680818 - Lecture SB 07.09.12 - Montreal

Lectures by Date, 1968

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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680818SB-MONTREAL - August 18, 1968 - 44:49 Minutes

Devotees: govindam Adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

Prabhupāda:

govindam Adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.31)

Devotees: govindam Adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

Thank you very much.

tasmād ahaṁ vigata-viklava īśvarasya

sarvātmanā mahi gṛṇāmi yathā manīsam

nīco 'jayā guṇa-visargam anupraviṣṭaḥ

pūyeta yena hi pumān anuvarṇitena

(SB 7.9.12)

So the prayer . . . for offering prayer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, you do not require any high qualification. It doesn't matter. You can offer your prayer from any standard of life. Not that you have to become a very learned man, very scholarly man, and you have to present your prayers in a very nicely selected words so that poetry, rhetoric, prosody, everything is there, metaphor. Nothing required. Simply you have to express your feelings.

So what is that real feeling? One must be aware of his position; then one can express his feeling. Feeling . . . feeling should be very sincere and automatic. And what is our position? That has been taught by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches us how to pray. He says in His prayer, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye (CC Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4).

Jagadīśa: "O my Lord of the universe." Jagat-īśa. Jagat means universe and īśa means Lord.

So it does not matter whether you are Hindu or Muslim or Christian or anyone. It does not matter. But you must know that there is a supreme controller of this universe. How can you deny it? Therefore this word has been used very nicely by Caitanya Mahāprabhu: jagadīśa. Jaya jagadīśa hare. It is universal. Now if you think that "My father is jagadīśa," that is your conviction, but jagadīśa is . . . meaning the Supreme—no controller there. Everyone is controlled. As soon as you see that somebody is controlled, he cannot be the Supreme.

To to find out the jagadīśa . . . the Brahma-saṁhitā gives us information who is jagadīśa. And who is that jagadīśa, or the Supreme? The Brahmā says, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1).

Jagadīśa, īśa, the same word, īśvara. Īśa means controller. So every one of us is controller to some extent. If somebody has nothing to control—he keeps one cat or dog to control, "My dear cat, please come here." He is thinking, "I am controller." And sometimes we find the dog controls the master.

Actually, nobody is controller, everyone is controlled. But we forget the situation. This is called māyā. Therefore we refuse to accept any controller of this universe, because as soon as we accept some controller, then we'll have to account for our sinful activities. As soon as there is a government, then we shall be responsible for our unlawful activities. But our position is that we want to continue our sinful activities.

As such, it is very good to deny any controller. That is the basic principle of godlessness. Why these rascals, they deny there is no God, "God is dead"? Because they want to continue their rascaldom without any restriction. That is the basic principle, they deny. But do you mean to say that denying the God, the God will die or God will . . . there will be no God? No.

There is a nice Bengali proverb, śakunir svape garu more nā (Cows don’t die because of the vulture’s curse.) Śakuni means vulture. The vulture wants some dead carcass of animal, a cow especially. So for days together they do not get it, so it is cursing some cow, "You die." So does it mean that by his cursing the cow will die? Similarly, these vultures, śakuni, they want to see God is dead. At least, they take pleasure, "Oh, now God is dead. I can do anything nonsense I like." This is going on. Śakuni is cursing, the vulture is cursing the cow.

So this sort of knowledge will not do. One must know that there is a controller. That is the beginning of knowledge. Why should you deny? In every field of activities we find some controller. How can I deny that there is no controller of this creation? There is.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu particularly uses this word. He's not manufacturing that word. This jagadīśa, this word, is there in the Vedic language in many verses. Jaya jagadīśa hare. Keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare (Śrī Daśāvatāra-stotra 9). The Jagannātha Jagadīśa, the same word. Jagat-nātha, Jagannātha. Jagat-īśa, Jagadīśa. So . . . and who is that jagadīśa? That is being defined by Brahmā, the first living creature of this universe, in the Brahma-saṁhitā: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1).

The Supreme Lord . . . parama means supreme. Parama means the best, the supreme, the superior. Just like we manufacture . . . we not manufacture; we prepare sometimes paramānna. Anna, anna means foodstuff, and paramānna means that sweet rice. It is called paramānna. Amongst all sorts of rice preparation, that sweet rice preparation is considered to be the best. So param is used when it is the best or the supermost.

So īśvaraḥ, controller. There are many controllers. "Might is right." But nobody is supreme controller. That is not possible. Nobody. Everyone is trying to become the supreme controller, but that is not being possible. By individual effort, by national effort, by communal effort, any way, every community, every nation, every individual person is trying to be the supreme. Therefore there is competition. Everyone is trying to be the supreme, but that is not possible.

This world, this creation is so made that nobody is supreme. Any position you place yourself, you'll find somebody inferior to you and somebody superior to you. Nobody can say that, "I am superior" or "I am inferior." If you think that you are inferior, you'll find somebody immediately less inferior than you. And if you think you are superior, you'll find immediately somebody is more superior than you.

So this is our position. And what is God's position? That is described in the Vedic literature, in Bhagavad-gītā: asamordhva. Asamordhva means nobody is superior, nobody is equal. Two things. If you somebody . . . if you find somebody who has no competitor, equal, and who has no superior, then He is God. The definition of God can be given in two words: one who has no superior and has no equal.

Asamordhva. This is the Vedic version. In the Upaniṣad, it is said, na tasya sama adhikasya dṛśyate. Nobody is found equal to Him or greater than Him. Na tasya sama adhikasya dṛśyate. Parasya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, CC Madhya 13.65, purport). And His energies are manifested in so many ways. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate.

And He has nothing to do. Everyone . . . take any important man. Take your president. Just like the president of United States of America, he is considered to be the supreme man in the States, but as soon as there was some disturbance in Central Europe, immediately he had to call meetings of his Cabinet and to consider how to deal with the situation. So he has to do something always.

If he does not do anything, then he's no more the supreme man. But in the Vedic literature we find, na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate, He has nothing to do. That is superiority. If he has to do something, then he's not supreme. He cannot be. He's acting. You'll be interested to know that one European gentleman, he went to Calcutta, and he visited several temples in Calcutta. And he visited our temple also.

Our temple is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, just the picture, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. So he went to the temple of Goddess Kālī. He saw the Goddess Kālī's very ferocious feature, and he has got one, what is called, chopper in her hand, and it is . . . she's chopping the heads of the demons, and she has the garland of the heads of the demons, and engaged in fighting.

So he's supposed to be intelligent man. He said that, "I find in this temple there is God." "Why? Why you conclude like that?" That "In every temple I saw, that the god, deity, is doing something. But here I see the God is enjoying. He has nothing to do." Very nice conclusion.

This is Vedic conclusion. Why, if he's God . . .? Nowadays the nonsense, they are becoming God by meditation. Does it mean by meditation one can become God? Do you think a dog meditates and becomes God? This is all nonsense. (shouting) God is God! Always God! Just like Kṛṣṇa. He's God in the lap of His mother.

The Putānā, the demonic woman, came to poison the child. She came in a very beautiful girl's dress and asked Yaśodā, "Oh, Yaśodāmayī, you have got very nice baby. Will you kindly give me? I can offer my breast." Yaśodāmayī was very simple village woman. "Oh, yes, you can take my child." But her intention was, she smeared poison on her breast; as soon as Kṛṣṇa will suck, then the child will die.

So this is the demonic spirit. They want to kill Kṛṣṇa always. That's all. "God is dead." They want see how Kṛṣṇa can be killed, how Kṛṣṇa is dead. That is their business. "There is no God" or "God is impersonal" or "God is dead" or . . . so many things. That means they want to see there is no God. Or to kill God. Kaṁsa, always thinking, "As soon as Kṛṣṇa will take His birth, I'll take the baby and kill."

But God is always God. The Putānā rakṣasī took the child and allowed to suck her breast, and God is so kind, He sucked the breast and sucked her life—everything finished. And she appeared, oh, a great, giantlike demon. You know the story, Putānā.

So this God, this child God in the lap of His mother, He's God. He did not become God by meditation, by penance or by austerity or by following the rules and regulation. Why? He's substantially God. The God's manifestation is always there. That is God. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8). He has nothing to do. If anyone has to do something to become God, he's a dog; he's not God. Immediately. Immediately understand. If somebody advertises that by meditation he has become God, by worshiping such-and-such deity he has become God, immediately take that he is dog.

Because the Vedic definition says, na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. Why God has to do something to become God? If you manufacture something gold, that is chemical gold, that is not gold. Gold is natural. Similarly, God is natural. In the womb of His mother He is God, in the lap of His mother He is God, while He's playing with His boyfriends as cowherds boy He's God, while He's dancing with His girlfriends He's God, while He's fighting in Kurukṣetra He's God, while He's marrying He's God, while He's speaking He's God. That is God. To understand God there is no difficulty. If you try to understand Kṛṣṇa, then God is there.

Therefore Brahmā recommends, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). The Supreme God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā Himself that mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañ-jaya (BG 7.7): "My dear Arjuna, Dhanaṣjaya, oh, there is no better object than Me." kiñcid asti. Nothing. Many places. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8): "I am the origin, I am the fountainhead of everything." "Everything" means He's the fountainhead of Lord Śiva, He's fountainhead, the origin of Viṣṇu, He's the origin of Brahmā, He's the origin of Lord Śiva, and what to speak of other demigods, and what to speak of other living creatures. Mamaivāṁśo jīva bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7): "All these living creatures, they are all My parts and parcel." Therefore He is the origin. And in the Brahma-saṁhitā, the Brahmā in his saṁhitā—saṁhitā means Vedic literature—so he explains that "You are finding out God. Here is God." Everywhere you'll find.

But the rascal demons are so obstinate that although Kṛṣṇa is confirmed the supreme God by Brahmā, by Śiva, by Vyāsa, Nārada, Devala and many, many devotees, Bhīṣma . . . there are twelve standard ācāryas. They are svayambhūr nārada śaṁbhu . . . svayambhūr means Brahmā; Nārada, Nārada Muni; and Śaṁbhu means Lord Śiva. Kapila, Vyāsa, Kumāra—everyone has accepted. And in the recent years Lord Caitanya, He says.

And the Bhāgavata says, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Bhāgavata gives list of all incarnations of God, and at the last he concludes that in this list the name "Kṛṣṇa," He is the Supreme Personality. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. And all other manifestations, they are incarnation. Ete ca aṁśa-kalāḥ. All these different names of God, they are either parts or part of the parts. The part of parts is called kalā, and part is called aṁśa.

We are also amsa, but we are very fragmental aṁśa. We are not as big as Viṣṇu. We are very fragmental. We are also aṁśa. So aṁśa kalā. So all others, they are either aṁśa or kalā, but Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇas tu . . . tu means "but." Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So our prayers should be to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore we pray, govindam Adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. We worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original person. We are all persons. Just like your father is person; therefore you are person, your son is person. Similarly, your father's father is a person, his father person, his father person. Go to Brahmā, his . . . he's also person. His father, Viṣṇu, is person. His father, His father, everywhere—Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. God cannot be without being person. He must be person.

This impersonal understanding of God, nirākāravādī, that nirākār . . . of course, in the Vedic language, when we speak nirākāra, ni, ni means negative, and ākāra, ākāra means form. So negative form. Negative form means not that He has no form but He has no form like you and me. That is negative. Form means just like we have got form.

So what is the value of this form? This form will be changed after few years. As soon as I give up this body, this form is changed, just like we change our dress. Therefore He hasn't got a form like this to be changed. Therefore He's sometimes called nirākāra.

Ākāra is there, and that is also explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā, that īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). "Oh, Kṛṣṇa has got a form, sir? How you say that He is the Supreme? Brahman is the Supreme." No. He has form certainly. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. His form is not like you and me. Sac-cid-ānanda. His form is eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ anādir. He has no source. He has no source. He is original.

He is the source of everything, anadir adir, and He is the original Govinda. Govinda means He gives pleasure. How do perceive pleasure? Through your senses. So therefore go means senses and inda means pleasure. So if you serve Kṛṣṇa in your purified senses, then you really become happy. Therefore His name is Govinda. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, anadir adir govinda sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). The cause of all causes. So He is therefore Jagadīśa. Jagadīśa.

Here Prahlāda Mahārāja is trying to offer his prayer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Tasmād ahaṁ vigata-viklava īśvarasya mahi gṛṇāmi. Mahi. Mahi means glorious. His glorious activities. Don't you think His activities as glorious? If a modern scientist has manufactured one, what is called, sputnik, and we are advertising in the paper, "So nice sputnik. It is flying in the air and it's going," and the Supreme Personality has created not only a childish sputnik, but millions and trillions of planets, they are flying in the air—so is not it glorious?

But the rascals will say, jagan mithyā: "This world is false." Why it is false? There are so much brain in manufacturing this world, and is it false? Suppose if you decorate this temple and invite some friend, if he says: "Oh, this is all false," is it not decrying or insulting you? You decorate this temple so nicely, you prepare very nice foodstuff, and he says: "Oh, this is all false." Why? That means he has to appreciation. He's prosaic, he's dull, he's a rascal.

So therefore devotees, they appreciate, "O God, O Kṛṣṇa, how nice You are. How nicely You have manufactured these trees, these flowers, the sky, the planets, the sun, the moon." And he becomes overwhelmed with joy, "Oh, my God is so great." And the rascal it is false. (chuckles) You see how much rascaldom? False. Is it false? If you want to construct one building, you have to work hard your whole life, and if I say: "It is false," how much insulted you are. So they do not know; they have no idea what is God. Yes.

So here Prahlāda Mahārāja says, īśvarasya mahi gṛṇāmi: "I shall glorify the Lord." "Oh, you are a child, sir. You are five years old. How you can glorify?" Yathā manīṣam! "It doesn't matter I am child. Whatever I have got, I shall express my feelings, 'O God, O Lord, oh, You have . . . You are so great.' " That's all right. How you can describe God or understand His glories? That is not possible. He's unlimited. But whatever limitation you have got, if you express feelingly, "My God, My Lord," that will be accepted. That will be accepted.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore teaches us how to pray. This prayer is, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundariṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye (CC Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). Everyone is praying to God with some interest. That is also good. If you go and pray to God, "Give me some money" or "Give me some relief," "Give me a nice house, nice wife, nice foodstuff," that is also good. But not so good as one is praying to God that, "I don't want any money. I don't want any number of followers. I don't want any good wife, nice, beautiful wife." "Then what do you want?" "I want to serve You. That's all." Finish your prayer.

That is the best prayer, "You are so good, You are so nice, You are so great that I want to be engaged in Your service. I am serving these rascals. They are not satisfied, I am not satisfied. Now I have come to You. Please engage me in Your service." That is the last word of prayer.

Thank you.

(break) Any . . .?

(break) Where is Jayapatākā?

Devotee: He's working.

Himāvatī: If Prahlāda Mahārāja is such a great devotee, and a devotee will always say: "Nothing is mine," then why does he say: "O my God"? Why does God become his? Why he says like that?

Prabhupāda: Do you mean to say nothing . . . God is nothing?

Himāvatī: No. I mean why does he say "my God." Why "my God"?

Prabhupāda: Then what shall he say?

Himāvatī: I don't understand then how can he say it? If you understand nothing belongs to you, then how can you say "mine," anything "mine"?

Prabhupāda: Anything mine?

Himāvatī: How can you say that "God is mine"?

Prabhupāda: So? What is your idea? He should be addressed? He should not say "my Lord"?

Himāvatī: I don't know.

Prabhupāda: No. You know it. He's Lord of everyone. Therefore everyone can say "my Lord." That does not mean if somebody says "my Lord," He becomes monopolized. (chuckles) It does not mean. You are speaking on the platform monopolizing, "mine." The God is never monopolized. He's everyone's, so everyone has the right to say "my God," "my Lord." It does not mean . . . generally, in the material sense, when I say: "This is my spectacle," it does not belong to you. Is it not?

So this "my" is not that "my." When I say "my God," that does not mean He's not your God. That is the difference. In the material sense, when I say "It is my wife," then it is not any other's wife. But God is not like that. If I say "my God," so you can say "my God," he can say "my God," everyone can say "my God." This is spiritual "my," absolute "my."

Try to understand this way, that in the material sense, when I say something "my," that is different from when I say "my God." That is different. That is not exactly . . . as we think in the material way, "my thing," "my God," "my home," "my wife," "my wealth," "my bank," it is not like that.

But the relationship . . . just like I say "my hand." So how can I express? Just like Kṛṣṇa says mamaivāṁśo (BG 15.7). Mama means "mine." "These, all these living creatures, they are My part and parcels." So why the living creatures shall not say "My God"? Do you follow? Kṛṣṇa says: "You are Mine." Why shall you not say: "Kṛṣṇa, You are mine"? Your husband says: "You are mine." Why shall you not say: "You are mine"? But don't take it in the material sense. In material sense, as soon as I say it is mine, it is nobody else's. It is my property. Law of identity, or something like that.

So Kṛṣṇa is not like that. So you can say Kṛṣṇa, "my," there is no harm. Rather, if anyone wants to possess something as his, that that should be . . . that possession should be Kṛṣṇa. That is the ultimate conception of "mine." That is the perfection of the word "mine." So it is quite nice, quite fit to . . . teṣu te mayi (BG 7.12), in the Bhagavad-gītā. "He is Mine and I am his," Kṛṣṇa says. So this is not wrong. And what is your idea, that because everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, therefore I shall not say "my"? That's your idea?

Himāvatī: No, I didn't understand it like this, that Kṛṣṇa is the Lord.

Prabhupāda: Yes

Himāvatī: So my Lord is everyone else's Lord?

Prabhupāda: Yes and He's the controller, and that's why He's mine. He's mine, He's your, everyone's. That's all.

Himāvatī: I can understand it now.

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Yes?

Rukmiṇī: How does (one) feel so far away from you when you're not here?

Prabhupāda: Hmm? What is that? I do not follow. What is . . .?

Rukmiṇī: I feel so far away . . .

Prabhupāda: Janārdana?

Rukmiṇī: I feel so far away from you, you know, when you're not here.

Janārdana: She's saying she feels so far away from you when you are not here.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that you should not think. If . . . the words . . . there are two conceptions, the physical conception and the vibration conception. So physical conception is temporary. The vibration conception is eternal. Just like we are enjoying, or we are relishing, the vibration of Kṛṣṇa's teachings. So by vibration He is present.

As soon as we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or chant Bhagavad-gītā or Bhāgavata, so He is present immediately by His vibration. He's absolute. Therefore vibration is more important than physical presence. When you feel separation from your spiritual master, you just try to remember His words of instruction; you'll not feel separation. You'll feel that He is with you.

So we should associate by the vibration, and not by the physical presence. That is real association. Śabdād anavṛtti (Vedānta-sūtra 4.4.22): by sound. Just like we are touching Kṛṣṇa immediately by sound, sound vibration. So we should give more stress on the sound vibration, either of Kṛṣṇa or of the spiritual master. Then we'll feel happy and no separation. When Kṛṣṇa departed from this world, at that time Arjuna was overwhelmed with sorrow, and he began to remember the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. You'll find in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Then he was pacified. He immediately began to remember the teachings which was taught to him in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and he was pacified. He was his constant friend, so when Kṛṣṇa went to His abode he was feeling overwhelmed, but he began to remember His teaching. So whenever we shall feel separation, the best thing is to remember the teachings. Then it will be very nice.

Is that clear? Yes.

So you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Janārdana, you can play mṛdaṅga. Yes. (end)