Krishna Book Reading

Giriraj Swami:

READING from KRISHNA book

Then there are the philosophers headed by Gautama and Kaṇāda. They have minutely studied the cause and effect of the material elements and have ultimately come to the conclusion that atomic combination is the original cause of creation. At present the materialistic scientists follow in the footsteps of Gautama and Kaṇāda, who propounded this theory, called Paramāṇuvāda. This theory, however, cannot be supported, for the original cause of everything is not inert atoms. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as well as in the Vedas, wherein it is stated, eko nārāyaṇa āsīt: “Only Nārāyaṇa existed before the creation.” 

COMMENT

We have the same book as Chaitanya Chandra has?

Devotee: [0:01:29.9 Inaudible]. 

Giriraj Swami:

READING (continued)

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Vedānta-sūtra also say that the original cause is sentient and both indirectly and directly cognizant of everything within this creation. In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ, “I am the original cause of everything,” and mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate, “From Me everything comes into existence.” Therefore, atoms may form the basic combinations of material existence, but these atoms are generated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus the philosophy of Gautama and Kaṇāda cannot be supported.

Similarly, impersonalists headed by Aṣṭāvakra and later by Śaṅkarācārya accept the impersonal Brahman effulgence as the cause of everything. According to their theory, the material manifestation is temporary and unreal, whereas the impersonal Brahman effulgence is reality. But this theory cannot be supported either, because the Lord Himself says in the Bhagavad-gītā that the Brahman effulgence rests on His personality. It is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā that the Brahman effulgence is the personal bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa. As such, impersonal Brahman cannot be the original cause of the cosmic manifestation. The original cause is the all-perfect, sentient Personality of Godhead, Govinda.

The most dangerous theory of the impersonalists is that when God comes as an incarnation He accepts a material body created by the three modes of material nature. This Māyāvāda theory has been condemned by Lord Caitanya as most offensive. He has said that anyone who accepts the transcendental body of the Personality of Godhead to be made of material nature commits the greatest offense at the lotus feet of Viṣṇu. Similarly, the Bhagavad-gītā also states that when the Personality of Godhead descends in a human form, only fools and rascals deride Him. This actually occurred when Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Rāma and Lord Caitanya moved within human society as human beings.

The personified Vedas condemn the impersonal conception as a gross misrepresentation. In the Brahma-saṁhitā, the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is described as ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. The Supreme Personality of Godhead possesses a spiritual body, not a material body. He can enjoy anything through any part of His body, and therefore He is omnipotent. The limbs of a material body can perform only a particular function; for example, the hands can hold but cannot see or hear. But because the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is made of ānanda-cinmaya-rasa and is thus sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, He can enjoy anything and do everything with any of His limbs. Acceptance of the spiritual body of the Lord as material is dictated by the tendency to equate the Supreme Personality of Godhead with the conditioned soul. The conditioned soul has a material body. Therefore, if God also has a material body, then the impersonalistic theory that the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entities are one and the same can be very easily propagated.

Factually, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead comes He exhibits a nonmaterial body, and thus there is no difference between His childish body when He is lying on the lap of Mother Yaśodā and His so-called grown-up body fighting with the demons. In His childhood body He also fought with demons, such as Pūtanā, Tṛṇāvarta and Aghāsura, with strength equal to that with which He fought in His youth against demons like Dantavakra and Śiśupāla. In material life, as soon as a conditioned soul changes his body he forgets everything of his past body, but from the Bhagavad-gītā we understand that because Kṛṣṇa has a sac-cid-ānanda body, He did not forget instructing the sun god about the Bhagavad-gītā millions of years ago. The Lord is therefore known as Puruṣottama because He is transcendental to both material and spiritual existence. That He is the cause of all causes means that He is the cause of the spiritual world and of the material world as well. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is omnipotent and omniscient. 

COMMENT

Who knows what omnipotent means? 

Devotee: That he can do anything.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, and omniscient? Kalyani, what is omnipotent mean?

Devotee: [0:10:52.4 Inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: That is what omniscient mean, and omnipotent? 

Devotee: He can do anything.

Giriraj Swami: He can do it anything, good, 

READING (continued)

Therefore, because a material body can be neither omnipotent nor omniscient, the Lord’s body is surely not material. The Māyāvāda theory that the Personality of Godhead comes within this material world with a material body cannot be supported by any means.

It can be concluded that all the theories of the materialistic philosophers are generated from temporary, illusory existence, like the conclusions in a dream. Such conclusions certainly cannot lead us to the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth can be realized only through devotional service. As the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti: “Only by devotional service can one understand Me.” Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī

COMMENT

He is considered the original commentator of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

READING (continued)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has composed a nice verse in this regard, which states, “My dear Lord, let others engage in false argument and dry speculation, theorizing upon great philosophical theses. Let them loiter in the darkness of ignorance and illusion, falsely enjoying as if very learned scholars, although they are without knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As far as I am concerned, I wish to be liberated simply by chanting the holy names of the all-beautiful Supreme Personality of Godhead – Mādhava, Vāmana, Trinayana, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Śrīpati and Govinda. Simply by chanting Your transcendental names, O Lord Madhupati, let me become free from the contamination of this material existence.”

In this way the personified Vedas said, “Dear Lord, when a living entity, by Your grace only, comes to the right conclusion about Your exalted transcendental position, he no longer bothers with the different theories manufactured by the mental speculators or so-called philosophers.” This is a reference to the speculative theories of Gautama, Kaṇāda, Patañjali and Kapila (nirīśvara). There are actually two Kapilas: one Kapila, the son of Kardama Muni, is an incarnation of God, and the other is an atheist of the modern age. The atheistic Kapila is often misrepresented to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Kapila the incarnation of Godhead appeared as the son of Kardama Muni long, long ago, during the time of Svāyambhuva Manu; the modern age is the age of Vaivasvata Manu.

According to Māyāvāda philosophy, this manifested world, or material world, is mithyā or māyā, false. The Māyāvādī preaching principle is brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: “Only the Brahman effulgence is true, and the cosmic manifestation is illusory, or false.” But according to Vaiṣṇava philosophy, this cosmic manifestation is true because it is created by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that He enters within this material world by one of His plenary portions and thus the creation takes place. From the Vedas also we can understand that this asat, or temporary cosmic manifestation, is an emanation from the supreme sat, or fact. From the Vedānta-sūtra also it is understood that everything has emanated from the Supreme Brahman. Therefore, the Vaiṣṇavas do not take this cosmic manifestation to be false. Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead has entered this cosmic manifestation in the form of His plenary expansion and caused the creation, the Vaiṣṇava philosophers see everything in this material world in relationship with the Supreme Lord.

This conception of the material world is very nicely explained by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, who says that when persons renounce the material world as illusory or false without knowing that the material world is a manifestation of the Supreme Lord, their renunciation is of no value. The Vaiṣṇavas, however, are free of attachment to this world because although the material world is generally accepted as an object of sense gratification, the Vaiṣṇavas are not in favor of sense gratification and are therefore not attached to material activities. The Vaiṣṇava accepts this material world according to the regulative principles of the Vedic injunctions and works without attachment. Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the original cause of everything, the Vaiṣṇava sees everything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, even in this material world. By such advanced knowledge, everything becomes spiritualized. In other words, everything in the material world is already spiritual, but due to our lack of knowledge we see things as material.

COMMENT

So this distinction between material and spiritual is quite subtle. In fact, yesterday I was speaking with His Holiness Rtadhvaja Swami, and he told me about a class he is giving on the Bhagavad-gītā which made a distinction between material activities and devotional service, and the distinction is based on consciousness. You can’t tell from the activity whether it is spiritual or material, it depends on the consciousness. So he asked the audience, “Is working in a bank material or spiritual,” and everyone said material. And then he said, “is going shopping material or spiritual,” and everyone said material. And then he said, “Is worshipping the deity material are spiritual,” and everyone said spiritual. But actually they were all wrong because you can’t determine if it is spiritual or material just based on the activity, it depends on the consciousness and intention. So something material can become spiritual and something spiritual can become material or everything is actually spiritual originally because it comes from the supreme spirit, Krishna. So we take material ingredients such as rice, dal, wheat, vegetables, and prepare food and offer to Krishna and it becomes prasāda; it is spiritual. And something spiritual can become material just like we might rent a building and use it as a temple, so when it is a temple it is spiritual. And then if we leave the building and sell it, the new owners can use it for sense gratification and it becomes material. So the distinction between spiritual and material is really how the thing is used. If it is used in service to Krishna, it is spiritual and if it is used for sense gratification it is material or it becomes material.

Devotee: [0:23:27.5 Inaudible] 

Giriraj Swami: At a certain stage of devotional service we engage in service as a matter of duty. As you say, if our heart isn’t into it but still if we do it as a matter of duty, as a regulative principle, then it is still counts as devotional service. But someone could be a pujari to make money, to get money in the collection box or do pujas without any devotion just to get money out of it. In that case it wouldn’t be spiritual, it would be material.

Devotee: [0:24:43.2 Inaudible] What is the best thing to do; how do we understand that?

Giriraj Swami: Well, you understand that they are very expensive and you have to pay. After that we are assuming in the context of devotees that they are charging so that they can perform the function that they are setting out to perform, for the service of the people and the pleasure of Krishna. In fact, Srila Prabhupada wanted devotees to charge for the books. He didn’t want them to give it away free, he didn’t want people to take the books cheaply. If they pay for it they will think, “Okay, I have spent some of my hard-earned money, let me see what is in it.” So charging is not wrong but we should use the proceeds for Krishna. 

READING (continued)

The Vaiṣṇava accepts this material world according to the regulative principles of the Vedic injunctions and works without attachment. Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the original cause of everything, the Vaiṣṇava sees everything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, even in this material world. By such advanced knowledge, everything becomes spiritualized. In other words, everything in the material world is already spiritual, but due to our lack of knowledge we see things material.

COMMENT

Seeing things as material means we see it as for our sense gratification and not for Krishna’s pleasure, service.

READING (continued)

The personified Vedas presented the example that those seeking gold do not reject gold earrings, gold bangles or anything else made of gold simply because they are shaped differently from the original gold. All living entities are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and are qualitatively one with Him, but they are now differently shaped in 8,400,000 species of life, just like many different ornaments manufactured from the same source of gold. As one who is interested in gold accepts all the differently shaped gold ornaments, so a Vaiṣṇava, knowing well that all living entities are of the same quality as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, accepts all living entities as eternal servants of God. A Vaiṣṇava, then, has ample opportunity to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead simply by reclaiming these conditioned, misled living entities, training them in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and leading them back home, back to Godhead.

COMMENT

This is very important; I will read it again. And this is because he sees all living entities as part and parcel of Krishna no matter what [0:29:27.6 Inaudible] 

READING (continued)

A Vaiṣṇava, then, has ample opportunity to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead simply by reclaiming these conditioned, misled living entities, training them in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and leading them back home, back to Godhead. The fact is that the minds of the living entities are now agitated by the three material qualities, and the living entities are therefore transmigrating, as if in dreams, from one body to another. When their consciousness is changed into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, they immediately fix Kṛṣṇa within their hearts, and thus their path toward liberation becomes clear.

In all the Vedas the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entities are stated to be of the same quality – cetana, or spiritual. This is confirmed in the Padma Purāṇa, wherein it is said that there are two kinds of spiritual entities: one is called the jīva, and the other is called the Supreme Lord. From Lord Brahmā down to the ant, all living entities are jīvas, whereas the Lord is the supreme four-handed Viṣṇu, or Janārdana. Strictly speaking, the word ātmā can be applied only to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but because the living entities are His parts and parcels, sometimes the word ātmā is applied to them also. The living entities are therefore called jīvātmā, and the Supreme Lord is called Paramātmā. Both the Paramātmā and the jīvātmā are within this material world, and therefore this material world has a purpose other than sense gratification. The conception of a life of sense gratification is illusion, but the conception of service by the jīvātmā to the Paramātmā, even in this material world, is not at all illusory. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is fully aware of this fact, and thus he does not take this material world to be false but acts in the reality of transcendental service. The devotee therefore sees everything in this material world as an opportunity to serve the Lord. He does not reject anything as material but dovetails everything in the service of the Lord. Thus a devotee is always in the transcendental position, and everything he uses becomes spiritually purified by being used in the Lord’s service.

COMMENT

So again the idea is that everything is ultimately spiritual if it is used in Krishna consciousness. And if something is material because of being conceived of for sense gratification, it can become spiritual by being used in Krishna’s service. Now there is a very wonderful verse by Prabodhananda Sarasvati in which he says, viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate, viśvaṁ means the world, pūrṇa-sukhāyate.

So in the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says that the material world is duhkhalayam, place of misery but in this verse Prabodananda Sarasvati says, viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate, devotee sees the world as full of happiness. So Srila Prabhupada asks how is that so and the answer is that the devotee sees the material world, in this book, as full of happy opportunities to serve Krishna. He sees everything as amenable to being used in Krishna’s service and so for him it is a happy situation but for all others, duhkhalayam, a place of misery. 

READING (continued)

Śrīdhara Svāmī has composed a nice verse in this regard: “I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is always manifested as reality, even within this material world, which is considered by some to be false.” The conception of the falsity of this material world is due to a lack of knowledge, but a person advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness sees the Supreme Personality of Godhead in everything. This is actual realization of the Vedic aphorism sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: “Everything is Brahman.”

COMMENT

So this whole section,it is like a commentary on a reputation of the impersonality of, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, that brahman is truth and reality and this universe is false; it is not false it is temporary but it is not false. And the reason it is not false is because it comes from the absolute truth, Krishna, so it is true and it can be used in the service of the absolute truth.

READING (continued)

The personified Vedas continued, “Dear Lord, less intelligent men take to other ways of self-realization, but actually there is no chance of becoming purified from material contamination or of stopping the repeated cycle of birth and death unless one is a thoroughly pure devotee. Dear Lord, everything rests on Your different potencies, and everyone is supported by You, as stated in the Vedas: eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān.

COMMENT

Which means that the full verse is, nityo nityānām, that He is the singular eternal amongst so many other plural eternals, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām, one singular conscious being among so many other plural numbers of conscious living entities. And eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān, that one is fulfilling the needs or desires of the men. So it is Lord Chaitanya’s philosophy acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, simultaneously one and different. 

READING (continued)

Therefore Your Lordship is the supporter and maintainer of all living entities – demigods, human beings and animals. Everyone is supported by You, and You are also situated in everyone’s heart. In other words, You are the root of the whole creation. Therefore those who engage in Your devotional service without deviation, who always worship You, actually pour water on the root of the universal tree. By devotional service, therefore, one satisfies not only the Personality of Godhead but also all others, because everyone is maintained and supported by Him. Because a devotee understands the all-pervasive feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is the most practical philanthropist and altruist. Such pure devotees, thoroughly engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, very easily overcome the cycle of birth and death, and they as much as jump over the head of death.”

A devotee is never afraid of death, or changing his body; his consciousness is transformed into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and even if he does not go back to Godhead, even if he transmigrates to another material body, he has nothing to fear. A vivid example is Bharata Mahārāja. Although in his next life he became a deer, in the life after that he became completely free from all material contamination and was elevated to the kingdom of God. The Bhagavad-gītā affirms, therefore, that a devotee is never vanquished. A devotee’s path to the spiritual kingdom, back home, back to Godhead, is guaranteed. Even though a devotee slips in one birth, the continuation of his Kṛṣṇa consciousness elevates him further and further, until he goes back to Godhead. Not only does a pure devotee purify his own personal existence, but whoever becomes his disciple also becomes purified and is ultimately able to enter the kingdom of God without difficulty. In other words, not only can a pure devotee easily surpass death, but by his grace his followers can also do so without difficulty. The power of devotional service is so great that a pure devotee can electrify another person by his transcendental instruction on crossing over the ocean of nescience.

The instructions of a pure devotee to his disciple are also very simple. No one feels any difficulty in following in the footsteps of a pure devotee of the Lord.

COMMENT

Immediately we can open that door just for a few minutes and get some cold air in. It will also heat up the rest of the world.

READING (continued)

No one feels any difficulty in following in the footsteps of a pure devotee of the Lord. Anyone who follows in the footsteps of recognized devotees, such as Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, the Kumāras, Manu, Kapila, King Prahlāda, King Janaka, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Yamarāja and their followers in disciplic succession, very easily finds the door of liberation open. On the other hand, those who are not devotees but are engaged in uncertain processes of self-realization, such as jñāna, yoga and karma, are understood to be still contaminated. Such contaminated persons, although apparently advanced in self-realization, cannot liberate even themselves, what to speak of those who follow them. Such nondevotees are compared to chained animals, for they are not able to go beyond the jurisdiction of the formalities of a certain type of faith. In the Bhagavad-gītā they are condemned as veda-vāda-rata. They cannot understand that the Vedas deal with activities of the material modes of nature – goodness, passion and ignorance. But as Lord Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna, one has to go beyond the jurisdiction of the duties prescribed in the Vedas and take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service. The Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā, nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna: “My dear Arjuna, just try to become transcendental to the Vedic rituals.” This transcendental position beyond the Vedic ritualistic performances is devotional service. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord clearly says that persons who are engaged in His devotional service without adulteration are situated in Brahman. Actual Brahman realization means Kṛṣṇa consciousness and engagement in devotional service. The devotees are therefore real brahmacārīs because their activities are always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service.

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement therefore issues a supreme call to all kinds of religionists, asking them with great authority to join this movement, by which one can learn how to love God and thus surpass all formulas and formalities of scriptural injunction.

COMMENT

I will read it again. It is a very strong statement by Srila Prabhupada.

READING (continued)

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement therefore issues a supreme call to all kinds of religionists, asking them with great authority to join this movement, by which one can learn how to love God and thus surpass all formulas and formalities of scriptural injunction. A person who cannot overcome the jurisdiction of stereotyped religious principles is compared to an animal chained up by its master. The purpose of all religion is to understand God and develop one’s dormant love of Godhead. If one simply sticks to the religious formulas and formalities but does not become elevated to the position of love of God, he is considered to be a chained animal. In other words, if one is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is not eligible for liberation from the contamination of material existence.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has composed a nice verse in this regard: “Let others engage in severe austerities, let others fall to the land from the tops of hills and give up their lives, let others travel to many holy places of pilgrimage for salvation, or let them engage in deep study of philosophy and Vedic literatures. Let the mystic yogīs engage in their meditational service, and let the different sects engage in unnecessary arguing as to which is the best. But it is a fact that unless one is Kṛṣṇa conscious, unless one is engaged in devotional service, and unless one has the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he cannot cross over this material ocean.” An intelligent person, therefore, gives up all stereotyped ideas and joins the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement for factual liberation.

COMMENT

So how long do we go? [0:51:41.0 Inaudible]

Devotee: At 7:00. If you all want to keep going, we can. The Conscious Houston is at 7;00.

Giriraj Swami: All right, so the group usually meets at six.

Devotee: Yes.

Giriraj Swami: And how long does the group usually continue to?

Devotee: An hour. 

Giriraj Swami: An hour, all right. So because of conscious Houston we began at 5:30, now it is 6:30. We are on schedule.

Devotee: Probably got some more time actually; ten or fifteen minutes.

Giriraj Swami: Okay, all right Robert, you are the self-appointed time keeper. 

Devotee: Please continue Maharaja. 

Giriraj Swami: It is good because this next section is very important. 

READING (continued)

The personified Vedas continued their prayers: “Dear Lord, Your impersonal feature is explained in the Vedas. You have no hands, but You can accept all sacrifices offered to You. You have no legs, but You can walk more swiftly than anyone else. Although You have no eyes, You can see whatever happens in the past, present and future. Although You have no ears, You can hear everything that is said. Although You have no mind, You know everyone and everyone’s activities, past, present and future, and yet no one knows who You are. You know everyone, but no one knows You; therefore, You are the oldest and supreme personality.”

Similarly, in another part of the Vedas it is said, “You have nothing to do. You are so perfect in Your knowledge and potency that everything becomes manifest simply by Your will. There is no one equal to or greater than You, and everyone acts as Your eternal servant.” Thus the Vedic statements affirm that the Absolute has no legs, no hands, no eyes, no ears and no mind, and yet He can act through His potencies and fulfill the needs of all living entities. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, His hands and legs are everywhere, for He is all-pervasive. The hands, legs, ears and eyes of all living entities are acting and moving by the direction of the Supersoul sitting within the living entity’s heart. Unless the Supersoul is present, it is not possible for the hands and legs to be active. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is so great, independent and perfect that even without having any eyes, legs or ears, He is not dependent on others for His activities. On the contrary, others are dependent on Him for the activities of their different sense organs. Unless the living entity is inspired and directed by the Supersoul, he cannot act.

The fact is that ultimately the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person. But because He acts through His different potencies, which are impossible for the gross materialists to see, the materialists accept Him as impersonal. For example, one can observe the personal artistic work in a painting of a flower, and one can understand that the color adjustment, the shape and so on have demanded the minute attention of an artist. The artist’s work is clearly exhibited in a painting of different blooming flowers. But the gross materialist, without seeing the hand of God in such artistic manifestations as the actual flowers blooming in nature, concludes that the Absolute Truth is impersonal. Actually, the Absolute is personal, but He is independent. He does not require to personally take a brush and colors to paint the flowers, for His potencies act so wonderfully that it appears as if flowers have come into being without the aid of an artist. The impersonal view of the Absolute Truth is accepted by less intelligent men, because unless one is engaged in the service of the Lord one cannot understand how the Supreme is acting – one cannot even know the Lord’s name. Everything about the Lord’s activities and personal features is revealed to the devotee only through his loving service attitude.

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasām: “The Lord is the enjoyer of all sacrifices and of the results of all austerities.” Then the Lord says, sarva-loka-maheśvaram: “I am the proprietor of all planets.” So that is the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. While He is present in Goloka Vṛndāvana enjoying transcendental pleasure in the company of His eternal associates – the gopīs and the cowherd boys – all over the creation His potencies are acting under His direction, without disturbing His eternal pastimes.

Only through devotional service can one understand how the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His inconceivable potencies, simultaneously acts impersonally and as a person. He acts just like the supreme emperor, and many thousands of kings and chiefs work under Him. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme independent controlling person, and all the demigods, including Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Indra (the king of heaven), the king of the moon planet and the king of the sun planet, work under His direction. The Vedas confirm that it is out of fear of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that the sun is shining, the wind is blowing, and fire is distributing heat. The material nature produces all kinds of movable and immovable objects within the material world, but none of them can independently act or create without the direction of the Supreme Lord. All of them act as His tributaries, just like subordinate kings who offer their annual taxes to the emperor.

COMMENT

So often ordinary people are confused about all the different deities in Hinduism and one example we use for them is that Krishna is like the king and the different demigods are like ministers of the king. Their position depends on the king, their power comes from the king, but because they are faithful servants of the king the king gives them that position, that opportunity to do special service. But although Krishna engages these different demigods in service He doesn’t depend on them. He is still independent, he could do everything without them but he engages them in that way to give them a chance to do service and reciprocate with them in loving exchanges. 

READING (continued)

The Vedic injunctions state that every living entity lives by eating the remnants of food offered to the Personality of Godhead. In great sacrifices the injunction is that Nārāyaṇa should be present as the supreme predominating Deity of the sacrifice, and that after the sacrifice is performed the remnants of food should be distributed among the demigods. This is called yajña-bhāga. Every demigod has an allotment of yajña-bhāga, which he accepts as prasādam. The conclusion is that the demigods are not independently powerful: they are posted as different executives under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they eat prasādam, or the remnants of sacrifices. They execute the order of the Supreme Lord exactly according to His plan. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is in the background, and because His orders are carried out by others, it appears that He is impersonal. In our grossly materialistic way, we cannot conceive how the Supreme Person is above the impersonal activities of material nature. Therefore the Lord explains in the Bhagavad-gītā that there is nothing superior to Him and that the impersonal Brahman is subordinately situated as a manifestation of His personal rays. Śrīpāda Śrīdhara Svāmī has composed a nice verse in this regard: “Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has no material senses but through whose direction and will all the material senses are working. He is the supreme potency of all material senses or sense organs. He is omnipotent, and He is the supreme performer of everything. Therefore He is worshipable by everyone. Unto that Supreme Person do I offer my respectful obeisances.”

Kṛṣṇa Himself declares in the Bhagavad-gītā that because He is transcendental to all sentient and insentient beings, He is known as Puruṣottama, which means the Supreme Personality. (Puruṣa means “person,” and uttama means “supreme” or “transcendental.”) In another place the Lord says that as the air is situated in the all-pervading sky, everyone is situated in Him, and everyone is acting under His direction.

The Vedas personified continued. “Dear Lord,” they prayed, “You are equal to all, with no partiality toward a particular type of living entity. It is due to their own material desires that all living entities enjoy or suffer in different conditions of life. As Your parts and parcels, they are just like the sparks of a fire. Just as sparks dance in a blazing fire, all living entities are dancing on Your support. You are providing them with everything they desire, and yet You are not responsible for their position of enjoyment or suffering. There are different types of living entities – demigods, human beings, animals, trees, birds, beasts, germs, worms, insects and aquatics – and all enjoy or suffer in life while resting on You.”

The living entities are of two kinds: one class is called nitya-mukta, ever liberated, and the other is called nitya-baddha, ever conditioned. The nitya-mukta living entities are in the spiritual kingdom, and the nitya-baddhas are in the material world.

In the spiritual world both the living entities and the Lord are manifest in their original status, like live sparks in a blazing fire. But in the material world, although the Lord is all-pervasive in His impersonal feature, the living entities have forgotten their Kṛṣṇa consciousness to a greater or lesser degree, just as sparks sometimes fall from a blazing fire and lose their original brilliant condition. The sparks fall into different conditions and retain more or less of their original brilliance. Some sparks fall onto dry grass and thus ignite another big fire. This is a reference to the pure devotees who take compassion on the poor and innocent living entities. The pure devotee ignites Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the hearts of the conditioned souls, and thus the blazing fire of the spiritual world becomes manifest even within this material world. Some sparks fall onto water; they immediately lose their original brilliance and become extinct. They are comparable to the living entities who take their birth in the midst of gross materialists, in which case their original Kṛṣṇa consciousness becomes extinct. Some sparks fall to the ground and remain midway between the blazing and extinct conditions. Thus some living entities are without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, some are between having and not having Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and some are actually situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The demigods in the higher planets – Lord Brahmā, Indra, Candra, the sun god and various other demigods – are all Kṛṣṇa conscious. Human society is between the demigods and the animals, and thus some humans are more or less Kṛṣṇa conscious and some are completely forgetful of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The third-grade living entities, namely the animals, beasts, plants, trees and aquatics, have completely forgotten Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This example stated in the Vedas regarding the sparks of a blazing fire is very appropriate for understanding the condition of different types of living entities. But above all other living entities is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, or Puruṣottama, who is always liberated from all material conditions.