In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated that goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). Kṛṣṇa lives at His home, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Just like Kṛṣṇa is in Goloka Vṛndāvana. So still, He emanates, He expands Himself. Akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. Akhilātma-bhūtaḥ means throughout the whole creation. He has creation; that is also innumerable. We are seeing this creation, this universe. There are innumerable planets. But... Akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37), in everywhere Kṛṣṇa is there. Still, He is existing in His own abode. We cannot imagine because we have no such experience. Just like we are sitting in this room. We are not sitting in the other room. Try to understand the distinction between Kṛṣṇa and ourselves. But Kṛṣṇa is here and He's not only in the other room, other building, other city, other universe—everywhere. That is Kṛṣṇa.
That is Krsna (Lectures, SB)
Expressions researched:
"that is Krishna"
|"that is Krsna"
|"this is Krishna"
|"this is Krsna"
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So Vyāsadeva will explain in the Third Chapter that although He has got all these multiforms, none are more than Kṛṣṇa. But still that Kṛṣṇa, the name which He appeared in this day, He's the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). All other incarnations who are mentioned in this list, they are aṁśa-kalāḥ. They're directly expansion or expansion of the expansion, expansion of the expansion, you go on. That is Kṛṣṇa. Just like Kṛṣṇa is in this temple. In other temples also, Kṛṣṇa is there. Not that because in this temple Kṛṣṇa is there, He is finished. Just like we are present in this room, not in other room. That means in one room. Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa.
For Kṛṣṇa, there is no difference, material and spiritual, because everything is spiritual ultimately. But still, taking it accepted that we cannot see spiritual form at the present moment. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Because our senses are not blunt, we cannot see the spiritual form of Kṛṣṇa at the present moment. Therefore because we cannot see Kṛṣṇa with your present eyes, because we cannot serve Kṛṣṇa with our present hand, therefore Kṛṣṇa appears in a way so that we can see, we can touch. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa can appear in any way. He is all-powerful. So when He appears just like a stone statue, that does not mean Kṛṣṇa is stone or statue. Kṛṣṇa is the same Kṛṣṇa, but He appears before me just like stone statue because I cannot touch anything beyond this stone. I cannot see beyond this stone. So it is His mercy.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa is canvassing, yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi yad aśnāsi yat tapasyasi yad dadāsi yat kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṇam (BG 9.27). Yat karoṣi. Everyone is engaged in some work. Yat karoṣi. Everyone they're engaged in performing sacrifices... Juhoṣi. Everyone is liking to give in charity. He has got some money; he wants to make some charity. Dadāsi yat. Everyone is eating. Yad aśnāsi. (break) That is Kṛṣṇa. If you give me a plate, thinking that "Guru Mahārāja will keep some prasādam," I eat everything. (laughter) That's all. No prasādam. You see? You are cheated. But Kṛṣṇa will not cheat. Kṛṣṇa will eat everything and you still keep everything. So where is your loss? Why don't you offer to Kṛṣṇa? Why in the temple? Everyone can do it at home.
Kṛṣṇa is saying, lying, that He does not...? He eats. But we do not know how He is eating. That is a spiritual process. That is answered in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti (Bs. 5.32). He has got... Because He is omnipotent. Every part of His body has got all the potencies of other parts of the body. Therefore you offer with faith and love to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, simply by seeing, He can eat. Because aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. We can see with our eyes. We cannot eat with our eyes, but Kṛṣṇa can eat with His eyes, and He can see with His tongue. He can hear with His hair. That is Kṛṣṇa. Omnipotency. We say all this, "omnipotency." How He is omnipotent, when you discuss, then we fail. This is omnipotency. Every part of His body has got the potency of other part. That is Kṛṣṇa. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti (Bs. 5.32). Why? Ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya. Because His body is not this body, this material body. Ānanda-cinmaya. Therefore don't think that "Here is Kṛṣṇa, stone." No. Because stone is also part of His body.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is described here in this chapter as Vāsudeva Adhokṣaja. Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa's name, another name is Vāsudeva, and His another name is Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means not to be understood by direct perception of our senses. Akṣaja, we try to understand everything with our senses, we want to see something, we want to touch something, we want to smell something, we want to hear about something, we want to taste something, these are our direct test. So Kṛṣṇa, God, cannot be understood by these direct tests. Therefore He is called Adhokṣaja. You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is here, but because we have no training, we see that it is a stone statue. But He is Kṛṣṇa. We do not know that Kṛṣṇa is so kind but because I cannot see Kṛṣṇa at the present stage of life therefore Kṛṣṇa has appeared in a form which I can see. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, the same Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa can appear because everything is Kṛṣṇa, everything is Kṛṣṇa's energy, so He can appear in His energy. So He has appeared in this material energy, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). So He has appeared just like stone, because we cannot see except stone. Therefore He has appeared like stone, but He is not stone, He is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Adhokṣaja.
This is called acintya-bhedābheda philosophy: "simultaneously, inconceivably, one and different." So everything is God. That is a fact. And still, everything is not God. That is also fact. So we have to understand this philosophy. Everything is God. Without God's energy... The same thing, that the whole material world is existing on the sunshine. All scientists know it. But at the same time, the sunshine is different and nondifferent from the sun. Similarly, whatever we are experiencing, that is energy of God. Brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. These are energies of God, tathedam akhilaṁ jagat, the whole creation, cosmic manifestation. But when there is question of love, you have to find out the origin of this energy. That is Kṛṣṇa.
We have got experience: I am a person, my father is person, his father is person, his father is person... In this way, if you go to the topmost platform to find out the Supreme Person or Supreme God, why He should be imperson? Imperson is a feature of the Supreme Person, but ultimately brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11), ultimately the Absolute Truth is a Supreme Person. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). This is the Vedic information, that as we are all nityas, eternal, we are also living being, but there is another supreme nitya, eternal, and supreme cetana, or living being, and that is God. That is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: (BG 7.7) "There is no more superior living being than Me." That is Kṛṣṇa.
So in this way try to understand the philosophy of God, that is bhāgavata. Bhāgavata discourse means to understand the philosophy of God. So this process. The religion means first-class religion means one who has learned to love God. That is first-class religion. And how to love God, how to practice that love? That is bhakti-yoga. Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ, janayaty āśu vairāgyam (SB 1.2.7). Vairāgyam, the word, two things required in human life, knowledge and renunciation. Renunciation-try to understand what is renunciation—just like we, the members of the Kṛṣṇa society, we have renounced all material activities. That's all. That is renouncement. Our activities are surrounding only about Kṛṣṇa. We do not do anything except Kṛṣṇa business. We are publishing magazine, that is Kṛṣṇa. We are publishing books, that is Kṛṣṇa. We are going to the press, that is for Kṛṣṇa. We are going to the market, that is for Kṛṣṇa. We are cooking, that is for Kṛṣṇa. We are living, only for Kṛṣṇa. We are dancing for Kṛṣṇa. We are chanting for Kṛṣṇa.
We have seen so many sannyāsīs. First of all they say, "This is false. The world is false. Let me take sannyāsa." And after remaining a few years of sannyāsa, then he learns how to eat meat, how to drink wine, how to associate with women. Then come. Then he must have some business, that philanthropic work, open some school, open some hospital. Why? If he is full(?) and the whole world is false, why you are interested in opening schools and hospitals and... (break) ...to open hospital and open school. No. They are not very much interested. We are interested to open school if there is education for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, as we have opened in Dallas, Texas, small children. That we are interested because that is Kṛṣṇa. There is Kṛṣṇa. But we are not interested in so-called godless education. That is not our business.
Therefore our request is that you take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement very serious and try to apply yourself in the service of Vāsudeva. The very simple thing... If you cannot do anything, you follow the instruction of Kṛṣṇa. As Kṛṣṇa says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya. You are drinking water. While drinking water, as soon as you taste, the sweet taste, you simply remember, "This is Kṛṣṇa." Is it very difficult task? Not at all. Simply you have to agree. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8). And as soon as in the morning you see the sunshine, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa." As soon as in the evening you see the moonshine, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa." And what to speak of when the Vedic reciters, brāhmaṇas, are chanting, oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam..., in the morning, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa. Here is oṁkāra." In this way you simply think of Kṛṣṇa.
That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjayaḥ (BG 7.7). Leaders there are, gods are, there are. God means controller. There is controller always. So there are many gods. Anyone is god, because he is, somehow or other, he is a controller; a leader also. But we are meaning the supreme leader, the supreme controller. That is Kṛṣṇa. Leader you have to accept. But... Controller you have to accept. But nobody is supreme leader or supreme controller. That is Kṛṣṇa. Every leader is also controlled by some other leader. But Kṛṣṇa is such a leader that He is not controlled by any other leader. That is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat... (BG 7.7). "There is no one superiorly..."
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is educating people in this way, that Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer. You have seen Kṛṣṇa's picture. He is always enjoying. He is not working. That is Kṛṣṇa. God... In the Vedas the definition of God is given, na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: "God has nothing to do." He is enjoyer. Where He will do? He will not work. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tasya sama adhikaś ca dṛśyat: "Nobody is found equal to Him or greater than Him." That is God. Nowadays so many gods coming from India... So God is one. Na tasya sama adhikaś ca. Nobody can be equal to Him; nobody can be greater than Him. That is God.
Similarly, to understand Brahman means the Absolute Truth is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). If you simply try to understand impersonal Brahman, then you simply understand sat aṁśa, the eternity; paramātmā, citaṁśa; and ānandāṁśa is Kṛṣṇa. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12).
Kṛṣṇa is the supreme bliss. We therefore see Kṛṣṇa always enjoying, jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-bihārī. That is Kṛṣṇa. He is always in company with Rādhārāṇī, and kuñja-bihārī, and enjoying Her company in different kuñjas. And gopī-jana-vallabha, He is very dear to the gopīs or the gopas, gopī jana, in Vṛndāvana. Gopī-jana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī. And because He loves the gopīs and the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana so much, as soon as there is some danger, He is prepared. He lifted the Govardhana Hill for them. They did not know except Kṛṣṇa.
So these are tattva-jñānī, tattva-jñāna, kṛṣṇa jñāna. These are truths. People should devote to understand this tattva-jñāna. But those who are not very advanced, they conclude the Absolute Truth is nirākāra, impersonal Brahman. Or a little advanced than them, the yogis, they see Paramātmā within heart. They, they are also the same truth, advaya-jñāna. But if you want real bliss, if you want to talk with this Absolute Truth face to face, and treat with Him as friend, as son, as lover, that is Bhagavān. Not impersonal Brahman, neither Paramātmā. That will not get. Therefore it is said here, "The Absolute Truth is one." Either you call Him nirākāra Brahman or call you Him localized Paramātmā, He's in my heart, everyone's heart, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānām hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). But if you want to take advantage, full association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa.
So if we want to understand the real reality, vāstava-vastu, that is Kṛṣṇa, then this is the process. What is that?
- tac chraddadhānā munayo
- jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā
- paśyanty ātmani cātmānaṁ
- bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā
- (SB 1.2.12)
You have to receive through the channel of paramparā system, bhakti. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Paramparā. Ādau gurvāśrayam. Therefore we have to accept a guru who is coming in the paramparā.
So in Vedic system a husband can marry... Why others? Kṛṣṇa, He married 16,000 wives. But not like us. He was present in the house of 16,000 wives by 16,000 forms. Every, each and every wife had palatial building, establishment. Each wife had ten sons. Not that because He has married 16,000, He cannot meet all of them. No. So that is Kṛṣṇa; He is God. But even common man... Just like Kṛṣṇa's father, he had also sixteen wives. Kṛṣṇa is one wife's son. Vasudeva... Subhadrā is another wife's daughter. Balarāma is another wife's son. So in order to stop this rascaldom, that a human, I mean to say, man, he's allowed: "Marry them. Keep them nicely. Give them apartment. Give them nice food, nice dress, nice ornament. You enjoy." But rascaldom means "No, without responsibility I shall make phish, phish, phish" that's all.
Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram. The prakṛti, the material nature, is working under His direction. And you can verify it, how nature is working correctly, exactly. Unless there is some systematic order, how everything is working systematically. As soon as there is spring, immediately thousands and millions of trees, immediately the foliage comes out. Immediately. And as soon as there is fall, September, last, all the leaves fall down, immediately. So this is the process of creation. Just like in Bible it is said, "Let there be creation," and there was creation. So it is fact, actually. But we cannot understand how much powerful is Kṛṣṇa, or God. Simply by His will, simply by His will, everything takes place. Millions and millions of things come out immediately, and millions and millions of things immediately annihilated. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is God. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).
Kṛṣṇa's energy is so powerful that He puts the potency in a seed. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). Kṛṣṇa says bīja, means "seed," sarva-bhūtānām. "Whatever is coming out, being manifested, the seed, I am." Means—"Seed, I am"—means "It is manufactured under My supervision." Just find out the seed of a banyan tree, a small grain, like mustard seed. But you sow the seed and a big tree, gigantic tree, will come out. Unless the energetic tree is there within the seed, how it comes out? That is Kṛṣṇa's energy. That is Kṛṣṇa, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). His energy is so subtle that svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Svābhāvikī.
Prabhupāda: We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. He is fully joyful. You'll see always Kṛṣṇa joyful. When He's killing an animal, he's laughing. He's joyful. You have seen Kṛṣṇa's picture. It is not that it's a problem. You have seen. Kṛṣṇa is killing that Keśī demon, a horse, big horse, just like a child's play. Kṛṣṇa is, I mean to say, fighting with that bull. What is the name of that bull?
Pradyumna: Ariṣṭāsura.
Prabhupāda: Ariṣṭāsura. The attacking with his horns. Kṛṣṇa is just like playing with a toy. That is Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is always anxious to give us enlightenment, that "This is not your life. Why you are rotting in this material world? Come back."
But by the laws of nature, by God's energy, immediately, within a few days, millions of trees are getting their leaves again and millions of trees, they are falling. Millions of fruits are coming out. Similarly, all this cosmic manifestation came into existence simply by the will of God. Not that... Just like in season, there are hundreds and thousands and millions of fruits. You haven't got to create each fruit. When the season is there, the fruits are all ready, immediately. Similarly, when God says, "Let there be creation," millions of planets, immediately created. That is God. Not that cheap God, "I am God." In your country they come, and you become cheated. We don't accept such cheap God. We want this God. Simply by His will, millions of universes are created.
- yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya
- jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ
- viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kāla-viśeṣo
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.48)
We are not seeking after a cheap God. Real God. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **.
Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared not to kill his teeny father. To kill his teeny father... Simply by directing the māyā, he could be killed. But He wanted to come before Prahlāda Mahārāja, that "You are My such nice devotee. You are suffering for Me. Now I have come. You see." This is the purpose. By the by, to kill the atheist, keeping the promise of Brahmā intact... He took benediction from Brahmā that "I shall not die in this way and this way, this way." All the promises of Brahmā kept. He appeared in such a form that it will not clash with the promise of Brahmā. Therefore He had to take the form of such a thing which does not clash with the promise. Brahmā was a devotee. He has given him some benediction. So Kṛṣṇa did not violate that. It must be kept. Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). Just see (the) kindness of Kṛṣṇa. He kept Brahmā's promise, He kept the atheist Hiraṇyakaśipu's aspiration, and He satisfied Prahlāda And everything was done simply by incarnating as Narasiṁhadeva. This is Kṛṣṇa's plan. He comes, but by one stroke, He serves so many business. That is Kṛṣṇa.
So here it is said that rāma-kṛṣṇāv iti. God appeared as Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. There are some foolish persons who are misled by another imitation Ramakrishna. You see? But those who are intelligent... This rascal Ramakrishna said that "I am the same Rāma-Kṛṣṇa." Another rascal believed, "Oh, he is Rāma-Kṛṣṇa." Why I say rascal? Because here it is said, rāma-kṛṣṇāv iti bhuvo bhagavān aharad bharam. There must be symptoms of Rāma-Kṛṣṇa. Anyone will say, "I am Rāma-Kṛṣṇa," and he becomes Rāma-Kṛṣṇa? How? What is the test? The test is bhagavān aharad bharam. When Kṛṣṇa and Rāma appeared, Balarāma, He killed so many demons to make the world peaceful. The beginning of killing was their maternal uncle Kaṁsa. Not only that beginning. From the beginning of Kṛṣṇa's birth, Pūtanā, Aghāsura, Bakāsura, the Keśī, and so many asuras... Every day, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma used to go in the forest and some asura would come to disturb Them, to kill Them, and Kṛṣṇa will finish them. And the friends will come at home and narrate the story to their mothers, "Mother, Kṛṣṇa is so wonderful. Such a big demon came and He killed immediately in this way and that way." That is Kṛṣṇa. Not that because one has got some so-called meditation, He becomes Kṛṣṇa without any test. But what is the proof that he is Rāma-Kṛṣṇa? But they do not take the proof. They simply pose a bogus man as Rāma-Kṛṣṇa.
The vast universal form which you are seeing, it is nothing but parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ: it is the manifestation of the energy of the Supreme Person. How? The example is given, eka-deśa-sthitasyāgneḥ. Just like fire. Take the example of the sun, the biggest fire within this universe. It is situated in a place. The sun is not distributed. The sunshine is distributed. The sunshine may be covering the whole universe, but that is not very important. The sun globe is important. It is localized. Similarly, as the sun is distributing heat and light, remaining itself in one place, similarly Kṛṣṇa is playing with gopīs in Goloka Vṛndāvana, and His shine is creating the whole universe. Not that Kṛṣṇa is playing there, He is enjoying, therefore He is absent. No. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). That is Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa is Goloka Vṛndāvana, but He is present everywhere. That is Kṛṣṇa. I am sitting here, you are sitting here. You are not in your apartment. That is my position. But Kṛṣṇa's position is that although He is always in Goloka Vṛndāvana, He is present everywhere.
How? Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). He is within every universe; not only within every universe, He is within every atom. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa, because He is playing as a cowherd boy or He is playing as a friend of the gopīs, therefore He is ordinary man.
Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Ekam: "Only unto Me." He even does not say that there are many incarnations of Kṛṣṇa, but He says, mām ekam. So this ekam can be understood in this way, that when we speak "Kṛṣṇa," this term includes everything Kṛṣṇa, all-attractive. But we can capture everything in Kṛṣṇa simply by... Just like the same example, as we have repeatedly..., that by supplying food in the stomach, you supply food to all the limbs of the body. You don't require... This is practical. Or pouring water on the root of the tree, you supply water to all the branches, leaves, everywhere. We see every day... This is practical example. Simply... Similarly, there must be something, central point of all this manifestation. That is Kṛṣṇa. If we simply capture Kṛṣṇa, then we capture everything.
The impersonalists' view is that if everything is Kṛṣṇa... That is the... That is their material way of thinking. Just like if you take a big paper and, I mean to say, cut into pieces and the pieces are distributed, strewn over, then the original paper is lost. So their theory is, "If Kṛṣṇa is everything—Kṛṣṇa has expanded in this world, in cosmic manifestation—then Kṛṣṇa has no form, separate form." That is their theory. But the Vedic injunction is: "No, it is not like that." Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate: (Īśo Invocation) Kṛṣṇa is so full that even Kṛṣṇa expands million times, still, He's the same thing, Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is person.
Māyāvāda philosophy is: "If the whole cosmic creation is God, then where is God again separately?" That is their poor fund of knowledge. That is God who, expanding Himself in so many ways, still He remains as He is. That is God. Otherwise, how He is God? It is material thing. If by expanding, He loses His identity, then it is material. In the material sense, that we experience. The same example: you take one big paper and cut into pieces and throw it. The original paper is lost. That is material. But in the Īśopaniṣad we hear that pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇaṁ pūrṇāt udacyate, pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). Just like when Kṛṣṇa was sporting on this earth as cowherd boy, Brahmā became doubtful, "How is that? Kṛṣṇa has become a cowherds boy here?" So he wanted to test whether He's Kṛṣṇa. So he, he sifted all the cows and cowherds boys from the pasturing ground, and again he saw that millions times the same cows, boys and cowherd, cows and cowherd boys, are present there. So that is Kṛṣṇa. He can expand. Bṛhatvad bṛhannatvad. Brahman means He can expand unlimitedly. And He can shrink also to the minute.
"Kṛṣṇa" means... When I say "Kṛṣṇa," Kṛṣṇa means God. God is one. That is Kṛṣṇa. Others, they admit that God is one. But they do not know who is that one God. That is their defect. That is the difference between us and others.
Advaitam acyutam. Advaitam acyutam ananta-rūpam. Kṛṣṇa's ananta-rūpam does not make any difference. There is no difference between Rāmacandra and Kṛṣṇa. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan (Bs. 5.39). Kṛṣṇa is always... When we say "Kṛṣṇa"—Kṛṣṇa with all His expansions, Viṣṇu expansions. So either you worship Rāma or Kṛṣṇa, it is the same. Or Viṣṇu. There is no difference. Therefore advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyam (Bs. 5.33). But still, Kṛṣṇa is the ādyam, original. Ādyam purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca. Although He is ādyam, purāṇa-puruṣam, the oldest personality, still, nava-yauvanaṁ ca, always young. You have never seen Kṛṣṇa's photograph as old man. No. When He was charioteer of Arjuna, He was great-grandfather at that time. His grandson had sons. He's old man. But you see, just a young man of twenty years old. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Out of many millions of persons, one is perfect, and out of many millions of perfect persons, one can hardly understand what is Kṛṣṇa. And these rascals understand Kṛṣṇa. They remark that "Kṛṣṇa is like this. Kṛṣṇa is like this." How much rascaldom it is. This is the... Kṛṣṇa says personally, and Lord Brahmā says, vedeṣu durlabham. Vedeṣu durlabham. You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa simply by studying Vedic literature. It is not possible. Then? How we shall understand Kṛṣṇa? Adurlabham ātma-bhaktau. If you want to understand Kṛṣṇa, then go to His devotee. He'll make known Kṛṣṇa. That is mahātmā. You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa personally by your so-called speculation, neither you can understand Kṛṣṇa simply by studying Vedas as a scholar. There are many Vedantist scholars. They cannot understand. So many Vedantists there are in India, but they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25). Kṛṣṇa says, "I am not exposed to everyone." That is Kṛṣṇa.
So there is one Paramātmā. That Paramātmā is Kṛṣṇa. Ātmā, we are also ātmā, living being, and Kṛṣṇa is also living being. But not, we are not equal to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the chief living being. Just like I am also living being; you are also living being. But you accept me as the chief of this institution. There must be one chief. Otherwise there will be no management. It will be chaotic. So we are ātmā, and Kṛṣṇa is also ātmā. But He is Paramātmā. We are īśvara. Kṛṣṇa is also īśvara. But He's Parameśvara. Therefore we have named "Godhead" purposefully, not "God." We don't say "Back to God." We say, "Back to Godhead.""Head" means the chief. Everyone can claim that "I am God," because everyone has got some power, little power. But not the supreme power. That is Kṛṣṇa.
So hari-toṣaṇam or bhagavat-paritoṣaṇam can be possible when we actually know what is God. Otherwise there is no question. So, so far we are concerned, Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees, we know who is God. Therefore this business is possible by us, not by others. We know what is God. We have no vague idea. We know who is God, where does He live, what does He do, His name, address, His father's name—everything we know. Therefore we can satisfy. We are competent to satisfy because we know exactly who is God. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). How do you know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Yes, by history, by authority, by His action, everything complete. We know historical, from historical point of view, Kṛṣṇa is there in the Mahābhārata.
Puruṣaṁ pūrṇam, puruṣam person, and pūrṇam, complete. We are also person, every individual being, but we are not pūrṇam. We are apūrṇam. The pūrṇam is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, complete. Complete with everything, that is pūrṇam. We are trying to be pūrṇam, but it is not possible. We can be purified, but because we are very small particle, mamaivāṁśa... Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, that we living entities, we are small particles. Just like the fire and the spark. The spark is also fire, but very small particle. Similarly, we are, although fire, when as good as God in quality, just like the spark and the big fire, but the spark is very small. It can burn a small portion. Suppose a spark falls on your floor, a spot can burn. But big fire can burn. That is the distinction between God and ourselves. We are also God, but we are not pūrṇam God. That is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).
So he visioned two things, that one, puruṣam... Apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇam. Puruṣa, perfect, pūrṇam, complete. We are trying to become puruṣa or Bhagavān, but we are not perfect. The Bhagavān means pūrṇam. Ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇaḥ. Complete. So we cannot accept anyone as Bhagavān unless he is pūrṇam. Ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇaḥ. That is Kṛṣṇa. Ṣaḍ-aiśvaryaiḥ pūrṇo ya iha bhagavān (CC Adi 1.3). So by bhakti-yoge, bhakti-yogena, by practicing... That is called meditation. Meditation means to find out the Supreme Complete Person. That is called meditation, not that anything you meditate, any nonsense.
So from the Vedic knowledge we can understand that Kṛṣṇa has many types of potencies, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāv... (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). because He has to execute so many affairs, this material world, spiritual world, and just imagine so big universe. There are innumerable universes, and each and every universe there are so many planets, so many different kinds of living entities, and He has to manage everything. Therefore He is called Parameśvara. Parameśvara means the supreme controller. And Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15). "I am living in everyone's heart." Now, imagine. There are innumerable universes, and each and every universe, there are innumerable planets, and in each and every planet, there are innumerable towns and cities, and each and every town, there are innumerable living entities, and Kṛṣṇa has to manage all of them. That is Kṛṣṇa. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). Kṛṣṇa has to act in such a way that whatever we are doing, that is under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says mattaḥ smṛtiḥ. Just like in the morning you get up and immediately you understand that you were sleeping, "Now I have got to do so many things." So wherefrom this memory comes? Kṛṣṇa says mattaḥ, "from Me." So just imagine how Kṛṣṇa is busy.
So if we want to get relief from the suffering, then it is recommended, yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyām. If we regularly hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this sātvata-saṁhitā,... Yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyām (SB 1.7.7). Śrūyamāṇa means simply hearing, śravaṇam. Then, by hearing, what will be the effect? The effect will be kṛṣṇe parama-pūruṣe, kṛṣṇe parama-pūruṣe bhaktir utpadyate: "The Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa, unto Him your devotional service will be increased." Because anartha upaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje. The remedy has been described that if you be engaged in the devotional service of Adhokṣaja... Adhokṣaja means the Supreme Person who is beyond your material experience. That is called adhokṣaja. Akṣaja means material, and adhah-kṛta, where material knowledge fails, that is called adhokṣaja. So if you be engaged in devotional service upon this Adhokṣaja... And who is that Adhokṣaja? That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa you cannot understand by the material knowledge. They are studying Kṛṣṇa with material knowledge, but it is not possible. That is said by Kṛṣṇa Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā, that yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ: (BG 7.25) "I am not exposed to everyone because the yogamāyā is covering their eyes."
So this is a wrong idea, that matter is doing independently. That is not possible. Therefore it is clearly said in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Matter does not work. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His different energies, He is working. That is Kṛṣṇa. You have to understand like that. Kṛṣṇa is in the background.
These rascals, they do not know. Saṁsṛti. Therefore here we see that tvam eko dahyamānānām apavargo 'si saṁsṛteḥ. This is Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna is mahājana. He is mahājana. He's directly Kṛṣṇa's friend. He knows what is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he submitted that, "Kṛṣṇa, it is perplexity. I do not like to fight, and You are asking me repeatedly to fight. So it is very awkward position. I cannot understand."
So Kṛṣṇa is the original person. And if somebody questions that "If Kṛṣṇa is the original person, who is the origin of Kṛṣṇa?"... Naturally, we can ask that because our experience is different—that answer is there in the Brahma-saṁhitā: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ anādir ādiḥ (Bs. 5.1). Anādir ādiḥ. He's ādi, ādyaṁ puruṣam. But if you question, "Who is the cause of Kṛṣṇa?" Anādi—He has no cause. That is God. You go on searching after, one after another. I am. My origin is my father, my father's origin is his father, his father's origin, his father, his father... In this way you go on researching. Then come to Brahmā. Brahmā is ādi-kavi. In this material world, in this universe, ādi-kavi. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). So he's the ādi, original, first created being. Then who is his ādi? Wherefrom Brahmā is coming? That is Kṛṣṇa. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. So in this way, when you come to Kṛṣṇa... Brahmā is coming from Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Svayambhū. He's born of the lotus flower. That Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is coming from Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. And Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is coming from Saṅkarṣaṇa. Saṅkarṣaṇa is coming from Aniruddha; Aniruddha from Pradyumna, like that. Ultimately-Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is ādyam. And Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). There is no more. So that is God. You go on researching, researching, ādyam, ādyam, ādyam—when you come to a point, there is no more ādyam, that is God.
You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa by studying Vedas, although Vedas means knowledge. And the ultimate knowledge—to understand Kṛṣṇa. So-called Vedanti..., you'll find so many Vedantists loitering on the street, but they do not understand Kṛṣṇa. This is their qualification. They interpret "Kṛṣṇa means this. Kṛṣ means this, ṇa means this," like that. When Vallabha Ācārya said to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that "I have described Kṛṣṇa's meaning," Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately refused: "I do not know any meaning of Kṛṣṇa. I know Kṛṣṇa, Gopījana-vallabha, that's all. Gopījana-vallabha." What is the meaning of Kṛṣṇa? No interpretation, no imagination. Kṛṣṇa is Vṛndāvana-candra or Gopījana-vallabha, Giri-vara-dhārī, that's all. So we have to understand by sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83). Then we can see sākṣāt Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa comes to convince us. There is no question of imagination. "See Me. Here I am." That is Kṛṣṇa. Why you are imagining? Kṛṣṇa therefore comes.
Just like you are working to earn some money, businessman, karma. So ordinary way you have to work very hard day and night to get some money. Suppose if you want one lakh of rupees or one crore of rupees, you have to work for it. But there is another way. Suppose one rich man gives you, that "You haven't got to work. Take this one lakh of rupees or one crore of rupees. You take it." That is another way. Ordinary way to accumulate crores of rupees, it may not be possible in your life. But if some friend or some rich man becomes kind upon you and delivers you, "Take it," you can get it immediately, without any hard labor. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, the supreme rich man, supreme rich being, is offering you, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām... (BG 18.66). "You haven't got to do anything. Come on. You surrender unto Me, and I give you immediately liberation." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ. There is no anxiety.
So that is Kṛṣṇa. He can give you immediately liberation. Simply you have to surrender. Therefore He's deva-deva. Sometimes we go to this demigod, to that demigod for some material perfection or ultimate liberation. But Kṛṣṇa can give you liberation within a second. That is Kṛṣṇa. Within a second. Otherwise, it is not very easy.
Suppose for the impersonalist, virāḍ-rūpa, the sky is the head of the Personality of Godhead. They think like that. And the big, big mountains are the bones, and big, big oceans are the holes of the body, and the trees, they are... In one sense, it is all right. But if you take the virāḍ-rūpa, how you can capture? It is impossible. He has virāḍ-rūpa. He has shown virāḍ-rūpa to Kṛṣṇa (Arjuna), but you cannot capture that virāḍ-rūpa. You are tiny. Therefore He is so kind that He has appeared before you in this temple so that you can touch Him actually, you can serve Him, you can dress Him, you can offer Him eatables. It is... Therefore, if we think like that... Not think. It is a fact. Because God is not only very big. Mahato mahīyān aṇor aṇīyān. He can become smaller than the smallest. That is God. Brahman does not means simply big so that you cannot capture. That is omnipotency. Whatever He likes, He can become. He can put all the universes within His mouth. When Yaśodāmāyi challenged that "Kṛṣṇa, You are eating earth. Your friends are complaining," "No, mother, I did not. They are telling false." "Now Your elder brother, Balarāma, also is saying." "No, He has... This morning He is angry with Me; therefore He has joined with them." "I want to see Your face." So He opened the mouth and the mother saw that millions of Yaśodā and millions of universes are within the mouth. Then she thought, "Maybe something... All right, don't do it." That's all. Finish with this (?). Now Kṛṣṇa, millions of universes within the mouth, He's being punished by Yaśodāmāyi. This is Kṛṣṇa. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. This is Kṛṣṇa.
milarly, Arjuna also very intelligently acting. He knew that although Kṛṣṇa was encouraging him to kill Aśvatthāmā, "He wanted to see me, how I deal with the matter." This is also... So there is competition between bhaktas. Duye lagye hura huri(?). It is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is being enlivened by seeing Rādhārāṇī, and Rādhārāṇī is becoming more beautiful by seeing Kṛṣṇa. Duye lagye hura huri. The competition. This is described in the fourth chapter of Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So it is transcendental sporting between the devotee and the Lord. It is not nirviśeṣa-vāda. The Lord wants to see "How he is My pure devotee." And the devotee wants to see that "I'll not accept anything from Kṛṣṇa. I shall sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa." That is duye lagye hura huri. That is devotee, and that is Kṛṣṇa.
So either you become a highly learned scholar in Vedic literature or you are simply an ordinary person, you can think of Kṛṣṇa and you become successful in your life. There is no difficulty. Raso 'ham. If you are ordinary person... Any, every, every person drinks water or drinks something. Let him immediately think of, as soon as he tastes, "Here is Kṛṣṇa." Puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca. A flower, a rose flower, very fragrant. As soon as you smell you can remember Kṛṣṇa. "Oh, this smell is Kṛṣṇa." Actually, that is Kṛṣṇa. You cannot create that smell. It is Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's art.
So Kuntī knew it; therefore, although Kṛṣṇa was present before her as a nephew... Aunt is respectable, that Kṛṣṇa came to offer His respect, obeisances, before going home. But Kuntī is offering respect to Kṛṣṇa. Therefore she is saying namasye, "I offer my obediences unto You, Kṛṣṇa." Why? Puruṣaṁ tvā, "You are the Supreme Person; therefore I must offer my respect unto You." Namasye puruṣaṁ tvā, ādyam. Ādyam means original, original person. That is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, anādiḥ. Anādiḥ means who has no beginning. But He is the beginning of everything. That is Kṛṣṇa. We have got experience that anything in our experience, it has got a beginning. Beginning. But Kṛṣṇa is without beginning, and all others, they have got beginning.
Because Kṛṣṇa is playing His part in a different way. He has ot so much business because He is directing the whole universal affair. You can understand, if one man becomes busy in so many things, his brain becomes puzzled. But Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart—not only the human being; the animals, the trees, plants, everyone. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ. And what He is doing? He is giving direction. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am sitting in everyone's heart," sarvasya ca aham hṛdi sann... Again hṛdi, in the soul, in the heart. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca, "I am giving particular direction to everyone." He is forgetting something, he is reminding..., he is reminded something. In this way Kṛṣṇa is doing. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanam. How much busy is that? The thief wants to steal something, somebody's house, so he is also praying God, "Please give me some opportunity so that I can steal." So Kṛṣṇa is giving him direction, "All right, you steal in this way." And the same person in whose house the stealing wil be committed, he is also praying, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, please protect me from thieves." So he is also believing. That just see Kṛṣṇa's business: He is giving direction to the thief, and giving direction to the person in whose house the stealing will be committed. So if..., just try to understand how much Kṛṣṇa is busy. That is God. Although He is performing so many contradictory business, contradictory business, opposing business, still His full brain, His full brain, He does not forget to dance with the gopīs at the same time. This is Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa.
If you are busy with so many transactions, you forget to see your wife and children and forget. But no. Kṛṣṇa, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto. Although He is busy dancing with the gopīs, although He is busy to play with His cowherd friends, goloka eva nivasaty, in this way He is living in the Goloka, and akhilātma-bhūto, still He is in everyone's heart and giving direction, all contradiction. This is Kṛṣṇa. Don't try to imitate Kṛṣṇa, rascal. Kṛṣṇa is not so easy. Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. You are you are. That is real philosophy.
Just like He married 16,000 wives. When He married He was one, and 16,000 girls offered the surrender to Kṛṣṇa that: "We are now kidnapped. If we go home, nobody will marry us." That is a strict Vedic system. If an unmarried girls goes out of home even for one night, nobody will marry her. Still it is going on. Nobody will marry her. So this is the old system. All the 16,000 girls who were kidnapped by Bhaumāsura... So they prayed to Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa came, killed the Bhaumāsura, delivered all the girls. So when Kṛṣṇa asked them: "Now you can safely go to your father's house," they replied: "Sir, if we go back to our father's house, what will be our fate? Nobody will marry us. Because this man, this rākṣasa, they kidnapped us." "Then what do you want." " We want that You become our husband." So Kṛṣṇa is so kind. "Yes." Immediately accepted. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Now, when they were brought at home, not that 16,000 wives will have to wait for 16,000 nights to meet Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself into 16,000 forms, and constructed 16,000 palaces, and establishment, on each palace... The description is there in the... That is Bhagavān. So those rascals, they cannot understand. They criticize Kṛṣṇa, that: "He was very lusty. He married 16,000 wives." Even if He's lusty, He's unlimitedly lusty. Because He's unlimited. Why 16,000? If He would marry 16,000,000s of wives still it is imperfect. That is Kṛṣṇa.
So for Kṛṣṇa there is no such thing that you can accuse Kṛṣṇa as lusty, sensuous. No. He showed favor to all His devotees. There are so many devotees Of Kṛṣṇa. Some devotee's asking Kṛṣṇa to become her husband. Some devotee's asking Kṛṣṇa to become his friend. Some devotee's asking Kṛṣṇa to become His son. And some devotee's asking to become his playmate. In this way, millions and trillions of devotees are there all over the universe. And Kṛṣṇa has to satisfy them all. He does not require any help from the devotees. But, as the devotees want... So these 16,000 devotees wanted Kṛṣṇa as their husband. Kṛṣṇa agreed. And that is... Just like common man. But as God, He expanded Himself into 16,000 forms.
So Nārada came to see. "Kṛṣṇa has married 16,000 wives. How He's dealing with them, let me see." So he, when he came here, he saw in 16,000 palaces, Kṛṣṇa is acting differently. And somewhere He's talking with His wife. Somewhere He's playing with His children. Somewhere He's getting marriage ceremony of His sons and daughters. So many, 16,000 ways He's engaged. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Just like He was playing just like ordinary child. But when Mother Yaśodā wanted to see His mouth open, whether He has eaten earth, dirt, He showed within the mouth all the universes. So this is Kṛṣṇa. Although He is playing just like ordinary child, ordinary human being, but when there is need, He shows His Godly nature.
Just like Arjuna. He was driving the chariot, but when Arjuna wanted see His universal form, immediately He showed him. Thousands and millions of heads and weapons. This is Kṛṣṇa. So na yasya kaścit. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa has no enemy. Kṛṣṇa has no friend. He is completely independent. He does not depend on enemy. But He plays like that for the benefit of the so-called friend and so-called enemy.
So Kṛṣṇa, although He's playing the part of human being, His activities are transcendental. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). That is the distinction between Kṛṣṇa and ourself. He is killing. He has killed so many demons; from the very childhood His one side is killing-Pūtanā killing, Aghāsura, Bakāsura, this asura, that asura, then Keśī, and so many asuras He killed. But His killing and our killing is not the same. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti. And in the Īśopaniṣad is..., apāpa-viddham. That is Kṛṣṇa. If we imitate Kṛṣṇa... We cannot imitate. Therefore our business is to follow the words of Kṛṣṇa, not to imitate Him. That is suicidal.
But Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. Akartuḥ. He has nothing to do. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). He has not... But He comes as a human being just to teach us how to work, how to work. That He explains in the Bhagavad-gītā, how to work and be happy. But not to work, Kṛṣṇa has never... And neither this place is like that, that you will not work, and everything will come automatically. Things are coming automatically, but you have to pick up the things by working. That is the nature. Just like you have got gold mine under your feet. So you have to take it by working, by digging. You cannot say, "Now I have got the gold mine. Now sit down tightly." No. That is not material nature. But Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. That is the Vedic instruction. That is akartuḥ. He has nothing to do. Why He has nothing to do? Now, because He has got many energies. Just like nowadays, by electronics, one man is sitting... We have seen the pilot. He's sitting in his place. He's simply pushing on the button, and the whole, big gigantic 747 is flying in the sky. We see the pilot is sitting there. He's doing nothing, but he's doing everything. But the electronic arrangement is so perfect. But sitting in one place he is working the big gigantic machine. As it is possible for a small material man, how much it is possible for Kṛṣṇa. Although He does not do anything, still, He's viśvātman: He is controlling the whole universe, viśvātman. He's the vital force, viśvāt... This is Kṛṣṇa.
So we have to understand Kṛṣṇa. Kuntī is helping us. Every devotee, Vaiṣṇava, they voluntarily takes this business just to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, to explain Kṛṣṇa, just like Kuntī is explaining, because if we understand Kṛṣṇa thoroughly, then we are liberated. Therefore Kṛṣṇa..., Kuntī's trying that "Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa is helping Arjuna in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, it is His duty." No, it is not His duty. He's doing it voluntarily, but He has nothing to do with it. That is Kṛṣṇa. Na me karma-phale spṛhā. He has nothing to do. We are forced to do. According to our karma-phala, we are forced to do. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. Here we have to, we are forced to accept happiness or distress according to destiny. You cannot deny, that "I'll not take this distressed condition of life. I'll simply take the happiness portion." That you cannot do. You must. Kṛṣṇa is not like that. That is understanding of Kṛṣṇa. (aside:) Why you are standing? You can sit down. Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Kṛṣṇa is akartuḥ. Ātmanaḥ..., although He is the vital force of everything.
So if we simply understand Kṛṣṇa, as explained in the śāstras, sādhu-śāstra, or saintly persons, devotees, if we try to understand, then we become liberated. Janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). As it is said, janma karma ca viśvātmann ajasya akartur ātmanaḥ, viḍambanam. Viḍambanam. They are all bewildering, bewildering. Therefore, if one understands properly, then the result is that he becomes liberated. That means he gets full knowledge. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). Then he understands that Kṛṣṇa is everything. He's the origin of everything. Viśvātman. This is to be understood. He's the vital force of the whole universe. The whole universe is moving not automatically, but under the guidance and superintendency of Kṛṣṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Kṛṣṇa says, "Under My superintendence" So Kṛṣṇa is active, but He has nothing to do. This is acintya, inconceivable. He is very active because He is supervising the whole activities of the universe, but still, He has nothing to do. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Paśyaty acakṣuḥ. "He is seeing, but acakṣuḥ. Acakṣuḥ means... You may say, "Not seeing." Acakṣuḥ. He does not place His eyesight, but still, He's seeing. How it is? Now, He can see from any part of His body. Just like I close my eyes—I cannot see you. My seeing activities stop. But because, although I am, I have closed my eyes, but my hands are there. So Kṛṣṇa can see by hands, by nails. That is Kṛṣṇa. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti paśyanti... This very word is used, paśyanti. The limbs of the body of Kṛṣṇa, any part, He can see. Although He may close His eyes, but because other parts of the body are open, therefore He can see. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti.
Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya, śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte. Simply by this process, hear about Kṛṣṇa. That we have introduced. In our so many centers this process is going on: hear about Kṛṣṇa, chant about Kṛṣṇa. Simply "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa." Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Then Kṛṣṇa will help you.
So this is Kṛṣṇa. So the highest devotees, they..., Kṛṣṇa, they, Kṛṣṇa accepts because He is playing the part of human being. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). Those who are mūḍhas, they cannot understand, but those who are intelligent, they know that Kṛṣṇa is perfectly playing as a human being. As a human being takes birth in the womb of his father and mother by the father and mother, similarly, Kṛṣṇa also appeared, accepting Vasudeva as His father, Devakī as mother. But actually Kṛṣṇa is not born. That is being repeatedly explained by Kuntīdevī, that apare, apare vasudevasya devakyām: "They say like that." What is that? Devakī-nandana... There is a verse, that "It is a saying only. Nobody can become Kṛṣṇa's father or mother, but they get the reputation as father and mother. That is a concession to the devotee." Therefore, Kuntīdevī says, apare: "Others say like that." Somebody says like this; somebody says like that; somebody says like this. This is going on. But actually, Kṛṣṇa remains aja always. Because if we do not understand that Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa, then we'll misunderstand Him, that "He is also born. He is also born, so how He can become?" The Māyāvādīs say that "Kṛṣṇa is also having a body of the material body, māyā. Therefore real spiritual identity (is) impersonal. As soon as He assumes the body, it is material." That is called Māyāvāda. "Māyā. The Kṛṣṇa's body is māyā. The ultimate Absolute is no body, impersonal." That is their theory. Therefore we call them Māyāvādī.
Eko 'py asau, only one portion. That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, athavā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna, viṣṭabhyāham... (break) ...this universe is only one only. That also, we cannot estimate what is the length and breadth, how many planets are there, and still, we are proud of becoming God. But God creates such millions of universes. Eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭim. Koṭi, million. Yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ. He is creating, and everywhere He is present. How He is present? Aṇḍāntara-stha. He's present within the universe and within the heart of all living entities, even within the atom. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara... That is Kṛṣṇa. That is only by His one part. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **.
So this formless, nirviśeṣa... You offer your prayers: nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi. This is all foolishness. "Zero, impersonal" is all foolishness. Behind this impersonal feature and so-called zero, there is the supreme form. That is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Īśvara means controller. That nature is not controlling. The real controller is Kṛṣṇa. Icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā. Brahma-saṁhitā says prakṛti. Prakṛti is..., the Deity is Durgā. So it is said that she is working under the direction of Govinda. How she's working? Just like shadow. You have got your hand, and the shadow is the down. Your hand moves, the shadow moves. Similarly the motion is set. This is scientific truth. Behind all this manifestation, the..., there is a motion. And who set up that motion? The last, yesterday I was giving this example, just like shunting of big, big wagons in the railway line. One engine gives the motion, pushes one wagon, and it pushes other one, kat-kat-kat-kat, like that. You might have seen it. So motion-giver is Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise you can give very big, big name or very big, big form and dress, they are all useless. Useless.
So this is the Vedic information. Sa aikṣata sa asṛjata. Kṛṣṇa also says ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). Simply by Kṛṣṇa's glancing, seeing, the matter becomes agitated and becomes pregnant, and the living entities come out. The trees, the fruits and everything comes out. Simply by His glancing. How it is possible? We have no experience that "Simply by glancing over my wife, I can make her pregnant." No. That is for you, not for Kṛṣṇa. Not for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. Each and every part, limb of Kṛṣṇa, has got the capacity of other parts. We, by our eyes part of our body, we can simply see. But Kṛṣṇa, by seeing, can make others pregnant. That is Kṛṣṇa. There is no need, use of sex life. There is no... Simply by Kṛṣṇa's glancing... Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Adhyakṣeṇa, adhi-akṣeṇa. Akṣa means eyes. "By My glancing," mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ, "the material nature..." These things are there in the Bhagavad-gītā. You study. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate: "gives birth." What kind of birth? Carācaram: "moving and nonmoving."
There is no comparison of Kṛṣṇa's opulences. I have several times given the example. Say, in the human society there is marriage. So Kṛṣṇa married 16,800 wives. And for each wife a palace, marble palace, bedecked with jewels, and the furniture made of ivory and gold, and bed and curtains, they're all made of silk. So... And the... Not only palace, but also garden attached to the palace. And the flower trees, pārijāta flower. The pārijāta flower was brought from the heaven. This pārijāta flower is not visible in this world. From heavenly planet Kṛṣṇa brought it. His wife Satyabhāmā, He requested... He... Both of them, Satyabhāmā and Kṛṣṇa, went to the heavenly planet. So generally woman, they are after something. So (laughs) (she) requested the husband, "Kṛṣṇa, I want this flower." "All right." So He gave her one flower. So He also told, "Why the flower? I shall take the tree so that you'll get flower daily." So when He was doing so, Indra came. Indra is the king of heavenly planet. "No, Sir, you cannot do that. (laughter) You cannot take this tree to the lower planet. No, I cannot allow."
And so Kṛṣṇa said, "No, My wife wants it. I must." That is Kṛṣṇa. (laughter) How He is complete, just like a hen-pecked husband (laughter) to satisfy the wife in every respect. When He plays the part of a child before mother Yaśodā, He plays everything perfectly. When He plays the husband... He doesn't require any wife or mother. He is Supreme. But when He plays the part of a husband, He plays it perfectly. The wife may think that "How much my husband is attached to me!" So she remains very much satisfied.
So we are preaching the same principle, and that is confirmed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrī Caitanya Mahā... Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). This is dharma. Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not manufacture any new system of dharma. No. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa Himself. Namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te, kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne (CC Madhya 19.53). So the only difference is He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. The only difference is that Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly orders that "You give up all nonsense; simply surrender unto Me." This is Kṛṣṇa. Because He is Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is giving directly order. The same Kṛṣṇa, because people misunderstood Him... Even big, big scholars, they say, "It is too much that Kṛṣṇa is ordering like that." But they are rascals. They do not know. They cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore because people misunderstood Him, Kṛṣṇa came as a devotee to teach how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa perfectly. Kṛṣṇa came. Just like sometimes my servant gives me massage. I say by giving his head massage, "Do like this." So I am not his servant, but I am teaching him. Similarly, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He is teaching perfectly how to approach Kṛṣṇa, how to serve Kṛṣṇa, The same principle. Kṛṣṇa said, "You surrender unto Me," and Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "You surrender to Kṛṣṇa." So on principle there is no change. On principle there is no change.
So Kṛṣṇa does not force anyone to become kṛṣṇa-bhakta, but He gives the chance. He explains everything, that "If you become kṛṣṇa-bhakta, or surrendered soul, then you will be happy. Otherwise you will not be happy." This is Kṛṣṇa. Kuru. He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). He does not force. Now it is our choice, whether we shall surrender to Kṛṣṇa or not. These are the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that one's ultimate goal of life is to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. That is the ultimate goal of life. But they do not know it. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). They do not know.
Kṛṣṇa asked Arjuna that "You declare to the world that My devotees will never be vanquished." Why Kṛṣṇa asking Arjuna to declare? He could declare. He could declare, but the meaning is that sometimes, for the sake of His devotee, He breaks His promise. For the sake of His devotee. Just like Bhīṣma. Bhīṣma promised, "Kṛṣṇa, tomorrow either Your friend Arjuna will die, I am determined now, or You have to break Your promise." Because Kṛṣṇa said, "I will not fight." But when Arjuna was practically devastated by the arrows of Bhīṣma, he fell down, his chariot broke, everything shattered. Now Kṛṣṇa saw, "Now Arjuna is going to die." So immediately Kṛṣṇa took the wheel of the chariot and went to the front of Bhīṣma: "Now you stop; otherwise I will kill you." So this is fighting. So Bhīṣma saw, "Now Kṛṣṇa has broken His promise. I stop." So to keep the promise of Bhīṣma, that Bhīṣma promised, "Either Arjuna will die, or Kṛṣṇa, You will have to break Your promise," two things, so Kṛṣṇa said, "Yes, I am breaking My promise. Don't kill Arjuna." Therefore, for the sake of devotee, He sometimes break His promise.
But if His devotee promises, "I shall do it," Kṛṣṇa will give him all protection: "Yes, it must be done. In all circumstances it must be done." This is Kṛṣṇa. If His devotee promises something, that "This must be done," Kṛṣṇa gives all protection. Therefore here it is stated, ajitāśrayaḥ. You cannot be successful without being ajitāśrayaḥ. Ajita. Ajita means Kṛṣṇa. Nobody can conquer Him. Ajita. Jita means conquered. Nobody is there who can conquer Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa also can be conquered by His devotees. Just like the gopīs, they conquered Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, I mean to say, accepted that "My dear gopīs, the service which you have rendered, I cannot repay. You have conquered Me. There is no possibility of My repaying you your service. You better be satisfied with your service. That's all."
We, our only business is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. So under Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we cannot eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa says: patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Kṛṣṇa does not say that "You give me meat, eggs and fish." Kṛṣṇa does not say. When you have got Kṛṣṇa as your guest... Kṛṣṇa has come very kindly to be handled by you. He's unlimited. But He has agreed to become limited by your limited hands. This is Kṛṣṇa, this arcā-vigraha. Arcā-vigraha. If Kṛṣṇa, if you want to handle Kṛṣṇa is His gigantic universal form, you have no capacity. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa has become very small, and He's giving you chance to serve Him, to dress Him, to wash Him, to offer Him foodstuff, to offer ārātrika. Kṛṣṇa is giving these chances. So whatever Kṛṣṇa says. He's your guest. He has come very kindly. He says, "Give Me such kind of food." It is your duty to give such food. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalam... You cannot say, "Kṛṣṇa, this is also nice food, eggs and fish." No. That you cannot do.
So Vedānta means the, the ultimate platform of acquiring knowledge, up to this. So that "up to this" is Kṛṣṇa. That if you talk of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you talk of all the Vedas. Sarva-śruti-mano-haraḥ. You talk of Vedic knowledge, but if you simply talk of Vedic knowledge, it becomes dry, speculative. But if you talk of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's līlā, Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, then it becomes simultaneously discussion of Vedic knowledge, at the same time, very beautiful. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is described here: uttama-śloka. Kṛṣṇa is never described by ordinary verses. Uttama-śloka.
Yadu-kula-kṣayam. The Yadu dynasty... When Kṛṣṇa was present, the family members were about ten millions. This is Kṛṣṇa. Everything is wonderful. He married 16,108 wives, and each wife had ten children, and each child begot another ten children. In this way, the Yadu-kula was a very big family.
We want to be happy, with so many ideas. Everyone is making his own idea, "Now this is the..." But the rascals, they do not know that, what is the actual process for getting happiness, that is Kṛṣṇa. That they do not know. na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). You, you can see in your country, they are trying so many things, so many skyscraper buildings, so many motor cars, so many big, big cities, but there is no happiness. Because they do not know what is missing. That missing point we are giving. Here is, "You take Kṛṣṇa and you will be happy." This is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa and the living entity, they are very intimately connected. Like father and son, or friend and friend, or master and servant, like that. We are very much intimately connected. But because we have forgotten our intimate relationship with Kṛṣṇa, and trying to become happy in this material world, therefore we have to undergo so much tribulations. This is the position.
These rascals, mūḍhas, one who does not know that Kṛṣṇa has no distinction, as we have got distinction body and soul, Kṛṣṇa has no such distinction. Kṛṣṇa has no distinction between this Kṛṣṇa's form of stone and Kṛṣṇa Himself. Because the stone is also Kṛṣṇa's energy. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). The earth, water, air, fire, everything is Kṛṣṇa energy. That we have already explained. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. Everything Kṛṣṇa's energy. So He can appear in any form from anywhere from anything. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa.
So at the present moment people are like that. They are being educated, but technologist or computer expert or this, that, so many... The father spends so much money. He becomes an expert. But if he does not get a good master to employ him, he is useless. He is useless. His technological knowledge will be useless if he does not get a master. So therefore the modern education system is to create dogs. He will never be happy unless he gets a good master. Actually, we are constitutionally all dogs. But we do not know whom to serve. That is our misunderstanding. Actually, every one of us, servant. That's a fact. But we are missing the point, where to engage ourself in good service. That is Kṛṣṇa. We have to serve. You cannot avoid this. If you do not serve Kṛṣṇa, then you will have to serve māyā. That's all.
Therefore our position is perfect, because we are not following rascals and fools. We are following Kṛṣṇa, the supreme perfect. I may be imperfect. That's a fact. I am imperfect. Just like a child is imperfect. That's a fact. But so long he follows the father, catching his hand, he is perfect. He is perfect. He has no danger. He has no danger. Similarly, anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, and following blindly some rascal, he is imperfect and he will suffer. And because we have taken Kṛṣṇa's shelter, Kṛṣṇa says sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). He will give guidance. If you follow perfectly, you surrender unto Him, He will guide you. He is within you, everyone. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). He is there. He is not far away, although He lives in His own abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). That is Kṛṣṇa. Although He is in His abode, but He is everywhere. Here is Kṛṣṇa. Although He is living in Goloka Vṛndāvana, He is in this temple, He is within our heart. Simply we have to take advantage, how He is present, how He is advising. That is the technique.
So this kind of trying to become dear is no use. It is simply waste of time. So if you try to become dear to Kṛṣṇa, that is siddhi. That is perfection. You are trying to become dear to so many objectives. At last, to become dear to a dog, ferocious dog. He does not say anything to the master. That means the master has become dear to him. So we are trying to become dear to somebody. That is our desire, dormant desire. But that is being misplaced. We do not know where to become dear. That we do not know. That is Kṛṣṇa. If you become dear to Kṛṣṇa, that is the highest perfection.
You can talk all kinds of nonsense of advancement of life, but after all, you have to die. Big, big scientists, professors, they talk so many things, but when death came, it could not save him by his scientific process. Because death is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Who can check? Therefore the Lord's name is Ajita, Ajita. Ajita means one who is never conquered by any other means. Sva-rāṭ, self-independent. These are the words used. Sva-rāṭ. Sva-rāṭ means fully independent. Nobody can make him dependent. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is God. Every one is dependent, but Kṛṣṇa is not dependent. Therefore He is called sva-rāṭ.
So although Kṛṣṇa is master, but He became a servant. Just like Kṛṣṇa, when He was playing as a child of mother Yaśodā, so He was taken with stick, "Kṛṣṇa, if you become again very naughty, then see the stick." So Kṛṣṇa used to cry. There are very nice verses in the Kuntī's prayer, that "The whole universe is afraid of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is afraid by the stick of mother Yaśodā." (laughter) Just see. This is Kṛṣṇa. This is spiritual world. When Kṛṣṇa was a little boy playing, Nanda Mahārāja, father of Kṛṣṇa... Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja, they are foster father and mother. Real mother, father, is Vasudeva and Devakī. So Nanda Mahārāja came within the house and saw little Kṛṣṇa, "Yes." He was playing. So Nanda Mahārāja challenged Yaśodāmāyi, "Your Kṛṣṇa can do something work." "Oh, yes, why not? He can do anything." Immediately Yaśodā-mātā, mother Yaśodā, ordered Kṛṣṇa, "Just carry the wooden slipper of Your father and go there." So Kṛṣṇa immediately took the slipper on His head and brought it to Mahārāja Nanda. Then Nanda Mahārāja said, "Oh, your Kṛṣṇa is very good. Come on, come on, come on." These were, that, the childhood pastimes of Kṛṣṇa was enjoyed by the foster father and mother.
Therefore all the sages were surprised that "What pious activities this mother Yaśodā did that Kṛṣṇa is completely under her control? Completely." The supreme controller. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa is the supreme controller. There is no controller of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, govindam ādi-puruṣam, He is the original person. So who can be His father and mother? He is the father of everyone, the supreme father. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ (BG 14.4). Kṛṣṇa says, "In all species of life, as many forms as there, I am the seed-giving father of all of them." So nobody can be Kṛṣṇa's father. Nobody can be controller of Kṛṣṇa. Nobody can be master of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) "Nobody is superior than Me." But He accepts inferior position out of love. If you love Kṛṣṇa... The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are very much eager to become one with Kṛṣṇa, merge into the existence of Kṛṣṇa. That is their perfection. And Vaiṣṇava philosophy is: "What is there becoming one with Kṛṣṇa? We want to become father of Kṛṣṇa."
Satsvarūpa: Is this life, this present life, is this also being within Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, because Lord Caitanya's saṅkīrtana movement is Kṛṣṇa's pastimes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. If you actually remain with saṅkīrtana, that means you are with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He's called jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate. He's liberated even in this body. He's liberated. Because Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name is not different. Absolute. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya... (CC Madhya 17.133). If you have understood that Kṛṣṇa's name and Kṛṣṇa are the same thing, that, you are always living with Kṛṣṇa, if you have understood this... Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ. Kṛṣṇa is not different. Kṛṣṇa's book, Kṛṣṇa's words, Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's fame, Kṛṣṇa's glory, Kṛṣṇa's entourage—everything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa—that is Kṛṣṇa. But if you have got that perfect knowledge, then you are living with Kṛṣṇa, always. You are already in the Vaikuṇṭha.
There are seven kinds of mother. Real mother, then a spiritual master or teacher's wife, guroḥ patnī. Brāhmaṇī, the wife of a brāhmaṇa. Ātma-mātā guroḥ patnī brāhmaṇī rāja-patnikā. And the queen, the wife of the king. Dhenu, cow; dhenur dhātrī, maidservant, nurse. Because it was also formerly the practice, rich man, or mother is not unable to suck breast milk. So they used to employ young girls who has also children. Otherwise there is no milk supplied. So that is also mother. As Kṛṣṇa took Pūtanā as mother... Pūtanā came to kill Kṛṣṇa, smearing poison over her breast. And Kṛṣṇa sucked the milk and her life also. But Kṛṣṇa took her as (His) her mother. This is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa did not take the black side. The intention was to kill Kṛṣṇa, Pūtanā came. But who can kill Kṛṣṇa? That is not possible. But Kṛṣṇa thought Himself as obligation, that "I have sucked her breast. So she is My mother. She must be given the position of mother." So Pūtanā, after being killed, she was given the same opportunity as Mother Yaśodā. This is Kṛṣṇa. Bhāva-grāhī-janārdanaḥ. Any way you serve Kṛṣṇa, it will be accepted. Not any way. I mean to say, we should serve Kṛṣṇa according to regulative principle. Still, some way or other, unknowing or knowingly, if you render some service, that is called ajñāta-sukṛti.
So kṛṣṇa-praśna, inquiry about Kṛṣṇa, and to understand Kṛṣṇa means on the spiritual platform, ātmavit. That is not material body, material platform. Material platform means "I am this body; you are this body. So Kṛṣṇa is also like us. Kṛṣṇa has a material body, and He is like me." Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). Kṛṣṇa should not be considered as ordinary being. We are worshiping Kṛṣṇa in this temple, not an ordinary being. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. He is greater than the greatest and still, He can become smaller than the smallest. That is his greatness. He can become... He can show Arjuna the virāḍ-rūpa, the universal form; at the same time, He can talk with Arjuna as ordinary friend. This is Kṛṣṇa. You have read Bhagavad-gītā. He was talking on the chariot as his friend, but when there was need, He... Arjuna wanted to see the universal friend, and Kṛṣṇa showed him that universal form, gigantic form, everything including. So that Kṛṣṇa is ātmā, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān and Brahman. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11).
So Kṛṣṇa, as kṣatriya, proved how much strong He was, how much able He was, that He married sixteen thousand wives, and for each wife, separate establishment, separate servants, separate house, separate palace. Everything separate. Not that "I marry only. Therefore I have no responsibility." Not like that. That is Kṛṣṇa, ideal. He married 16,108, but He had 16,108 palaces, big big palace. And palace all made of nice, what is called, marble, and decorated with jewels. The... Kṛṣṇa's house, there was no need of this light. The jewels were glittering. These are description in the Bhāgavata. And the furnitures were married of ivory. That is Kṛṣṇa's house. And the garden, compound, pārijāta flower. Then is that sufficient? A woman will be satisfied simply with this palace, nice palace, and...? No. He expanded Himself into 16,108 Kṛṣṇas. Each and every wife is able to receive her husband individually. So anyway, you cannot imitate Kṛṣṇa, neither you can do like that, neither you can marry sixteen thousand, but you can marry—that is Vedic civilization—more than one wife. Because every female must be married, so where are so many husbands? So therefore polygamy was allowed, but the man who marries, he must be able to maintain the wife very nicely. That is Hindu, or Vedic civilization. That is kuṭumba, kuṭumba-bharaṇa, maintaining the family.
Although Kṛṣṇa says that "I am sarvātmā..." Kṛṣṇa says, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata (BG 13.3). In the chapter, kṣetra-kṣetra-jña. Kṣetra. Idaṁ śarīraṁ kṣetram. This body is kṣetra, field of activities, and one who knows... I know, you know, everyone know that "This is my body. I am not this body." If we think deeply, if we see our finger, "my finger," "my head." It is not "I head." But they are thinking that "I head," "I body." Not "I body," "my body." This is not. So everything is clearly said, and the preliminary knowledge of spiritual life, Bhagavad-gītā... Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi. There are two kṣetra-jña. Kṣetra-jña means the proprietor who knows about this. Idaṁ śarīraṁ kṣetram. And one who knows this, he is kṣetra-jña. So kṣetra-jña means I, you, individual soul. But another kṣetra-jña. Kṣetra-jña means I know about the pains and pleasure of my body. You know the pains and pleasure of your body, but I do not know the pains and pleasure of your body, neither you know the pains and pleasure of my body. This is individual soul. But another, Supersoul, is... That is Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. He knows your pains and pleasure, my pains and pleasure, his pains and pleasure, everyone's. Sarva-jña. Therefore, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). He is actually, because He is present with you as friend...
The Christian parties, they do not believe in karma. So in our childhood, when we were student in Scottish Churches College, Calcutta, we had to attend the Bible class. So one professor, Dr. Urquhart, he said that "If I am suffering the result of my past karma, where is the witness that I have done this bad or good?" But he had no knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā. We also at that time did not know. We were not very interested. But later on, when I read Bhagavad-gītā, "Here is witness, upadraṣṭā anumantā. Here is witness." Perpetual witness. Not only of this life, but many, many lives past, He knows everything. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni vartamānāni (BG 7.26). He knows everything. That is Kṛṣṇa. He knows everything, what you have done or what you want to do. Everything knows He. But in spite of all this, because Kṛṣṇa is your friend, most intimate friend, naturally...
Because actually the father is the... Kṛṣṇa is the father not only of the human society—of the bird society, the beast society, dog society, cat society, everyone's father, sarva-yoniṣu. That is Kṛṣṇa. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa. And if you simply try to understand and little understand, then your life is successful.
So if you have got the energy to search out such person, that is Bhagavān. It is not difficult. The definition is there. Here there is competition. Not only Bhagavān, but īśvara. Īśvara means controller. Everyone is īśvara. I also am controlling this institution. Or somebody is controlling his office, his factory, his kingdom. Just like President Nixon, he is controlling the United States. So all of us, more or less, we are īśvara, controller. Everyone. Just like this mother, she is controlling the small child. So she is also īśvara, means she is controlling. So anyone who has controlling power... So God has given everyone a little controlling power. In that sense every one of us, īśvara. But here it is said, bhagavān īśvaraḥ: "the supreme controller." Supreme controller means we are controllers, but we are controlled by somebody else. But the Bhagavān Īśvara means He is no more controlled by anyone. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is described. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ: "The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa." Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1).
To keep the position of the servant, Kṛṣṇa orders, "Yes, you give." Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu. Hiraṇyakaśipu took benediction from Brahmā. So many things. "I shall not die at daytime, I shall not die at night, I shall not die on land, I shall not die on water." In this way, all definitions by negation. Brahmā said, "Yes." Now, to keep the words of Brahmā, Kṛṣṇa is so kind... Brahmā is servant. He appeared in such a way that all the prayers of Hiraṇyakaśipu was not touched. Hiraṇyakaśipu said that "I shall not die by any man or any animal or any demigod." So He appeared in Nṛsiṁha-mūrti, who is neither animal nor man nor demigod. You cannot define. Then Hiraṇyakaśipu prayed for that "I shall not die in daytime, at night." Yes. So Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed in the sandhyā, between the junction of day and night. Just in the evening. You cannot say it is day, neither it is night. In this way, Kṛṣṇa kept all the words of Brahmā, and still killed him. That is Kṛṣṇa.
That is Kṛṣṇa. That you may be very intelligent to avoid Kṛṣṇa or the laws of Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa is more intelligent. He will also cheat you. Because you wanted to cheat Him, so He will also cheat you in such a way that (is) beyond your imagination. Yes. That is Kṛṣṇa. You cannot excel Kṛṣṇa. You have to be always under Him, even your cheating process. This is Kṛṣṇa. So take shelter of Kṛṣṇa and be happy.
Rāvaṇa, Hiraṇyakaśipu, all, many demons, they thought it that "We shall live forever." So anyone who is thinking like that, he's a demon. He cannot stop death. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). Kṛṣṇa...If you don't give to Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will appear just like Nṛsiṁhadeva, and He will take away everything from you and kill you. That's all. Now who can challenge? Who is there who can challenge Kṛṣṇa? No, nobody can. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Anādi. He is not emanation from anyone. He's original. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. All others are emanations from Kṛṣṇa. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyam (Bs. 5.33). He's the original. Ādyaṁ Purāṇa, the oldest. Then why Kṛṣṇa does not look like old man? Just like in some other religious sects they present God as very old man. But Kṛṣṇa is, although the oldest... Because He's the origin of all emanations, He must be oldest, but He's nava-yauvanaṁ ca, just like a young man, sixteen to twenty years old. That is Kṛṣṇa. Yogeśvara. Kṛṣṇa, the oldest of all, still He appears nava-yauvana. Nava-yauvana, just youthful life is beginning. That is called nava-yauvana. So according to our human society, the youthful life begins at sixteen years. So Kṛṣṇa is like that. He'll look always sixteen to twenty years old, not more than that. We have never seen Kṛṣṇa has become old. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Liṅgāni. Liṅgāni means form. So Kṛṣṇa has many forms.
As Kṛṣṇa, as Viṣṇu, as Nārāyaṇa, as Baladeva, as Jagannātha. So many. Govinda. There are thousands and thousands of forms. So we must see at least one of such forms. Either you see Kṛṣṇa form or Rāma form or Viṣṇu form or Nārāyaṇa form or Baladeva form, or His incarnation, Nṛsiṁhadeva form, Matsyāvatāra, Mīnāvatāra... So many.
So that is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ordinary living being. Kṛṣṇa remembers everything, knows everything. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni: (BG 7.26) "I know everything." That is Kṛṣṇa. But we do not know. That is the difference. Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal. He's also a person, but He is not a person like us, like you, like me. His personality is supreme. Nobody is greater than Him. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. These are the Vedic information.
In the Bible I think it is said, "God said, 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." Is it not? So that is Kṛṣṇa. He simple desires, "Let there be creation," and immediately everything is ready. That is Kṛṣṇa. How it is being done? Automatically? No automatically. It is done regularly, as you do. Hetunā: there is cause. But the original cause is Kṛṣṇa's desire. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1).
- īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
- sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
- anādir ādir govindaḥ
- sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
- (Bs. 5.1)
The original desire is Kṛṣṇa's. What we are doing also, that is also... The original cause is Kṛṣṇa. We cannot do anything independently. If I go to heaven or go to hell, that is also sanctioned by Kṛṣṇa. Without Kṛṣṇa's desire I cannot do anything.
Therefore our duty is that we should never think of this Deity as something made of stone or metal. We should always think, "Here is Kṛṣṇa personally present." That is devotion. And we should worship Him like that. We should offer respect, that "Here is Kṛṣṇa. We cannot do anything wrong." And therefore there is list of offenses of worshiping, sixty-four... Or how many? It is stated in The Nectar of Devotion. Do you discuss this? So we should avoid these offenses, not that "Here is a stone statue. He is not going to see I am doing this offense." Then that is not very good. We should always feel that "Here is Kṛṣṇa, personally present." Actually He is personally present. Then are we so fool, that we are worshiping a stone deity? No. "We" means we have installed this Deity under the direction of previous authorities, ācāryas. So it is not whimsical. We have installed the Deity exactly under the direction of the previous ācārya, and therefore the Deity is personally present, Kṛṣṇa. As He is present everywhere, sarva-bhūta-guhāvāsam, similarly, He can live in many millions of temples simultaneously and live at the same time Goloka Vṛndāvana. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa can expand Himself in many, many forms. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). He's the ādi-puruṣa. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. Brahmā says. Brahmā is not ādi-puruṣa. Brahmā says, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. So Kṛṣṇa is the ādi-puruṣam. And He has got many expansions. Advaitam acyutam anādim. Anādir ādiḥ. He has no beginning, but He is the beginning of everything. That is called anādir ādiḥ. He has no beginning, but He is the beginning of everything. That advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). And He has expanded Himself in so many forms. We are also Kṛṣṇa's form, but we are vibhinnāṁśa. And svāṁśa and vibhinnāṁśa. The viṣṇu-tattva is bhagavat-tattva, ādi-puruṣam, personal expansion, and we are energy expansion. We are also energy. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho (BG 7.5). So jīva, prakṛti expansion. Parā-prakṛti expansion. So Kṛṣṇa is always svacchandātmā. He has no anxiety. Svacchandātmā ātma-māyayā. Yad yad vidhatte bhagavān svacchandātmā. Whatever... Even if He's killing a demon, there is no anxiety. That is Kṛṣṇa. Even if He's killing, He has no anxiety. Svacchandātmā. That is also, I mean to say, confirmed in the Vedic language. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate, na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). So He has nothing to do personally. His energies act.
Varṇāśramācāravatā puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān, viṣṇur ārādhyate... (CC Madhya 8.58). The ultimate goal is to satisfy the Lord, Supreme Lord Viṣṇu. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). But the foolish people, they do not know. Their ultimate interest is how to satisfy Viṣṇu. Viṣṇur ārādhyate. So when there is dharmasya glāniḥ, then Lord Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, by His incarnation or personally, He comes. Therefore it is said, yad yad vidhatte bhagavān. But because He comes to paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8), He has no anxiety. Svacchandātmā. And He does by His own internal potency. He does not take anyone's help. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Bhagavān. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has got so varieties of energies that everything is done very correctly and perfectly.
So nobody can be greater than God or equal to God. That is... That means greatness of God. Asamordhva. Asama. Asama means nobody is equal to Him. And nobody is greater than Him. That is God. If somebody claims to be God, then he has to prove that nobody is equal to him and nobody is greater than him. Then he's God. This is the simple definition of God, that nobody equal to Him and nobody greater than Him. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says that mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: (BG 7.7) "My dear Dhanañjaya, Arjuna, there is no more superior authority than Me." And in the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Īśvara. Īśvara means controller. So we small living entities, very minute, still, we are controller. We control. At least, we control our family members, my wife, my children. Or if I am bigger, I control my office, or I control my factory, I control the country, I become president. In this way, controller, controller, bigger controller, bigger controller, you go to the Brahmā, the controller of the universe. But he is also not Supreme Controller.
So this godless society, the rascal society, who is, which has forgotten that we have to serve Kṛṣṇa, that is called dharmasya glāniḥ. When the society forgets Kṛṣṇa and stops Kṛṣṇa's service, that is called dharmasya glāniḥ. Real dharma means the characteristic. Dharma does not mean some rules and regulations. So just like sugar. Sugar, the characteristic of sugar is to become sweet. The characteristic of chili means to become hot. If sugar becomes hot and chili becomes sweet, then nobody cares for it. Similarly, our characteristic is to serve Kṛṣṇa. And when we serve anything other than Kṛṣṇa, that is our diseased condition of life. Just like this hand is meant for picking up something eatable and put it into the mouth. If it is unable to do it, then it is diseased. If the fingers and hands cannot pick up nice foodstuff and put into the mouth, then it is diseased condition. Similarly, when we are unable to serve Kṛṣṇa, or we do not serve Kṛṣṇa, we serve... Serving we are. That is a fact. We cannot become master. Nobody... Can anyone say that he is master? He's not serving anyone? Everyone is serving. That's a fact. Either you are serving your family or society or country or office or so many service. If anyone hasn't got to serve anything, then he picks up a master, a cat and dog, and serves him. Because service is my nature. But we are missing where to put the service. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is, that is Kṛṣṇa.
That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). As soon as one comes to this platform of knowledge, then he becomes prasannātmā. "Oh, why I am serving these nonsense? I forgot that I am a spirit soul, minute particle of Kṛṣṇa. My business is to serve Kṛṣṇa." Just like... I have already explained. Part and parcel means serving the whole. That is called part and parcel. Any example you can take. In office there are so many workers, but they are working for satisfaction of the whole. Similarly, the whole is Kṛṣṇa. Anything, we individually or anything, they are meant for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Upaniṣads. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam. Anyone who has understood that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, Īśa... Īśa means Kṛṣṇa. Īśa or īśvara. There are so many īśvaras or īśa, but Īśvara, real Īśvara, is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). There are many īśvaras, or īśas. That is all right, but "Nobody is greater than Me." That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). So this is jñāna. So as soon as one comes to this conclusion, that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I am Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel. I have got the same quality as Kṛṣṇa has got, but He is Prabhu, I am servant. He is master, and I am servant," this is perfect knowledge.
Akhilātmā. Hari, Īśvara, Bhagavān akhilātmani. Akhilātmani bhakti. Bhakti, this word, is applicable only to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore it is said here, bhagavaty akhilātmani. Bhagavān is not alone. He's not only localized; He is everywhere. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). That is called akhilātmā-although He has got a particular place. Just like Kṛṣṇa. He is here; He is in many other temples also. That is Kṛṣṇa. It is not that Kṛṣṇa, because He is in one place, He cannot be in other place. Just like we are. We are conditioned. We are here. I am sitting here; you are sitting here. But you are not at your home, in your apartment. Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Kṛṣṇa... Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). He's always in the Goloka Vṛndāvana. Still, He is aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. Aṇḍāntara-stha means He is within this universe. This universe, the whole universe, is going on because there is the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭim (Bs. 5.35). There are not only one universe; there are koṭi, millions. And ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). One aṁśa of Kṛṣṇa, that Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, is there. Just like this body is working nicely because the soul, the spirit soul, is within this body, similarly, the whole universe, its activities are going the, going nicely, regularly, everything, because the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is there. It is not difficult.
Therefore here it is said, bhaktyā pumāñ jāta-virāga. Bhakti is so powerful that if you engage yourself in the bhakti-mārga or bhakti-yoga... Here it is said, ṛjubhir yoga-mārgaiḥ (SB 3.25.26). Ṛjubhiḥ means very easy to perform. How? Now, dṛṣṭa-śrutān mad-racanānucintayā. Dṛṣṭa. You can see Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is kind enough. Although Kṛṣṇa is beyond our vision—we cannot see with these eyes Kṛṣṇa—but Kṛṣṇa has agreed to be seen by you or by us. How? He has assumed this arcā-vigraha. Kṛṣṇa, this vigraha-don't think it is stone. Even it is stone you think, but Kṛṣṇa can become visible before you like a stone, because you cannot see beyond stone. That is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Because your eyes or senses are so imperfect that you cannot see Kṛṣṇa present everywhere in His original spiritual... We have got difference between spiritual and material. We have got because we are imperfect. But Kṛṣṇa has no such distinction. Because He is Absolute, He can become spiritual, He can become material, as He likes. That does not make any difference of Kṛṣṇa. Then how Kṛṣṇa is almighty, all-powerful? He can change matter into spirit, spirit into matter. That is Kṛṣṇa. So don't think that, as the atheist class men, they think, that "They are worshiping an idol." Even it is an idol, still Kṛṣṇa. That is absolute. That is absolute nature of Kṛṣṇa. Even you think it is stone, it is metal, it is wood, still, He is Kṛṣṇa.
So how He is Kṛṣṇa, that will require your bhakti. Here it is said, bhaktyā, anucintayā. If you are thoughtful, if you are philosopher, and plus bhakti, then you will understand that even Kṛṣṇa is present here just like a stone, but stone is also Kṛṣṇa.
Me prakṛtiḥ: "It is My nature." Bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā. So stone is another formation of earth. Earth, water, air, sky, mind, intelligence—they're all Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa says, bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā. (aside:) That's all right. Get up. Nothing is different from Kṛṣṇa. Everything is Kṛṣṇa's energy. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they think that "Because everything is God, everything is Kṛṣṇa, then where is Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is finished." But actually that is not. Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa; at the same time, He is everything. That is Kṛṣṇa. That we can understand by bhakti. Therefore it is said, bhaktyā. Bhaktyā. In Bhagavad-gītā also, Kṛṣṇa said, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). These things can be understood not by ordinary person without any devotion. One who is bhakta, he can understand that Kṛṣṇa is everything and everything is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is everything—that is dṛṣṭa. When a bhakta sees a tree, he sees Kṛṣṇa. That is bhakta's vision.
Therefore, for the common man, this chance is given. This temple is meant for that purpose, that people will come see the Deity. The Deity is Kṛṣṇa. Don't think otherwise. Kṛṣṇa has agreed to be dressed by you. If you think of Kṛṣṇa, about His virāḍ-rūpa, you will fail to bring dress for that virāḍ-rūpa. His head is on the sky; another leg is on the Pātāla. That is also true. But you cannot conceive of Kṛṣṇa in His virāḍ-rūpa and at the same time dress Him and give Him something to eat. That is not possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has become so merciful. Here, of course, the Deity is very big. Not very big. In Hyderabad we have got three times bigger Deity, like... But you can have a small Deity. Many Vaiṣṇava, they carry Deity with them, a small Deity in a small box, and they worship. So Kṛṣṇa... Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. He can become bigger than the biggest and the smaller than the smallest. That is Kṛṣṇa.
He's the cause of all causes. So this Purāṇa-puruṣa, Kṛṣṇa, He's the oldest. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). That is Kṛṣṇa. You'll never see Kṛṣṇa's picture as old man. No. Has anyone seen Kṛṣṇa as old man? No. Nava-yauvanam, always fresh youthful life. The same. You have seen the picture of Kurukṣetra battle. Kṛṣṇa was sitting... At that time He was great-grandfather, but He was looking twenty years old, young... That is Kṛṣṇa.
So śrī-vigraha-darśanam. This temple is situated to give people the facility as it is described here. Tair darśanīya avayavaiḥ udāra. We have to see the Deity beginning from the lotus feet, not jumping over the smiling face. That is the way. First of all you try to see. And when you are practiced... Try to see the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and when you are practiced to this habit, even after visiting the temple if you go home, if you are practice to see the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, that is meditation. So darśanīya avayavaiḥ: "Different limbs." First of all feet, then the thighs, then the belt, then the chest, then you reach the smiling face. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's form... If you meditate on Kṛṣṇa's form, that is Kṛṣṇa. So we associate with Kṛṣṇa, His smiling face, His flute, His hand, His dress, His consort, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, or any other, gopīs, surrounded by. In this way, practice this habit of observing the Supreme Lord. Therefore He has appeared, arcā-vigraha, so that we can see Him.
People do not know. They want some opulence, material opulence, but he doesn't want Kṛṣṇa, the proprietor of all opulences. And that is our misfortune. The proprietor of all opulences, He said, "Just surrender to Me. I'll take care of you." "No, no. It is not possible. I shall have to take care of my business. That will maintain me. I will have to take care of my this and that, my country, and so many family, friends, and..." Kṛṣṇa says, "No, no. You simply surrender. I'll do everything for you." And He assures Arjuna in the Sixth Chap..., yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ: "You just do..., try to achieve that thing which achieving you will be no more aspiring for achieving anything more." That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. Just like Arjuna, he did it very conscientiously. Kṛṣṇa said that "This war, your fight, is family. I am connected with both the families. So I cannot take part in this war." But they insisted that "At least You take some part as You like." Then He said that "I divide Myself into two. So one side, all My soldiers, eighteen akṣauhiṇī soldiers, and one side, I am alone. Now you select. Which one you want?" So Duryodhana's thought that "What shall I do with Kṛṣṇa? He's one man. Let me take His soldiers." So he took all the soldiers. And Arjuna said, "No, Kṛṣṇa, I want You." Then Kṛṣṇa said, "No, I'll not fight." "No, You simply remain in my side." "All right, I shall become your chariot driver, that's all."
So this is intelligence. You just capture Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa, how He can be captured? Kṛṣṇa can be captured by your bhakti. Otherwise, He's very, very, crafty. You cannot capture Him. It is not possible. Ajita. If anyone wants to conquer over Kṛṣṇa, that is not possible. That is... Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Ajita. Nobody can conquer over.
The Vasudeva and Devakī, in their previous life they underwent severe austerities. After their marriage, they immediately were not anxious to beget child. They went to the forest and began practicing austerity and penances, severe, some hundreds of years. Then Kṛṣṇa appeared that "What do you want? Why you are undergoing so much severe...?" "No, we want a son like You. Then we enter into the family life." So Kṛṣṇa said that "Where is another Kṛṣṇa?" Because God is one. "So if you want a son like Me, then I will have to become your son. There is no competitor." God has no competitor. God is one. Ekaṁ brahma dvitīyaṁ nāsti. This is the... Kṛṣṇa therefore says, mām ekam. Mām ekam. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). Kṛṣṇa is one, but Kṛṣṇa can expand. That is Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvādī philosophers say that "If Kṛṣṇa has become everything, then where is Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is finished." This is Māyāvādī philosophy. That is materialistic idea. Just like you take a big piece of paper and you tear it into small pieces and throw it; then the paper has no existence. The paper is finished. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). He has expansion, many, many thousands, many, many millions. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart, and there are many millions and trillions of heart. Not only human being, there are animals, there are trees, plants, aquatics, fishes, so many. Anantyāya, sa anantyāya kalpate. There is no counting of the living entities. They are so... And the Paramātmā, Kṛṣṇa's another feature, He is everywhere. That does not mean the same materialistic idea that "If Kṛṣṇa has entered so many millions of heart, then where is existence of Kṛṣṇa?" This is called Māyāvāda, nirviśeṣa, "Now Kṛṣṇa is finished." No. Kṛṣṇa is not finished. Kṛṣṇa still remains. That is the Vedic injunction. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). We read this Vedic mantra; still, we think Kṛṣṇa is finished. "Because He has entered so many hearts of living entity, therefore Kṛṣṇa is finished. There is no more." That is nirākāravāda.
But that is not the Vedic version. Vedic version is that not only Kṛṣṇa's incarnation, but even if Kṛṣṇa, the full, cent percent God, if He is distributed or if He distributes Himself in many millions of form, still, He is there in the same strength. Just like if you take some blood, my energy, out of my body, then after taking some quantity, my body becomes weak. Because so much energy is taken away. But the Vedas says, pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). The balance is pūrṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. You take full strength. Kṛṣṇa is ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇa, almighty. So you take Almighty, and in millions and millions of units—still the Almighty. That is Kṛṣṇa. So we have to understand Kṛṣṇa in that way. And if we can understand Kṛṣṇa... Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). This tattva you will understand from the Vedic literature, what is tattva. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11). So Kṛṣṇa is never diminished.
So on the day of ceremony, so he went to the forest again and called Dīnabandhu dādā, and He gave him a small pot of dahi, yogurt, a small pot. Oh, he was a child. He did not know. And the..., he brought it to the teacher, "Now, this is my contribution. My Dīnabandhu brother has given. So you take." "The hundreds and thousands of people will be given foodstuff and this much dahi?" He became very angry. He became angry, he did not care, and the pot fell down, and the yogurt also fell down. But after some time, when he came, he saw that although the yogurt has fallen down, the pot is full. Then he again dropped it; again it is full. He dropped it; again it is full. Then he could understand it is spiritual. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). You take the whole thing; still, the whole thing is there. That is Kṛṣṇa. Not that because you have taken something, one minus one equal to zero. No. In the spiritual world, one minus one equal to one. And one plus one equal to one. That is called advaya-jñāna. There is no duality. Plus and minus, they are two things. But in the spiritual world, either plus or minus, the same. That is to be understood. That is called Absolute, advaya-jñāna.
So if actually, if we want to become free from the clutches of this janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi... (BG 13.9). That is our problem. Here... We have discussed many times that we, as spirit soul, we are not this body. I am not this body. You are not this body. I am Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. You are also Brahman, or spirit soul. But I am not Parabrahman. That is mistake. Neither you are Parabrahman. There are two words in the scriptures: Brahman and Parabrahman, ātmā and Paramātmā, īśvara and Parameśvara. The Māyāvādīs, they think there is no difference. No, there is difference. Otherwise why the word is used, "parama"? So I may be īśvara, you may be īśvara, but you are not Parameśvara. You are ātmā; I am ātmā. But I am not Paramātmā; you are not Paramātmā. So in this way the Paramātmā, Parameśvara, that is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is said, visṛjya sarvān anyāṁś ca mām (sic:) eva. Bhagavān says, Kapiladeva... Kapiladeva is also Kṛṣṇa. He says, mam eva, "Only unto Me. And what is the difference between you and Me? No, I am viśvato-mukham. I am all-pervading. You are not all-pervading." That is the difference. You are sitting here. You are not at your home. But Kṛṣṇa is here, being worshiped in this temple, but He is present in many, many millions of temples. Viśvato-mukham. He is accepting devotional services from the devotee in many thousands of temples.
But Kṛṣṇa says, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama: (BG 15.6) "If you, some way or other, you go to that place where I live..." Kṛṣṇa lives everywhere. Kṛṣṇa, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61), but He has got a special home. Just like the governor or the president, he can move many places, but still, he has got his own place, the rāja-bhavan, like that. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's place is Goloka Vṛndāvana. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu sura... (Bs. 5.29). But goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). That is Kṛṣṇa. He can live in Goloka Vṛndāvana like you see here Kṛṣṇa, His Goloka Vṛndāvana. He is enjoying the company of Vṛndāvaneśvarī, Rādhārāṇī. So goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. That is viśvato-mukham. Here it is said, visṛjya sarvān anyāṁś ca mām evaṁ viśvato-mukham.
In the spiritual world, the puruṣa, the living entity, enjoys with Kṛṣṇa, not alone. Therefore you will find Kṛṣṇa is always accompanied by someone else. Either Rādhārāṇī or cowherds boy, or the gopīs, or Mother Yaśodā, or Nanda Mahārāja, or the cows and the calves, like that. Or even with the monkeys. Kṛṣṇa, you will never find alone. Therefore as soon as we speak Kṛṣṇa, you must know there are so many associates. Kṛṣṇa, just like if I say the president is coming, so one should know the president is not coming alone. He must be accompanied by his secretaries, by his military aide-de-camp, and so many other people, cabinet members. At least one dozen persons are coming with him, or with some soldiers, bodyguards. So similarly when you mean Kṛṣṇa or God, you should immediately know that He is not alone. He is not impersonal boy. He is full with opulence, full with associates. Therefore this description is of the spiritual world in the Brahma-saṁhitā, Vedic literature, cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). This is the trees, plants, and animals. Then lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. He is not only in this surrounding of cintāmaṇi bricks, houses, and desire trees, many, many cowherd, not only the cows, surabhī, and the river, but also many thousands of Lakṣmī, Goddess of fortune. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is the essence.
So that ātma-darśanam is described here, everywhere, in all the Vedic literatures. The first ātma-darśana is anādi, anādi. There is no beginning. We have got experience, beginning. Every one of us, we have got experience that this body has a beginning. From the father and mother we got this body in a small pealike form. And the first, after the sex, the two secretion emulsified, and it forms into a pealike body. And that pealike body develops. And as first there becomes nine holes, these nine holes... That is not manifested, but first of all there are holes: the nostrils, the ear, the mouth, the rectum, genital. In this way a body is formed. So body is formed upon the spirit soul, not that automatically forms. Unless there is spirit... A seed... A seed fructifies in suitable condition into big tree because the soul takes shelter within the seed. If you fry the seed, no tree will come out. Similarly, the matter is grown up on the spirit. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it says, yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat: (BG 7.5) "The jagat, the material world, is existing on the spirit soul." Similarly, this spirit soul, as our body, your body, that is also..., this body is resting in the spirit soul. Similarly, this gigantic body of this universe, that is also resting on the gigantic spirit. That is Kṛṣṇa. Not that equal. We are very small, and God is great.
But spiritual conception is different. Spiritual conception is stated in the Vedas, pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). Kṛṣṇa is pūrṇa, and He has expanded Himself in so many ways, so many potencies, so many forms, but still, He is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. You cannot think that "Because Kṛṣṇa is expanded in so many forms and so many ways, therefore He is finished. There is no more Kṛṣṇa. This form of Kṛṣṇa is māyā." No. That is Kṛṣṇa, that Kṛṣṇa can expand Himself... Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Ananta-rūpam: you cannot count even. We are also forms of Kṛṣṇa, vibhinnāṁśa. Everything is Kṛṣṇa's form. That pantheism, they take it that "Kṛṣṇa's... Everything is Kṛṣṇa's form. Then where is Kṛṣṇa?" No. Kṛṣṇa is still Kṛṣṇa. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). He's still ādyam, puruṣam ādyam. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. He still remains ādi.
So originally everything is coming from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore Kṛṣṇa, simplifying the matter and informing us—"You fools, you try to understand." Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: (BG 10.8) "I am the origin." And Vedānta-sūtra says that janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). "Janma ādi, from whom, that is Brahman." That is Kṛṣṇa. Janma, this janma or the creation of this material cosmic manifestation, phenomenal world, who is the cause of janma? The cause is Kṛṣṇa. Aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2). Then He is the cause of Brahmā, devānām, Śiva. Padma-palāśa-locana, padma, padma-nābha. Therefore Viṣṇu's another name is Padmanābha. Padmanābha, He causes the lotus flower from His navel, and there is Brahmā. And then Brahmā creates whole universe. The original creator is bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt, not this material. The material, there was no existence of the material. The materials are created by the Supreme Living Being. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That is to be understood.
So either you chant Viṣṇu name or Lord Rāma name or Lord Kṛṣṇa's name, there is no difference, as you are, because different people become devotee to different forms. Sometimes they are devotee of Lord Rāmacandra; they want to worship Sītā-Rāma. That is also good. Sometimes they want to worship Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. That is also good. And sometimes they want to worship Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That is also the same. There is no difference. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu, kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat (Bs. 5.39). There are many manifestation of Viṣṇu-advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33)—but the original manifestation or original Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Really, when we speak of Bhagavān, that is Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa's expansion, they are also Bhagavān. And those who are very, very powerful like Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā, Nārada, and many other devotees and sages, they are also sometimes addressed as Bhagavān in the śāstra, but not ordinary men. Ordinary men cannot become Bhagavān. That is not possible. But everyone can become exalted devotee.
So if we study in this way, analytically, everything, Kṛṣṇa's energy... Śaśi-sūryayoḥ. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the illumination of the sun and the moon." So you can create by... Scientists, they say the sun is combination of so many chemicals. Now you create one sun and illuminate the whole universe. That you cannot do because that is Kṛṣṇa. You cannot create Kṛṣṇa. You cannot imagine Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. Foolish persons, they may say, "Kṛṣṇa is my imagination." No, He's not imagination. He's fact. Simply one has to know how Kṛṣṇa is present in everything.
So if we can see even a material object that the heat being emanated for many millions and millions..., it remains the same heat, it maintains the same heat, same light, why it is not possible for the Supreme? Therefore Īśopaniṣad informs us that pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate. If you take the whole energy of Kṛṣṇa from Kṛṣṇa, then still, the whole energy is there. But you will be surprised nowadays. Modern Gods... There are so many modern Gods; I do not wish to name. But one modern God, he gave his power to his disciple, and the, when he came into consciousness, then he was crying. The disciple inquired from the guru, "Why you are crying, sir?" "Now I have finished everything. I have given you everything. I have given you everything; therefore I am now finished." That is not spiritual. That is material. I have got hundred rupees. If I pay you hundred rupees, then my pocket is empty. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Kṛṣṇa can make hundreds of thousands and millions of Kṛṣṇa; still, He is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. The potency is never exhausted. That is called pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation).
The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to try to understand Kṛṣṇa, very easy. If you drink water as Kṛṣṇa advises, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya, that satisfaction by drinking water, that is Kṛṣṇa. That's all. You think, "This is Kṛṣṇa." You think that "I am drinking Kṛṣṇa." Then twice, thrice, "Kṛṣṇa," means you become purified. Kṛṣṇa... Eka kṛṣṇa-nāme yato pāpa hare, pāpī haya tato pāpa kari bare nare(?). Eka kṛṣṇa, one, once chanting of Kṛṣṇa, it can kill so many reaction of sinful life that you cannot do so many sinful life.
So that something else, ultimately if we can realize, that is Kṛṣṇa. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). Kṛṣṇa is there even within the paramāṇu, electrons, protons. There is; He is there. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. Kṛṣṇa showed Arjuna the virāḍ-rūpa, the gigantic universal form. So one side, He is universally represented, virāḍ-rūpa. And in another side He is within the aṇu paramāṇu, smaller than the aṇu, smaller than the paramāṇu. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. That is Kṛṣṇa. Mahīyān. But these are all material forms. In the Bhagavad-gītā, you will find in the Eleventh Chapter, Arjuna is requesting to come to His original form. So he was very much threatened, or frightened, and he requested, "This form is very much unbearable to see. Please come to Your original form." So Kṛṣṇa first of all came to His form, four-handed Viṣṇu form; then again He came into His two-handed Kṛṣṇa form, and that is the ultimate, real form of Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yaḥ. He is the Supreme Person, pumān. Pumān means the puruṣa, the enjoyer, the proprietor. That is Kṛṣṇa. So immediately you can be in touch with Kṛṣṇa by vibrating this sound, Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is so potent. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ (CC Madhya 17.133). The name of Kṛṣṇa is cintāmaṇi, transcendental. It is not this material sound, material name. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya. Living force, caitanya. It is not dead sound.
So Kṛṣṇa wanted as Kṛṣṇa that "All these rascals may give up their so foolish engagements and surrender unto Me." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ (BG 18.66). That was Kṛṣṇa's last word in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa wants this, that "These rascals they are suffering in this material condition of life, three miserable condition, and still, they are so rascal, they do not come to their senses. Still, they want to remain servant of māyā. So let Me directly say, 'You rascal, give up all this engagement. Surrender unto Me.' " That is Kṛṣṇa. But they will not do it.
Advaya means without any duality. But they are expressed in three different ways—Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān—brahmeti paramātmeti, according to the stage of understanding. Those who are in the lower stage—we cannot say lower—in the beginning stage, that is Brahman realization. And one who has made further progress, that is Paramātmā realized. And one who has made further progress, that is Bhagavān realization. This is the verdict. So if you realize Bhagavān, then vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). Then you'll understand that Vāsudeva, Bhagavān, He is Paramātmā. He's also Brahman. Rather, He is Parabrahman.
That is confirmed by Arjuna after understanding Bhagavad-gītā. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). Parabrahman, Brahman realization; Paramātmā realization; and above Brahman and Paramātmā there is Parabrahman. That is Kṛṣṇa. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa... (BG 7.19). Who can understand? One, if he... If one understands this, that Kṛṣṇa is Parabrahman—vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19)—He's also Paramātmā, He's also impersonal Brahman—sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ: "He becomes the great mahātmā." Sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (BG 9.13). That mahātmā is under the control of daivī-prakṛti, spiritual energy. He's no more under the material energy. As soon as he understands Kṛṣṇa—vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19)—he's no more under material energy.
Kṛṣṇa means janmādy asya yataḥ. Kṛṣṇa also explains ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). He is the origin of everything. But He's svarāṭ, there is no more origin of Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). That is said in the śāstra: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, anādi (Bs. 5.1). He has no ādi. Anādi, ādi. He is the ādi origin of everything, but He has no ādi. That is God. That is God. Anādir ādir govindaṁ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). He is the cause of all causes. Just like I have got my father, you have got my (your) father. Your father has got father, his father, his father, his father, go on. Kṛṣṇa is the supreme father, but He has no father. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa does not require any father. But he accepts a father amongst His devotees because the devotee wants Kṛṣṇa also as child. To fulfill the desire of the devotee He accepts Nanda Mahārāja as father, Vasudeva as father, just to give them pleasure. Kṛṣṇa as child, Yaśodā-mayī is enjoying the pleasure. Kṛṣṇa is playing as child. But he has no father, neither mother. He accepts the beloved devotee as father and mother. This is Kṛṣṇa.
"The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa." That is the verdict of the Vedas. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) "There is no more superior controller or person than Me." So that is Absolute. Everywhere you will find. Suppose if you accept me God, but I am controlled by somebody else. So I am not absolute God. But if you can find out somebody—he is not only controller, but he is not controlled by anyone—then he is absolute. That is Kṛṣṇa. Yes. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa is not stereotyped, that He has to be served in this way only. No, Kṛṣṇa can accept service in so many ways. There are dvādaśa-rasa, akhila-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Just like Kṛṣṇa is enjoying when Bhīṣmadeva was piercing His body with the arrows. He was enjoying. This is also rasa. Bhīṣma, purposefully, he knows Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, still, he is devotee, he was giving Him pleasure by throwing arrows on His body. So Kṛṣṇa takes pleasure in that. Kṛṣṇa does not take pleasure only when you throw rose flowers. He can take pleasure when you can pierce. If you are actually able to do that. So that is Kṛṣṇa. So ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). You have to know how Kṛṣṇa will be pleased, then you are perfect.
Just like when Kṛṣṇa was present upon this earth, He married sixteen thousand wives, and He expanded Himself also into sixteen thousand forms. And each and every form is differently engaged. Nārada was astonished when he heard that Kṛṣṇa has married sixteen thousand wives, and with each and every wife He is different engaged. That he saw. These descriptions are there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Somewhere He's engaged some way; in another place, in the..., Arjuna, Nārada saw that although He has expanded, but He is differently engaged. Another example is there. When Lord Brahmā stole away, moved all the cows, calves, cowherd boys, He immediately expanded Himself into so many cowherd boys, cows, calves. He's complete always. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). That is God. That is Kṛṣṇa, not that like ourself. He can expand Himself—ananta-rūpam. Still, He is there; the body is not finished. We cannot conceive.
The animals which has no leg—that means which cannot move... The plants, the grass, the trees, they cannot move. They have got leg, but they cannot move. Their legs are made for eating. As your mouth is made for eating, the trees... Therefore they are called pada-pa. They drink water by the leg. This is God's creation. You cannot think that how it is possible to drink water by the leg, but it is God's creation. You see. You pour water on the leg of the tree; it becomes very luxuriant, healthy. So different. And so far God is concerned, He can eat with legs; He can see with hands; He can eat with eyes. That is God. That is God. Añgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti (Bs. 5.32). Añgāni, that is transcendental. He is not under any rule. He is not under any rule. If you say, "Why Kṛṣṇa is eating by the eyes?" yes, that is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. If you offer something, Kṛṣṇa, simply by seeing, He is eating. That is Kṛṣṇa. And again if you say, "If He is eating, why the plate is full?" that is Kṛṣṇa. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). Kṛṣṇa is not a hungry man like me, that "If you give Me something, I will eat everything, finished." No. Kṛṣṇa can take the whole plate; still it will remain the whole plate, for giving prasādam.
Prabhupāda: Just like Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja. Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was advised by Kṛṣṇa that "You go to Droṇācārya and tell him the lies." "What is that?" "Now, tell him that 'Your son Aśvatthāmā is dead.' " Because Droṇācārya had some benediction that unless he is shocked by the death of his son, he will never die. So Kṛṣṇa had to take this diplomatic, because it is politics. So Kṛṣṇa... Because Droṇācārya will not believe anyone. He knew that Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira is a most pious man; he never tells lies. So if Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira goes and says that "Your son is dead," then he will believe. Otherwise, Kṛṣṇa could have gone personally, but He knew that people do not believe Him. (laughter) He is very tricky. (laughter) So therefore no tricky man can excel Him. A man may be very tricky, very intelligent, but he will not be able to excel Kṛṣṇa. He is more tricky. Just like in His childhood, Kṛṣṇa was naughty, so mother wanted to bind Him. So Kṛṣṇa also became tricky. Mother first of all brought some rope and bound, and when it was to be knotted, it was short. And then again she joined another rope. In this way, whatever rope store she had, she brought one after another, and at last, when knotting, it is too... What is called?
Devotees: Inches.
Prabhupāda: Short. So she, Kṛṣṇa thought, "Mother, nobody can bind Me, and because I have accepted to become your child, you are trying to bind Me? All right, you bring your all ropes. You will never be able to bind Me." This is Kṛṣṇa. But mother Yaśodā is the greatest devotee. So when Kṛṣṇa saw that "My mother is now exhausted, perspiring. All right, you can bind Me." This is the... You have seen in the Kṛṣṇa book. So ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). If you want to play tricks with Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is the greater trick. You will never be able. That is our mistake, that we think that "I am so intelligent, I can do something without the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa." That is our foolishness. Kṛṣṇa says, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ: (BG 15.15) "I am sitting in everyone's heart." How you can cheat Him? It is not possible. Don't try to cheat Kṛṣṇa. Don't try to cheat guru. Don't try to cheat Kṛṣṇa. Then your progress is sure.
Kṛṣṇa married sixteen thousand wives. Kṛṣṇa can do anything. That is another thing. So these sixteen thousand girls were kidnapped by that Bhaumāsura. So without finding any way how to escaped from this asura's hand, they appealed to Kṛṣṇa that "You save us. This is our position." So Kṛṣṇa is bhakta-vatsala. He came and released them and killed the Bhaumāsura and asked them, "Now you can go to your father's house." So they began to cry. Why? "Now our fathers will not accept us because we have been kidnapped." Just see. "We have been kidnapped. I have no right to go to the father. And we're not married also." "Then, what you want?" "You kindly marry us." "All right. Come on." (laughter) This is Kṛṣṇa. Yes. "You have no shelter. You're taking My shelter? Come on. I shall give you all palaces. Come on." This is Kṛṣṇa. Take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. Never mind what is your position. Kṛṣṇa will accept you and give you all comfort. Ahaṁ tvaṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). He will not kick out, even you are a prostitute. "I will give you protection." So why shall..., we should not take shelter of Kṛṣṇa? This is very natural conclusion.
So there is no quarrel with other religious system. They know simply the son of God, but they do not know who is the father of the son. That is Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the seed-giving father." Whose father? Sarva-yoniṣu. "In all forms of living entity." Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti (BG 14.4). Beginning from the microscopic living entities up to the Brahmā, the biggest, so Kṛṣṇa claims that "I am the father of Brahmā as well as the microscopic germ." Sarva-yoniṣu. So you should know. And if anyone understands Kṛṣṇa, how He is father of Brahmā and father of this microscopic germ, then he becomes perfect, immediately. Therefore Kṛṣṇa recommends, janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). The tattva, truth, if you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa in truth, how He is father of Lord Brahmā and how He is father of the microscopic germ, and if you in truth understand what is this microscopic germ and what is this Brahmā, what is this human being, what is this tiger, what is this tree, so to know Kṛṣṇa means to know everything.
So, Kṛṣṇa is always joyful. Kṛṣṇa is always joyful. Just like see before you. Kṛṣṇa is joyfully accepting to be bound up by His mother. He is Supreme Lord; nobody can chastise Him, but He is taking pleasure: "How My mother chastises Me." This is also another pleasure. Just like a very rich man, he always eats very nice foodstuff. So sometimes he wants, "Can you give me little puffed rice?" Puffed rice is not very valuable food, but he likes. This is change of variety of enjoyment. So everyone worships God: "My Lord, my Lord, my Lord." So therefore God sometimes wants that "Who will chastise Me?" He selects one of His devotees, first-class devotees: "You become My father, you become My mother, and you chastise Me." This is God's pleasure. Ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt. Then that is God. Ānanda, that is ānanda. Here, mother Yaśodā is going to bind Kṛṣṇa. It is not His displeasure; He is not unhappy. He is feeling happy. That is Kṛṣṇa. So in this way we have to understand Kṛṣṇa thoroughly. And if you simply understand thoroughly Kṛṣṇa, you are liberated.
The supreme master is Kṛṣṇa. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka maheśvaram (BG 5.29). Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the master of the whole creation. I am the enjoyer." He is the master. Caitanya-caritāmṛta also said, ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa. Īśvara means controller or master. Ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa āra saba bhṛtya: "Except Kṛṣṇa, they are, any big or small living entity, they are all servants, except Kṛṣṇa." You will therefore see: Kṛṣṇa is not serving anybody. He is simply enjoying. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka... Others like us, they first of all work very hard, and then enjoys. Kṛṣṇa never works. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāranaṁ ca vidyate. Still, He enjoys. That is Kṛṣṇa. Na tasya... This is the Vedic information.
This is the Vedic information. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāranaṁ ca vidyate: "God, Kṛṣṇa, He has nothing to do." You see, therefore, Kṛṣṇa always dancing with the gopīs and playing with the cowherd boys. And when He feels fatigue, He lies down on the Yamunā and immediately His friends come. Somebody fans Him; somebody gives massage. Therefore He is the master. Anywhere He goes, He is master. Ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa. "Then who is controller?" No, there is no controller of Him. That is Kṛṣṇa. Here we are director of such and such, president of United States, but I am not supreme controller. As soon as the public wants, immediately pulls me down. That we do not understand, that we are posing ourself as master controller, but I am controlled by somebody else. So he is not controller. Here we will find a controller to some extent, but he is controlled by another controller. So Kṛṣṇa means He is controller, but nobody is there to control Him. That is Kṛṣṇa; that is God. This is the science of understanding. God means He is controller of everything, but He has no controller.
Kṛṣṇa is playing with the gopīs. The sahajiyās, they take it very easily. But giri-vara-dhārī, oh, that is very difficult thing. He raised the whole Govardhana Hill in His finger; that nobody is imitating. But gopī-jana-vallabha, very easy. "You are gopī, I am Kṛṣṇa. Let us enjoy." This is sahajiyā. This is sahajiyā. That is going on. Parakīyā-rasa. All rascaldom is going on. But one should understand that here is Kṛṣṇa. He can dance with the gopīs and He can lift the Govardhana Hill also, simultaneously. That is also for pleasing the gopīs. When there was incessant rainfall, all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana became so disturbed, and they had no other friend than Kṛṣṇa. So they appealed, "Kṛṣṇa, do something!" "Yes!" Immediately, He raised the whole hill as umbrella. "Come on under this." So that is Kṛṣṇa. So don't imitate Kṛṣṇa, but hear Kṛṣṇa, what says, then our life is successful. We cannot imitate God. We have to simply follow His order. That is dharma. And if you imitate Kṛṣṇa, that is adharma. Don't try to imitate. There are two words in Sanskrit, anukāraṇa, anusaraṇa. Anukāraṇa means imitation, and anusaraṇa means follow.
So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to propagate this knowledge that you understand Kṛṣṇa, that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His activities which are recorded in the śāstra. When Kṛṣṇa was present on this earthly planet, He showed according to our understanding. Just like one man cannot maintain one wife: He married sixteen thousand wife. And He maintained them how? Sixteen thousand palaces. And will the women will be satisfied simply having very good palaces? No, she must have husband. So Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself into sixteen thousand husband. This is Kṛṣṇa. But because I cannot do it, we say, "Oh, this is all allegory, fiction. It is not fact." That is our defect. If God comes, explains, then we do not believe Him. Then how we will be convinced about God? God is omnipotent, and when He shows His omnipotency and it is recorded in the śāstra, we don't believe. So therefore, why we do not believe? Now, yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpam. Yeṣām... Kṛṣṇa says everything.
This life will be finished, and you do not know what kind of body you are going to get next. The best guarantee is that you execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra constantly, remain pure by following the regulative principles, and satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). Then everything is assured, and your life is successful. At the time of death you go back to home. Just see how Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa, is so kind that because he feelingly chanted at the time of his death, "O Nārāyaṇa, please come and save me..." But he was meaning his son. But Kṛṣṇa did not take that. Just like Pūtanā. Pūtanā wanted to kill Kṛṣṇa. That was his (her) plan. But Kṛṣṇa, because He sucked the breast of Pūtanā, He took him (her) as His mother. This is Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa never takes the bad side. Kṛṣṇa takes always the bright side. Pūtanā, although she came to cheat Kṛṣṇa, but how Kṛṣṇa will cheat? Kṛṣṇa thought that "I have sucked her breast, so she is My mother. She should go to the same place where Yaśodāmayi is going." This is Kṛṣṇa.
So why we should stress upon seeing Kṛṣṇa? That is most foolish proposal. You have other senses. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to be perceived by you by other senses. What is that? If you hear Kṛṣṇa, then you must know there is Kṛṣṇa. There is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not different from His name, from His form, either form or name or quality or paraphernalia, anything. He is Absolute. There is no duality. Anything you perceive, that is Kṛṣṇa. This Kṛṣṇa temple is also Kṛṣṇa. So we have no sufficient knowledge how to understand Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to be understood by us in so many ways. So the Kali-yuga, therefore, name is so important. Kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). This formula should be seriously taken.
So Kṛṣṇa, by His Paramātmā feature, He is all-pervading. He is in all universes. He is all, everywhere, in the heart of all living entity. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ... Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). And He is also within the atom. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. This is Kṛṣṇa. So one has to understand Kṛṣṇa perfectly. So for preliminary study of Kṛṣṇa, there is Bhagavad-gītā, how to understand Kṛṣṇa.
So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the topmost, topmost knowledge how to love God and thereby enjoy life. Because we want to love. Unfortunately The other day I was instructing my students that "You just get yourself married." Now, they were confused. Somebody said, "Where to get a nice girl?" Just see. Everyone wants to love, but frustration. The girls will say, "Where is a nice boy?" So the tendency of love is there in everywhere, either in animal or in man, but the lovable object is missing. Missing. That is Kṛṣṇa. If you try to love Kṛṣṇa, then your life will be fulfilled: "Oh, here is lovable object." Premā pum-artho mahān.
God is one. Ekaṁ brahma dvitīyaṁ nāsti. But He expands in different way. That is explained in the Varāha Purāṇa, svāṁśa vibhinnāṁśa. He expands as Viṣṇu-tattva. That is svāṁśa. And he expands as jīva-tattva. That is vibhinnāṁśa. So we are also expansions of God, vibhinnāṁśa, a small fragmental portion. The qualities are there, very, very small quantity. But the whole potency is there in Kṛṣṇa. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). So there is one supreme living being, a supreme eternal, and that is Kṛṣṇa. This is... And to cultivate this knowledge is called bhāgavata-dharma.
Prabhupāda: So that I have already explained, that incarnation—whose incarnation? The question will be: whose incarnation?
Indian man: God. God.
Prabhupāda: God's. So that God is Kṛṣṇa. You do not know that. Now learn it.
Guest: Is not Rāma a God?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Incarnation means somebody's incarnation. So who is that somebody? That is Kṛṣṇa. That's all. If you do not know it, you understand now.
Sex life which is given permission in the śāstra, that is Kṛṣṇa. The śāstra gives you permission for sex life only for begetting nice children. Not for enjoyment. That is illicit sex. If you make love, "Phish, phish, phish," and have sex life, that is illicit sex. So that dharmāviruddha. So we can adjust our material activities: eating, sleeping, mating, and fearing. It can be adjusted in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, provided we take direction from Kṛṣṇa. Even eating, sleeping, mating can be utilized as Kṛṣṇa consciousness if you follow the rules and regulations. There is facility. And as soon as you deviate, then you become subject to the control of māyā.
Kṛṣṇa can eat any way. Just like we can eat only putting the foodstuff through the mouth. No. Kṛṣṇa can eat even by seeing. Sa aikṣata. In the Vedic version it is said simply Kṛṣṇa put His glance over material nature, and she produced so many children. Sa aikṣata, sa jāyata. That is God. He can do everything by every linb of the body. We can simply see with eyes, but Kṛṣṇa, by seeing He can make pregnant. This is Kṛṣṇa. This is called aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti. That is called all-powerful. Just like Brahmā, Brahmā was born from the lotus flower grown from the naval of Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśayī Viṣṇu, and mother Lakṣmī is engaged in giving massage to Garbhodakaśayī Viṣṇu. You have seen the picture. But Kṛṣṇa, without taking help of goddess of fortune, He begot Brahmā. This is aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti (Bs. 5.32). We beget a child through the help of the wife, but Mahā-Viṣṇu or Garbhodakaśayī Viṣṇu, although the wife is there, He did not take any help from the wife, but He begot.
So we should always remember that Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful, He is the supreme father and He is the supreme proprietor. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). The best life is to remain under the protection of Kṛṣṇa. Avaśya rakhibe kṛṣṇa viśvāsa pālan, rakiṣyate iti viśvāsa pālanam. This is called surrender, that "Kṛṣṇa will give me protection." And Kṛṣṇa also promises, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). Kṛṣṇa is giving protection to everyone without even being devotee. And one who becomes a devotee, how much care is taken by Kṛṣṇa, just imagine.
The process is simply to understand Kṛṣṇa. Janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvataḥ, not knowing superficially, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is a historical person. Some five thousand years ago, He took birth as the son of Devakī," like that. Everyone knows—at least every Indian knows—and they observe Kṛṣṇa's birthday. That is beginning. But Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Absolute Truth, He is the origin of everything, He is the cause of all causes, that is not known. That one has to know. The brahmajyoti, impersonal jyoti is bodily effulgence. The brahmajyoti is resting on Kṛṣṇa. Brahmaṇo aham pratiṣṭha, Kṛṣṇa says. Just like the illumination in this room, prakāśa, is resting on this bulb. Although the illuminating light is spread all over this room, that is not original. The original is the bulb. Similarly, and from the śāstra we find, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam, tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ (Bs. 5.40). That brahma ananta aśeṣa-bhūtam, unlimited. Yasya prabhā. This brahmajyoti is only effulgence of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, we have to understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11), Bhāgavata says. The Absolute Truth is one, that is Kṛṣṇa, advayam(?), but He is known in different features, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti.
So kāla, kāla means death. Kṛṣṇa, He is life and death also. Bijo 'ham sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10), from Him all living entities come out or in Him every living entity exists. At the same time, Kṛṣṇa says, mṛtyu ahaṁ sarva-haraś ca, He is death also. So for the non-devotees He is death, and for the devotees He is life. These are the contradictory qualifications of the Supreme Lord. Death and life are two opposite things, viruddha, and Kṛṣṇa is both of them. So He adjusts, viruddha, opposite things coincide into one thing. That is Kṛṣṇa. We cannot adjust opposite things to be one.
So similarly, He is represented in His name. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ (CC Madhya 17.133). When you are chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa don't think this is sound vibration and Kṛṣṇa is different. No. Abhinnatvān. Nāma-cintāmaṇi-kṛṣṇaḥ. As Kṛṣṇa is cintāmaṇi, similarly, His holy name is also cintāmaṇi. Nāma-cintāmaṇi-kṛṣṇaḥ caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ. Caitanya, full consciousness, nāma-cintāmaṇi-kṛṣṇaḥ. If we associate with name, that you must know, that Kṛṣṇa is fully conscious of your service. You are addressing, "He Kṛṣṇa! He Rādhārāṇī! Kindly engage me in Your service." Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra means, Hare Kṛṣṇa, "He Kṛṣṇa, he Rādhārāṇī, he energy, kindly engage me in your service." Ayi nanda-tanuja patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching. "O my Lord, Nanda-tanuja..." Kṛṣṇa becomes very glad when you associate His name, His activities, with some devotee. He's not impersonal. Kṛṣṇa has no name, but when He deals with His devotee, there is a name. Just like Kṛṣṇa dealing with Nanda Mahārāja, that Nanda Mahārāja's wooden slipper... Yaśodāmayī asked the child Kṛṣṇa You have seen the picture—"Can you bring the slipper of your father?" "Yes!" Immediately took on the head. You see? This is Kṛṣṇa. So Nanda Mahārāja became very pleased: "Oh, your son is very nice. He can bear such a load." So this is dealing.
Rūpa means personal beauty. "I am very beautiful that Kṛṣṇa will be attracted." Kṛṣṇa has many, many thousands of beautiful wives and friends. In Vṛndāvana He had many, many beautiful girl friends, the gopīs. And in Dvārakā He had many, many beautiful queens, 16,108, counting—Lakṣmīs. They are all goddess of fortune. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama sevyamānaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (Bs. 5.29). Kṛṣṇa, He's not after beauty, but beauty is after Him. That is Kṛṣṇa. Not Kṛṣṇa is after beauty. The materialistic person, they think that Kṛṣṇa was so much fond of beautiful woman. No, no. That is not the fact. The beautiful women were after Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is so beautiful... Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ (Bs. 5.30). Kandarpa. Kandarpa means Cupid. We have heard the name of Cupid, very beautiful, attractive. But He is kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya viśeṣa-śobhaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. Kṛṣṇa does not want any beauty for His satisfaction. He's self-satisfied. But devotees, beautiful devotees, rich devotees, aristocratic devotees, perfect devotees, they are after... That is... He's self-satisfied. He doesn't require. These... Just like when these foolish people read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and it is said that Kṛṣṇa had sixteen thousand wives, queens, so they think that an ordinary man, one who keeps more than one wife, he is considered to be very lusty. No, no. That is not the fact.
These sixteen thousand wives, how they became wives? You know the story, that many beautiful, sixteen thousand beautiful, I mean to say, king's daughters were kidnapped by the asura. What is the name of that asura? Bhaumāsura, no? Yes. So they prayed to Kṛṣṇa that "We are suffering, kidnapped by this rascal. Please save us." So Kṛṣṇa came to rescue them, and the Bhaumāsura was killed and all the girls were made free. But after freedom they were still standing there. So Kṛṣṇa asked them, "Now you can go home to your father." They said that "We are kidnapped, and we cannot be married." In India still that rule is there. If one girl, young girl, goes out of home for one day or two days, nobody will marry him (her). Nobody will marry him (her). He's (She's) considered to be spoiled. This is still the Indian system. So they were kidnapped for so many days or so many years, so they appealed to Kṛṣṇa that "We'll not be accepted either by our father, neither anybody will agree to marry." Then Kṛṣṇa understood that "Their position is very precarious. Although they are released, they cannot go anywhere." Then Kṛṣṇa... He's so kind, bhakta-vatsala. He inquired, "What you want?" That... They said that "You accept me. Otherwise we have no other means to stay." Kṛṣṇa immediately: "Yes, come on." This is Kṛṣṇa. And not that His sixteen thousand wives was concentrated in one camp. He immediately constructed sixteen thousand palaces. Because He has accepted as wife, he (she) must be maintained as His wife, as His queen, not that "Because they have no other means, they have come to My shelter. I can keep them any way." No. Most respectfully as queen, as Kṛṣṇa's queen. And again He thought that "The sixteen thousand wives... So if I remain alone, one figure, then My wives cannot meet Me. Everyone has to wait for sixteen thousand days to see the husband. No." He expanded Himself into sixteen thousand Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa.
The rascals, they accuse Kṛṣṇa as woman-hunter. It is not like you. You cannot maintain even one wife, but He maintained sixteen thousand wives in sixteen thousand palaces and in sixteen thousand expansion of form. Everyone was pleased. This is Kṛṣṇa. We have to understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Don't try to imitate Kṛṣṇa. First of all try to understand Kṛṣṇa.
This is the mistake committed by the Māyāvādīs, that "If everything is Brahman, then whatever I worship, that is all right." That is nonsense. Kṛṣṇa says, nāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ. Just like this microphone: it is Kṛṣṇa. But if I worship this microphone instead of the Deity, then I am a fool. Then I am fool. This is the mistake the Māyāvādīs commit. They put the argument, "If everything is Kṛṣṇa, everything is Brahman, so whatever I worship, that is Brahman." Kṛṣṇa says, "No. That is not. Everything is Myself." This is called simultaneously one and different, acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). This is there in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Kṛṣṇa is always in Goloka. Just like here is Kṛṣṇa. He's in Goloka, but He's so powerful, omnipotent... This is called omnipotency. In spite of His becoming in Goloka, He's everywhere. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and you or me. I am here; I'm not in upstairs. I'm here only. But Kṛṣṇa simultaneously can be everywhere. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). So many pretenders, they claim that they are God: "I am God." But are you present everywhere? Can you say what I am thinking now? No, that he cannot. Still, he claims, "God." Nonsense. How he can become God? If you cannot say what I am thinking now, then how you can become God? God is situated everywhere. Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. Everywhere. Paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. Even within the atom there is God. So how you can claim God? Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Then they will answer, "I'm not in God now I am God, but māyā... Therefore I cannot say now." That... "Why you have become under the control of māyā? Then māyā is greater than God. Then how you can become God? Māyā is greater than God." So they cannot answer this.
So whatever Kṛṣṇa does, that is for our benefit. Kṛṣṇa incarnates, comes here... Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). So He has no benefit by coming here, neither He has any loss. He's so complete that there is no loss, no benefit. But His mission is paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya... (BG 4.8). Just to keep balance of the demonic activities and to favor the devotees, both of them are benefited. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnām, those who are devotees, they are also benefited, and the demons who are killed by Kṛṣṇa, they are also benefited. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is all good. "God is good" means when He's favoring somebody and when He's killing somebody, both of them are benefited. Therefore God is always good, both ways. Nija-lābha. He has no business to kill anybody as His enemy. Nobody can become His enemy. It is simply childish—just to knock one's head on the mountain to break the mountain.
Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ (Bs. 5.29). Not only one Lakṣmī, not one Rukmiṇī, but many thousands' Lakṣmī, sahasra-sata, many lakhs. We are flattering Lakṣmījī, "Give me some favor," but Kṛṣṇa doesn't flatter anyone. Sometimes He does out of love to Rādhārāṇī. That Lakṣmī is Rādhārāṇī. Therefore She is the topmost of all Lakṣmīs. So, why Kṛṣṇa will be beggar, daridra? No, there is no possibility. Here Kṛṣṇa is present in this temple. He has become very handy so that we can offer our dress, offer our foodstuff, whatever we can. He can become still smaller. Anor anīyāṁ mahato mahīyān. If you want to worship Him as the virata-puruṣa, then He can show you the virāṭa-puruṣa. The sky is the head and the Pātāla is the leg. He can become so big that you will be frightened, as Arjuna became frightened after seeing. He can become. That is called Brahman. Bṛhatvād bṛhaṇatvāt. He can become the bigger than the biggest, and He can become smaller than the smallest. That is Kṛṣṇa.
So if we actually want to serve according to our means, Kṛṣṇa is ready to accept our service. But you cannot think that "Without my service, Kṛṣṇa is starving." No, that is not. Nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ. He's always complete in Himself. He doesn't require our help. But if we serve Kṛṣṇa, then we become benefited. That is... Yad yaj jano bhagavate vidadhīta mānam. If you offer respect, Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa's representative, then you'll be respectful. If you don't want to show respect to Kṛṣṇa and His representative, then you'll be derided. Therefore prati-mukhasya yathā mukha-śrīḥ. Prati-mukhasya, original face, original person, is Kṛṣṇa. If you decorate Kṛṣṇa very nicely, then you will be also seen very much decorated. If you... Practically we see. There is no fable. We are offering Kṛṣṇa nice foodstuff, so we are eating this nice prasādam which we never conceived or dreamed, dreamt in our life. Because we are offering to Kṛṣṇa, we become so fortunate to taste this nice prasādam. Kṛṣṇa, nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ. It is not that if you give a nice plate of foodstuff, Kṛṣṇa eats everything, and you simply see the empty dish. No. Kṛṣṇa eats and again keeps it as it is for... That is Kṛṣṇa. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). The atheist class of men, they think, "We offered so many things. Kṛṣṇa did not eat." No. He has eaten, but He is nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ. He is not hungry, but whatever you have offered, He has eaten.
So this is Kṛṣṇa. If you offer Him huge foodstuff, He can eat. And if you can offer Him little flower, fruit and water, that also, He is satisfied. So everyone should offer according to his means, and Kṛṣṇa is ready to accept, not that you have to become a very rich man and you have to offer Kṛṣṇa foodstuff fifty-six times as in Jagannātha Purī the foodstuffs are offered. Not that. He is pleased anyway. But become a devotee. Try to please Him to your best capacity.
To understand God, to understand Kṛṣṇa, is not very easy job; very, very difficult job. Therefore we don't find anyone is interested in Kṛṣṇa. Anywhere you go, all over the world, you make a statistic: nobody is interested in Kṛṣṇa. Is it not a fact? Out of millions. Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu, "Out of millions..." That's a fact. Nobody is interested in Kṛṣṇa. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu. So therefore, to understand Kṛṣṇa is not very easy job. But by the grace of Kṛṣṇa You can understand Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself. That is Kṛṣṇa, great. You take. And again Kṛṣṇa is coming as Caitanya Mahāprabhu to show us the way how to understand Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu means Kṛṣṇa Himself, present to teach us how to understand Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is so kind: He is coming Himself. He's teaching Bhagavad-gītā. Again He is coming as Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as devotee, to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). He's not only teaching Kṛṣṇa but love of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, when He personally came, He did not teach how to love Him. He simply asked, "You rascal, surrender to Me." That's all. "You are all rascals. You have forgotten Me. I am the Supreme. You are searching after so many wrong things. You have created so many so-called occupational and religious duties, but these are all useless." That much. But again Kṛṣṇa came to teach people how to love Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī offers his respect to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, namo mahā-vadanyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te: (CC Madhya 19.53) "You are not only giving Kṛṣṇa but giving love of Kṛṣṇa." That is very rare thing.
We have to understand very clearly this position, the grammatical difference. What is called? The nominative? What is called in Sanskrit? Karaka? Kartā karaka, karma karaka, like that? Yes. Different things are being done under different situation. They are called karaka. Somebody was working as the person; another is objective; another is causative; another is dative; another is relative. In this way it is explained here, yathā yena yasmai yasmāt. So these are the karaka, different position of activities. But all these different positions can be adjusted into one. That is Kṛṣṇa, Brahman. Eko brahma dvitiya nāsti. Only Kṛṣṇa is there, nothing except Kṛṣṇa. That understanding, that there is something other than Kṛṣṇa, that conception, "other than Kṛṣṇa," is called māyā. Actually there is nothing except Kṛṣṇa, but due to our imperfect knowledge we think there is something other than Kṛṣṇa. There is nothing other than Kṛṣṇa. Everything is Kṛṣṇa.
So one may say that "I may... I am foolish, I may not surrender to Kṛṣṇa cent percent, but why He is not kind cent percent?" So that is Kṛṣṇa's discrimination. Why He should? He can... He can become cent percent, but He does not do so. That means Kṛṣṇa is sentient; He is not impersonal. Don't think that whatever you are doing, Kṛṣṇa cannot see. In the Deity room, if you think that "This Deity is made of brass. Whatever nonsense I can do, He does not see," no, He can see everything. Añgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti paśyanti pānti kalayanti. He sees. You rascal, you do not know how Kṛṣṇa sees. You think that "He has these brass-made eyes. He cannot see. I can do all nonsense with..." No. That is not. He can see everything. Paśyanti pānti. Añgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. He can see with His lotus feet. He can see with His hand. We can see simply with our eyes, but Kṛṣṇa can see with all the... Añgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. You have seen. Kṛṣṇa is playing the flute. The fingers are open. A finger touching: "What you are doing?" We do not know the fingers can also see. But this is absolute. Kṛṣṇa can use His any energy, any power, any part of the body, for anything else. This is Kṛṣṇa. Añgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti.
So Kṛṣṇa can see within our mind how much we are surrendered and how much we are after material enjoyment. Therefore the best thing is we have to make zero. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Śūnyam means zero. Unless we make everything zero, simply Kṛṣṇa fact... Kṛṣṇa is only fact, and everything zero. Without Kṛṣṇa, everything zero. Just like one is one and, zero is zero, but when zero is added with one, it becomes ten immediately, ten times, similarly, this material world is zero, and Kṛṣṇa is one. If you want to enjoy the material world by your own effort, it will always prove zero. You'll never be satisfied. But you add this zero by the side of Kṛṣṇa—you enjoy like anything, ten times. Ten times. With zero, it is zero, But when it is added with Kṛṣṇa, it is ten times. Just see practically. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement was started with forty rupees. Now that forty rupees or something added with Kṛṣṇa, it has become forty crores. You see practically. When I started for your country, I came to Māyāpur. I offered my obeisances to my spiritual master, then I went. At that time I had no money even to purchase the ticket. And after that, I have come with forty crores. This is the secret. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). If you fully surrender to Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa is there. You have to learn how to take from Kṛṣṇa. Of course, a devotee is never desirous to take anything from Kṛṣṇa. He wants to give only. This is pure devotee. A pure devotee wants, "Kṛṣṇa, whatever little I have got, You take it, everything." And Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes, because you have given your everything, even up to your life, I'll also give you My everything to you." This is Kṛṣṇa.
Even the devotee or the servant of Kṛṣṇa says something, even it is wrong, Kṛṣṇa upholds this. Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ pranaśyati (BG 9.31). So even it is wrongly done, still, Kṛṣṇa fulfills because He thinks that "My servant has promised; it must be fulfilled." Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja, in the previous verse he has said, tava bhṛtya-pārśva. So to serve the servant of Kṛṣṇa is better than to serve directly Kṛṣṇa, because if the servant of Kṛṣṇa promises something, if the servant of Kṛṣṇa says, "I'll take you to Kṛṣṇaloka," you must go there. Even Kṛṣṇa cannot do that. He can... I mean to say that He does not say very easily. But if a servant... Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. Therefore our philosophy is to please the servant of God, tad-bhṛtya, bhṛtyasya bhṛtya. Then it is very nice. The success is...
So here it is said that sva-bhṛtya-ṛṣi-vākyam ṛtaṁ vidhātum. So Brahmā gave him benediction. He asked, "Sir, I'll not die at night." "Yes, that's all right." "I'll not die in daytime." "That's all right." "I'll not die in the sky," "That's all right." "On the land." "That's all right." "On the water." "That's all right." "No animal can kill me." "That's all right." "No man can." "That's all right." So he thought, "Now I am secure. There is no death." But Kṛṣṇa is so intelligent that He killed him not at night, not in day, not in the sky, not on the land, not on the water, not by animal, not by man—all things, ṛtam, yes, everything kept. Still, he was killed. He was killed in the evening, which you cannot say it is day or night. He was killed on the lap of the Lord. You cannot say it is sky, land or water. He did not kill him with the open weapon, but He killed with His nails. In this way you'll find that He kept everything intact, what benediction was given by Lord Brahmā, ṛtaṁ vidhātum. "Yes." At last, of course, He little chastised Brahmā that "You should not give such benediction in future. This is botheration for Me." (laughter) But still, He kept His servant's promise intact. The demon was also killed, and the promise given by, a benediction given by Brahma, everything... That is the action of the Supreme Personality. In one stroke He is doing so many things. He's saving Prahlāda Mahārāja, He's killing Hiraṇyakaśipu, He's keeping intact the promise of Brahmā—everything. That is God's intelligence. Our intelligence, however diplomat we may be, if we want to do anything, another thing is not managed nicely. But Kṛṣṇa... That is called all potency. When He does something, in a moment He can adjust everything. Even opposite actions, He can adjust. That is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He's called all-powerful. We cannot do that.
Cloth is made of cotton. So from cotton we prepare thread, and from thread we prepare cloth. So when the cloth is there, the thread has disappeared. When the thread is there, the cotton has disappeared. They are called sad-asat. Sat means which is existing, and asad means which is no longer existing. So this material world is asat. It is simply for the time being an exhibition. So we have to find out the real existence, sanātana existence. That is Kṛṣṇa. We should not be bewildered by seeing this temporary manifestation. Anything material is temporary. It has a date of creation.
Everything is manifestation of energy. Parasya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). We see in the garden so many flowers, different color, different flavor, different utility. But wherefrom it is coming? It is coming from this earth. We do not know even how much inconceivable energies are there within this earth. We do not know. Where is the scientist? They are very much proud of their scientific knowledge. Let them say how many varieties of things are within this earth. They analyze the earth. What do they find? They see only sixty percent soda bicarb. No. There are many, many finer chemicals. Who is that rascal who can say that so many things are there, "This is soda bicarb"? And this is scientific, that's all. Nobody scientist; all fools and rascals, mūḍhā. They do not know anything. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "I am this." That is the actual fact. But His energies are so, mean, manifestedly variegatedness energy. You'll find so beautiful world. It is condemned place. Still, you see, by Kṛṣṇa's energy the world is so beautiful—so many trees, so many flowers, so many fruits, so many varieties of life, so many varieties of human beings. This is Kṛṣṇa, varieties. Parasya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate sva-bhāvikī... (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). And every energy is acting automatically.
Here is explanation, that sthito na tu tamo na guṇāṁś ca yuṅkṣe. This is Kṛṣṇa. This is Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa. Never, never think... There are some party, they say, "We worship Kṛṣṇa, Bāla-Kṛṣṇa, boy Kṛṣṇa." Sometimes they give reason that... Why not, I mean to say, grown-up Kṛṣṇa? They say that "Grown-up Kṛṣṇa was polluted by rāsa-līlā." Just see the fool nonsense! Kṛṣṇa is always Kṛṣṇa. This is foolish conclusion, that child Kṛṣṇa is pure than young Kṛṣṇa. This is wrong conception. Kṛṣṇa is... Just like Kṛṣṇa, when He was three months old, He could kill a big, gigantic witch, that Pūtanā. Can... A three months' old child can kill such a big...? No. Kṛṣṇa is always God. Either He appears in three months or three hundred years or three thousand years, He is the same. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam adyaṁ purāṇa puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). This is Kṛṣṇa.
The Māyāvādī philosopher cannot understand this. They think that anyone who comes in this material world, he falls under the influence of māyā. That is right for the small living entities, as we are. That is not correct for the Supreme. Therefore they misunderstand Kṛṣṇa in His activities, especially when He dances with the gopīs. Therefore a neophyte person should not try to understand Kṛṣṇa's dancing with the gopīs immediately, because they do not know Kṛṣṇa. So here if we do something against the moral principles, we are liable to be punished. But Kṛṣṇa, about Kṛṣṇa it is stated in the Īśopaniṣad, apāpa-viddham. You know this. Apāpa-viddham. (aside:) Who is that? He does not become affected by any pāpa, apāpa-viddham. That is His nature. Etad īśanam īśasya. Just like we go into the fire—we become burned into ashes. But there are some others, not... We cannot see, but if Kṛṣṇa enters... Yes, there are many. Just like in the forest fire all the Vṛndāvana inhabitants they became very much afraid of the forest fire, Vṛndāvana, the cows and the cowherd boys and inhabitants. But they had no other means how to stop. They began to pray to Kṛṣṇa, "Kṛṣṇa, save us." So Kṛṣṇa swallowed up the fire. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourself. So this difference of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's greatness we can see when we have purified ourself, tīvra-tapasā pariśuddha-bhāvaḥ. Then it is possible. That is... The whole bhakti system means tīvra-tapasā pariśuddha-bhāvaḥ.
Prabhupāda: But the Vṛndāvana-vāsī, they are so affectionate, so attached to Kṛṣṇa, they do not want. They do not want to know what is God. They simply want Kṛṣṇa, to love. This is Vṛndāvana. There is no necessity. Kṛṣṇa manifested in so many ways big, big activities in Vṛndāvana, killing daily almost a demon. But still, the Vṛndāvana-vāsī did not accept Him as the Supreme Lord. They thought that some demigod has appeared. They did not know that He is the Supreme Lord. That is another māyā, yoga-māyā. If the Vṛndāvana-vāsī saw Kṛṣṇa that He is the Supreme Lord, then they could not love Him so nicely, because too much opulent conception diminishes natural love. Therefore in the Vṛndāvana there is no such exhibition of Kṛṣṇa's form. But in the material world, just to convince Brahmā that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He appeared, sahasra vadanāṅghri-śiraḥ-karoru-nāsādya-karṇa-nayanābharaṇaya-a yudhāḍhyam. Not only many faces, many ears, many legs, but each of them very nicely decorated. You have seen the picture of Lord Viṣṇu, very decorated, very much decorated. But you'll see Kṛṣṇa, He is decorated with the Vṛndāvana flowers. That is Kṛṣṇa's real form. He does not appear with many hands, many ornaments, many... No. Simple boy.
So yaśodā-nandana gopī-jana-rañjana yamunā-tīra... What is that?
Devotees: Vana-cārī.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is always yaśodā-nandana. He is always ready to be chastised by mother Yaśodā, by the gopīs, and sometimes by His friends. That is Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa. That is real Kṛṣṇa; that is real God. And this form of God as Brahmā saw, virāṭ-rūpa, that is māyāmayam. Because Brahmā, such exalted person, he was meant for creating this universe, he becomes bewildered, seeing Kṛṣṇa as a cowherd boy. That was also exhibited. When Brahmā understood that "A cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana is said to be the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, my master," so he also examined whether Kṛṣṇa, that boy, was his master. He took away His calves and cowherd boys for a second, and he saw that Kṛṣṇa has expanded Himself to so many cows and calves and cowherd boys. Then he submitted. Similarly, Indra also wanted to examine Him.
Prahlāda Mahārāja, when he saw Nṛsiṁhadeva, very fierceful... Even mother Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, who is constant companion of the Lord, she also became afraid, and what to speak of other demigods like Brahma, Lord Śiva and Indra and so many others? All of them became afraid. Nobody could approach Him. He was so angry. But Prahlāda Mahārāja said that "I am not afraid." He said, "I am not afraid."
- Naivodvije para duratyaya-vaitaraṇyās tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ.
A devotee who is always absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa and His activities... We are therefore presenting Kṛṣṇa and His activities. This is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. All these books which we are distributing and publishing, what is this? This is Kṛṣṇa and His activities, that's all. Tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna.
So here, ko nu atra te akhila-guro bhagavan prayāsa. So everyone requires some extra endeavor to favor us, but Kṛṣṇa does not require. That is Kṛṣṇa. He can do anything He likes. He does not depend on others. Others depend on Kṛṣṇa's sanction, but Kṛṣṇa does not require anyone's sanction.
So while drinking water, we can remember Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8), "The taste of the water I am." So we are drinking water several times in a day. As soon as we drink water, we can remember immediately, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa, how nice Kṛṣṇa. He has given us this nice water, tasteful water. This is Kṛṣṇa."
Everything Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, but because we are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, we cannot see Him. We are challenging, "Can you show me Kṛṣṇa?" You are seeing, but on account of material covering, you cannot see. Kṛṣṇa is there. Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. He is everywhere. That is Kṛṣṇa. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). He is always in Goloka Vṛndāvana, but He is everywhere. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourself. We are sitting here, but we are not in our apartment. Limited. But Kṛṣṇa is unlimited. That is the difference. By foolishness we claim to become Kṛṣṇa, but that is foolishness. Kṛṣṇa is not like that, although He is present before us.
These foolish persons, they do not know. They think that "If Kṛṣṇa has spread Himself in everything, then He has lost Himself. So He has no more form," their material calculation. This is called material calculation. I have several times given you the example. You take a big piece of paper and make it small pieces, and you throw it in the air. The big sheet of paper is no longer existing. It is finished. So their calculation is like that, that "If Kṛṣṇa is all-pervasive, then where is His form? His form is finished." This is their character. But that is nonsense. That is Kṛṣṇa, that mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam: "I am spread everywhere, all-pervasive. But in My person I am not there." Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagat avyakta-mūrtinā, mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni (BG 9.4). But a devotee should understand that Kṛṣṇa is on the throne and Kṛṣṇa is on the floor. Therefore we should be very careful to take care of the floor, to take care of the throne, to take care of the flower, to take care of the dishes. Everything you should worship like Kṛṣṇa. That is... You cannot neglect anything. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira mārjanādau **. Everything one. You cannot say, "Kṛṣṇa is here, sitting. I can neglect this floor." That is foolishness. You should take as much care to worship the Deity, to decorate the Deity, as much care to keep the temple very, very cleansed.
These rascals who does not know Kṛṣṇa, they think, "All right, Kṛṣṇa may be a little more intelligent than me. That's all." In this way they are thinking. But here it is called bhūman. Bhūman means all-pervading. Sarvaṁ tvam eva saguṇo viguṇaś ca bhūman nānyat tvad asty api mano-vacasā niruktam. Even if you think that the sky is very, very great, that is also Kṛṣṇa. And if you think the atom is very, very small, that is also Kṛṣṇa. There is no, nothing greater than Kṛṣṇa, nothing smaller than Kṛṣṇa. These are two contradictory things. So simply if... "Kṛṣṇa is simply as big as the sky"—the Māyāvādī philosophy—"He cannot be small like the Deity." That is their mistake. He is as big as the sky and as small as the atom. In the intermediate stage, He is everything. Why He cannot be smaller like the Deity, small Deity, so that I may have the facility to serve Him? I cannot serve Kṛṣṇa when He's as big as the sky. That is not possible. I cannot decorate Him when He shows His virāṭ-rūpa. I think the whole world's, all the mills, they cannot supply cloth. (laughter) But Kṛṣṇa agrees to become very small. With little cloth I can dress Him. And Kṛṣṇa accepts. Yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. Even little small piece of cloth the devotee is covering Kṛṣṇa and thinking that "I am dressing nicely." Kṛṣṇa accepts that. That is Kṛṣṇa. Yes.
So aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. Kṛṣṇa is so kind, He is ready to accept your service. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Simply you require to become a devotee.
Prabhupāda: Everything, everything you want, it is ready immediately because there is Kṛṣṇa only, and He is always ready. What is that song? Gopījana-rañjana. Sing this song.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yaśodā-nandana gopījana...
Prabhupāda: Yaśodā-nandana gopījana-rañjana. And in the beginning? Rādhā-mādhava...?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Kuñja-vihārī.
Prabhupāda: Then...?
Akṣayānanda: Gopījana-vallabha.
Prabhupāda: Gopījana-vallabha.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Giri-vara-dhārī.
Prabhupāda: Giri-vara-dhārī. Just see. Gopījana-vallabha. The gopīs and their husbands and sons, so they were in danger when there was torrents of rain. They were very much perplexed. They approached Kṛṣṇa: "This is the danger. What You can do?" "Yes." Immediately He lifted the Govardhana Hill as umbrella: "Come on under this." Gopījana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī. This is Kṛṣṇa, that as soon the gopījana, they are in dangerous, He is immediately, although seven-years-old boy: "All right, I am making a big umbrella." Giri-vara-dhārī. This is Kṛṣṇa. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself, and if you become convinced, "Yes, what Kṛṣṇa says, it is all right..." Just like Arjuna said, sarvam etam ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava: (BG 10.14) "Whatever you have said I accept in total. No reduction, no..." Sarvam etam ṛtaṁ manye: "Whatever You have said, I believe. I have taken. I have..." That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says something, and I understand something. That you go on with your millions of years; it will never be possible. You have to understand Kṛṣṇa as He says. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. That is real understanding. Arjuna says, sarvam etam ṛtaṁ manye. Ṛtam means fact. "Everything, whatever You have said..." Not that "I cut this side and that side..."
Spiritual life begins when one understands that he is not this body. Brahma-bhūtaḥ, brahma-bhūtḥ. So long one identifies with the body, he is jīva-bhūtaḥ. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). And when one realizes ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am Brahman..." But unfortunately Māyāvādī philosophers, they take it ahaṁ brahmāsmi means "I am the Supreme Brahman." No. Brahmāsmi means "I am spirit soul." Spirit soul is Brahman, and the Supreme Brahman is different. Supreme Brahman, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12), that is Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu-tattva. So unfortunately these Māyāvādī philosophers, they accept brahmāsmi means "I am the Supreme." We are not the Supreme. We are subordinate.
So, people should be engaged, in the human form of life, for activities of ultimate goal of life, and that is Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu. That they do not know. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). Being captivated by the external energy, māyā, we have forgotten our interest. We are working for a different interest. That is preya, not for śreya. The śreya is Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa.
| Page Title: | That is Krsna (Lectures, SB) |
| Compiler: | Alakananda |
| Created: | 15 of Oct, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=175, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 175 |