acting, throughout the whole cosmic manifestation, beyond that also, that very simple word, everyone can understand. The light is here, the bulb is here, localized, but the illumination is spread. And we can take advantage of the illumination. By the sun's illumination we see practically how trees are growing their leaves, their color. Everything is due to the sunshine, we have got practical experience. Where there is no sunshine, especially in these countries, all the leaves fall down, and as soon as there is sunshine, immediately millions and trillions of leaves come out. Immediately. Not that waiting. Immediately. At least in this way you have to understand how Kṛṣṇa's potency is working. That is the Vedic information, parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktir. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). Just like the sunshine is the potency of the sun and how it is acting wonderfully.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110 -- New York, July 17, 1976:

So everywhere the potency of the Supreme Lord is working. Very good example, exactly like the illumination, sunshine, moonshine, they are influencing the creation and they are situated in their own place, and they are all different potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So this is the potency of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is engaged in Vṛndāvana, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). Although He is in the Goloka Vṛndāvana, He is playing with His cowherd boyfriends and the gopīs and His father and mother, but still He's expanded all over the creation. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. Just like we live in some apartment.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110 -- New York, July 17, 1976:

So this expansion of energy, that is impersonal. But Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal. These foolish people, they do not understand Him. We see daily that the sunshine is so expansive, all over the universe, but it is..., the source of sunshine is the sun globe. That we see. So which is important? The sunshine or the sun globe? That we can see practically. And which is important, the sun globe or the sun-god? We can see every day. So similarly, God the person is important. God person is important. God... Just like the sun-god is important, and because he has his place, residential quarter, in the sun globe—the next important. And because his effulgence is distributed all over the universe, next important. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śakti. Actually, the illumination is coming from the sun-god. It is a material thing, and what to speak of spiritual body of Kṛṣṇa? That is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā: yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Yasya prabhā. You can study Kṛṣṇa's position from the sun. It is stated here that eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā. So His potencies are working. What is the sun and the sunshine different? The sunshine is combination of illuminating molecules, that's all, but each of them particle. Not that it is homogeneous.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110 -- New York, July 17, 1976:

If you don't want your individuality, you can stay in the Brahman effulgence. That is not very difficult for Kṛṣṇa, if you want to merge into the Brahman effulgence. But what is the profit? There is no profit. Suppose if you are placed in the sky, in the sunshine, and if somebody asks, "Now, you remain in the sky," would you agree? Huh? Will anyone agree that "Let me remain in the sky as a small particle of the sunshine"? No. You can agree out of some sentiment, but you cannot stay there. That is not possible. Therefore, those who merge into the existence of Brahman, impersonal Brahman, they again fall down. Just like they are going moon excursion, Mars excursion. "Stay there." They cannot stay. Because, actually, whether they are going or not—that's another thing—but there is no staying place. Simply rotating in the sky is not very pleasant thing. We have got experience in the airplane.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110 -- New York, July 17, 1976:

If we go five or six hours in the planes, we become suffocated. So it is not possible. Therefore those who merge into the Brahman effulgence, they again fall down, because they have no engagement in Kṛṣṇa's business. They never cultivated such knowledge. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Because the Māyāvādīs, they think, "What is this nonsense, serving Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is māyā. We are not going to serve māyā. We are going to become one with God, with effulgence." That oneness, you can stay within sunshine and be burnt up, but you cannot stay there. After your whims are fulfilled or you become disgusted... But because you have no information of serving Kṛṣṇa, then come down again to this material world and serve māyā—so-called hospitals and other things, philanthropic work. Because they have no information to serve Kṛṣṇa, the result is āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam (SB 10.2.32). The Brahman is also paraṁ padam. It is not material; it is spiritual world. But because they have no shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, they fall down again at the shelter of the māyā.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110 -- New York, July 17, 1976:

So this whole cosmic manifestation is nothing but expansion of the potency or energy of Kṛṣṇa. This is the conclusion. This expansion of the energy, that is impersonal. Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal: the original source, brahmaṇo 'haṁ pratiṣṭhā. The sunshine is coming from the sun globe, but the sun globe is more important than the sunshine. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's personality is more important than His impersonal feature, expansion of His energy. In this way, if we understand, then it is very easy, what is the difference between impersonal and personal understanding of the Absolute Truth.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110-111 -- Bombay, November 17, 1975:

Just like when you feel some heat, you can immediately understand there is some fire. And if there is light, you can immediately understand there is fire. The light you can see, and heat we can feel. By feeling or seeing, we can understand the existence of God everywhere. This is intelligence, not that... They challenge foolishly, "I can... Can you show me God? I cannot see God, therefore..." No. Why you cannot see God? You can feel the presence of God by heat and light. Light. Light you can see. When there is sunshine, you can see both the light and the heat. So as it is confirmed in the Vedic literature, we should appreciate the presence of God everywhere by His different energies, exactly like heat and light.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110-111 -- Bombay, November 17, 1975:

Everything... Just like the sun and the sunshine. The sunshine originally shining, but when it is covered by cloud it is not shining. Within the cloud the real sunshine is there. So this material energy means it is covered by ignorance. This is the difference between spiritual energy and material energy. There is no two energies. Energy is one: viṣṇu-śakti parā proktā. That is parā, spiritual energy. Kṣetrajñākhyā tathā parā. Kṣetrajñākhyā tathā parā. Kṣetrajña means jīva-śakti, one who knows kṣetra and kṣetrajña. This subject matter is there in the Thirteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. Kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānam. So when Arjuna inquired, kṣetra-jñam, Kṛṣṇa replied, idaṁ śarīraṁ kṣetram abhidhīyate: "This body is kṣetra, and one who knows this body..." Just like I say, "It is my body," so I am kṣetrajña.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.112 -- New York, July 20, 1976:

Just like the sun globe is reservoir of heat and light. Everyone will know. So His potency... The sun globe potency, sunshine, is also heat and light. It is not different from the sun. Śakti means potency. Śakti śaktimat abheda. The potency of a certain person is nondifferent; there is no difference in quality. The same example, the sun and the sunshine. Sunshine is the potency of the sun, but the quality of the sun and the quality of the sunshine is the same, heat and light. So viṣṇu-śakti, there are... According to the Vedic information, He has got many multifarious potencies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). Different types of śakti. We can see different types of agency, er, what is called, energy, is working within this creation. Take for example the leaves of the tree. Some of them are green; some of them are red; some of them are yellow; some of them are mixed. Similarly fruits—different tastes; flowers—different flavor. Varieties. But wherefrom it is coming? The sunshine. The sunshine is the same, but it is acting in different way, so we see different manifestation. This is crude material example. Similarly, if we take the spiritual original, then the original is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.120 -- Bombay, November 12, 1975:

Knowledge of Brahman, knowledge of Paramātmā and knowledge of Kṛṣṇa is the same, but in different features. Just like knowledge of the sun planet, knowledge of the sun god and knowledge of the sunshine, they... Knowledge is the same—heat and light—but the heat and light which you receive from sunshine is different from the heat and light from the sun globe, and the heat and light in the sun globe is different from the sun-god. But heat and light is there, either you realize Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān. So a devotee means he is concerned with Bhagavān. That's all. So devotee is also mahātmā; those who are jñānīs, after Brahman, they are also mahātmā; and the yogis, they are also mahātmā; but one who has understood Kṛṣṇa perfectly and surrendered to Him-vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ (BG 7.19)—that mahātmā is very rare to be found.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.137-142 -- New York, November 29, 1966:

Just in the morning, a little, not sun directly, but even there is sunshine far away, immediately the darkness goes away. I am in distress; I am in poverty-stricken. Suppose I get immediately some large amount of money. Immediately my distress gone. So exactly like that, dhana pāile yaiche sukha-bhoga phala pāya, then automatically he becomes happy, a poor man when he gets money. Similarly, as soon as we have little taste of this devotional service, at once all our miserable life becomes happy at once. Yes.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.146-151 -- New York, December 3, 1966:

That brahmajyoti, in that brahmajyoti there are all these universes and Vaikuṇṭhas. All, they are resting in that brahmajyoti. Just like in the sunshine so many planets are resting, similarly, in the brahmajyoti, the personal shining of Lord Kṛṣṇa, in that shining which is called brahmajyoti, all the universes and Vaikuṇṭha planets or universes, they are all resting. And the universes, the material universes are only one-fourths in quantity of the Vaikuṇṭha universes. All the universes taken together of this material world, it is only one-fourths in comparison to the other Vaikuṇṭha, or spiritual, universes. Vaikuṇṭha, brahmāṇḍa-gaṇa-śakti-kārya haya.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.146-151 -- New York, December 3, 1966:

Just like we can have some material example: the sun. We do not know for how many millions of years the sunshine and temperature is coming out of the sun planet, but still the sun is the same. There is no loss of temperature. So if in a material object this is possible, that in spite of distributing heat and light from the sun disk for millions and millions of years, the sun disk is still of the same temperature, there is no loss of temperature—this is a material thing—so why in the spiritual body of the Supreme there will be any loss? This is a material idea, that "Because God has become all-pervading, therefore He has lost Himself." Why He should lose His identity? This is confirmed in the Vedic literature: pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evavaśiṣyate. If you take from the... He is so full that if you take the whole thing from Him, still, He is whole. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.146-151 -- New York, December 3, 1966:

So in the nine cantos of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, all these different nine manifestation of His energies are described. If we can understand... Just like if we can study the sunshine, the energy of the sun, then we can estimate the value of sun: "Oh, what sort of temperature is there." So if you want to study God, if you want to know God, then you must first of all study His energies. God is all-pervading by His energy. You study. Just the scientists, what they are studying? They are studying a portion of the energy of God, only a portion of the energy of God. That is also not perfectly. So the energy is so vast and immense that one cannot study even the energy.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.146-151 -- New York, December 3, 1966:

Simply according to my realization, the different names are there, according to my different realization. Somebody is realizing only the impersonal manifestation, energies, and somebody is experiencing the... Because God is everywhere. So I experience this way; you experience in that way. Therefore the name, Absolute Truth, is differently named. Otherwise there is no difference. It is my realization. So we... If somebody argues, "The sunshine is sun," well, that can be accepted. Why not? Sunshine is sun. But if somebody says, "No, sunshine is not sun," that is also accepted because sunshine is not sun also. Somebody says that "Sunshine is sun." That is accepted. And somebody says, "Sunshine is not sun." That is also accepted because there is no difference between sun and the sunshine. Similarly... But by comparative study, one who is studying the sun as it is, he is studying everything or he knows everything.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.154-157 -- New York, December 7, 1966:

All planets are round, but that supreme planet is lotuslike. So that is in the spiritual sky, Goloka Vṛndāvana. And from that spiritual planet... Just like the, from the sun planet, the sunshine is emanating profusely. Just like this sun is, is compared with the eye, eyes of the Lord. Not... One eye. Another eye, the moon. It is figuratively stated. Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Aśeṣa-tejāḥ, unlimited potency, sunlight, is coming from the sun. This material world, we can practically experience. But the sunlight is also emanating from that light which is emanating from that Goloka Vṛndāvana.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.156-163 -- New York, December 11, 1966:

Lord Caitanya says that "The conception of Brahman is that it is the rays of the body of Kṛṣṇa. Just like the sunshine is the rays of the body of the sun disc, similarly," brahma-aṅga-kānti tāṅra nirviśeṣa prakāśe. And in that brahmajyoti, or rays, there is no variegatedness. Just like if you all of a sudden see to the sun, you don't find any variegatedness in the sky. It appears just like only dazzling effulgence. But when the sunlight is not there, we can see millions and millions of stars in the firmament. So in the Upaniṣad also, it is prayed that "My Lord, You kindly move this curtain of glaring effulgence so that I can actually see You."

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.156-163 -- New York, December 11, 1966:

So one who is dazzled by this glaring effulgence of the rays of Kṛṣṇa, they can realize the Supreme Lord or the Supreme Absolute Truth as impersonal. Sūrya yena carma-cakṣe jyotirmaya bhāse. Carma-cakṣe, with our present eyes, defective... All our senses are defective. We are very much proud of our eyes. I want to see personally. But we do not know that with these eyes or any sense, they are all defective. They are not perfect. Just like in the glare of the sunshine, oh, we see nothing. We see sometimes darkness. So we cannot believe these eyes or senses. We have to take information of perfect knowledge from the authorities. That is the Vedic way. So those who want to see God or the Supreme Absolute Truth by the agency of their imperfect senses, they say that God is impersonal. They're imperfect. That is a realization of the imperfect senses.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.156-163 -- New York, December 11, 1966:

"I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda, whose bodily effulgence is brahmajyoti." The brahmajyoti, that is nothing but His bodily effulgence. And in that brahmajyoti... Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Or that brahmajyoti being manifested, there are innumerable planets and universes. There are. The same example: just like in the sun, sunshine, there are innumerable planets, so similarly, in the original shine, Kṛṣṇa shine—this is sunshine; the original shine is Kṛṣṇa shining—in that effulgence there are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, spiritual planets. Ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42).

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.156-163 -- New York, December 11, 1966:

In the Bhagavad-gītā, you'll find, all these planetary manifestations is situated in one fourth of His effulgence. Three fourths of the manifestation are in the spiritual sky. Tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtam. Aśeṣa-bhūtam. It is so much extended that nobody can calculate how far. We cannot calculate even the sunshine, how far it is extended, and what to speak of that original effulgence. So our knowledge is always imperfect. We cannot study even millions and millionth part of the opulence of the Supreme Lord. So it is futile to deny God because we cannot calculate His potencies and expansion of potencies.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.255-281 -- New York, December 17, 1966:

Now here is a nice example. You have seen the sunshine entering your room through a hole of your window, and you will find so many atomic demonstration. So these brahmāṇḍas, the so many universes, they are emanating from the breathing of Mahā-Viṣṇu in that way.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.298 -- New York, December 20, 1966:

Now, Brahmā's description is given here, that bhāsvān yathāśma-sakaleṣu nijeṣu tejaḥ. Just like valuable stone... The example is very nice, valuable stone, just like diamond. Diamond has got power to illuminate. And what is this diamond? The diamond is made by the interaction of sunshine. All these valuable stones, they are products of sunshine. So as the diamond has got power of shining power, it is derived from the sun, or diamond, the moon also, it derives power from the sun, similarly, Brahmā, although he is very powerful, he is known as creator of this universe, but he is just like diamond. He inherits power from the Supreme Lord, so he becomes powerful. Bhāsvān yathāśma-sakaleṣu nijeṣu tejaḥ. That is simply a bit of power. Just like a diamond, diamond also illuminating, but it is not original luminous. Original luminous is sun, and the illumination expanded by diamond is not so valuable as the sunshine. Similarly, Brahmā, although we see him so powerful, he has little power derived from the Supreme Lord. That is the example given here.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.391-405 -- New York, January 2, 1967:

So this was questioned by Mahārāja Parīkṣit to Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied in many ways, but the summary is that "How this can be impure?" That is, "By chanting Kṛṣṇa's name, one becomes pure, how dancing with Kṛṣṇa can be impure?" And he gave that example, tejīyasāṁ na doṣāyet. One who is powerful, to..., for him there is no question of contamination. Just like the sun. He gave the example, the sun. Sun is so powerful that sunshine is touching all contaminated place, but sun is not contaminated. Rather, by the sunshine it is sterilized. Contaminated place becomes sterilized. As a crude example in the material world. Similarly, in God's association there is no question of irreligiosity.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.6 -- New York, January 8, 1967:

Kṛṣṇa is in the internal potency, although this potency is not different. Therefore it is inferior. It is inferior energy, it is called. And this, this is explained very nicely in the Bhagavad-gītā. Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagat avyakta-mūrtinā: (BG 9.4) "By Me the whole spiritual and material world is manifested." Tatam idam. How it is manifested? Just like the sun and sunshine. Sunshine is manifested all over the universe, and sun is the central point. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the central point, and His shining brahmajyoti is diffused all over. And the part of that brahmajyoti, when it is, I mean to say, covered by the cloud of mahat-tattva, that is called material existence. So we are in this darkness. So Kṛṣṇa says, Lord Cai... So his place is in the internal potency. 'Svarūpa-śakti' rūpe tāṅra haya avasthāna. He is situated there in His internal potency.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.31-33 -- New York, January 16, 1967:

So we may not... Just like the sun is so many millions miles away but he is..., sun can be present before us by his sunshine, his potency, sun's potency, energy. Similarly, these are all Kṛṣṇa's spiritual energies, and He is compared with the sun because He is the original sun. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). From the spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, the glowing effulgence, brahmajyoti, is coming out. How it is coming out? That we can very easily understand. As the sunshine is coming out, emanating incessantly from the sun disc, similarly the real sunshine, brahmajyoti, is coming out of the spiritual planet Goloka Vṛndāvana incessantly. That is called brahmajyoti. Yasya prabhā prabhavato (Bs. 5.40). And due to that incessant shining, all the shining which you are experiencing, even this lamp, even this electricity, fire, moonshine, sunshine, any shining, that is due to that brahmajyoti. So yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40).

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.31-33 -- New York, January 16, 1967:

Māyā cannot come before Kṛṣṇa. Because... Just like the sun. Sunshine, there ignorance or darkness cannot come, cannot approach. So he saw. Vilajjamānayā yasya sthātum īkṣā-pathe amuyā. The māyā is ashamed to come before Kṛṣṇa because she is entrusted with very thankless task. Māyā is entrusted by Kṛṣṇa to take the conditioned souls and take charge of them. And māyā has taken charge of all us conditioned souls, and her task is to punish, simply beating. So that is a very thankless task. She is discharging the duty entrusted to her by Kṛṣṇa, but everyone, especially the transcendentalists, oh, they are hating, "Oh, māyā, māyā, māyā." Nobody will like, transcendentalists, māyā. Either personalist or impersonalist.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.31-33 -- New York, January 16, 1967:

So just you cannot imagine where there is sunshine there can be darkness. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is just like sun; how can you imagine that Kṛṣṇa and māyā can exist together? No. That is not possible. If there is māyā, there is no Kṛṣṇa. And if there is Kṛṣṇa, there is no māyā. This is the test. If we are still in māyā, that means I'm out of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And if I am actually in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no existence of māyā. And what is the symptom of māyā? Mamāham: "My country, my society, my father, my mother, my wife, my children, my property, my position, my, my, my." There is no end of "my," although nothing belongs to him. This is called māyā.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.29 -- San Francisco, January 21, 1967:

Just like you see the sunlight distributed all over the universe. If you say, "This is greatest," oh, the sun planet is creating the sunlight; therefore sun planet is greatest, not the sunshine. So we are captivated, tribhir guṇamayī, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. We are captivated by the greatness of the three qualities of nature or the energies of God. And we do not approach God. That is our difficulty. We are simply amazed by seeing the wonderful activities of God's energy. That's all. But we do not approach God. Therefore we are less intelligent. One who does not approach God (and) simply is captivated by the display of His energy, they are called śakta. Śakta means appreciating the strength or the energy of God. That's all.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad Invocation Lecture -- Los Angeles, April 28, 1970:

The animal does not know what is life, but he is under the laws of nature, evolution, going on. But when you get this human form of life, there is responsibility. You have to chalk out. Here is a chance you can become Kṛṣṇa conscious and make your life solve all problems. If not, then again go to the cycle of birth and death again, 8,400,000. It will take many, many millions of years again to come back. Just like the sunshine you will see after twelve hours, twenty-four hours, morning. Everything is a process. Process. So if you lose this opportunity of elevating yourself, then again you come to the process. Nature's law is very strong. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī (BG 7.14). The sooner you surrender to Kṛṣṇa, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. Such person is able to overcome this process of material nature.

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970:

Just like there is sunshine—sunshine, nobody can check—but it is sometimes covered by cloud. When it is covered by the cloud, the sunshine is dim. The more it is covered... Just like in Western countries, in the northern countries, it is very much covered. Practically, there is no sunshine. In London I saw the sunshine is very rare. At ten o'clock it is early in the morning, and at half past three again evening, so long I was there. So this covering of the sunshine is temporary. Actually, sunshine cannot be covered. The whole sunshine cannot be covered. That is not possible. An insignificant portion of the sunshine may be covered, or is covered sometimes by the cloud. Similarly, this material world is an insignificant portion of the spiritual world, covered by this material energy. That's all. And what is the position of material energy? The material energy is also another form of the spiritual energy. That means absence of spiritual activity, that is material. That's all.

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970:

Just like what is this cloud? This cloud is another transformation of the sunshine. The sunshine evaporates water from the sea, and the cloud is formed. Therefore sunshine is the cause of the cloud. Similarly, this material energy is also caused by the Supreme Lord because it is His energy.

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 8 -- Los Angeles, May 11, 1970:

So how Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, He can be contaminated by any kind of sinful action? God is good. There cannot be any sinful action. Sometimes less intelligent class of men, they criticize Kṛṣṇa, "Why Kṛṣṇa did it?" Yes, Kṛṣṇa is God. He can do anything, whatever He likes. Your laws cannot restrict Kṛṣṇa. You may... For you there may be so many restrictive laws, but for Kṛṣṇa there is no restrictive law. He can surpass all restrictive regulations. This question was put to Parīkṣit Mahārāja after rasa-līlā that "Kṛṣṇa came to establish the principles of moral and religious life. How He enjoyed the company of so many young girls who were not...? They were wives of other persons. So how it is so?" So the answer was given that Kṛṣṇa cannot be contaminated. Rather, anything comes to Kṛṣṇa, even with contaminated mind, becomes purified. The same example: the sun cannot be contaminated, but anything contaminated, if you put into the sunshine, it becomes purified. So you approach Kṛṣṇa with any desire... Akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā (SB 2.3.10). The gopīs... Of course, that is not this material thing. Still, as young girls, they were captivated by the beauty of Kṛṣṇa. So they approached Kṛṣṇa with a view to accept Him as parmour. But actually, they became purified.

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 13-15 -- Los Angeles, May 18, 1970:

So these planets are covered by the brahmajyoti effulgence. So here it is prayed that hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasya apihitam. Apihitam means covered. Just like you cannot see the sun globe on account of this dazzling sunshine, similarly, the Kṛṣṇa planet, here you have the picture. From the Kṛṣṇa planet the effulgence is coming out. So one has to penetrate this effulgence. That is being prayed here. Hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasya. The real Absolute Truth, Kṛṣṇa, His planet is covered by the Brahman effulgence. So the devotee is praying, "Kindly move it. Wind it so that I can see You really." So brahmajyoti, the Māyāvāda philosophers, they do not know that beyond brahmajyoti there is anything. Here is the Vedic evidence, that the brahmajyoti is just like golden effulgence. Hiraṇmayena pātreṇa. This is covering the real face of the Supreme Lord. Tat tvaṁ pūṣann apāvṛṇu. So, "You are sustainer, You are maintainer. Kindly uncover this so that we can see You actually, Your face."

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 32 -- New York, July 26, 1971:

Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti, paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti (Bs. 5.32). In another sense, this whole cosmic manifestation is also the body of God; therefore you cannot hide anything from God's vision. In the Brahma..., the same Brahma-saṁhitā, it is said that yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇām. Savitā. Savitā means the sun, the sun-god, or the sun planet, is the eye, one eye of God. And the other eye is the moon. So He can see all things, what is happening within this universe—in daytime with His eye called the sun, and at night with moon. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is confirmed. Kṛṣṇa says, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: "I am the sunshine and the moonshine." So people who deny existence of God, they say that "Can you show me God?" You are seeing God. Why you are denying? God says that "I am the sunshine. I am the moonshine." And who has not seen the sunshine and moonshine? Everyone has seen. As soon as there is morning, there is sunshine. So if sunshine is God, then you have seen God. Why do you deny? You cannot deny. Kṛṣṇa says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya: (BG 7.8) "I am the taste of the water." So who has not tasted water? We are drinking, daily, gallons of water. We are thirsty, and the good taste which quench our thirst, that is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 35 -- New York, July 31, 1971:

Just like Kṛṣṇa says, try to understand Me, try to under... Try to see Me everywhere. How? Now, first of all He says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya, I am the taste of the water. So when you are thirsty, you require a glass of water, drink it, and when you feel happy you understand that this quenching power of this water is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa realization. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8). So as soon as there is sunrise, you see Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says "I am the sunshine, I am the moonshine." So why don't you try to see Kṛṣṇa? In the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, there is a big list. Just like Kṛṣṇa says "I am the Lion amongst the animals." Because He took the shape of a lion, Hiraṇyakaśipu, eternal shape. I am the banyan Tree, so many thing. Kṛṣṇa has described in the Bhagavad-gītā. So in the beginning, if one is not fortunate enough to see Kṛṣṇa, although He is sitting in this temple, let him see Kṛṣṇa in this way. If he's not fortunate to come here and to see Kṛṣṇa, take prasādam, and dance in ecstasy, then let his unfortunate condition be diminished by seeing Kṛṣṇa in water, in sunshine, in moonshine, in this and that.

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- Bombay, January 3, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa is born as Yaśodā, Devakī-nandana. Immediately He begins to grow. But that birth is taking another planet, another universe. Just like six-thirty, sunshine... It is now visible on this planet, or on this city, but again six-thirty, again, in another city, six-thirty in another city, six-thirty another city. It is not very difficult to understand. That six-thirty's continuing. That seven-thirty's continuing. That eight-thirty's continuing. Every minute and second is continuing. Simply you have to know where it is. You immediately try to know by phoning the other city, other, on the other country, you'll know that this six-thirty, or seven-thirty or twelve-thirty or the set up or rising of the sun is continually going on, here or there.

Festival Lectures

Sri Gaura-Purnima Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.38 -- Mayapur, March 16, 1976:

Everyone drinks water, and as soon as you drink water when you are thirsty, and the taste of the water appeases your thirst, so if you simply remember that "In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that this taste is Kṛṣṇa," then immediately you remember Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as you remember Kṛṣṇa, it is devotional service, smaraṇam. Where is the difficulty? Where is the difficulty for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious? Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: "I am the illumination of the moon and the sun." So who does not see the moonshine and the sunshine? In daytime you see the sunshine and at night you see the moonshine. So if you see the sunshine and moonshine and if you remember Kṛṣṇa's instructions that "This sunshine, moonshine, I am," so where is the difficulty?

raso 'ham apsu kaunteya

prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ

praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu

(śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu)

(BG 7.8)

Now, if you think, "Eh, I am so learned Vedantist. Why shall I study the sunshine-moonshine and what? I shall chant oṁ." (laughter) "Rascal, this oṁ I am. (laughter) You are so big Vedantist. You chant oṁ, but that I am." Praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu. Every Vedic mantra is chanted after the vibration of omkara. Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūr... This is the Vedic mantra always, every Veda. So either you become Vedantist or ordinary human being—does not know anything—you can realize Kṛṣṇa. There is no difficulty.

Ratha-yatra -- San Francisco, June 27, 1971:

Whenever you drink water, as soon as you are satiated, your thirst is quenched, immediately you think that this thirsting, the quenching power is Kṛṣṇa. Prabhāsmi śaśi sūryayoḥ. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the sunshine. I am the moonshine." So during daytime, every one of us seeing the sunshine. As soon as you see sunshine, immediately you can remember Kṛṣṇa, "Here is Kṛṣṇa." As soon as you see moonshine at night, immediately you can remember, "Here is Kṛṣṇa." In this way, if you practice, there are many instances, many examples given in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the Seventh Chapter, if you read them carefully, how to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then at that time, when you are mature in love of Kṛṣṇa, you will see Kṛṣṇa everywhere. Nobody has to help you to see Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa will be revealed before you, by your devotion, by your love. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). Kṛṣṇa, when one is in service mood, when one understands that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, or God," then Kṛṣṇa help you how to see Him.

Ratha-yatra -- London, July 13, 1972:

Even when everything is annihilated, that nature stands. So that spiritual nature, or spiritual sky, is described in the Vedic literature, in the Upaniṣads, that there is no need of sunshine, there is no need of moonshine, there is no need of electricity. That is another sky. So our only business is to transfer ourself from this sky to that sky, that illuminating sky. That is the Vedic injunction. Tamasi mā jyotir gamaya: "Don't remain in this darkness, in this world of darkness. Come to the world of light." So this movement is very important movement. We are trying to educate people how to transfer one from this world of darkness to the world of light, which is called Goloka Vṛndāvana. So I am very much thankful to you that you have given me your time. So we have got our books; our devotees are preaching. Take advantage of this opportunity and make your life successful.

Sri Vyasa-puja -- New Vrindaban, September 2, 1972:

Everyone says, "Can you show me? I want to see." And what can you see? What is the power of seeing? At night, if there is no sunshine, you cannot see, so what is the use of your seeing? If there is wall, you cannot see what is beyond the wall. You are seeing every day the sun, but we are seeing just like a small disc. But actually it is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth. Similarly, we cannot see which is situated a very long distance. We cannot see even the eyelid which is actually with the eyes. But we cannot see it. In this way, if you study, every one of your senses you will find imperfect.

Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 30, 1968:

The example is that the sun. Sun is so powerful that he is soaking water from everywhere. He is soaking water even from the filthy place where people are passing urine and stool. But sunshine is so powerful that it is soaking water from the urine, urinals, and lavatory, latrine, but still sun is pure. And by the sun's contact that place also becomes pure. This is called purity. Even impure, even I am impure, if am in touch with Kṛṣṇa consciousness then I also become pure. He does not become impure.

Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda Deity Installation -- London, August 21, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa says bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā. They are My energies, separated energy. So even if you consider that here is not Kṛṣṇa but a marble. No, that marble is also Kṛṣṇa. Marble is also... And Kṛṣṇa is, being omnipotent, even for your logical argument... Even if you say that this is a marble statue, still Kṛṣṇa is so powerful, omnipotent, that He can accept your service even through this marble. Actually, it is not marble. Or from spiritual vision, everything being Kṛṣṇa, so Kṛṣṇa can accept your service even through the marble, even through the water, even through the fire. Why not? Energy. Just like if you come to the sunshine, energy of sun, you immediately touch the sun globe. Is it not? Because the beams are coming from the sun globe so as soon as you touch the sunshine, sunbeam, you touch the sun immediately. And there are yogis who can reach the sun planet through the beams of sun. Because the spirit soul is very, very small. Smaller than the atom. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). And the spirit soul can go everywhere.

Six Gosvamis Lecture, Sri Sri Sad-govamy-astaka -- Los Angeles, November 18, 1968:

God is omnipotent. They do not understand what is this omnipotency. They say some words, "almighty," "omnipotent," but they do not understand what is this omnipotence. Just like even from material example we can see that the sun planet diffusing... I do not know how much temperature, what is the degree of that temperature, diffusing for millions and millions of years. Still, the temperature is the same. If it is possible to a material thing which is an insignificant creation of God, if the sun is so much omnipotent... Not omnipotent. The sun's light or the sunshine is from, derived from Kṛṣṇa's spiritual potency. But we can see that it is so much potent that diffusing sunshine for millions of years. There is no decrease of temperature. So vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19) means Vāsudeva expands Himself in so many universes, so many planets, so many paraphernalia, still, He is in Goloka Vṛndāvana.

Six Gosvamis Lecture, Sri Sri Sad-govamy-astaka -- Los Angeles, November 18, 1968:

We are praying to the material energy also—material energy also, perverted reflection of the spiritual energy. Actually, there is no material energy. Everything is spiritual. But when the spiritual energy is covered by ignorance... Just like when the sky is covered by cloud it becomes dark. Similarly, spiritual energy, when it is covered by material energy... The cloud has no separate existence. It is also creation of the sunshine. Similarly, the material energy has also no separate existence. It is also creation of Kṛṣṇa, but it appears and disappears. The spiritual energy remains. So when we dovetail ourself with the spiritual energy, then we become perfect. That is our perfection. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is dovetailing ourself with the spiritual energy and thus become perfect. And this human form of life is meant for that purpose.

Initiation Lectures

Brahmana Initiation Lecture -- New Vrindaban, May 25, 1969:

If you are able to penetrate the sunshine and go to the sun and seek out the sun-god, if somebody is able, by going to the sun planet by sputnik, he is better than who is in the sunshine. Sunshine we can have by just little go up to the cloud. Say, about seven miles up, you get sunshine. But to go to the sun planet and enter into the..., that is very difficult job. That requires so many things. (aside:) Sit down properly. Chant. So Brahman, Nirviśeṣa-brahman, impersonal Brahman, when one understands, jñānaṁ vijñānam... Jñānaṁ vijñānam. And when one becomes Vaiṣṇava, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11).

Lecture at Initiation Fire Sacrifice -- Los Angeles, July 16, 1969:

If you are God, then you must be as joyful as God, as Kṛṣṇa. If you are suffering still and you are claiming that you are God, that is nonsense. You needn't become God. You, simply if you become in the light of God, you become joyful. Just like from the darkness of night, if you simply come to the sunshine, immediately your position is changed. It does not require that you have to become the sun. Simply by coming to the sunlight your purpose is fulfilled. So the sunlight and the sun is not different; they are one unit. But sunlight is not sun. That is knowledge. If we, if simply by coming you can come into the sunlight, if I think that I have become identical with the sun, that is nonsense.

Initiation Lecture -- Hamburg, August 27, 1969:

This is a verse from Viṣṇu Purāṇa. It is stated there that viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā, "The energy of the Supreme Lord is spiritual." Energy and the energetic, they are nondifferent. Just like the sunshine is the energy of the sun globe, but the quality of sunshine and the sun globe is the same. It is not different. The sunshine is bright, illuminating, hot. Similarly, we can understand the sun globe, the temperature may be very high, but the quality is the same. So viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā (CC Madhya 6.154). God has got one energy. That energy is spiritual energy. And kṣetrajñākhyā tathā parā: and the same energy is manifested in another form, which is called kṣetrajña, or marginal energy, or the energy in which we living creatures are acting.

Initiation Lecture -- Hamburg, August 27, 1969:

Kṛṣṇa, or God, is the whole spirit, and the energies emanating from Him, that is also spiritual. Śaktiḥ śaktimator abhinnaḥ. In the Vedic language we understand that the śaktimān, or the energetic, Kṛṣṇa, and the energy, they are nondifferent. So this material energy is also nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. In other words of Vedic language it is said, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: "Everything is Brahman." In the Bhagavad-gītā also, Lord Kṛṣṇa says that māyā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Sarvam means all; idam, this manifestation, this cosmic manifestation, whatever you are experiencing... Kṛṣṇa says that "I am expanded as this cosmic manifestation." Māyā tatam idaṁ sarvam avyakta-mūrtinā. This impersonal feature, avyakta, mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni nāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ: (BG 9.4) "Everything is resting on Me, or everything is expansion of Myself." Nāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ: "But I am not there." This philosophy, acintya-bhedābheda, simultaneously one and different, is our philosophy, inaugurated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, although it is in the Vedānta-sūtras. So everything is simultaneously one and different from the Supreme Lord. But there are two classes of philosophers. One class says that God and the living entities are different, and there is another philosopher, monist philosopher. They say God and the living entities are one. So this acintya-bhedābheda philosophy adjusts that "God and the living creatures, they are simultaneously one and different." They are one in quality, just like the energy and the energetic, the sun globe and the sunshine. In quality, in sunshine there is heat, there is illumination, light. In the sun globe also, there is heat, there is illumination. But the degrees are quite different. You can bear the heat and illumination of the sunshine, but you cannot go to the sun globe or you can bear the heat and temperature there. The scientist says that so many millions miles away, if somebody goes or some planet goes near the sun globe, it will immediately burn into ashes.

Initiation Lecture -- Hamburg, August 27, 1969:

"Those who have adjusted themselves to come to Me, he can come." There is no obstruction. So this initiation process, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, means to adjust your condition so that after leaving this body, you can enter into the planet where Kṛṣṇa lives. These things are very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama: (BG 15.6) "That supreme abode, where entering, one does not come back again to this material world, that is My supreme abode." There is...

na yatra bhāsayate sūryo

na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ

yad gatvā na nivartante

tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

(BG 15.6)

These kind are explained. In that spiritual kingdom there is no need of sunshine, there is no need of moonshine, there is no need of electricity. And one who goes there, he does not come back. He lives there eternally, blissful life of knowledge.

Initiations -- New York, July 22, 1971:

Devotee: Ravindra-svarūpa.

Prabhupāda: Ravindra-svarūpa. Just like sunshine. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Come on. You know the rules and regulations? (devotees chanting japa)

Devotee: Rohiṇīdevī.

Prabhupāda: Rohiṇī. Rohiṇī, the mother of Balarāma. (laughter-it's a boy?)

Devotee: Devamīra.

Prabhupāda: Devamīra.

Devotee: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Victory flag. Victory flag. That means Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (japa) Madirā. Madirā means intoxication. So you be intoxicated by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So after performance (indistinct) they may to my room.

General Lectures

Lecture on Maha-mantra -- New York, September 8, 1966:

In this world, whatever you are seeing, it is nothing but distribution of the energy of the Supreme Lord. Just like you can feel the light and the heat of the sun. This light and heat of the sun are different energies of the sun. The energy and the energetic, the thing from which the energy is generated and the energy, they are nondifferent. The sunshine or the sun heat is not different from the sun. Because there is heat in the sun, therefore we feel the heat of sunshine. And there is light in the sun, therefore we see the sunshine. So this sunshine and sun heat is not different from the sun as it is. But still it is different. Still it is different. You cannot say that "Because I am feeling the heat of the sun, therefore I have approached sun." No. Sun is far, far away from you. And because the sunshine has entered your room, you cannot say that "Sun has entered my room." No. Still, sunshine and sun heat is not different from the sun.

Lecture Excerpt -- Montreal, July 18, 1968:

The Supreme cannot be covered. Then how He becomes supreme? The covering becomes supreme. Oh, there are so many arguments and so many... But we follow that the cloud covers the small particles of sunshine. But sun remains as it is. And we practically see also when we go by jet plane, we are over the cloud. There is no cloud outside. Sun is clear. In the lower status there is some cloud. If you go thousands of miles up, we don't see any cloud. Everything sunshine.

Lecture Excerpt -- Montreal, July 18, 1968:

Brahman realization is the first realization of God. Just like if you want to go to the... If you come to the light, sunshine, your first experience is the sunshine. But if you go still further, you..., if you are able to enter into the sun planet, that is another stage. And if you can find out the predominating deity in the sun planet, that is another stage. Similarly, the Brahman means you come out of the darkness of ignorance or māyā. That is Brahman realization. But if you go further, then you realize Supersoul, Paramātmā. And if you go further, then you realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). The... Just like the same example, the sunshining, sun and the sun-god, they are one and the same. But when you are in the sunshine, you cannot say that you are seeing the sun-god. That will be mistake. But one who is in association with the sun-god, he's already in the sun planet, he is in front of the sun-god, and he is in sunshine. Is that clear? Yes. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Advaya-jñāna. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11). Advayam, that light, is everywhere. Either sunshine or sun planet or sun-god, there is light. There is no darkness. Similarly, either you remain in the impersonal Brahman or absorbed in Paramātmā or in association with the Supreme Personality, it is all spiritual stage.

Lecture Excerpt -- Montreal, July 18, 1968:

Although we are seeing it is just like a disk and the sunshine is overcast all over the universe, that does not mean that sunshine is more important than the sun disk. It is due to the sun disk that the sunshine is all over the universe. And if you think that sunshine is distributed all over the universe, therefore it is greater than the sun disk—no. The importance of the sun disk is more than the universally distributed sunshine. So impersonal Brahman realization is just like realization of the sunshine, but there are other stages. And the highest stage is to associate with the Supreme. Just like this picture, they are associating person to person. Another point is, as individual soul we require association, person to person. That is our nature.

Lecture Excerpt -- Montreal, July 18, 1968:

The same example can be given. Suppose you are taking a jet plane to go to the sun planet or moon planet, but you are in the sunshine. You are more higher above the cloud region. Cloud is after, say, a few miles up, if you go, there is no more cloud. Finished. If you go above seven miles up, there is no more clouds. There is no question of māyā. That's all right. But if you go continually, if you do not get shelter in any other planet, then the next stage will be you have to come back. You cannot remain in that impersonal sunshine. You have to take shelter. If you don't get shelter, then you come back. Similarly, the impersonalist, for the time being they may think that they have Brahman realization, but because by nature he wants association, without getting association of the Supreme Lord he has to come back to make association with this nonsense. And this is practically we have seen. Many sannyāsīs, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, "Brahman is truth and the world is false."

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Seattle, September 25, 1968:

Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, the original Personality of Godhead, might have assumed the form of Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Govinda, so many. But this original form is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. And in the Bhagavad-gītā also Kṛṣṇa explains Himself, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: (BG 10.8) "I am the origin of everyone." Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: "Everything emanates from Me, all the energies." Just like from the sun globe the energies are coming out incessantly just like flows of water, and everything is being created in this material world through the sunshine, similarly, the shining principle which is emanating from Kṛṣṇa, which is known as brahmajyoti, is the origin of everything. So kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).

Lecture -- Seattle, September 30, 1968:

Does it mean the sun's temperature is changed? It is according to the reception. The atmosphere of this country is so surcharged that you cannot receive the sunshine properly, but the sunshine distributes its shining everywhere the same. Similarly, according to the country, according to the circumstances, according to the planet, God is manifested differently, but He is not different. You are wrapping your body with some winter clothes. Same time, telegraph in India, oh, they are running fan. Why the temperature is different? Therefore whatever Lord Jesus Christ says or whatever Kṛṣṇa says or what Rāma says, that is in terms of the place, in terms of the circumstances, atmosphere, persons, hearer. There is different. One thing which I try to convince a child is not possible to teach the same thing to his father. Or a child cannot understand what is sex life, but a young man can understand. The same child, when he'll be grown up, he'll know. So you do not think that everyone can understand everything. So Bible is spoken under certain circumstances; Bhagavad-gītā is spoken under certain circumstances. It is the difference of the circumstances. Otherwise, the principle is the same. In the Bible also it is said, "Love God," and Bhagavad-gītā also says, "Love God." There is no difference.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 2, 1968:

Our position is... Because we are spirit soul and Kṛṣṇa, God, is spirit... He is whole spirit and I am particle of that spirit. Just like sun, the sun globe, and the sunshine, molecules of shining particles, they are also sunlight. The combination of those atomic particles of sunshine giving us the sunshine rays. So we are also shining just like the particles of the sun globe, but we are not equal to the complete sun. The glowing particles, molecules of the sunshine, is not equal in quantity with the sun globe, but in quality it is the same. Similarly, we living entities, we are minute particles of that supreme spirit soul, Kṛṣṇa or God. Therefore we are also shine. We are of the same quality. Just like a small particle of gold is gold.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 2, 1968:

It is not iron. Similarly, we are spirit soul; therefore we are one. But because I am minute... Just like the same example. The marginal portion being very small, it is being sometimes covered by the water. But the large portion of the land, that is without any water. Similarly, māyā can cover the minute particles of the spirit soul, but māyā cannot cover the supreme whole. Just like the same example, the sky, the sunshine. The sunshine, portion of the sunshine, is covered by cloud. But if you go by airplane, jet plane, above the cloud, you'll find the sunshine is without any cloud. The cloud cannot cover the whole sun. Similarly, māyā cannot cover the supreme whole. Māyā can cover the small particles of Brahman. The theory, the Māyāvāda theory that "I am now covered by māyā. As soon as I am uncovered I become one with the whole..." We are one with the whole in the same way. Just like the sunshine and the sun globe, there is no difference in quality. Wherever there is sun, there is sunshine, but the small particles, the molecules of the sunshine, are never equal to the complete globe sun. That is being described by Caitanya Mahāprabhu in this chapter. (aside:) Go on.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 2, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The living entity is just like a molecular part of the sunshine, whereas Kṛṣṇa is compared to the blazing shining sun. Lord Caitanya compared the living entities to the blazing sparks from the fire and the Supreme Lord to the blazing fire of the sun. The Lord cites in this connection a verse from Viṣṇu Purāṇa in which it is stated that everything that is manifested within this cosmic world is but an energy of the Supreme Lord. For example, as the fire emanating from one place exhibits its illumination and heat all around, so the Lord, although situated in one place in the spiritual world, manifests His different energies everywhere."

Prabhupāda: Now, this is very simple. Try to understand. Just like this fire, this lamp, is located at a certain place but the illumination is distributed all over this room, similarly whatever you see, display of this cosmic manifestation, they are display of the energy of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is situated in one place. That we cite in our Brahma-saṁhitā: govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. He's a person. Just like your President, Mr. Johnson, he's sitting in his room in Washington, but his power, his energy, is acting all over the state. If it is possible materially, similarly Kṛṣṇa, or God, the Supreme Person, He is situated in His place, abode, Vaikuṇṭha or kingdom of God, but His energy is acting. Another example, the sun. The sun, you can see sun is located at a certain place, but you see the sunshine is overflooding the whole universe. The sunshine is within your room. So similarly, whatever you are using, you yourself also, we are all display of the energy of the Supreme Lord. We are not different from Him. But when the cloud of māyā or illusion covers my eye, we cannot see the sun. Similarly, when the material concept of life covers me, we cannot understand what is God. We say God is dead. So we have to uncover our eyes from this illusion. Then you'll see directly God: "Here is God." Yes.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:

Every planet is so made that it is complete in itself. The water is there, reserved in the seas and oceans. That water is taken away by the sunshine. Not only here, in other planets also, the same process is going on. It is transformed into cloud, then distributed all over the land, and there is growing of vegetables, fruits and plants, everything. So everything is complete arrangement. That we have to understand, that who has made this complete arrangement everywhere. The sun is rising in due time, the moon is rising in due time, the seasons are changing in due time. So how you can say? There is evidence in the Vedas there is God. In every scripture, every great personality, devotee, representative of God... Just like Lord Jesus Christ, he gave information of God.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 7, 1968:

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that there is another spiritual sky, where there is no need of sunshine. Na yatra bhāsayate sūryo. Sūrya means sun, and bhāsayate means distributing the sunshine. So there is no need of sunshine. Na yatra bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko. Śaśāṅka means moon. Neither there is need of moonlight. Na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ. Neither there is need of electricity. That means the kingdom of light. Here, this material world is kingdom of darkness. That you know everyone. It is actually darkness. As soon as there is sun on the other side of this earth, it is darkness. That means by nature it is dark. Simply by sunshine, moonshine, and electricity we are keeping it light. Actually, it is darkness. And darkness means ignorance also. Just like at night people are more ignorant. We are ignorant, but at night we are more ignorant. So Vedic instruction is tamasi mā jyotir gama. The Vedas say, "Don't remain in this darkness. Just transfer yourself to the kingdom of light." And the Bhagavad-gītā also says that there is a special sky, or a spiritual sky, where there is no need of sunshine, there is no need of moonlight, there is no need of electricity, and—yad gatvā na nivartante (BG 15.6)—and if anyone goes to that kingdom of light, he never comes back again to this kingdom of darkness.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 7, 1968:

It is no other thing. Similarly, we are also particle of Brahman or the Supreme. Just like the molecules of sunshine, they are also as illuminating as the sun globe, but they are very small. Similarly, we living entities, we are also the same as God. But He is just like as big as the sun globe or the deity in the sun globe, but we are small particles, the molecules of sunshine. This is the comparison between the Supreme and us. We cannot become the Supreme. At least, we don't find in authorized Vedic literature that a living entity can become as powerful as God. No. It is not possible. God is great. He's always great.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 7, 1968:

Just like you try to understand the sun. This is daily affair. Now when you try to understand what is this sun, you first of all come to the sunshine light. If you are covered with cloud and if you have not known what is sun, that is a different thing. Or even if it is covered, you can go up to the over the cloud and see the sunshine and sun. So the cloud is compared with māyā. So sun is compared with the kingdom of God, and the president of the sun planet is God. This is example. God is far away and He's the greatest. He has created so many millions of suns. But I am giving that example. Now to study the sun, first of all you come to the sunshine. The sunshine is distributed all over the universe, and the sun planet is situated in a localized place. And within the sun planet, there is the predominating deity who is called sun-god. But if you want to study all these things, first of all you come to the sunshine. The sunshine is impersonal. Similarly, there is a transcendental rays from the planet where Kṛṣṇa, or God, is there. Just a few minutes before I recited one verse from Bhagavad-gītā that na tad bhāsayate sūryo (BG 15.6). That means it is illuminating.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 7, 1968:

There is no need of sunshine. Just like this planet is not illuminating; therefore we want light from the sun, from the moon, from electricity. But Bhagavad-gītā says that the planet of the Lord, there is no... Why planet? The sky. There is no need of sunshine. Every planet in the spiritual world is illuminating. So because every planet is illuminating, the whole spiritual sky is dazzling illumination. So one who approaches that dazzling illumination called brahmajyoti, they are called impersonalists.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 7, 1968:

Just like sun planet, there is sunshine. The sunshine is impersonal, but if you have got power to enter into the sun globe, then you will find there, there are so many persons, they have got fiery body. It is not a fact in other planets there is no life. That is a nonsense. Every planet there is life, but they have got different situation, different atmosphere. The moon planet is very cold. Even the modern scientists, they agree that the temperature in the moon planet is below two hundred degree zero. So it is very cold. Similarly, sun planet is very hot. Similarly, there are other planets which is made of air, some planets made of water. These five elements, earth, water, air, ether, this is the, these are the ingredients of material world.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 7, 1968:

So some planet is made of something, some planet is made of something. But this earth is made of earth only, and water. So in the sunshine you see, you go by airplane, go in the "friendly sky" above the... You see everything impersonal. Simply glaring sunshine, that's all. But that does not mean it is impersonal. There are many planets within the sunshine, millions of planets, but you cannot see. Similarly, persons who cannot see beyond the brahmajyoti, the transcendental rays of the spiritual sky, they are impersonalists. They are impersonalists. But one who goes to the transcendental planets, Vaikuṇṭhas, Goloka Vṛndāvana, they see God is there person. As you are person, I am person, you'll find person.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 7, 1968:

Each and every one of us—person. Imperson is another feature of the person. Just like the same example. In sun planet there is person, the predominating deity, and his personal effulgence is the sunshine. The sunshine is imperson, but the planet is localized, and the predominating deity is person. The Bhagavata confirms it, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). The Absolute Truth is one. Just like the sun, the sunshine, and the deity within the sun, that is one unit. But some portion is called sunshine, some portion is called sun planet, some portion is called the deity. Similarly, the Supreme Brahman is one. His person, His localized position, and His influence and energy, they are one. This is the śuddhādvaitavāda, pure monism. The Śaṅkarācārya's philosophy is monism, one, and Śrī Rāmānujācārya explains, "Yes, one—unity in diversity." So this is unity. The sun deity, the sun planet and the sunshine is one unit, but still, there is diversity. The division of the sunshine is different from the sun planet, the sun planet is different from the predominating deity in the sun planet.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:

The original person is in the original planet. There is the original planet. Just like here the original planet, scientists accept the sun. Similarly, the sun is also one of the millions of many other suns. There are millions of sun. So sun, in the estimation of this universe, is the original planet. But there are innumerable universes, and in each and every universe there is a sun. So therefore there are innumerable sun and moons. That is accepted by the modern science, and it is stated in the Vedic literature also. So sun is not the original planet, but the original planet is called Goloka Vṛndāvana. But the sun has similarity. Just like the sun is shining, the shining planet, and on the sunshine there are other planets, they are moving by the heat of the sunshine in their orbit. So similarly, sun is also moving. According to modern science, sun is fixed up, but according to Vedic literature, sun is also moving.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:

The meaning of this verse is that "I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead Govinda, asya ajñayā, by whose order this sun, which is considered to be the king of all planets..." Sun is the king of all planets. That is a known fact. Without sun, all these planets, they cannot live. Without sunshine, their life will be extinct. Therefore sun is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā, rājā samasta-grahāṇām, of all the planets. And aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Aśeṣa-tejāḥ means unlimited heat, fire. Unlimited fire. Nobody knows what is the source of this fire, but there is unlimited fire. Some ninety-three millions miles away from this planet, still, the heat is sometimes unbearable. Just see what is the fire. And it is so many times, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet, earthly planet.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 18, 1968:

The symptom is, because it is there in my body, because it is there in your body, therefore you are moving, you are talking, you are planning, so many things you are doing—simply for that spiritual spark. So we are very minute spark of the supreme spirit. Just like there are in the sunshine minute particles, shining particles. With shining, these shining particles, when they are mixed together, that is sunshine. But they are molecules. They are separate, atomic molecules. Similarly, in relationship with God and ourselves, we are also minute particles of God, shining. Shining means we have got the same propensities, thinking, feeling, willing, creating, everything. Whatever you see in yourself, that is there in God. So God cannot be impersonal, because we are all persons.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, November 13, 1968:

Goloka means the transcendental abode of Kṛṣṇa. Golokera prema-dhana. From there, the transcendental abode of Kṛṣṇa... Just like the sunshine, wherefrom it has come? From the sun planet. Everyone knows it. Although you cannot go there, it is far, far beyond your reach, but you can understand that the sunshine is coming from the sun globe. There is no doubt about it. Similarly this vibration, this shining, is coming from Kṛṣṇa, Goloka. Golokera prema-dhana. And prema-dhana means this chanting is in love with Kṛṣṇa. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmilo kene tāy. "I've no attachment for this." Why should one be attached to this? That is explained in the next line: viṣaya-viṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale. Hiyā means heart. Our heart is always burning. Why? In touch with this material sense gratificatory process. No sense gratificatory process is giving me satisfaction. I'm trying this way, that way, this way, that way, that way. You see? Just like people are trying sense gratification in so many ways. They have come to the last point, naked picture, naked dance.

Northeastern University Lecture -- Boston, April 30, 1969:

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa... The meaning of this transcendental vibration is Hare... Hare means "O the energy of the Supreme Lord." Everything is being done by the energy of the Supreme Lord. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. Just like you have got practical example. This material world means creation of the energy of the sunshine. Every one of you—you are all scientific students—you know that all these planets, they are rotating on account of heat and light of the sun. And similarly, the whole creation, material and spiritual creation, they are manifestation of the energy of the Supreme Lord. Just like the sunshine is the energy of the sun globe, similarly, there is a supreme planet which is called Kṛṣṇaloka, or Goloka. These things are mentioned in the Vedic literature, Brahma-sūtra, Brahma-saṁhitā. If you want, you can read them.

Northeastern University Lecture -- Boston, April 30, 1969:

In the Vedic literature we understand that God is one, but His energies are many, multi-energies. We are also one of the energies of God, we living entities. We are also energy. That is stated in the, er... Apareyam itas tu vidhi me prakṛtiṁ parā. Lord Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna that "These material energies, namely fire," I mean to say, "earth, water, fire, air, mind, intelligence, ego, they are inferior energy. Beyond these inferior energy, there is another, superior energy. That superior energy is called jīva-bhūto mahā-bāho. These living entities, they are superior energy." Yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat: (BG 7.5) "They are," I mean to say, "ruling over these material energies." So living entity is superior energy, and this material energy is inferior energy. Therefore we are trying to control over the material energy, but because we are very small, it is not possible to have full control over the material energy. After all, this is energy of... Just like we can utilize the sunshine some way or other, but it is not possible for us to utilize the whole sunshine. It is not possible. So that is called māyā. The superior energy, living entity, is trying to control over the inferior energy, material energy, but because we are very minute, small, it is not possible to have full control over the material energy. Rather, we are being controlled by the material energy due to our smallness. These things are very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, Seventh Chapter. If you are interested, you'll find.

Northeastern University Lecture -- Boston, April 30, 1969:

Just like you belong to this land, and if you are put into the ocean, Atlantic Ocean, however expert swimmer you may be, you cannot be happy. You have to come back to the land. Then you can be happy. Similarly, we are all spiritual souls, spiritual sparks. Just like the sunshine. Sunshine means there are molecular parts of shining principles. Similarly, we are also molecular parts and parcel of God, who is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). In the Vedānta-sūtra... He is full of joy. So we, as part and parcel also, we are full of joy. So unless we come in contact with the Supreme, our joyfulness will never be fulfilled. Therefore we have to come to the spiritual platform if we want to have that full spiritual or full joyfulness, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt.

Lecture Excerpt -- Boston, May 5, 1969:

Just like there is a story, "Alexander and the Cynic." Perhaps most of you know. There was a cynic. He was saintly person. He was sitting in a solitary place, almost naked body. Alexander the Great went there and asked him, "If I can do something for you? You are a great man." He said, "Oh, please don't obstruct sunshine. Please be aside, That's all. (laughter) You may do this. Don't obstruct the sunshine. I am quite pleased. You please set aside."

Lecture -- New Vrindaban, June 7, 1969:

Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, He has got rays from His body. Just like you see the sunshine. The sunshine is the rays of the body of the sun-god. That you are seeing every day. You can see only the sun globe. But if you have got power, as you are trying to go to the moon planet, similarly, if some day if you get such scientific power and you can go through the sun planet, then you can see there sun-god. It is not imagination; it is a fact. Just like in every planet there is a predominating man. Take for example in this planet, the president of United States is to be a predominating personality. Similarly, in every planet there is a predominating personality, and the predominating personality in the sun globe is called Vivasvān. The name is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1).

Lecture -- New Vrindaban, June 7, 1969:

Then impersonal understanding of God, just Brahman... Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: "Everything is standing on Brahman." Just like materially you understand: everything in the material manifestation, that is depending on the sunshine. The trees, as soon as there is sunshine, there is green foliage. As soon as there is no sunshine, there is no leaves, no greenness. So everything is depending on sunshine. The sunshine is also depending on Kṛṣṇa; therefore Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of all causes. That is Kṛṣṇa realization. You can realize Him personally, you can realize Him impersonally, and you can realize Him localized. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati: (BG 18.61) "Arjuna, that Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated, localized, in everyone's heart." Just like the sun globe is there, and the sun globe's effulgence is the impersonal representation of the sun-god. And suppose there are five millions of people standing in the sunshine, and everyone will see the sun is above his head. That is localized. You go five thousand miles away and ask your friend here, "Where is the sun?" Your friend will say that "It is on my head." And you will also see it is on your head. As it is materially possible, why not spiritually? So spiritually, Kṛṣṇa is within your heart. Simply you have to realize it.

Conway Hall Lecture -- London, September 15, 1969:

Guest (3) (Indian man): ...consciousness, then what is that other Kṛṣṇa? Or, other than Kṛṣṇa, what ... And wherefrom...?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I quite follow you. Everywhere is sunshine, but still, the sun's situation is a particular place. The sunshine is everywhere, but still, the sun planet is situated at a particular localized place.

Guest (3): It is manifested locally. It is not localized. It is manifested locally.

Prabhupāda: But do you distinguish between sunshine and the sun planet? Or you say because the sunshine has come within your room, therefore sun planet has come within your room? Do you think like that?

Guest (3): It is a conception of the mind.

Conway Hall Lecture -- London, September 15, 1969:

Prabhupāda: Why mind? It is a fact. Why do you say "mind"? Can you say that "Oh, because the sunshine has come within my room, the sun planet has come"? Everyone will say you are a fool. It is not mind. It is a fact. The sunshine is light, and the sun globe is light. So light is there, both, but still, there is difference between sunshine and the sun globe. That difference. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's energy everywhere. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture -- London, September 16, 1969:

What progress you have made? Have you surpassed the laws of birth, death, old age and disease? "No, sir." Then what progress you have made? So this is their progress. But if you want really relief from these four principles of material way of life, then you have to purify your existence. You purify yourself; then you will be allowed to enter into the purified spiritual sky, and you'll get a place in one of the planets there. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama. These things are explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.

na tad bhāsayate sūryo

na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ

yad gatvā na nivartante

tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

(BG 15.6)

The hint is given there that in the sky of freedom, in the spiritual sky, there is no need of sunshine. That is the distinction. Try to understand. This is also confirmed in the Upaniṣads. In the spiritual sky there is no need of sunshine, there is no need of moonshine, there is no need of electricity, because everything is shining there, all Brahman effulgence. And as we have got one huge planet here, the sun planet, which is efful..., effulgent, dazzling, bright, in the spiritual sky all the planets are like that. So therefore, there is no question of darkness. Darkness is here. So you try to understand that there is a spiritual sky. That is not like this sky where we experience darkness.

Lecture -- London, September 26, 1969:

"Those who are actually in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, they speak of the Absolute Truth in this way." What is that? Advaya-jñānam: nondual. There is no duality. Although there is variety, but there is no duality. Here in the material world, as soon as there is variety, there is duality. But in the spiritual world, there is variety, but there is no duality. How is that? There is crude example. Many, you can try to understand. Just like this sun. You are seeing every day, sun. Now the sun means there are three divisions: the sunlight, sunshine; the sun globe; and the sun deity. Don't think in the sun planet there is no living entities. That is a wrong conception. As in this planet there are living entities, similarly, in the sun planet also, there are living entities, but their bodies are differently constructed.

Lecture -- London, September 26, 1969:

So this sun example we have to understand, that to understand the sun there are three divisions. The first division is the sunlight or sunshine. The sunshine is all-pervading over the universe. It is not imagination. We get from Vedic information. It is said, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). This is brahmajyoti. Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇām. Savitā, the sun-god, is called yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ. So the sun is described as the eye of the Supreme Lord. Just like we have got our eyes; we can see to some extent, three feet, four feet, or ten feet, or hundred feet. But the eyes of God is so powerful, He can see the whole universe. Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā. Savitā means the sun.

Lecture -- London, September 26, 1969:

So this Absolute Truth is in three varieties, understood. Absolute Truth is one. Just like the same example: the sun is one, but the study of the sun are in three phases. First of all, you have to study the sunlight. The heat, the illumination, the molecules, the illuminating particles... There are so many things you can study in the sunshine. Those who are scientists, who are physicists, they can study the sunshine. But this sunshine study is not final study about sun. Then the next question is, "What is the sun globe?" If you have got power, if you have got capacity to manufacture some machine... Just like you are trying to go to the moon planet. Similarly, if you can have some capacity to enter into the sun planet, then you study what is the sun planet.

Lecture -- London, September 26, 1969:

Unlimited temperature. The sun temperature, you see... Of course, you have no experience here. In India we have got experience. During summer season, when there is scorching heat, it is unbearable. You see? But the sun is ninety million miles or something like that away. Still, the temperature is so high. You see. And it is the estimation that so many millions of miles, if we go nearer to the sun, immediately we shall be burned into ashes, the temperature is so high. Therefore it is said, aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Aśeṣa-tejāḥ. So in this way, if you simply study this sun... There are three phases: the sunlight, or sunshine; the sun globe; and then the living entities who are in the sun planet. There are living entities. Because it is impossible to go... You cannot go even near the sunlight, sunshi..., globe. You cannot go even to the moon planet.

Lecture -- London, September 26, 1969:

So our material knowledge, material science, our material endeavor is very, very insignificant to understand the Absolute Truth. It is almost impossible. You cannot understand even a planet, and what to speak of the Supreme. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). Those who are in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, they say that the Absolute Truth is realized in three phases. But they're nondual. How nondual? Just like even if you study the sunshine, it is not different from the sun, because the same quality is there. The temperature and the illumination, two main qualities, in the sunshine you'll find. And in the same way, if you study the sun globe, you'll find the same quality: light, illumination, and temperature. And if you go further, if you study the living entity, you'll find the same thing: temperature and light.

Lecture -- London, September 26, 1969:

By sound vibration, by transcendental sound transmission, we understand that the Absolute Truth is realized in three phases. What is that? Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. So what is the difference between Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān? That difference is just like the same. If you study, if you become satisfied, "Now I am in the light, sunshine; finished my business," that is Brahman realization. But that is not final. By Brahman realization, you are in the light, that's a fact. You are in illumination, you are in temperature, that's a fact. But if you are satisfied with such temperature and light, then you remain there. And if you are fortunate enough to make further progress, that is Paramātmā—to realize the Supersoul in everyone's heart: in your heart, in my heart, everywhere, all-pervading. Sunshine is also all-pervading. Brahman is also all-pervading. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Similarly, Paramātmā, the Supersoul, is also all-pervading. Meditation means to realize the Supersoul, and to realize that Supersoul is everywhere. How everywhere? Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). The Supersoul is within the aṇḍa. Aṇḍa means brahmāṇḍa, universe, and everybody up to the atom. He's within the atom also. Paramāṇu. Paramāṇu means atom.

Lecture 'Nobody Wants to Die' -- Boston, May 7, 1968:

These descriptions are there in the Bhagavad-gītā, that in the spiritual sky there is no need of sunshine. Bhāsayate sūr... Na yatra bhāsayate sūryaḥ. Sūrya means the sun. There is no need of sun. There is no need of moon. There is no need of electricity. These descriptions are there.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, February 23, 1971:

The taste of water is so nice. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am that taste." Now, if you are drinking daily water and you are tasting it, so how you can say that you have not seen God? If you have tasted that water, then you have seen God. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: "I am the shining principle of sun and the moon." You are seeing every day the sunshine and the moonshine. How you can say that you have not seen God? So this is the science of God, how to see Him. Just like when there is smoke, you can understand that there is fire, although the fire is hidden, similarly, by the symptoms, how God is acting, how His energies are spread all over the world, if you study the energy of God, then you can see God, you can feel God, you can associate with God, and you become godly, or purified.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 7, 1971:

So these are pious activities, to perform yajña and to give in charity, yajña, dāna and tapasya, accepting voluntarily austerity. That will make you sukṛtina. And if you actually become sukṛtina, then you'll be inclined. Because the dirty things will be cleansed by these pious activities, then you will understand. Just like when the sky is cleared of all clouds you can see the sunshine very brilliantly, similarly, you can see Kṛṣṇa and God very brilliantly as soon as the cloud accumulated in your heart of all dirty things is cleansed. The process of cleansing in this age is this saṅkīrtana yajña. This saṅkīrtana movement is not unauthorized. It is authorized by the śāstras. And because they are being properly performed, it is taking effect all over the world.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 10, 1971:

As soon as the spiritual spark is gone, the same very body is no longer a great leader, a great scientist, or great philosopher. So both these energies are products of Kṛṣṇa's body. Just like the sunshine is the energy of the sun globe, and within the sun globe there is the sun-god also. We get it from Bhagavad-gītā. In the Fourth Chapter there is mention of the sun-god: imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam, vivasvate (BG 4.1). Vivasvān is the name of the sun-god. At present, the predominating leader, or the principle deity, in the sun planet is called Vivasvān. So he's a person. He's a person, and his globe is the sun globe. And from the sun globe, there is sunshine. Similarly, there is a planet which is known as Goloka Vṛndāvana. In the spiritual world there are millions of planets there.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 10, 1971:

As we have got millions of planets here in this material world, millions of universes, similarly, the spiritual world there are millions of planets, globes, which are called Vaikuṇṭhalokas. And the topmost of the Vaikuṇṭhalokas is called Goloka Vṛndāvana or Kṛṣṇaloka. That is the original abode of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And from that globe, there is effulgence, which is bodily effulgence of Kṛṣṇa. We get this information from Brahma-saṁhitā: yasya prabhā prabhavato jagadāṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Yasya prabhā. The brahmajyoti is the bodily effulgence of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Exactly the sunshine is the bodily effulgence of Vivasvān, it is being emanating, it is emanating from the sun globe, similarly, the brahmajyoti is emanating from Kṛṣṇaloka. And in that Kṛṣṇa, Brahman effulgence, so many universes and so many Vaikuṇṭha planets are growing exactly the same way as so many planets have grown from the sunshine. This is scientific.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 11, 1971:

We are trying to bring everyone to that platform. That is our program. (break) ...we explain... Just like when the water from the sky drops on the ground, immediately it becomes muddy. Now, if the water drops in too much muddy place, it becomes too much muddy. And if it drops in a clear place, then it remains clarity. Similarly, our coming in contact of this material world means we come in contact of the three qualities of matter: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So if you come in contact with sattva-guṇa, then your position ms very clear, just like sunshine, prakāśa. And if you are in rajo-guṇa, then you are very passionate. And if you are in tamo-guṇa, then you are in darkness. But Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice that in whatever quality or modes of nature you are in, if you simply chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, all of you come to this transcendental position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the advantage of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Lecture -- San Francisco, June 28, 1971:

Those who are sober, those who want to understand Kṛṣṇa, they can understand Kṛṣṇa in very step of life. Just like raso 'ham apsu kaunteya, "I am the taste of the water." Water you have to drink. Just like I drank just a minute before and quenched my thirst. But that quenching active principle is Kṛṣṇa. So we can realize Kṛṣṇa every time we'll drink water. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śās..., prabhāsmi śaśi sūryayoḥ. Kṛṣṇa is the sunshine, Kṛṣṇa is the moonshine. Kṛṣṇa is the fragrance of the flower. As soon as you take a flower and smell it, the fragrance is Kṛṣṇa. In this way, every step we can understand Kṛṣṇa. Even in sex life we can understand Kṛṣṇa. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: dharmāviruddho kāmo 'smi, sex life which is not against the religious codes.

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 20, 1971:

Similarly, as we see imperfectly the Himalayan Mountain from a distant place, similarly, when the Absolute Truth is realized by the speculative process, he can simply understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead by His effulgence as impersonal. And if you make further progress, then we can see... The same example. We are seeing the Himalayan Mountain from a distant place but if we make further advance, further, nearer, we see different thing. And when actually in the Himalayan Mountain, the thing is altogether different. Similarly, when you understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead from distance... Just like you cannot understand the sun globe from here. Although sunshine is light, sun globe is light, still we cannot understand what is sun globe from distant place.

Lecture at Christian Monastery -- Melbourne, April 6, 1972:

The example is given: just like the sunshine, the sun planet, and within the sun planet, the sun-god. According to Vedic religion, Vedic conception, every planet contains living entities. That is also very natural to conclude because within this material world, everything is made of five elements, gross: earth, water, fire, air, and sky. These are gross elements. And the subtle elements are mind, intelligence, and ego. So in some of the planets earth is prominent, some of the planets water is prominent, some of the planets the fire is prominent.

Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:

When one cannot understand clearly, there is interpretation. But when the matter is clear... Just like sunlight. The sunlight, sunshine, does it require your lamp to show the sunlight? The sunlight is itself so illuminous that everyone can understand, "This is sunlight." If somebody brings some lamp, "I will show you the sun," sun is already visible. Why your lamp is required? So these unauthorized commentators, they bring some lamp to show the sunlight of Bhagavad-gītā. That is their business.

Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:

Kṛṣṇa's bodily effulgence is called brahmajyoti. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, brāhmaṇaḥ ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā. The brahmajyoti... Those who are jñānīs, those who are trying to approach the Absolute Truth by mental speculation, by dint of our teeny knowledge, they can, utmost, approach to this brahmajyoti. But that brahmajyoti is only emanation of the bodily effulgence of Kṛṣṇa. Yasya prabhā prabhavato (Bs. 5.40). Just like the light and the illumination is coming from the light, from that localized bulb, similarly, the brahmajyoti is coming out. Just like the sunshine, the best example, the sunshine, illumination of the sunlight, sunshine, is coming from the sun planet. The sun planet is localized. We can see it. And the effulgence, and the bodily effulgence of the sun planet is distributed all over the universe. Similarly, sun planet is one of the material creation of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 18, 1972:

Govinda, the sun is described as the eye, one of the eyes of God. He's seeing everything. You cannot hide yourself from the seeing of God, as you cannot hide yourself from the sunshine So, in this way, Kṛṣṇa. If God's name, there can be any name... And it is admitted in the Vedic literature that God has got many names, but this Kṛṣṇa name is the chief name. Mukhya. Mukhya means principal. And it is very nicely explained: "all-attractive." In so many ways He's all-attractive. So God's name... The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is propagating God's name, God's glory, God's activities, God's beauty, God's love. Everything. As we have got many things within this material world, all of them, they are in Kṛṣṇa. Whatever you have got.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 21, 1972:

The brahmajyoti, yasya prabhā, is the bodily effulgence of God, Kṛṣṇa, Govinda. So on that effulgence, jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi, there are innumerable universes. It is not very difficult to understand. Just like you see, in the sunshine innumerable planets are floating. So what is the difficulty to understand that there is a shining effulgence from the body of God, Kṛṣṇa, and in that shining effulgence, innumerable universes are floating? What is the difficulty? There is no difficulty. It is most scientific proposal.

Hare Krishna Festival Address -- San Diego, July 1, 1972, At Balboa Park Bowl:

We are getting, enjoying the sunshine. We are indebted to him. This is responsibility. Suppose if you take electricity, light, you are responsible for paying the bill. Similarly, you are taking so much advantage of the sunlight. You are also obliged to pay the debts, repay the debts. Deva ṛṣi. Ṛṣi means those who have given us the Vedic literature. Just like Nārada Muni, Vyāsadeva, they have given us... Vyāsadeva given us immense literature. Immense literature. He has written Mahābhārata. He has written the eighteen purāṇas. One of the purāṇas is the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. And he has written the Upaniṣads. Then he has compiled the Vedānta-sūtra. And each and every book, there are innumerable verses. In Mahābhārata there are 100,000's of verses. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 18,000 verses. And if you study one verse, it will take at least one week to understand. So grave thoughts. So therefore, we are reading all these Vedic literatures. Certainly, we are indebted to them.

Lecture -- Laguna Beach, September 30, 1972:

The two energies are coming from the sun, and the material world is creation of the sunshine, heat and light. Similarly there are two energies of God, heat and light. So one is called material energy, another is called spiritual energy, although both of them coming from the supreme spirit, exactly like heat and light is coming from the sun. But heat is not light; light is not heat. There is distinction. This is called inconceivable one and difference simultaneously. Acintya-bhedābheda tattva. This is our philosophy. Nothing is different from God, but not that everything is God.

Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973:

Who has not tasted water? Then why do you say, "I have not seen God"? If you simply practice this bhakti-yoga, as soon as you drink water and taste and be satisfied, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa." So immediately you remember Kṛṣṇa. As soon as you see sunshine, you remember, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa." As soon as you see moonshine, you remember, "Eh, here is..." As soon as you see something wonderful, pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu śabdaḥ khe, as soon as you hear in the sky some sound, so if you remember, "Here is Kṛṣṇa," that means you are remembering Kṛṣṇa in every step of your life. And if you're remembering Kṛṣṇa in every step of life, then you become the topmost yogi.

Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973:

If Bismillah means Hare Kṛṣṇa... It is a question of language. So if meaning the same thing, Hare Kṛṣṇa... Hare Kṛṣṇa means we are addressing the Supreme Lord and His energy. Hara means the energy of the Supreme Lord, and Kṛṣṇa means the Supreme Lord. So we are addressing, "My dear Lord, my dear the energy of Lord..." Because Lord and His energy, they are, they are always existing. Just like sun and the sunshine, they're always existing. Sunshine is the energy, but sun is the energetic. Similarly, the Lord is there and His energy's also there. So we are praying both to the energy and to the Lord: "Please engage me in Your service. I am serving māyā. I am not happy. Therefore, please engage me in Your..." My, my constitutional position is to serve. Just like you're all sitting here. Every one of you are servant.

Lecture -- Jakarta, February 28, 1973:

As part and parcel, there is tendency of being covered by māyā. The example we can cite that the sun and the sunshine... Sunshine means accumulation of shining particles. They are also individual shining material, molecular parts. The cloud can cover the sunshine partial, not all. The sunshine is expanding millions and millions of miles. Out of that, hundred, two hundred miles may be covered by the cloud. So that portion of sunshine is called material world. Just try to understand. The God is just like sun, kṛṣṇa sūrya-sama, and the sunshine, light, is the brahmajyoti. Impersonal brahmajyoti is just like the sunshine, and Paramātmā is just like the sun globe. To understand the Absolute Truth we have to make progress from impersonal Brahman to localized Paramātmā and then, from Paramātmā, to this Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lecture -- London, August 23, 1973:

Actually this world is also God. Idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaro. Viśvam means the whole universal creation. Because it is creation of God—God has created—therefore the whole universe, the whole creation is also God, although it appears different from God. For example, just like the sun and the sunlight or sunshine. Although apparently different—sun is different from the sunshine—still, sunshine is also sun. Without sun, how there can be light in the sunshine? So in broader sense there is nothing but God; everything God. This is explained in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa: ekadeśa sthitasyāgner jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā sarvaiva brahmaṇaḥ śakti, tathedaṁ brahmaṇaḥ śakti. As the fire is placed, is situated in one place, but it is distributing the heat and light, similarly, the Supreme Lord, although He's in His abode, the Goloka Vṛndāvana, still, by His energy, He is all-pervading. All-pervading. Everywhere, there is God.

Lecture -- London, August 23, 1973:

The sunshine..., the sun is ninety millions miles away from us. But as soon as the sunshine is there, we can understand there is sun. So if we are thoughtful, then we can understand what is God and how His energies are acting. That we can understand, exactly like that. As the fire is situated in one place but the heat and light is working, similarly, you can understand the existence of God by the energy of God, the energy, how the energy of God is working, you can understand God. And the energies are acting under certain laws given by God. Just like the sunshine. There is a particular time, at this hour, the sunshine will be visible. At night if you want sunshine, it is not possible. However advanced you may be in science, however scientific machineries you have discovered, but you cannot get sunshine in this night, dark night. No scientist can say, "Now we have discovered a scientific method by which at night also sun will rise." No. That is not possible. Of course, they sometimes say like that, rascallike, but that is not possible. You cannot change the law of God. If you want sunshine, then you have to wait til morning, when by the grace of God, by the order of God, sun will rise: you'll get sunshine. Not by your scientific method.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

Even million, trillions is insufficient. There is no counting. There are so many living entities, and they are all part and parcel of God. Just like the sunshine and sun globe and the sun-god. The sun-god is within the sun globe, and the inhabitants of the sun globe, they are all very glowing, luminous. On account of their bodily glowing, the whole sun planet is glowing. On account of the sun planet glowing, the sunshine, which is reaching us from 93,000,000's of miles—we feel the heat and the light. This is an ordinary material thing. So just imagine what is the potential of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on Science of Krsna -- Hyderabad, April 14, 1975:

The Supreme Lord is śaktimān. Just like the sun and the sunshine and the Sun-god, and practically they are one. From the Sun-god there is... The abode of the Sun-god is the sun globe, and the shining of the sun globe is also sunshine. So in one sense they are one, in other sense they are different. Just like the sunshine is reaching here, it does not mean the sun globe is reaching here. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā: (BG 9.4) "I am spread." So sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma, everything is Kṛṣṇa. But at the same time, if you commit mistake... The same way, "Because the sunshine is here, therefore sun is here." That is a mistake. This is viśiṣṭa-advaita. They are all one, advaya-jnana, but still they're different. Advaita-viśiṣṭa. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jnanam advayam (SB 1.2.11).

Lecture on Science of Krsna -- Hyderabad, April 14, 1975:

Advayam means advaya, advaita, no difference, the same thing. But viśiṣṭa. This is Brahman, this is Paramātmā, viśiṣṭa. Advaita but viśiṣṭa. A specific reference: Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān, they are one. But still, you cannot say Brahman is Bhagavān. The same example: the sunshine and the sun globe, they are one. Unless there is appearance of the sun globe, sun planet, you cannot have sunshine. So in that sense, they are one, but still if you take sunshine as the sun globe, that is not correct.

Lecture on Science of Krsna -- Hyderabad, April 14, 1975:

One with specific difference. And the Māyāvādī philosophers, they say, "No, there is no specific difference. This is māyā." But we Vaiṣṇava, we don't say that. That sunshine is sunshine, sun globe is sun globe, and Sun-god is Sun-god. But taken together, they are all one. Diversity in unity. That is viśiṣṭa-advaitavāda. So actually, all the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Nimbārka, and Viṣṇu Svāmī, there is no difference of opinion, but they have explained the Absolute Truth more vividly in their own angle of vision. Otherwise there is no difference. They never say that God and the living being are one. They will never say that. That is not Vaiṣṇava philosophy. That is Māyāvāda philosophy. So the propounder of Māyāvāda philosophy is Śaṅkarācārya and other Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Nimbārka, Viṣṇu Svāmī, practically they are all one opinion. There is no, they differ from Śaṅkarācārya.

Lecture -- Nellore, January 4, 1976:

We have seen many sannyāsīs. They give up this material world, that brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Then, after some years, he comes down again this mithyā jagat to open schools and hospitals. And if this world is mithyā, then why you are interested with the schools and hospitals? That means they could not get any Brahman realization. They again come to taste. So therefore śāstra says, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam (SB 10.2.32). One can rise up to the paraṁ pada, brahma pada, but patanty tataḥ. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho. Adho means this material world. Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. They could not take shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme. Brahmaṇo 'haṁ pratiṣṭhā. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). This Brahman is the rays of the body of Kṛṣṇa, just like the sunshine is the rays of the sun-god, the sun planet.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: The whole is Kṛṣṇa. And just like, take this material example. The whole is sun. The sunshine expanding, that is also in relation with this whole, and similarly Kṛṣṇa is the whole and everything is relative to Kṛṣṇa. That is our philosophy. We see everything related with Kṛṣṇa and because everything is in relationship with Kṛṣṇa that I do not give up anything. We try to utilize everything for service of Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they, although they say everything is Brahman, they say this is non-Brahman. They say neti, neti, not this, not this. Just like Māyāvādīs, they also say Kṛṣṇa and māyā.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: That we say. Just like the sun is expressed by the sunshine, by the heat and light. We understand sun through all spreading heat and light. Similarly, we understand God, Kṛṣṇa, by His two energies. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, the material energy and the spiritual energy, two energies. The spiritual energy is described as superior energy, and material energy is described as inferior energy. Superior, inferior, that is in our consideration because we cannot understand. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has said. Otherwise there is only one energy, the superior spiritual energy.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: As it is. Because, just like sunshine. Sunshine is not sun, in one sense, but it is sun because in the sunshine there is heat and light and in the sun there is heat and light. So there is no difference. But still sunshine is not the sun. Therefore that is our philosophy, acintya bhedābheda, simultaneously one and different.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa's perverted reflection. Just like now the sky is clear, now the sunshine is bright, but even if the sky is covered by clouds, you will understand it is daytime because the glaring, shining of the sun is still to be understood. Similarly, whatever little beauty we find in this material world, that is a perverted reflection of Kṛṣṇa's beauty.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Śyāmasundara: Hegel's idea is that there is idea, then there is substance but the synthesis is spirit. Spirit combines both idea and substance.

Prabhupāda: Yes, but spirit is, according to our philosophy, the spirit is realized in three phases, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). The supreme spirit is realized in three phases. An example is given, just like you see from a distant place the mountain, you see just like a hazy cloud. You go forward, you will see something, substance, green, and if you enter it you'll see so many trees, so many animals. So you are seeing the same object but according to your understanding, somebody is saying, "Oh, it is a cloud." Somebody is saying, "It is some green (indistinct)," and somebody is saying, "No, it is very nice place." It is a question of where he is standing, to understand God. So those who are standing in distant place, for them imperson. Just like we are seeing the sunshine imperson, and the sun globe localized, and if you have got capacity to enter into the sun globe, you'll see sun god. Similarly, God is realized in three capacities, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11).

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: Either impersonal Brahman, or localized Paramātmā, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But if you somehow or other approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is Kṛṣṇa. Then you understand the other two things. And Kṛṣṇa is explaining, brahmaṇo ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā. "I am the resting place of brahmajyoti." Brahmā-saṁhitā says, yasya prabha (Bs. 5.40), this brahmajyoti, impersonal brahmajyoti is the bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, Paramātmā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna (BG 18.61), that is another feature of Kṛṣṇa. He is sitting in everyone's heart. Just like the sun is reflected in thousands and millions of (indistinct). There are no so many suns, there is only one sun. How you will (indistinct)? So God is one but according to realization, one who has seen the (indistinct), he says, "Oh, there are millions of suns." And one who has not seen the (indistinct), he has seen only sunshine, "Sun is impersonal." It is a question of (indistinct) person who is realizing. But actually God is a person, sat-cit-ānanda-vigraha. That is (indistinct). We have got clear conception of God, sat-cit-ānanda-vigraha, Kṛṣṇa.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Karandhara: Just like you take a ray of the sunshine that's in this room. It's come from the sun, but simultaneously it's occurring with the sun. It's not there as a sequential evolution of that particle...

Prabhupāda: The sunshine, sunshine... Just like sunshine. You can collect time according to the sunshine. The morning sun shining is called 6 a.m., and then 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 9 a.m., like that. The shine. But this 6 a.m. shining will be somewhere else also, although here it is 8 a.m.

Śyāmasundara: That's a relative measurement.

Prabhupāda: So the sunshine is existing always the same. It is relatively understood by others. Otherwise sun is fixed up in his position and is shining all over the world.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: Anyway, the sunbeam, the sunshine, is always (indistinct). How it is constantly coming? Just like heat and the fire. The heat is always coming out of the fire, always.

Karandhara: According to a point of observation, there may appear to be a sequence, or a beginning or an end or an evolution...

Śyāmasundara: If we look back-say our written history goes back three thousand years—if we look back within that span, according to Darwin, our levels of consciousness are getting increasingly higher.

Prabhupāda: No. We say lower. We say lower. Degraded.

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Devotee: It means each time the sun rises and set...

Prabhupāda: Yes. One day's past means one day you lose. That's all. The sunshine..., the sunrise and sunset means passing days, that's all.

Devotee: (in background) She said it was only $400 and it would be another hundred at the end of June.

Prabhupāda: Oh! That's all right. No. I thought if it's dropped somewhere.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Hayagrīva: James, after analyzing all of these religions, different religious experiences, he gives his own conclusions, and he concludes his book in this way. He gives five basic conclusions. The first-one—"That the visible world is part of a more spiritual universe from which it draws its chief significance." (break)

Prabhupāda: Yes. Material world means it is existing in the spiritual effulgence of the Lord. Just like all the planets they are resting, living within the sunshine, but by geographical position, when it is back side, the sun is not in the front but in the back, then it becomes dark. Similarly, everything is existing in the spiritual effulgence, rays of the Lord, and when you forget, this is called material world. So the material world is in that piece of spiritual world, but forgetfulness of God is material. So when we..., our revival of consciousness, God consciousness, then there is no more material world. For such person who is advanced in spiritual consciousness or God consciousness, there is nothing material; everything is spiritual.

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Prabhupāda: Māyā is woman. You can compare like that, darkness. Kṛṣṇa sūrya-sama māyā andhakāra (CC Madhya 22.31). So as soon as there is sunshine, there is no more darkness. Similarly, when, as soon as there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no more that state of unconsciousness or dreaming. (indistinct) conscious.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: He says that the phenomena and the noumena are the same. Phenomena are noumena. There is no separation.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Same in this sense: just like the sun and the sunshine is the same. The sunshine is light and the sun is also light. The sun is hot and sunshine is also hot. But still, you cannot say that the sunshine and the sun are the same. Therefore Lord Caitanya's philosophy, simultaneously one and different, that is perfect. He is taking only the oneness, but there is still difference. Just like the fire and the heat. You cannot separate heat from fire, but still heat is not fire. That is perfect knowledge. So therefore heat is simultaneously one and different from fire. That is perfect. You are getting heat, but that does not mean that you are touching the fire. So this is perfect theory. One and different, both.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Prabhupāda: He is desiring to be God, that means he is not God at the present moment. So if he is God, how did he become non-God? Therefore he cannot become God, but he can become godly. That is our philosophy. Just like I am in darkness, I want light, so I can come into the sunshine. That does not mean I become sun. But when I come to the sunshine, I come to the light. Similarly, when you come to perfect knowledge, that is godly. But you cannot become God. If you are God, then there is no question of becoming non-God. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Acyuta. Acyuta means He never becomes non-God. He is God always. When He is three months old on the lap of His mother He is God. When He is seven years old, lifting the hill, He is God. And when He is marrying 16,000 wives He is God. When He is dancing with the gopīs He is God. That is God. God is always God. Not that I am non-God now and I shall become God by some means, mystic factory.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Dr. Rao: I mean, so this proposition is incorrect. It is the rays of sun which are falling on the snowball, they are reflected, and then you see that snowball is white. Otherwise, snow is colorless.

Prabhupāda: Sometimes we see seven colors on the snowball. It is white. It is sunshine reflected there.

Dr. Rao: White light. You see white light, but white light is composed of seven colors: violet, indigo, blue, you know, (indistinct) and green, yellow, orange and red. So, but you are seeing white. (indistinct).

Devotee: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: But that is imperfect.

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Prabhupāda: Useful, useful... So far you are seeing the sun, you know the sunshine is useful, the sun heat is useful. That does not mean that you have understood sun as reality. The superficial benefit you are getting. That does not mean that you know reality. Do you know? You are getting sunshine; you are utilizing it. Sun's heat, you are utilizing.

Philosophy Discussion on Socrates:

Hayagrīva: (aside:) This is picking up fine, the reading? Socrates considers the contemplation of beauty to be an activity of the wise man, but relative beauty in the mundane world is simply a reflection of absolute beauty. In the same way, good in the relative world is simply a reflection of the absolute good. In either case, absolute good or beauty is transcendental.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our opinion. Beauty, knowledge, strength and opulence—everything—they are transcendental. Here, in this material world, it is perverted reflection. Just like the example is the mirage. A fool, animal, is thinking there is water in the desert, and he is running after it, and after sometimes he dies of thirst because there is not. But a sane man knows there is no water; it is simply a reflection by the sunshine, and this foolish animal is running after it. So he does not..., a sane man does not go for this false water. But another thing is that because there is no water in the desert, it does not mean there is no water. Water is there, but not there. Similarly happiness, beauty, opulence—everything is there. That is in the spiritual world.

Philosophy Discussion on Socrates:

Hayagrīva: ...devotion.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You can not enter in Kṛṣṇa's place without being a purified bhakta. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. He never says that by jñāna or by karma or by yoga one can understand Him. It is clearly stated, in many śāstra, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti: (BG 18.55) only through devotional service one can understand Kṛṣṇa. The personal abode of Kṛṣṇa is especially reserved for the bhaktas. Therefore all jñānīs, yogis, karmīs, they cannot; they remain outside, that there is the sunshine and the sun. To enter into the sun is not so easy thing, but sunshine anyone can remain. The temperature is not so hot; you can tolerate it. But although the sunshine and the sun not different, in the sunshine, sun globe, if you enter, if you have go the power to enter, the same light and same temperature... Not same, I mean to say, temperature and light. So the temperature of sunshine, light and temperature, is not the same as the temperature and light in the sun globe.

Philosophy Discussion on Socrates:

Prabhupāda: So everything is Kṛṣṇa's kingdom, but there is specially, that there is no need of sunshine, there is no need of moonshine, there is no need of electric light; it is all effulgent. So He is giving the information, but these rascals will not take. They want to make adjustment in the darkness of night. How it is possible? This is teaching also the nature's way of work. The sun is in the sky, but the arrangement is such that twelve hours it is darkness and twelve hours it is light. But sun is there always. There is no doubt about it. But the arrangement, this is just to convince us that actually it is dark. With the sunshine it is sometimes day and sunny. Similarly, happiness can be by the..., to remain under this sunshine, under the illumination of Kṛṣṇa. That is happiness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And if you want to be happy in darkness... Just like in darkness at night the only happiness is sleeping and sex, that's all. There is no other happiness. And when there was dark in New York, electricity failed, and so many women became pregnant. (laughs) Yes. In the darkness this is the happiness: either you sleep or you enjoy sex. That is happiness. That is material world; therefore it is darkness.

Philosophy Discussion on Aristotle:

Prabhupāda: These Western philosophers, mostly they are contemplating about the sunshine in darkness. But that is not the way of understanding the sun. Best thing is to come in the sunshine, see yourself, see the sunshine, see the sun. There is (indistinct).

Philosophy Discussion on Plotinus:

Prabhupāda: A perfect conception of the Supreme One: He is unlimited, we are limited. That is sense. How the Supreme One, who is the cause of everything, He can be limited? I do not know what do they mean by "limit." He cannot be limited by anything. Even the impersonal Brahman, that Brahman, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: everything is Brahman, unlimited. Why He should be limited? Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni: (BG 9.4) everything is emanation from Him and resting in Him. That is His impersonal conception. Everywhere He is there. And personal is localized, and..., but from the person, the impersonal effulgence come out. That we understand from the Bhagavad-gītā: brahmaṇaḥ ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā. As the big sunshine comes from the localized sun globe—the sun globe is situated in one place, but this, the rays of the sun is distributed all over the universe—similarly, impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth is that by His transcendental rays, prabhā, yasya prabhā prabhavata (Bs. 5.40), illumination. Just like the fire has got heat and light. It expands.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: There is nothing... Impersonal means when we cannot see that the background is person. We can of course take the lesson from nature that the sunshine is impersonal but the background is sun-god. But because we are in a very lower stage of life we can simply experience the sunshine but we cannot go and talk with the sun-god. That is not possible. So similarly, the background is person and the expansion of God's energy is imperson. So because we are in the energy, we are not directly in touch with God; therefore we say that God is an imperson. We have no such capacity now, but they, if we become devotee, we can attain that position when he can talk with God in person as the gopīs and the cowherds boy, mother Yaśodā and other in Vṛndāvana inhabitants they are doing.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: So impersonal feature means a subordinate feature to the person. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam: "All the sky, air, fire, air, land, water, everything, that is My expansion." Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Sarvam means everything. And mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni: (BG 9.4) "They are staying on Me." Just like the sunshine is on the sun. As soon as sun sinks, the sun, there is no sunshine. Similarly, the sunshine appears to be very big and the sun globe appears to be small, but the whole sunshine is depending on the sun globe. Similarly, the whole exhibition of impersonal representation—earth, water, air, fire, sky, so on, they are all depending on God. There..., therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam: "Everything that you see, that is My expansion, and everything is resting on these elements." Therefore He says, mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni, nāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ: (BG 9.4) "But personally I am not there." And standing on this vast land or in the ocean he is in God, but personally he cannot see. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, "Personally I am not present there, although he is standing on Me."

Purports to Songs

Purport to Bhajahu Re Mana -- San Francisco, March 16, 1967:

Then he is pointing out the frustration of life. What is that? Śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa e dina jāminī jāgi re. Śīta means winter. Ātapa means summer, when there is scorching sunshine. Śīta ātapa bāta, cold, bariṣaṇa, torrents of rain. So these disturbances are always there. Sometimes it is severe cold. Sometimes it is scorching heat. Sometimes there is torrents of rain. Sometimes this or that is going on. So he says, śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa e dina jāminī jāgi re. Whole day and night, people are working very hard without caring, severe cold, severe heat, and torrents of rain, and keeping night, going to the desert, going underneath the sea—everywhere they are so busy. Śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa e dina jāminī jāgi re. There is night duty and so many other engagements.

Purport to Bhajahu Re Mana -- San Francisco, March 16, 1967:

By the grace of spiritual master, guru, and by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, one achieves the opportunity of serving Kṛṣṇa in devotional service. So in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is also said that spiritual master is the direct manifestation of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa comes before the devotee as spiritual master just like sun enters your room by the sunshine. Although the sun does not enter your room or your city or your country—he is so many millions and millions of miles away—still, he can enter everywhere by his potency, the sunshine. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa enters everywhere by His different potencies. And to receive this light from Kṛṣṇa, one has to hear. Hearing is so important. Therefore Govinda dāsa says, śravaṇa. Śravaṇa means hearing.