SB 4.30.41 – The Supreme Controller in All Respects

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Four, Chapter Thirty, “The Activities of Pracetās,”

TEXT 41

manuḥ svayambhūr bhagavān bhavaś ca
ye ‘nye tapo-jñāna-viśuddha-sattvāḥ
adṛṣṭa-pārā api yan-mahimnaḥ
stuvanty atho tvātma-samaṁ gṛṇīmaḥ

TRANSLATION

Dear Lord, even great yogīs and mystics who are very much advanced by virtue of austerities and knowledge and who have completely situated themselves in pure existence, as well as great personalities like Manu, Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, cannot fully understand Your glories and potencies. Nonetheless they have offered their prayers according to their own capacities. In the same way, we, although much lower than these personalities, also offer our prayers according to our own capability.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Manu (the father of mankind), great saintly persons and also great sages who have elevated themselves to the transcendental platform through austerities and penance, as well as devotional service, are imperfect in knowledge compared to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the case with anyone within this material world. No one can be equal to the Supreme Lord in anything, certainly not in knowledge.

COMMENT

In Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna says that He knows all things past, present, and future, and He knows all living entities, but no one knows Him. No one can be equal to the Lord or greater than the Lord in any way, and certainly not in knowledge. Although one may be very advanced by virtue of various spiritual practices and may be situated in pure existence, but still he is not equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And therefore, his prayers and glorification of the Lord will always be deficient. They will never be equal to the Lord’s glory.

PURPORT (continued)

Consequently, anyone’s prayer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is never complete. It is not possible to measure the complete glories of the Supreme Lord, who is unlimited. Even the Lord Himself in His incarnation as Ananta, or Śeṣa, cannot describe His own glories. Although Ananta has many thousands of faces and has been glorifying the Lord for many, many years, He could not find the limit of the glories of the Lord.

COMMENT

So Ananta Shesha Himself is the Lord or an expansion of the Lord, and with innumerable mouths for innumerable time, He has been chanting the glories of the Lord, but still, He could not reach the limit of the Lord’s glory.

PURPORT (continued)

Thus it is not possible to estimate the complete potencies and glories of the Supreme Lord.

Nonetheless, everyone in devotional service can offer essential prayers to the Lord. Everyone is situated in a relative position, and no one is perfect in glorifying the Lord. Beginning with Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva down to ourselves, everyone is the servant of the Supreme Lord. We are all situated in relative positions according to our own karma.

COMMENT

Caitanya-caritāmṛta also states, ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa āra saba bhṛtyayāre, only Krishna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all others are His servants. So even the great controllers within the material like Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva, and others are subordinate to Krishna. They can also be called Isvaras or controllers, but there is some relativity in the control of others. Therefore, Lord Brahma himself say, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. There are many Isvaras. Brahma is also Isvara; Shiva is also Isvaras. In fact, we are also Isvaras, we also have some control within our own spheres, but we cannot claim to be parama Isvara or the Supreme controller. The older brother may have some control over the younger brother, but the mother has control over both of the children, and the husband has control over the wife. But when the husband goes to work, he is under the control of his supervisor in the office, and his supervisor is under the control of another authority, who is under the control of the proprietor. That even the proprietor is not the supreme controller; he is under the control of the government officers, and ultimately the government officers are under the control of the voters. And everyone is under the control of material nature.

Material nature inflicts suffering on the conditioned souls in various ways, and we have already discussed birth, death, old age, and disease. So nobody wants to suffer birth, death, old age, and disease, but we are forced to because we are not independent. We are under the control of material nature, and even material nature is under the control of Krishna. So Krishna is the Supreme controller. So everyone else’s position, even he may be Lord Brahma or Lord Shiva or a human being, he may even be an animal or an insect, everyone else’s position is relative. So it is just a matter of degree to what extent one is considered high or low, to what extent one has control over others, and to what extent he is controlled by others. Because everyone has some control over others, but at the same time, everyone also is controlled by someone else. Only Krishna is the Supreme controller. No one is equal to Him, and no one is greater than Him, and He is supreme in every respect.

Actually, the soul is the same in every body, so the soul in the body of Brahma, the soul in the body of Indra, the soul in the body of the king, the soul in the body of the citizen is the same. It is only due to karma that someone is situated as a demigod, someone is situated as a king, someone is situated as an ordinary citizen.

PURPORT (continued)

Yet every one of us can offer prayers with heart and soul as far as we can appreciate the Lord’s glories. That is our perfection.

COMMENT

So, every soul has a relationship with the Supreme soul, Krishna, and every soul has some capacity to glorify the Supreme soul. And therefore, no one is barred, no one is prevented from offering prayers in glorification of the Lord. Because someone may have the body of a demigod, someone may have the body of a human being, but still, the soul is the same, and every soul has an eternal relationship with Krishna. And therefore, in the course of devotional service, he can glorify the Lord. That is our perfection. So we cannot glorify the Lord according to the greatness of the Lord, because the Lord is greater than our capacity to glorify Him. But we can glorify the Lord to the full extent we are able to, and that is our perfection. Just like one devotee asked Prabhupada that, “When we pray to Krishna, does Krishna hear our prayers?” So Prabhupada replied, “Yes, He hears your prayers, and even when you don’t pray to Krishna, He still hears your thoughts. He is aware of all of your thoughts, good and bad.” So then the boy asked Srila Prabhupada, “Well, if Krishna hears all of our thoughts, in any case, should we pray to Krishna? Is there any need to pray to Krishna?” And Prabhupada said that, “Praying is our only business because not that we pray to Krishna because He doesn’t know our thoughts, and if we don’t express ourselves, He won’t know our mind. But we pray to Krishna in the mood of service because it is our business to pray to Krishna. It is our constitutional position to pray and serve Krishna, and the more we do it, the better it is for us.”

Krishna does not gain or lose when He is praised or blamed. But we gain when we glorify Krishna. Prahlada Maharaja has given the example that when a person decorates himself, his reflection in the mirror is also decorated. So Krishna is our real self. We are like Krishna’s reflections. So when we decorate Krishna, we become decorated. When we glorify Krishna, we become glorified. So Krishna does not gain or lose by anything we do. He doesn’t gain by our praise, and he doesn’t lose by our blasphemy. He is always perfect and complete. But if we glorify Krishna, we benefit, and if we blaspheme Krishna, we spoil our lives, but Krishna remains the same.

PURPORT (continued)

Even when one is in the darkest region of existence, he is allowed to offer prayers to the Lord according to his own capacity. The Lord therefore says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.32):

māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
ye ‘pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās
te ‘pi yānti parāṁ gatim

“O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth — women, vaiśyas [merchants], as well as śūdras [workers] — can approach the supreme destination.”

COMMENT

So here, Srila Prabhupada says, even when one is in the darkest region of existence, he is allowed to offer prayers to the Lord according to his capacity. So, there are three modes in material nature. The mode of goodness is considered the mode of light, the mode of passion is partially dark, and the mode of ignorance is the mode of darkness. So even someone in the mode of darkness, mostly in the mode of darkness, or in the mode of darkness, he can also glorify the Lord with suitable prayers. According to Vedic literatures, brahmans are in the mode of goodness, kshatriyas are in the mode of passion, vaishyas are in the mode of passion and ignorance, and sudras are in the mode of ignorance. But according to the verse from Bhagavad-gītā quoted here, even people who are covered by the modes of passion and ignorance, or almost exclusively covered by the mode of ignorance, they can still surrender to the Lord, take shelter of the Lord, glorify the Lord, and realize the Lord.

PURPORT (continued)

If one seriously accepts the lotus feet of the Lord, he is purified by the grace of the Lord and by the grace of the Lord’s servant. This is confirmed by Śukadeva Gosvāmī: ye ‘nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ (Bhāg. 2.4.18). One who is brought under the lotus feet of the Lord by the endeavor of the Lord’s servant, the spiritual master, is certainly immediately purified, however lowborn he may be. He becomes eligible to return home, back to Godhead.

COMMENT

So, in the Fourth Chapter of the Second Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śukadeva Gosvami offers prayers to the Lord before he begins to answer the questions of Maharaja Parīkṣit, and he prays to the Lord that even low-born persons, and he lists, Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā, he lists various categories of low-born persons, pāpa-yonayaḥ —they are considered sinful, to have taken sinful births. They are lower than sudras also. But even they, who are lower than sudras, who may be caṇḍālas, born in families of dog-eaters, they may actually eat dogs, but even they, if they take shelter of the Lord’s servants, can be delivered by the omnipotency of the Supreme Lord. Therefore, Krishna consciousness, or devotional service, is open to all classes of men.

Sometimes, people in India say that Krishna consciousness is open only to a certain class of men, and in varnashrama system also, there is some restriction on who can study the Vedas. For example, it is said that only brahmans can study the Vedas. But the system of varnashrama is not in operation now, even among the so-called followers of varnashrama in India. Actually, there is no varnashrama, and the shastra also says, kalau śūdra-sambhava, that in Kali-yuga, everyone is born sudra because there are various ritual purificatory processes, reformatory processes that must be performed at the time of conception, at the time of birth, and at different stages along the way, so that the child could be considered to be born a brahman. And such rigid reformatory processes are not being followed now.

So, kalau śūdra-sambhava, even if the child is born as a brahman, he still has to undergo further reformatory processes and ultimately he also has to be trained and initiated by a spiritual master, and receive the sacred thread and Gayatri mantra from the spiritual master. So just being born as a brahman is not enough, but in Kali-yuga, no one can even claim to have been born as a brahman. Everyone is born sudra or less than sudra, and it is not possible to revive the complete system of varnashrama-dharma at the present moment either. Therefore, no one can claim to be eligible for Krishna consciousness or for Vedic studies on the basis of material birth. No one is qualified on the basis of material birth, but everyone is qualified on the basis of spiritual qualification, which is the desire to serve Krishna and glorify Krishna. So whatever one’s birth may be, according to one’s past activities, if one wants to serve Krishna and glorify Him, one is considered eligible. And even though he may be situated in the lower modes of nature, he can still be elevated by the almighty Lord’s mercy if the person takes shelter of the Lord’s devotee.

So here, the Pracetas are saying that even the greatest of the demigods, the greatest of the sages that become advanced by austerities and knowledge and who have attained the position of pure existence, or śuddha-sattva, even they cannot realize the limit of the Lord’s glory. No one can realize the limit of the Lord’s glory, but everyone can glorify the Lord according to his capacity. And even though we are much lower than Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva, or Manu, still we can also glorify the Lord according to our capacity, and so can everyone. So no one should be proud of his position in the material world because, compared to the Lord, we are all inferior in any case, and we are not complete in our efforts to glorify the Lord or serve the Lord. And the Lord does not see how much we are giving Him, Srila Prabhupada says, but He sees how much we are holding back. For example, if someone has one crore of rupees and he gives one thousand rupees, the Lord will see how much he is holding back. And if someone has one thousand rupees and he gives all one thousand rupees, the Lord will see how much he is holding back, and He will see that the simple person who only had one thousand rupees gave everything to Him. And He will see that the crorepati, who gave one thousand rupees or even ten thousand rupees, kept so much back. So in His eyes, the service of the poor man will be greater than the service of the rich man because the poor man gave everything that he could give, whereas the rich man kept back so much.

There is one story of Hanuman and the squirrel. You might know that when Hanuman and the other monkeys were throwing boulders into the ocean to create the bridge from India to Lanka, one squirrel came, and he was also putting some grains of sand in the ocean. So Hanuman started to abuse the squirrel that, “I am throwing so many big boulders, and you are just putting some grains of sand in the water. What is the use of your few grains of sand? And you are getting in my way. So get out of my way.” And the squirrel replied, “But I also want to serve Lord Rama.” Then Lord Rama overheard the conversation and He came to the place and He told Hanuman that, “You are serving Me according to your capacity, and the squirrel is serving Me according to his capacity. So in My eyes, both of your service is equal. And besides, I am the one who is making the boulders float on the water. Why are you trying to take the credit?”

So no one should be proud of his material ability. We have the tendency that if we have a little intelligence, we become proud that we know more than others, or whatever. If we can sing nicely, we become a little proud that I can sing better than others. But this is actually foolishness because whatever strengths and weaknesses we have are the result of past karma, and karma is nothing to be proud of. Because of karma, we get the body, and the body is nothing to be proud of. But we are so foolish that we become proud, and we think that we are better than others. But Krishna doesn’t see that someone who is more intelligent or someone who is more artistic or someone who is more opulent is better than others. He just sees the soul and how much the soul is surrendered to Him. The same thing applies to a rich man with a crore of rupees who gives ten thousand rupees; he is giving less, in proportion, than the poor man who has a thousand rupees and gives a hundred rupees. So, the real thing is that we serve the Lord according to our capacity, not what our capacity is.

Of course, ordinary materialistic persons, they get impressed by people’s material abilities or people’s material opulences. So, we may be able to impress ordinary people and they may praise us, and we may take their praise as significant. But actually, in the eyes of the Lord, no one is greater or lesser. The only thing that Krishna wants to see is how much we are serving Him with what we have, whatever little we have, and that will satisfy Krishna, not knowledge or opulence or power, or any other. And sometimes, people who are very materially qualified have less faith in the Lord than simple people, than ordinary people. Srila Prabhupada told the story of the brahman and the cobbler. Once, Narada was passing by some place on the way to see Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha. So, on the way, he met one brahman. So, the brahman told Narada that, “Oh, you are on the way to see the Lord in Vaikuntha, please ask the Lord how many more births I will have to suffer in the material world.” Then, Narada passed one cobbler, and the cobbler, said to Narada, “Oh, you are on the way to see Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha. You are so fortunate. The Lord is so great and so wonderful, and you are so fortunate that you are able to serve the Lord and meet the Lord personally.” Then, in the end, he said that, “Since you will be meeting the Lord, maybe you can ask Him for me, how many more births I will have to suffer in the material world.”

So, Narada met the Lord in Vaikuntha, and he eventually asked Him about the brahman and the cobbler. So, the Lord replied that, “The brahman will have to suffer many, many more births in the material world before he is liberated.” And He said, “The cobbler, will not have to take birth again; he has already taken his last birth, and at the end of this life, when he leaves this body, he will come to Me.” So, Narada returned to earth and met the brahman, and the brahman asked him, “Did you ask the Lord?” And Narada gave the answer. Then the brahman became very angry, “And how could I have to suffer many more births? I am a learned brahman, I am a purified brahman. This is my last life! I don’t even believe that you went Vaikuntha; you are speaking such nonsense.” Then, Narada met the cobbler, and the cobbler also asked. And when Narada gave the Lord’s answer, the cobbler became very jubilant. He began to sing and dance in ecstasy and say that, “The Lord is so merciful that even though I am so fallen, He has agreed to give me the shelter of His lotus feet.”

When Narada met Lord Narayana, he asked Lord Narayana, “What should I tell them to convince them that I actually met You?” So, Lord Narayana, “If they ask me what You were doing, what should I say?” So, Lord Narayana replied that, “You should say that I was threading an elephant through the eye of a needle.”

So, I will start the story again. That once, Narada was on the way to meet Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha, and on the way, he met a brahman. And the brahman says that, “When you meet the Lord in Vaikuntha, you should ask Him how many more births I will have to suffer before I am liberated.” And then, Narada said, he would do it. Then he met one cobbler, mochi. And the cobbler said, “Oh, you are on the way to meet Lord Narayana. The Lord is so great, the Lord is so merciful, and you are so fortunate that you are able to see the Lord and serve the Lord directly.” And he also said that, “When you meet the Lord, perhaps you can ask Him on my behalf when I will be liberated.”

So, Narada went to Vaikuntha and Narada met the Lord. And in due course, he asked the Lord about the brahman and the cobbler. So, the Lord said the brahman will have to suffer many, many more births before he is liberated, but the cobbler will be liberated in the present lifetime. Then Narada asked the Lord that, “If they asked me what You were doing when I met You, what should I answer?” So, Lord Narayana replied, “You should tell them that I was threading an elephant through the eye of a needle.” So, Narada returned to Earth and he gave the Lord’s message to the brahman and brahman became very upset. He said, “How is it possible? I am such a learned brahman, such a purified person. This is going to be my last life. I don’t think you met the Lord. If you met the Lord, then tell me what He was doing.” Narada replied, “He was threading an elephant through the eye of a needle.” So, the brahman became furious. “I don’t believe you; you never even met the Lord. You go from here.” Then Narada met the cobbler, and cobbler asked, “How is the Lord?” Narada told him that this will be his last birth, he became overwhelmed with ecstatic love for Narayana, and began sing and dance. He said, “The Lord is so merciful. He has accepted fallen soul like me.” Then he asked, “What was the Lord doing?” Narada replied that, “The Lord was threading an elephant through the eye of a needle.” And again cobbler began to sing and dance in ecstasy that, “The Lord is so great, only He can thread an elephant through the eye of the needle.” Then Narada asked, “You believe it, that the Lord was threading an elephant through the eye of the needle? He said, “Yes, why not. I am sitting under this banyan tree. The Lord has fit a whole banyan tree into a small seed. So, the Lord can put a whole big tree in a small tiny seed, why can’t He put an elephant through the eye of a needle?”

The simple cobbler, he was able to get the Lord’s mercy, because he had full faith in the Lord and the Lord’s devotees, and he was humble whereas the brahman was proud. He did not have so much faith in the Lord’s glory or the Lord’s mercy. He had more faith in his own intelligence. He tries to understand the Lord according to his own ideas. And although he may have been very proud of his knowledge or his purity, and although he may have been more respected by others, but he was condemned to take birth in the material world again and again. So, we should not try to conceive of the Lord materially, and we should not think of ourselves in material terms, and we should not think of others in material terms either. But we should just see the soul, that the soul in every body is same and they can serve the Lord according to His desire. And we should see how the soul is engaged in serving the Lord, and not make material distinction. According to shastra, if one sees the deity as made of stone or if one sees spiritual master as ordinary man, or if one sees a Vaishnava belonging to a particular community, he possesses a hellish mentality. So, you can say he is a resident of hell.

So, we should not judge Vaishnavas according to birth or other material considerations. Anyone who has taken full shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has been accepted by the Lord. He has been accepted by the Lord on the same platform as the Lord Himself. Because one cannot serve the Lord unless he is on the same platform as the Lord. Just like to enter fire, one must be fire; one must become fire. So, similarly, to serve the Supreme Brahman, one must come to the brahman platform. So, to see a devotee as high or low in terms of material calculation is an offense. Anyone can serve the Lord according to his capacity, and everyone should be encouraged to serve the Lord according to his capacity. And we should not see devotees as high or low in terms of birth or material qualifications but we should see them as servant of the Lord. And we should not try to make them feel bad or inferior because they have some less qualifications in material terms. And we feel proud for having some material qualification. So, we should be humble and serve the Lord with heart and soul.

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:00:30]