As Kṛṣṇa advented Himself within this planet—He came here—Kṛṣṇa can go anywhere. Kṛṣṇa, when He was present, He was going anywhere: sometimes within the waters, sometimes within the walls of the universe, sometimes in the spiritual world. He went the spiritual world, taking Arjuna with Him. Arjuna also went with Him. And He saw the Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu in the spiritual world. These things are there, described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He could go anywhere. They were going to the heavenly planets. That is Kṛṣṇa. Not Guruji, (laughs) that one slap and he's blind. Not like that. Kṛṣṇa could go, Kṛṣṇa can do . . . all . . . this is called omnipotent, all-powerful. So unless we think of Kṛṣṇa possessing inconceivable powers, we cannot understand Kṛṣṇa.
Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. Another study from this verse is that the Māyāvādī philosophy, they say that spirit is one. The Supreme Spirit, impersonal. When the spirit is embodied, it becomes individual. This is their philosophy. Otherwise, they give the example . . . just like there is water on the sea. It is also sustained on the earth, a big mass of water. And on that water you can put one boat or ship full of water. And on that boat, you put another, a cup of water, and in the cup of water, you put another pot, a small cup or small utensil or even the skin of a grain, that will also contain. So their philosophy is that the water is one, but according to the pot or container, it becomes small and big. This is their philosophy. And when the container is broken, then the whole water becomes one. This is their philosophy.
Now this nonsense philosophy is refuted in this verse. How? Now because spirit, either you take whole spirit or part spirit, nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi: you cannot divide it by cutting into pieces. That is not possible. So their philosophy is that the water has been put into different pots, therefore we see this small water, this smaller or bigger, this division. But they are all individual, always. It is not that it has been divided. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ jīva-loke sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7). Sanātana. Sanātana means eternally they are divided. It is not that it has been divided by some means, just like we keep water in big pot or small pot. That is not possible. They are big or small eternally. Viṣṇu-tattva, jīva-tattva. The jīva-tattva, they are small fragments. They are eternally. Viṣṇu-tattva . . . viṣṇu-tattva means the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Viṣṇu-tattva is unlimitedly great eternally, sanātana. And the jīva-tattva, they are infinitesimally smaller eternally. Not that it has been cut into small and big. No.
So this Māyāvādī theory cannot stand here if we accept the Bhagavad-gītās statement, nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. It is not divided by some means. No. It is already divided. It is already divided. Neither the small piece of soul or the big piece of soul you can divide.
- nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
- nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
- na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
- na śoṣayati mārutaḥ
- (BG 2.23)
Air . . . there are earth, water, fire, air. So none of these material things can act on the soul. It is not that because air dries up everything, anything . . . big, big ocean is dried up by evaporation. Big, big river, big, big lakes are evaporated, but soul cannot be evaporated. Nainaṁ śoṣayati mārutaḥ. This is the distinction. The air can evaporate a big ocean. Gradually, it is being done. As the days will go on, the seawater will be evaporated, and at the end there will be no water. These are the statements. Towards destruction, there will be no water. Just like now it is already begun. There is scarcity of water, no rainfall. So we see that the lakes and rivers and other water reservoirs, they are becoming dried up. Śyāmasundara, you were telling that river? What is that lake?
Śyāmasundara: Reservoir.
Prabhupāda: There is . . . drying up. So there must be dry up and there must be supply. Nature's way. That is the way. But in the . . . and with the advancement of Kali-yuga, there will be scarcity of supply, but the water will dry up gradually. The result will be there will be no water. As there will be no water, everything, all living entities, vegetation, living being, everything will finish, will die. For hundreds of years there will be no water, and then when everything is finished, dried up, burned into ashes due to . . . and the sunshine, the glare of the sunshine will be twelve times increased, and there will be no water. How one can live? So everything on this planet will be finished. And then, being warmer, warmer, there will be fire. In the fire, all planets of the universe will be burned into ashes. Then there will be rainfall, another, for hundred years. So the whole universe will be filled up with water. Then it will be evaporated, and the whole universe, cosmic manifestation, finished. This is called annihilation.
So in Bhagavad-gītā there is a statement that when everything is annihilated, the spiritual world is not annihilated. Na vinaśyasi. So as the spiritual world does not annihilate, similarly the soul is . . . spirit, by any such disturbances, the soul is never annihilated. Avyayam: indestructible, immutable. So Kṛṣṇa is explaining in different ways the nature of the soul. We have to take it seriously, then we get perfect knowledge.