Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.28

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

manye tvāṁ kālam īśānam anādi-nidhanaṁ vibhum samaṁ carantaṁ sarvatra bhūtānāṁ yan mithaḥ kaliḥ [SB 1.8.28]

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Prabhupāda:

manye tvāṁ kālam īśānam anādi-nidhanaṁ vibhum samaṁ carantaṁ sarvatra bhūtānāṁ yan mithaḥ kaliḥ [SB 1.8.28]

The Kuntīdevī is presenting his [her] conception of Kṛṣṅa, or God consciousness. Perfectly he's [she's] presenting that samaṁ carantaṁ sarvatra: "Kṛṣṅa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is present everywhere. And He is equal, equally merciful or... In everything He is equal to everyone." Just like the sun. The sun is equally distributing the sunshine. Now, in some country we find there is cloud; sun is covered. There is no sunshine. The sun is shining, but due to our misfortune or something else, the sun is covered and we cannot see. It is not that the sunshine is stopped. Sunshine is there. Similarly, Kṛṣṅa's mercy is equally there. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu [Bg 9.29].

[I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.]

In another verse in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṅa says, samo 'haṁ sarva bhūteṣu: "I am equal to everyone." Otherwise, how He can be God?

God is not partial, that He is merciful upon me and not merciful upon you. God cannot be like that. Just like a state, government. Government is equal to everyone, all citizens. But why somebody is going to the university to take his M.A. degree, and why one is going to the prison house to be imprisoned and suffering for so many years and...? It is not the government's partiality, that somebody go to the prison house and somebody will go to the university and occupy responsible position. No. It is our fault that we do not take opportunity or the facilities offered by the government or Kṛṣṅa. It is our fault. Why there are so many discrepancies and nonequality? Somebody is very rich; somebody is very poor. Somebody is eating stool, and somebody is eating nice prasādam, halavā. It is all due to the living entity's karma. Otherwise, God is equal to everyone. Samaṁ carantaṁ sarvatra. God is not partial. Just like nowadays, these rascals, they say, "Why God is unkind to the poor man?" No. God is not unkind to the poor man. The poor man, he has become poor by his karma. Karmaṅā daiva-netreṅa [SB 3.31.1].

[The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.]

Daiva-netreṅa. Daiva means superior, or godly. Netreṅa. Netreṅa means by the eyes, or netreṅa, netritya[?], by the leadership, leadership, or superintendent. Whatever we are doing... Because God is everywhere situated, samaṁ carantaṁ sarvatra. Kṛṣṅa is there, everywhere. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna 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.]

Īśvara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is situated in everyone's heart. So we cannot conceal anything from God. In another place it is said, "Just like the sun is the eye of God," yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṅām. Savitā. Savitā means sun, Sūrya, is the eye of Govinda. So if you are doing something, any part of the world, the sun is seeing. This is a crude example. Similarly, at night the moon is seeing, and Kṛṣṅa says that raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ [Bg 7.8].

[O son of Kuntī [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.]

So Kṛṣṅa... The sunshine is also Kṛṣṅa. So if you think that "I am doing something for my sense gratification; nobody is seeing. I am stealing some sugarcane from the field, and nobody's seeing," but how you can say nobody's seeing? The sun is seeing. How you can conceal? "No, I shall do it at night." Oh, the moon is seeing. So how can you conceal?

So parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8].

[The Supreme Lord has nothing to do. Nothing is equal to Him or greater than Him. He acts in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His unlimited, variegated potencies. Each potency acts quite naturally in sequences, providing Him full knowledge, power and pastimes.]

He is so omnipotent that He can see from anywhere and everywhere what you are doing, what you are willing, what you want to do. You cannot conceal. That is not possible. Therefore it is said, daiva-netreṅa. You can bluff the material police, but you cannot bluff Kṛṣṅa. That is not possible. If you are doing anything wrong, then it is being seen by the Supreme Personality. Samaṁ carantam. He's everywhere. Therefore those who are God conscious, as theists... That is the Indian culture. They think, "I am doing this nonsense. Kṛṣṅa, God, will see it." Even a... Even an ordinary person who has no education, still, he will admit, uparala dekhega[?]: "God will see." That's a fact. That's a fact. So if everyone is God conscious, that "God is everywhere," then how he can act sinfully? It is not possible. If he is God conscious, if he knows that "God is everywhere, and He will see if I do something sinful by bluffing others..."

Therefore God consciousness is so important. If Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is spread, and if it is taken by all people, then so many things will be automatically reformed. There will be no need of police. There will be no need of C.I.D. Because if one is God conscious, he'll not do anything wrong. But because people are not God conscious, they are doing so many wrong things that is has been almost impossible to govern the people. Therefore Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is very essential to understand this fact, that samaṁ carantaṁ sarvatra bhūtānāṁ yan mithaḥ kaliḥ [SB 1.8.28]. We have created so many religious system. So many religious system. And the Hindu is fighting with the Muslim, Muslim is fighting with the Hindu, that "My religion is better than your religion." Or any other, other countries also, the Jews fighting with the Christian; Christian, Jews; and the black fighting with the white, white fighting with the black. This Kali, that is the result of this material existence. Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka. That is the work of this material nature. Even if you want to live very peacefully, you'll not be allowed to live. Daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī mama māyā durat... [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.]

It is not a place to live very peacefully. But if you think artificially that "We are very happy. We are advanced in material civilization and we have very comfortable life," where is comfort? There cannot be any comfort. Therefore it is the duty of māyā to remind you, always putting you in distressed condition. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam [Bg 8.15].

[After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.]

It is God... You cannot live peacefully, happily, within the prison house. Because you are condemned to this prison life, you cannot expect very comfortable life there.

So samaṁ carantam... This God is equally kind, equally merciful, but we fight. We, I mean to say, disagree in religious principle. That is due to Kali. Not this Kali. Kali means due to our fighting spirit. It is not God. God is equal to everyone. We fight because we have got misconception. So we think that this religion is better than that religion, or that religion is better than... Every religion must be good, provided one is God conscious. We say that. So many people question in the Western countries, "Whether one can attain perfection by following Christian religion?" Why not? You can also attain. But who is following? First of all, let me see who is following Christian religion. The Christian religion says in the beginning, first commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," and you are simply killing. So where is Christian? Christian religion is not bad. No religion is bad. But where is Christian? Where is Hindu? They are all godless rascals. Therefore there is misunderstanding. Otherwise, if everyone is God conscious, if everyone knows that "God is present everywhere. Whatever I do, He will see. He'll see as sunshine. He'll see as moonshine. He'll see as water..." Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya. No... Who can avoid water? Who can avoid sunshine? Who can avoid moonshine? Nobody can. So God says, "These things are I am." Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ [Bg 7.8].

[O son of Kuntī [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.]

So how you can avoid God's vigilance? Then how you can commit sinful... They do not believe in godlessness. They do not believe in existence of God. They have been taught like that. And they do not know what is God. This is the misfortune of the present civilization. Present godless civilization... Therefore they have created simply chaotic situation all over the world.

Therefore the movement, Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, is very, very important and essential. Those who are sober, they are understanding it. Just like in Australia, the priestly class, they understood that this movement is trying to people to see towards God, back to Godhead. You have advanced in civilization by so-called material advancement, scientific..., but what you have done? You have created simply chaos. Therefore we say... Our magazine is named Back to Godhead. "Now you have finished your business—now see back to Godhead." Just like if you do not see the sun, if you keep the sun back side, then you'll simply see a long shadow of your body, black shadow. That's all. But if you turn towards the sun, you'll not see the black shadow; you'll see all light. Simply you have to turn. So we have named this Back to Godhead very scientifically. You see towards God; then everything is light. "Where there is God, there is no nescience."

This is not manufactured. There is some verse in the Caitanya...

kṛṣṅa-sūrya-sama, māyā andhakāra yāhāṅ kṛṣṅa tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra [Cc Madhya 22.31]

[Kṛṣṅa is compared to sunshine, and māyā is compared to darkness. Wherever there is sunshine, there cannot be darkness. As soon as one takes to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, the darkness of illusion (the influence of the external energy) will immediately vanish.]

Kṛṣṅa sūrya-sama. Kṛṣṅa is just like sun. There is no darkness. Can we expect any darkness in the sun planet? No. There is no possibility. Sun planet is always bright. So similarly, this is the example of the spiritual world, the sun planet, kṛṣṅa sūrya-sama. So if you go to the spiritual world, then everything is bright. Na tatra bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ [Bg 15.6].

[That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.]

That is the description of the spiritual world. Na tatra bhāsayate sūryaḥ. In the spiritual world, there is no need of sun because everyone is brilliant, every planet is brilliant.

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi- koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam..., vibhūti-bhinnam tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ [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.]

Everything is there. So if we become Kṛṣṅa conscious, there cannot be any darkness, there cannot be any ignorance, there cannot be any sinful life. Everything bright, everything peaceful. Therefore we must take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness if we want to save from the clutches of māyā. And that is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā:

daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī mama māyā duratyayā mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te [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.]

This is the process.

So Kṛṣṅa, manye tvāṁ kālam īśānam. Eternal time. We are calculating past, present and future, but actually in the spiritual world, there is no such thing as past, present and future. We therefore sometimes question that "Wherefrom God came?" So many odd questions they say. But God is eternally existing. That is the fact. We cannot understand that. Because we are in the material world, we have no experience of the eternity, what is eternity. We have no experience. We see everything as generated, and then it stays for some time, then it is finished. That is our experience. Janma, mṛtyu, vṛddhi. They have... They have made past, present and future, but it is divided into six development. One takes birth, then it develops, then it stays for some time, then it produces some by-product, then diminishes, and then, I mean to say, finished. Ṣaḍ-vikāra. Ṣaḍ-vikāra. This body, ṣaḍ-vikāra. So eternity, eternity means there is no ṣaḍ-vikāra, the six kind of changes. There is no birth. There is no death. There is no diminishing. There is no by-product. Everything eternal, eternally existing.

So that kālam, that eternal time, is Kṛṣṅa. Tvām. Manye: "I think that eternal time You are, Kṛṣṅa." That's the fact. And īśānam. Īśānam means the Supreme Controller. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ [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.]

Controller means īśvara; īśvara means controller. He's the Supreme Controller. He's controlling the whole creation. Īśānam. Kālam īśānam. But who is controlling Him? No, He is not controlled. Anādi—beginningless. Neither endless or beginningless, anādi or nidhanam. And vibhum, the Supreme. This is the understanding of Kṛṣṅa. We have to take lessons from authorities. Here is Kuntī, authority. Therefore his [her] statements are recorded in the śāstra. What is śāstra? Śāstra means..., is the record of the statement of authorities. That is called śāstra. Just like in law court, you put law books. What is that law book? Law book means the statement of the authorities. Similarly, śāstra... Śāstra means śās-dhātu. Śastra. Śastra means weapon, and śāstra means the law books. So what is the law book? Law book means some authority which has given the law. So the government gives law. So similarly, śāstra means the statement given by the authorities.

So Kuntī is authority. Kuntī is authority. How she has become authority? Because she has followed the authorities—Brahmā, Nārada, Svayambhū... Svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kapilaḥ kumāro manuḥ [SB 6.3.20].

[Lord Brahmā, Bhagavān Nārada, Lord Śiva, the four Kumāras, Lord Kapila [the son of Devahūti], Svāyambhuva Manu, Prahlāda Mahārāja, Janaka Mahārāja, Grandfather Bhīṣma, Bali Mahārāja, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and I myself know the real religious principle. My dear servants, this transcendental religious principle, which is known as bhāgavata-dharma, or surrender unto the Supreme Lord and love for Him, is uncontaminated by the material modes of nature. It is very confidential and difficult for ordinary human beings to understand, but if by chance one fortunately understands it, he is immediately liberated, and thus he returns home, back to Godhead.]

Those who are strictly following the statements of the authorities, they are also authority. Just like who is a lawyer? Lawyer is he who has studied law very nicely and following the law. That is lawyer, good lawyer. And third-class lawyer means one who does not know how to follow it. Good lawyer in the court—who can give reference from the law books: "My Lord, you refer to such-and-such section of such-and-such law book, and you will find what I am stating." And the judge, when he sees: "Yes, it is all...," then his case is owned. So authority. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc Madhya 17.186].

[Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.]

Mahājana. Authority means mahājana. Ordinary, common people is called jana, ordinary man. And those who are authority, they are mahājana. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ.

So the statements of Kuntī is recorded here, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, not that he's [she's] ordinary woman. Otherwise her statements should not have been mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So we have to accept what Kuntī says:

manye tvāṁ kālam īśānam anādi-nidhanaṁ vibhum samaṁ carantaṁ sarvatra bhūtānāṁ yan mithaḥ kaliḥ [SB 1.8.28]

So misunderstanding of God... There is no misunderstanding of the authorities. The misunderstanding, the common man. Just like in Australia when I spoke, there was no misunderstanding. There was agreement by the priests and myself. There was complete agreement. [aside:] You were with me? Or... No. You were not. They, after hearing my lecture for one hour, they agreed and clapped for ten minutes. So there cannot be any misun... Those who are actually... They questioned, "What is your opinion of Lord Jesus Christ?" and I said, "He preached God consciousness. He's our guru. Anyone who preaches the message of God, he is guru." So they very much appreciated, and actually it is so. Vaiṣṅava who is preaching, it may be in a different way, according to time and place and the party—they have to change something, deśa-kāla-pātra—but we have to see the essence. Wherever there is God consciousness, wherever is there understanding... Just like we sometime consult dictionary, a small dictionary, pocket dictionary, and a big international dictionary. Both of them are dictionaries. But according to time, deśa-kāla-pātra, for small child, that small dictionary is sufficient. Higher mathematics: higher mathematics and lower class ma... But the two plus two is always the same, in higher mathematics or lower mathematics. It is not that in the higher mathematics two plus two equal to five. No.

So the principle is the same. It is through distinction of deśa-kāla-pātra things are... Just like the statement in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are meant for highly developed conscious person. They are not for ordinary person. Paramo nirmatsarāṅāṁ satāṁ vāstavaṁ vastu vedyam atra śrīmad-bhāgavatam [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.]

Paramo nirmatsarāṅām. People are envious, envious: "Oh, he's Christian," "He's Muhammadan," "He is this," "He is that." No. A paramo nirmatsara, paramahaṁsa, he does not see, "He is Muhammadan," "He is Christian," "He is Jew." Paṅḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg 5.18].

[The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṅa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste]]

He will see everyone equal, the part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṅa. Mamaivāṁśa. He says this... Kṛṣṅa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ [Bg 15.7]: "All living entities are My part and parcel." Why he shall take the skin? Because the skin is made by Muhammadan or the skin is made by Christian or skin is made by Hindu... He's not the skin-observer. He is observed the within. 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.]

Within this body the spirit soul is there. This is the education of spiritual education in the beginning—just see inside, introspective, not outward seeing. Those who are seeing outwardly, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātu..., they are asses.

So one should be advanced by hearing the authorities, that God is equal to him. I say why there should be Hindu religion and Muslim religion or Christian religion? There cannot be. Just like gold is gold. And nobody can say, "This is Indian gold," "This is American gold," "This is Christian gold," and "This is Muhammadan gold." Gold is gold. So actually one who is God conscious, for him there is no such distinction, because he knows, samaṁ carantaṁ sarvatra bhūtānām [SB 1.8.28]: "God is present everywhere." Simply he has forgotten. That forgetfulness is applicable to anyone, either Hindu, Muslim or Christian. It doesn't matter. The our business is to rectify that forgetfulness. Rectify. To remove that forgetfulness. This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Devotees: Jaya... [end]