Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)
kunty uvaca
namasye purusam tvadyam
isvaram prakrteh param
alaksyam sarva-bhutanam
antar bahir avasthitam
Translation: "Srimati Kunti said: O Krsna, I offer my obeisances unto You because You are the original personality and are unaffected by the qualities of the material world. You are existing both within and without everything, yet You are invisible to all."
Prabhupada: So this is the position of God, that He is everywhere. Andantara-stha-paramanu-
eko 'py asau racayitum jagad-anda-kotim
yac-chaktir asti jagad-anda-caya yad-antah
andantara-stha-paramanu-
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.35]
This is Brahma-samhita. The Lord, by expansion of one of His plenary portion, He is existing within this universe. Not only within the universe, but within the atom also. Anor aniyan mahato mahiyan. This is God's qualification, that He can become greater than the greatest. Just like we have got conception the greatest -- this universe. We cannot even imagine how long, how far it is extended. But such universes are coming out from the breathing of Maha-Visnu. Yah karanarnava-jale bhajati sma yoga-nidram ananta-jagad-anda-saroma-kupah [Bs. 5.47]. From His breathing, when He exhales, innumerable universes come out, and when He inhales, all those universes again enters. Bhutva bhutva praliyate. It is generated and again annihilated. This is going on. This is one side, that innumerable universes can be put into the nostril hole of the Maha-Visnu. And another side, He can enter even within the atom. This is God consciousness. Anor aniyan mahato mahiyan. He is greater than the greatest. We generally say, "God is great," but we do not know how great He is. People say, "God is great," but we have no conception how great He is. He is so great that He can swallow innumerable universes within His belly.
Just like when Krsna was challenged by His mother that "Show me Your face. You say that You have not eaten the earth. Your friends complained, and You say that You have not eaten. So I want to see. Open Your mouth." So when He opened, (s)he saw all the universes within the mouth. All the universes. He proved, "My dear mother, not only a little earth, but the whole universe is within My mouth." (laughter) So when mother Yasoda was astonished, she thought something illusory, "All right, don't do it again. That's all." (laughter) She does not know that "Here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. To show me His mercy He has become my child." She does not know. She always thinks, "He is my child. He is under my control."
This is the relationship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead with His devotees. This is wanted. Simply to understand "God is very great," that is not sufficient knowledge. When you deal with the great, exchange your relationship with the great, that is perfect. That is perfect. Suppose your president is very great. That's all right. Everyone knows, "President is very great." But what shall I derive out of that? When I actually deal with him, I become his friend, I become his servant, I become his secretary, I become... Some way or other, if I am related with that great personality, that is my benefit. Otherwise what is the use knowing, "Oh, President Nixon is very great"? There are so many... What I am deriving from that great? This is Krsna consciousness. The Mayavadi philosophers, they simply remain silent, "Oh, God is very great," and they cannot imagine how great He is. But a devotee can understand how great He is. He can see that innumerable universes are within the mouth of God. This is the position of devotee. This is not sufficient knowledge: "God is great. God must be great." That's all right. But unless you come in dealing with that great, you cannot relish actually what is God and how great He is.
So here Kunti says, alaksyam sarva-bhutanam. Sarva-bhutanam, "All living entities..." alaksyam, "You are invisible, invisible, although," antar bahir avasthitam, "You are within and without." God is within yourself. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. Isvara, the Supreme Lord, is situated in everyone's heart. The yoga system means to see, find out that God, Paramatma, or meditate upon Him. Now the yoga system has come down as bodily exercise to keep the health very good, to reduce fat, this is yoga system. This is not yoga system. This is a bodily exercise. Real yoga is that God is within me, but He is invisible, alaksyam. Antar bahih, although He is within and without, still I cannot see.
So meditation means concentrating the mind to find out God, where He is within my heart. That is real perfection of yoga. So people do not know this science. Here it is nicely explained that antar bahir avasthitam. The virad-rupa... Just like Arjuna wanted to see the gigantic form of God. He showed him. So we can see the gigantic form in this universe. That is described in the Bhagavatam. You have read that the big, big mountains, hills, they are the bones of the gigantic form. So they are described. The highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, is the head, or what it is called? Skull? What is this portion? Skull. So the rivers are the veins. The seas are holes like here we have got. In this way it is all described, the gigantic form. So... And gigantic form, at the same time, He is within your heart, very small form.
So He is within and without. Simply we have to purify our eyes to see Him. That's all. You can see God without and within, but you cannot see with these eyes. These materially contaminated eyes or materially contaminated senses, you cannot understand by these senses. But God can be perceived, can be seen, by these senses, by these eyes, when you purify it. That purificatory process is Krsna consciousness. The more you purify, the more you can see God within and without. Atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [BRS. 1.2.234]. The indriya, these senses, cannot perceive, cannot see, cannot touch, cannot hear namadi. Unless you are purified, you cannot hear also Krsna name. Unless you are purified, the name enters this ear and goes out in this ear. You cannot appreciate. Therefore purificatory process is required.
People are affected with three kinds of material qualities: goodness, passion and ignorance. Generally, they are affected by the lower two qualities -- ignorance and passion. Rajas-tamah. How do we know that "This man is in the modes of goodness and this man is in the modes of passion and this man is in the modes of ignorance"? How do we know? By the symptoms. By the symptoms. When one is affected by the lower qualities, rajas-tamah, passion and ignorance, his symptoms are that he is very greedy and lusty. These are the symptoms. As soon as you find a person is very greedy and lusty, he is to be understood under the control of the lower-grade qualities of this material world. And sattva-guna means prakasa, illumination. When one is situated in the goodness, that is brahminical qualification. Satyam samo damas titiksa. He is truthful, he is controlling the mind, controlling the senses, sama, dama; titiksa, he is tolerant; titiksa, arjavam, he is simple, simplicity. Samo damas titiksa suci, he is clean; jnanam, he knows things what it is; vijnanam, he can apply the knowledge in practical life, jnanam vijnanam astikyam. Astikyam means to have firm faith in God. He knows that God is there. God is there and he knows that God is within, God is without. These are the symptoms of a person who is in goodness.
So these three classes of men are there. So Krsna consciousness movement means to bring persons from the wretched, low qualities, ignorance and passion, to bring him to the platform of goodness. And that goodness also has to be purified. In the material world the goodness is also attacked by the other, lower qualities. Big, big men, very good men, but there are so many defects. Because unless... First of all you have to come to the platform of goodness, brahminical position. Then you have to purify that goodness, sattvam visuddham, visuddha-sattva, vasudeva-sattva, vasudeva platform. Then you will be able to understand what is God. It is not so cheap thing that one can understand God so easily while he is in the modes of material nature, especially the lower grade modes.
So at the present moment, most people, they are in the lower grades of the material qualities, ignorance and passion. Therefore you see all over the world, rajas-tamo-bhavah kama-lobha. Every man is greedy and lusty. Every man. So in this position, it is very difficult. Alaksyam sarva-bhutanam. So unless you change this quality... This quality can be changed. It is not that it is stereotyped. How these European, American boys and girls, they are coming to Krsna consciousness? How? They have changed their quality. By the process, we have got this process. In this process we can change the quality. That process is explained in the Bhagavad-gita:
mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan samatityaitan
brahma-bhuyaya kalpate
[Bg. 14.26]
Krsna says, "One who is engaged in My unalloyed service," avyabhicarena, "no adulteration, pure devotional service..." Mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena [Bg. 14.26].
bhakti-yogena sevate, one who is engaged in the service of the Lord, purified, unalloyed... Unalloyed means no motive, no motive. Anyabhilasita-sunyam [BRS 1.1.11]. Other motives, completely zero. Generally, they go to temple to church, to..., or mosque, generally, they go with a motive. Just like in the Christian world, they go that "God must be order supplier. We shall pray to God, and He must supply. Then I accept God. This is the condition. And if He does not supply my order, I don't care for this God." So they are not going to become servant of God. They want to make God his servant: "God, give us our daily bread." That's all right. God is giving daily bread. Why you are asking, bothering God? He is supplying to millions and trillions of living entities, and why not to you? He'll also supply. That is not our problem, that God will supply our bread. He is supplying without asking. Do the animals go to the church and ask for bread? But they are getting sufficient. They are getting sufficient.
Therefore God consciousness does not mean any motive to take from some God, something from God. That is not God consciousness. You give everything to God. That is God consciousness. Just like the conception of accepting God as child. That is better conception (than) to accept God as father, because from father we simply take away: "Father, give me this, give me that, give me that, give me that." And if you accept God as child, then you have to give everything. This is Gaudiya-Vaisnava conception. Yasodamayi. (S)He has accepted, (s)he is worshiping God as child, so that she is always engaged that Krsna may not be in any inconvenience, about His body, about His comforts. Always mother Yasoda is anxious that "Krsna is now very naughty. He may not capture some monkey, He may not fall down on the water, He may not be burnt in the fire." Always anxious. Because this is Krsna consciousness. She is always anxious to give protection to Krsna. The best service. Krsna does not require anyone's service. He is complete, purnam. But for pleasing His devotee, He becomes dependent. He is bothering mother, "I am hungry. Why don't you give Me food. I will steal butter, your stock."
So this philosophy, Gaudiya-Vaisnava philosophy, is very sublime, to accept God as subordinate. Krsna says in Caitanya-caritamrta, you will find, that "Everyone worships Me with awe and veneration. But if anyone worships Me without any awe, veneration, and treats Me as insignificant, I like that. (laughter) I like that." So that exchange of Krsna's feelings you can find in this Gaudiya-Vaisnava philosophy, that mother Yasoda is treating Krsna as very insignificant. "He is my child. If I don't give Him protection, He will die." Therefore Krsna is very much obliged to mother Yasoda. Yes. But nobody... Everyone comes to God, "Oh, God is so exalted and..." That He is hearing throughout, but when the mother Yasoda comes and chastises Him, He likes it very much. Yes, yes, likes it very much.
So Krsna, although He happened to be nephew of Kunti... Kunti was Krsna's father's sister. But because (s)he was devotee, she knew that "Krsna also, although He is playing the part of my nephew, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Therefore she said, namasye purusam tvadyam isvaram prakrteh param: "You are isvara, You are the controller." What kind of controller? There are so many, food controller and house controller, these... You have got. No. Not that kind of controller. Prakrteh param: "You are controller. Your position is beyond this material world," prakrteh. Prakrti means this material world. Prakrteh param. That means these controllers within this material world, they are produced at a certain date and they will be finished at a certain date, these controllers. Just like your President Nixon. He is controller of your country, but his controlling power is given at a certain date and it will be finished at a certain date. So Kunti says, "You are not that kind of controller, that Your controlling power begins at a certain date and finishes at a certain date." Therefore, prakrteh param. In the prakrti, within the material nature, we have got some controlling power. Everyone. But that has the beginning and ending. As our life begins and ends, everything here in this material world, it has a beginning and end. But Krsna's controlling power is not like that. He says, she says, namasye purusam tu adyam: "You are the original person. You have created this cosmos. So before the creation of the cosmos, You were controller, and when the cosmos will end, You will remain controller." Therefore prakrteh param. "Within the prakrti, within the material nature, everything has got beginning and end, limited. You are not that kind of controller." Prakrteh param, eternal.
Another understanding is that because Krsna is controller, beyond this material nature, therefore He is not a product of this material nature. The Mayavadi philosophers, they cannot understand. Their poor fund of knowledge... If God has created this material world, then He must not be anything of this material world. Because before creation He was existing, and after creation, after annihilation, He will remain, then how He can be anything of this material world? Material world, anything has got a beginning and end. But God is beyond this material world. He was existing... He said, "Let there be creation." Just like in your Bible it is said. So there was creation. So how He can be one of the created beings? By His wish there was creation. And another thing is then His desires, His wish, they are nothing of this material world. They are spiritual. Prakrteh param means "superior to this material world."
In the Bhagavad-gita, you understand, there are two kinds of nature: para and apara. So this material nature is apara, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakrtim param. Apareyam. Bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh. The land, water, fire, air, sky, these five elements, they are described in the Bhagavad-gita, bhinna me prakrtir astadha: "They are separated energy, inferior quality energy. But beyond this inferior quality energy, I have got another superior quality of energy." What is that? Jiva-bhuta. You can understand that jiva-bhuta, the living entities. Yayedam dharyate jagat. Because jiva-bhuta, we living entities, we are superior than the matter because we are controlling the matter. Just like we have been in the riverside, so many things, material things, we saw. But who has made it? The living entities. The matter has not come into so many forms without the touch of the living entity. Everyone can understand. The big, big ship, how it has come into existence? Because a living entity planned, engineered how to do it, and he brought material things, and he manufactured it. Therefore this inferior energy, the material things, they are subordinate to the spiritual energy.
Therefore Krsna, when He is prakrteh param, He is beyond this material nature. His body, His activities, His pastimes, His name, His form, everything, it is not material. Therefore Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah. If everyone simply tries to understand Krsna as He is in truth, then he becomes liberated, simply by understanding Krsna. This is Krsna consciousness movement. You try to understand Krsna not by speculation, but as Krsna says, as God says, or as a Krsna devotee says. Just like Kunti. Kunti is a devotee of Krsna. She said that "You are prakrteh param." She is authority. She is authority, because devotee, every devotee, pure devotee, they are confidential. Otherwise how Krsna has accepted to become her nephew? Just like Krsna has accepted to become the son of Yasodamayi or Devaki, similarly, He has accepted to become a nephew of Kuntidevi. This prayer was offered by Kunti when Krsna was taking leave. After establishing them, after the battle of Kuruksetra, when everything was settled up and Krsna was going back to Dvaraka, so He came to offer His respects to His aunt, Kuntidevi, and when the farewell was taking place, Kunti offered this prayer to Krsna. Namasye, namasye. He happens to be nephew, but she is offering his obeisances. Because (s)he knows, "He is playing the part of my nephew, but He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Therefore although she is superior in position because aunt, she is offering namasye, "I offer my respectful obeisances unto You." This is the position.
So God is invisible, who? For the persons who have no eyes to see Him. Alaksyam. Although He is everywhere: andantara-stha-paramanu-
So God reveals Himself to the devotee. Although... Just like Prahlada Maharaja was seeing that Nrsimhadeva has come, and his father, atheist father, he was challenging, "Where is your God?" So God is everywhere, but He is not visible to the nondevotee. But one who is devotee, he can see Him. Every... Not only once. Premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-
So if you can see God, you can talk with God, if you can go back to home, back to God, why should you lose this opportunity? This opportunity is in the human being. You can see God, you can talk with God, you can go back home, back to God. Everything is possible. And that is Krsna consciousness movement.
Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)
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