Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.41

Prabhupāda: [sings Jaya rādhā-mādhava; leads prema-dhvani prayers]

Pradyumna: [leads devotees in chanting] Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Devotees repeat]

yena sva-dhāmny...

[break] "...activities; rūpair—and with forms; vibhāvyante..." [break]

[05:06]

Translation: "The supreme cause of all causes, Nārāyaṅa, is situated in His own abode in the spiritual world, but nevertheless He controls the entire cosmic manifestation according to the three modes of material nature—sattva-guṅa, rajo-guṅa and tamo-guṅa. In this way all living entities are awarded different qualities, different names, such as brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya and vaiśya, different duties according to the varṅāśrama institution, and different forms. Thus Nārāyaṅa is the cause of the entire cosmic manifestation."

Prabhupāda:

yena sva-dhāmny amī bhāvā rajaḥ-sattva-tamomayāḥ guṅa-nāma-kriyā-rūpair vibhāvyante yathā-tatham [SB 6.1.41]

So supreme controller is Nārāyaṅa, or Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa also explains... Here in the śāstra, we understand that Nārāyaṅa is the supreme controller. In many other places the same thing is explained.

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 Kṛṣṅa explains in the Bhagavad-gītā, 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 Nārāyaṅa... In the Vedic mantra also, the same thing: eko nārāyaṅa āsīt. In the beginning, Nārāyaṅa was there. So Nārāyaṅa is not alone. When you say the king is coming, it does not mean that king is coming alone. King is coming with his ministers, with his secretaries, with his military forces, bodyguards, many thousands. Similarly, when we speak eko nārāyaṅa āsīt, nārāyaṅa paraḥ avyaktāt, it does not mean that Nārāyaṅa is alone. Nārāyaṅa is always... If the king can be surrounded by so many officers and ministers, and Nārāyaṅa is the supreme king, so how He is surrounded by paraphernalia we can just think over.

So Nārāyaṅa-dhāma, the Vaikuṅṭha-dhāma... There are millions and millions of Vaikuṅṭha-dhāmas in the spiritual world. As we see in this material world... And in each planet Nārāyaṅa is there in different forms. That is described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Different forms means Nārāyaṅa has the same form, four hands with four symbolic weapons, simply changing—śaṅkha, cakra, gadā, padma; gadā, cakra, śaṅkha, padma—like that. These things are explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So in the Vaikuṅṭha, the spiritual world, Nārāyaṅa is there. And above these Vaikuṅṭha planets there is the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet. That is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā:

cintāmaṅi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa- lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.29]

There is the Goloka Vṛndāvana, the description is there. There are also trees, there are also animals, and Kṛṣṅa is there, and He is being served by lakṣmīs, the gopīs. Sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam. With great respect they are serving. These descriptions are there. There, trees are desire tree. Whatever you want from that tree, you'll get. The cows are surabhī cows, means you can draw milk as many times as you like and as much as you like. Surabhīr abhipālayantam.

So when we speak of Vṛndāvana, it is not imagination. In the śāstra, there is description, how Kṛṣṅa is there, what He is doing. Especially it is mentioned, surabhīr abhipālayantam. Kṛṣṅa has got this hobby. Just like our hobby—dog-abhipālayantam. We keep, every one of us, especially in the Western countries, a dog. So why not Kṛṣṅa keeping so many cows? What is the difficulty for Him? So He, intentionally, He becomes a cowherd boy. That is His pleasure. Just like here, we, a minute particle of God, we have got so many hobbies. So He has... Because nothing can be present here without being in Kṛṣṅa. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo [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.]

Whatever is there in this material world, bad or good, similar things are there in the spiritual world. The difference is here, everything bad, and there, everything good. That is the difference. Here we have made bad and good; it has no meaning. Caitanya-caritāmṛta kaja, Kavirāja Gosvāmī, he has explained the conception of bad and good in this material world. He says, 'dvaite bhadrābhadra sakale sama 'ei bhāla, ei manda', sab mano-dharma. In the world of duality... This is the world of duality. So the absolute... There is absolute world. That is spiritual world. But here there is duality, bad and good. You cannot understand bad without having some conception of good, and you cannot understand good without having some conception of bad. You require the opposite. So in the spiritual world, this duality conception is absent. Everything is absolute. We have to understand this theoretically at the present moment. But there, everything is cintāmaṅi. Everything is alive, spiritual.

So Nārāyaṅa's place is there, sa dhāmani. That is His own abode. This is also Nārāyaṅa's abode, this material world. Just like a king. King's kingdom is long, very widespread, but still, he has got a palace. That is sa dhāmani. Everywhere his property, government property, but still there is a government house, particular. Similarly, everything belongs to God, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam [Īśo mantra 1], everything.

[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]

Everything God's property. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.299].

[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.]

He is the proprietor. But still He has got His own abode. That is Goloka Vṛndāvana. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto [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.]

That is God. He's always there. He hasn't got to go out for some business. No. He hasn't got to work for maintaining His establishment. No. He is complete, and He's staying there. Just like Kṛṣṅa... It is said in the śāstra: vṛndāvanaṁ parityaja na padam ekaṁ gacchati. Kṛṣṅa never leaves Vṛndāvana. He doesn't go anywhere. He's always existing there. But still, He's everywhere. That is His inconceivable potency. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto [Bs 5.37]. We are limited. I am sitting here; I'm not in my apartment. But Kṛṣṅa is not like that. Kṛṣṅa is in His abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana—He doesn't leave that place any moment—but you'll find Kṛṣṅa everywhere. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto. Don't think that "Kṛṣṅa is not here." Kṛṣṅa is here also. You see, personally, Kṛṣṅa is present here. Don't think that it is not Kṛṣṅa, it is some stone statue. No. He's Kṛṣṅa. But because you cannot see Kṛṣṅa, He's appearing just that you may see, because you cannot see without stone and wood. Therefore it is called arca-vigraha, arca-avatāra. Arca-avatāra.

Therefore: arcye viṣṅau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṅave jāti-buddhiḥ nārakī [Padma Purāṅa]. Forbidden, that never think the vigrahaḥ, the form of the Lord, as stone or wood. Arcye viṣṅau śilā-dhīr. One who thinks like that..., guruṣu nara-matir, and the spiritual master as ordinary human being. Arcye viṣṅau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṅave jāti-buddhiḥ: Vaiṣṅava, who has become a devotee, to accept him belonging to some caste or nation or some... No. He doesn't belong to anything... Never to think that's he's American Vaiṣṅava, he's Indian Vaiṣṅava, he's brāhmaṅa Vaiṣṅava, he's kṣatriya... No. This is jāti-buddhiḥ, classification. Vaiṣṅava does not belong to any jāti. He belongs to Kṛṣṅa, kṛṣṅa dāsa. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṅa dāsa [Cc Madhya 20.108].

[It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṅa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular particle of sunshine or fire. Kṛṣṅa has three varieties of energy.]

Therefore practically you can see the members of Kṛṣṅa consciousness, some of them are Indians, some of them are Europeans, some of them are Englishmen, some of them are black, some of them are white, some of them are brāhmaṅas, some of them are Hindus—but they do not think anymore that "I belong to this category." No. No. Or otherwise they could not work. Every one of them completely aware that "We are all Kṛṣṅa's servants." Similarly, guru is not ordinary human being. Guruṣu nara-matir. Guru is not ordinary human being. Ordinary human being cannot preach Kṛṣṅa consciousness. That is not possible. Kṛṣṅa-śakti vinā nahe kṛṣṅa nāma pracāra [Cc Antya 7.11]. So anyone who is preaching, he cannot be considered as ordinary human being. Even though Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has explained this, that why not ordinary being? His son is calling him "father," or his relatives, they're taking him as ordinary. So Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says still he is not ordinary human being. Why? Because he is preaching Kṛṣṅa consciousness. So vaiṣṅave jāti-buddhiḥ, guruṣu nara-matir, and śrī viṣṅu-padatīrthau. The... Just like Ganges water, Yamunā water, to think of ordinary water, these are forbidden.

So Kṛṣṅa, guṅa nāma-rūpair vibhāyvante yathā-tatham. He has innumerable names and innumerable forms, according to the necessity. Unlimited forms: Nārāyaṅa, Govinda, Kṛṣṅa, thousands and thousands of names. But He's situated in His own place, and He's governing the whole creation. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam [Īśo mantra 1].

[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]

That is the Vedic mantra. Everything is being controlled by Him. How He is controlling, how He is witness, that will be explained in the next verse.

sūryo 'gniḥ khaṁ marud devaḥ somaḥ sandhyā ahanī diśaḥ kaṁ kuḥ svayaṁ dharma iti hy ete daihyasya sākṣiṅaḥ [SB 6.1.42]

This will be explained, next verse, how He is controlling, how things are managed. We can see practically that universal affair, how things are being managed. Exactly in the right time, the sun is rising, the moon is rising, and they're working exactly to the time. In this season, the sun will stay during daytime so many hours. Exactly we'll find. Not that this year he's staying from six to six, and next year he's not appearing. No. There is no question of accidents. The same date, same month, and the same appearance of the sun and the moon. Everything. And still we say, "There is no God," "God is dead," "There is no controller." This is foolishness. Mūḍha. The mūḍhas, the asses... Mūḍha means asses, one who has no knowledge. It is commonsense affair, that if everything is going on so nicely, how I can think there is no controller? In your house, in your office, if everything goes very nicely, systematically, there is the director, there is the manager, superintendent, and everything is going nice, how, without these things, how the whole universal affair can go so nicely? That is not accidental, that there was a chunk, and immediately it became a this and that. No. There was no accident. Mayādhyakṣeṅa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg 9.10].

[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]

There is no question of accident. Kṛṣṅa says, "Under My supervision, everything is going on."

So Nārāyaṅa, or Kṛṣṅa, He's controlling everything. And this material world is made of three modes of material nature: sattva-guṅa, rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ [Bg 3.27].

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

The Bhagavad-gītā also says the same thing. Prakṛteḥ, this material nature, is working under three modes of material nature—sattva-guṅa, tamo-guṅa, rajo-guṅa. In the rajo-guṅa, the material world is created. In sattva-guṅa, the material world is maintained. And in tamo-guṅa, this material world is dissolved, or annihilated. This is the way, going on. So sattva-guṅa, maintenance, in-charge is Viṣṅu Himself. Without Viṣṅu, nobody can maintain. Just like one contractor, he can manufacture a very big skyscraper building, but to maintain it, it requires another management, how to manage and maintain. And dissolution, anyone can break this big skyscraper. These three things are going on. So the maintenance in-charge is Nārāyaṅa, His expansion, Viṣṅu. Viṣṅu, Viṣṅu is supplying all the needs of our... We are so many living entities, innumerable, but Viṣṅu, Lord Viṣṅu, He is supplying all our needs. Just like father, he supplies the needs of the family, children. Similarly, Viṣṅu is maintaining. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]. So many different varieties of living entities, and they have got different demands, different necessities—everything is supplied by Viṣṅu. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That is God.

So we cannot declare independence. That is not possible. There is no independence. We are completely dependent on Viṣṅu. There is no doubt about it. You cannot manufacture your necessities, all the necessities. You can manufacture some motorcar or some needle or this or that, but you cannot manufacture the primary necessities of life. That is not possible. When there is scarcity of food, you cannot manufacture in your factory. That is not possible. That you have to receive from Viṣṅu, from God. That, that is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, that annād bhavanti bhūtāni. Annād bhavanti bhūtāni parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ [Bg 3.14].

[All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rain. Rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice], and yajña is born of prescribed duties.]

Parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ. Anna means food grains. Or even you take that "My anna, my food, is animal," that's all right. Either you eat animal or vegetable or food grains, it is supplied by God. You cannot manufacture it. Suppose I am eating vegetable, you are eating meat. But meat you cannot manufacture; a vegetable also I may not manufacture. That is supplied by God. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Whatever our necessities are there, it is supplied by God, Kṛṣṅa. So He advises... This world, although Kṛṣṅa supplies everything, but still, you have to work. You have to work. This material world means karma-samjñaḥ. Without working, you cannot live. You have to work. There is a verse in the Bhagavad-gītā, karma jyāyo hy akarmaṅaḥ śarīra-yātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmaṅaḥ [Bg 3.8].

[Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work.]

Do not stop working. Some foolish people say that we are not working. We are working for Kṛṣṅa. It is not that we are not working. Working is necessary here. But the difference is a bhakta is working under the direction of Kṛṣṅa, and nondevotees are working under the direction of māyā. That is the difference. Therefore bhakti and ordinary work, karmīs, it looks the similar, similar, that these men, they are also working, they're also cooking, they're also going to the Press, they're also typing, they're this... So what is the difference between bhakti and karma? The difference is that we are working for Kṛṣṅa and others are working for māyā. That is difference.

So nirbandha-kṛṣṅa-sambhandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.255]. Working is not stopped. Our Gosvāmīs, Rūpa Gosvāmī, they retired from their ministerial service, they went to Vṛndāvana, but the work increased. When they were ministers they were sleeping thirteen hours, but when they went to Vṛndāvana, they had no time to sleep even for two hours. That is Vṛndāvana life. That is Vṛndāvana life. They had no time. Tyaktvā tūrṅam aśeṣa-maṅḍala-pati-śreṅīṁ sadā tucchavat bhūtvā dīna-gaṅeśakau karuṅayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau [Śrī Śrī Ṣaḍ Gosvāmy Aṣṭaka 4].

[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who kicked off all association of aristocracy as insignificant. In order to deliver the poor conditioned souls, they accepted loincloths, treating themselves as mendicants, but they are always merged in the ecstatic ocean of the gopīs' love for Kṛṣṅa and bathe always and repeatedly in the waves of that ocean.]

These are the description about the Gosvāmīs, that by the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they retired from ministerial job. Tyaktvā tūrṅam aśeṣa-maṅḍala-pati-śreṅīṁ. Maṅḍala-pati means very, very big men in society. Minister, his business was with big, big man. Who can see the minister? The zamindar, the big businessmen. So he gave up that association. Then what he became? Bhūtvā dīna-gaṅeśakau karuṅayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. He took up a small loincloth. You have seen the picture of Gosvāmīs. Why? Just to show compassion and mercy to the whole world who are suffering. So how much business he increased? He was minister of a state. Now he has to do good to the whole world. How much responsibility it is. Nānā-śāstra-vicāraṅaika-nipuṅau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau. They had to establish the real purpose of religion—sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau. So presented so many books so that they may understand what is the meaning of religion. Nānā-śāstra. Nānā means varieties of śāstra. Vicāraṅaika: after deliberation... You'll find, therefore, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu or any book written by the Gosvāmīs, all giving reference from the śāstra. Nānā-śāstra vicāraṅaika-nipuṅau sad-dharma, lokānāṁ hita-kāriṅau.

So Vaiṣṅava, the servant of Nārāyaṅa, nārāyaṅa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati, they are not afraid to go anywhere for the service of Nārāyaṅa. Nārāyaṅa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati. Because Nārāyaṅa has got so many widespread government, and Nārāyaṅa's servant, nārāyaṅa-parāḥ, they have to go everywhere. Nārāyaṅa parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati. They are not afraid, "No, I'll have to go to such distant place, no friend, no money. How shall I go?" No. Nārāyaṅa is there. Nārāyaṅa-parāḥ, na bibhyati—he's not afraid of. "Whether I'm going to die or live, it doesn't matter. I must go there. It is the order of Nārāyaṅa." This is devotee.

nārāyaṅa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ [SB 6.17.28]

[Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṅa, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord.]

Nārāyaṅa may order, "Go to hell and preach." "Yes." Tulyārtha. "Then if You send me in heaven or hell, I don't mind."

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya. [end]