In Every Heart

It's time we got to know the other knower in our body.

A lecture in Bombay on September 26, 1973 by His Divine Grace A C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama

“O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in all bodies, and to understand this body and its knower is called knowledge. That is My opinion.” (Bhagavad-gītā 13.3)

While discussing the subject matter of the body and the owner of the body, the soul and the Supersoul, we shall find three topics of study: the Lord, the living entity, and matter. In every field of activity, or in every body, there are two souls: the Supersoul and the individual soul. The Māyāvādī philosophers say that there is only one soul—the Supersoul. But here Kṛṣṅa, the authoritative source of knowledge, says there are two souls: the individual soul and the Supersoul, ātmā and Paramātmā.

Because the Supersoul is the plenary expansion of Kṛṣṅa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṅa says, “I am also the knower, but I am not the individual owner of the body.” The Supersoul, or Kṛṣṅa, is the knower of the pains and pleasures of every body, whereas the individual soul is the knower of the pains and pleasures of his own body only. Kṛṣṅa says, avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam: “The consciousness of the individual soul is spread all over the body.” The soul, by his potency, spreads all over the body. Similarly, because Kṛṣṅa is the Supersoul. His consciousness is spread not only in my individual body but in all bodies.

There are 8,400.000 species, and Kṛṣṅa’s consciousness pervades them all. He knows everything that is taking place in every body. So Kṛṣṅa understands when we become conscious of Him. Kṛṣṅa is within your heart, so He can understand your purpose. We cannot cheat Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa can immediately understand how serious and sincere you are to understand Him, to approach Him, or to go back home, back to Godhead.

As soon as Kṛṣṅa understands that you are very serious. He takes care of you especially. Being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṅa is equal to everyone. Samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo ’sti na priyaḥ: Kṛṣṅa is not envious, nor is He especially inclined to anyone. God’s position is neutrality. He likes everyone. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati. He is the friend of everyone. We are seeking friendship with so many people to satisfy our desires, but if we make Kṛṣṅa our friend, all our desires will be fulfilled.

In the Upaniṣads it is said that two birds are sitting as friends in the same tree, the body. So you should understand that Kṛṣṅa is your best friend. Kṛṣṅa says He’s the friend of everyone. That friendship is equally distributed. But if one becomes a special devotee, engaged in the service of the Lord with love and affection. Kṛṣṅa is especially inclined to him. That is Kṛṣṅa’s mercy to the devotee. Kṛṣṅa is equal to everyone, but He is especially inclined to the devotee who is engaged in His service with love and faith. He takes special care of the devotee; He guides him and gives him intelligence. What kind of intelligence? Yena mām upayānti te: He gives the devotee the clue how to go back home, back to Godhead.

Kṛṣṅa does not give him intelligence for gaining material prosperity. That is entrusted to Māyā, or Durgādevī Kṛṣṅa’s illusory energy. Therefore people are not much interested in worshiping Kṛṣṅa. They are generally interested in worshiping Goddess Durgā or Lord Śiva, because by worshiping Śiva or Durgā, they get material opulence. Worship of the demigods is a hundred percent materialism. There is no question of spiritual life. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante ’nya-devatāḥ: “The intelligence of those who are interested in worshiping demigods is taken away.”

Māyā is working in two ways: prakṣepātmikā-śakti and āvaraṅātmikā-śakti. Āvaraṅātmikā-śakti means she is covering the reality, just as when the cloud covers the sunshine and we cannot see. For a few days now it’s been cloudy. We cannot see the sun. But that does not mean there is no sun in the sky.

So Māyā does not allow us to see Kṛṣṅa. That is one śakti. or energy: āvaraṅātmikā-śakti. And another śakti is prakṣepātmikā-śakti: after covering the consciousness, she throws one away from Kṛṣṅa. In this way māyā-śakti is acting. Kṛṣṅa therefore says:

daivī hy eṣā guṅa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te

“Māyā is very powerful, but if one is very rigid in devotional service, he can overcome the influence of Māyā.” Kṛṣṅa is there in the body. He’s always ready to help us, provided we are serious about Him. That is Kṛṣṅa’s mercy.

This is the process of pleasing Kṛṣṅa. We are sitting here together, and we are talking about Kṛṣṅa and Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission. Caitanya Mahāprabhu ordered, yāre dekha, tāre kaha ’kṛṣṅa’-upadeśa/ āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa: “Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Kṛṣṅa as they are given in Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.”

This is our mission. The Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is for preaching the teachings of Kṛṣṅa: Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. This is called Kṛṣṅa-upadeśa. Another Kṛṣṅa-upadeśa is instruction about Kṛṣṅa. Bhagavad-gītā is the instruction given by Kṛṣṅa, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the instruction given by Vyāsadeva and other sages about Kṛṣṅa. Both of them are Kṛṣṅa-kathā: topics of Kṛṣṅa.

If we want to improve, if we want to make our life successful, then we must engage ourselves in this program of Kṛṣṅa consciousness, or hearing about Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is within your heart, and so as soon as you are very serious and eager to know about Kṛṣṅa, you become liberated. Simply try to understand Kṛṣṅa. This is the Vedic instruction: kasmin bhagavo vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati—if you simply understand Kṛṣṅa, then all other things become automatically known. You don’t have to make a separate endeavor to know. You will know what Paramātmā is, what Brahman is, what this material world is. what our relationship with this world is—everything will be revealed.

In the Bhagavad-gītā [10.11] Kṛṣṅa says,

teṣām evānukampārtham aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-stho jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā

“To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.” If you actually become Kṛṣṅa conscious, the result will be that you’ll get special favor from Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is especially favorable to the devotees.

Hearing about Kṛṣṅa is the beginning of becoming Kṛṣṅa conscious. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also accepted this. We have to be submissive, not like the speculators who think, “Now I have become Brahman.” But everyone is Brahman. There is no question of becoming Brahman. We have now forgotten that we are Brahman. We are misidentifying with this body. This is māyā. It is not that by some process I become Brahman. I am Brahman, but on account of māyā my knowledge is covered. I am thinking I am a product of this material world—that I am American or I am Indian. I am thinking in terms of the soil where I have taken birth. All over the world, instead of worshiping Kṛṣṅa, everyone is worshiping the land of his birth. That is going on under the name of so many “isms.”

Actually, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is Para-brahman; therefore we, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa, are also Brahman, just as particles of gold are also gold. So there is no question of becoming Brahman. We are already Brahman. We simply have to know. “I am not this body; I am spirit soul, part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa.” That is knowledge: that I am Brahman.

Now, as soon as we are perfectly situated in that spiritual knowledge, there is no lamentation: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāñkṣati. Everyone is lamenting because he’s a śūdra. The śūdra’s business is to lament. But when one understands Brahman, he does not lament We have seen many brāhmaṅas who are not very materially opulent, but they are happy. They are happy with Kṛṣṅa. That is the brāhmaṅas business. A brāhmaṅa must be a Vaiṣṅava—Kṛṣṅa conscious.

If a brāhmaṅa is not a Vaiṣṅava, then he cannot become a guru. That is the injunction of the śāstra [scripture]: ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṅo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ/ avaiṣṅavo gurur na syād vaiṣṅavaḥ śva-paco guruḥ. A vipra is a learned brāhmana. One who has studied all the Vedic literatures and has acquired knowledge is called vipra. Simply studying Vedic literature will not do. One must realize what Brahman is; then he becomes a brāhmaṅa.

Brāhmaṅa is a qualification. It is not by birth. Just as a high-court judge’s son is not a high-court judge unless he has the qualifications of a high-court judge, similarly the son of a brāhmaṅa is not a brāhmaṅa by birth. When he has the brahminical qualifications, he becomes a brāhmaṅa. Those qualifications are described in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.42]:

śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam

“Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom, and religiousness—these are the natural qualities by which the brāhmaṅas work.”

So these things are lost Therefore India’s position is now chaos and confusion because you have lost this Vedic civilization. You have lost Kṛṣṅa consciousness. You have lost God consciousness. You are being directed by your whims. This is the very lamentable condition of India. Kṛṣṅa consciousness is India’s original culture. Kṛṣṅa appeared on this land. Kṛṣṅa is not for any particular land, but still, Kṛṣṅa appeared in this holy land of Bhārata-varṣa, in Mathurā.

It is the duty of the Indians to understand Kṛṣṅa culture—the Kṛṣṅa consciousness cultural movement—and take part in it seriously. That is the instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He says, bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra: “Anyone who has taken birth in the holy land of Bhārata-varṣa must take advantage of the Vedic knowledge and work for the welfare of others.”

In the other part of the world, there is no such advantage as Vedic literature and Vedic knowledge. Unfortunately, the Indians are neglecting this Vedic perfection, whereas Europeans and Americans are taking interest. So we are not of course concerned with any particular nation or country. Our business is to carry out the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: yāre dekha, tāre kaha ’kṛṣṅa’-upadeśa. Whomever you meet—it doesn’t matter whether he is Indian, European, American, or African—he should be instructed about Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Then his life will be successful, and the life of the preacher of Kṛṣṅa consciousness will also become successful.

This is the Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. The beginning is to hear about Kṛṣṅa in order to understand Him. We give everyone the chance to hear about Kṛṣṅa. This is our program. We are trying to construct a temple here, not for making any profit, but to give people a chance to hear about Kṛṣṅa. We are opening temples all over the world just to give people the chance to hear about Kṛṣṅa.

As soon as the individual soul is seriously engaged in hearing about Kṛṣṅa, the dirty things within his heart become cleansed. And as soon as the heart is cleansed, all his problems in this material world are solved. Cleansing the heart means to understand that we are not Kṛṣṅa but part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa, and our duty is to serve Kṛṣṅa.

The Māyāvādī philosophers are thinking that they are Kṛṣṅa: “I am God.” That is unclean. Because their intelligence is not yet clear, they are thinking that they are Kṛṣṅa. No. Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and we are eternal servants of Kṛṣṅa. Therefore Kṛṣṅa demands in the Bhagavad-gītā [18.66], sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja: “Just surrender to Me.”

It is the right of the master to tell the servant, “You surrender.” Similarly, Kṛṣṅa comes to teach this. because we are eternal servants of Kṛṣṅa. The Māyāvādī philosophers cannot understand this. The servant wants to become the master. That is not possible. If the servant remains a faithful servant that is the perfection of his life. If the servant wants to artificially become the master, that is only a botheration.

The Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is educating everyone to understand this fact: that everyone is the eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa. Don’t try to imitate Kṛṣṅa. That is a botheration. You cannot be happy that way. If one wants to artificially become something he is not, then it is simply a botheration. There is no happiness. Artificial life is not happiness. Natural life is happiness.

Naturally we are servants of Kṛṣṅa. If we don’t serve Kṛṣṅa, then we have to serve māyā. Those who are not Kṛṣṅa conscious have given up the service of Kṛṣṅa. but they have accepted the service of so many other things. Somebody is thinking. “I am the servant of my country”; somebody is thinking. “I am the servant of my family”; somebody is thinking. “I am the servant of my wife”; or someone is thinking. “I am the servant of my office boss.” Or somebody is thinking. “I am the servant of my dog.” That is also going on.

So one must remain a servant, but if he does not become the servant of Kṛṣṅa, he has to become the servant of so many things. He cannot give up his position as a servant; that’s a fact. Therefore one who is intelligent—one who is actually intelligent—thinks. “If my position is to become a servant, why not become the servant of the Supreme?” This is intelligence.

We are the servant of our senses. Our senses are dictating so many nonsense things, and we are serving them. Therefore one who is not a servant of the senses, one who becomes the servant of Kṛṣṅa. becomes the master of his senses. Such a person is called svāmī or gosvāmī. All over the world, everyone is the servant of the senses: godāsa. One has to become gosvāmī.

So Kṛṣṅa is advising: “I am in everyone’s heart.” You can take advice from Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is ready. One name for Kṛṣṅa is caitya-guru. “the guru situated within your heart.” Kṛṣṅa comes out as the instructor guru or the initiator guru, and He is sitting within the heart as caitya-guru. Kṛṣṅa is ready to help us in two ways: as the external guru and the internal guru. The internal guru is Kṛṣṅa Himself, and the external guru is His manifestation as the spiritual master. So we should take advantage of these two gurus and make our life successful. This is the Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa.