Bhagavad-gītā 7.10

Śyāmasundara: Morning, March 27th, 1972, morning lecture, Juhu.

Prabhupāda:

…bhūtānāṁ viddhi pārtha sanātanam buddhir buddhimatām asmi tejas tejasvinām aham [Bg 7.10]

[O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.]

Now Kṛṣṅa says, bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ. Bījaṁ means seed. Yathā-bījaṁ yathā-yoni [SB 6.1.54]. For generating, there are two parts: the male part and female part. So the male part is Kṛṣṅa, bījaṁ, and the female part is the material nature. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pita [Bg 14.4], in another place it is stated. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ. Sarva-yoniṣu. Yoni means the source of birth, mother; and bījaṁ means father. So this material world, anything which is visible or not visible, they are born of these two parts:

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ tāsāṁ mahad yonir [Bg 14.4]

[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]

Mahat, this mahat-tattva, total material energy. So one can understand by taking lesson from different varieties of living entities coming out of this material nature. Just like there is one earth, but different varieties of plants are coming out, even without our endeavor.

Of course, in our garden we take care of sowing different types of seeds, but in a jungle you can go and see there are varieties of plants and trees; they are coming out of the earth and they are producing different varieties of fruits and flowers. So, "The variety is the mother of enjoyment." You cannot make it impersonal. Variety means each and every thing is a personal, individual being. That is variety.

As Kṛṣṅa has already explained, puṅyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca [Bg 7.9].

[I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics.]

There are reservoir of different flavor within the earth, but according to the bīja, they are coming out differently. There is rose scent, there is lotus scent, there are varieties of scent—they are already within the earth. But our materialistic scientist, they cannot take out any flavor from the earth. They have to take the flavor from the flowers, not from the earth.

So ultimately, as Kṛṣṅa says, that ahaṁ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā [Bg 7.6]: ultimately He is the origin of everything, sarva-kāraṅa-kāraṅam. We should always remember this verse of Brahmā-saṁhitā.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṅa-kāraṅam [Brahmā-saṁhitā 5.1]

Now here is the difference between God and human being. We are also part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, so we have got all the qualities of God, but in very, very minute quantity, because we are very minute. Therefore all the qualities of God which we have inherited, or which are already within us, they are also very minute. The intelligence is also minute. Everything is minute.

Somebody was talking with me that "Why should we give more credit to Kṛṣṅa, or God? We are also manufacturing things. It is something like watch or clock, you wind it—there is spring—and it will go on. Similarly it is going on, everything is going on. So there is no difference between God’s intelligence and our intelligence." That was his argument.

So I replied, "Yes, there is no difference so far intelligence is concerned, but God creates one male and female, and thousands and thousands and millions of entities are coming out of those two male and female. But you cannot manufacture a male watch and female watch so that by those two watches you can produce innumerable watches. That is not possible. That is in God’s hand. So you have to prepare each and every watch, whereas if God wants to manufacture watches, then He will make one male and one female, and out of them many millions of watches will come out. That is the difference."

So we cannot compare our intelligence with God’s intelligence, although qualitatively we are both the same. Just like the drop of seawater and the whole mass of seawater, the chemical composition is the same, but the quantity is different. We may have creative power—we may have..., we have intelligence, creative power—but not just to the comparison of God. That is not possible.

This is explained in another place in the Bhagavad-gītā, when Arjuna was informed that Kṛṣṅa, long, long ago, He instructed this Bhagavad-gītā, philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā, to the sun-god. So that calculation becomes about forty millions of years. So Arjuna said, "My dear Kṛṣṅa, we are contemporary—practically we are born of the same date—so how is that I can believe that long, long years ago, so many millions of years ago, You instructed this Bhagavad-gītā philosophy to the sun-god?"

The reply was, "My dear Arjuna, both you and Me, we are born many times, but you have forgotten; I remember." That is the difference. Our remembrance, our memory, is very small. We cannot remember even what we were doing just this time in the morning. So we have to remember it. So we cannot be, in any way, we cannot be compared with God at any circumstances, although the quality is the same.

So bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ [Bg 7.10].

[O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.]

We may be bījaṁ, or the father, father of say ten children or fifty children, or say formerly people used to give birth one hundred children also, as we get information from the history. Just like Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he gave birth to one hundred children. Ṛṣabhadeva, King Ṛṣabhadeva, He also gave birth to one hundred children. So we may be able to give birth say a hundred or fifty or ten, but Kṛṣṅa says, "I am the father of sarva-bhūtānāṁ." There are unlimited number of living entities, asaṅkhya. The living entities, they are also calculated in the Padma Purāna:

keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya satadhā kalpitasya ca jīvo bhāgasya vijñeyaḥ sa anantāya kalpate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.9]

[When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each of such parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the spirit soul.]

Anantāya: there is no limit. Nobody can count how many living entities are there. Paramāṅu. Just like we cannot count how many paramāṅus or atoms are there within this universe. It is not possible. Similarly, we cannot count. In the Vedas also it is stated, nityo nityānām cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].

[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]

So the nitya, eternal; and cetana means living being. So Kṛṣṅa, or God, He is the chief living being, or the chief eternal, nityo nityānām, and we living entities—innumerable. He is one, but we are many, plural number, nityo nityānām. So one nitya is singular number; the other nityas are plural number.

The plural number nityas are the living entities. The plural number of eternals... We are also eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20]. After quitting this body we accept another body, tathā dehāntara-prāptir [Bg 2.13].

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

This is our material position. And there are so many, innumerable—but each one of us are different from one another. That is the conclusion. Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam.

avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam [Bg 2.17]

[Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.]

I am soul, you are also soul, so your consciousness is spread all over your body; my consciousness is spread all over my body. But my consciousness is not spread over your body, neither your consciousness is spread over my body. Therefore we are individual. Therefore each one of us are individual living entities. You cannot say that we are homogenous. No. Each one…

That is also explained in the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, that "All these living entities," Kṛṣṅa said, "I, you and all these living entities, or the kings and the soldiers assembled, we are existing in the past, we are existing at present, and we shall continue to exist in the future."

And here also it is said,

bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi pārtha sanātanam [Bg 7.10]

[O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.]

Sanātanam. Sanātanam means eternally. Not that "By some way or other I am now separated from the Supreme Whole, and I am now covered by māyā, and when I will be freed from the cover of māyā I shall be one with the Supreme." No. That is not. Here it is clearly said, bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ. Sarva-bhūtānāṁ—all living entities—they are also eternal, and they are sanātana. That means eternally we, the living entities, are individual, different individuals.

In another place Kṛṣṅa says,

kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata [Bg 13.3]

Sarva-kṣetreṣu. Kṣetra means this body. "In each and every body, I am living." You are living, but I do not know what is going on in you and what is going on in me, but Kṛṣṅa knows. He is another kṣetra-jña. I am kṣetra-jña, living soul within my body, and you are a living soul within your body. You do not know what pains and pleasure I am feeling; I do not know what pains and pleasure you are feeling. But Kṛṣṅa says, as Paramātmā, sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. Kṣetra-jña. He knows what kind of pains and pleasure I am feeling, what kind of pains and pleasure you are feeling—or all the living entities.

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg 18.61]

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

Kṛṣṅa, as the Paramātmā, He is staying with every living entity. So all living entities and Kṛṣṅa also, we are all individual beings. There is no question of being amalgamated. It is said sanātana.

bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi pārtha sanātanam [Bg 7.10]

[O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.]

Sanātanam—eternal. Eternally we are different from one another. Not that at any time we are all one, together, and now by chance… Beside that, in another place you will find that the cetana, the living spirit, cannot be cut into pieces; cannot be dried up, cannot be cut into pieces. So it is not that by chance we have been cut into pieces. No. Eternally we are different from the Supreme Soul; we are individual souls.

bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi pārtha sanātanam buddhir buddhimatām asmi [Bg 7.10]

Now, without intelligence being given by the Supersoul, we cannot act. Buddhir buddhimatām asmi. Those who are intelligent… Everyone is intelligent, but the source of intelligence is Kṛṣṅa. We are not independently intelligent. This is also explained in another chapter, Fifteenth Chapter:

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca [Bg 15.15]

[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]

If Kṛṣṅa likes, then He can make immediately remembering. He can make me remembering many past incidences. That is possible. Perhaps you know, sometimes a child is born and he can speak about his past life. That is due to Kṛṣṅa giving him the power of remembering about his past life. So whatever we are acting, we are acting with the intelligence of Kṛṣṅa, buddhir buddhimatām asmi.

We cannot have… Just like in a factory there are hundreds of men are working, but there is one core man, he is giving the intelligence: "You do like this; you do like this." Similarly, whatever we are acting, doing, the intelligence is coming from Kṛṣṅa, mattaḥ. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca.

Now the question may be, "Why different intelligence are there? Is God very partial, that He is giving somebody very good intelligence and the other not very good intelligence? Why this difference?" The difference is God’s kindness. If I want to act in some way, Kṛṣṅa will give me intelligence in that way. If I want to become a devotee, Kṛṣṅa will give me intelligence how to become a perfect devotee.

And if I want to become a demon, Kṛṣṅa will help me how I can become a perfect demon. That is the difference. But the buddhi, or the intelligence, is coming from Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa as Supersoul, He will give you intelligence. That is explained in another place, in the Eighth Chapter. It is said that,

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ yena mām upayānti te [Bg 10.10]

[To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.]

Yena mām upayānti te. Everyone should try to go back to home, back to Godhead. So this is the process: teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam. One who is engaged twenty-four hours, satata—not that official, to engage oneself in little meditation for fifteen minutes. No. Kṛṣṅa says twenty-four hours, always, satata-yuktānāṁ. Those who are engaged in devotional service twenty-four hours, always: teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ. Bhajatāṁ, bhajan. Bhajan means service, bhaja-sevāyām. Bhaj-dhātu is used for giving service.

So one who is engaged twenty-four hours to give service to the Lord, Kṛṣṅa, bhajatāṁ—prīti-pūrvakam, with love, loving service, not that official service: "My Guru Mahārāja says to rise early in the morning. I cannot do. All right, let me rise. But I do not like to rise." This is not prīti. Prīti means love: "Oh, I must do it."

Just like if I love somebody, if he makes engagement, "Please see me at such-and-such hour," oh, I immediately go. Immediately I will go, in spite of all my difficulties—because there is love. So therefore to serve Kṛṣṅa always with love and faith, such person:

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ [Bg 10.10]

[To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.]

Kṛṣṅa is within; He will give intelligence, this buddhi, buddhi-matām. He will give intelligence. What kind of intelligence? Now, yena mām upayānti te: such intelligence that he may come back to home, back to Godhead. Such intelligence. Not to give him intelligence that he will go to hell.

In another place it is said, tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān kṣipāmy ajasram anda yoniṣu [Bg 16.19]. Tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān: those who are envious of God, or Kṛṣṅa—"Hah, these people are after God, after Kṛṣṅa." Just like there was a newspaper report, interview between our Tamāla Kṛṣṅa Gosvāmī. So many nonsense questions they have put, that "We are hungry. What Kṛṣṅa will do?" So these nonsense questions are put. Kṛṣṅa is giving him food. Without Kṛṣṅa’s aid he cannot live even for a moment; still he is saying, "What Kṛṣṅa will do to the hungry people?" like that.

These are called dviṣataḥ. They are envious of Kṛṣṅa. "Why Kṛṣṅa can..., will be God alone? I am also God. You are also God. We are all God." These are envious. So they are called demons, envious. So these envious persons, Kṛṣṅa says, tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān. Dviṣataḥ, because they are so much envious and stupid, cruel, krūrān. Cruel means full of duplicities. Such persons, tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān kṣipāmy ajasram anda yoniṣu [Bg 16.19].

So there are two kinds of intelligence going on: to the demons a certain type of intelligence, and to the devotee a certain type of intelligence. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, buddhir buddhimatām asmi [Bg 7.10].

[O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.]

You don’t take it as stereotype, that He is giving intelligence equally to everyone. No. He is giving…

Therefore we see varieties of men, but these varieties of intelligence, because we want, we want to work in such a way, and Kṛṣṅa helps us. Kṛṣṅa simply upadṛṣṭā anumanta [Bg 13.23]. This word is used, anumanta: "giving permission." Permission means without Kṛṣṅa’s permission you cannot act, because,

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam... [Bg 15.15]

[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]

Unless He says that "Yes, you can do it," you cannot do it. There is a proverb that "Without the will of the Supreme, not a blade of grass moves." So without God’s sanction you cannot do anything. That’s a fact. But He gives you sanction as you desire. "Man proposes; God disposes." But without His sanction you cannot do. [break]

buddhir buddhimatām asmi tejas tejasvinām aham [Bg 7.10]

[O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.]

Tejas means a special power. We find varieties of men, varieties of animal, and there are different types of tejas: power, activity, influence. So whenever we find something special, either in the demonic way or in the devotional way… Just like when Hiraṅyakaśipu challenged his son, Prahlāda. Prahlāda was devotee, and he was speaking very straightly.

The Prahlāda’s father asked him, "My dear Prahlāda, can you say anything very good which you have learned from your school?" Prahlāda said, "Yes, my dear father." But he did not address him as "father"; he said asura-varya. He said, "My dear the best of the demons." Tat sādhu manye 'sura-varya dehināṁ. Asura-varya. He does not address his father as "father." He says, "My dear asura-varya, my dear best of the demons."

tat sādhu manye 'sura-varya dehināṁ sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt [SB 7.5.5]

[Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: O best of the asuras, King of the demons, as far as I have learned from my spiritual master, any person who has accepted a temporary body and temporary household life is certainly embarrassed by anxiety because of having fallen in a dark well where there is no water but only suffering. One should give up this position and go to the forest [vana]. More clearly, one should go to Vṛndāvana, where only Kṛṣṅa consciousness is prevalent, and should thus take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]

"I have learned this: that for the persons, materialistic persons, who are always anxious," sadā samudvigna-dhiyām, "for them the best thing is hitvātma-pātaṁ gṛham andha-kūpaṁ vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta." These instructions are there.

So there are two kinds of men. One class is called asura, and the other class is called demigods. So demigods means those who are devotees of Lord Viṣṅu, and asura means those who are envious or inimical to the Personality of Godhead. They are called asuras. So this buddhimatām, teja, everything is given by Kṛṣṅa. Just like the same example: Prahlāda Mahārāja, when his father was challenged…, challenged him,

"My dear Prahlāda, wherefrom have you got all this God conscious, Kṛṣṅa conscious knowledge? How do you speak?" He said, "My dear father, the same source wherefrom you have also got these demonic power." This was the answer. "The same source." Janmādy asya yato [SB 1.1.1]. "You are talking like a demon, but you have derived the demonic power from Kṛṣṅa. And I am talking like a Vaiṣṅava; I have also derived power from Kṛṣṅa." Therefore Kṛṣṅa said,

buddhir buddhimatām asmi tejas tejasvinām aham [Bg 7.10]

[O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.]

balaṁ balavatāṁ cāhaṁ kāma-rāga-vivarjitam dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo 'smi bharatarṣabha [Bg 7.11]

[I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles, O Lord of the Bhāratas [Arjuna]]

Dharmāviruddho kāma. Kāma—lust. Lust, lust for sex life, kāma, or any sense gratification—if it is not against religious principles, then Kṛṣṅa says, "I am that kāma. I am that lust." Therefore according to Vedic system, lust… [break] [end]