The Supreme Truth is known as Ajita the unconquerable but Lord
Krsna reveals how He can be conquered.
ananya-cetah satatam
yo mam smarati nityasah
tasyaham sulabhah partha
nitya-yuktasya yoginah
"For one who always remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Prtha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service." Bhagavad-gita 8.14
YESTERDAY WE DISCUSSED how the impersonalists elevate themselves to the spiritual kingdom. The yogis and the jnanis [speculative philosophers] are generally impersonalists. Their process is to vibrate the transcendental sound om at the time of death and thereby transfer to the spiritual world. But they do not enter the spiritual planets. And if we do not have any rest in the spiritual planets, if we remain in the outer space, then there is the risk of coming down again to the material world.
Srimad-Bhagavatam [10.2.32] confirms this:
ye 'nye 'ravindaksa vimukta-maninas
tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah
aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah
patanty adho 'nadrta-yusmad-anghrayah
"O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet."
However high you may rise in this material space, if you have no rest on any planet then naturally you'll come down again. Similarly, if we have no rest in the spiritual effulgence, we are sure to come back down again. The reason is that we, as living entities, are part and parcel of the Supreme. Like the Supreme, we are sac-cid-ananda, eternal and full of bliss and knowledge. We want pleasure. The impersonal feature of the Supreme does not give us the pleasure we want. That pleasure is available in the spiritual planets. If you enter any of the spiritual planets, then you can attain spiritual happiness and the exchange of pleasure. Therefore Lord Krsna says, ananya-cetah satatam yo mam smarati nityasah.
Ananya-cetah means "without deviation." That means without any consideration of jnana, yoga, or any other process simply the devotional process, the process of surrender: "My Lord, I am Your eternal servant. Please give me Your service. Let me engage in Your service." That is called ananya-cetah.
Ananya-cetah satatam. Satatam means always, twenty-four hours a day, cent percent, without any deviation. That is Krsna consciousness. If anyone is engaged in such Krsna consciousness twenty-four hours and cent percent then he always remembers Krsna: yo mam smarati nityasah. Suppose you are engaged in some work. Naturally you'll be thinking of that particular work. When you go to your office and work, you have to think always of the office business. That is quite natural. Similarly, if you engage yourself in the business of Krsna consciousness, naturally you'll be always thinking of Krsna.
Therefore it is said, yo mam smarati nityasah: "Always remembering Me." Tasyaham sulabhah partha: "My dear Partha, Arjuna, for such a person I am very cheap." Sulabhah means "very easily available."
God, Krsna, is called Ajita. Ajita means that nobody can conquer God. God is unlimited, and His functions and activities are unlimited. According to His activities, His names are also unlimited. So this is one of the names: Ajita. Ajita means "the person who is never conquered." Nobody can conquer God; therefore His name is Ajita.
There is a very nice verse in Srimad-Bhagavatam [10.14.3]:
jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva
jivanti san-mukharitam bhavadiya-vartam
sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhir
ye prayaso 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyam
"My dear Lord, those devotees who have thrown away the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth and have therefore abandoned discussing empirical philosophical truths should hear from self-realized devotees about Your holy name, form, pastimes, and qualities. They should completely follow the principles of devotional service and remain free from illicit sex, gambling, intoxication, and animal slaughter. Surrendering themselves fully with body, words, and mind, they can live in any asrama or social status. Indeed, You are conquered by such persons, although You are unconquerable."
Brahma is praying to Lord Krsna. He says, "Giving up the futile endeavor to understand the Supreme by one's limited knowledge …" The theosophists and philosophers are asking year after year, life after life, "What is God? What is God? What is the Absolute Truth?" For example, we throw satellites into space and ask, "What is the length and breadth of space?" This is frog philosophy, as I have often explained. A frog is trying to measure the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean. You see? A frog, whose life is within the well of three cubic feet, is trying to measure the length and breadth of Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Similarly, our attempt to measure outer space is just as futile. And what to speak of this space. With our limited knowledge, our attempt to know the long and short of God is futile. It is not possible.
So the Bhagavatam recommends, jnane prayasam udapasya: "Just give up this nonsense habit of trying to measure the Supreme." It is not possible. A person is intelligent who has determined, "It is futile. It is useless to try to understand God by my limited knowledge."
Brahma then says, namanta eva: "Just become submissive. Try to understand your position: You are a very insignificant segment of the creation. Give up this endeavor to understand the Supreme by your limited knowledge and just become submissive."
From Krsna's Lips
Then what is the process? San-mukharitam bhavadiya-vartam: "Just try to understand the Supreme from a reliable source." Mukharita means "from the lips of realized souls." For example, Arjuna is learning about God directly from Krsna, from the lips of Krsna. That is the process. Similarly, we must learn about God through the lips of Arjuna or his bona fide representative.
Sthane sthitah: Never mind what one is. Whether Indian or European or American or Japanese or Hindu or Muslim never mind. Sthane sthitah: "Just be situated in your place. That doesn't matter." Sruti-gatam: "Just try to understand through your ears, by aural reception." Sruti means reception through the ear.
Then just try to practice what you hear. Tanu-van-manobhir ye prayasah ajita: "My dear Lord, You are unconquerable, but by such a person You become conquered, simply by hearing." It is such a nice process. God is not conquerable, but He becomes conquerable. He is conquered by a devotee who gives up the nonsense process of understanding Him by his limited knowledge and becomes submissive. Just try to hear from the right source and apply it in your life. Then you become a conqueror of the Supreme.
Similarly, Lord Krsna says tasyaham sulabhah. Sulabhah means "I am easily available." God is not easily available. He is very difficult to attain. "But for a person who is constantly in Krsna consciousness," the Lord says Himself, "for him I am easily available."
So why don't you take up this process? There is a nice verse in Brahma-samhita. The purport is that a person who tries to understand God by his sensual process will be unsuccessful. The sensual process is called aroha-pantha. Aroha-pantha means trying to ascend. There are two ways to acquire knowledge. One is aroha-pantha, the ascending process, and the other is avaroha-pantha, the descending process. Aroha-pantha means "I shall understand God by my own knowledge. I don't care for any authority, any books. I'll understand. I'll meditate, I'll think, I'll philosophize, and I'll understand God." Avaroha-pantha, on the other hand, means getting knowledge from authority.
In relation to one who is trying to understand the Supreme by his own limited knowledge, Brahma-samhita [5.34] states:
panthas tu koti-sata-vatsara-sampragamyo
vayor athapi manaso muni-pungavanam
so 'py asti yat prapada-simny avicintya-tattve
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, only the tip of the toe of whose lotus feet is approached by the yogis who aspire after the transcendental and betake themselves to pranayama by drilling the respiration, or by the jnanis who try to find out the non-differentiated Brahman by the process of elimination of the mundane, extending over thousands of millions of years."
You know the speed of mind. You are sitting here, and you can think of thousands and thousands of miles away immediately. Just see the speed of mind. Similarly, the velocity of air is thousands of miles in a second. So the example is given here that if the greatest thinker muni pungavanam goes on searching for millions of years at the speed of mind or the speed of air, still he will find that the subject matter remains inconceivable.
But here is definite information. In the Bhagavad-gita we learn that for one who thinks always of Krsna, "I am very easily available." Tasyaham sulabhah partha. "Why? Why do You become so cheap to this person?" Because nitya-yuktasya yoginah: "Oh, because he is constantly twenty-four hours engaged in My service. I cannot forget him."
That is the process. Just become submissive and attract the attention of God. Then you'll be successful. My Guru Maharaja used to say, "Don't try to see God, but work in such a way that God will see you. God will take care of you. Don't try to see God." That is the process.
We should not think, "I want to see God. O God, please come and stand before me," as if God were my servant. God is no one's servant. You have to oblige Him by your love, by your service. That is the process.
Here it is said, tasyaham sulabhah partha. Anyone engaged in that way, in that submissive way, always, constantly, without any deviation, in Krsna consciousness oh, for him, God is very cheap, although He is unconquerable.
Easy Process
So take this process, Krsna consciousness. It is very easy. This process is given to humanity by Lord Caitanya, and Rupa Gosvami, the first disciple of Lord Caitanya, appreciated it. Rupa Gosvami was a minister in the service of the Muhammadan government of Bengal, and he become a disciple of Lord Caitanya. When he first met Him, he offered himself with this verse:
namo maha-vadanyaya
krsna-prema-pradaya te
krsnaya krsna-caitanya-
namne gaura-tvise namah
"My dear Lord Caitanya, You are the most munificent personality, the highest charitable person." Why? "You are delivering Krsna very cheaply. Therefore no one is comparable to You in giving charity."
We want Krsna. We are hankering after Krsna the most attractive, the most beautiful, the most opulent, the most powerful, the most learned. That is our hankering. We are hankering after the beautiful, the powerful, the learned. Raso vai sah: Krsna is the reservoir of everything. Just turn your attention to Krsna. You'll get everything, whatever you want. Whatever your heart's desire, it will be fulfilled by Krsna consciousness.
This Krsna consciousness was given by Lord Caitanya. Therefore Rupa Gosvami said, "You are the most powerful, charitable personality. Nobody has given such a thing Krsna." We are all in want of Krsna. The process to attain Him is given by Krsna Himself as Lord Caitanya. And here Krsna says, tasyaham sulabhah partha: "I become very cheap to him." To whom? "To one who is constantly engaged in Krsna consciousness."
The impersonalists transfer themselves to the spiritual world and merge into the impersonal effulgence. But if you remain twenty-four hours a day in Krsna consciousness, then you'll enter the planet where Krsna is. Then what is the benefit? The benefit is stated in the next verse:
mam upetya punar janma
duhkhalayam asasvatam
napnuvanti mahatmanah
samsiddhim paramam gatah
"My dear Arjuna, if anyone comes to Me by this process, by Krsna consciousness, he does not return to the material world, which is full of miseries." The material world is certified by the Supreme Lord, the creator, as duhkhalayam. Duhkhalayam means "the place of miseries." How can you make it comfortable? By your so-called advancement of science? No. It is not possible. But we do not know what is duhkha, suffering. Real suffering is birth, death, old age, and disease, but we have set these aside. Because we cannot solve these things, we don't care for them. We are after satellites and atomic bombs. That is our scientific advancement. Why don't you solve these important things, which are always giving you suffering? You have no power to solve them.
So here is the solution. Krsna says, mam upetya punar janma … : "If anyone attains My platform, he does not come back again." Come back where? Duhkhalayam asasvatam: "To this place, which is full of miseries."
Just try to understand that this place is full of miseries. In the mode of ignorance we cannot understand. The cats and dogs and hogs cannot understand their miserable condition of life. A human being is called a rational animal. Human beings are animals, but they have rationality. But that rationality is being used for animal propensities. That rationality is not being used for getting liberated from this miserable condition. That is a misuse of rationality.
Here is the solution. Krsna says, "If anyone remains in Krsna consciousness, twenty-four hours a day, without any deviation, he comes to Me. And if he once comes to Me, he does not get rebirth in this miserable life." Why? Mahatmanah samsiddhim paramam gatah: "They are great souls, and they have achieved the highest goal of life."
Thank you very much.