Lecture

The Nectar of Devotion

Pradyumna: [reading:] "...Kṛṣṅa we refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His many expansions. He is expanded by His plenary part and parcels, His differentiated parts and parcels and His different energies. Kṛṣṅa, in other words, means everything and includes everything. Generally, however, we should understand Kṛṣṅa to mean Kṛṣṅa and His personal expansions.

"Kṛṣṅa expands Himself as Baladeva, Saṅkarṣaṅa, Vāsudeva, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, as well as many other incarnations and innumerable Viṣṅu expansions. These are described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be as numerous as the uncountable waves. So Kṛṣṅa includes all such expansions, as well as His pure devotees. In the Brahmā-saṁhitā it is stated that Kṛṣṅa's expansions are all complete in eternity, blissfulness and cognizance.

"Devotional service means to prosecute Kṛṣṅa conscious activities which are favorable to the transcendental pleasure of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṅa, and any activities which are not favorable to the transcendental favor of the Lord cannot be accepted as devotional service."

Prabhupāda: So, Kṛṣṅa does not mean alone. Kṛṣṅa is not imperson. He's person, and He expands in so many persons. Eko bahu śyām. He is one, but He expands Himself to innumerable forms. The Viṣṅu forms, They are known as svāṁśa; and the servitor forms, the living entities, they are also expansion of Viṣṅu, part and parcel, differentiated, vibhinnāṁśa [Cc Madhya 22.9].

So everything—expansion of Kṛṣṅa. Parasya brahmaṅaḥ śaktiḥ. Parasya brahmaṅaḥ śaktiḥ sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat [Viṣṅu Purāṅa 1.22.52].

[Just as the illumination of a fire, which is situated in one place, is spread all over, the energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Para-brahman, are spread all over this universe.]

Whatever we see, experience within this world, within this universe, they're simply expansion of the energy of Kṛṣṅa. Just like fire has got two energies, heat and light, similarly Kṛṣṅa is expanding by His two energies, the material energy and the spiritual energy. So this material world is expansion of His material energy, and we are marginal. We are also energy. We are not energetic. We are not puruṣa; we are prakṛti.

In the Bhagavad-gītā the living entities have been described as prakṛti. Apareyam itas tu vidhi me prakṛtim parā [Bg 7.5].

[Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.]

After describing the material energies—earth, water, air, fire, sky, mind, intelligence, ego—Kṛṣṅa says apareyam: all these energies, separated energies, material energies, they are aparā, inferior. But that is also Kṛṣṅa's energies. Inferior means not actually inferior, because they..., there cannot be anything inferior which is emanating from Kṛṣṅa. The inferior in this sense: by our absence of Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Because we have come here in this material world to enjoy, to satisfy, sense satisfaction, sense gratification, we have made it inferior. Otherwise it is not inferior. One who knows how to utilize this energy, for him it is not inferior. Nirbandha-kṛṣṅa-sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.255]. One who does not know how to utilize this material energy for the purpose of Kṛṣṅa, for them, it is inferior. Otherwise, advaya-jñāna, absolute.

Idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ [SB 1.5.20]. Nārada Muni has described before Vyāsadeva: idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ. It appears like different, but actually Kṛṣṅa... A mahā-bhāgavata... This is the vision of mahā-bhāgavata, not ordinary man. Mahā-bhāgavata... Sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhi tāra mūrti [Cc Madhya 8.274].

[The mahā-bhāgavata, the advanced devotee, certainly sees everything mobile and immobile, but he does not exactly see their forms. Rather, everywhere he immediately sees manifest the form of the Supreme Lord.]

A mahā-bhāgavata sees a tree or an animal or a... He does not see the form, but he sees his iṣṭa deva mūrti: he sees there Kṛṣṅa. Actually, Kṛṣṅa is there as Paramātmā. So he sees Paramātmā. He does not see the external body.

So Kṛṣṅa's two energies... Inferior means where Kṛṣṅa consciousness is almost absent. That is inferior. When there is Kṛṣṅa consciousness, that is no more inferior; that is superior. So Kṛṣṅa says, apareyam itas tu vidhi me prakṛtiṁ parā [Bg 7.5].

[Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.]

After all, any energy, prakṛti... So the Māyāvādī philosopher mistakes to elevate the living entities to the standard of puruṣa, the Supreme. But actually it is not so. It is prakṛti. Prakṛti means predominated and puruṣa means predominator.

And actually, that is our position. We are not predominator. Artificially I am thinking that I am predominator. That is my illusion. I am not predominator. Nobody's predominator. Predominator is Kṛṣṅa. Mattaḥ parataro nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya [Bg 7.7].

[O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.]

He's predominator. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate [Bg 10.8].

[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]

So prakṛti and puruṣa... Kṛṣṅa is puruṣa. Puruṣaṁ śāśvatam. Arjuna has described, puruṣaṁ śāśvatam. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, puruṣaṁ śāśvatam ādyam [Bg 10.12]:

[Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.]

"You are the original puruṣa, enjoyer." That is Kṛṣṅa consciousness. If we know that Kṛṣṅa is the original person, enjoyer, and we are simply enjoyed... We are meant for being enjoyed, not to take the post of enjoyer. Here, in this material world, everyone is artificially trying to become enjoyer, both men and women. But that is illusion. Nobody's enjoyer. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29]. The supreme enjoyer is Kṛṣṅa.

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

So just like prakṛti-puruṣa, we can get one idea, husband and wife. Husband is puruṣa, wife is prakṛti. So if the wife is faithful, always trying to serve the husband, always to make her husband pleased, and husband takes care of the wife for all her necessities of life, as that home life becomes very beautiful and happy, similarly, Kṛṣṅa is the supreme puruṣa, enjoyer.

We living entities, if we simply try to serve Him and make Him happy, as the gopīs did, then it is very congenial atmosphere, as it was in Vṛndāvana. Everyone is serving Kṛṣṅa. Everyone is trying to please Kṛṣṅa. The birds, the beasts, the trees, the land, the water, the cowherd boys, the gopīs, Kṛṣṅa's father, mother, elderly people—everyone—the central point is Kṛṣṅa. That is Vṛndāvana.

So we can have Vṛndāvana anywhere and everywhere. Vṛndāvana is not that limited. It is not material. As Kṛṣṅa is not limited... Kṛṣṅa says in the Brahmā-saṁhitā, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ [Bs 5.37].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.]

Just like Kṛṣṅa says that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, tad aham aśnāmi [Bg 9.26].

[If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.]

Now, one can say that "Kṛṣṅa is far, far away in the Goloka Vṛndāvana. How He will eat?" That is material conception. Kṛṣṅa can eat even He is in Goloka Vṛndāvana, provided the foodstuff is offered by a devotee. Yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. It is a question of bhakti. Then Kṛṣṅa eats.

Kṛṣṅa is present in His Goloka Vṛndāvana, in His dhāma. He does not go out, but His expansion goes out and takes, accepts the service of the devotee. This is the... Bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam [SB 1.2.20]. One should understand the bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam. It is a science, how He takes... We have got our limited sense that "I am sitting here." If you offer my foodstuff some yards off from me, I cannot reach, because I am limited. But Kṛṣṅa can expand His hand. He Himself comes. Svayam eva sphuraty adhaḥ [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234].

[No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṅa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.]

Kṛṣṅa becomes manifest to the devotee.

Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṅa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau [Cc Madhya 17.136].

[Therefore material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṅa’s holy name, form, qualities and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṅa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṅa really is.]

When one becomes devotee, beginning from the tongue, jihvādau, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau, svayam eva sphuraty adhaḥ, He becomes revealed. Yei nāma sei kṛṣṅa. That is the perfection of chanting without any offenses. Then you'll find the name is not different from Kṛṣṅa. When you are chanting, you'll find Kṛṣṅa is dancing on your tongue. This is the conclusion.

So we have to learn how to chant. Therefore in the śāstras, in the Purāṅas, the ten kinds of offenses are described, and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has given very much stress to avoid these offenses. Śuddha-nāma. In the beginning we cannot chant pure form of the name, because we are accustomed... But still, by chanting process, then it becomes nāmābhāsa, almost pure. Ābhāsa means just like before sunrise, you find the darkness is off, but it is not sunlight. It is different from sunlight, but still, there is the dawn, you can see everything distinctly.

Similarly, first there is offensive name and, if you avoid, avoid the ten kinds of offenses, then gradually it becomes nāmābhāsa. And Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura has said, Namācārya, that by nāmābhāsa one becomes liberated. There was some argument with Haridāsa Ṭhākura and one brāhmaṅa in the office of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī's father, uncle. So there were some high level talks on this nāmābhāsa.

So by nāmābhāsa one becomes liberated. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra offensive, one becomes materially happy or distressed, but when one comes to the stage of nāmābhāsa, he becomes liberated. And when he chants pure name, there is kṛṣṅa-prema. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī: he was chanting. We are also chanting. But we are not in the stage of Rūpa Gosvāmī or Sanātana Gosvāmī and Haridāsa Ṭhākura.

Actually, if we come to that stage, then there will be kṛṣṅa-prema, love of Kṛṣṅa. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī said that "What shall I chant with one tongue and two ears? If there were millions of tongues and trillions of ears, I could chant something." And we cannot finish even sixteen rounds, because we have not created our taste for chanting. Still we are in the nāmāparādha stage. But don't be disappointed. Go on chanting. You'll come to the right position, nāmābhāsa, then śuddha-nāma. Everything requires gradual development.

So this nāma is also another incarnation of Kṛṣṅa. Nāma-rūpe kali-kāle kṛṣṅa-avatāra [Cc Ādi 17.22]. Name is... Because name and Kṛṣṅa is not different. Abhinnatvād nāma-nāminoḥ [Cc Madhya 17.133].

[The holy name of Kṛṣṅa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṅa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṅa’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṅa Himself. Since Kṛṣṅa’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṅa’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa Himself are identical.]

There is no difference. Here, in the material world, there is difference between the name and the substance, but advaya-jñāna [Cc Ādi 2.65], in the Absolute world, there is no such distinction. The name and the person, the same, identical.

So actually, when we chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, we directly associate with Kṛṣṅa, because name is the incarnation of Kṛṣṅa. Nāma-rūpe kṛṣṅa-avatāra [Cc Ādi 17.22]. Therefore, if we are sensible, then we should take very much respectful attitude to the name, because name and Kṛṣṅa, the same. Suppose Kṛṣṅa comes here. How much respectful we shall be, immediately. So similarly, when we chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, we should know Kṛṣṅa is there. Therefore we should be very much cautious and respectful, not neglectful. That is offense. That is offense.

If you become inattentive, that is offense. You should know this. Try to avoid. Kṛṣṅa is giving us chance to meet Him in so many ways: nāma, rūpa, līlā, parikara, vasiṣṭha. He is giving us chance in the form of name, in the form of Deity, in the form of His pastimes, in the form of His paraphernalia. Just like this Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana is as good as Kṛṣṅa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said; it is not my manufacture. Ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad-dhāma vṛndāvana [Caitanya-mañjusā].

[The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, is to be worshiped along with His transcendental abode, Vṛndāvana. The most pleasing form of worship for the Lord is that which was performed by the gopīs of Vṛndāvaṅa. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the spotless authority on everything, and pure love of God is the ultimate goal of life for all men. These statements, for which we have the highest regard, are the opinion of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.]

As Kṛṣṅa, the Brajendra-nandana Hari Kṛṣṅa, as He is worshipable, similarly His dhāma is worshipable.

We should be very much respectful to Vṛndāvana dhāma; otherwise we'll be offender, dhāmāparādha. Dhāmāparādha. If we remain in Vṛndāvana we should know that we are living with Kṛṣṅa. And how much we should be cautious, how much we should be careful if we are actually understand what is dhāma. Dhāma is also Kṛṣṅa. If in the dhāma we commit sinful activities, then we are, what is called, suiciding, committing suicide. It is a fact.

You know the story of Yamala-Arjuna. So they were given the place in the dhāma, Vṛndāvana-dhāma, as a tree, but they had to waste time for so many hundreds years. Although there is guarantee, anyone who is in dhāma, he'll get the shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, but not... Why should we waste your time to become a tree or a monkey or a hog or a dog? Don't waste. You should be very careful. Don't commit any offense in the dhāma. Then one life is sufficient to go back to home, back to Godhead. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaun... [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

If you actually live in Vṛndāvana carefully, without committing any offense and sinful life, then in this life you are going to Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. To live in Vṛndāvana means to know Kṛṣṅa—how He appeared there, how He played here, how He executed His pastimes here. Janma karma divyam. These are all celestial, all transcendental. Jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-vihārī.

So this is Vṛndāvana life of Kṛṣṅa. So if we know Kṛṣṅa, tattvataḥ... This tattvataḥ we discussed this morning.

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścit vetti māṁ tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

So those who are living in Vṛndāvana, they should try to understand Kṛṣṅa tattvataḥ. That is their business. Not that take advantage of Vṛndāvana and make some anyābhilāṣa, jñāna-karma. No. That means we are wasting time. You'll get the chance, because you have come to Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana's so powerful. But if we commit offense and sinful activities, it will be delayed.

My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "Don't waste time. Don't wait for another life. In this life, finish this business to understand Kṛṣṅa and go back home, back to Godhead." That is required. If one is businessman... Just like in business they want to execute business free, finish the business quickly. Similarly, because we see that such a devotee like Bhārata Mahārāja, because he was little attached to a calf, deer calf... What is called?

Devotee: Fawn.

Prabhupāda: Fawn. Yes. So he had to take the life of a deer next life. Just see. Such a great devotee, but because he was a little attached... Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram [Bg 8.6].

[Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.]

So we should be very careful that even in Vṛndāvana, if we miss the point, if we are attached to something, then we have to accept another life, either as beast or tree. Of course, the chance will be given to become a tree and beast in Vṛndāvana. That is also profitable, because next life he's going back to home, back to Godhead. But why should we waste another life in this way?

So kṛṣṅa-nāma rūpe-avatāra. So we should respect chanting of Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra with very care, carefulness, cautious so that we may not commit any offense. Then your business is successful. Nāmnad balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. If somebody thinks that "I am living in Vṛndāvana. I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra. So if I do something sinful, what it will do...?" Eka nāma, kṛṣṅa-nāme yata pāpa kare, pāpi haya tata pāpa karite nāraya [Prema-vivarta]. "So what sinful I am doing? A little sinful..."

Yes, little sinful will be excused, but if it is done not willingly. But if you commit sinful activities willingly, daily, then you'll be punished. That is laws of nature. Even if you are bhakta. You'll be given chance, but you'll have to be punished.

So therefore we must be very careful. We are chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra means dealing with Kṛṣṅa directly. Therefore we must be very careful, cautious, respectful. Then it is nice, it is success.

Read next.

Pradyumna: "For example, great demons like Rāvaṅa, Kaṁsa and Hiraṅyakaśipu were always thinking of Kṛṣṅa, but they were thinking of Him as their enemy. This sort of thinking cannot be accepted as bhakti, or Kṛṣṅa consciousness."

Prabhupāda: Yes. As Rāvaṅa and Kaṁsa was thinking of Kṛṣṅa as enemy, similarly, if we think of Kṛṣṅa that "He'll wash my sinful activities," that means you are thinking like Rāvaṅa and Kaṁsa. Kṛṣṅa should be thought favorably. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṅānuśīlanam [Cc Madhya 19.167].

[When first-class devotional service develops, one must be devoid of all material desires, knowledge obtained by monistic philosophy, and fruitive action. The devotee must constantly serve Kṛṣṅa favorably, as Kṛṣṅa desires.]

Na prātikūlyena. No. You cannot think of Kṛṣṅa and commit sinful life at the same time. That is prātikūla. Kṛṣṅa does not want that you shall remain sinful, because you cannot approach Kṛṣṅa without being free from sinful activities.

Yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpam [Bg 7.28].

[Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated and who are freed from the duality of delusion, engage themselves in My service with determination.]

Kṛṣṅa is pavitra, paramam. Apāpa-viddham. These are the description. Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Pure. You cannot approach the Supreme Pure being sinful, and make Kṛṣṅa your order-supplier, that you go on committing sinful life and Kṛṣṅa will wash it. Kṛṣṅa washes it—once, twice, thrice. But if you consciously go on, continue the sinful life, then you'll have to be punished. So we should not think pervertedly, like Rāvaṅa and Kaṁsa. Kaṁsa was always absorbed in thinking of Kṛṣṅa. Also he got salvation. But not as associate, but he merged into the Brahman effulgence.

So these are the points. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṅānuśīlanam [Cc Madhya 19.167]. We should execute cultivation of Kṛṣṅa consciousness very favorably, not unfavorably. Favorable means by which Kṛṣṅa becomes pleased, by which your spiritual master becomes pleased. Because when your spiritual master is pleased, Kṛṣṅa is pleased. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ.

So spiritual master is representative of Kṛṣṅa. Just like in office, you do not see the proprietor, but your immediate officer if you can please, then you get promotion, increment, so many things. Similarly, Kṛṣṅa sends His representative. Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit [SB 11.17.27].

[One should know the ācārya as Myself and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods.]

So..., so pleasing the ācārya means pleasing Kṛṣṅa. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says, yasya prasādad bhagavat-prasādaḥ.

So ānukūlyena kṛṣṅānuśīlanam [Cc Madhya 19.167]

means when you have accepted the bona fide spiritual master, you should work in such a way that your spiritual master is pleased with you. Then you..., your path is very clear. Don't do anything which is against the will of the spiritual master. Because we cannot see Kṛṣṅa eye to eye at the present moment. The direction is coming through disciplic succession. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg 4.2].

[This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.]

So we should follow favorably to cultivate Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Then our life is successful.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "The impersonalists sometimes misunderstand devotional service in such a way that they divide Kṛṣṅa from His paraphernalia and pastimes. For example, the Bhagavad-gītā is spoken on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and the impersonalists say that although Kṛṣṅa is of interest, the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra isn't. The devotees, however, also know that the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra by itself has nothing to do with their business, but in addition they know that 'Kṛṣṅa' does not mean just Kṛṣṅa alone. He is always with His associates and paraphernalia."

Prabhupāda: Hmm. There are so-called pseudo devotees. They say, "What we have to do with Bhagavad-gītā?" They think that they are so advanced that they will jump over immediately to the Kṛṣṅa's rasa-līlā. That means Kṛṣṅa's līlā in the Kurukṣetra is not very much important for them. But no. Kṛṣṅa's līlā, either in the Kurukṣetra or in Vṛndāvana, the same thing. We should know. Abhinnatvād nāma-nāminoḥ [Cc Madhya 17.133].

So better first of all read Bhagavad-gītā, the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Try to read, or try to learn. Of course, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is everything. But for ordinary person, because Bhagavad-gītā is the A-B-C-D of spiritual knowledge... People even commit mistakes in studying the A-B-C-D of spiritual knowledge. People have become so much degraded that they cannot understand even A-B-C-D of spiritual knowledge. They'll make their own interpretation. Such is the horrible condition. They'll try to make minus Kṛṣṅa Bhagavad-gītā, go on reading Bhagavad-gītā for millions of years, setting aside Kṛṣṅa. That is scholarly.

This is going on. Scholar means they say, openly... I have seen Dr. Radhakrishnan. When he's explaining man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 18.65],

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

he's saying openly, "It is not to the person Kṛṣṅa." He's saying. Just see the attempt. He's writing comments on Bhagavad-gītā, and he's trying to make Kṛṣṅa away, minus Kṛṣṅa. Simply mental speculation. This is going on. We should be very careful.

[aside:] What is that? Go on.

The impersonalists... The impersonalists, they do not know that Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa's body, not different. They take it for acceptance that when God, Brahman comes, He accepts a material body. That is Māyāvādī philosophy. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ [Bg 9.11].

[Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.]

He comes... Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā [Bg 4.6].

[Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.]

He comes as He is. Otherwise how He can act so wonderfully? When He was on the lap of His mother, three months old, how He could kill the gigantic demon Pūtanā? He's not different from His body. He simply appears according to the necessity. Kṛṣṅa has no such difference, body and soul. He's full complete, spiritual.

We have got, in this conditional state, soul and body different—dehi and deha. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā [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.]

So dehāntaraṁ prāptiḥ. Kṛṣṅa hasn't got to accept another body. So this, these things we should know. Kṛṣṅa is complete, pūrṅa-brahman. There is nothing like material and spiritual in Kṛṣṅa's body.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "For instance, if someone says, 'Give something to eat to the man with the weapons,' the eating process is done by the man and not by the weapons. Similarly, in Kṛṣṅa consciousness, a devotee may be interested in the paraphernalia and locations—such as the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra—which are associated with Kṛṣṅa, but he is not concerned with simply any battlefield. He is concerned with Kṛṣṅa—His speech, His instructions, etc. It is because Kṛṣṅa is there that the battlefield is so important."

Prabhupāda: Go on.

Pradyumna: "This is the summary understanding of what Kṛṣṅa consciousness is. Without this understanding one is sure to misunderstand why the devotees are interested in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sometimes we are asked that "Why Kṛṣṅa induced Arjuna to become violent?" So then so many so-called scholars, they criticize Kṛṣṅa, but they do not know what is Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is absolute. In whichever way He acts, it is the same thing. God is good. It does not mean when He fights in the Battlefield of Kurkṣetra He becomes bad. No. He's still good. That is the conception of God: Absolute. He can do everything and anything. Still, He continues to be the Absolute Truth. That is Absolute Truth.

There is no relative understanding: "This is good for God, this is bad for God," as [if] God has come before me to be judged by me. You cannot judge God, Kṛṣṅa. Whatever He does... Just like Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṅa, sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava [Bg 10.14]:

[O Kṛṣṅa, I totally accept as truth all that You have told me. Neither the gods nor demons, O Lord, know Thy personality.]

"I accept whatever You say in toto, without any distinction." That is acceptance of Bhagavad-gītā and Kṛṣṅa. That is the way of understanding Vedas. You cannot judge the conclusion of the Vedas. You have to accept as it is.

Because we are conditioned. We have got so many defects—we are illusioned, we commit mistake, our senses are imperfect... So many defects. Bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā-karaṅāpāṭava [Cc Ādi 2.86]. We want to cheat others. So therefore we cannot give perfect knowledge. We have to receive knowledge from the perfect. And who is better perfect than Kṛṣṅa?

Therefore whatever Kṛṣṅa says, whatever Kṛṣṅa does, that is all-good. There is nothing criticizing. You cannot criticize Kṛṣṅa. That is not possible. You cannot say, "Why Kṛṣṅa took part in the Battlefield of Kuruksetra?" Yes, He had business to do it. Because He appeared, paritrāṅāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg 4.8],

[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]

He had to kill all the demons. That was His another business. Not only to dance with the gopīs in Vṛndāvana, but He had other business: to kill the demons. In Vṛndāvana also, so many demons were appearing daily, and Kṛṣṅa was killing them.

So that is another side of Kṛṣṅa's business. But if you study Kṛṣṅa from your materialistic angle of vision, you'll misunderstand. You should know Kṛṣṅa's dancing with the gopīs and Kṛṣṅa's fighting in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra is the one and the same. That is Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa. [end]