The Symptoms Of God

In the Brahma-samhita we have information of many, many incarnations of the Lord. It is stated there: "I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda [Krsna], who is the original person-absolute, infallible, without beginning, although expanded into unlimited forms, still the same original, the oldest-and the person always appearing as a fresh youth. Such eternal, blissful, all-knowing forms of the Lord are usually understood by the best Vedic scholars, but they are always manifest to pure, unalloyed devotees." Krsna can expand Himself. That is God. Suppose a man is away and is wanted by some relative at home. If someone inquires whether Mr. Such and Such is at home, he is told, "No, he is not at home." Krsna is not like that: Krsna, Goloka eva nivasati akhilatma-bhūtaḥ. He is present everywhere. It is not that because Krsna was speaking with Arjuna in the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, He was not present in Goloka or in Vaikuntha. He is not only in Goloka, Vaikuntha-He is everywhere, as is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. Krsna is also here. Now, isvaraḥ sarva-bhūtanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati. Krsna is in everyone's heart. Therefore advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rūpam. Ananta means unlimited. But one, advaita. There is no difference. As a crude example, unlimited factories are running on electricity, and different types of work are utilizing electric energy, but the electricity is one. Similarly, God is one, but He can expand. That is His potency.

In the Bhagavad-gita, Thirteenth Chapter, Krsna says idam sariram kaunteya ksetram ity abhidhiyate etad yo vetti tam prahuḥ ksetrajna iti tad-vidaḥ. (Bg. 13.3) "The living entity is the proprietor or the knower of the particular body." But He says again, ksetrajnam capi mam viddhi. "I am also the knower of this particular body." Sarva-ksetresu bharata: "I am the knower in all bodies." So He is in every body, in every atom. That is Krsna. Now I am living in my body, and if there is pain here, I can understand that here is a pain, but if there is some pain in another's body, I cannot understand it. Therefore, I am different from others. But Krsna can understand what is pain and pleasure in my body and what is pain and pleasure in everyone else's body as well. That is Krsna. Sarva-ksetre, ah, that is God! Not that simply by thinking that I am God, I become God. How can anyone become God? Can a self-proclaimed God tell me what another person is thinking? No. Then what kind of God is he? Don't accept a cheap God; know the symptoms of God.