Bhagavad-gītā 7.6

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

etad-yonīni bhūtāni sarvāṅīty upadhāraya ahaṁ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā [Bg 7.6]

[Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world, know for certain that I am both its origin and dissolution.]

[leads synonyms]

[break] [02:39]

Translation: "Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world..."

Prabhupāda: [aside:] You can explain in Hindi this verse, so that others may hear in Hindi. Or you can come here. Speak it in English first. [break]

So Kṛṣṅa has explained that He is the source of two energies—the material energy and the spiritual energy. The material energy, consisting of earth, water, air, fire, mind, intelligence and ego; and the spiritual energy, jīva-bhūta, the living entities. The spiritual energy is described as superior, and material energy is described as inferior. But both of them are energies. Energy means it is controlled; it is generated. Just like electric energy. Electric energy, it is very powerful. Even by touching electric energy one is shockened immediately. So, but still that electric energy is generated through a source, and the source we call the executive engineer, or the resident engineer, in the electric powerhouse. So Kṛṣṅa says that source of energy, or the resident engineer, like the electric powerhouse, that is Kṛṣṅa.

In another place in the Tenth Chapter it is stated,

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.]

Both the prakṛtis—the superior prakṛti, parā-prakṛti, and aparā-prakṛti—both of them are working under the superintendence of Kṛṣṅa. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says that "Both these energies, I am the source." Aham...

etad-yonīni bhūtāni sarvāṅīty upadhāraya [Bg 7.6].

Whatever you are seeing within this material world, that is combination of this material and spiritual energy. Without spiritual energy, the material energy has no power. Therefore the spiritual energy is superior. But both of them are being controlled by Kṛṣṅa. Although there is nothing in this material world which is beyond these two energies, material and spiritual… Anything you take, a big machine, just like we have got experience the airplane, 747—big as it is a small village. Not small; a big, big village. Five hundred people, five hundred passengers are carried with their luggage—a huge airplane. This is latest. Now what is this big machinery? It is combination of these two energies: the pilot is the spiritual energy, and the machine, the plane, is material energy. Everyone can understand. It is very simple. Anything. Etad-yonīni sarvāṅi. Unless there are these two energies, there is no existence of anything. Anything you take. Just like this electric fan. Electric fan is made of metal. That is material energy. But unless I touch the button or I push the plug into electricity, it will not work.

So combination of two energies, material and the spiritual—anything. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, etad-yonīni sarvāṅi. Not exception; everything. That is the combination of two energies, material and spiritual. And ahaṁ kṛtsnasya: "But these two energies are generated by Me. Therefore I am the source of everything." As it is…, Vedānta-sūtra it is said, to find out the original source of everything—athāto brahma jijñāsā. That original source is here, Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa says, ahaṁ. Ahaṁ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ. The whole universe, the whole cosmic manifestation, prabhavaḥ. Prabhavaḥ means "generation." The same thing, just like the electric light. I push the button: switch on, switch off. As soon as switch off, everything is dark. And as soon as switch on, it is light. Similarly, Kṛṣṅa says, jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayaḥ. Prabhavaḥ: on; the creation goes on. And as soon as He wants, this creation is off, immediately. That is the sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śakti [Bs 5.44].

[The external potency Māyā who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit potency, is worshiped by all people as Durgā, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in accordance with whose will Durgā conducts herself.]

So everything is there. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [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.]

He is the source of the switch on and switch off.

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.]

That niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya, that is the switch on and switch off. Inhaling and exhaling, Mahā-Viṣṅu. By His exhaling, whole universe is coming out into existence, and by His inhaling it is all entering within His body. Prakṛtiṁ māṁ eka, it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Everything enters into the body of the Mahā-Viṣṅu during the pralaya. Again it is coming, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19]. This world, this material world, in this way, as you have got experience, this body. Body is manifested at a certain date, and it will be annihilated at a certain date. So similarly, the huge cosmic manifestation, that is created at a certain date, and it will be annihilated at a certain date. Jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā.

So Kṛṣṅa is the original source of prabhavaḥ pralaya. But Kṛṣṅa is not under this prabhava and pralaya. This should be understood. Aham evāsam evāgre [SB 2.9.33]. It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that… Therefore Kṛṣṅa is not within this creation. From Him is created, and He existed before the creation. Because if you say Kṛṣṅa is the source of creation, or if we understand that, then He is beyond creation. So His body is not of this created energy. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā [Bg 4.6];

[Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.]

that is spiritual energy. Kṛṣṅa is spiritual energy. Kṛṣṅa is not subjected to this creation and annihilation. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, janma karma me divyam [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

Divyam means that is transcendental. Yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Tattvataḥ means because Kṛṣṅa is the creator and annihilator... To understand Kṛṣṅa, that He is not subjected to this material creation and annihilation, this is tattvataḥ. Janma karma me divyam. We are born, and we die. That is under this principle, prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā. But Kṛṣṅa is not like that.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa said,

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam [Bg 9.11]

[Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.]

Because He has come as a human being for the benefit of the human society:

yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata... tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham [Bg 4.7]

He comes because He is interested. We are living entities. We are Kṛṣṅa’s part and parcel. So He is very much interested with our sufferings. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam [Bg 8.15].

[After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.]

We are rotting in this material world, although we are eternal, nityo nityānāṁ. Kṛṣṅa is the supreme nitya, and we are plural number, nityānāṁ. We are also, because part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa. So nitya. Our nature is nitya,

nityaḥśāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20]

This is our nature. We should understand this. We are not subjected to birth and death, but we are. Why we are subjected to birth and death? This question was raised by Sanātana Gosvāmī to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. ’Ke āmi’, ’kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya’ [Cc Madhya 20.102]: "I am not subjected…, I do not want all these miserable condition of life, but why I am forced to accept it?" This is the question of life, athāto brahma jijñāsā.

But people are not interested. That is not very good civilization. They do not inquire the prime necessities of life. They do not inquire, "Why shall I die? If I am nitya, if I am eternal, śāśvataḥ, purāṅaḥ, the oldest"—na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre—"if I do not die, if I am not annihilated after the death, after annihilation of this body, then why my body is annihilated? Why I am subjected to birth, death?" This is the problem.

janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi- duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [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.]

But we are not inquisitive. This is our foolishness. Mūḍhā. They do not know what is the problem of life. They are fighting in politics. Politics-created problems. There is everything… One party is thinking that "If I am the government, I shall make everything all right." But nobody knows the real problem, so they are fighting—all over the world. When I was [in] Rome, the same thing. There was a fighting between the Fascists and the Communists, and immediately, six person died by fighting. This is going on in ignorance. Mūḍhā. They do not know what is the problem of life, and unnecessarily they are creating temporary problems and fighting on them. They do not know what is Kṛṣṅa.

Therefore this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is the supermost enlightening movement to the human society. Supermost. They are putting actually what is this problem, and solution of the problem. Solution of the problem means… Real problem is birth, death, old age and disease. So solution of problem means that if you don’t get this material body, then this is the solution. So long… That is stated 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]

This deha—dehino 'smin yathā dehe—this deha, kleśada, it is always miserable. That we do not know. We know, we experience, it is kleśada, which gives kleśa, miserable conditions, but we are callous on this point. We are fighting on superficial problems, created problem. There is no problem. Here, pūrṅam idaṁ, pūrṅam idaṁ pūrṅam adaḥ pūrṅāt pūrṅam udacyate [Īśo Invocation].

[The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.]

Everything is complete there. There is no cause. Just like the birds, beasts, they have no problem; but the problem of birth, death is there. Otherwise there is no problem in the beast society, bird society, animal society, aquatic society. They are living. The problem is birth, death. That is even in the, what is called, Brahmaloka. Brahmā also will also die.

So that is real problem. The human society should consider. That is human society, that they are…, they must try to solve the problems of birth and death. And that is very easy. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: very easy.

janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg 4.9]

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

You try to understand Kṛṣṅa. This is the land of Kṛṣṅa. You foreigners, you have come here. You just take shelter of Kṛṣṅa and try to understand Kṛṣṅa, then your all problem solved. Kṛṣṅa is explaining Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā. Here is the another explanation:

etad-yonīni bhūtāni sarvāṅīty upadhāraya ahaṁ kṛtsnasya sarvasya jagataḥ… [Bg 7.6]

[Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world, know for certain that I am both its origin and dissolution.]

But mūḍhā, avajānanti, "Ah, He is a person. How He can be the source of everything?" But he does not know what kind of person He is. Paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto. The rascals, they do not know what is Kṛṣṅa. But try to understand Kṛṣṅa, then all problems will be solved, both material and spiritual.

Śrī Kṛṣṅa is so kind.

yadā yadā hi..., glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham [Bg 4.7].

Kṛṣṅa descended. Kṛṣṅa came here in this Vṛndāvana land. He explained Himself in the Battle of Kurukṣetra, and also here, also. Everywhere. He is explaining, and He is practically demonstrating, this Vṛndāvana-līlā. So try to understand Kṛṣṅa, and your problems will be solved, because He is the origin of everything.

ahaṁ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā [Bg 7.6]

So the Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is simply to understand Kṛṣṅa. And that will be very easy, as it is introduced by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: kṛṣṅotkīrtana-gāna. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṅa-saṅkīrtanam [Śikṣāṣṭaka 1]. Very easy. Paraṁ vijayate: simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra.

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc Ādi 17.21]

[In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.]

kīrtanād eva kṛṣṅasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet [SB 12.3.51]

[My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.]

Simply by chanting. This is the special advantage of this age, Kali-yuga. It is very bad age. It is very bad. The people are suffering. Durbhikṣa-kara-pīḍitāḥ [SB 12.2.9]. One side there is scarcity of food, and one side there is heavy taxation by the government. These are stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: durbhikṣa-kara-pīḍitāḥ.

ācchinna-dāra-draviṅā gacchanti giri-kānanam [SB 12.2.8]

In this age we’ll be so much disturbed, more and more, by durbhikṣa, anāvṛṣṭi. There will be scarcity of rain, and there will be no food production, and on the other side, government will present every six months a big budget, big: "Give me tax." This is the position. Durbhikṣa-kara… Anāvṛṣṭyā, durbhikṣa-kara-pīḍitāḥ. Ācchinna-dāra-draviṅā yāsyanti giri-kānanam. People will be mad, they’ll be so much… But that is our karma-phal. Karma-phal. Because we do not hear Kṛṣṅa. We do not hear Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is giving solution of all the problems, but we do not hear Kṛṣṅa. Therefore the Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is the source of solution, is the means of solution of all problem.

So if you simply try to understand. Here is Kṛṣṅa explains,

ahaṁ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā [Bg 7.6]

The next verse will be explained that if you think, just like the Māyāvādīs, they think that Kṛṣṅa has taken a form; ultimately the Absolute Truth is impersonal, that is formless. But Kṛṣṅa denies that. Kṛṣṅa says,

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.]

If you think that above Kṛṣṅa there is impersonal Brahman, that is wrong idea. Kṛṣṅa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ: "There is no more superior truth than Me." That means the Personality of God is the ultimate truth. That is understood by Arjuna, that "Nobody can understand Your personality." That is mūḍhā.

avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannaṁ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ [Bg 7.24]

[Unintelligent men, who know Me not, think that I have assumed this form and personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is changeless and supreme.]

The abuddhayaḥ, less intelligent class of men, they think that "I was avyaktaṁ, impersonal. Now I have assumed a form." No. He is originally the form: Kṛṣṅa, dvi-bhuja murlīdhāra; Kṛṣṅa, the friend of the gopīs and the cowherds boy and the son of Nanda Mahārāja, son of mother Yaśodā. He is a person.

brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [SB 1.2.11]

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

The Absolute Truth, they are understood from three angles of vision:

brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate

Bhagavān is the ultimate. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says,

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.]

Therefore take to Kṛṣṅa, Śyāmasundara, and worship Him. Your all problems will be solved.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]