Prabhupada: (chants maṅgalacaraṇa prayers) So there are so many statements in the Upaniṣads about the Absolute Truth being the Supreme Person. Patiṁ patinaṁ paramaṁ parastat mahan prabhur vai puruṣaḥ; parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate... [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. This, this, up to this we discussed yesterday. So parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate. This is from Brhad-araṇyaka Upaniṣad. So the commentator says that in the Brhad-araṇyaka Upaniṣad it is stated, parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate: "That Supreme Personality of Godhead's energies are variously manifested." Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate na tasya karyaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Just like a very... In your country it is very easy to understand that a man is sitting as controller in the control room, the subway trains. He, in his table, he has got everything ready: which train is running on which line, where it is, in which station it is now. So he has got switches and he's controlling everything. Not only here, in India also they have now many (managed?). So they can say which train is where it is now. The light also moves according to the train moving. Similarly, if you can manufacture, if you can invent your own energies in different way, as the modern material civilization, they are discovering different manifestations of energy by machine, by electronics, and they are managing from one place, similarly, if it is, materially it is possible, why not spiritually? Spiritual is still finer.

So parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. He has got so many energies, subtle energies, that He appears to be doing nothing. Just like Krṣṇa. Krṣṇa is at Vrndavana. He is playing as cowherds boy, or He is dancing with the cowherd girls, or He is going to the pasturing ground with the cows as if He has nothing to do. He is free. Why He is free? Because He has got so many energies to act that He hasn't got to see personally whether things are being done or not done. This is the Absolute Truth qualification. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate, na tasya karyaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate, na tat-samas cabhyadhikas ca drsyate. There is another qualification: that Supreme Personality of Godhead is so that nobody is equal or higher than Him in opulences. Na tasya samaḥ;. Samaḥ; means equal, and adhikasya, adhikasya means higher. He has no equal; neither anybody is more than Him. Therefore everybody is under Him, subordinate to Him. Tad viṣṇoḥ; paramaṁ padam. Similarly, in the Svetasvatara Upaniṣad there is another statement that tad viṣṇoḥ; paramaṁ padaṁ sada pasyanti surayaḥ;. Viṣṇuṁ padam. Viṣṇu is the highest Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this material world, which is being conducted by three modes of material nature, so Brahma, Viṣṇu, Mahesvara... Brahma is in charge of the creation, Viṣṇu is in charge of maintenance, and Lord Siva is in charge of destruction, dissolution. Janma, janma-sthiti-pralaya. Everything material, it has got a fixed date of its birth, its duration and its dissolution. So the Viṣṇu, in the Svetasvatara Upaniṣad, out of these three Deities, viṣṇoḥ; tat-paramaṁ padam, that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Tad viṣṇuṁ paramaṁ padaṁ viṣṇuṁ paramaṁ padam, Viṣṇu.

Those who are surayaḥ;... Surayaḥ;. Surayaḥ; means those who are demigods. There are two kinds of people: sura and asura. Asura means demons, and sura means godly. So surayaḥ; tad viṣṇuṁ paramaṁ padaṁ sada pasyanti. Those who are demigods, those who are godly, they are simply searching after the Supreme Absolute Truth. They are focusing their concentration, their meditation, on the lotus feet of Viṣṇu. This is the statement of Svetasvatara Upaniṣad. Sa ikṣañcakre. In the Prasna Upaniṣad... This is in the Ṛg-veda. I am sorry. This version, tad viṣṇoḥ; paramaṁ padaṁ sada pasyanti surayaḥ;, this version is from Ṛg-veda. Then again, in the Prasna Upaniṣad, there is another statement, sa ikṣañcakre: "He glanced over, glanced over." "Glanced over" means when He glanced over, then the creation began, this material creation. Therefore it should be understanding, it should be understood that this glancing is not material because before His glancing there was no material creation. So our glancing and His glancing is different. Our glancing—we are seeing with these material eyes. As soon as these material eyes will be taken away, we cannot see. We are blind. But He... Here is the statement, ikṣañcakre: "He saw." "He saw" means He saw with His spiritual eyes. Otherwise where is the material creation, that He can have material eyes? So these things are to be considered. Similarly, if He has got spiritual eyes, then He has got spiritual ear, He has got spiritual nose, He has got spiritual head, body, everything spiritual. And it is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhita, aṅgani yasya sakalendriya-vrttimanti pasyanti panti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti [Bs. 5.32]. The Supreme Lord, Krṣṇa, Govinda, His bodily, different, I mean to say, limbs of His body, or different senses, they are so perfect that every sense organ can act the, I mean to say, work of the other senses. Just like we can see with our eyes. Simply we can see. But if I close my eyes, I cannot see. But my... I can hear only by my ears, but I cannot see. If I close my eyes, I cannot see with my ears. But about the Supreme Personality of Godhead it is said that He can see with His ears, He can see with His hand, and He can hear with His hand. He can do anything from any part of His body. That is spiritual. He can do any part of His body. Just like, this is the philosophy. Now, we offer something to Krṣṇa. That Krṣṇa, I mean to say, Deity is not different from original Krṣṇa because absolute. Everything is Krṣṇa. Why this Deity should not be Krṣṇa? This is quite reasonable. If Krṣṇa is everything, why not this Deity Krṣṇa? This is also Krṣṇa. He can do. He has, His power is just like... If you take my photograph and if you put it in my seat, and I am not here, that photograph cannot act because it is material. But for Krṣṇa, His photograph, His statue, His everything can act because He is spiritual. So we should always know that as soon as we chant Hare Krṣṇa, Krṣṇa is immediately there. Immediately. Krṣṇa is already there. But we should know that He has, by sound vibration, Krṣṇa is there. So aṅgani yasya. Sa ikṣañcakre.

So His vision, His presence, His activities, they are all spiritual. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said, janma karma me divyaṁ yo janati tattvataḥ;: "Anyone who understands the absolute nature of My birth, of My appearance, disappearance and activities," tyaktva dehaṁ punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9], "he becomes immediately liberated." Sa aikṣata. Sa imaḹ lokan asrjata. This is Aitareya Upaniṣad. What is that? Sa aikṣata. The same thing: "He saw. He put His glance." Sa aikṣata. Sa imaḹ lokan asrjata: "He has created all this material manifestation, cosmic manifestation." So tad va isan vijato tebhya ha prabhur babhuva. In this way, there are so many instances, so many quotations. Apaṇi-padaḥ;. In the Svetasvatara, apaṇi-padaḥ;. He has no, I mean to say, hands and legs. If He has no hands and legs, then how can He see? Is there any instance in your experience that something which has no hands and legs, he can see? No. He has no... Whenever... This is impersonal... The impersonalists quotes these authorities, that "He has no hands and... Therefore He's impersonal." No, it is not... If He sees, sa aikṣata, if He sees, if He hears, if He creates, then there is hand, there is eyes. But another place, if it is said, apaṇi-padaḥ;: "He has no hands and legs." That means He has no hands and legs like us. Because we have got material hands and legs, but the... "He saw; therefore there was creation." Therefore His seeing power existed before this material creation. So it is natural that He has no material hands and legs. So when it is denied that "He has no hands and legs," it is to be understood that He has no material limited hands and legs, but He has spiritual.

So Caitanya Mahaprabhu concludes, therefore, that cid-ananda-teṅho, taṅra sthana, parivara. Therefore anything of Krṣṇa, or anything of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is spiritual. Spiritual. Deha. Deha means body. His body is spiritual, His abode is spiritual, and His paraphernalia, parivara, His friends, His mother, His father, His beloved—everything spiritual. Ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhiḥ; [Bs. 5.37]. He's expansion of all spiritual. Taṅre kahe-prakrta-sattvera vikara. And Saṅkaracarya says that "The Absolute is imperson, but when He comes, appears, He assumes a form which is in the modes of goodness." He does not say, of course, in the modes of ignorance. Modes of goodness. No. When Krṣṇa comes, He has nothing to do with modes of goodness even. What is this goodness here in this material world? This is also matter. So there is no value, even goodness. One has to transcend the modes of goodness. That is transcendental, or aprakrta.

taṅra doṣa nahi, teṅho ajña-kari das
ara yei sune tara haya sarva-nasa

So again He supports Saṅkaracarya, that "It is not his fault. He had to do it under the superior order to explain the Vedic literature in an impersonalist way. But those who are not expert, if they hear the commentary of Saṅkaracarya, Sariraka-bhaṣya, then he is doomed." In other words, those who are actually aspiring for being elevated in spiritual science, they should avoid to hear any commentary which is impersonal. Any commentary. Then he is doomed. If we follow Caitanya Mahaprabhu's instruction, then any impersonal commentary means, if we hear... Because we are not expert. We are not expert. Kaniṣṭha-adhikari. Kaniṣṭha-adhikari means neophytes, neophytes who are not conversant with the conclusion of the Vedas. They have got some, I mean to say, faith. That's all. But faith can be changed. Any... If a person, strong in arguments and strong in presenting things in jugglery of words, oh, the neophyte, his idea can be changed. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu warns, therefore, in the Vaiṣṇava philosophy that "You should not worship any other demigods." It does not mean that you should show disrespect to demigods. No. That is not. But because he is in the lower stage, if he is allowed to worship or to show respect to the demigods, he will think that he is also like Krṣṇa. "Krṣṇa is another demigod, and this Candra is another demigod, Siva is another demigod." Just like some foolish persons, they propagate that "Whatever deity you worship, oh, that is God." Even, they say, if you worship a cat or a dog, that is also God. So therefore there is stricture. And in the Bhagavad-gita also, mam ekam, "Simply unto Me, one," Krṣṇa says. Because one is a neophyte, he can be turned, his faith can be disturbed at any moment; therefore in the beginning one has to, I mean to say, pin his faith only in Krṣṇa, mam ekam. Otherwise, he cannot make progress. And when one understands Krṣṇa, janma karma me divyam [Bg. 4.9], in truth, then he can understand other things also.

Ara yei sune tara haya sarva-nasa. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu warns that "Anyone who hears Saṅkara's bhaṣya, Sariraka-bhaṣya, he is doomed."

prakrta kariya mane viṣṇu-kalevara
viṣṇu-ninda ara nahi ihara upara

Prakrta kariya mane. Prakrta means material. "If somebody thinks that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His body is material, that is the greatest offense." The greatest offense is that... To accept a material thing as God, that is the greatest offense, and God..., and to accept a material thing as God or to accept God as material. Just try to understand. Just like they are preaching that "Anything you worship, that is God," or "God is also material. When He comes, when He appears, He is also material." So these kinds of conclusion is the greatest offense. Viṣṇu-ninda ara nahi ihara upara. Blasphemy. So this should be avoided.

isvarera tattva-yena jvalita jvalana
jivera svarupa-yaiche sphuliṅgera kaṇa

Now, tattva, the Absolute Truth, He is comparing, just like blazing fire. Absolute Truth is blazing fire and, jivera svarupa-yaiche sphuliṅgera kaṇa, and the living entities, they are just like sparks, sparks of the fire. We have seen fire, blazing fire, and when fire is blazing, we can see the sparks and the original fire.

jiva-tattva-sakti, krṣṇa-tattva-saktiman
gita-viṣṇupuraṇadi tahate pramaṇa

Now, Caitanya Mahaprabhu says that "Jiva-tattva, the living entities, they are never the energetic; they are energy." Energetic and energy. So how it is so? The evidence is from Bhagavata, Viṣṇu Puraṇa and Bhagavad-gita. Because one has to give evidence. How do you say that jiva-tattva, the living entities, they are not the Supreme? Caitanya Mahaprabhu sa..., they are not su... Not to say, I mean to say, speak of Supreme, they are not even of the same category. Because there are different categories. Viṣṇu-tattva, jiva-tattva and sakti-tattva—there are so many categories. So He says that "Jiva, the living entities, they are in the categories of energy. They are not energetic." Energetic and energy, you should try to understand. Just like the fire, fire and its heat. Heat is the energy, and the fire is the energetic. Similarly, the Supreme Lord, He is the energetic, Supreme Person, and we, the living entities, we are energy. But as you cannot separate energy and energetic separately... Wherever there is energy, wherever there is fire, there is heat also. You cannot separate the fire... So as soon as we are separated, that is our conditional state. How we are separated? Just like the sparks of the fire, as soon as he's come out of the fire and falls down on the ground, it loses its illumination immediately. Immediately. That illuminating spark which was dancing with the fire, as soon as falls down, it becomes black, charcoal. It is just like carbon. So, so long with the fire, it is just like, as good as fire, illuminating. So our position is like that. We are sparks, energy. As from the energy of the fire, there are so many sparks dancing, similarly, we are all sparks of the Supreme Lord. But as soon aw we come out of the fire, as soon as we want to become independent of the Supreme Absolute Truth, our that spiritual energy becomes almost extinguished. It is never to be extinguished, but it appears, it appears. Just like fire covered with ashes. So again, when ashes are removed, the fire comes. So our position is like that. We are now covered by the ash of this material energy and, as soon as this will be removed... The removal process is Hare Krṣṇa, Hare Krṣṇa, Krṣṇa Krṣṇa—ceto-darpaṇa-marjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12], cleansing process. As soon as we are completely cleansed, we are as good, I mean, as illuminating as Krṣṇa.

So this is the process. We shall study again tomorrow. Thank you very much. (end)

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