Bhagavad-gītā 7.10

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

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

[break] [03:10]

Translation: "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:

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

So bījaṁ, the original seed of life: sarva-bhūtānāṁ. The modern scientists, they are trying to prove that life comes from matter, chemical evolution. But we don’t accept that. We accept from Bhagavad-gītā that Kṛṣṅa is the original life. Kṛṣṅa is not a dead stone. As it is said in the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.2]: the Absolute Truth is that from which everything emanates. So that Absolute Truth, what kind of... Absolute Truth: is it dead matter or living force? It cannot be dead matter, because there are so many living entities; and the Absolute Truth is a dead matter, it cannot produce living entities, because we have no such experience that from dead matter living entities are coming out. That is not possible.

Sometimes we see that from cow dung some life is coming out. Sometimes we see from the heaps of rice the scorpion is coming out. So foolish people will think that the rice is the cause of the life of the scorpion. But that is not the fact. Real fact is the scorpion, they lay eggs within the heaps of the rice, and by fermentation of the rice the eggs become fructified, and life come out. Not that rice, a dead matter, is the cause of the life. So now big, big scientists, they are trying to prove that life comes from matter. But here we understand from Kṛṣṅa, the supreme authority, that He is the origin of all life: bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ. Sarva-bhūtānāṁ.

In another place Kṛṣṅa says,

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ [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.]

In all species of life. There are 8,400,000 species of life—aquatics, trees, plants, insect, then reptiles, then birds, bees, then human being. This is the evolutionary process. Asatiṁ caturaṁś caiva [Padma Purāṅa]. These are all mentioned in the Vedic literature about the evolution. Not that the foolish theory of Darwin is the origin of evolution. The evolutionary theory is there. Not theory—fact. So Kṛṣṅa says in Bhagavad-gītā that sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya. Yoni means the original source of birth. So there are so many living entities are there. Kṛṣṅa claims,

tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg 14.4]

Again He says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. Just like father gives the bījaṁ, yathā-yoni yathā-bījaṁ [SB 6.1.54]. The mother is the yoni, and the father is the bījaṁ. So without father there cannot be any life, because the father gives the bījaṁ, the seed. Many places in the Vedic literature it is stated that life does not come from matter, but life comes from the supreme life, Kṛṣṅa. That is the verdict of the Vedic literature. Bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ. Viddhi: you should understand. Don’t be misled that life comes from matter. It is not fact. Therefore He says, viddhi, sanātanam. Not that nowadays it has become like that, that life is coming from life; formerly life was coming from matter. So, viddhi māṁ sanātanam. The sanātanam means "eternally.” Eternally.

The sanātana word is used in so many places. In another place, Kṛṣṅa says,

mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ jīva-loke sanātanaḥ [Bg 15.7]

And another place, Kṛṣṅa says,

paras tasmāt tu bhāvo anyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ [Bg 8.20]

The sanātana word is used in many places. Sanātanam means "eternal." So this bījaṁ, Kṛṣṅa, is sanātanam. Sanātanaṁ taṁ prabhum āśrayāmi [Vilāpa-kusumāñjali]. The sanātana word is very important thing. So there is a place, as we understand from Bhagavad-gītā, another nature: paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ [Bg 8.20]. Bhāva means "nature." Just like this. This is also nature, this material cosmic manifestation. This is also nature. But this is not sanātanam. This is temporary, asanātana. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19]. Here in this material world everything is created at a certain date. It remains for some time, it grows, it produces some by-products, then gradually dwindles and at last vanishes—finished. So this is not sanātana. Ṣaḍ-vikāra: six kinds of changes. Just like your body, my body, this is not sanātanam. This is asanātanam. Asanātanam means "not permanent." But the bījaṁ, the seed, or the living entities, they are sanātanam. They are not temporary. Therefore it is said,

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.]

So we are sanātanam. We cannot understand that "Why we should be subjected to the rules and regulation of asanātana, not sanātana?" Actually, although we are... Kṛṣṅa says in many places. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20]. Nityaḥśāśvato 'yaṁ. Again He says sanātanam. Another place Kṛṣṅa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke sanātanaḥ [Bg 15.7]. So we have lost our intelligence. That several places the living entity is described as sanātanam, eternally, then "Why I am under the tribulation of so many rules and regulation of this material nature?" This is the question. This is called brahma jijñāsā. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is intelligence. Unless one is promoted to this intellectual platform, that "I am sanātana"… In so many places it is described. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām, in Kaṭha Upaniṣad. [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].

[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]

We are nityas, and Kṛṣṅa is also nitya. Nityo nityānāṁ. Description of Kṛṣṅa, or the Supreme Lord, is given there, that He is the chief nitya. We are nityas, but we are subordinate nityas. We require a leader. And in our material life also we require a leader. Without leader, there is no progress.

So the supreme leader is Kṛṣṅa. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. Therefore our eternal relationship is with Kṛṣṅa. Nitya sambandha. Nitya siddha. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is called nitya-siddha kṛṣṅa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya [Cc Madhya 22.107].

[Pure love for Kṛṣṅa is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.]

This kṛṣṅa-bhakti, Kṛṣṅa consciousness, is nitya-siddha. Nityo nityānāṁ. For eternally it is a fact that we are all servant of Kṛṣṅa, and our duty is to render service unto Him. That is confirmed by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-nitya 'kṛṣṅa-dāsa' [Cc Madhya 20.108].

[It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṅa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular particle of sunshine or fire. Kṛṣṅa has three varieties of energy.]

That is our position. And mukti means…, that is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,

muktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṅa vyavasthitiḥ [SB 2.10.6]

[The merging of the living entity, along with his conditional living tendency, with the mystic lying down of the Mahā-Viṣṅu is called the winding up of the cosmic manifestation. Liberation is the permanent situation of the form of the living entity after he gives up the changeable gross and subtle material bodies.]

This is called mukti. Mukti means hitvānyathā-rūpaṁ. We are acting otherwise. We have forgotten that we are eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa. This forgetfulness is causing us all trouble, all tribulations, all miseries. We want to enjoy this material world, forgetting that we are not enjoyer; we are simply servant. Jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṅera nitya 'kṛṣṅa-dāsa' . Therefore Kṛṣṅa says,

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁśāntim ṛcchati [Bg 5.29]

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

If you want śānti, then you should understand Kṛṣṅa, that Kṛṣṅa is the bhoktā; He is the enjoyer. We are not enjoyer. The mistake is that we are trying to be enjoyer. Karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs, they are trying to become enjoyer. And only the devotees, they want to remain as this eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa. That is the difference.

So this is eternal. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta-kar, he confirms, nitya-siddha kṛṣṅa-bhakti. Kṛṣṅa-bhakti. Bhakti means bhagavān, bhakta. And the transaction between bhagavān and bhakta is called bhakti. The bhakti definition is the activities, the natural activities, between the bhakta and the bhagavān. Whenever there is the word bhakti, bhakti means there must be three items: the bhagavān must be there, the bhakta must be there, and the transaction between the bhakta and bhagavān must be there. That is called bhakti. So this is our aim in life, sanātana. Because we are sanātana, our business, eternal business, is bhakti. Just like here, this is still further clear. Another place, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. Here it is said, bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ. This is one thing. In other place, in Thirteenth Chapter, He says—or Fourteenth Chapter, I think—He says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg 14.4], the same bīja.

[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.]

Therefore He is the father. He is the seed-giving father. So what is your relationship with father? The relationship with father means father should be revered; father should be obeyed. You should remain obedient to the father. That is your natural position. If you become disobedient to father, that is your unnatural position. Therefore in the material world... Material world means every one of us, we are disobedient to the supreme father. This is material life.

kṛṣṅa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare [Prema-vivarta]

[When an individual soul forgets his eternal relationship with God and tries to lord it over the material nature or resources, that condition, that forgetful condition, is called māyā, or illusion.]

Because we are trying to become the master, not servant. Everyone is trying to become master. That is the material disease. And everyone is trying to become the enjoyer of the material resources. Everyone is trying to be proprietor of this world or another, even Candraloka. They could not manage this world as proprietor, and they are trying to go to another planet to become proprietor. This is going on. This is material disease. He will never accept that "I am not proprietor. I am not proprietor. Proprietor is Kṛṣṅa." Sarva-loka-maheśvaram. If we accept this simple thing, there is immediately peace. The people, even in this..., on this globe, they are… Everyone has made a group: "We are Americans," "We are Indians," "We are Pakistanis," "We are Japanese," "We are this and that," and claiming, "This is mine," so-called. This is called nationalism. Bhauma ijya-dhīḥ [SB 10.84.13].

[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]

Yat-tīrtha. Bhauma ijya-dhīḥ. Bhauma means the land. The modern advancement means to become nationalist. What is that nationalism? The bhauma ijya-dhīḥ: worshiping the land of birth. This is called nationalism.

So this is called mistaken ijya. Actually the bhūmi, or the land, does not belong to you. It belongs to Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa said,

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29]

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

And we are falsely trying to become friends of others—leaders. But we do not know how to become friend. Actually nobody is going to be my friend. Everyone wants to exploit me, but in the shape of friend he comes to exploit. This is the world. Why you should claim "friend"? "My sir, I am your friend. What can I do for you?" If I am real friend, then I should inform everybody that Kṛṣṅa is your original, only friend. This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness. We don’t claim... We are friend in this way, that "I have brought a good news for you." I am friend in that way. "What is that good news?" "That you have got a very nice friend, Kṛṣṅa. Very powerful. Very powerful friend." "Oh, what I am? I am nothing."

This is actually Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. Everyone is trying to become friend, leader, leader of the people, and they do not know who is friend. They are falsely claiming to become friend, and misleading people more and more. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

A friend, a blind friend, he is claiming other blind friends, "My dear blind friends"—he is also blind—"I will protect you." And other blind friends, they also do not see what kind of friend he is. "If he is friend, if he wants to help us, we are already blind. Whether he can help us at all?" Because both of them are blind. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās. They do not know. They want to become friend. But what kind of friend? Blind friend.

So they cannot help. That is the verdict of the Vedas.

na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṅuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ [SB 7.5.31]

These so-called blind, rascal friends, they are trying to make us happy by material adjustment. That is not possible. It is not possible.

daivī hy eṣā guṅa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14]

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

Kṛṣṅa says, "This material world, the illusionary, external energy, you are under her control." We are, every one of us, we are under the control of the material energy. In another place, in Brahma-saṁhitā, the material energy is described as the Durgā, Mother Durgā:

sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā [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 we are very fond of worshiping Mother Durgā to take some concession, but such kind of concession will not give me relief. When we worship Mother..., Goddess Durgā, we ask from her, dhanaṁ dehi rūpaṁ dehi yaśo dehi rupavati bharyam dehi. So Mother Durgā gives. But that will not help us if we... Because the place where we are, in this material world, it is duḥkhālayam. You cannot be happy simply by getting a beautiful wife and very big bank balance. That is not possible. It is mistaken idea. Because the place is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, Kṛṣṅa says.

So we should understand Kṛṣṅa simply as Kṛṣṅa says. Not whimsically, not by mental speculation. You cannot understand Kṛṣṅa by mental speculation. That is not possible. Athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi jānāti tattvaṁ... [SB 10.14.29].

[My Lord, if one is favored by even a slight trace of the mercy of Your lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of Your personality. But those who speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead are unable to know You, even though they continue to study the Vedas for many years.]

Kṛṣṅa tattva can be understood by the mercy of Kṛṣṅa, not by your mental speculation. Don’t try to understand Kṛṣṅa by your defective mental speculation. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says,

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.]

You cannot understand Kṛṣṅa what He is, even though you become…, you are a siddha. Yatatām api siddhānāṁ. What to speak of ordinary men, those who are siddhas… Siddhas means self-realized, spiritually situated, especially the jñānī. So even out of them, millions of jñānīs, one can understand Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is not so easy to understand.

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg 7.19]

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

If one understands Kṛṣṅa, then he will immediately surrender to Him. That is understanding of Kṛṣṅa. Māṁ prapadyate. Why prapa...?

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ [Bg 7.19]

We can understand that Kṛṣṅa is the root cause of all causes.

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.]

So every śāstra will confirm Kṛṣṅa’s position, and Kṛṣṅa also personally saying. And He is accepted by great authorities like Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Devala, Asita. Formerly, five thousand years ago, and after that all the ācāryas—Madhvācārya, Śrī Rāmānujācārya, Viṣṅu Svāmī, Nimbārka, later on Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu—all of them accepted Kṛṣṅa, kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28], especially our Gauḍīya-sampradāya, Caitanya Mahāprabhu sampradāya.

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

Ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanaya [Viśvanātha Cakravartī]. Our principle is to worship Kṛṣṅa. What kind of Kṛṣṅa? Vrajeśa-tanaya. Means the son of Mahārāja Nanda and Yaśodā—that Kṛṣṅa. There may be many other Kṛṣṅas. People may not misunderstand. Just like one may not... Therefore father’s, mother’s name is given.

So therefore here it is said, vrajeśa-tanaya. This bhūmi, this Vṛndāvana-bhūmi, is called Vraja. So Nanda Mahārāja was the king of Vraja, Vrajeśvara; and his son, Kṛṣṅa, He is ārādhya. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s philosophy: ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeṣa tanaya tad dhāma vṛndāvanam. And this Vṛndāvana-dhāma is also as good as Kṛṣṅa. Do not try to see Kṛṣṅa…, er, Vṛndāvana-dhāma as ordinary place. That is called dhāma-aparādha. Then you will never be able to understand. And the Vaiṣṅava kavi said, jaya jaya vṛndāvana-vāsī yata jana [Śrī Vraja-dhāma-mahimāmṛta 7]. Anyone who is living in Vṛndāvana, even cats and dogs, they are also glorious, because next birth they will be elevated; they will be liberated. That is Vṛndāvana-dhāma. So in this way try to understand the glories of Vṛndāvana-dhāma, the glories of Lord Kṛṣṅa, according to śāstra. Even if we do not know śāstra, if you simply accept that kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28], and His dhāma, Vṛndāvana, is as good as Kṛṣṅa, then we are far advanced in spiritual understanding.

So Kṛṣṅa is teaching personally,

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.]

And sanātanam, this word is very important. The process by which we can understand Kṛṣṅa, and by understanding Kṛṣṅa, when we are promoted in the Kṛṣṅa's dhāma and we meet Kṛṣṅa person to person, talk with Him—there is a process—that is called bhakti-yoga. And that process is called sanātana-dharma. Sanātana-dharma you have heard. Sanātana-dharma means this bhakti-yoga. Sanātana-dharma does not mean some ritualistic ceremony. This is meant—sanātanam bījaṁ—everyone, every living entity, is sanātana. And Kṛṣṅa is sanātana, and His abode is sanātana. Sanātanam. Bhaktyā bhaktyā sanātanam. So if we want to be promoted to the sanātana place and to see the sanātana, supreme sanātana, eye to eye, and talk with Him and dance with Him or play with Him-we are sanātana-then we must accept this sanātana-dharma, eternal religious system. And what is that religion? Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṅītam [SB 6.3.19]. You cannot manufacture sanātana-dharma. It is already done by Kṛṣṅa. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavān. And that is sanātana-dharma. What is that sanātana-dharma?

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]

[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]

You simply... Kṛṣṅa says this is sanātana-dharma, that "You simply surrender unto Me, and I will give you protection."

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]