God Is Not Cheap

Now, because an ordinary man might doubt that Krsna could speak to the sun-god, the next verse gives a fuller explanation. Because Arjuna is taking instructions from Krsna, he knows who Krsna is, otherwise he would not have accepted Him as his spiritual master. But because others would doubt that Krsna spoke to the sun-god, Arjuna said, "The sun-god Vivasvan is senior by birth to You. How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?" Arjuna is taking our position. People are thinking of Krsna as an ordinary person; therefore Arjuna is trying to clear up that point and show that Krsna is not an ordinary person but the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The sun-god, Vivasvan, is the father of Manu, and Manu's age we cannot calculate. So how is it possible for an ordinary man to speak to Vivasvan? That point is being cleared. So what is Krsna's reply? The Blessed Lord said, "Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot." That is the difference between God and man. We cannot even remember what we did at this time yesterday. That is our nature: to commit mistakes, to forget, to be illusioned, to be cheated, and to have imperfect senses. These are our qualifications. Whoever is in this material world is subjected to be illusioned, and he has a cheating propensity. For instance, a mundane scholar, whom I do not wish to name, admits in his introduction that it is very difficult to interpret Bhagavad-gita in one's own way because it is so tightly composed. Actually, it is so. Unless one contradicts himself, he cannot interpret Bhagavad-gita according to his own whims.

Arjuna, therefore, clears up the misconception that Krsna, the speaker of Bhagavad-gita, is an ordinary man. It is also in the Fourth Chapter that Krsna tells him: yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjamy aham. "Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice and a predominant rise of irreligion, at that time I descend Myself." (Bg. 4.7) Krsna appears and we also appear, but our appearance and Krsna's appearance are different. We have appeared in this world forced by our karma, according to our past deeds. For instance, every one of us has different bodily features. Why? The body is made according to karma; that is the explanation of the difference. Although we cannot know, we can understand that our mentalities differ. We all act in different ways. Therefore we are forced to accept certain types of bodies according to our own karma. But this is not the case with Krsna. Krsna does not change His body, but we change our bodies; forgetfulness means change of body. We had some types of bodies in our previous lives, but we have forgotten them. Not to speak of our last birth, we cannot even remember our childhood when we were three or four years old. We did so many things, but do we remember them? No, because we have changed our bodies-that child body is gone; therefore we have forgotten. We are changing bodies every second, every minute, and therefore we are forgetting every minute. But Krsna does not forget, and this means that He does not change bodies; His body is eternal. This is pure understanding of Krsna. Krsna says, "Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them." Ah, many, many thousands and thousands of times Krsna has appeared in this world, and He remembers everything, but I cannot even remember my childhood. So, how can I become one with Krsna? These mayavadi philosophers are declaring that they are God, but what is their qualification that they can become God? God is not such a cheap thing. People have assumed that everyone can become God. That every one of us is God is another illusion, another maya concocted because we do not know what God is. Here is God. He says, "Many, many millions of years ago I spoke to the sun-god. I remember it." This is God; the simple truth.