Pradyumna (leads chanting, etc.):

tataḥ; saṅkhas ca bheryas ca
paṇavanaka-gomukhaḥ;
sahasaivabhyahanyanta
sa sabdas tumulo 'bhavat
[Bg. 1.13]

Translation: "After that, the conchshells, bugles, trumpets, drums and horns were all of a sudden sounded, and the combined sound was tumultuous."

Prabhupada: So there are mention of various types of musical instruments. Those instruments are no longer in use. But different types of bugles, drums, kettledrums, as they use in modern days. So the same principle. 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." Next verse. Tataḥ; svetair hayair yukte mahati syandane sthitau. Read it.

Pradyumna (leads chanting, etc.):

tataḥ; svetair hayair yukte
mahati syandane sthitau
madhavaḥ; paṇḍavas caiva
divyau saṅkhau pradadhmatuḥ;
[Bg. 1.14]

Translation: "On the other side, both Lord Krṣṇa and Arjuna, stationed on a great chariot drawn by white horses, sounded their transcendental conchshells."

Prabhupada: So you have seen the picture. Krṣṇa is driving four white horses. (reads from purport:) "In contrast with the conchshell blown by Bhiṣmadeva, the conchshells in the hands of Krṣṇa and Arjuna are described as transcendental." Krṣṇa is transcendental. Narayaṇaḥ; paro 'vyaktat. Krṣṇa is not of this material world. Krṣṇa's body, Krṣṇa's activities, everything of Krṣṇa, they are transcendental. They are not of this material world. Divyam. In the catuḥ;-sloki Bhagavatam it is said when Krṣṇa was instructing Brahma, aham evasam evagre: [SB 2.9.33/34/35/36] "Before this material creation, I was existing." In the Vedas also, it is said, eko narayaṇa asit. "Before creation, only Narayaṇa was there."

So Krṣṇa'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, avajananti, they think of Krṣṇa as ordinary human being. Avajananti maṁ muḍhaḥ; [Bg. 9.11]. Muḍhaḥ;. Muḍhaḥ; means asses. Or less intelligent class of men. They cannot understand Krṣṇa's position. Krṣṇa's position is always transcendental.

When Arjuna inquired from Him about His instruction to sun-god, Krṣṇa said, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavan aham avyayam [Bg. 4.1]. This bhakti-yogam of as mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita... Bhagavad-gita is bhakti-yogam, to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So this literature is also transcendental. Bhakti is also transcendental. Bhakti is not any activities of this material world. Janma karma me divyam [Bg. 4.9]. So bhakti is activity in relationship with Krṣṇa. Therefore it is not material. Sa guṇan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate, maṁ ca yo 'vyabhicareṇa bhakti-yogena sevate [Bg. 14.26]. Bhakti-yoga is transcendental. And because Krṣṇa is transcendental, you cannot understand Krṣṇa by any material method. Therefore Krṣṇa says, bhaktya mam abhijanati [Bg. 18.55]. The method also is transcendental, not of this material world. So if we can understand simply these facts, that Krṣṇa is transcendental, Krṣṇa's name is transcendental, Krṣṇa's form is transcendental, sac-cid-ananda-vigrahaḥ;. Isvaraḥ; paramaḥ; krṣṇaḥ; sac-cid-ananda-vigrahaḥ; [Bs. 5.1]. Krṣṇa's body is sac-cid-ananda, not body like this. This body is asat, acit and nirananda, just the opposite. This material body is asat. Asat means temporary. It will not exist. But Krṣṇa's body is not like that. Krṣṇa's body is eternal. That is cit. Sat-cit. Full of knowledge.

So less intelligent class of men, they cannot understand Krṣṇa. Therefore sastra says, ataḥ; sri-krṣṇa-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaiḥ; [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. These indriya, these material senses, cannot speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is not possible. Srama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8]. That is simply laboring, wasting time. Krṣṇa should be understood as Krṣṇa says. He can explain Himself. Nobody can explain. Because our senses are imperfect. We are deficient by four kinds of faults. We commit mistake; we are illusioned; with imperfect senses, we try to speak transcendental knowledge; therefore cheating. With imper... They will say, "Probably," "Maybe." This is the so-called scientists' language. That means imperfect knowledge. Still, they want to teach. This is cheating. Knowledge must be perfect. Then you can teach others.

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, 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. Vañcita-vañcaka-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 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 640-45 editions of Bhagavad-gita. Simply cheating. Amongst them, there are big, big scholars. Not scholars. All rascals, but they cheat. They pose themselves as scholars and people want to be cheated, so they take their words. So they cannot understand Krṣṇa. Cheated. They take the shelter of the cheaters. Therefore they are cheated.

So the maya is very strong. Maya always dictates so that we may be cheated: "Why you are taking Krṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Don't take. He is ordinary man. You can be also equal with Krṣṇa. You also become God. You become also incarnation." This is going on. And people flock there because they want to be cheated. What Krṣṇa says, they will not accept it. Krṣṇa says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekaṁ saraṇam: [Bg. 18.66] "Only take to Krṣṇa consciousness." Sarva-dharman. Because any dharma which is not approved by the Supreme Lord Krṣṇa, that is not dharma. Dharmaṁ tu sakṣad bhagavat-praṇitam [SB 6.3.19]. A human being or a demigod or very exalted person cannot manufacture dharma. That is not possible. Real dharma is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krṣṇa, and that real dharma is stated in the Bhagavad-gita: sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekaṁ saraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. "Just surrender unto me." This is real dharma. Surrender to Krṣṇa and follow His instruction; your life will be perfect. Because you follow the perfect instruction, therefore you are also perfect. Simple process. To become perfect, we have to follow the perfect instruction.

So in the Bhagavad-gita there is 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 Krṣṇa is transcendental. And all His activities, they are all transcendental. Although Krṣṇa appears just like ordinary human being... He does not appear like ordinary human being because Krṣṇa, when He was three months old only, He killed the Putana rakṣasi. A three month's old child cannot kill such giant demon. It is not possible. Krṣṇa, when He was six or seven years old, He lifted the Govardhana Hill. So what is the difficulty for Krṣṇa? If Krṣṇa can float big, big gigantic planets in the air just like cotton swab floating, so is it very difficult for Krṣṇa to lift a mountain with His hand, with His finger? That is not difficult for Krṣṇa. But those who want to be cheated, when Krṣṇa shows His transcendental strength, they don't believe it, another cheating. They, they'll admit, "Oh, these are... What is called?

Devotee: Mythology.

Prabhupada: Mythology. As if Vyasadeva wrote this Srimad-Bhagavatam to put before these rascals some mythology, some imaginary things. Just see how they want to be cheated. Such an exalted personality like Vyasadeva, who has given us the Vedic literature, he presented something which is imaginary. What business He has got? Therefore sometimes these cheated people, they deny to accept that Bhagavata is written by Sri Vyasadeva. But those who are actually acaryas, those who can guide us, like Saṅkaracarya, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, big, big..., Caitanya Mahaprabhu, they do not say like this, that "It is mythology. It is imaginary." They accept as it is. So we have to follow these mahajana. Mahajano yena gataḥ; sa panthaḥ; dharmasya tattvaṁ nihito guhayam [Cc. Madhya 17.186]. We have to follow great personalities, acaryas. acaryavan puruṣo veda. One who has got, one who has taken shelter of acarya, bona fide spiritual master, he knows. Acaryavan puruṣo veda. Because he is receiving the right knowledge from the right source, acarya... Evaṁ parampara-praptam imaṁ rajarṣayo viduḥ; [Bg. 4.2]. Acarya means by disciplic succession. As Krṣṇa says, disciplic succession, all the acaryas will say the same thing. They will not change, they will not interpret. They can explain. But the original fact is not distorted. That is acarya. Acarya will never say that "Krṣṇa is material. Krṣṇa... There was no such thing as Krṣṇa. There was no such battle, Battle of Kurukṣetra. These are all imaginary." So if we don't want to be cheated, then we should take Krṣṇa as He is presenting Himself and as it is confirmed by the acaryas. Then our knowledge is perfect. So here it is said,

tataḥ; svetair hayair yukte
mahati syandane sthitau
madhavaḥ; paṇḍavas caiva
divyau saṅkhau pradadhmatuḥ;
[Bg. 1.14]

Krṣṇa and His devotee Arjuna, they are on the same platform. Therefore Madhava and Paṇḍava. They blew Their transcendental conchshells. This is not ordinary. (reads from purport:) "The sounding of the transcendental conchshells indicated that there was no hope of victory for the other side." This is the sounding. Divyau. They are also sounding their conchshell, even Bhiṣma, but that cannot be compared with the conchshells of Madhava and Paṇḍava. Arjuna, associates, they are also equally powerful. Nobody can be associates of Krṣṇa without being very, very much advanced. Just like fire can mix with fire, similarly water can mix with water; similarly, unless one is transcendentally advanced, he cannot be associate of Krṣṇa. Srila Narottama dasa Ṭhakura sings,

gauraṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe, nitya-siddha kori mane,
se jay brajendra-suta-pas

Gauraṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Krṣṇa, and His associates,

sri-krṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda

[I offer my obeisances to Sri Krṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasa and all others in the line of devotion.]

All the devotees. So Narottama dasa Ṭhakura says, "So all these associates of Caitanya Mahaprabhu should be known—they are also of the same category." Gauraṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe, nitya-siddha kori mane. This word nitya-siddha is significant. Nitya-siddha and nitya-baddha. There are two kinds of living entities. Nitya-baddha means ever-conditioned. Ever-conditioned means those who are in this material world, they do not know when they came in touch with this material world. Neither they do know when they will be liberated. They are called nitya-baddha, ever-conditioned. And similarly, there are nitya-siddhas. Nitya-siddhas means they never come in contact with this material world, and even they come here for some business, they do not forget their position. That is nitya-siddha. Try to understand. There are two kinds of living entities: nitya-siddha, nitya-baddha. Nitya-baddhas are within this material world. Beginning from Brahma down to a small ant, insignificant ant, they are all nitya-baddhas. Anyone who is in this material world—nitya-baddha. And nitya-siddhas, they belong to the spiritual world. They never come in contact with this material world, and even they come for some business under the order of the Supreme Lord, they do not touch these material qualities They remain always transcendental. As Krṣṇa remains always transcendental, even though He is in this material world, similarly, Krṣṇa's nitya-siddha associates, they are also transcendental. They never touch this material world.

So try to understand the position of Krṣṇa. Krṣṇa is narayaṇaḥ; paro 'vyaktat, transcendental, paraḥ; avyaktat. That is puruṣottama-yoga in the Bhagavad-gita. Krṣṇa has said, "Anyone who has understood Me, ajam avyayam, ajam—I never take birth in this material world, neither I am deteriorated by material contact—he knows me perfectly." That is called puruṣottama. Puruṣa uttama. Uttama. Uttama means "not of this material world." Ut. Ut means above, and tama means this darkness. So ut-tama means "above this darkness." So uttama puruṣa. Puruṣa uttama. Puruṣa. Puruṣa means enjoyer. Prakrti means enjoyed. So actually, we are not puruṣa; we are prakrti. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakrtiṁ param, jiva-bhutaṁ maha-baho yayedaṁ dharyate jagat [Bg. 7.5]. Apareyam, these material elements, bhumir apo 'nalo vayuḥ;, earth, water, fire, air, sky, mind, intelligence, bhinna me prakrtir aṣṭadha, these are separated energies, material energies of Krṣṇa. They are also prakrti. As this material world is prakrti, similarly, there is another prakrti, Krṣṇa gives information. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakrtiṁ param. But that is para-prakrti. So we are not puruṣa; we are prakrtis. Although by materially dressed, we appear to be puruṣa, actually, we are not puruṣa. Just like if you dress one woman like a man, that does mean she has become man. She is woman. Similarly, we are puruṣa in the sense that we are trying to imitate the supreme puruṣa, Puruṣottama. Krṣṇa is the Supreme enjoyer. We are trying to become imitation Krṣṇa. Just like so many rascals, they declare that "God, I am God." That is the last snare, Mayavada. First of all we try to become enjoyer like the head of the family man or a minister or this and that, so many. Everyone is trying to become head, enjoyer. And at last, being baffled in every respect, he wants to become God. This is the last snare of maya. Nobody can become God. He is Puruṣottama and we are prakrtis. Artificially, how we can become enjoyer? Prakrti means enjoyed. Enjoyer and... Predominator and the predominated.

So jiva-bhuta, we jivas, we are all prakrti. Puruṣa is only Krṣṇa. All living entities... Viṣṇu-tattva is puruṣa-tattva, and we are sakti-tattva, sakti, energy, marginal energy of Krṣṇa. So energy is prakrti. The prakrti is not puruṣa. So Mayavada philosophy is wrong. They pose them as so 'ham. So 'ham "I am the same." How you can be same? In the sastra it is said that "You living entity, you are prakrti." How you can become same, you puruṣa. This is mistake. How prakrti, how a woman can become man? Artificially one can become. Here also so-called woman, they are also puruṣa. They are thinking puruṣa. Puruṣa means enjoyer. Here woman is also thinking to enjoy, and the so-called man is also thinking to enjoy. Everyone. Nobody wants to serve. Everyone wants to be served. Puruṣa attitude. Everyone wants to be served. Nobody wants to serve. This is the material conception of life.

So when we agree to serve, not to be served, that is liberated person. When we agree to serve only, not to be served. Not to accept service from others, but to serve others—that is real liberation. But here the material disease is that everyone is making plan "How others will serve me." This is called maya. This is called maya. Maya means that artificially we want to be served. That is not possible. When we agree to serve... As Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given us the path of liberation, jivera svarupa hoy nitya-krṣṇa-dasa, this is our position. We are eternal servant of Krṣṇa.

So when we engage ourself in the service of Krṣṇa... The whole Bhagavad-gita is spoken on this basis. Arjuna was artificially declining to serve Krṣṇa. Krṣṇa wanted him to fight, and Arjuna was putting so many reasons, "How he could fight and kill the other side who are his kinsmen, who are nephews, who are brothers, grandfather?" This argument were being put. So that means he refused to serve Krṣṇa. That is material condition. He was thinking in his own terms. He wanted to enjoy the family members, the so-called nephews, brothers, that "If they are killed, then what is the use of my, this kingdom?" [break] ...but people thinks that I get kingdom I enjoy myself. That is condition. But a liberated soul will take the kingdom, but it will be used for Krṣṇa's service. That is liberated, soul.

In this way we should try to understand, Krṣṇa, Krṣṇa's name, Krṣṇa's fame, Krṣṇa's associates, Krṣṇa's activities, all divyam, transcendental. They are not material. Therefore it is mentioned here, divyau saṅkhau pradadhmatuḥ; [Bg. 1.14]. Divyau saṅkhau. The saṅkha used by Krṣṇa and Arjuna, they are not ordinary saṅkha. Thank you very much. Hare Krṣṇa. (end)

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