Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.34

Anantarām Śāstrījī: [Chants slokas] Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [chants mantras; chants verse word by word; devotees respond; chants verse]

tat-sambhavaḥ kavir ato 'nyad apaśyamānas tvāṁ bījam ātmāni tataṁ sa bahir vicintya nāvindad abda-śatam apsu nimajjamānaḥ jāte 'ṅkure katham uhopalabheta bījam [SB 7.9.34]

Prabhupāda: Read, somebody. Why the signboard was not...? What is this management, so many deviations?

Hṛdayānanda: [chants verse]

Prabhupāda: Anyone more? Go on.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: [chants synonyms] [break]

[04:32]

Translation: "From that great lotus flower from which Brahmā is generated, certainly Brahmā could not see anything else except the big lotus flower. Therefore Lord Brahmā, diving within the water, executed austerity and penance for one hundred years but still could not get any trace of You. The reason is that when a seed is fructified, the original seed cannot be seen."

Prabhupāda:

tat-sambhavaḥ kavir ato 'nyad apaśyamānas tvāṁ bījam ātmāni tataṁ sa bahir vicintya nāvindad abda-śatam apsu nimajjamānaḥ jāte 'ṅkure katham uhopalabheta bījam [SB 7.9.34]

So from the beginning of the creation the same illusion is continued. Brahma, when he was born, created, he was created not by ordinary father and mother, but he was created on a lotus flower stem which grew from the navel of Maha Viṣṅu, er, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṅu. Therefore Brahmā's another name is Aja. He's not born like ordinary human being. Svayambhū. He's also known as Svayambhū. Everyone is born by father and mother, but he was born... Of course, father was there, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṅu, but he did not come through the womb of mother. This is omnipotency. Lord Viṣṅu is lying on the Śeṣa bed, and Lakṣmījī is engaged in the service of massaging the lotus feet of Viṣṅu, but Viṣṅu did not take the help of Lakṣmījī to beget Brahmā. He personally begot from the navel. Therefore we should understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead can perform anything he likes from any part of His body. That we chant always, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti [Bs 5.32]. We have got knowledge, experience, that when a child is born it has got a different source of being born, but Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṅu wanted the child be born from the navel and not from the mother of the navel—there was no mother—but the father Himself. This is called aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti.

Every part of the body, every limb, has got the potency to act like other parts of the body. We can see only with the eyes, but God can see with His finger. That is God. We can eat through mouth, but God can eat from any part of His body. If He simply touches His toe, He can eat. If He simply glances over the foodstuff offered to Him, He has eaten it. That we do not know. Therefore we're sometimes surprised that "How He has eaten?" that "You are offering so many nice things. It is lying down there. How I shall understand that He has eaten?" Yes, He has eaten. Simply by seeing, He has eaten. And because He's nija-lābha-pūrṅa, He's satisfied by His own self; therefore by simply glancing He has eaten, and it has become prasādam. You can take it. This is the meaning of aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti.

So those who cannot understand the omnipotency... They speak of omnipotency, but they do not know what is that omnipotency. They describe sometimes, "God is omnipotent," but they do not know how the omnipotency acts. Here are some of the examples. Those who are devotee, they can understand. Nondevotees, they call—what is?—"mythology." It is not mythology; it is all fact. But foolish people who do not know how Kṛṣṅa or His confidential devotee act, they do not know it. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that ye bhaje sei baḍa abhakta hīna chāra: "One who is devotee, he is exalted. And those who are not devotees, they are low grade," hīna chāra, "condemned."

So nobody can be exalted personality without Kṛṣṅa consciousness. That is not possible. This is the verdict of the Vedic knowledge. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṅā mano-rathena āsato dhāvato bahiḥ [SB 5.18.12]:

[All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?]

"Those who are not devotees of the Lord, they cannot have any good qualities." That is not possible. "Why? There are so many big, big men, doctors, doctorate, having so big, big title from university." No. The śāstra says, "Yes." Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṅā. Why they have no good qualities? Because mano-rathena: "They are hovering over the mental platform." They have no realization of the spiritual platform. Therefore you'll find all these great scientists, philosophers, they are simply concocting with mind. The mind has no value. With mind you cannot reach spiritual platform, because it is material. With material instrument you cannot go to the spiritual platform. It is not possible. God can be understood. God is all-spirit, and He can be understood by spiritual method, not material method. Material method means up to the standard of mental speculation and mental concoction. That is not the way. Mano-rathena āsato dhāvato bahiḥ. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is also said,

panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām so 'py asti yat-prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [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.]

By mental speculation, mental speed, you cannot reach the spiritual world. Mental speed is very strong. Everyone, we have got experience—you are sitting here; immediately, within a second, you can go to our London temple by the mental speed. So even by the mental speed for many, many years, if we run over the space, still, we cannot reach the spiritual world. That is not possible.

But Kṛṣṅa is everywhere. Kṛṣṅa... Aṅḍāntara-stha paramāṅu-cayāntara-stham [Bs 5.35].

[He is an undifferentiated entity as there is no distinction between potency and the possessor thereof. In His work of creation of millions of worlds, His potency remains inseparable. All the universes exist in Him and He is present in His fullness in every one of the atoms that are scattered throughout the universe, at one and the same time. Such is the primeval Lord whom I adore.]

As Kṛṣṅa is being described, Viṣṅu, within this universe, so He is not only within the universe as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṅu; He is within your heart also. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg 18.61].

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

And not only within your heart, but as many atoms are there, the composition of your body, in each atom He is there. Aṅḍāntara-stha paramāṅu-cayāntara-stham. So Kṛṣṅa is everywhere. But why you cannot see? Antar-bahir-avasthitam [SB 1.8.18]. Kṛṣṅa is within and without. If He is within every atom, then atoms are there, outside and inside. So antar-bahiḥ, He is situated. Anyone can see Him, but He cannot be seen to the undevotee, not devotee. He cannot be seen. Nāyaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ. He is not exposed to everyone. He is simply exposed to the devotee. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayan... [Bs 5.38].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṅa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.]

The nondevotee cannot see. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya [Bg 7.25].

[I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My eternal creative potency [yoga-māyā]; and so the deluded world knows Me not, who am unborn and infallible.]

Unless Kṛṣṅa agrees to be seen, you cannot see. It is not possible. You cannot force Him to be seen by You. No, that is not possible. Svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ [Cc Madhya 17.136].

[Therefore material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṅa’s holy name, form, qualities and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṅa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṅa really is.]

He... When He likes, He'll be seen by you, not that you can force Him. You cannot say that "Now I am qualified. Kṛṣṅa must come, and I'll see Him." That is not possible. We are never qualified unless Kṛṣṅa agrees to be seen by you. This is the... Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ [Bg 7.25]: "Everyone cannot see Me." Yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ: "I am covered, I am veiled, by the yoga-māyā." Yoga-māyā will not allow you to see unless you are devotee. Therefore Kṛṣṅa confirms this fact: bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

If you want to know Kṛṣṅa, God, as He is, then you must practice devotional life. Then He'll be seen. Bhaktyā mām..., yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ. To know Kṛṣṅa ordinarily—"Oh, Kṛṣṅa was born in India, in Mathurā. He's the son of such and such, and He was very big man"—that is not tattvataḥ. Tattvataḥ means as He is, sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ [Bs 5.1]. Anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṅa-kāraṅam.

[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 for to know Kṛṣṅa, there are so many Vedic literatures. So we have to know through the mercy of the spiritual master. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12].

[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]

Everything is there, just like Kṛṣṅa is there in the Bhagavad-gītā, but people could not understand Kṛṣṅa. Now we are presenting Kṛṣṅa as it is, people are understanding. They are becoming devotee. So we have to go through the right channel. Then we'll know Kṛṣṅa. And as soon as you know Kṛṣṅa as He is, your life is successful. That is the aim and object of Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement—simply to help the people to know Kṛṣṅa. This is the only business. Because as soon as you know Kṛṣṅa, your life is successful in which way? Eh? The success is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti [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.]

This is success. This body should be the last acceptance of material body. That is success. Otherwise, if you continue, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ... [Bg 2.13].

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

These foolish people, they do not know that dehāntara, there is change of body. Change of body is there already; you are experiencing. But they do not believe that after death there is body. Why not? If you have got experience in this life—"I have passed through so many changes of body, from babyhood to childhood, childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youth-hood, then middle age and old body"—then what is next? Why do you finish here? It is common logic. Why should you finish here? There must be body. This is real reasoning.

And Kṛṣṅa confirms it. Not only your contemplation; Kṛṣṅa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg 2.13]: "In this way you'll have another body." The Kṛṣṅa, the great authority, He says, from whom Brahmā, the first creature, he learned. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye [SB 1.1.1]. Kṛṣṅa, Vāsudeva—oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya—He... Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. He taught this Vedic literature to the heart of Brahmā. He can teach you through the heart also, because He is sitting there. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe [Bg 18.61].

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

A particularly mention, hṛd-deśe, "within the core of the heart." He doesn't say that "Īśvara is situated on your finger." No. Within the heart. The particular place is mentioned. Therefore the yogīs' practice, real yoga practice, means to find out Kṛṣṅa within the heart. That is real yoga. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ [SB 12.13.1].

[Sūta Gosvāmī said: Unto that personality whom Brahmā, Varuṅa, Indra, Rudra and the Maruts praise by chanting transcendental hymns and reciting the Vedas with all their corollaries, pada-kramas and Upaniṣads, to whom the chanters of the Sāma Veda always sing, whom the perfected yogīs see within their minds after fixing themselves in trance and becoming fully absorbed in thoughts of Him, and whose limit can never be found by any demigod or demon—unto that Supreme Personality of Godhead I offer my humble obeisances.]

This is yogī. Yogīs meditate. What for meditation? To find out Kṛṣṅa within the heart. That is yoga, not to show magic and gymnastic. No, that is not. That gymnastic yoga, that is not yoga. Real yoga is to find out Kṛṣṅa within one's own heart. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti... That yoga means you have to come to the platform of prema, love, not that simply official practice, you can see. You have to come to the platform... Without having love connection with Kṛṣṅa, it is not possible to see Him. You may practice this haṭha-yoga or gymnastic yoga for many, many births—you cannot see Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa can be seen when you smear with love ointment in your eyes. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena [Bs 5.38].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṅa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.]

And that is possible: bhakti, through bhakti.

So therefore why not practice bhakti-yoga from the beginning if you want to see Kṛṣṅa? And that is recommended by Kṛṣṅa:

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gata āntarātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ [Bg 6.47]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

Kṛṣṅa says, "He's first-class yogī." Who? "Who is always trying to see Kṛṣṅa within the heart." So it is very difficult task? In our bhakti-yoga we can teach this art of seeing Kṛṣṅa within the core of the heart in one minute. It is so simple. You are seeing Kṛṣṅa here. You must have impression and try to keep that impression within your heart always. Then you become first-class yogī. Why so much gymnastic and pressing the nose? [laughter] No. Take directly. If you are engaged twenty-four hours in the service of the Deity, you cannot see except the Deity. This bhakti-yoga practice is so simple. Therefore kaniṣṭha adhikārī, those who are neophyte, they must take to Deity worship. By Deity worship he is elevated to the position of seeing the Lord within the heart. This is very important thing. You can see—He is there—but you have no knowledge, or even if you have knowledge, you are not competent to see Him. But if you practice Deity worship...

Therefore it is the duty of guru to engage the neophyte devotee always in Deity worship.

śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā- śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau yuktasya bhaktāṁś ca niyuñjato 'pi vande guroḥ śrī-caraṅāravindam

It is the duty of the guru to engage his disciple in Deity worship, in cleansing the temple, dressing the Deity, decorating the Deity—so many engagements. So everyone should be engaged. If one is not competent to dress the Deity—everyone is competent—he can simply wash the temple and cleanse it. That will also help. There is no difference, that one who is cleansing the floor of the temple and one who is engaged directly in the Deity worship... There is no difference. They are all the same. Don't think that "I am engaged in cleansing the floor of the temple, and he is engaged in decorating the temple. I should be envious." No. There is no question of. Any kind of duty you are engaged... Sva-karmaṅā tam abhyarcya [Bg 18.46]. If you cannot do something which is hard for you, you do anything for Kṛṣṅa under the direction of spiritual master, you'll get perfection. It is not that "I have to do this. I have to do that." No. Kṛṣṅa's service is manyfold. If one is unable to take one kind of service, the spiritual master can give him another kind of service. But both the services are accepted by Kṛṣṅa.

Thank you very much. [end]