If we are not serious about getting the real thing,
we will end up getting what we deserve – a cheap thing.

 
tatah sankhas ca bheryas ca
panavanaka-gomukhah
sahasaivabhyahanyanta
sa sabdas tumulo 'bhavat
 
tatah svetair hayair yukte
mahati syandane sthitau
madhavah pandavas caiva
divyau sankhau pradadhmatuh
[Bhagavad-gita 1.13-14]

Translation: “After that, the conchshells, bugles, trumpets, drums and horns were all of a sudden sounded, and the combined sound was tumultuous. On the other side, both Lord Krishna and Arjuna, stationed on a great chariot drawn by white horses, sounded their transcendental conchshells.”

So these are various types of musical instruments like bugles, drums, kettledrums, as they use in modern days. Those instruments are no longer in use. By musical instruments, the soldiers are kept alive so they can fight nicely. Sa sabdas tumulo ‘bhavat: “When simultaneously all the instruments were sounded, it become tumultuous.”
Srila Prabhupada

As you see in some pictures, Krishna is driving four white horses. Krishna is transcendental. Narayanah paro ‘vyaktat. Krishna's body, Krishna's activities, everything of Krishna , are transcendental. They are divyam, not of this material world. In the catuh-sloki Bhagavatam (2.9.33-36) it is said, aham evasam evagre: “Before this material creation, I was existing.” In the Vedas also it is said, eko narayana asit: “Before creation, only Narayana was there.”


So Krishna's position is always transcendental. He is not any creation of this material world. But because He comes just like a human being and acts also just like human being, those who are less intelligent think of Krishna as ordinary human being. Avajananti mam mudhah (Gita 9.11). Mudhah means asses, or less intelligent class of men. They cannot understand Krishna's position. Krishna's position is always transcendental.
 
A Transcendental Process
The process of bhakti is also transcendental. It is activity in relationship with Krishna . Therefore it is not material. Mam ca yo ‘vyabhicarena bhakti-yogena sevate/ sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate (Gita 14.26). And thus to understand Krishna , you need follow a transcendental process, which is bhaktiyoga. Therefore Krishna says, bhaktya mam abhijanati (Gita 18.55). We just need to understand these simple facts: Krishna is transcendental, Krishna's name is transcendental, Krishna's form is transcendental, sac-cid-anandavigrahah. isvarah paramah Krishna h sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah (Brahmasamhita 5.1). Krishna's body is not like ours. Our body is asat, acit and nirananda, just the opposite. Asat means temporary – it will not exist eternally. But Krishna's body is eternal. And it is cit, full of knowledge.

The less intelligent class of men cannot understand Krishna . Therefore sastra says, atah sri-Krishna namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih (Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.2.234). These indriya, or the material senses, cannot speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such efforts are srama eva hi kevalam, or simply laboring, wasting time. Krishna should be understood as Krishna says. He can explain Himself. Nobody can explain perfectly because our senses are imperfect. We are deficient by four kinds of faults: we commit mistakes; we are illusioned; we have imperfect senses; we have cheating propensity. Scientists may try to explain by using the terms, “Probably,” “Maybe,” and so on. That means imperfect knowledge. Still, they want to teach. This is cheating. Knowledge must be perfect. Then you can teach others.

Are you getting cheated?
So our process is to receive the perfect knowledge from the perfect source and distribute it. We don’t manufacture knowledge. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is. The Bhagavad-gita is already perfect. Why shall I interpret with my imperfect senses? This is cheating. But people want to be cheated. Vancita-vancaka-sampradaya: the whole world is full of cheaters and cheated. Because we want to be cheated, there are so many cheaters. They don’t want the real thing. Here is the real thing, Bhagavad-gita, the Supreme Personality of Godhead speaking personally about Himself. Why should we interpret? Does it mean that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme authority, left something unexplained to be interpreted later on by some rascals? No. But the rascals dare; they interpret. That is cheating. That is another fault. There are around 650 editions of Bhagavadgita – simply cheating. The authors are big, big scholars – not scholars, they are all rascals. They cheat. They pose themselves as scholars and people want to be cheated, so they take their words. Such people cannot understand Krishna because they take the shelter of the cheaters. Therefore they are cheated.

Maya is very strong. She always dictates so that we may get cheated: “Why you are taking Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead? He is ordinary man. You can be also equal with Krishna . You also become God. You become also incarnation.” This is going on. And people flock there because they want to be cheated. They will not accept what Krishna says. Krishna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam: “Only take to Krishna consciousness” (Gita 18.66). Anything that is not approved by the Supreme Lord Krishna is not dharma. Dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam (Bhagavatam 6.3.19). A human being or a demigod or even a very exalted person cannot manufacture dharma. That is not possible. Real dharma is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna , and that real dharma is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. Sarvadharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja: “Just surrender unto me.” Surrender to Krishna and follow His instruction, and your life will be perfect. Because you follow the perfect instruction, therefore you are also perfect. It is a simple process. To become perfect, we have to follow the perfect instruction.

Accept the Perfect Instruction
In the Bhagavad-gita, you will find the perfect instruction. And if we take it as it is and follow it, then we become perfect. To become perfect is not very difficult job. But because we don’t want to become perfect, because we want to be cheated, we do not become perfect. This is the difficulty. So we should know from the very beginning that Krishna is transcendental. And all His activities, they are all transcendental. When Krishna was just three months old, He killed the raksasi Putana. An ordinary three-month old child cannot kill such a giant demon. When Krishna was six or seven years old, He lifted the Govardhana Hill. If Krishna can float big, big gigantic planets in the air just like cotton swab floating, is it very difficult for Him to lift a mountain with His hand, with His finger? That is not at all difficult for Krishna . But those who want to be cheated, they don’t believe these stories when Krishna shows His transcendental strength. They will call such stories mythology, as if Vyasadeva wrote this Srimad -Bhagavatam to put before these rascals some imaginary things. Just see how they want to be cheated. Why should such an exalted personality like Vyasadeva present something imaginary? Therefore sometimes these cheated people deny that Vyasadeva wrote the Srimad -Bhagavatam. But the real acaryas, like sankaracarya, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, and Caitanya Mahaprabhu, do not say these stories are mythology. They accept them as they are. So we have to follow these mahajanas, or great authorities. If we don’t want to be cheated, then we should take Krishna as He is presenting Himself and as it is confirmed by the acaryas. Then our knowledge is perfect.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna .

Harinam Sankirtan