770119LE.BHU
Evening Lecture

Bhuvanesvara, January 19, 1977
Prabhupada: Thank you very much.
Hari-sauri: Spectacles?
Prabhupada: Yes. I can speak in three languages, English, Bengali and Hindi. But I cannot speak in Oriya. Now our Gaura-Govinda Maharaja, he has agreed to translate into Oriya from English. So as you desire, I can speak either in English, Hindi or Bengali.
Indian man: English.
Prabhupada: I shall speak in English. If I speak in English, then these foreigners, they will also understand, and it can be translated into Oriya. So? I shall speak in English? That's all?
Hari-sauri: Yes.
Prabhupada: You say yes. (laughter) So, of course, English is international language, and because we are speaking in English, publishing in English, it has been possible to spread Krsna consciousness throughout the whole world. (Bengali) (Gaura-Govinda translates) So we have first of all presented Bhagavad-gita As It Is in English. Now it is being translated practically in all the languages of the world. (translated throughout) Our Bhagavad-gita As It Is has been translated in all the European languages, namely French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, in this way, in Europe. Whole America speaks in English. Whole Australia speaks in English. Besides that, in Asia, Chinese language and Japanese language, they have all translated.
So our Krsna consciousness movement is meant for saving the whole human society. The present moment... Not in the present. In this material world always the attempt is to defy the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. At the present moment the so-called scientists, their only business is how to defy the supremacy of God. Naturally our, this movement has to face many impediments because at the present moment the whole world is practically godless. Even in our country, in India, where Bhagavad-gita was spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna, even here also the same attempt is going on. Big, big scholars, big, big politicians, they take Bhagavad-gita in their hand as if he is a great authority in Bhagavad-gita, but they are presenting commentation just to defy Krsna. So we take them according to Bhagavad-gita. So Bhagavan, Krsna... Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam [SB 1.3.28]. That is the verdict of the sastra, and Krsna personally, when He was present before us, He said, mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya: [Bg. 7.7] "Nobody is greater authority than Me." In the Vedanta-sutra it is said, athato brahma jijnasa. Now, this life, this human form of life, is meant for making inquiry about the Supreme. That Brahman, the Supreme... Brahman means brhatvad brhannatvad, the greatest which includes everything. That is Brahman. Just like we are, we living entities, we are Brahman. Because I am the spirit soul, I am within this body; therefore everything is complete. So in the Bhagavad-gita this brahma-jijnasa, "What is Brahman?" if you are inquisitive, the answer is in the very beginning of the Bhagavad-gita.
So Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, giving the first instruction to Arjuna, dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptir [Bg. 2.13]. The Brahman, the spirit soul, the part and parcel of Parabrahman, is dehi. Asmin dehe. In this body he is the proprietor of the body. Dehi and deha. Deha means this body, and dehi means the proprietor of the body. So that dehi, or the proprietor of the body, is Brahman. Brahma-jijnasa. If we are inquisitive to know about Brahman, first of all we must know that I or you, any spirit soul, is Brahman, and he's within this body. We are not the... Other words, we are not this body; we are within this body. This is brahma-jnana. In another place also, the same thing has been affirmed in Bhagavad-gita. Ksetra ksetrajnah. Arjuna inquired from Krsna, "What is ksetra and what is ksetrajna?" That answer is given in the Thirteenth Chapter: idam sariram ksetram ity abidhiyate. It has been explained that this ksetra... Just like we work in the field, the owner of the field and the field, similarly, this body is the field, and the owner, the dehi, I or you, we are working on this field, ksetrajna. And Krsna says also, ksetrajnam capy mam viddhi sarva-ksetresu bharata. He... Because sometimes foolishly we think that we are also Bhagavan or equal to Bhagavan, ksetrajna, so Krsna says, "I am also ksetrajna, but the difference is that sarva-ksetresu bharata." (aside:) Now explain. Just like I am ksetrajnam; you are ksetrajnam. You know the pains and pleasure of your body; I know the pains and pleasure of my body. But either you or I do not know what is the pains and pleasure of your body, and you do not know what is the pains and pleasure of my body. So that is the difference between atma and Paramatma. Krsna is Paramatma. Isvarah sarva-bhutesu hrd-dese arjuna tisthati. That Paramatma... I am also with Him. I am also living within the heart, and Krsna is also living within the heart.
So there are two atmas, namely atma and Paramatma. This is explained in the Upanisad, that "There are two birds on one tree. This tree is this body, and the two birds, one is atma and the other is Paramatma." So one bird is simply witnessing what the other bird is doing, and the other bird, jivatma, he is eating the fruit. So therefore Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita that,
That isvara, that Paramatma, is sitting also within this body, but He's observing what the jivatma wants to do. According to that, He is supplying a machine. This machine means this body, yantrarudhani mayaya. This machine is manufactured by the external energy, maya. So therefore we are jivatma; we are different from the Paramatma. Those who are equalizing Paramatma and jivatma, they are not in perfect knowledge. Either purposefully they are misleading, or they do not know the perfect knowledge.
At the present moment this danger is there in a very large quantity. People are thinking wrongly that they are also God, as good as God. In the Bhagavad-gita the statement is, Krsna says, mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [Bg. 15.7]. Jiva-bhuta is the living entities. "They are My part and parcel." So it is an axiomatic truth: part is never equal to the whole. Amsi. So just like this finger is the part of my body, but it does not mean the finger is the whole body. Therefore there is distinction between Brahman and Parambrahman, isvara and Paramesvara, atma and Paramatma. So isvara means controller, one who controls, but Paramesvara means the controller of the controller. That is explained in the Brahma-samhita, isvarah paramah krsnah [Bs. 5.1]. Isvara... All of us may be isvara. I am isvara amongst my disciples. You may be isvara amongst your family members. But none of us is Paramesvara. So this mistaken knowledge is very much spread at the present moment. So our, this Krsna consciousness movement, is specially meant for removing this misconception of understanding God and the jivas. So our first principle is that we have to discard or disregard the persons who are very much anxious to establish that isvara and Paramesvara, or the living entity and the Supreme Person, they are equal. We do not support this theory. It is said in the sastra,
yas tu narayanam devam
brahma-rudradi-daivataih
samatvenaiva vikseta
sa pasandi bhaved dhruvam
[Cc. Madhya 18.116]
Narayana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, narayanam devam, if we equalize Him even with such demigods, such big personalities like Brahma and Siva, then we become a pasandi.
yas tu narayanam devam
brahma-rudradi-daivataih
samatvenaiva vikseta
sa pasandi bhaved dhruvam
Anyone, what to speak of with ordinary person, even personalities, big, big personalities like Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, if one equalize Narayana, then he is called a pasandi. At the present moment a poor man has been equalized with Narayana as daridra-narayana. So why one should say daridra-narayana? What is the reason? Narayana is Laksmi-pati, the husband of the goddess of fortune. How He can become daridra-narayana? And where is this word in the sastra, "daridra-narayana"? So in this way people are being misled.
So we have to save ourself from this misconception of life. Then we can make progress in the matter of understanding what is God. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is, without any deviation, and people are appreciating. Our, this Bhagavad-gita As It Is is being accepted by big, big scholars and professors. We have got innumerable certificates or their opinion, and it is being well received. And from monetary point of view also, you'll be surprised that we are selling millions of copies of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. So we have come to your city to say something about Bhagavad-gita As It Is. If respectable persons of this city will come and attend this meeting, I shall try to explain more and more so long I am present here. Now, if you have got any question on the subject matter I have spoken, you can make. I shall try to answer. (pause) So there is no question, I think. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. Now a kirtana.
Ramesvara: Thank you, Srila Prabhupada.
Prabhupada: Hare Krsna. (end)

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