Bhagavad-gītā As It Is

Bhagavad-gītā 7.9–10

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse]

puṅyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau jīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣu tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu [Bg 7.9]

[I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics.]

Prabhupāda: Next verse also.

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi pārtha sanātanam buddhir buddhimatām asmi tejas tejasvinām aham [Bg 7.10]

[O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.]

[leads chanting of synonyms for both verses] [break]

[05:14]

Translation: "I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics. O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent and the prowess of all powerful men."

Prabhupāda:

puṅyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau jīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣu tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu [Bg 7.9]

[I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics.]

Puṅyo gandhaḥ: it may be original, also the fragrant. Just like there are some flowers like rose, the fragrance is very nice. Of course, all fragrance is varieties, but pṛthivyāṁ ca, the fragrance is coming from the earth. It is not synthetic fragrance. So the same earth, the same watering, the same, what is called, sāra? For growing the trees, you...

Devotee: Manure.

Prabhupāda: Manure. The same manure, same water, the same gardener, but according to different flowers, the fragrance is different. How this is done? Can any scientist answer? How it is coming differently? And why there are differences? If it is nature, then the ingredients are the same. Why nature is not producing the same quality or the same kind of flower or trees or fruits? Why? Therefore it is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā that nature is not all in all. Nature cannot work independently. Nature is the material world, material elements.

So it is answered there in the Bhagavad-gītā: 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 superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṅa. He, He likes that "This kind of bīja, or the seed, will produce this kind of flower and this kind of flavor." The superintendence is there of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We fools, we say, we cannot explain. We say "nature." What is this nature? There must be brain behind the nature. Otherwise, how a rose, so nicely it is coming? Even from artistic point of view, if you want to paint one flower, you have to take so much labor, so many color, reflection, and so many instrument, then hardly you can paint one nice rose flower. Still, it is not as good, and not at all good in comparison to the original flower. So if this third-class flower you have to apply so much brain, and this first-class flower has no brain behind it? Is that very good logic? What is this logic? There must be brain. And that is stated here: puṅyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau [Bg 7.9].

[I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics.]

Aham. "It is My..., under My superintendence."

So Kṛṣṅa is giving us intelligence that "If you do not go to the temple or do not hear to the ācārya, you can at least try to understand My presence when you see a flower or smell a flower." Is that very difficult job? Kṛṣṅa consciousness is so nice. Even drinking water, even by seeing the sunshine, even by seeing the moonshine or, if you are a Vedic scholar, by chanting oṁ, praṅavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu, or even by hearing the sound vibration, or by seeing a flower, or smelling a flower, something brilliant... Just like the sun is brilliant, the moon is brilliant. Tejaś cāsmi. So wherefrom this brilliance come? The brilliance is imitation, reflection of the bodily brilliance of Kṛṣṅa. That is stated in the Brahma-sūtra, er, Brahma-saṁhitā: yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi [Bs 5.40].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the nondifferentiated Brahman mentioned in the Upaniṣads, being differentiated from the infinity of glories of the mundane universe appears as the indivisible, infinite, limitless, truth.]

Then why we should disbelieve? We can see eye-to-eye that the sun is so brilliant. It is a material product only. But wherefrom the sun has come, so brilliant? Yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṅāṁ rājā samasta-mūrti..., samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ [Bs 5.52].

[The sun who is the king of all the planets, full of infinite effulgence, the image of the good soul, is as the eye of this world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in pursuance of whose order the sun performs his journey mounting the wheel of time.]

The brilliance and the temperature is unlimited. So wherefrom the brilliance comes? You can calculate yourself, that "The sun is composition of these chemicals, this material...," but why don't you produce? Why don't you produce an imitation sun so that you'll save so much money for electricity? At night you can get one sun in Bombay city. [laughs] [laughter]

So the rascals will give all description, but they'll never be prepared to prepare it, to manufacture it. Recently... It is a practical... In California one learned chemical scholar—he has got Nobel Prize—so he was describing that "From matter, life has come." So there was one student, he's my disciple, Svarūpa Dāmodara. He questioned, "Sir, if I give you all these chemicals, can you produce life?" Then he said, "That I cannot say." But if you know that these chemical composes life, so when I give you the chemicals, why don't you produce? So simply theorizing. Simply theorizing. Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyaḥ [Bs 5.34].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, only the tip of the toe of whose lotus feet is approached by the yogīs who aspire after the transcendental and betake themselves to prāṅāyāma by drilling the respiration; or by the jñānīs who try to find out the nondifferentiated Brahman by the process of elimination of the mundane, extending over thousands of millions of years.]

So we cannot decide by theorizing. But if we take shelter of Kṛṣṅa, here is the perfect knowledge, that aham, "I am the background." Otherwise, how we can explain? You have to accept that... [break] Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8].

[The Supreme Lord has nothing to do. Nothing is equal to Him or greater than Him. He acts in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His unlimited, variegated potencies. Each potency acts quite naturally in sequences, providing Him full knowledge, power and pastimes.]

Just like if you have to paint one flower or if you have to create some scent, you have to mix so many chemicals. But He's so powerful, His energies are so perfect, that svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca: simply by His willing, immediately, everything is there. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Cc Madhya 13.65, purport]. That is the appreciation of the energy of God. If you are not appreciating, that is your fault; but there is brain, there is work. But the energy is so perfect... Just like nowadays, electric, electronic energy, you simply push on one button and so many things happens immediately. It is still, still, hundred thousand times subtler. Simply by His willing, everything has come out. This is understanding. But because we have no such brain, neither we can think, we evade the issue. Therefore if we want to understand how this flower has come in, how this fragrance is there, you try to understand that it is due to Kṛṣṅa. And appreciate. That is Kṛṣṅa consciousness. You appreciate: "Oh, my Lord is so..."

There is a story, I shall—it is not story; or take it as story—that sometimes Nārada Muni was passing, and one very learned scholar, brāhmaṅa, he saw Nārada Muni, and he asked Nārada Muni, "Sir, where you are going?" He said, "I am going to Vṛndāvana..., er, yes, Vaikuṅṭha, to see my Lord." "Oh, you are going there?" Nārada Muni has got free passage to everyone. So, "Will you ask Nārāyaṅa when my liberation will come?" "All right, I shall ask." Then he met another cobbler. He was sewing shoes. So he also asked, "Sir, where you are going?" "Now I am going to Vaikuṅṭha to see my Lord." So, "Will you ask when I shall get salvation?" So Nārada Muni noted, "All right, I shall ask." So when Nārada Muni met Nārāyaṅa, he, after finishing his business, he asked the two men's question, that "These two men, one very learned scholar, brāhmaṅa, he also asked me this question, and the cobbler also asked me." So Nārāyaṅa said, "This cobbler will get his salvation after finishing this life, and this brāhmaṅa will have to take..., wait for many, many births."

So Nārada Muni became very much inquisitive: "How is that?" So when he came back, first of all he met the brāhmaṅa. He inquired, "Did you inquire, sir, about me?" "Yes, yes. He said that you have to wait many, many births..." No, He did not say many, many births. Kṛṣṅa said... Nārāyaṅa said that "When you meet them again, you say that, if they inquire 'What my Lord was doing at that time?' you say that 'He was pulling one elephant from the hole of a nail,' " what is called?

Devotees: Needle.

Prabhupāda: Needle. So when he met the brāhmaṅa he said... And he inquired, "What Nārāyaṅa was doing when you met Him?" "I saw that He was pulling one elephant through the hole of a needle." So he immediately said, "All right, sir. Namaskāra. Your all these big, big stories we cannot believe, that an elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle." And the same question was raised by the cobbler, and he..., Nārada Muni replied in the same way. And he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful. He can do anything." So Nārada Muni inquired that "How do you believe that the elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle?" "Now, why not? I am seeing daily, I am sitting under this banyan tree and there is fig, banyan fruit, and there are thousands of seeds, and I know that each seed's containing a big tree like this."

That's a fact. Everyone knows. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām [Bg 7.10].

[O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.]

Here Kṛṣṅa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. Is there any chemist, just get one small seed like the fig seed? It is very small, but it contains that big tree. Where is that chemistry? Where is that physics? So here is the answer. Kṛṣṅa says, bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi. Big, even this big, gigantic universe, that is also bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām. It is stated in the Vedic literature, yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṅḍa-nāthāḥ [Bs 5.48].

[Brahmā and other lords of the mundane worlds, appearing from the pores of hair of Mahā-Viṣṅu, remain alive as long as the duration of one exhalation of the latter [Mahā-Viṣṅu]. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whose subjective personality Mahā-Viṣṅu is the portion of portion.]

There are so many things. Everyone is inquisitive, "Where is the beginning of this thing?" The beginning is the Supreme Lord. That is the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. Beginning is there. So you cannot say that life has come from matter. That is not possible. Because here it is said, Kṛṣṅa says, that bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām. Anything which has come into existence, the original source is Kṛṣṅa. So Kṛṣṅa is life. He's not dead stone. Therefore the conclusion is: from life, life has come and matter has come. Not that matter has come from life..., er, what is that? Life has come from matter. That is not the conclusion. That is wrong conclusion.

So if you actually require perfect knowledge, then we have to accept knowledge this, like this way. It is called avaroha-panthā. Avaroha-panthā means a descendence, or deductive process. So our Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, we claim that we have got perfect knowledge of everything because we are taking knowledge from the perfect person—Kṛṣṅa. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg 4.2].

[This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.]

And that is the real process. If you simply speculate to arrive at the conclusion, inductive process... Just like if you want to study whether man is mortal or immortal, there are two processes. Deductive process, you take the idea from superior person that man is mortal. If you accept, then your knowledge is perfect. But if you want to approach the knowledge by inductive process, by studying each man, whether he is mortal or immortal, you may study thousand, two thousand, five thousand, but you cannot study all the men. Therefore your conclusion remains always defective. You cannot do that. Therefore the best process is knowledge is to receive from the person who is authorized. Actually, you do that. We go to a school, we go to college, to receive knowledge from the superior person. That is our process. That is perfect knowledge. You cannot manufacture knowledge.

Therefore real knowledge of everything can be had from the Bhagavad-gītā. If you study it nicely, it is very easier and perfect. Bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi pārtha sanātanam [Bg 7.10].

[O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.]

Sanātanam. Sanātanam means eternal. It is not that bīja, that which is produced and again it is vanquished. Sanātanam. In another place Kṛṣṅa says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. The all living entities...

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg 14.4]

[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]

Aham, the person. He is the... Just like the father gives the seed in the womb of the mother and the child comes out. Similarly, sarva-bhūtānām, not only human being, but also all living entities. There are 8,400,000 species of living entities. The original bīja, the seed, the seed-giving father is Kṛṣṅa. Therefore Kṛṣṅa is international or inter-universal. Kṛṣṅa is not a Hindu or Indian or this or that. Kṛṣṅa is for everyone. So I have explained to my foreign students, American, European and African and other, that "Kṛṣṅa is for everyone. Don't take it that Kṛṣṅa is for the Hindus, for the Indians, or for the brāhmaṅas or the kṣatriyas. No. Kṛṣṅa is for everyone." Therefore our society's name is "Kṛṣṅa Consciousness."

So our only request is that "Take Kṛṣṅa as the original father." Original father. It is very easy to understand. As I have got my father, my father has got father, his father, his father his... Who is the original father? The original father is Kṛṣṅa. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg 14.4]. So where is the difficulty to understand? There must be one original father. If you go on researching who is the original father, then you'll come to the conclusion that Kṛṣṅa is the original father.

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.]

This is the Vedic version. Sarva-kāraṅa-kāraṅam [Bs 5.1]. Father's father, his father, his father, you go on, go on, you come to Brahmā. Brahmā is considered as the forefather or grandfather, pitāmaha. But Kṛṣṅa is addressed in the Bhagavad-gītā: prapitāmaha, even the father of Brahmā. Prapitāmaha. You'll find in the Eleventh Chapter, prapitāmaha [Bg 11.39].

[You are air, fire, water, and You are the moon! You are the supreme controller and the grandfather. Thus I offer my respectful obeisances unto You a thousand times, and again and yet again!]

He's father of... Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye [SB 1.1.1]. You know, those who are conversant with the śāstras, that Brahmā's another name is Svayambhū. He's not born of any material father and mother. He's born on the lotus flower sprouted from the navel of Mahā-Viṣṅu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṅu. Therefore his name is Svayambhū. Svayambhū is one of the authorities because he was first educated about the Vedic knowledge by Kṛṣṅa, or Viṣṅu. Tene brahma hṛdā. Brahma means Vedic knowledge. Tene means imparted. Ādi-kavaye, the ādi-kavi, the original person. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ. Even big, big personalities, they become bewildered to understand Kṛṣṅa. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says... We have already discussed:

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

So Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Person. Kṛṣṅa is the original of everything, original source of everything. That is the verdict of the... Therefore Arjuna accepted, sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava [Bg 10.14]:

[O Kṛṣṅa, I totally accept as truth all that You have told me. Neither the gods nor demons, O Lord, know Thy personality.]

"My dear Kṛṣṅa, whatever You are saying, I accept Him, accept all these in toto, not deducting, not giving my own commentation." This is the way of studying Bhagavad-gītā. So if you study Bhagavad-gītā as it is, as it is said in the..., and if you accept it, then your life is successful. Otherwise, panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām [Bs 5.34],

you'll never understand what is God or what is ultimate source, what is Absolute Truth. So the Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of all Vedic literatures because, after all, Vedic literature means vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ [Bg 15.15],

[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]

to understand Kṛṣṅa, the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the purpose of Vedic study. So the Supreme Personality Himself is giving the knowledge of the Supreme by Himself, personally. Therefore we are preaching this Bhagavad-gītā as it is, Kṛṣṅa consciousness. And the easiest method is to chant Kṛṣṅa's name. Easiest method. It is recommended. It is not our manufacture. It is said. When Mahārāja Parīkṣit learned all the defects of this Kali-yuga, then he was little disappointed, "How these men or the persons...?" Men means human being. "How they will be relieved from the miserable condition of materialistic life in this Age of Kali?" Because it is all defective.

Now, it is stated in that chapter that in the Kali-yuga the mlecchā rājanya-rūpiṅo bhakṣayiṣyanti prajās te. The government will be all mlecchas, not the kṣatriyas. Mlecchas. Mlecchā rājanya-rūpiṅaḥ. They'll take the post of government post, government service. And their business will be bhakṣayiṣyanti prajās te: they'll devour all the prajās. And in this way the prajās will be so much, I mean to say, distressed that gacchanti giri-kānanam. Gacchanti giri-kānanam. They will be so much, I mean to say, harassed that they will give up their home and hearth and go to the forest. That time is coming. That time is coming. It is no more that brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya... Therefore human civilization, there is no human civilization if there is no such division as brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. That is not human... That is animal civilization. Cātur-varṅyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṅa... [Bg 4.13].

[According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.]

Everything is there. Social, political, economical, all solutions are there in the Bhagavad-gītā. But unfortunately, it is our property, it is..., it was spoken in India, and it was desired that all Indians should learn it and spread the knowledge all over the world—the rascals are doing nothing. Caitanya Mahāprabhu ordered, bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra [Cc Ādi 9.41].

[One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.]

It is for the perfect human being. Janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra. The other parts of the world, they're in darkness. So there is great necessity of spreading the knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā all over the world. The customers are also ready. So if you want glory of India, if you want to glorify your life, just study Bhagavad-gītā as it is and spread it all over the world. You'll be honored. Single-handed, whatever I have done, they are thinking wonderful. And if we have got many, many persons to go outside India and preach this gospel of Bhagavad-gītā, they will be benefited and you will be glorified. Your country will be glorified. This message of Bhagavad-gītā, it is a fact; it is not story.

So people are fed up with this wrong type of civilization. This is not civilization. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca [Hitopadeśa 25].

[Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But the special property of the humans is that they are able to engage in spiritual life. Therefore without spiritual life, humans are on the level of animals.]

Day and night. This is also warned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṅoti na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ [SB 5.5.4]

Ṛṣabhadeva said that "These rascals, pramattaḥ," pramattaḥ, "has become mad." Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma: "Always engaged in mischievous activities," these rascals, these materialistic persons. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ. "They have become mad, and their business is..." Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. Karma, akarma and vikarma. Vikarma means activities which are forbidden in the śāstra. Just like according to Vedic principles, at least a brāhmaṅa, a leader, a king should avoid these four principles of sinful activities. What is that? Meat-eating, illicit sex life, gambling and intoxication. At least, these four men, who is leading the public or who is a brāhmaṅa or who is a king, he must be very much cautious about... But just see what is the... Everyone, practically, they are addicted to these sinful activities. So therefore they are mad, pramattaḥ. Vikarma. These are forbidden in the śāstras, and they are doing that. Why? Because they are mad. Why they are so mad? Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. Now, yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṅoti: "Simply for sense gratification." That's all. Simply for sense gratification. Not for any big word, but to satisfy the senses. "Oh, oh, my tongue is asking for a cigarette, asking for wine. All right, give the tongue wine." Why? Without cigarette, without wine, you shall die? "No, I want to satisfy my tongue." Indriya-prītaya āpṛṅoti. "So why it is sinful?" It is sinful in this way, that... Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṅoti, na sādhu manye [SB 5.5.4]. "Oh, it is not good." Yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada. Ātmā, ātmā is eternal, but he is covered by this material body. Asann api. You can say, "All these material bodies, they are for a few years." But it is kleśada, it is so much miserable. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānu... [Bg 13.9].

[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]

People have lost their brain. They do not know what is actually unhappiness, miserable condition. They have no... "All right..." That is all... Animals, the animals do not know. He's going to the slaughterhouse: "All right, let me go." That's all.

So this kind of civilization will not make you happy, sir. You have got... Bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya janma haila... [Cc Ādi 9.41]

[One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.]

You have taken your birth in the puṅya-bhūmi, in the sacred land of Bhārata-varṣa. Here is your knowledge. Take it and be successful in your life.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]