Simultaneously One and Different
Simultaneously One and Different
DR. SINGH. Is it true that Krsna conscious persons perceive Krsna in a plain stone as much as in the Deity carved from stone?
SRĪLA PRABHUPADA. Yes.
DR. SINGH. Just as much?
maya tatam idam sarvam
jagad avyakta-mūrtina
mat-sthani sarva-bhūtani
na caham tesv avasthitaḥ
This means that Krsna's energy-that is, Krsna in His partially manifested form-pervades every atom of the universe. But His fully manifested personal form is present in the Deity shaped according to His directions. This is the philosophy of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva, the simultaneous oneness and difference of God and His energies. For example, when the sunshine is in your room, that does not mean the sun itself is in your room. The sun and its separated energies, like heat and light, are one in quality, but different in quantity.
DR. SINGH. But still, you say that one can see Krsna in ordinary stone?
SRĪLA PRABHUPADA. Yes, why not? We see the stone as Krsna's energy.
DR. SINGH. But can we worship Him within the stone?
SRĪLA PRABHUPADA. We can worship Him through His energy in the stone. But we cannot worship the stone as Krsna. We cannot worship this bench as Krsna. But we can worship everything because we see everything as Krsna's energy. This tree is worshipable because both Krsna and His energy are worshipable, but this does not mean we worship the tree in the same way as we worship the Deity of Krsna in the temple.
In my childhood I was taught by my parents never to waste Krsna's energy. They taught me that if even a small grain of rice was stuck between the floorboards, I should pick it up, touch it to my forehead and eat it to save it from being wasted. I was taught how to see everything in relation to Krsna. That is Krsna consciousness. We therefore do not like to see anything wasted or misused. We are teaching our disciples how to use everything for Krsna and how to understand that everything is Krsna. As Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita [6.30]:
yo mam pasyati sarvatra
sarvam ca mayi pasyati
tasyaham na pranasyami
sa ca me na pranasyati
"For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me."
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