You do not know what is the form of the Lord because your present senses are imperfect. Atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam idriyaih [Cc. Madhya 17.136]the Lord's name, His form, His pastimesna bhaved grahyam indriyaihour present senses are unable to conceive. Just like the soul is there within the body but nobody can see where is that soul, similarly, God is also within this body but nobody can see. It is specifically mentioned, isvarah sarva bhutanam hrd dese arjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. The Lord is situated in everyone's heart, but find out the heart, where is God. There is, but you cannot see. Atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. Present senses are unable to see. You have to prepare your eyes. Just like with cataract you cannot see anything. You have to undergo surgical operation. Then you will see. That surgical operation process is bhakti.

So God has form, but it is inconceivable by us. But from the sastra we can understand what kind of body God has. Just like in the Brahma-samhita it is explained,

Our knowledge is sense perception. Sense perception, aksaja jnanam. That will not act there. Acintya. Therefore we have to accept in that way. Idam sariram, but He has His body. He has His body, and because we cannot conceive, He, out of His causeless mercy, He presents Himself in a form which we can see. That is arca-vigraha, arca-murti. A vigraha. Arca means the form which we can worship. If God is impersonal Avyaktasakta-cetasam. Kleso adhikataras tesam. If we accept God as impersonal He is not impersonal. He says idam sariram. He is personal. But our present senses cannot perceive. That is the difficulty. Therefore out of His causeless mercy He has appeared in a form which you can see, you can touch, you can dress, you can offer garland, you can offer foodto accept your service. That is God's mercy. Don't think that "Because God mercifully has come before Me in a form which we can perceive, which we can see, with which we can serve," not that "He is not God." That is rascaldom. God is there. Otherwise Caitanya Mahaprabhu, as soon as He entered the Jagannatha's temple, immediately He fainted. Does it mean He made a fun? No. He saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead present there.

So it requires eyes to see God. That eyes you have to prepare. What is that eyes? Premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena [Bs. 5.38]. You have to apply eyes' ointment. Just like there is some medicine, eye ointment, which you applyyou can see very distinctlysimilarly, that ointment is premanjana. If you develop love for God Just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is in ecstasy, always in love. He can see. Similarly, if you develop your love for God, then you can see. Premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena [Bs. 5.38]. This premanjana, this ointment of love is bhakti. In the Bhagavad-gita also it is said, bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah [Bg. 18.55]. Tattvatah, not superficially, actually what He is. That you can understand through bhakti, not any other process. Krsna does not say that you can Bhakta, not bhakta but jnanam. There are jnanis. There are yogis. No. They cannot understand Bhagavan tattvatah. Therefore Bhagavan says,

So we have to understand God as He says. Don't imagine. Don't speculate. That is useless.

Therefore we have to hear from the authorities, from Krsna, that there is soul; there is atma; there is transmigration. And everything, what is spoken in the sastra, they are fact, but we do not consult sastra. We become scientists. We become philosophers. With gross understanding, dull understanding, poor understanding, how you can understand yourself and God? So there is no question of self-realization by your gross understanding. You have to understand by hearing. Therefore to get real knowledge is not by the eyes and senses but by the ear. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called sruti. You have to receive knowledgesruti. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. Why? The guru means who is fully aware of the sruti, srotriyam, one who has perfectly listened to his guru. Srotriyam brahma-nistham. And by hearing only, he has become brahma-nistham, without any doubt: "Yes, there is God. Yes." We have to approach such person who has perfectly listened to his... Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh [Bg. 4.2]. So by sruti, by hearing oral reception. Just like there is practical example. Suppose you are sleeping, and somebody is coming to do you some harm, to kill you. But another person is warning you, "Please get up! Get up! Somebody is coming to kill you." But it will act, because while other senses are practically dead, the ear is working. By hearing, you can get up. This is practical.

So at the present moment we are sleeping, sleeping in the darkness. Therefore to get knowledge we have to use our ears. Sravanam. Therefore to enter into the devotional service one has to use this ear, sravanam. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada... And sravanam about whom? Sravanam about Visnu, sravanam kirta..., sravanam. They say that "You can hear anything." No.

So Rsabhadeva said that "I have got My body," idam sariram, when He appears to solve our problem, whether God is personal or impersonal. Impersonal is there, there is no doubt, but what is that impersonal? Maya tatam idam sarvam jagat avyakta-murtina [Bg. 9.4]. That is impersonal. No, He's Maya: "By Me." That means His energy. His energy is distributed throughout the whole creation, cosmic manifestation. But He is still there. Maya. Unless He is there Not that because He is spread everywherevasudevah sarvam iti [Bg. 7.19]it does not mean He is finished. That is material understanding. In the materially, if you take a piece of paper and make it a small pieces and throw it, then the original paper is no longer existing. That is material conception. But spiritual conception? Purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate [Iso Invocation]. That is spiritual idea. If you take cent percent God from God, still He is cent percent. That is purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate. Isavasyam idam. So Krsna says that maya, "In My another feature, Vasudeva feature," maya tatam idam sarvam. Everything is God, but everything is not God. That is explained by God.

So God has form, but He is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha. He is not... When it is said, the nirakara, "no form," that does not mean that He has no akara. The akara, or the form which we understand, He hasn't got that form. He is sac-cid-ananda vigrahah [Bs. 5.1]. Otherwise how He can accept your offerings? Krsna says that patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati, tad aham asnami [Bg. 9.26]. He says, "I eat." So if He has no mouth, how He can eat? And therefore the Vedic literature informs us that pasyati acaksuh: "He sees, but He has no eyes." When the Vedic literature says that He has no eyes, that means He has no eyes like us. But He has got eyes; otherwise how He sees? Pasyati acaksuh srnoti akarnah. He can hear; otherwise what is the use of offering prayer? Yes, He hears, but akarna, not that He has got ears like you. He is in the Vaikuntha, many, many millions and trillions miles away, but still, you are offering here, "Govindam adi purusam." He is hearing. He is here. Sarvatra pani padas tat. This thing should be understood.

And because we do not understandeverything we try to test with our limited understandingtherefore we do not believe in the activities of the Lord, and we are deceived in that way. God is all-powerful, but when we hear that God at the age of seven years age, old, He lifted the Govardhana Hill, immediately we dismiss, "Oh, this is all mythology." Why? If He has got inconceivable powerHe is all-powerfulis it very difficult for Him to lift the Govardhana Hill? "No, we don't believe in God. Even if we believe, we want to believe in our own way." That is bhavyam, conceivable. But He is durvibhavyam. You cannot conceive. Two contradict things. Just like here Krsna said, Rsabhadeva, that sattvam hi me hrdayam yatra dharmah. The dharma and adharma, they are two contradictory thought. But He is the source of dharma and adharma both. Janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.1]. Adharma, which we hate, that is also coming from God. Janmadya asya yatah. Otherwise... That is explained here. Prsthe. Prsthe krto me yad adharma arat. So adharma is also there in Godon the back side. So is there any difference between back side and front side? Advaya-jnana, absolute. No.

So these things have to be understood, that both dharma and adharma, they are coming from... He is the original, so... Yato va imani bhutani jayante. Everything is coming from Him. So dharma and adharma, that is duality, duality understanding within this material world. In the spiritual world there is no such thing. The dharma and adharma is the same thing because the same source. This to be understood from right sources, right person. Then we can understand. But He comes, Krsna comes, out of His causeless mercy to inform us. Not only Krsnamany others incarnation of Krsna. Just like Rsabhadeva. He is also incarnation of Krsna. He is explaining Himself. So we should take advantage of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, from the Absolute Truth. Don't speculate. Speculation has no meaning. So we have got this instruction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the Bhagavad-gita. So if we are serious about understanding about God, then we can hear from Him. And whatever He says, whatever He instructs, you take it. Then our life will be successful. And if we speculate, panthas tu koti-sata-vatsara-sampra...

Thank you very much. (end)