So deva means the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is praised by the Vedic mantra. Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and all the demigods, they are offering their prayers. The Sama Veda is singing in glorification of the Supreme Lord. The yogis, they are always seeing the Supreme Lord within the heart, core of heart. So that is deva. Devaya tasmai namah. So yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau [SU 6.23]. Anyone who has got unflinching faith in God... God means Krsna. Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam [SB 1.3.28]. So anyone who has got unflinching faith in God and similar faith in guru, then the Vedic purpose becomes revealed to him. Yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau, tasyaite kathita hy arthah. The Vedic mantras and their artha becomes revealed. This is the process.

Krsna is not Indian or Hindu. Krsna is everything. Everyone is Krsna's sons, in any form. Sarva-yonisu. Yoni means species. There are 8,400,000 species. So all of them are living entities, and they are part and parcel of Krsna. Therefore Krsna is very much anxious to see His sons become very happy, just like father wants to see his son very happy. So Krsna has admitted that He is bija-pradah pita, He is the supreme father. I think in Christianity also God is accepted as supreme father. So actually that is the fact. God is the supreme father. So as the father wants to see his sons very happy, similarly, Krsna wants to see all of us very happy. That is Krsna. But we are persistently avoiding Krsna and suffering. This is our business. Therefore Krsna said,

This... Just coming here from Philadelphia we were talking with the aeroplane crews, the captain, the pilot. They (were) very patiently hearing us. The question was very intelligent, question pilot made, that "If everything is created by God..." Yes. That is a fact. Janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.1]. The Vedanta-sutra says everything is emanated from God. Without a thing being present in God, there cannot be any existence of anything. That's a fact. Isavasyam idam sarvam [Iso mantra 1]. So his question was, "Then what is this evil?" The evil is also God's creation. So I explained like this, that for God there is no good or evil; everything is good. So I gave him this example that good, or piety, that is God's frontage, and evil means God's back side. So taking this example, the chest or the back of my body, they are equal. It is not that when there is some pain on the back side I don't care for it; I simply take care of when there is pain in the chest. No. Although it is back side, it is as important as the front side. Then evil and good is also of the same importance? No. Evil... That I gave the example, that for God there is nothing evil. I gave another example. Just like the sun, there is no darkness. Anywhere of sun's body, there is no darkness. But for us there is light and darkness. Just like if you keep the sun back side, you will find darkness, a very long darkness, your shadow. And if you keep yourself in front, sun, there is no darkness. So it is my business; I create darkness. As soon as I change my positioninstead of remaining in front of God, I keep God back sidethen there is darkness. Otherwise there is no question of darkness. But in the sun as it is, there is no such darkness. Therefore God is all good. And for us, when we forget God, that is evil. And when we are in God consciousness always, everything good. Is that example all right?

(aside:) Your name is Santi dasa?

If you learn these three things, that God is the proprietor, God is the enjoyer, and He is the real friend... Actually, He is the real friend. And our godlessness means we are claiming that we are proprietor: "This is my land. I am American. American is mine," or "India is mine." Or anything, say. Actually, the proprietor is God, but we are falsely claiming that "It is my property" or "our property." Therefore there is no santi. Try to understand. Actually, God is proprietor, but we, out of our foolishness, we are claiming "our property" or "my property." Therefore there is no santi. Similarly, God is the supreme enjoyer of everything. Yajna-tapasam. By performing yajna, by executing tapasya, one is elevated, gets some profit, material body, material profit. If you perform yajna, then you can go to the heavenly planet. Similarly, if you perform austerity, then you can be promoted to spiritual life. So... But what you will do by spiritual life? "By spiritual life" means if you become servant of God, then you will live and you will have peace. But if you want to become yourself God or master, then you will feel inconvenience, because that is not the fact. Bhoktaram yajna-tapasam sarva-loka-mahes..., suhrdam sarva-bhutanam [Bg. 5.29]. And God is the friend of everyone. Why not? He claims that "Everyone, every living entitynever mind in which form he is existinghe is My son." So is not the father the best friend of the son? But no. We are claiming, "I shall become your friend. I shall become your leader. I shall lead you to prosperity." No. That is false. The political leaders or the so-called religious leaders or other many leaders there are. They are taking the position of God, that "I shall become your friend. I shall lead you so that you will become happy." That is wrong. You cannot become friend. To how many people or how many men you can become friend? One, two, three, four, five, thousand, ten thousand, million? But there are unlimited, asankhya. Jiva bhava sa..., asankhya. You cannot count how many. Suppose you can become friend of your children at home or your friend's wife, sons and others. But how you can become friends the elephant in the African jungle? You cannot become. But you will see. There are hundreds and thousands of elephants in the jungle of Africa. They are eating, sleeping, very nicely. Who is supplying their necessities? God is supplying. You will find in your room in a hole that thousands of ants are coming out. Are you giving them food? Who is supplying food?

A guru is worshiped... Just like my disciples. They are offering respect exactly like God. That is their duty. Saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastraih: "All the sastra recommends that guru should be respected as good as God." But that does not mean guru is foolishly thinking, "I am God." Saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair uktah **. Uktah means "said," "it is recommended." Tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih: "Those who are exalted, advanced, they accept this truth, that guru should be respected as good as God." But why he is respected as such? Because kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya: "Because he is very, very dear to God." The guru will never think that "My disciples are worshiping me exactly like God; therefore I have become God." He is not guru, he is rascal. Guru is always in the position of servant. And because he is the most confidential servant of Krsna, therefore he is to be respected as good as Krsna. Because in our present position we cannot see Krsna, but Krsna sends His representative; therefore he is respected as Krsna. Now, how one can become guru and representative of Krsna? Everyone will say, "I am a representative of Krsna. I am guru." No. That is enunciated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa: [Cc. Madhya 7.128] "You just become guru on My order." So guru means who is carrying out the order of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, not a self-made guru. Guru means the most confidential servant of Krsna or Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the same thing. He is guru.

Anyone who has taken birth in India, Bharatavarsa-bhumi... Formerly, Bharatavarsa means the whole planet. Now it has come, India. Never mind. So "Anyone who has taken birth in India, Bharatavarsa, let him make his life successful," and kara para-upakara, "and go outside India and do good to others." Para-upakara. This is India's business. India's business is to distribute the spiritual knowledge all over the world because they are in darkness. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that bharata-bhumite manusya-janma haila yara, janma sarthaka kari: [Cc. Adi 9.41] "First of all you become successful." Because in India you will find Vedas, Upanisads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, and Vedanta-sutra, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, so many other things, all Vedic literature. So if Indians, those who are actually prestigious... They should learn from guru all these literatures, make his life successful. Then go outside and preach. This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's. Then if anyone says that "I have no knowledge. I have no education. How I can learn all these books and become, make my life perfect, and then I preach?" so Caitanya Mahaprabhu says that you haven't got to learn so many books. He says, amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa: [Cc. Madhya 7.128] "You just become guru on My order." "Then what is your order, Sir?" Yare dekha, tare kaha krsna-upadesa. This is guru. You haven't got to learn very much. You simply repeat like parrot what Krsna has said. That's all. Is it very difficult? Krsna has said everything in the Bhagavad-gita. You learn Bhagavad-gita, and you repeat that. You become guru. This is guru.

If we want to study Vedic literature, that is very good. That is sound footing. So we have already got fifty books. You study. Become very great scholar in philosophy, in religion, is sociology. Everything is there in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, politics also. And you become perfect man, with full knowledge. And if you think that you have no time, you are not so good scholar, you cannot read all these books, chant Hare Krsna. Either way you will become perfect, either both or at least one. If you cannot read books, chant Hare Krsna. You will (become) perfect. And if you read books and chant Hare Krsna, that is very good. But there is no loss. If you chant Hare Krsna maha-mantra but you cannot read books, there is no harm. There is no loss. That chanting is sufficient. But if you read, then you will be able to defend yourself from the opposing parties. That will help you preaching work. Because in the preaching work you have to answer so many question, you have to meet so many opposing elements, so if you are strong in your position by reading books, Vedic literature, then you become very, very favorite to Krsna. Krsna says,

Anyone who preaches this confidential knowledge, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66], if he is ably fit to preach this message to the world, then immediately he becomes very, very much recognized by the Supreme Lord. Na ca tasmat manusyesu kascit me priya-krttamah. Krsna says.

Abhinnatvat. The Lord's name and the Lord, they are not differentabsolute. That is Lord's potency, acintya-sakti. He can present Himself by His name, by His fame, by His form, by His qualities, by His paraphernalia. Anything in connection with Krsna is Krsna. Anything. That is absolute. Krsna is never different from His name. Krsna is never different from His form. We are worshiping the form of the Lord. That is Lord Himself. Don't think it is different from Lord. No. We are not wasting time by worshiping some statue. No. It is therefore forbidden in the sastra, arcye visnau sila-dhih gurusu nara-matir vaisnave jati-buddhir. These are forbidden. So we are, of course, opening so many branches all over the world, and I am very pleased to see this branch. There is wonderful prospective. Utilize it properly and stick to the principle that amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. The ajna, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and ajna, our Krsna, not different. Because Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna Himself, and when He appeared as Krsna, people misunderstood Him; therefore He has come as a devotee to teach us how to love Krsna. So therefore, if we go through Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, chanting

and then we chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, so rest assured the full perfection is awaiting you.