710213CC.GOR
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 6.149-50

Gorakhpur, February 13, 1971
Prabhupada:
I think I shall speak in Hindi? What is that? I shall speak in English? Then they will take advantage of. That is... Why you have gone?
Yamuna: (indistinct)
Prabhupada: Oh, I see. So this was a part of the prayer offered by Brahmaji when he offended on the lotus feet of Krsna. The incident... Perhaps you know that Krsna was a cowherd boy in Vrndavana. (speaks in Hindi with some Indians) Why you are back side? You can come this side. So Brahmaji is praising the fortune of the residents of Vrndavana, vrajaukasam, headed by... Vrajaukasam means the residents of the Vrajabhumi, headed by Nanda Maharaja. Aho bhagyam aho bhagyam nanda-gopa-vrajaukasam, yan mitram paramanandam brahma. Krsna was there.
So Brahma is admitting that this Krsna is parabrahman sanatanam. So we have to take evidence from the authorities. There are twelve authorities according to sastra. Brahma is one of the authorities. Twelve authorities means,
svayambhur naradah sambhuh
kapilah kumaro manuh
prahlado janako bhismo
(balir) vaiyasakir vayam
[SB 6.3.20]
Svayambhur naradah. Svayambhuh is Brahma; Narada; then Sambhu, Lord Siva. Svayambhur naradah sambhuh kapilah [SB 6.3.20]. Kapila. Kapila is incarnation of God, Kapiladeva, the propounder of the Sankhya philosophy. Kumara, the four Kumaras, ever brahmacari. And Manu, Vaivasvata Manu, the father of Maharaja Iksvaku. And Prahlada, the son of Hiranyakasipu. The father was atheist and the son was a devotee, great devotee of Lord Krsna. Then Janaka Maharaja, the father of Sitadevi. And Bhisma, the grandfather of the Pandavas. Prahlado janako bhismah. Then Vaiyasaki, Sukadeva Gosvami; and Yamaraja, they are authorities.
Now, here the Brahma, the first authority, he is admitting Krsna as Brahman, purna-brahma sanatanam, purna-brahma, bhagavan. Brahman realization, there are stages, three stages of Brahman realization: first, impersonal Brahman, then localized Brahman, then full Brahman. Localized Brahman is Paramatma, who is situated in everyone's heart. The example is given: just like the sun. The sun is one and the sun is the abode of the sun-god, Vaivasvata. In the Bhagavad-gita you have to admit,
So this Vivasvan, the sun-god, he heard from Krsna for the first time about the yoga system stated in the Bhagavad-gita. Therefore Krsna spoke and the sun-god heard; therefore he is a person. And the sun-god's abode is the sun planet. And from the sun planet, the effulgence, the sunshine, is coming. By this example one can understand what is Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavantattva-vastu, the Absolute Truth. That is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Absolute Truth... (aside:) Not like that. Don't sit... Not like that. Why don't you tell him? The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases. The first realization is impersonal Brahman, the next, higher realization is the Paramatma, antaryami, and the ultimate realization is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate
[SB 1.2.11]
This is Absolute Truth in three phases.
So here the Absolute Truth, when He is realized as the Supreme Person, as Brahma is realizing, yan-mitram... He is realizing that Krsna, who is playing as a cowherd boy in Vrndavana, and He has become the most intimate friend of the residents of Vrndavana, headed by Nanda Maharaja... Nanda Maharaja was the zamindar raja. He was vaisya. He had 900,000's of cows, and he was the head of Vrndavana. All other cowherds men were his tenants or friends or family members. So Krsna automatically became their very, very dear friend. That is the significance of the residents of Vrndavana. They... Their love for Krsna was so ecstatic that they did not know anything except Krsna. Therefore Brahma says, aho bhagyam aho bhagyam: "How fortunate these residents of Vrndavana are that Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has become their friend." And Krsna is purna-brahma sanatanam, not that He has assumed a body like a human being and He is imperson. No. Just like Mayavadi philosophers, they take it, they concoct like that, that "Ultimately the Absolute Truth is impersonal, but when He descends..." I do not know how the impersonal can be "He." So that theory is refuted hereby because it is the statement of Brahma, and he says that Krsna is purna-brahma sanatanam.
Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu says,
This is the process is describing a spiritual understanding, with reference to the Vedic injunction. Now, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is giving Vedic reference. He says, apani-pada. This is a reference from the Svetasvatara Upanisad. In the Svetasvatara Upanisad there is statement, impersonally, but referring to the person, transcendental person. The mantra is like this:
apani-pado javano grahita
pasyaty acaksuh sa srnoty akarnah
sa vetti vedyam na ca tasyasti vetta
tam ahur agryam purusam mahantam
Purusam. Purusam means person, but the Vedic mantra begins, apani-pada: "Person, but has no leg and no hand." There are two kinds of statements: that He is person, purusa, mahanta, the greatest person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is a person; but apani-pada, but He has no legs and no hands. So how is that? A person has no legs and no hands, and still, He accepts whatever we offer? Just like Krsna says, tad aham asnami, bhaktya upahrtam asnami: "Anyone who offers Me anything," patram puspam phalam toyam [Bg. 9.26], "with devotion," bhaktya... The very word is bhaktya. That means Krsna is transcendental person, and the Vedic mantra confirms. When the Vedic mantra says, apani-pada, "no hands, no legs," that is not imperson. "Person, but His hands and legs are not like us," that is apani-pada. Caitanya Mahaprabhu explains that. Apani-pada sruti varje prakrta pani-carana: "When the Vedic mantra says that 'The Absolute Truth has no legs and no hands,' that means that the Personality of Godhead's hands and legs are not material." That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's explanation.
"And although the Vedic mantra says that 'The Absolute Truth has no legs, no hands,' still, it confirms that 'He can accept whatever you offer, and He can walk more speedily than anyone.' Then He walks; at the same time, He has no legs. And He accepts your offering; He has no hands." What does it mean? Apparently it is contradictory. If He has no leg, then how He can walk more speedily than anyone? These are Vedic mantras. "Nobody can capture Him, He is walking so speedily." But if He has no leg, how He is walking? But that, Caitanya Mahaprabhu explains that varje prakrta pani-carana: "This means that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no material body."
In the Kurma Purana it is said that the Supreme Personality, the Parabrahman, has no distinction between His body and self. There is no... Absolute means there is no duality as we have got duality"I am," the soul, and this body, they are different. Therefore sastra says, yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke: [SB 10.84.13] "If anyone accepts this body as self..." This body is made of three dhatus: kapha, pitta, vayu. I am not this. And Bhagavad-gita also says,
So dehi. Dehi means possessor of this body, the owner of this body. So owner of this body is different from this body. But in case of Krsna or Visnu-tattva, there is no such difference, the self and the body, no difference. That is confirmed in the Kurma Purana. Unfortunately the Mayavadis, they, either due to their poor fund of knowledge of the sastras or by their whims, they say that "Krsna or Visnu, when comes, or the Absolute Truth when He descends, He assumes, He accepts, a material body." That is not the fact. Krsna says, sambhavamy atma-mayaya [Bg. 4.6]. It is not that Krsna accepts a material body. No. Krsna has no such distinction, material world. Therefore Krsna says, avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam: [Bg. 9.11] "Because I present myself, descend Myself as a human being, the mudhas, or the rascals, they think of Me or deride at Me." The Mayavadis, they will never worship the transcendental form of the Lord. They'll not worship. They will worship the imperson. And Krsna has said, kleso adhikataras tesam avyaktasakta-cetasam. Of course, impersonal, personal, is the same Absolute Truth. But if you try to reach the Absolute Truth through His impersonal attachment, then it will be more troublesome. The jnanis, those who want to understand the Absolute Truth by their material, imperfect knowledge, how... Atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. Our manipulation of the senses is not possible to understand what is Krsna.
The Vedic mantra also it is said, nayam atma pravacanena labhyah: "You cannot realize the atma, you cannot be self-realized, simply by talking. You may be very big speaker, nice speaker, but that is not the processsimply by speaking very nicely you can understand the Absolute Truth." Nayam atma pravacanena labhya na medhaya: "Neither you can understand the Absolute Truth because you have got a very nice brain, a great scientist." Then Sir Isaac Newton would have discovered what is God, or Professor Einstein or Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, they could have understand. No, they cannot. Because they have very nice, finer tissues of the brain, it does not mean. It is a different process. It is a... To understand God or Krsna, it is not material process. Therefore Krsna said, bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah [Bg. 18.55]. Only through devotional service He can be known. Naham prakasah sarvasya yogamaya-samavrtah [Bg. 7.25]. Krsna is covered by the curtain drawn by yogamaya; therefore Krsna cannot be understood by everyone, neither His teaching, Bhagavad-gita, can be understood without becoming a devotee of Krsna. This is not possible. Therefore Krsna says to Arjuna that bhakto 'si priyo 'si me: [Bg. 4.3] "Because you are My very dear friend, therefore I shall speak to you." Rahasyam hy etad uttamam: "Without you, nobody can understand." Krsna was a military man. He was not a brahmana, neither a Vedantist. You cannot expect a military man, a ksatriya, to be highly learned in Vedic scriptures. That is not possible. They hear from the brahmanas. The brahmanas, they are expected to be highly learned scholars in Vedas because that is their department. Jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam [Bg. 18.42]. Brahma janatiti brahmanah. Brahmana... Therefore we call brahmana, "pandita, panditaji." Panditaji has never seen the pages of Vedas, but still, he is going on under the name of panditaji. So that kind of panditaji not wanted. Actually a brahmana means he is truthful. And one of the greatest commentator of Bhagavad-gita, Baladeva Vidyabhusana, he says truthful means one should be truthful even to his enemies. Sometimes we have to hide something from the enemies. That is diplomacy. But Baladeva Vidyabhusana says, "A brahmana should be so truthful that he will disclose everything to his enemy also." Satyam. Titiksa arjavam suci sama damathese are the qualifications. Jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam [Bg. 18.42].
So without this brahminical qualification one cannot understand the Vedic knowledge. Therefore it is stated sometimes that a sudra is prohibited from reading Vedas. That does not mean that reading of Vedic culture or Vedic knowledge is monopolized by a certain class of men. Not that. The idea is... Just like in our ordinary educational system, there is some prohibition that unless one is graduate, he cannot be admitted in the law college. That is not a prohibition; that is the necessary qualification to understand. Similarly, to understand the Vedas, the necessary qualification is that one must be a qualified brahmana. Not that Mr. Max Muller, he has got little knowledge of Sanskrit and he translates. That kind of translation is no use, just like so many commentaries on the Bhagavad-gita without becoming a devotee of Krsna is useless. It has no meaning, because Krsna says that bhaktya mam abhijanati: [Bg. 18.55] "Only through devotional service one can understand Me." How a nondevotee can understand Him? He has no scope to enter into the knowledge of Bhagavad-gita. So first qualification is that he must be a pure devotee of Krsna. Then it will be revealed.
In the Srimad-Bhagavata there is a verse,
athapi te deva padambuja-dvaya-
prasada-lesanugrhita eva hi
janati tattvam (bhagavan-mahimno)
na canya eko 'pi ciram vicinvan
[SB 10.14.29]
"My dear Lord, one who has a little, I mean to say, favorable connection with Your lotus feet, he can understand You." Athapi te deva padambuja-dvaya-prasada: "One who has got a little prasada from Your lotus feet, such person can understand You." Prasada-lesanu..., janati tattvam: "He can understand what You are." Krsna says that,
To understand Krsna is not very easy job. Krsna says, "Out of many millions of men, one is trying to become perfect in this human form of life." Not everyone is trying. First of all one has to become brahmana or acquire the brahminical qualification. That is the platform of sattva-guna. Unless one comes to the platform of sattva-guna, there is no question of perfection. Nobody can understand, nobody can achieve perfection on the platform of rajo-guna and tamo-guna, because one who is addicted with rajo-guna and tamo-guna, he is always very greedy and lusty. Tato rajas-tamo-bhavah kama-lobhadayas ca ye [SB 1.2.19]. One who is infected with the material qualities of ignorance and passion, he is lusty and greedy. That's all. Therefore you will see, generally people are very much lusty and greedy. They are accumulating money, crores and crores; still, they are not satisfied. In Western country we see very usually. There are many, many workers, working very hard from very poor state. Just like Henry Ford, Mr. Rockefeller, they started life from a very humble state, but they accumulated immense wealth, and still, they were not satisfied. In our country also there are many Birlas and such, accumulating money, money, money. They are greedy because infected with the quality, modes of nature, ignorance and passion. Vaisya means passion and ignorance, ksatriya means passion, and brahmana means goodness. These are the different qualities. So one has to come to the platform of goodness. Then he has to transcend the platform of goodness, come to the pure transcendental platform, vasudeva, sattvam-visuddham, sattva-guna. In this material world, sattva-guna is also sometimes mixed with rajo-guna and tamo-guna. That is the nature. So one has to transcend the platform of sattva-guna. Suddha-sattva. Sattvam visuddham vasudeva-sabditam. That is the vasudeva platform, when Krsna appears.
So manusyanam sahasresu [Bg. 7.3]. So generally people are addicted, infected with the qualities of ignorance and passion. How he can understand Krsna? It is not possible. So one has to engage himself this devotional service. Then you can... You may argue that "How these Europeans and Americans...? They are supposed to be in ignorance and passion. How they are coming to the platform of transcendental platform of pure goodness?" That is possible. That is possible by the execution of Bhagavata-dharma. Nityam bhagavata-sevaya [SB 1.2.18]. Tato rajas-tamo bhavah. There are verses in the Srimad-Bhagavatam that srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah [SB 1.2.17]. One has to hear. Therefore sravana and kirtana, hearing and chanting, is very important, srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah, especially hearing and chanting of Krsna. Kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet [SB 12.3.51]. Simply by discussing and hearing and reciting Bhagavad-gita purely, not by interpreting wrongly... As it is. As Krsna says, man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam [Bg. 18.65], you have to accept that. You cannot change that. You cannot say, "It is not to Krsna; it is the Krsna's self and this and that." So srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah. One who hears Bhagavad-gita as it is or Srimad-Bhagavatam from devotees... Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah. Because simply by hearing he achieves the result of pious activities... And Krsna says also in the Bhagavad-gita that "One can be engaged in My service, in devotional service, who is freed from all contamination of sinful life."
Unless one is freed from all contamination of sinful life, one cannot concentrate in the devotional service of Krsna, Krsna says.
So the process is, as it is recommended in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, srnvatam sva-kathah: simply you sit down and hear what Krsna says. Don't comment wrongly, whimsically. Don't gratify your senses. Submissively, namanta... As Caitanya Mahaprabhu also recommends from Bhagavata, jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva. Just be submissive, bhavadiya-vartam, and try to hear Krsna submissively. Then you'll benefit. If you make your own commentation, then you will be wrongly directed. You have too... Therefore Krsna said,
Because the parampara system was lost, therefore Krsna said that "The system recommended in the Bhagavad..., is lost off. Therefore I am speaking again to you the same yoga system." So one has to receive the knowledge of Bhagavad-gita by the parampara system. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna heard Bhagavad-gita. And how he understood Bhagavad-gita? He understood Krsna as a person. Param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan, purusam sasvatam adyam [Bg. 10.12]. That is real Bhagavad-gita understanding. And Arjuna said, sarvam etam rtam manye yan mam vadasi kesava. As Krsna says that sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66], so he accepted that. That is Bhagavad-gita reading, not that "It is not to person Krsna; it is to His self," and this and that. No. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
So it is very unfortunate that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, accepted by all the acaryas, not only at the present age, previously also... Vyasadeva, Narada, Asita, Devala, they are all great acaryas. And in the recent years, Sankaracarya, he also admitted. Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnu Svami, Lord Caitanyaall these authorities, they are accepting Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then how is thata less intelligent class of men, they are commenting differently? That is not good. They may comment, they go on talking all nonsense, but no sane man will accept them. That is a different thing. But those who are sane, they should judge over this, that "Why we should deny, that 'God is impersonal'? God is person. Krsna came." Krsna exhibited His godly potencies, energies, when He was present. There is no... In the history you won't find another second person like Krsna in the whole history of the world. Apart from other points of view, Bhagavad-gita, that is admitted, spoken by Krsna, such deep, profound knowledgethere is no second imitation or second copy like Bhagavad-gita in the whole world. That is admitted by all scholars, all religionists. Therefore He is purna-jnana, purna-brahma. Bhagavad-gita is purna-jnana. The Bhagavan's one qualificationHe is fully wise. Nobody is wiser than Him. That is one of the qualifications. Nobody is richer than Him, nobody is powerful than Him, nobody is influential than Him, nobody is beautiful than Him, and nobody is renouncer than Him. Sad-aisvarya. That will be explained.
So Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, admitted by all acaryas. And on the basis of that authority, we are preaching all over the world that "You are searching after God? Here is God." Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam. Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam. In the Bhagavata has given different list of different incarnation of God but ultimately concludes that ete camsa-kalah pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam: [SB 1.3.28] "All the incarnations, they are parts or parts of the parts." Amsa means part, and kalah means part of the part. "But svayam purna-bhagavan, sodasa-kala purna, sad-aisvarya-purna-bhagavan is Krsna." That is the verdict all Vedas, all sastras. So we should also accept in that light. Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam [SB 1.3.28]. Isvarah paramah krsnah [Bs. 5.1]. And Krsna also says personally, aham sarvasya prabhavah: [Bg. 10.8] "I am the origin of even Brahma, Siva, and Visnu also." Aham sarvasya prabhavah mattah sarvam pravartate. So from any...
Now, here Caitanya Mahaprabhu says that Krsna is person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is person, but He is not a person like us. That is difference. But less intelligent persons, they think Krsna, as soon as He is a person, "He is a person like us." That is a mistake. He is not a person like any one of us. Therefore He is confirmed by the Vedas, apani-pada javano grahita: "This Absolute Truth has no leg or hand; still, He can walk very swiftly and He can accept anything you offer." That means His hands and legs are not like ours. That is transcendental. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu is trying to explain before Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya that the Absolute Truth is a person, a person like you and me. Cetana... Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam (Katha Upanisad 2.2.13). He is the Supreme Person, the chief person. We are all also individuals, Krsna is also individual, but He is the chief and we are subordinate. That is the way.
Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. [break] God is not poor man, but you are mismanaging. (Hindi) (end)

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