730720 - Lecture BG 01.24-25 - London

Lectures by Date, 1973

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

730720BG-LONDON - July 20, 1973 - 40:00 Minutes

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat) (leads chanting of verse).

sañjaya uvāca

evam ukto hṛṣīkeśo

guḍākeśena bhārata

senayor ubhayor madhye

sthāpayitvā rathottamam

(BG 1.24)

(break)

bhīṣma-droṇa-pramukhataḥ

sarveśāṁ ca mahīkṣitām

uvāca pārtha paśyaitān

samavetān kurūn iti

(BG 1.25)

(break) (leads chanting of synonyms)

sañjayaḥ—Sañjaya; uvāca—said; evam—thus; uktaḥ—addressed; hṛṣīkeśaḥ—Lord Kṛṣṇa; guḍākeśena—by Arjuna; bhārata—O descendant of Bharata; senayoḥ—of armies; ubhayoḥ—of both; madhye—in the midst of; sthāpayitvā—by placing; rathottamam—the finest chariot.

Translation: "Sañjaya said: O descendant of Bharata, being thus addressed by Arjuna, Lord Kṛṣṇa drew up the fine chariot in the midst of the armies of both parties."

bhīṣma—Grandfather Bhīṣma; droṇa—the teacher Droṇa; pramukhataḥ—in the front of; sarveṣām—all; ca—also; mahīkṣitām—chiefs of the world; uvāca—said; pārtha—O Pārtha (son of Pṛthā); paśya—just behold; etān—all of them; samavetān—assembled; kurūn—all the members of the Kuru dynasty; iti—thus.

Translation: "In the presence of Bhīṣma, Droṇa and all other chieftains of the world, Hṛṣīkeśa, the Lord, said: 'Just behold, Pārtha, all the Kurus who are assembled here.' "

Prabhupāda: So, sañjaya uvāca. Actually Sañjaya, the secretary of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he is relating the activities in the battlefield. Dhṛtarāṣṭra is blind. How in the battlefield the fighting was going on, Sañjaya was observing, either by television or a similar method. Otherwise, how he could explain things are going on in the battlefield in the room? This Bhagavad-gītā, Sañjaya explained all activities in the battlefield to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, within the room. So there must have been something like television, or higher than the television, he was seeing within himself everything.

So scientific improvement is coming, but still on the material platform. Material means gross material and subtle material. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā:

bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ

khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca

ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me

prakṛti bhinnā aṣṭadhā

(BG 7.4)

Earth, water, fire, air, sky, these five elements are gross material. Everyone can see, gross. We can see earth, we can see water, we can see fire, air, or we can perceive the sky also. But there are subtle matter also: mind, intelligence, ego. We cannot see the mind. We cannot see intelligence. I understand that you have got intelligence, or everyone knows we have got mind, but we cannot see. This is subtle. They are also matter, subtle matter.

So the television is a machine made of gross matter, but there is possibility of making another machine of subtle matter. There is possibility. Because matter, they are also matter. That subtle matter machine is not yet discovered. But here we can see the subtle matter discovery was there. Otherwise, how Sañjaya could see the activities in the battlefield? This is to be understood. They are very much proud of material advancement of science, but still, they have to make advancement, subtle matter. And above that subtle matter, within that subtle matter, there is spiritual identity. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ, manasas tu parā buddhiḥ (BG 3.42).

First of all we can see a person. A person we see, what do we see? The senses. But we cannot see the director of the senses. The director of the senses is the mind. And the director of the mind is intelligence. And the owner of the intelligence is the soul. This is understanding. The soul is there. Whose intelligence? As soon as we shall say intelligence, whose intelligence? That is the soul's intelligence. Wherefrom the intelligence is coming? From Paramātmā, Hṛṣīkeśa. Therefore this word is used here, hṛṣīkeśa.

The intelligence will come from Paramātmā. Otherwise, we cannot act. Just like a child has got intelligence, but it is guided by the parent's intelligence, "My dear son, do like this," and he does it. Similarly, we have got all this mind, intelligence, everything, but that is being guided by the superintelligence, Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He is called Hṛṣīkeśa. Once we have explained Hṛṣīkeśa.

So we have to reach that platform where we can talk with Hṛṣīkeśa. That is spiritual platform. That is possible. The more you become purified, you can talk with Hṛṣīkeśa, who is within yourself. He is not outside. Although He is in Goloka Vṛndāvana—Kṛṣṇa is always in Vṛndāvana, in the spiritual world—but because He is Kṛṣṇa, He can remain with you also at the same time, simultaneously. This is Kṛṣṇa. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37).

goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya

devī-maheśa-hari-dhāmasu teṣu teṣu

te te prabhāva-nicayā vihitāś ca yena

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.43)

It is proposed, our Māyāpur temple will be on this plan. Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya.

The highest planetary system, spiritual, that is spiritual planet, that is named goloka-nāmni, Goloka Vṛndāvana. We have given that picture in the Bhāgavata cover. Perhaps you know. The topmost original planet is the Goloka. Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni. That is the abode of Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-dhāma. Kṛṣṇa-dhāma. People are searching after God, but actually there is the planet where God lives, Kṛṣṇa lives. But you have got your machine, aeroplane, sputnik.

You can reach there. But you cannot reach even the highest planet even on this material planet, material universe. Everyone sees. We see the stars or planets. Now you have got the machine; you go there. No. You cannot go. You are so limited. Even you cannot go to the moon planet, which is so nearest. You cannot go. But still, we are proud of our these airplanes, sputniks. We are thinking, "Now we have become God."

These rascals they do not know what is God. They are all rascals. They have no idea what is God. Therefore they have accepted another rascal as God. This is going on. You cannot reach. Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām, so 'pyasti yat prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve (Bs. 5.34), śāstra gives you. Just like your material science also gives you information that there is one planet, highest planet, and one can go there by sputnik in forty thousands of years. So who is going to live forty thousand years to reach there? But they have got theoretically all these things. The highest planet. Material. That is not spiritual.

So after finishing this material world, there is covering of the universe, stock matter, mahat-tattva, wherefrom all these material comings. There is stock. So you have to penetrate through that stock material. And each layer of stock is ten times more than the other. So you have to pierce through the stock, material stock; then you reach the spiritual world. And the spiritual world, there are many . . . "Many" means three times more than these universes. This universe, this material universe, is only one-fourth manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's creation. Ekāṁśena sthito jagat. When Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṇa, "So would you kindly explain little of Your opulence?" "Yes." So He said: "I am this. Out of this, I am this," and so on. He summarized:

athavā bahunaitena

kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna

viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ sarvam

ekāṁśena sthito jagat

(BG 10.42)

Ekāṁśena. You are seeing this universe. This universe—only a fragment of the material creation. A fragment. Caitanya Mahāprabhu informed us . . . one of His devotee requested Caitanya Mahāprabhu, "My dear Lord, You have come personally. You kindly take all the living entities to the spiritual world. Be kind enough upon them. And if You think that they are so sinful they cannot be taken, then transfer all their sins unto me. You take them. You take them."

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu began to smile that, "Even if I take the all the living entities of the universe, but do you know, this universe is only one fragmental part of other, all other universes. There are many other universes." And He compared that, "In a bag where . . . bag full of mustard seeds"—just imagine a big bag of mustard seeds—"and this universe is just like one mustard seed." There are so many universes. So many universes.

And it is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā: yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Jagad-aṇḍa. Jagad-aṇḍa means this universe. Brahmāṇḍa, jagad-aṇḍa. Koṭi, innumerable. Jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam (Bs. 5.40). And each universe there are innumerable planets. And each planet is different from others. This is God's creation. And these rascal are manufacturing God.

And there is other description also: yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). This jagad-aṇḍa, the universe. And there, in each universe, there is a controller of the universe, Brahmā. He is called jagad-aṇḍa-nātha, master of this universe. Because it is controlled by Brahmā, therefore each universe is called brahmāṇḍa. It is controlled by Brahmā. So in the Brahma-saṁhitā we get information: jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ, plural number. There are many, many thousands jagad-aṇḍa . . .

Not only one Brahmā. Many millions of Brahmās, many millions of Śiva, many millions of Viṣṇu, many millions of sun. Many . . . because there are many millions of universes. Now, just imagine. This is material creation. And that material creation, Kṛṣṇa says, ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). Taking all the material universes, it is only one-fourth creation of the Lord. And the three-fourth creation is the spiritual world. Just imagine what is spiritual world. And in that spiritual, the topmost planet is Goloka.

So you cannot go even in the moon planet. How you can go to that spiritual planet, penetrating the material coverings coming to the spiritual effulgence, Brahman, and after all these universes, then . . .? Therefore it is said, panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyaḥ (Bs. 5.34). Koṭi-śata-vatsara, millions of years, if you go with your sputnik with full force . . . panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara. Not this Sputnik, but make your planes of mind speed. This is material speed. What is this speed? A few thousands, twenty thousand, fifty thousand. But do you know mind speed? You are sitting here, and immediately, within a second, you can go to India. This is mind speed. Immediately.

So panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara sampragamyo vāyor athāpi (Bs. 5.34). By the air speed or mind speed. Vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām. And driven by great scientists, muni-puṅgava. Puṅgava means very expert, nara-puṅgava. So big, big scientist, expert scientist, if they can discover airplane which is running on mind speed or air speed . . . they are not . . . they cannot go by the air speed. They fly on the air, but not with the air speed. So in this way, still, avicintya-tattve, after going many, many millions of years in that speed, still you will find, "Oh, Goloka Vṛndāvana is far, far away." This is the position.

So that Kṛṣṇa . . . and we are explaining what is Kṛṣṇa. Don't consider Kṛṣṇa is ordinary human being. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Because He kindly appears before us just like ordinary human being, don't think that He is like us. It is the conclusion. Just like these rascals, they think that "Because Kṛṣṇa appeared as a human being, I am also God. I am also God. Why Kṛṣṇa shall be alone God?" So we are trying to explain what is Kṛṣṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīkeśa. Then goloka-nāmni. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. Goloka eva nivasati.

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis

tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ

goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.37)

So our worship is very subtle. Tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. We worship that Govinda, ādi-puruṣam. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. We don't worship ordinary so-called rascals. We worship Govinda. How Govinda is? The Govinda's description is Brahma-saṁhitā. That Govinda, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ: "He is always in the spiritual world, which is ānanda-cinmaya-rasa." Not this kind of ānanda—cinmayānanda, spiritual bliss.

Spiritual bliss means it is continually going on; still, nobody is fed up. Here you can accept any ānanda in this material world, so many things. It cannot go on very long time. Suppose if I give you rasagullā, one rasagullā, you can take, "Oh, very nice." Another, "Very nice." Another, "Nice." You see? Then next four or five, "No, I do not want." Finished. Similarly, any ānanda you can take. Sex life. It cannot be continued. Finished. So try to understand what is cinmayānanda. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhā . . . it . . . they'll never ends. It goes, nava-nava-yauvana, one after another, new, new, new, new. Just try to understand what is spiritual bliss. You do not . . . the sahajiyās, they accept this material bliss as spiritual bliss. That is called sahajiyā. Don't be sahajiyās. Try to understand according to śāstra.

So Kṛṣṇa is described, this how He becomes Hṛṣīkeśa, that goloka eva nivasati. He is enjoying with His associates, the cowherds boy, the gopīs, in goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni. He is enjoying there. At the same time, He is within your heart. This is Kṛṣṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa. He's come simultaneously, not only within your heart, within the atom. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam aham . . . (Bs. 5.35). Not only within your heart, but within the atom. Just imagine how many atoms there are. So Kṛṣṇa is everywhere.

These are . . . we have to take information of Kṛṣṇa from the śāstra. Śāstram eva cakṣusā. Vedānta-sūtra. Your eyes should be śāstra, not your so-called imagination. Śāstra-cakṣusā. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma . . . (BG 16.23). If you give up the direction of the śāstra and manufacture your own way, yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ, as you like, then na sa siddhim avāpnoti: you will never get siddhi, perfection. Never get. Na sa siddhim avāp . . . na sukham, neither happiness.

And what to speak of parāṁ gatim, going back to home, back to Godhead. So śāstra-cakṣusā. Everything we have to take from the śāstra. Because we are blind now. Śāstra-cakṣusā. Our, the śāstra-jñāna, because the spiritual master enlightens the disciple with śāstra-jñāna, therefore he is spiritual master. If the spiritual master bluffs the disciple, then he is not spiritual master. Bluffing. No.

om ajñāna-timirāndhasya

jñānāñjana-śalākayā

cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena

tasmai śrī-guruve namaḥ

(Śrī guru-praṇāma)

This is guru. Guru means he'll always enlighten the disciples with the light of śāstra. Not that he will say: "There is no need of śāstra. I am incarnation. I, whatever I speak, you take it." No. This is rascal. You should immediately, who has no reference to the śāstra, immediately take him as a rascal number one. This is the conclusion.

So here is śāstra, Bhagavad-gītā. Hṛṣīkeśa. We have already explained one day. Here also, again we are explaining. Hṛṣīkeśa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is there. He never leaves from Vṛndāvana. He is there. Why? Here also. Just like we see, a very rich man, a very influential man, the president, he lives in his . . . the Queen, she is in the Buckingham Palace. But she cannot go at the same time anywhere and everywhere. No. She is in . . . packed up in Buckingham Palace. Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Therefore He is Hṛṣīkeśa. Try to understand the distinction between Kṛṣṇa and others. Kṛṣṇa is goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). Ātma-bhūta. This ātma-bhūta is Hṛṣīkeśa. He is giving intelligence. The more you become purified, the more you get direct instruction from Hṛṣīkeśa. This is the point.

So how you can become purified? Purified means no more influenced by the modes of material nature. That is explained: guḍākeśa. Guḍāka īśa. Guḍāka means darkness, and īśa, when you become master of this material world, or material senses. This material world means material senses. That's all. So if you become master of the material senses, then you become guḍākeśa. Therefore Arjuna is described here as guḍākeśa.

Arjuna . . . don't take Arjuna that he was mistaken. No, he cannot be. How he can be? He is constantly with Kṛṣṇa. How he can be misdirected? No. That is not possible. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that kṛṣṇa sūrya-sama māyā andhakāra (CC Madhya 22.31). So guḍāka means darkness, māyā. So kṛṣṇa sūrya-sama māyā andhakāra. The darkness and light is there always, side by side. We have got experience. Here is sunlight, here is darkness. So these two things are there. So:

kṛṣṇa—sūrya-sama; māyā haya andhakāra

yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa, tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra

Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, there is no jurisdiction of darkness, or māyā.

daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī

mama māyā duratyayā

mām eva ye prapadyante

māyām etāṁ taranti te

(BG 7.14)

You can become immediately out of the scope of māyā if you always remain surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. Māyā will not touch you. Just like if you remain always in the sunshine, there is no question of night. Nowadays it is very easy. If you simply drive your plane on the western side, you'll never get night. You just round about. Yes. It is . . . just like it is materially possible. You drive your plane simply on the western side. Start your plane in the morning and go to the western side and don't stop it. You go on for three, four, as many days as you like, you'll never get night. This is practical. Similarly, if you keep always with Kṛṣṇa, you are guḍākeśa—you will never get darkness. Or māyā will not touch you. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So try to become guḍākeśa.

The next verse: Kṛṣṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa. So He knew the sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15). Kṛṣṇa is there. Kṛṣṇa knows what is your purpose, what you want to do, what is your past, future. Everything Kṛṣṇa knows. Everything Kṛṣṇa knows. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni (BG 7.26): "I know everything." So Kṛṣṇa, sthāpayitvā, rathottamaṁ sthāpayitvā. As soon as Arjuna asked Him, senayor ubhayor madhye rathaṁ sthāpaya me 'cyuta (BG 1.21), immediately He carried out the order and He knew why he wants. He wanted to see, "With whom I have to fight, my friends and relatives." He's hesitating.

So why this ignorance of Arjuna, the question may be. Arjuna is guḍākeśa. He is above this material world. How he is being affected by his so-called relatives and kinsmen? He was hesitating to fight on this principle that, "They are my relatives. They are my kinsmen. They are my family members." He was always thinking. Therefore Kṛṣṇa knew it. So he has become so family-wise infected. But he is guḍākeśa. How it is possible? He is above all these things. Yes, he is above all these things. By Kṛṣṇa's desire, he is playing like that, ordinary man. Otherwise, how Bhagavad-gītā will come? Kṛṣṇa cannot talk with ordinary person. Kṛṣṇa cannot fight with ordinary person.

Even the demons, when they come . . . just like Hiraṇyākṣa, Hiraṇyakaśipu. They were Jaya-Vijaya in the Vaikuṇṭha world. So they came here, and Kṛṣṇa asked them that, "If you become My enemy, then within three births you will come back. And if you remain friend, then seven births." So they preferred, "Oh, I shall become Your enemy, Sir, so that I can come back again after three births." So why? The Kṛṣṇa has all the propensities. Just like we sometimes want to fight, mock fight. So in the Vaikuṇṭha world there cannot be any fight. So because Kṛṣṇa wanted to exercise His fighting spirit, He sent His devotee. He became enemy and He fought.

So you have to understand Kṛṣṇa in that way, as Hṛṣīkeśa. He knows that unless Arjuna becomes affected family-wise, how Bhagavad-gītā will be there? Therefore although Guḍākeśa, Arjuna, is above darkness, still, by the will of Kṛṣṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa, he played just like ordinary man, affected with his family affection.

Therefore Kṛṣṇa in the next verse says . . . uvāca. Kṛṣṇa said: "My dear Pārtha, now you wanted to see with whom you have to fight. Now here is Bhīṣma, Droṇa and many other kings, all the descendants of Kuru dynasty, your Dhṛtarāṣṭra's sons. Now you see very nicely and be prepared to fight with them." So this is the explanation of Hṛṣīkeśa and Guḍākeśa.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (cut) (end)