"Everything Is Resting On Krsna" 66/11/23 New York, Bhagavad-gita 9.2-5

Prabhupada:

aprarabdha-phalam papam
putam bijam phalonmukham
kramenaiva praliyante
visnu-bhakti-ratatmana

"One who is engaged in Krsna consciousness, then all his reactions of past sinful activities -- gradually they become vanquished." There are different stages. Just like I have infected some [break] say, for cholera today. Immediately cholera does not take place. After two or three days the cholera appears. It takes some time. Just like if you sow a seed of a tree, immediately it does not become a tree and gives its fruits, delivers its fruit. It takes some time. Therefore, imperceptibly, or knowingly or unknowingly, we are doing so many sinful activities. So they are in the seedling stage, then growing stage. Then, when we suffer, that is called prarabdha. Prarabdha means, "Now receive the result." So in this way we are creating, we are sowing, some seeds. That will take its reaction, either in this body or another body. It takes time to fructify. So... But if we act in Krsna consciousness, then it is just like fried seed. Fried seed, if you sow in a land, it will not fructify, fried seed. So this fried seed...

Our activities can be made a fried seed by the fire of Krsna consciousness. So there will be no reaction. Pratyaksavagamam dharmyam susukham kartum avyayam. Susukham, very pleasant. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh [SB 7.5.23]. This devotional service is not very unpleasant. It is very pleasant. You very melodiously sing with instruments, and somebody will participate in hearing, sravanam kirtanam visnoh. Of course, it must be in relationship with the Supreme Lord. Not ordinary music. We take the advantage of musical science. But we don't sing any ordinary song. We glorify the Supreme Lord. But we enjoy. Therefore it is happy. Then again, sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam. Now, what you are hearing from Bhagavad-gita, if you remember it at home, that "Swamiji was spoke, speaking like this, and how does it apply in my life?"... We should remember this. We should not forget just after leaving this place. And if there is any question, any doubt, we should place before this assembly. I am inquiring. I am inviting you for any question because we are trying to understand a very nice and great science.

So it should be understood with all critical study. We don't request you to take it or accept it blindly. So sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam. And pada-sevanam. Pada-sevanam means to rise early in the morning, open the door of temple and wipe it out, all the dust, and give some light. The pada-sevanam. Arcanam vandanam. Then there is foodstuff offered. It is cooked for Krsna, and decorate with flower. So many things there are, arcana-vidhi. The Deity will look very nice, and you'll be pleased to see it. We, we want to see very beautiful things. When you see the beautiful Deity, the forms of Lord Krsna, you'll forget to see anymore any other beauty. You see? These are the process, very nice, susukham. There is no trouble. Decorate with flower, with dress, with ornaments and see and hear and eat very... You offer very nice foodstuff to Krsna and then partake it. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam arcanam vandanam [SB 7.5.23]. Vandanam means prayer. Of course, if you do not like, if you think, "This is Hindu system. We won't accept. We are Christian," all right, you go to church, sing there. You have got also songs of Bible. You can sing very nicely.

So smaranam vandanam. So there is no difference between this process and that process. Simply we are teaching that "Become God conscious." God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. He's God. And we are also not Hindu or Muslim or Christian. This is our bodily designation. We are all pure, part and parcel of the Supreme. As God is pure, so we are also pure. So we have fallen in this turmoil of this material ocean, and there is tossing of the waves. So we are suffering. We don't identify with the tossing of the waves because I have nothing to do with this tossing. I simply pray, "Krsna, please pick me up from these tossing waves. Some way or other, I am fallen here."

ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram
patitam mam visame bhavambudhau
krpaya tava pada-pankaja-
sthita-dhuli-sadrsam vicintaya

"O my dear Krsna, somehow or other, I forgot You, and I am fallen in this..." As soon as I forget Krsna this maya or illusion, ocean of illusion is there. It at once captures me. That is my position. So anyway, Krsna has prescribed this devotional service, very nice. You can very happily perform. Susukham kartum avyayam. Sravanadike apasyamane tasmin sa tad-visaye purusottamah, aham adir bhavami.

It is said that Krsna appears... When we chant this Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna (Hare Hare), Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, this sound is nondifferent from Krsna. Therefore, when you vibrate this sound, this means this sound, Krsna, and the original Krsna, the same, identical. So you are not only dancing, but Krsna is also dancing with you. If you say that "Why don't you... Why do I not see Him?" Yes. Seeing is not... Why do you stress on seeing? Why not hearing? Seeing, hearing, tasting, touching -- these our instruments for experience. That's all. Knowledge. Why you are so much, I mean to say, I mean to say, important about seeing? A devotee does not wish to see Krsna. He simply... He's satisfied simply by hearing of Krsna. As seeing is also experience, so hearing also experience. That I have explained many times. Seeing and hearing. Hearing also... Something you cannot see, you can hear only. Just like the, when the air, wind passes very violently, you cannot see, but you can hear. But you get the experience. So seeing is not only experience, but hearing is also experience. When you hear the sound of the wind, "Ohnnhnn Shaah Shaah," you say, "Oh, today wind is very violently blowing." You can feel, but you don't see the air. So don't stress on seeing only. There are so many senses. You hear. We can perceive the presence of God, or Krsna, by hearing. By hearing. And He's there, present. He's there, present. He says, Krsna says, that

naham tisthami vaikunthe
yoginam va hrdaye ca
yatra gayanti mad-bhakta
tatra tisthami narada

He says that "I, I am not actually in My abode, Krsnaloka; neither I am in the heart of the yogis who are meditating. But I am present in there where My pure devotees are singing, singing." Yes, Krsna says that.

So you can feel the presence of Krsna as we make progress in this line. Sutradi-vyapa-matram tulasi-patra ambuki-matra upakara ca. And it is very easy also. Arcanam. Arcanam. Now, Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita that you have to offer something out of your love. Love means you must give something. You are taking something from Krsna. Why not give something? Is it love, simply going on taking, taking, taking, and no offering? We are taking from Krsna so much light. We are taking from Krsna so much air, so much water. So many things Krsna is supplying for our subsistence, fruits, grains. Without supplied by Krsna, you cannot have. You cannot manufacture all these things. So you must admit that God is supplying us so many things. And why not offer something? Is it love? Therefore offering is required. Love means you take and you give also. Suppose if you love somebody... You simply take from him, but you don't give. Oh, do you think it is very good? No. It is not good. That is not love. That is exploitation. If I go on simply taking from you, and if I don't offer you anything, that is simply exploitation. So love means you must take, you must give. Dadati pratigrhnati bhunkte, bhunkte bhojayate. You must eat, and you must give to eat. Simply don't go on eating krsna-prasada, but give something to Krsna for eating. So that...

It is a system in India that if somebody's invited to take prasadam, he takes something, some fruits, some sweetmeats, something, and offers to the Deity. Of course, that is distributed amongst the prasadam, but it is the system. When a, when a man goes to see a saintly person, or goes to a temple, he takes some fruit, as far as he, as he can acquire. So giving and taking, eating and feeding. Dadati pratigrhnati bhunkte bhojayate, guhyam akhyati prcchati ca. Guhyam akhyati prcchati. You have to hear Bhagavad-gita and, if you have got any distress, you have got any confidential thing, you have to submit to Krsna, "Krsna, I am in suffering this way. I am fallen in this tossing ocean of material illusion. Kindly save me. I can understand now that I have no identification with this material world. I am simply put here." Just like if I am put into the Atlantic Ocean, I have no identification with the ocean, but I am subjected to the tossing waves of the ocean, similarly, we are spiritual spark, fragmental part of Krsna. Some way or other, we put into this material ocean, and there is tossing. So I am being tossed. Don't identify. Don't try to solve the tossing. That is not possible. If you want to make solution of the tossing waves of the Atlantic Ocean when you are fallen there, it is useless foolishness. That is not possible. Don't be foolish in that way. That will go on. That is Atlantic Ocean's nature. You cannot stop it. You have to get out of it.

The foolish people, they are trying to adjust this world and be happy. That is not... That is a first-class foolishness. Daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya [Bg. 7.14]. They'll never be able to make a solution of this material world. [break] ...do not accept this principle of Krsna consciousness the result is that they do not go back to Godhead, but remain in this material world for continuous struggle for existence. Dharmasya iti, imam bhakti-laksanam dharmam. This... This Krsna consciousness is also a principle of religion. Religion... Religion means which has connection with God. Without any connection with God, oh, that is not accepted as religion. Religion, generally understood -- searching after God, understanding about God, relationship with God. This is religion. Atheism is not religion. Atheism not religion. Religion means...

So this is, Krsna consciousness... Because persons who are acting for transcendental loving service of the Supreme Lord, they are called Krsna conscious, so it has connection with God. Therefore it is religion, dharma. And how a religion is accepted? Religion accepted from authorized source. Just like Vedic religion, Bible religion. Because they have got source from authority. Sruti-pramana. Sruti-pramana religion. You cannot manufacture religion. It must be according to the Vedic rules or authorized scriptures. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said, dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam: [SB 6.3.19] "Dharma, religion, means it is the law of God." Just like state laws. You cannot manufacture any law. If you make some by-laws... Just like for your society you make some by-laws. That is to be sanctioned by this society registration under religious regulation, as we have registered. But you cannot make any law without any sanction. Similarly, dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. If you want to create some principle of religion, then it must be sanctioned by the Vedic authority.

So this Bhagavad-gita is also religion. It is accepted by authorities, great authorities just like Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnusvami, and Lord Caitanya, all authorities of India, Sankaracarya. Those who are accepted as the religious heads of Indian culture, all of them accepted this Bhagavad-gita as principle of religion and Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So there is no doubt about it. And so far outsiders, they also take it, this book, as book of authority, book of knowledge, and they have studied very serious study of this book. They write commentaries, great scholars, great philosophers. So it is also a dharma. But, but there are persons, in spite of its acceptance by the acaryas and scholars, they have no faith. They do not think that it is a book of authority or book of knowledge. Asraddadhanah. They have no faith. They think that it is simply aggravating or exaggeration or a person who is known as Krsna and His principle. So therefore they have no faith. Dhira vrsatvena tam bhinna matah sruti-matra eva. Sruti-matra means it is simply praising some principle. That's all. In this way it is not accepted by everyone.

Krsna points out them: asraddadhanah purusa dharma, dharmasya asya [Bg. 9.3]. This principle of religion, those who do not accept it as authority, so the result is that they can never have any connection directly with Krsna, and, as the, as such, aprapya mam, because they do not have any access to Krsna, therefore nivartante, they remain... Nivartante means remain. Where does, do they remain? Mrtyu-samsara, mrtyu-samsara-vartmani, this life: birth, death, birth, death, birth, death. Vartmani means this life: birth, death, birth, death. Go on like that. And that birth, death, does not mean that next birth you'll have similar facilities or similar life, human being. No. Birth-death means you have risk also. You can get your next birth not exactly a human being. You... Not exactly in America or not exactly in India. Oh, you may be transferred to any other country or any other planet or any other species of life. There is no certainty. That will depend according to your work. So this is the... This is called the path of birth and death. Mrtyu-samsara-vartmani. Have your birth, remain for some time, enjoy or suffer. Then again give up this body and enter into the womb of another mother, human being or animal. Then prepare your another body. Then come out. Then begin your work. This is called mrtyu-samsara-vartmani.

If anyone wants to avoid this path of birth and death, this risk, then they must take to this Krsna consciousness. It is not my version. The Lord says Himself. If you want to study Bhagavad-gita seriously, then here is a point. Here is a point. If you read Bhagavad-gita as a matter of relaxation, that is different thing. But if you want to take benefit out of Bhagavad-gita, this instruction is very much important.

asraddadhanah purusa
dharmasyasya parantapa
aprapya mam nivartante
mrtyu-samsara-vartmani
[Bg. 9.3]

Mrtyu-samsara means this path of regularly, as we are passing on...

ahany ahani lokani
gacchanti yama-mandiram
sesah sthitam icchanti
kim ascaryam atah param

Yudhisthira Maharaja, he was asked, "What is the most wonderful thing in the world?" He replied... He was very learned king. "Yes. The most learned thing, most wonderful thing in the world..." You, you have heard seven wonderful things in the world. So Yudhisthira Maharaja said: ahany ahani lokani gacchanti yama-mandiram. Yama-mandira means "the temple of death." Every minute, every second, we are experiencing that living entities are going to the temple of death, either man, animal, ant, so many. This world is called therefore mrtyu-loka, "the planet for death." "The planet for death." So Yudhisthira Maharaja said, ahany ahani lokani gacchanti yama-mandiram. Ahani, ahany ahani means daily, every day, every moment. At least every day we see so many death list. If you go to the crematorium ground, you can see. So ahany ahani lokani gacchanti yama-mandiram, sesah sthitam icchanti. But those who are still alive, they think, "Oh, death will not take place. I'll live. I'll live." He does not think that he... You are also subjected to this principle of dying. But he does not take it seriously. This is called illusion, maya. He thinks, oh, that "I shall live forever. Therefore let me do whatever I like. There is no question of responsibility." Oh, this is very risky life, very risky life. And this is the most covering part of illusion. One should be very serious that death is waiting. "As sure as death." If there is any surety in this world, that is death. Nobody can avoid it. And when there is death, oh, there is no more intelligence, no more your puffed-up philosophy. You are under the grip of nature.

Prakrti, prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sar... [Bg. 3.27]. At that time you are not this stout and strong body, that you don't care for anything. Then you are that smallest, fragmental portion. So you are just under the material atmosphere, so under the mercy of the material nature. And that material nature will give you some kind of body for which you are fit. Then again begin your work. This is the position. So if we want to take that risk, then go on. Krsna says. But if you don't, want to avoid this risk, then take Krsna consciousness. There is no alternative.

asraddadhanah purusa
dharmasyasya parantapa
aprapya mam nivartante
mrtyu-samsara-vartmani
[Bg. 9.3]

This is mrtyu-samsara-vartmani. Then He says what is this material world. Maya... You should note it that this Ninth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita is specially meant for the devotees, especially meant for the devotees, those who have accepted Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Otherwise, it will appear something else. It is confidential. Because in the beginning it has been said that raja-vidya raja-guhyam. It is very confidential, the most confidential part of knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita. Unless one accepts Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it will be difficult. They will think, "Oh, why? If Krsna, if I do not accept Krsna, then why there will be so much risk? Oh, this is all exaggeration." But actually, it is not. Therefore this raja-guhyam, the most confidential part of this knowledge, means that one who has accepted Krsna as the Supreme and has become a devotee, has engaged himself in His service, actually, seriously, for them, raja-guhyam, most confidential.

maya tatam idam sarvam
jagad avyakta-murtina
mat-sthani sarva-bhutani
na caham tesv avasthitah

Now, Krsna says that "This word, what you see, this is also My energy." Maya. Maya means "by Me." Just like if I say, "This work has been done by me," so that does not mean that there is no existence of me, and because I have done this work, so I am finished. Here it is called "by Me," maya. Maya means "by Me." Anything you do, it is done by you. Anything done by me, it is done by me. But that, when I finish the work... Suppose I start a business, very nice business, very profitable business, big factory. And if I say that "This factory is started and is conducted by me," does it mean that I am lost? Does it mean I am lost? No. I am there. But it is done by my energy. This big factory... Just like the Ford factory I have seen in your country, a very big factory. There are so many big factories. If the proprietor says, "It is done by me," that "done by me," that person is exist, although the factory is also exist. It does not meant that because he has finished, because he has started that factory, big factory, he's finished, his existence is not there. Similarly, if we say... Krsna says that "This, whatever this world, you see, it is done by Me." Does it mean that He becomes no more? This is very simple thing. Why God should be imperson? Just take the same example. If some very good businessman says, "It is done by me," it is to be understood that by his brain, by his energy, by his capital, by his intelligence, he has done all these things. But he remains. It is very simple truth.

Similarly, it is said here, maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-murtina. This, this world, this material world, if you want to see God, God is everywhere because it is His energy. It is His energy. Just like in the Ford factory, the workers, they see in every corner Mr. Ford, in every corner of the factory, similarly, those who are conversant with this science that what is this material world, they can see in every atom the Supreme Lord, Krsna. It is simply question of knowledge, that who has made it. If I am confident that Krsna has made it, then I can feel Krsna's presence everywhere. Therefore everything resting, rests in Krsna, everything rests in Krsna. Maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-murtina, mat-sthani sarva-bhutani: "Everything is resting on Me." And na caham tesv avasthitah: "But I am not there. I am not there." If you think that if Krsna, this table is resting in Krsna, therefore Krsna must be here, but Krsna says that "I am not there. I am not there." The same thing. Because Krsna and Krsna's energy is nondifferent, still, energy is not Krsna. Just like the sun and the sunshine. There is no difference, but the sunshine is not the sun. If sunshine is present in your room through the holes of your windows, do you think that sun is also within your room? No. If sun becomes within room, then you'll not exist. The heat is so exorbitant that it, you cannot exist. Therefore it is sufficient that his rays, the sun's ray, is there. Similarly, whatever we see...

Parasya brahmanah saktih. It is very nicely explained in Visnu Purana. Parasya brahmanah saktih. Parasya means the Supreme; brahmanah means the Absolute Truth. It is His energy. It is His energy. Just like the sun is shining all over the universe from one place, similarly, Krsna, although He is just like a person like you and me, but His energy is acting everything. This is explained in Bhagavad-gita. Maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-murtina. This is avyakta-murti. In the energy you cannot find Krsna in His person. Just like in the sunshine you cannot find the sun-god. But the sun-god is there in the sun planet, sun disc, within that. You cannot say, "No" because you have no experience of the sun disc. But we can understand from books of authority like Vedas, there is sun-god. There is sun... That Krsna said. We have read in the Fourth Chapter,

imam vivasvate yogam
proktavan aham avyayam
vivasvan manave praha
manur iksvakave 'bravit
[Bg. 4.1]

"I... First of all I said this Bhagavad-gita to sun-god, Vivasvan." Vivasvan means the sun. The present sun-god is called Vivasvan. His name is Vivasvan. Just like there are many kings, just there are many sun-gods also. They also change because there is death. There is death. They may be living for so many hundreds and millions of years, but they will die. So present sun-god, who is existing there, his name is also there in the Bhagavad-gita, Vivasvan. So if you believe Bhagavad-gita, then you have to believe that there is a sun-god whose name is Vivasvan. If you don't believe, then why you take so much trouble to read Bhagavad-gita? If you have no faith in it, then what is the use of reading it? And if you have faith in it, then you have to believe. There is sun-god. In every planet there is a predominating feature predominant.

So similarly, over and above all of them, isvarah paramah krsnah... [Bs. 5.1]. The Brahma-samhita says that everywhere you'll find the isvara... Isvara means controller. In your New York City the Mr. Lindsay is the controller. And in New York State, Mr. Rockefeller, he is controller. In your United States, Mr. Johnson is the controller. Finish. Then you go to another state, and similarly, in every planet, every place, there is a controller. So sun-god is the controller of the sun planet. You cannot imagine that there is no controller; it is vacant place. No. If in a New York City there is no vacant place -- every place is valuable; it is occupied -- how can you see, think of, that God's kingdom. So many planets, so many big..., are vacant. No. Nothing vacant. Sarva-ga. Everywhere there are living entities, but there are different kinds of entities, not exactly like you.

So all this manifestation that we see, this is all energy. That is in the Seventh Chapter. We have already discussed that the two kinds of energies of Krsna. One is spiritual energy, and one is material energy. Jiva, the living entities, they are also spiritual energies, but because they are sometimes entrapped by this material energy -- they have got the potency, or they are prone to be attracted by the material energy -- therefore they are called marginal energy. Otherwise, there are two energies only: spiritual energy and material energy. This material world is material energy, and we, the sparks of Krsna, we are spiritual energy. So this energy... Just like the fire. Just like the lamp. It is localized in one place, but its light and heat is diffused. Similarly, parasya brahmanah saktih sarvam akhilam jagat. Akhilam jagat. Akhilam means the whole universe, whole manifestation. They are all simply manifestation of the Supreme Lord. The Lord says that. One who believes Krsna as the Supreme Lord, then he'll believe. He says, mat-sthani sarva-bhutani. Just like in the sunshine many planets, they are resting. It is a scientific fact. The all the planets, they are rotating due to the sun heat. Here there is a machine... What is called? We have seen. As soon as there is heat, within the ball begins to rotate. So everything resting. The weightlessness is due to the sunshine, due to the sunshine. Similarly, everything -- the sun, the universe -- everything is resting on Krsna-shine. Krsna-shine. That is the answer how these, so many worlds are floating in the air, that because they are under the Krsna's energy. They are floating in the Krsna's energy.

So mat-sthani sarva-bhutani: "Everything is resting on Me, but don't think that I am finished because you cannot see there. I am here." Na caham tesu avasthitah. It is not necessarily that we have to see everywhere. Atah sa bhakti udi, uditam adbhutam aisvaryam ahah.(?) Now, this transcendental nature of God, all-potential nature of God, to a devotee it will give pleasure, and to a nondevotee it will be seeming like, oh, so many bluff is being spoken by Krsna. As soon as I become a nondevotee, I'll think all these statement as bluff given by Krsna. And as soon as I am a devotee, oh, I'll think, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful." He becomes full with love and adoration. That is the difference. One who believes, he becomes, oh, puffed-up with pleasure, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful." And those who do not believe will say, "Oh, it is simply bluffing. Krsna is a person, driving the chariot of Arjuna, and He says..." They are imitating. They are imitating... There are so many yogis who say, "Oh, the sun, moon and everything is floating within me," imitating. They think that "If Krsna, if Krsna can say like that, I am that, I am also Krsna. I am also God. So I can also say like that." But Krsna can show the universal form. Will you please show me the univer...? "No, that I cannot." Oh, Krsna lifted the hill in seven years old. Can you lift a one mound, or hundred pounds with your finger? "Oh, that I cannot do." That is the difference between the imitation God and real God. "Because Krsna is saying, therefore I shall imitate and say." And because Krsna performed rasa-lila... "Oh, Krsna married sixteen thousand wives." "Oh, can you marry one and keep her very nicely in a palace?" "Oh, that I cannot do." Then how can you be Krsna? Krsna said so many things, wonderful, and He acted also wonderful. If you believe one thing and do not believe another thing, then it is called ardha-kukkuti-nyaya. Ardha-kukkuti-nyaya. I cannot believe half. If you believe, you believe full.

So for a devotee these informations of Krsna, oh, become so... "My Krsna is so God. Oh, my God is so powerful." And, I think, sometimes I recited one story. This is for very instructive, that Narada Muni, he used to visit Narayana every day. So when he was passing on the road, so one very learned brahmana and taking thrice bath and everything very nicely, he asked Narada Muni, "Oh, you are going to Lord. Will you inquire when I shall get my salvation?" "All right. I shall ask." And then another cobbler, he was under the tree, sewing the shoes, old shoes. He also saw Narada Muni. He also inquired, "Will you kindly inquire from God when my salvation is...?" Now, when he inquired Krsna, Narayana... Narada Muni goes generally to Narayana, in another planet. So "Yes, two, one brahmana and one cobbler, they inquired like this. So may I know what is their destination?" So Narayana said, "Well, yes, the cobbler, this after giving up this body, he's coming here at Vaikuntha." "And what about that brahmana?" "Oh, he has to remain there still so many births, or I do not know when he's coming." So Narada Muni was astonished, that "I saw that he's very nice brahmana, and he's a cobbler. Why is that?" So he inquired that "I could not, cannot understand the mystery. Why You say that cobbler is coming this, after this body, and why not this brahmana?" "Oh, that will, you'll understand. If they inquire that ‘What Krsna, or Narayana, was doing in the, in His abode,' so just explain that He was taking one elephant from the holes of a," I mean to say, what is called...?

Devotee (1): The eye of a needle. Eye...

Prabhupada: Eh? No, no...

Devotee (1): The eye of a needle.

Devotee (2): Needle.

Prabhupada: Needle. Yes. "Through the hole of a needle, He's pulling an elephant this side and this side." "All right." So when he again approached the brahmana, the brahmana said, "Oh, you have seen Lord?" "Yes." "So what was the Lord doing?" "He was doing this: through the point of a needle He was pushing one elephant this way and that way." "Oh, therefore I have no faith in your... I, I, I have got all respect for your garb, but we don't believe all this nonsense." Then Narada could understand, "Oh, this man has no faith. He simply reads books. That's all." And when he went to the cobbler, he also asked, "Oh, you have seen? What Narayana was doing?" He also said that "He was doing like this..." Oh, he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is wonderful. He can do anything." Sri Narada inquired, "So do you believe that Lord can push one elephant through the holes of a needle?" "Oh, why not? I must believe." "Then what is your reason?" "Oh, my reason? I am sitting under this banyan tree, and so many fruits are falling daily, and in each fruit there are thousands of seeds, and each seed there is a tree. If in a small seed there can be big tree like that, is it very impossible to accept that Krsna is putting one elephant through the, I mean, the holes of a needle? He has kept such a nice tree in the seed." So this is called belief. So unbelievers and believer means the believers, they are not blind believers. They have reason. If by Krsna's process, by God's process, or nature's process, such a big tree can be put within the small seed, is it very impossible for Krsna to keep all these planets floating in His energy? So we have to believe. We have no other explanation. But we have to understand in this way. Our reasoning, our argument, our logic should go in this way.

So those who are devotee... Just like the cobbler. He may be a cobbler. They believe everything. And those who are not devotee, they'll say, "Oh, these are all bluffs. It is all bluff." But they are not bluff. It is simply meant for the devotees. They can understand. The nondevotees, they cannot understand. Yes. Thank you very much. Any questions? (end)

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966