It's time we got to know the other knower in our body.
A lecture in Bombay on September 26, 1973
ksetra-jnam capi mam viddhi
sarva-ksetresu bharata
ksetra-ksetrajnayor jnanam
yat taj jnanam matam mama
"O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in all bodies, and to understand this body and its knower is called knowledge. That is My opinion." (Bhagavad-gita 13.3)
While discussing the subject matter of the body and the owner of the body, the soul and the Supersoul, we shall find three topics of study: the Lord, the living entity, and matter. In every field of activity, or in every body, there are two souls: the Supersoul and the individual soul. The Mayavadi philosophers say that there is only one soul the Supersoul. But here Krsna, the authoritative source of knowledge, says there are two souls: the individual soul and the Supersoul, atma and Paramatma.
Because the Supersoul is the plenary expansion of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krsna says, "I am also the knower, but I am not the individual owner of the body." The Supersoul, or Krsna, is the knower of the pains and pleasures of every body, whereas the individual soul is the knower of the pains and pleasures of his own body only. Krsna says, avinasi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idam tatam: "The consciousness of the individual soul is spread all over the body." The soul, by his potency, spreads all over the body. Similarly, because Krsna is the Supersoul. His consciousness is spread not only in my individual body but in all bodies.
There are 8,400.000 species, and Krsna's consciousness pervades them all. He knows everything that is taking place in every body. So Krsna understands when we become conscious of Him. Krsna is within your heart, so He can understand your purpose. We cannot cheat Krsna. Krsna can immediately understand how serious and sincere you are to understand Him, to approach Him, or to go back home, back to Godhead.
As soon as Krsna understands that you are very serious. He takes care of you especially. Being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna is equal to everyone.Samo 'ham sarva-bhutesu na me dvesyo 'sti na priyah: Krsna is not envious, nor is He especially inclined to anyone. God's position is neutrality. He likes everyone. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gita: suhrdam sarva-bhutanam jnatva mam santim rcchati. He is the friend of everyone. We are seeking friendship with so many people to satisfy our desires, but if we make Krsna our friend, all our desires will be fulfilled.
In the Upanisads it is said that two birds are sitting as friends in the same tree, the body. So you should understand that Krsna is your best friend. Krsna says He's the friend of everyone. That friendship is equally distributed. But if one becomes a special devotee, engaged in the service of the Lord with love and affection. Krsna is especially inclined to him. That is Krsna's mercy to the devotee. Krsna is equal to everyone, but He is especially inclined to the devotee who is engaged in His service with love and faith. He takes special care of the devotee; He guides him and gives him intelligence. What kind of intelligence? Yena mam upayanti te: He gives the devotee the clue how to go back home, back to Godhead.
Krsna does not give him intelligence for gaining material prosperity. That is entrusted to Maya, or Durgadevi Krsna's illusory energy. Therefore people are not much interested in worshiping Krsna. They are generally interested in worshiping Goddess Durga or Lord Siva, because by worshiping Siva or Durga, they get material opulence. Worship of the demigods is a hundred percent materialism. There is no question of spiritual life. Therefore Krsna says, kamais tais tair hrta-jnanah prapadyante 'nya-devatah: "The intelligence of those who are interested in worshiping demigods is taken away."
Maya is working in two ways: praksepatmika-sakti and avaranatmika-sakti. Avaranatmika-sakti means she is covering the reality, just as when the cloud covers the sunshine and we cannot see. For a few days now it's been cloudy. We cannot see the sun. But that does not mean there is no sun in the sky.
So Maya does not allow us to see Krsna. That is one sakti. or energy:avaranatmika-sakti. And another sakti is praksepatmika-sakti: after covering the consciousness, she throws one away from Krsna. In this way maya-sakti is acting. Krsna therefore says:
daivi hy esa guna-mayi
mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante
mayam etam taranti te
"Maya is very powerful, but if one is very rigid in devotional service, he can overcome the influence of Maya." Krsna is there in the body. He's always ready to help us, provided we are serious about Him. That is Krsna's mercy.
This is the process of pleasing Krsna. We are sitting here together, and we are talking about Krsna and Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission. Caitanya Mahaprabhu ordered, yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa/ amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa: "Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Krsna as they are given inBhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land."
This is our mission. The Krsna consciousness movement is for preaching the teachings of Krsna: Bhagavad-gita As It Is. This is called Krsna-upadesa. AnotherKrsna-upadesa is instruction about Krsna. Bhagavad-gita is the instruction given by Krsna, and Srimad-Bhagavatam is the instruction given by Vyasadeva and other sages about Krsna. Both of them are Krsna-katha: topics of Krsna.
If we want to improve, if we want to make our life successful, then we must engage ourselves in this program of Krsna consciousness, or hearing about Krsna. Krsna is within your heart, and so as soon as you are very serious and eager to know about Krsna, you become liberated. Simply try to understand Krsna. This is the Vedic instruction: kasmin bhagavo vijnate sarvam idam vijnatam bhavati if you simply understand Krsna, then all other things become automatically known. You don't have to make a separate endeavor to know. You will know what Paramatma is, what Brahman is, what this material world is. what our relationship with this world is everything will be revealed.
In the Bhagavad-gita [10.11] Krsna says,
tesam evanukampartham
aham ajnana-jam tamah
nasayamy atma-bhava-stho
jnana-dipena bhasvata
"To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance." If you actually become Krsna conscious, the result will be that you'll get special favor from Krsna. Krsna is especially favorable to the devotees.
Hearing about Krsna is the beginning of becoming Krsna conscious. Caitanya Mahaprabhu also accepted this. We have to be submissive, not like the speculators who think, "Now I have become Brahman." But everyone is Brahman. There is no question of becoming Brahman. We have now forgotten that we are Brahman. We are misidentifying with this body. This is maya. It is not that by some process I become Brahman. I am Brahman, but on account of maya my knowledge is covered. I am thinking I am a product of this material world that I am American or I am Indian. I am thinking in terms of the soil where I have taken birth. All over the world, instead of worshiping Krsna, everyone is worshiping the land of his birth. That is going on under the name of so many "isms."
Actually, we are part and parcel of Krsna. Krsna is Parabrahman; therefore we, being part and parcel of Krsna, are also Brahman, just as particles of gold are also gold. So there is no question of becoming Brahman. We are already Brahman. We simply have to know. "I am not this body; I am spirit soul, part and parcel of Krsna." That is knowledge: that I am Brahman.
Now, as soon as we are perfectly situated in that spiritual knowledge, there is no lamentation: brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati. Everyone is lamenting because he's a sudra. The sudra's business is to lament. But when one understands Brahman, he does not lament We have seen many brahmanas who are not very materially opulent, but they are happy. They are happy with Krsna. That is the brahmanas business. A brahmana must be a Vaisnava Krsna conscious.
If a brahmana is not a Vaisnava, then he cannot become a guru. That is the injunction of the sastra [scripture]: sat-karma-nipuno vipro mantra-tantra-visaradah/ avaisnavo gurur na syad vaisnavah sva-paco guruh. A vipra is a learned brahmana. One who has studied all the Vedic literatures and has acquired knowledge is called vipra. Simply studying Vedic literature will not do. One must realize what Brahman is; then he becomes a brahmana.
Brahmana is a qualification. It is not by birth. Just as a high-court judge's son is not a high-court judge unless he has the qualifications of a high-court judge, similarly the son of a brahmana is not a brahmana by birth. When he has the brahminical qualifications, he becomes a brahmana. Those qualifications are described in theBhagavad-gita (18.42]:
samo damas tapah saucam
ksantir arjavam eva ca
jnanam vijnanam astikyam
brahma-karma svabhava-jam
"Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom, and religiousness these are the natural qualities by which the brahmanaswork."
So these things are lost Therefore India's position is now chaos and confusion because you have lost this Vedic civilization. You have lost Krsna consciousness. You have lost God consciousness. You are being directed by your whims. This is the very lamentable condition of India. Krsna consciousness is India's original culture. Krsna appeared on this land. Krsna is not for any particular land, but still, Krsna appeared in this holy land of Bharata-varsa, in Mathura.
It is the duty of the Indians to understand Krsna culture the Krsna consciousness cultural movement and take part in it seriously. That is the instruction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He says, bharata-bhumite haila manusya-janma yara janma sarthaka kari' kara para-upakara: "Anyone who has taken birth in the holy land of Bharata-varsa must take advantage of the Vedic knowledge and work for the welfare of others."
In the other part of the world, there is no such advantage as Vedic literature and Vedic knowledge. Unfortunately, the Indians are neglecting this Vedic perfection, whereas Europeans and Americans are taking interest. So we are not of course concerned with any particular nation or country. Our business is to carry out the order of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa. Whomever you meet it doesn't matter whether he is Indian, European, American, or African he should be instructed about Krsna consciousness. Then his life will be successful, and the life of the preacher of Krsna consciousness will also become successful.
This is the Krsna consciousness movement. The beginning is to hear about Krsna in order to understand Him. We give everyone the chance to hear about Krsna. This is our program. We are trying to construct a temple here, not for making any profit, but to give people a chance to hear about Krsna. We are opening temples all over the world just to give people the chance to hear about Krsna.
As soon as the individual soul is seriously engaged in hearing about Krsna, the dirty things within his heart become cleansed. And as soon as the heart is cleansed, all his problems in this material world are solved. Cleansing the heart means to understand that we are not Krsna but part and parcel of Krsna, and our duty is to serve Krsna.
The Mayavadi philosophers are thinking that they are Krsna: "I am God." That is unclean. Because their intelligence is not yet clear, they are thinking that they are Krsna. No. Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and we are eternal servants of Krsna. Therefore Krsna demands in the Bhagavad-gita [18.66], sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja: "Just surrender to Me."
It is the right of the master to tell the servant, "You surrender." Similarly, Krsna comes to teach this. because we are eternal servants of Krsna. The Mayavadi philosophers cannot understand this. The servant wants to become the master. That is not possible. If the servant remains a faithful servant that is the perfection of his life. If the servant wants to artificially become the master, that is only a botheration.
The Krsna consciousness movement is educating everyone to understand this fact: that everyone is the eternal servant of Krsna. Don't try to imitate Krsna. That is a botheration. You cannot be happy that way. If one wants to artificially become something he is not, then it is simply a botheration. There is no happiness. Artificial life is not happiness. Natural life is happiness.
Naturally we are servants of Krsna. If we don't serve Krsna, then we have to serve maya. Those who are not Krsna conscious have given up the service of Krsna. but they have accepted the service of so many other things. Somebody is thinking. "I am the servant of my country"; somebody is thinking. "I am the servant of my family"; somebody is thinking. "I am the servant of my wife"; or someone is thinking. "I am the servant of my office boss." Or somebody is thinking. "I am the servant of my dog." That is also going on.
So one must remain a servant, but if he does not become the servant of Krsna, he has to become the servant of so many things. He cannot give up his position as a servant; that's a fact. Therefore one who is intelligent one who is actually intelligent thinks. "If my position is to become a servant, why not become the servant of the Supreme?" This is intelligence.
We are the servant of our senses. Our senses are dictating so many nonsense things, and we are serving them. Therefore one who is not a servant of the senses, one who becomes the servant of Krsna. becomes the master of his senses. Such a person is called svami or gosvami. All over the world, everyone is the servant of the senses: godasa. One has to become gosvami.
So Krsna is advising: "I am in everyone's heart." You can take advice from Krsna. Krsna is ready. One name for Krsna is caitya-guru. "the guru situated within your heart." Krsna comes out as the instructor guru or the initiator guru, and He is sitting within the heart as caitya-guru. Krsna is ready to help us in two ways: as the external guru and the internal guru. The internal guru is Krsna Himself, and the external guru is His manifestation as the spiritual master. So we should take advantage of these two gurus and make our life successful. This is the Krsna consciousness movement.
Thank you very much. Hare Krsna.