Bhagavad-gītā 7.7

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṅi-gaṅā iva [Bg 7.7]

[break] [03:00]

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

Prabhupāda:

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṅi-gaṅā iva [Bg 7.7]

So the material and spiritual world, everything is manifestation of two energies. That is explained by Kṛṣṅa. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca [Bg 7.4].

[Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies.]

Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. On these verses we have discussed two days that etad yonīni sarvāṅi, whatever is manifested, material or spiritual, both of them are coming from the energy of the Supreme. Just like heat and light, these are two energies of the fire.

So that is also explained in the Viṣṅu Purāṅa: parasya brahmaṅaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat.

eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner jyotsnā vistāriṅī yathā parasya brahmaṅaḥ śaktis 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.]

Sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat or sarvedaṁ khalu brahma, the Vedic injunction. The energy and the energetic cannot be separated. If there is no energy, there is no meaning of the energetic. And there is no meaning of energetic if it has..., if he has no energy. So those things are simultaneously present. The example, as we have given several times, that the sun and the sunshine and the heat of the shine..., sun, they are always present. Wherever there is sun, there is light and there is heat. So heat and light is the understanding of the presence of sun. Sometimes sun is covered, but still we experience heat and light. Therefore we understand the sun is there. Similarly Kṛṣṅa, or God, is there. You have to understand by the energies—the material energy and the spiritual energy. That is already explained in two verses.

So now Kṛṣṅa is summarizing in this verse... Because the whole manifestation, sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat, the whole universe is presentation of the energy of the Lord, therefore there is nothing but Lord. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat [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.]

Just like in this material world, we have got experience, the sun is the cause of all material manifestation. When the sunlight or sun heat... Just like the Western countries, in this season the sunlight and heat is practically not present; therefore it is snowfall. There is no foliar in the trees, every tree is deserted, due to the sun. And as soon as from the month of April the sunshine will be little more, I mean, increased, at once the leaves will come out. In the Western world, this experience... Anywhere. The sun is the cause of everything, all this material world. So you can say that in this material world, there is nothing superior energy than the sun. Similarly, this is also a creation of God, the sunshine. It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā: yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṅām. Savitā means sun.

yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṅāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.52]

[The sun who is the king of all the planets, full of infinite effulgence, the image of the good soul, is as the eye of this world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in pursuance of whose order the sun performs his journey mounting the wheel of time.]

Even the sun, which is the supreme cause of this material world, of this universe... All the planets, they are rotating on account of heat of the sun. If the sun moves little this side or that side, everything will be blazing fire or frozen into ice. This is scientific truth.

So as the sun is the supreme cause of this material world, similarly the supreme cause of... There are many millions of universes and millions of suns. They are all caused by the supreme energy of Kṛṣṅa, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ and apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām [Bg 7.4].

[Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies.]

Two prakṛtis, parā-prakṛti and aparā-prakṛti. So the Vedānta-sūtra, that janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1], the original source of everything, Brahman, that is Kṛṣṅa. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat. Brahman is not supreme. Then Kṛṣṅa would have said not..., "Brahman is the Supreme." But He says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat. Brahman is the bodily effulgence of Kṛṣṅa. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi [Bs 5.40].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the nondifferentiated Brahman mentioned in the Upaniṣads, being differentiated from the infinity of glories of the mundane universe appears as the indivisible, infinite, limitless, truth.]

Brahman is not the supreme cause. Brahmaṅo 'haṁ pratiṣṭhā [Bg 14.27]. Brahman is existing on Kṛṣṅa. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, Kṛṣṅa has the right to say, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: "There is no more superior cause." And in the Brahma-saṁhitā, Lord Brahmā also says, sarva-kāraṅa-kāraṅam.

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

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

So it is not that Kṛṣṅa is saying only. It is accepted by the supreme Vedic authority, Lord Brahmā.

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

The Vedānta-sūtra also says, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayāt [SB 1.1.1]. The Bhāgavata explains, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayāt itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ. He's abhijñaḥ. He knows everything. Janmādy asya yataḥ. That is Kṛṣṅa. And Arjuna accepted. Arjuna said, in the Tenth Chapter, 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.]

"My dear Kṛṣṅa, whatever You are saying, I accept in toto." This is understanding of Bhagavad-gītā. Try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Kṛṣṅa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: "There is no more superior being or superior authority than Me." If you accept that "There is no more superior authority or supreme being than Kṛṣṅa," then you study Bhagavad-gītā. And if you cut the head and the tail and accept something and reject something, that is not Bhagavad-gītā. Take it as it is. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, not curtailing this or that: "This meaning is that; that meaning is that." No such nonsense. We accept... This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. Kṛṣṅa says that He is the supreme authority. We are preaching, "Kṛṣṅa is the supreme authority." Where is the difficulty? We don't manufacture anything. We don't say, "I am the supreme authority." No. I am rascal. I am fool. I am imperfect. But Kṛṣṅa is Supreme, Kṛṣṅa is perfect. That is our preaching: as servant of Kṛṣṅa.

Therefore, because we are presenting Kṛṣṅa as He is, therefore our preaching is perfect. I may be imperfect, but our preaching is not imperfect. It is very simple. We are preaching all over the world, "Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead." And these foreign boys and girls who are after me, they also accept. They do not say that "Here is another God, sir. Why you are asking?" That is the difficulty in India. As soon as we shall say, "Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṅa is the... There is no more superior person than Kṛṣṅa," others will say, "No, why this gentleman is not superior than Kṛṣṅa?" That is the difficulty. They'll not accept. Their brain has been full with hodgepodge things. Therefore they cannot take Kṛṣṅa consciousness so... Of course, at heart, in India everyone feels for Kṛṣṅa, but they have been educated in such a wrong way, they cannot accept Kṛṣṅa as the Supreme, as Kṛṣṅa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat. This is the difficulty.

But unless you accept, unless you come to this point, that Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme, your education, your knowledge and everything is imperfect. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says,

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [Bg 7.19]

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

If you don't accept in this life... But if you are sincere to understand what is God, then you'll have to wait for many other lives. Life after life, you have to struggle. And then, by the grace of Kṛṣṅa, if you come in touch with a devotee of Kṛṣṅa, then you'll understand what is Kṛṣṅa. That is the beginning, teaching of Kṛṣṅa. Manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye [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.]

Manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu. Out of many, many millions of person, one is trying to make his life perfect. Everyone, mostly, 99.9%, they are blind. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

They are being led by blind men. They are blind, and they are led by blind men. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṅum [SB 7.5.31]. They do not know that the ultimate goal of life: to understand Viṣṅu, or Kṛṣṅa, and go back to Him. That is the goal of life. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti [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.]

That is being taught in the Bhagavad-gītā. This is the goal of life. But they are misled. They are captivated by this material energy. That will be explained in this chapter also. Tribhir guṅamayair bhāvaiḥ, mohitaṁ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam [Bg 7.13].

[Deluded by the three modes [goodness, passion and ignorance], the whole world does not know Me who am above the modes and inexhaustible.]

They have been bewildered by the three modes of material nature. They are not trying to understand Kṛṣṅa. They are not trying to follow the instruction of Kṛṣṅa. Therefore they are in difficulty. The whole trouble is due to this ignorance. Therefore there is great necessity for broadcasting this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. There is great necessity.

So this business was entrusted by... Lord Caitanya started this movement. Actually, Kṛṣṅa started this movement five thousand years ago and taught this subject matter to Arjuna in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. But unfortunate as we are, we could not take up the mission of Kṛṣṅa. The mission of Kṛṣṅa was, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham [Bg 4.7]. As soon as there is discrepancy in the matter of discharging religious principle... Means, religious principle means the law of God. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṅītam [SB 6.3.19].

[Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṅas.]

Religion means the laws of God. Religion does not mean "I have manufactured some religion, he has manufactured some religion, he has manufactured some religion, and another man has... Yes, all religions are right. Yata mata tata patha [Ramakrishna]." No. That is nonsense. Religion is one. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66].

[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]

This is religion. Kick out all sorts of religious principles; simply surrender to God, or Kṛṣṅa. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6].

[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]

This is confirmed. That is first-class religion, which teaches how to surrender to God and how to become a lover of God. That is religion. Otherwise, they are simply cheating religion.

That is explained in the Bhāgavatam. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṅāṁ satāṁ vāstavam atra vedam [SB 1.1.2].

[Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhāgavata Purāṅa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.]

Dharmaḥ projjhita, cheating type of religion, is kicked out from this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Projjhita. Prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṅa ujjhita. And Śrīdhara Svāmī gives his comments: atra mokṣa-vāñchā api nirastam. Anyone, any type of religion... Just like the Māyāvādī philosophy. They are trying to have mokṣa, to merge into the existence of the Supreme. But Bhāgavata says, "No, that is also cheating." Dharma-artha-kāma-mokṣa [SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90], catur-varga...

[Any person who desires the fruits of the four principles religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, liberation, should engage himself in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for worship of His lotus feet yields the fulfillment of all of these.]

The word... First of all, they do not know what is religion. But the... Actually life, perfection of life, begins from religion, dharma. Then artha. Then following the religious principle, you acquire money, artha. Artha is required. But not in..., sinfully, but properly. Dharma artha kāma. Then, you have got senses, you require to satisfy the senses. So artha required for sense gratification. But that artha must be based on religion. This is called dharma, artha and kāma. Dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣa. Then, when one actually becomes wise, he is no more attracted by sense gratification; rather, he desires a greater type of sense gratification, namely, he wants to become God, to merge into the existence of God. So that is also a cheating. You cannot become God. That the...

[break] ...māṁ prapadyate, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [Bg 7.19].

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

That is mahātmā, one who has surrendered to Kṛṣṅa, understanding that Kṛṣṅa is the cause of all causes, Kṛṣṅa is the source of material energy and spiritual energy, as it is explained here. And therefore Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme. And Kṛṣṅa confirms this fact: mattaḥ parataraṁ 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.]

This is required. This is required. We have to accept this. Kṛṣṅa says this. And Arjuna, who heard Bhagavad-gītā from Kṛṣṅa, he says, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, puruṣam 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.]

Ādyam, "You are the original person. You are the original..." Puruṣam ādyam, in the Bhagavad-gītā. Ādyam. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat. This is all confirmed. The audience, Kṛṣṅa..., I mean to say, Arjuna, is accepting, and Kṛṣṅa is confirming.

Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is perfect. Otherwise where is the authority of Bhagavad-gītā. If we do not accept the author, or the speaker, of the Bhagavad-gītā, and if we do not accept the student of Bhagavad-gītā, Arjuna, then where is the study of Bhagavad-gītā? It is something nonsense. You have to accept the version of Bhagavad-gītā as it is stated by Kṛṣṅa, and you have to accept the version of Arjuna as it is admitted by Kṛṣṅa. Then you are perfect in Bhagavad-gītā. Otherwise you have simply wasted your time.

vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam [SB 1.2.7]

[By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṅa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.]

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ notpādayed ratiṁ yadi śrama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8]

[The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.]

This is the version of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrama eva hi kevalam. Simply laboring. Simply uselessly laboring. If you do not awaken your Kṛṣṅa consciousness by studying the Vedas, by studying Bhagavad-gītā, by studying Bhagavad... Simply Bhagavad-gītā. This is the essence of all Vedic literature, although it is A-B-C-D, beginning of spiritual life, spiritual understanding. Unfortunately, people do not understand even the A-B-C-D of this Bhagavad-gītā. And what to speak of becoming graduate and postgraduate? This is the difficulty. If we try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is, at least we understand what is Kṛṣṅa, what is God. God is explaining Himself. And we are searching after God, making sear... There are so many institutions. In Oxford University there is a big research department. But here God is canvassing. He's explaining. There was a great controversy. What is that professor?

Pradyumna: Professor Al Zaehner.

Devotee: Hardy.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Pradyumna: Al Zaehner, Professor Zaehner.

Prabhupāda: Professor Zaehner. So I invited him. So he did not dare to come before us. So there was another professor. What is that? Sir...?

Pradyumna: Sir Alistair Hardy.

Prabhupāda: Sir Alistair Hardy. He came. He admitted. He's making research. So these things are going on. Why research? Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Everything is explained and commented by so many, many great, stalwart, I mean to say, commentator, especially Śrīdhara Svāmī, Rāmānujācārya, Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana. So many great scholars, they have commented upon Bhagavad-gītā. So try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is. That is the real necessity of life. That we have explained several times.

This human form of life. The... Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that hari hari bifale janama goṅāinu: "My dear Lord, Hari, I have simply spoiled my life." Bifale jan..., hari hari bifale janama goṅāinu. "I have wasted my time." Why? Manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṅa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu [from Prārthanā]:

[O Lord Hari, I have wasted my life. Although I have taken this rare human birth, like a miser, I have not served Rādhā and Kṛṣṅa, and thus I have knowingly drunk poison.]

"I got this nice human form of body especially for worshiping Rādhā and Kṛṣṅa, but I have not done that. Therefore willingly I have drunk poison." Jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. The saṅkīrtana movement is not manufactured in this material world. It is released from Vaikuṅṭha, the spiritual world. Golokera prema-dhana... Otherwise, why we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa...? It is not material sound. Any material sound, you chant thrice, you'll be tired. But you go on chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra twenty-four hours, you'll never be tired. Therefore it is not a sound of this material world; it is a sound of the spiritual world. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmilo kene tāy. "I am not attracted to this." This is the lamentation of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, a Vaiṣṅava. Biṣāya-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale: "In this material existence, this eating, sleeping, mating and defending, with this business always my heart is burning." Biṣāya-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale, taribare nā kainu upāya. "I did not make any means to get out of this." Golokera prema-dhana. Therefore indirectly he is giving hint that human life is meant for worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa and chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra.

This is the subject matter of Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, to understand that Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya, mayi... Here Arjuna is addressed as Dhanañjaya. Dhanañjaya means the richest man, who has conquered over wealth. In other sense, only dhanañjaya, a person who has conquered over wealth, he can understand that Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Dhanañjaya... Arjuna's another name is Dhanañjaya, because after Battle of Kurukṣetra there was no money. So by the order of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, he brought from the Himalaya range a great quantity of gold so that he could expend them for performing aśvamedha-yajña, Rājasūya yajña. So therefore from that name, from that person, this title was given by, I mean to say, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira to that Arjuna, Dhanañjaya.

So mayi sarvam idaṁ protam. The example is very nice. Mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṅi-gaṅā iva. Just like pearls. The pearls... Take it, pearl is round, and the innumerable universes are also round. So all these universes are staying... Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni [Bg 9.4], Kṛṣṅa says.

[By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.]

Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ. So everything is resting on Kṛṣṅa. In another place He says that "I am sustaining all these planets." Of course, we understand law of gravitation according to our theory, but actually, according to Vedic description, the Saṅkarṣaṅa is sustaining all these planets. So anyway, it is to be understood. Just like the, all the planets are floating in the air in weightlessness... How this weightlessness comes? That is explained here. Mayi, "It is resting on Me," Kṛṣṅa says. Mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṅi-gaṅā iva [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.]

So He is the ultimate cause. He is the cause of all causes. Sarva-kāraṅa-kāraṅam [Bs 5.1].

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

Parama īśvaraḥ, the supreme controller. In this way we have to understand Kṛṣṅa. Then our life will be successful. Because our this human life is meant for understanding Kṛṣṅa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ [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.]

This is the real knowledge. Unless you come to this real knowledge, your life is unsuccessful. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg 7.19]:

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

"Those who will not accept Me in one life, he has to wait for many, many lives, but to come to this conclusion, that vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā..." If you actually want to become mahātmā, then you have to come to this point, that vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti. That is mahātmā. Mahātmā does not mean by simply changing this dress. Mahātmā means who understands Kṛṣṅa. He's mahātmā, because his soul is increased in dimension to understand Kṛṣṅa. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa ma... Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ [Bg 9.13].

[O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.]

As soon as you become mahātmā, then you are no longer under the control of this material nature. That is also confirmed. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. Daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

Otherwise, you have to remain under the clutches of māyā and punished by him.

kṛṣṅa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare nikaṭa-stha māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare [Prema-vivarta]

These are simple Bengali poetries by Vaiṣṅavas that as soon as you desire to enjoy your senses... That enjoyment of senses will not give you happiness. That is our practical experience. Anybody, call anybody who is engaged in sense gratification, ask him, "Are you happy?" He'll never say. They are... We have practically seen. These Europeans and Americans, they have enough sense gratification. Sense gratification means money and women. So they have got enough of it. Why they are after me, rejecting this? Because sense gratification will never give you satisfaction. That is false satisfaction. Real satisfaction is when you satisfy Kṛṣṅa. That is satisfaction.

kṛṣṅendriya-tṛpti-vāñchā-dhare 'prema' nāma ātmendriya-tṛpti-vāñchā tāre nāma 'kāma' [Cc Ādi 4.165]

When you sat..., want to satisfy your senses, then you are under the clutches of kāma, lust. But the same endeavor, when you want to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṅa, that is called prema, or bhakti.

So Kṛṣṅa is personally teaching. Why we should satisfy Kṛṣṅa? Because there is no more a greater authority than Kṛṣṅa. We are trying to serve here greater authority. Every one of us... We are going to office, we are going to party meeting, we are going to be elected president. So what is that? That I assure, that "I shall satisfy your senses. You want this? I shall give you. Please elect me." Everyone is trying to satisfy the senses. Either of own self... He's giving false promise. Actually, he wants to satisfy his own senses. As soon as he becomes minister, he'll satisfy his own senses. But he's getting elected by promising satisfying..., to satisfy your senses. But the sense gratification is going on. But there is chaos because the point is missing. There is no activity for satisfying senses of Kṛṣṅa. That is the defect of the modern civilization. Therefore one should learn that you are satisfying the senses of others. Try to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṅa, because there is no more greater authority than Kṛṣṅa. We are satisfying the senses of greater authority, that's all, or my senses, because my senses are also greater authority—kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mātsarya. These are very strongly dictating me, "Do this." I don't want to do this. My conscience is beating. But my kāma, my lust, is forcing me.

So this is my position. So in this position, I'll never be satisfied. If you understand that "Kṛṣṅa is the supreme authority, and my only duty is to satisfy Kṛṣṅa," then your life will be successful.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya... [break] [end]