Evening Lecture

Prabhupāda: [prema-dhvani prayers] All glories to the assembled devotees. All glories to the assembled devotees. Thank you very much.

Hari-śauri: [indistinct]

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Hari-śauri: Spectacles?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I can speak in three languages: English, Bengali and Hindi. But I cannot speak in Oriya. Now our Gaura-Govinda Mahārāja, he has agreed to translate into Oriya from English. So as you desire, I can speak either in English, Hindi or Bengali.

Indian man: English.

Prabhupāda: I shall speak in English. If I speak in English, then these foreigners, they will also understand, and it can be translated into Oriya. So? I shall speak in English? That's all right?

Hari-śauri: Yes.

Prabhupāda: You say yes. [laughter] So of course, English is international language, and because we are speaking in English, publishing in English, it has been possible to spread Kṛṣṅa consciousness throughout the whole world. [Bengali] [Gaura-Govinda translates throughout] So we have first of all presented Bhagavad-gītā As It Is in English. Now it is being translated practically in all the languages of the world. Our Bhagavad-gītā As It Is has been translated in all the European languages, namely French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, in this way, in Europe. Whole America speaks in English. Whole Australia speaks in English. Besides that, in Asia, Chinese language and Japanese language, they have all translated.

So our Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is meant for saving the whole human society. The present moment... Not in the present; in this material world always the attempt is to defy the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. At the present moment the so-called scientists, their only business is how to defy the supremacy of God. Naturally our this movement has to face many impediments, because at the present moment the whole world is practically godless. Even in our country, in India, where Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṅa, even here also the same attempt is going on. Big, big scholars, big, big politicians, they take Bhagavad-gītā in their hand as if he is a great authority in Bhagavad-gītā, but they are presenting commentation just to defy Kṛṣṅa. So we take them according to Bhagavad-gītā. So Bhagavān, Kṛṣṅa... Kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

That is the verdict of the śāstra, and Kṛṣṅa personally, when He was present before us, He said, 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.]

"Nobody is greater authority than Me." In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now this life, this human form of life, is meant for making inquiry about the Supreme." That Brahman, the Supreme... Brahman means bṛhatvad bṛhannatvad, the greatest, which includes everything. That is Brahman. Just like we are, we living entities, we are brahma. Because I am the spirit soul, I am within this body; therefore everything is complete. So in the Bhagavad-gītā this brahma-jijñāsā, "What is Brahman?" if you are inquisitive, the answer is in the very beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā.

So Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, giving the first instruction to Arjuna, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptir [Bg 2.13].

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

The brahma, the spirit soul, the part and parcel of Para-brahman, is dehi. Asmin dehe. In this body he is the proprietor of the body. Dehi and deha. Deha means this body, and dehi means the proprietor of the body. So that dehi, or the proprietor of the body, is Brahman. Brahma-jijñāsā. If we are inquisitive to know about Brahman, first of all we must know that I or you—any spirit soul—is Brahman, and he's within this body. We are not the... Other words, we are not this body; we are within this body. This is brahma-jñāna. In another place also, the same thing has been affirmed in Bhagavad-gītā: kṣetra kṣetrajñaḥ. Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṅa, "What is kṣetra and what is kṣetrajña?" That answer is given in the Thirteenth Chapter: idaṁ śarīraṁ kṣetram ity abhidhīyate [Bg 13.2]. It has been explained that this kṣetra... Just like we work in the field, the owner of the field and the field, similarly, this body is the field, and the owner, the dehi, I or you, we are working on this field, kṣetrajña. And Kṛṣṅa says also, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhisarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata [Bg 13.3]. He... Because sometimes foolishly we think that we are also Bhagavān or equal to Bhagavān, kṣetrajña, so Kṛṣṅa says, "I am also kṣetrajña, but the difference is that sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata."

[to Gaura-Govinda:] Now explain. Just like I am kṣetrajña; you are kṣetrajña. You know the pains and pleasure of your body; I know the pains and pleasure of my body. But either you or I do not know what is the pains and pleasure of your body, and you do not know what is the pains and pleasure of my body. So that is the difference between ātmā and Paramātmā. Kṛṣṅa is Paramātmā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūteṣu 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.]

That Paramātmā... I am also with Him. I am also living within the heart, and Kṛṣṅa is also living within the heart.

So there are two ātmās, namely ātmā and Paramātmā. This is explained in the Upaniṣad, that "There are two birds on one tree. This tree is this body, and the two birds, one is ātmā and the other is Paramātmā." So one bird is simply witnessing what the other bird is doing, and the other bird, jīvātmā, he is eating the fruit. So therefore Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that,

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā [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.]

That īśvara, that Paramātmā, is sitting also within this body, but He's observing what the jīvātmā wants to do. According to that, He is supplying a machine. This machine means this body, yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. This machine is manufactured by the external energy, māyā. So therefore we are jīvātmā; we are different from the Paramātmā. Those who are equalizing Paramātmā and jīvātmā, they are not in perfect knowledge. Either purposefully they are misleading, or they do not know the perfect knowledge.

At the present moment this danger is there in a very large quantity. People are thinking wrongly that they are also God, as good as God. In the Bhagavad-gītā the statement is, Kṛṣṅa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ [Bg 15.7]. Jīva-bhūta is the living entities. "They are My part and parcel." So it is an axiomatic truth: part is never equal to the whole. Āṁśi. So just like this finger is the part of my body, but it does not mean the finger is the whole body, therefore there is distinction between Brahman and Para-brahman, īśvara and Parameśvara, ātmā and Paramātmā. So īśvara means controller, one who controls; but Parameśvara means the controller of the controller. That is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā, 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.]

Īśvara... All of us may be īśvara. I am īśvara amongst my disciples. You may be īśvara amongst your family members. But none of us is Parameśvara.

So this mistaken knowledge is very much spread at the present moment. So our this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is specially meant for removing this misconception of understanding God and the jīvas. So our first principle is that we have to discard or disregard the persons who are very much anxious to establish that īśvara and Parameśvara, or the living entity and the Supreme Person, they are equal. We do not support this theory. It is said in the śāstra, yas tu nārāyaṅaṁ devaṁ...,

yas tu nārāyaṅaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi samatvenaiva vīkṣeta sa pāṣaṅḍī bhaved dhruvam [Cc Madhya 18.116]

Nārāyaṅa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, nārāyaṅaṁ devam, if we equalize Him even with such demigods, such big personalities like Brahmā and Śiva, then we become a pāṣaṅḍī.

yas tu nārāyaṅaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ samatvenaiva vīkṣeta sa pāṣaṅḍī bhaved dhruvam

Anyone, what to speak of with ordinary person, even personalities, big, big personalities like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, if one equalize Nārāyaṅa, then he is called a pāṣaṅḍī. Unfortunately, at the present moment a poor man has been equalized with Nārāyaṅa as daridra-nārāyaṅa. So why one should say daridra-nārāyaṅa? What is the reason? Nārāyaṅa is Lakṣmī-pati, the husband of the goddess of fortune. How He can become daridra-nārāyaṅa? And where is this word in the śāstra, "daridra-nārāyaṅa"? So in this way, people are being misled.

So we have to save ourself from this misconception of life. Then we can make progress in the matter of understanding what is God. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any deviation, and people are appreciating. Our this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is is being accepted by big, big scholars and professors. We have got innumerable certificates, or their opinions, and it is being well received. And from monetary point of view also, you'll be surprised that we are selling millions of copies of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.

So we have come to your city to say something about Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. If respectable persons of this city will come and attend this meeting, I shall try to explain more and more so long I am present here. Now, if you have got any question on the subject matter I have spoken, you can make. I shall try to answer. [pause]

Prabhupāda: So, there is no question I think. Thank you very much.

Rāmeśvara: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṅa. Now kīrtana.

Rāmeśvara: Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṅa. [end]