Bhagavad-gītā 7.10 – March 27, 1972, Bombay

720327BG-BOMBAY [30:49 Minutes]

The variety is the mother of enjoyment

Syamasundara: Morning, March 27th, 1972, morning lecture, Juhu.

Prabhupada:

Now Krsna says, bijam mam sarva-bhūtanam. Bijam means seed. Yatha-bijam yatha-yoni [SB 6.1.54]. For generating, there are two parts: the male part and female part. So the male part is Krsna, bijam, and the female part is the material nature. Aham bija-pradaḥ pita [Bg 14.4], in another place it is stated. Sarva-yonisu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yaḥ. Sarva-yonisu. Yoni means the source of birth, mother; and bijam means father. So this material world, anything which is visible or not visible, they are born of these two parts:

Mahat, this mahat-tattva, total material energy. So one can understand by taking lesson from different varieties of living entities coming out of this material nature. Just like there is one earth, but different varieties of plants are coming out, even without our endeavor.

Of course, in our garden we take care of sowing different types of seeds, but in a jungle you can go and see there are varieties of plants and trees; they are coming out of the earth and they are producing different varieties of fruits and flowers. So, "The variety is the mother of enjoyment." You cannot make it impersonal. Variety means each and every thing is a personal, individual being. That is variety.

As Krsna has already explained, punyo gandhaḥ prthivyam ca [Bg 7.9]. There are reservoir of different flavor within the earth, but according to the bija, they are coming out differently. There is rose scent, there is lotus scent, there are varieties of scent-they are already within the earth. But our materialistic scientist, they cannot take out any flavor from the earth. They have to take the flavor from the flowers, not from the earth.

So ultimately, as Krsna says, that aham krtsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tatha [Bg 7.6]: ultimately He is the origin of everything, sarva-karana-karanam. We should always remember this verse of Brahma-samhita.

Now here is the difference between God and human being. We are also part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, so we have got all the qualities of God, but in very, very minute quantity, because we are very minute. Therefore all the qualities of God which we have inherited, or which are already within us, they are also very minute. The intelligence is also minute. Everything is minute.

Somebody was talking with me that "Why should we give more credit to Krsna, or God? We are also manufacturing things. It is something like watch or clock, you wind it-there is spring-and it will go on. Similarly it is going on, everything is going on. So there is no difference between God's intelligence and our intelligence." That was his argument.

So I replied, "Yes, there is no difference so far intelligence is concerned, but God creates one male and female, and thousands and thousands and millions of entities are coming out of those two male and female. But you cannot manufacture a male watch and female watch so that by those two watches you can produce innumerable watches. That is not possible. That is in God's hand. So you have to prepare each and every watch, whereas if God wants to manufacture watches, then He will make one male and one female, and out of them many millions of watches will come out. That is the difference."

So we cannot compare our intelligence with God's intelligence, although qualitatively we are both the same. Just like the drop of seawater and the whole mass of seawater, the chemical composition is the same, but the quantity is different. We may have creative power-we may have..., we have intelligence, creative power-but not just to the comparison of God. That is not possible.

This is explained in another place in the Bhagavad-gita, when Arjuna was informed that Krsna, long, long ago, He instructed this Bhagavad-gita, philosophy of Bhagavad-gita, to the sun-god. So that calculation becomes about forty millions of years. So Arjuna said, "My dear Krsna, we are contemporary-practically we are born of the same date-so how is that I can believe that long, long years ago, so many millions of years ago, You instructed this Bhagavad-gita philosophy to the sun-god?"

The reply was, "My dear Arjuna, both you and Me, we are born many times, but you have forgotten; I remember." That is the difference. Our remembrance, our memory, is very small. We cannot remember even what we were doing just this time in the morning. So we have to remember it. So we cannot be, in any way, we cannot be compared with God at any circumstances, although the quality is the same.

So bijam mam sarva-bhūtanam [Bg 7.10]. We may be bijam, or the father, father of say ten children or fifty children, or say formerly people used to give birth one hundred children also, as we get information from the history. Just like Dhrtarastra, he gave birth to one hundred children. Rsabhadeva, King Rsabhadeva, He also gave birth to one hundred children. So we may be able to give birth say a hundred or fifty or ten, but Krsna says, "I am the father of sarva-bhūtanam." There are unlimited number of living entities, asahkhya. The living entities, they are also calculated in the Padma Purana:

I am soul, you are also soul, so your consciousness is spread all over your body; my consciousness is spread all over my body. But my consciousness is not spread over your body, neither your consciousness is spread over my body. Therefore we are individual. Therefore each one of us are individual living entities. You cannot say that we are homogenous. No. Each one…

That is also explained in the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, that "All these living entities," Krsna said, "I, you and all these living entities, or the kings and the soldiers assembled, we are existing in the past, we are existing at present, and we shall continue to exist in the future."

And here also it is said,

Sanatanam. Sanatanam means eternally. Not that "By some way or other I am now separated from the Supreme Whole, and I am now covered by maya, and when I will be freed from the cover of maya I shall be one with the Supreme." No. That is not. Here it is clearly said, bijam mam sarva-bhūtanam. Sarva-bhūtanam-all living entities-they are also eternal, and they are sanatana. That means eternally we, the living entities, are individual, different individuals.

In another place Krsna says,

Sarva-ksetresu. Ksetra means this body. "In each and every body, I am living." You are living, but I do not know what is going on in you and what is going on in me, but Krsna knows. He is another ksetra-jna. I am ksetra-jna, living soul within my body, and you are a living soul within your body. You do not know what pains and pleasure I am feeling; I do not know what pains and pleasure you are feeling. But Krsna says, as Paramatma, sarva-ksetresu bharata. Ksetra-jna. He knows what kind of pains and pleasure I am feeling, what kind of pains and pleasure you are feeling-or all the living entities.

Krsna, as the Paramatma, He is staying with every living entity. So all living entities and Krsna also, we are all individual beings. There is no question of being amalgamated. It is said sanatana.

Sanatanam-eternal. Eternally we are different from one another. Not that at any time we are all one, together, and now by chance… Beside that, in another place you will find that the cetana, the living spirit, cannot be cut into pieces; cannot be dried up, cannot be cut into pieces. So it is not that by chance we have been cut into pieces. No. Eternally we are different from the Supreme Soul; we are individual souls.

Now, without intelligence being given by the Supersoul, we cannot act. Buddhir buddhimatam asmi. Those who are intelligent… Everyone is intelligent, but the source of intelligence is Krsna. We are not independently intelligent. This is also explained in another chapter, Fifteenth Chapter:

If Krsna likes, then He can make immediately remembering. He can make me remembering many past incidences. That is possible. Perhaps you know, sometimes a child is born and he can speak about his past life. That is due to Krsna giving him the power of remembering about his past life. So whatever we are acting, we are acting with the intelligence of Krsna, buddhir buddhimatam asmi.

We cannot have… Just like in a factory there are hundreds of men are working, but there is one core man, he is giving the intelligence: "You do like this; you do like this." Similarly, whatever we are acting, doing, the intelligence is coming from Krsna, mattaḥ. Mattaḥ smrtir jnanam apohanam ca.

Now the question may be, "Why different intelligence are there? Is God very partial, that He is giving somebody very good intelligence and the other not very good intelligence? Why this difference?" The difference is God's kindness. If I want to act in some way, Krsna will give me intelligence in that way. If I want to become a devotee, Krsna will give me intelligence how to become a perfect devotee.

And if I want to become a demon, Krsna will help me how I can become a perfect demon. That is the difference. But the buddhi, or the intelligence, is coming from Krsna. Krsna as Supersoul, He will give you intelligence. That is explained in another place, in the Eighth Chapter. It is said that,

Yena mam upayanti te. Everyone should try to go back to home, back to Godhead. So this is the process: tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-pūrvakam. One who is engaged twenty-four hours, satata-not that official, to engage oneself in little meditation for fifteen minutes. No. Krsna says twenty-four hours, always, satata-yuktanam. Those who are engaged in devotional service twenty-four hours, always: tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam. Bhajatam, bhajan. Bhajan means service, bhaja-sevayam. Bhaj-dhatu is used for giving service.

So one who is engaged twenty-four hours to give service to the Lord, Krsna, bhajatam-priti-pūrvakam, with love, loving service, not that official service: "My Guru Maharaja says to rise early in the morning. I cannot do. All right, let me rise. But I do not like to rise." This is not priti. Priti means love: "Oh, I must do it."

Just like if I love somebody, if he makes engagement, "Please see me at such-and-such hour," oh, I immediately go. Immediately I will go, in spite of all my difficulties-because there is love. So therefore to serve Krsna always with love and faith, such person:

Krsna is within; He will give intelligence, this buddhi, buddhi-matam. He will give intelligence. What kind of intelligence? Now, yena mam upayanti te: such intelligence that he may come back to home, back to Godhead. Such intelligence. Not to give him intelligence that he will go to hell.

In another place it is said, tan aham dvisataḥ krūran ksipamy ajasram anda yonisu [Bg 16.19]. Tan aham dvisataḥ krūran: those who are envious of God, or Krsna-"Hah, these people are after God, after Krsna." Just like there was a newspaper report, interview between our Tamala Krsna Gosvami. So many nonsense questions they have put, that "We are hungry. What Krsna will do?" So these nonsense questions are put. Krsna is giving him food. Without Krsna's aid he cannot live even for a moment; still he is saying, "What Krsna will do to the hungry people?" like that.

These are called dvisataḥ. They are envious of Krsna. "Why Krsna can..., will be God alone? I am also God. You are also God. We are all God." These are envious. So they are called demons, envious. So these envious persons, Krsna says, tan aham dvisataḥ krūran. Dvisataḥ, because they are so much envious and stupid, cruel, krūran. Cruel means full of duplicities. Such persons, tan aham dvisataḥ krūran ksipamy ajasram anda yonisu [Bg 16.19].

So there are two kinds of intelligence going on: to the demons a certain type of intelligence, and to the devotee a certain type of intelligence. Therefore Krsna says, buddhir buddhimatam asmi [Bg 7.10]. You don't take it as stereotype, that He is giving intelligence equally to everyone. No. He is giving…

Therefore we see varieties of men, but these varieties of intelligence, because we want, we want to work in such a way, and Krsna helps us. Krsna simply upadrsta anumanta [Bg 13.23]. This word is used, anumanta: "giving permission." Permission means without Krsna's permission you cannot act, because,

Unless He says that "Yes, you can do it," you cannot do it. There is a proverb that "Without the will of the Supreme, not a blade of grass moves." So without God's sanction you cannot do anything. That's a fact. But He gives you sanction as you desire. "Man proposes; God disposes." But without His sanction you cannot do. [break]

Tejas means a special power. We find varieties of men, varieties of animal, and there are different types of tejas: power, activity, influence. So whenever we find something special, either in the demonic way or in the devotional way… Just like when Hiranyakasipu challenged his son, Prahlada. Prahlada was devotee, and he was speaking very straightly.

The Prahlada's father asked him, "My dear Prahlada, can you say anything very good which you have learned from your school?" Prahlada said, "Yes, my dear father." But he did not address him as "father"; he said asura-varya. He said, "My dear the best of the demons." Tat sadhu manye 'sura-varya dehinam. Asura-varya. He does not address his father as "father." He says, "My dear asura-varya, my dear best of the demons."

"I have learned this: that for the persons, materialistic persons, who are always anxious," sada samudvigna-dhiyam, "for them the best thing is hitvatma-patam grham andha-kūpam vanam gato yad dharim asrayeta." These instructions are there.

So there are two kinds of men. One class is called asura, and the other class is called demigods. So demigods means those who are devotees of Lord Visnu, and asura means those who are envious or inimical to the Personality of Godhead. They are called asuras. So this buddhimatam, teja, everything is given by Krsna. Just like the same example: Prahlada Maharaja, when his father was challenged…, challenged him,

"My dear Prahlada, wherefrom have you got all this God conscious, Krsna conscious knowledge? How do you speak?" He said, "My dear father, the same source wherefrom you have also got these demonic power." This was the answer. "The same source." Janmady asya yato. "You are talking like a demon, but you have derived the demonic power from Krsna. And I am talking like a Vaisnava; I have also derived power from Krsna." Therefore Krsna said,

Dharmaviruddho kama. Kama-lust. Lust, lust for sex life, kama, or any sense gratification-if it is not against religious principles, then Krsna says, "I am that kama. I am that lust." Therefore according to Vedic system, lust… [break] [end]