Prabhupada:

mayy asakta-manaḥ; partha
yogaṁ yuñjan mad-asrayaḥ;
asaṁsayaṁ samagraṁ maṁ
yatha jñasyasi tac chrṇu
[Bg. 7.1]

So Krṣṇa is describing personally. Krṣṇa's name is Yogesvara, and Lord Siva's name is Yogisvara. Yogesvara means... Yoga, the connecting link between the soul and the Supersoul, or the Supreme and the minute living creatures—that is called yoga. Connecting. So the... Who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Yogesvara. The ultimate object of yoga is Krṣṇa. Therefore Krṣṇa's name is Yogesvara. Yatra yogesvaraḥ; hariḥ;. At the conclusion of the Bhagavad-gita it is said by Sañjaya, yatra yogesvaraḥ; hariḥ;. The place where Yogesvara, the supreme master of all yoga systems, Krṣṇa, is there... And yatra partho dhanañjaya, and where there is Arjuna, the greatest fighter, there is undoubtedly victory there.

Because Bhagavad-gita was spoken... The narration which we are reading, it is the description of Sañjaya as secretary of Maharaja Dhrtaraṣṭra. Just like running from a radio. The play is going on in the auditorium, but you can hear from the room. Just like we have got now mechanical arrangement, similarly, at that time, maybe the same arrangement, but there was no machine. Still, the secretary of Dhrtaraṣṭra could see what was going on in the battlefield, and he was just narrating to Maharaja Dhrtaraṣṭra, who was blind. In other sense it may be said that there was television, and Dhrtaraṣṭra, being blind, he could not see, and Sañjaya, his secretary, was explaining what was seen in the television. But this is the position. Anyway, so the conclusion made by Sañjaya was this, yatra yogesvaraḥ; hariḥ;. Hari means the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The side in which the Yogesvara, Krṣṇa... My point is that Krṣṇa's name is Yogesvara. Nobody can be better yogi than... Or the master of yoga. There are different systems of yoga, and Krṣṇa is the master of yoga. And Lord Siva is called Yogisvara.

There are many different kinds of yogis. Yoga means the system, and the yogi means the person who practices the system. So the object of yoga, ultimate goal of yoga, is to understand Krṣṇa. Therefore Krṣṇa consciousness means to practice the topmost type of yoga system. So this yoga system is being described by Krṣṇa Himself. Why? Because He was teaching His most intimate friend, Arjuna. (Sanskrit commentary) Vyakhyata-lakṣaṇe svopasye mayy asakta-mati-matra nitaraṁ mano yasya saḥ;. Now in the beginning, the Lord says that "This system of yoga can be practiced by persons who have developed attachment for Me." This attachment I have described for the last three, four days, in a different way. So this yoga system cannot be practiced by an ordinary man who has no attachment for Krṣṇa. This is a different system. And the topmost. (Sanskrit commentary) Tvam anyo va tadrṣo mad-asrayo mad-dasya-sakhyady-ekatamena bhavena.

There are five kinds of direct asakti. Asakti means attachment. And there are seven kinds of indirect attachment. Indirect attachment is not bhakti, but direct attachment is called bhakti. If you are attached to Krṣṇa by the direct method, it is called devotional service. And if you are attached to Krṣṇa by indirect method, then it is not devotional service. But that is also attachment. Just like Kaṁsa. Kaṁsa was the maternal uncle of Krṣṇa, and there was a foretelling that Kaṁsa would be killed by his sister's son, eighth son of his sister. So Kaṁsa became very anxious and he wanted to kill his younger sister, Devaki, Krṣṇa's mother. So she was saved by her husband, Krṣṇa's father, Vasudeva, by some compromise. The last compromise was... That's a great long story. The last compromise was that he informed his brother-in-law Kaṁsa that "You are afraid of the son of your sister. So your sister is not going to kill you. So I request, don't kill your sister. Save her. And I promise that all the sons born of your sister will be brought to you, and if you like, you can kill." The compromise was made by Vasudeva. He was also a king.

So politically, that "For the time being this poor girl may be saved, and it may be that time will change the mind of Kaṁsa. When her sons will be born he might change his mind." But he was such a great demon that he killed all the sons of Devaki. So the eighth son... It was foretold that the eighth son of his sister would kill him. So when Krṣṇa was in the womb of his mother, Kaṁsa was always thinking of Krṣṇa. Now you see, he was also Krṣṇa conscious, but he was Krṣṇa conscious not directly, not for love's sake, but as an enemy. He was Krṣṇa conscious as enemy. So that is not devotional service. One who is Krṣṇa conscious and Krṣṇa's friend, Krṣṇa's parent, Krṣṇa's servant, Krṣṇa's lover, that is devotion.

So here it is clearly said, mayy...mad-asrayaḥ;. Mad-asrayaḥ; means he..., one who wants Krṣṇa. You may want Krṣṇa as your lover. You may want Krṣṇa as your son. You may want Krṣṇa as your friend. You may want Krṣṇa as your master. You may want Krṣṇa as the supreme sublime. These five different kinds of direct relationship with Krṣṇa is called devotion, bhakti. Without any material profit. Now the concept of accepting God as son is superior than the concept of accepting God as father. There is distinction. The relationship between father and son is that the son wants to take something from the father. But the father's relationship with the son is that father always wants to give something to the son. Therefore the relationship with God or Krṣṇa as father is better than relationship with Krṣṇa...

Just like if I accept God as my father, then I am the son. Then my business will be to ask only for my necessities from the father. That is my business. But if I become father of Krṣṇa, then from the beginning of His childhood, my business will be to serve Krṣṇa. The father, the parents, they serve the child from the beginning of his birth. Therefore this concept of Nanda-Yasoda or Devaki and Vasudeva is very sublime. They... Krṣṇa... Yasoda, mother, she is thinking that "If I do not feed Krṣṇa sumptuously, He will die." She is thinking that Krṣṇa... She forgets that Krṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, is subsisting the three world, everywhere. Nityo nityanaṁ cetanas cetananam eko bahunaṁ vidadhati kaman (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That only one God is supplying the necessities of all other living entities. Now this, that same, very same Personality of Godhead has become the son of Yasoda, and she is thinking that "If I do not feed Krṣṇa nicely, He will die." This is love. This is love. She has forgotten that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has taken, has appeared before him (her) as his (her) little child, as her little child. But she forgets.

So this relationship of asakti, of attachment, is very sublime. It is very sublime. It requires time to understand, but there is such position, that instead of asking God, "O God, give me our daily bread, give us our daily bread," you can think that that God will die if you do not supply Him bread. God will die if you do not supply. And this is the ecstasy of extreme love. So there is such relationship with Krṣṇa and His devotees. Radharaṇi, the greatest devotee, the greatest lover of Krṣṇa. [break] Nanda-Yasoda, the lover as parent. Sudama, a friend, lover as friend. Arjuna, lover as friend. Similarly, there are millions and trillions of different kinds of devotees of Krṣṇa. They are directly playing.

So this yoga system, as described herein, bhakti-yoga, it can be practiced by such persons who have developed such attachment for Krṣṇa. Others cannot. And if anyone is able to develop such attachment, then the result will be that he will understand God, or Krṣṇa, perfectly. However we may try to understand what is God by our different theories or speculation, it is a very difficult job to understand what is God. We may say that I have..., we have understood what is God, but it is not possible to understand God as He is, because we have got our limited senses and He is unlimited. How you can capture the Unlimited with your limited sense? But it is possible.

It is said in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, ataḥ; sri-krṣṇa-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaiḥ; [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. Our senses are imperfect always. Even we cannot understand perfectly the material world. Just like we have seen so many planets and stars in the sky at night, but we do not know what they are. We do not know even what is this moon planet. We are trying for so many years, trying to go there in sputnik and... Even one planet. Even we do not know what varieties are there even in this planet. If you go on the sea, if you go on the sky, you are perfectly illusioned. So our knowledge is always imperfect. That we must admit. Foolishly, if we think we have acquired all sorts of knowledge, we have advanced in science, this is another foolishness. It is not possible. So when it is not possible to understand even the material things which we are daily seeing with our eyes and perception, what to speak of spiritual? And the Krṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the Supreme spiritual form. So it is not possible for us to understand Krṣṇa by our limited senses. Then why we are bothering so much for Krṣṇa consciousness if it is not possible?

The answer is ataḥ; sri-krṣṇa-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaiḥ; [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. These imperfect senses cannot realize Krṣṇa as He is. Then the process is sevonmukhe hi jihvadau. If you become submissive, if you develop the spirit of service to Krṣṇa, either as servant or as friend or as parent or as lover, if you begin to give service to the Supreme Lord... The beginning of service is chanting. Therefore it is said, jihvadau. Jihvadau means, jihva means tongue. Tongue. Your service begins by the tongue. How? By the tongue you can chant Hare Krṣṇa, and by the tongue you can taste Krṣṇa's prasadam. So the beginning process is very nice. You chant Krṣṇa, Hare Krṣṇa, Hare Krṣṇa, and whatever little prasadam is offered to you by Krṣṇa by His kindness, you accept it. Then the result will be that sevonmukhe hi jihvadau. If you become submissive and if you begin this service, chanting and eating prasadam, then svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ;, simply by these two kinds of practices, Krṣṇa will Himself reveal Himself before you, "I am like this." You cannot understand Krṣṇa by speculation. No, that is not possible, because your senses are imperfect. But if you begin this process of service, then it will be possible that one day Krṣṇa will reveal to you, "I am like this."

Just like Krṣṇa is revealing in the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna. Arjuna is a devotee, and he is submissive. And he is friend also. He is in contact with Krṣṇa as friend. Therefore Krṣṇa is revealing to Krṣṇa..., ah, to Arjuna. This Bhagavad-gita is spoken to Arjuna, not to any Vedantist or speculationist. In the beginning of the Fourth Chapter, you know that Krṣṇa says that "I'll speak to you that old system of yoga, bhakti-yoga," in the beginning of the Fourth Chapter, "unto you." Why? Krṣṇa was not a Vedantist... Ah, Arjuna was not a Vedantist or a great philosopher or a brahmaṇa or nothing. He was a kṣatriya. He was a fighter, and a householder, not even a sannyasi. So these are not qualifications to understand Krṣṇa. Suppose... Just like I have become a sannyasi, mendicant. This is not qualification that I can understand Krṣṇa. Even in your white dress, as grhastha, you can understand better than me. Then what is the qualification? This qualification: sevonmukhe hi jihvadau [Brs. 1.2.234]. One who has developed the service spirit with love and devotion, he can understand Krṣṇa. Nobody else. Nobody... Not Dr. Radhakrishnan or similar person. No. But a child can understand Krṣṇa if he has full faith in Him.

So it is the faith and devotion that makes one qualified to understand God. Mad-asrayaḥ;. This is called mad-asrayaḥ;. Now by simply that faith and service, you'll understand that Krṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now just like we are preaching Krṣṇa consciousness. We are not wasting your time or our time without having full faith that Krṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, theoretically or practically. Theoretically, if you take that "How Krṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead?" theoretically, from the revealed scriptures, we understand from the Vedic literature that great authorities in the past and in the present...

Take for the present Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya is a great authority, a recognized, great authority. Oh, He is mad after Krṣṇa. He is mad after Krṣṇa. Then after Him, His six disciples, Gosvamis, the Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, they have written immense literature, valuable literatures—especially Jiva Gosvami—volumes of literature on Krṣṇa. So... Then, under disciplic succession also, we have come to this point, and if you take past history, bygone, long, long ago, Vyasadeva, who is known as Vedavyasa, he has written book, Srimad-Bhagavatam, on Krṣṇa. Srimad-Bhagavatam is nothing but description of Krṣṇa. Vyasadeva is also writer of Bhagavad-gita. The Bhagavad-gita was spoken by Krṣṇa and noted down by Vyasadeva. And he has put this Bhagavad-gita in the Mahabharata. So Vyasadeva accepts Krṣṇa as the Supreme Personality. He has, in the Bhagavatam, he has specifically mentioned, krṣṇas tu bhagavan svayam. He has given description of different other incarnations of God. There are about twenty-five incarnations. In the conclusion he said that ete caṁsa-kalaḥ; puṁsaḥ; krṣṇas tu bhagavan svayam [SB 1.3.28], that "All the descriptions that are given of different incarnations, they are partially or part of the partial representation of God, but this Krṣṇa whom I have mentioned, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself." He is not part. Cent percent. Cent percent God.

So there is evidence of authority. And practically, if we believe the sastras, the scriptures, authorities, then see who can be more powerful than Krṣṇa, who can be more beautiful than Krṣṇa, who can be more famous than Krṣṇa? Just like Krṣṇa appeared five thousand years before, but His knowledge, which He gave us in the shape of Srimad Bhagavad-gita, still it is worshiped. It is worshiped not only by the Hindus or the Indians, but this Bhagavad-gita is read all over the world. In your country there are at least fifty kinds of different editions of Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavad-gita) written by different American thoughtful men. Similarly you'll find in England, in Germany, in France, in, I mean to say, all other countries you'll find hundreds of editions of Bhagavad-gita. Just see who can be more famous and who can be more wise than Krṣṇa? There are many other evidences if we believe sastra. That Krṣṇa married 16,108 wives, and He provided each one of them with big palaces and each one of them had ten children, and from ten children there were many other children also.

So these are the evidences from revealed scripture. And in the Brahma-saṁhita also, Krṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is a very old book, supposed to be written by Brahma. It is called Brahma-saṁhita. In that Brahma-saṁhita it is said that isvaraḥ; paramaḥ; krṣṇaḥ; [Bs. 5.1]. Isvaraḥ; means God. There are many gods, but... In Sanskrit language, about God, there are many demigods, and there is Supreme God. So this Brahma-saṁhita says, isvaraḥ; paramaḥ; krṣṇaḥ;, "Krṣṇa is the Supreme God. He is the God of gods." Isvaraḥ; paramaḥ; krṣṇaḥ; sac-cid-ananda-vigrahaḥ; [Bs. 5.1]. "And His body is eternal, and full of bliss and knowledge." This is the description of the body. Isvaraḥ; paramaḥ; krṣṇaḥ; sac-cid-ananda-vigrahaḥ; [Bs. 5.1]. Anadi, "He has no beginning, but He is the beginning of everyone." Anadir adir govindaḥ;. "And His name is Govinda." Go means senses, and go means cow, and go means land. So He is the proprietor of all land, He is the proprietor of all cows, and He is the, I mean to say, pleasure for all senses. We are after sense pleasure, but our perfection of sense pleasure can be achieved when we reciprocate our pleasure with Krṣṇa. Therefore His name is Govinda. Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajami **. Govinda is the Supreme original Personality of Godhead.

So the same Personality of Godhead, He is speaking to Arjuna personally about Himself. Then how you can say that somebody, simply by speculation, speaks something about God which is more important than what is being spoken by Krṣṇa Himself? It is not possible. Nobody can speak better than Krṣṇa about God, because God Himself is speaking about Himself. If you speak about yourself personally, who can speak more than you? So if we have faith, if we believe theoretically and practically Krṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then by the speeches which is being delivered by Krṣṇa in this chapter, you can understand God. There is no difficulty.

(Sanskrit commentary) Mat-parataṁ yanis cayavanityarthaḥ;, samagraṁ sadhiṣṭhanaṁ savibhutiṁ saparikaram. And if you believe Krṣṇa, then the result will be that you can understand God, how He is working, how His energies are acting, how He is manifested, what is this material world, what is the spiritual world, what are these living creatures, what is their relationship. So many things in God's creation. The whole Vedic literature are dealing in three things. First thing is that what is your relationship with God. Then the next step is that as soon as we understand our relationship with God, then we can act in that way. Just like a man and woman, they are not known to each other. But as soon as the relationship is established, that one is husband and the other is wife, then the reciprocal dealing begins. So unless you understand what is your relationship with God... Generally, people believe that God is the father. Therefore son's business is to ask from father whatever we need. But that is very minor relationship. If you understand God perfectly well... And there is intricate relationship also. That relationship will be revealed when you are perfectly liberated. Each and every living creature has got a particular relationship with God. We have forgotten that. So when that relationship will be revealed in the process of devotional activities, Krṣṇa consciousness, you should know that is the perfection of your life. That is the perfection of our life.

So Krṣṇa consciousness is a great science. It is not a sentiment or mental speculation or bluff. It is based on scientific proposition, as described in the Bhagavad-gita, as described in the Vedas, as described in the Saṁhitas, as accepted by the authorities like Lord Caitanya, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Narada, Asita, Vyasa. There are so many authorities. So Krṣṇa consciousness is not an ordinary bluff-making or a money-making business. It is something reality. And if you take to it seriously, your life will be successful.

Thank you very much. Any questions?

Girl: If you want, if you want to go to other... (rattling sound) ...if you want to encourage us to enter into (indistinct), spiritually, not material world, is it necessary to live in a (indistinct) that's free of grief... (rattling sound) ...or change?

Prabhupada: If you want to transfer yourself to other planets, yes. Krṣṇa consciousness means transferring yourself to other planets. The ultimate perfection or success is go back to Godhead, back to home. So when Krṣṇa consciousness will be perfect, you'll be transferred from this planet, or from this material world, to the spiritual world, and you'll talk with Krṣṇa just (as) you are talking with me.

Devotee (1): Swamiji, I think she means do you have to do any kind of breathing exercising besides chanting?

Prabhupada: No. There is no breathing exercise or gymnastic. No. Nothing. The breathing exercise is there. When you chant Hare Krṣṇa there is breathing. There is nice breathing. Yes?

Devotee (2): Swamiji, is there higher devotional service than chanting?

Prabhupada: Higher devotional service... What do you mean by higher devotional service? Huh?

Devotee (2): Would serving your spiritual master be higher than even chanting, serving Krṣṇa more than...

Prabhupada: Higher devotional service means first of all you have to understand... Just now I explained that you have to understand your relationship with Krṣṇa. Then your service begins. So as soon as you are in eternal relationship with Krṣṇa, that is higher... (end)

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