Rotarians and Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly inviting me in this important meeting of very respectable gentlemen of the city. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said:
- yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas
- tat tad eva itare janaḥ
- sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute
- lokas tad anuvartate
- (BG 3.21)
Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ. There are leading men in every society—in government post and educational institution, in business, and so many other fields. In every field of activity, there are leading men. That is natural. And in the Vedas we understand the supreme leading person is God.
- nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
- eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān
- (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)
Leaders must be accepted. Just like father is necessary, similarly, leader is also necessary, guru is also necessary. So according to Vedic verse, Vedic version, we can understand that the supreme leader is Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, God, a person. The conception of Absolute Truth, as given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11):
"The Absolute Truth is realized from three angles of vision—as the impersonal Brahman, the localized Paramātmā and the Supreme Personality of Godhead." The . . . this Bhagavān, this word, is used at the end in the matter of describing the nature of Absolute Truth.
So those who are trying to understand the Absolute Truth by philosophical speculation, they can reach up to the impersonal Brahman effulgence of the Absolute Truth. Similarly, those who are trying to find out the Absolute Truth within the heart—dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1)—they are generally called yogīs. And the philosophical speculators, they are called jñānīs. So jñānī, yogīs.
So the jñānīs, they reach up to the impersonal Brahman effulgence, and the yogīs, they reach up to the localized aspect of the Supreme Person. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Īśvara, the Supreme Person, is within your heart, everyone's heart. Sarva-bhūtānām. Not only human being, but also animals, trees, insects, aquatics. There are 8,400,000 forms of life. So in each and every living entity, within the heart, there is representation of God, who is known as Paramātmā.