Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.40
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Surat, December 22, 1970

Prabhupada:

veda-pranihito dharmo hy adharmas tad-viparyayah vedo narayanah saksat svayambhur iti susruma

So we were speaking this verse yesterday morning. So vedo narayanah saksat. That is to be understood—why Vedas are given so much importance. Here it is explained that Veda means directly Narayana. Why? Because Narayana is absolute, God is absolute; therefore the words of God are also God. You cannot make any differentiation. Saksat, directly. So this is to be understood, that God—His form, His quality, His pastimes, His entourage—everything of God is God. Even sometimes… Why sometimes? Always, the devotee of God is also God. Just like we chanted this mantra, saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastraih, that “In every scripture the spiritual master is identified as directly God.” Saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastraih. Visvanatha Cakravarti said, not that any section sastra, but all sastra, all scriptures, they admit that the spiritual master is God directly. Saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair uktah: ** “It is said. It is mentioned. Authoritative sastra, actually bona fide sastra, it is said.” Saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair uktah: ** “It is said.” And saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih: ** “And that is accepted by all strict followers of transcendental science.” Not that somebody admits or somebody does not admit. No. Everyone, sadbhih. Sadbhih means “by the transcendentalists, those who are actually making progress in transcendental science and those who are…, objective is to reach the Supreme.” They are doing.

Then again, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says, kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya. Why the spiritual master should be accepted directly as Narayana and God? The Mayavada philosophers, they say, “Yes, spiritual master is God and I am God, you are God—everyone is God.” No. That is rectified. Everyone is not God. God is God, and living entities are living entities. In the Vedas it is…, nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam: “He is the prime entity of all entities.” So there cannot be two Gods. One God. As such, if God is one, there cannot be two religion also, because religion means to understand God, to love God. That is religion. And religion means the words of God, just as it is said. So why there should be two religions? There cannot be two religions. There may be some difference according to climate, country, population. There may be some difference in the execution of religion. But on principle there cannot be two religions because God is one and religion means the words of God. So how there can be two religions? We have made two, three, four, five, six, increasing the number of religion. Just like in New York we have seen the United Nations organization. It is said they are united, but there are thousands of flags. Disunited. Because actually they do not want to unite. It is a farce that they have made a United Nations organization. Nobody wants to unite. In the material world how there can be unity? That is not possible. Material world means everyone wants to enjoy to his satisfaction sense gratification. That is material world. So you want to satisfy your senses, I want to satisfy my senses. Therefore there is struggle: “Oh, this man is enjoying so much; I am unable.” Even brother to brother, envious: “Oh, my, this brother has increased so much money. He is enjoying.” Envious. That is material envy, to be envious.

Therefore the science of God is for persons who are not envious. That is religion. Bhagavata, in the Bhagavata you will find in the beginning it is said, dharmah projjhita-kaitavah atra paramo nirmatsaranam satam: “Here the religion of Bhagavata is not a cheating religion.” Kaitava. Kaitava means cheating, cheating. And Sridhara Svami has remarked, commented on the statement, kaitava. He says that atra moksa-vancha-paryantam nirastam:(?) “Anyone who is trying to become liberated or merge into the existence of God, that is also cheating.” Nirastam: that is also nullified, nirastam. Why? Why the…? A person who is trying to be merged into the existence of God, jnanis… Those who are philosophically advancing, they are called jnanis. The Absolute Truth Idea is that “Because I am Brahman, and God is also Brahman, therefore, as soon as I am freed from maya, I become one with God.” In one sense it is all right because God and the living entity, they are of the same quality. As it is stated in the Vedas, nityo nityanam. There are millions and trillions of nityas, eternals. So God is the chief eternal. Therefore quality, eternity, is there both for the living entities and God. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam. Knowledge, sense, cetana, life, activities… So God is also active; the living entities are also active. But His actions and my actions are not comparable. Just like God is creator; I am also creator. So in this way I am one. I have got creative power; God has also creative power. But God creates innumerable universes, and you can create a motorcar. That’s all, no more. Or atom bomb—to kill. You cannot create a planet; you can create a sputnik. With great difficulty it flies in the sky. But God’s creation— innumerable planets, they are floating without any machine. Still, the rascal says, “There is no God. I am God.” You do like God; then you become God. What you have done like God? You have created a toy flying in the sky. Therefore you are so much proud that you compare yourself with God? This is called demons, demonic. Unnecessarily, without any authority, when a man claims that “I am God,” that is demonic.

Now, just like Hiranyakasipu, Ravana. Ravana was materially very much powerful, but he defied Rama: “What is Rama? I am more than Rama. I shall kidnap His wife, and I shall enjoy.” So this is Ravana, Ravana spirit. Sita… Sita is Laksmi. Laksmi is the goddess of fortune. So God is the husband of the goddess of fortune, and goddess of fortune is under His control. Laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam [Bs. 5.29]. Thousands and millions of goddesses of fortune are serving the Supreme Lord, and I am thinking that “God has become poor, daridra, daridra-narayana.” And what…? Narayana, He is so great authority that His words are accepted as Vedic truth, and He has become daridra? These are all demonic declarations.

So sincere…, those who are actually followers of Vedas, they should understand that there is no difference between the Lord and His words—absolute. We read Bhagavad-gita, the words of Krsna. Then how we can change the meaning of Gita when it is spoken by Lord? Does it mean that I am greater than the Lord? “Krsna left something to be told by some rascals later on”—is that the meaning of Bhagavad-gita? Then where is the authority of Bhagavad-gita? If the meaning was to be corrected and commented by a conditioned soul, then where is the authority of Bhagavad-gita? Then what is the necessity of reading Bhagavad-gita? Simply because it is written in Sanskrit? No. That is not the fact. The words of Bhagavad-gita are Krsna. That should be taken into consideration. That is real reading of Bhagavad-gita. And if we read Bhagavad-gita according to my whims—I like some stanza; I take it, and other stanza I give up—that is not reading of Bhagavad-gita. You have to take everything, what it is presented. Just like Arjuna says, who has taken Bhagavad-gita as it is. He says, sarvam etad rtam manye yan mam vadasi kesava: [Bg. 10.14] “My dear Lord…” He… Of course, he was friend. “My dear Krsna, whatever You have spoken, I accept in toto.” There is no question of eliminating this stanza and that stanza. I accept some, selected, and I become a student of Bhagavad-gita and authority of Bhagavad-gita. No. That is not authority of Bhagavad-gita. You have to accept. And then it is…

Similarly, Vedas, as I gave you the example, that in the Vedas you will find that stools are considered as impure, stool of some animal, but Vedas says that “This stool, the cow stool, is pure.” So there is no argument that “Once you said that stool of animal is impure, and another time you say that this stool is pure. Once you said that all bones of animals are impure; again you say that sankha, conchshell… This is also a bone of an animal. You say it is pure.” So there cannot be any argument. Veda says, “This is this; this is that.” We have to accept it. That is the following of religion. Dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. And vedah saksat… Vedo narayanah saksat svayambhuh. Svayambhur iti susruma. Svayambhu. Svayambhu means which is not created by any man. Just like Brahma is sometimes called Svayambhu. His another name is Svayambhu. Svayambhu means he was not created by father and mother. The father-mother… Ordinarily, a living entity take birth by the combination of father and mother. But Brahma is called Svayambhu because he is not created by father and mother. Then again, you can argue that Brahma was created by Garbhodakasayi Visnu, so He is his father. But the argument can be defied that although He is the father, but he was not born of a mother. That is all-powerful Krsna, Narayana, Visnu. You have seen the picture that Narayana is lying down on the water of Garbhodaka, udaka, and Laksmi is massaging His lotus feet, and Brahma in a lotus flower is born. So generally, when a father begets a son, he takes the advantage of his wife, the help of his wife. But here Garbhodakasayi Visnu, although His wife is present, He did not take the assistance of the wife. A lotus sprouted from His navel, and there was Brahma. That is all-powerful. Generally we understand that whenever there is birth, the man and woman must combine. But that is for ordinary entities or in this material world. But that is not possible in the case of God, or Visnu. Therefore He is called sarva-saktiman, all-powerful. He can do anything, whatever He likes.

In the Brahma-samhita it is stated, angani yasya sakalendriya-vrttimanti pasyanti panti kalayanti ciram jaganti [Bs 5.32]. So we have to take the help of Vedic literature. Then we understand what is God. Angani yasya sakalendriya-vrttimanti: “The limbs of Krsna or God has got the potency of all other limbs.” Just like with eyes we can see only, but Krsna, or God, can eat also with eyes. With ears we simply hear, but… Just like this navel. The navel has got some purpose, but Krsna can beget. Narayana can beget a child also, Brahma. Therefore, in the sastras it is said, angani yasya sakalendriya-vrttimanti. All the potencies of all other limbs can be found in… (aside:) Why it is closed?

Devotee (1): There’s men making some noise downstairs.

Prabhupada: But others who are outside, they are closed. It can be open. You can ask them to stop.

So Sridhara Svami says, vedena pranihitah vihita-dharma, vedena pranihitah vihita-dharma, na ca pramana…, sa ca veda-pramanaka ity arthah.(?) So whenever you accept some religion, you have to corroborate with the words of the Vedas. Then that is religion. Veda means knowledge, the knowledge, not ordinary knowledge— transcendental knowledge. Why Vedas’ knowledge accepted so rigidly? It is already said, saksad narayanah. Because it is spoken by… In the words of Narayana there are no deficiencies. In the words of conditioned soul there are so many deficiencies. Why? The deficiencies are that bhrama… Any conditioned soul, however great he may be, he must commit mistakes. That is one of the deficiencies. In this material world, however great one may be in the estimation of the general populace, he is not above committing mistakes. “To err is human,” as it is said. We commit mistake. Bhrama, pramada. And pramada means to accept something as something, something else. Just like the most erudite scholar, he also accepts that “This body is the self. There is no soul.” Others… There are many scholars, they do not accept that there is soul differently. “This body is everything,” that is called pramada. Bhrama, pramada, vipralipsa. Vipralipsa means cheating. Every conditioned soul has a cheating propensity. “For my purpose, to fulfill my purpose, I say something to you which is not beneficial to you, but still, I impress that this is right.” That is called cheating. And karana-patava. Karana means the senses. The senses are also imperfect. I am seeing the sun daily with my eyes, but still, I have no full knowledge of the sun because my eyes are imperfect. If there is any sound upstairs, and I inquire, “What is this sound?” (aside:) Why he is crying so much? What is that? (man talking loudly outside the room)

Hamsaduta: Telephone.

Prabhupada: Oh, telephone. Oh. That’s all right. So Sridhara Svami says that vedena pranihita vihita dharmah sa ca veda-pramanaka ity arthah.(?) Unless it is verified by the words of the Vedas, that cannot be accepted as authoritative. Anena yo veda-pramakah sa dharmah. Now, it is concluded that “Anything which is supported by the Vedic injunction, that is dharma.” Sa dharma yo ’dharmo na veda pramanakah: “And any dharma which is not corroborated by the Vedas, that is not dharma. That is not accepted as religion.” Iti svarupah pramanam ca ity uktam.(?) Now, that is the characteristic of dharma, svarupa. So if we want to understand what is dharma, then the test should be whether it is corroborated by the Vedas. Then it is dharma. Otherwise it is…

Now, the question may be that the Indians or the followers of the Vedas… Now it has become so. Actually, the followers of Vedas are everyone. Every human being is the followers of Veda because the history of all other religions, they are all recent—one thousand year, two thousand years, three thousand years—but you cannot trace out the history of the Vedic religion. So from historical point of view, suppose one religion is current for the last three thousand years. Then what was their condition before three thousand years? So the natural conclusion is: as there was no such religion three thousand years and the Vedic religion has no history—it is coming from time immemorial—that was the religion. Take for example in India. Twenty years before there was no Pakistan, but now there is Pakistan. Under certain circumstances, the religious principle has changed, but originally every human being on this planet were following the Vedic religion. And another sense, everyone is following the Vedic religion if it is religion.

How? In the Bhagavad-gita you will find that vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah [Bg. 15.15]. Sarvam vedam: “all Vedas.” “All Vedas” means originally there was one Veda, Rg Veda, or, somebody says, Atharva Veda. Then, later on it was divided into four: Rg, Sama, Yajur, Atharva. Then, from the Vedic injunction, then it was summarized, which is called Vedanta, summarized in sutras. Janmady asya yatah [Bhag. 1.1.1], athato brahma jijnasa. In the sutra there are so many meanings. Then the Upanisads, 108 Upanisads, they are also Vedic. Then they were explained further for ordinary men—the Puranas. They are also Vedas. Then it was further explained by Mahabharata. So that is also Veda. Ramayana, that is also Veda. So any scripture, any literature, transcendental literature, whose aim is to understand God, that is Veda. Therefore, anyone who is searching after the Supreme Lord, he is following the Vedic religion. This is another conclusion. The searching process may be different according to the country, climate, but if the ultimate goal is God, then that is accepted as religion. Just like Christian religion. Christian religion, they are also searching after God—Lord Jesus Christ advising, “Be lover of God.” He presents himself as son of God. The Muhammadan, Muhammad, he also presented himself as servant of God. In this way, everyone is accepting. Or if anyone is accepting God as the ultimate goal of religious process, that is also Vedic. Because Krsna says that vedais ca sarvair aham. And a godless scripture, that is not accepted as religion. Therefore in India, although Lord Buddha appeared in India—he was a ksatriya, and he started some religious principle—it is not accepted because it is not, in the Buddha religion, there is no acceptance of God or soul.

So these are some of the points. But the Bhagavata says that although in the Buddha religion there is no, I mean to say, mention of worshiping God, but Lord Buddha is himself incarnation of God, and he induced his followers to worship him. Therefore in the Bhagavata it is said that he cheated the atheists. The atheists were against God. He appeared before them. He said, “Yes, you are right. You don’t worship God. You worship me.” And he is incarnation of God. Kesava dhrta-buddha-sarira jaya jagadisa hare. He is accepted in the Vedic literature as incarnation of God, but he says that “There is no God. You worship me. You follow me,” because his principle was to stop animal-killing. Sadaya-hrdaya darsita-pasu-ghatam. God became very much compassionate. When people were too much addicted in killing animals unnecessarily, He appeared as Lord Buddha. Sadaya-hrdaya darsita-pasu-ghatam. Pasu-ghatam. The pasu-ghatam means they were being implicated in innumerable sinful activities by this process. Therefore God wanted to… Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati [Bg. 4.7]. In the name of religion, they were killing so many animals. Therefore to stop this nonsense, he appeared. And he declined to accept the Vedic principles because there was no other way to stop. If he would have accepted Vedic principles, then these animal-killers would have shown him evidences that in the Vedas there is mention of animal-killing in the sacrifice. But he wanted to stop completely animal-killing; so therefore he adopted a new type of religion. But those who were followers of Vedic religion, they did not accept because that is not religion because it is against the Vedas. These are the principles.

Sankaracarya… Sankaracarya, after Buddha, His Holiness Sankaracarya appeared to drive away Buddhism, and he established again Vedic religion. But that Vedic religion, being impersonal, that is also not Vedic religion. That is also another thing, that God is person. Nityo nityanam. Nityanam, the so many living entities—every one is person. How God can be imperson? If God is the supreme father… If you are a person, then how your father can be imperson? So that is imperfect knowledge. When we speak of God as imperson, that is imperfect knowledge.

vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate [Bhag. 1.2.11]

The Absolute Truth is presented in three different phases. One is Brahman, impersonal Brahman, another is localized Paramatma, and another is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So we shall discuss again. Next morning we shall…

Malati: [break] …that Lord Buddha, he adopted a new type of religion, but those who were strict followers of Vedas, they would not accept him. Does that mean that there were still people who were following those beliefs, scriptures, at his time, or did he convert all of India?

Prabhupada: Yes. Lord Buddha was patronized by the then emperor, Ashoka. And anything patronized by the state, it becomes very popular. Yad yad acarati sresthah lokas tad anuvartate. So Lord Buddha converted Ashoka, Emperor Ashoka, to this religion. Therefore whole India became Buddhist. And later on, when Buddhism was driven out of India, the Jainism and similar other religious principles became visible. Ahimsa paramo dharmah. Lord Buddha… Ahimsa paramo dharmah is also Vedic religion, but they stressed especially on ahimsa. In the Bhagavad-gita you will find: amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam. These are the different steps of progressing in knowledge and religion. The first thing is amanitvam. Amanitvam means very humble. Very humble. And therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu teaches that trnad api sunicena, “Just become humbler than the straw in the street or grass.” To become religious means… Lord Jesus Christ also, he taught like that—“The humble and meek will attain the kingdom of God.” Is it not said like that?

Hamsaduta: He said, “The greatest amongst you shall be the last…”

Prabhupada: Yes.

Hamsaduta: “…and the servant of all.”

Prabhupada: So this is taught also in the Bhagavad-gita. Amanitvam adambhitvam. No false pride. Then ahimsa. Unless one is prideless, unless one is humble, it is not possible to become nonviolent. So this nonviolence is also there, the Vaisnava. So automatically they don’t encourage animal-killing. So every religion, the highest principle of any religion is there in Vaisnavites, or the followers of Krsna consciousness. Any best thing, in any religion, you will find in Krsna consciousness. Therefore it is perfect. Buddha religion teaches ahimsa; the Krsna conscious people are ahimsa. Lord Jesus teaches love of God; they are the best lover of God. And Hindu religion teaches liberation; they are… As soon as they become Krsna conscious, immediately they are liberated, immediately, instantly. There is no question of asking for liberation. Bilvamangala Thakura says liberation means… What is that? Liberation from this material hankering. And what is that material hankering? To satisfy the senses. So these devotees, they are not for satisfying their senses. They are simply trying to satisfy Krsna. Krsna said that sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66] They are determined to preach this cult, that “You surrender to Krsna.” Therefore they are actual representative of Krsna. Immediately they are liberated. So, so far liberation is concerned, there is. So far ahimsa, nonviolence, there is. So far love of God is there, there is. So combination of Hindu religion, Muslim religion… And Muslims also, they also say their bandeh.(?) They also pray in the mosque. I do not know, of course, all other religions. These principal things I know. They also accept “Allah akbar”, “God is great.” We are all bandehs,(?) all servants. So that is also… Vaisnavism, that is Krsna consciousness. “Krsna is great.”

So any highest principle of religion in any religion of the world you take, this is the summarization of all religions, Krsna consciousness. And that is accepted by Srimad-Bhagavatamsa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoksaje: [SB 1.2.6] “That is first-class religion which teaches how to love God, how to learn to love God.” That is first class, not the rituals, not the formulas. That is another thing. Just like when a man is diseased, the physicians prescribes so many, that “You don’t do this. You do this. You take this medicine. You just…” That is according to the particular disease. But the real aim is to be cured from the disease. So any religion which teaches to be cured from the material disease of sense gratification and teaches love of Godhead, that is perfect religion.

Revatinandana: You were saying Lord Buddha gave impetus to Buddhism by converting the Emperor Ashoka. What is…?

Prabhupada: No, no. Lord Buddha, of course, did not come to convert… Ashoka liked it, that’s all.

Revatinandana: But because of that, that gave impetus to the spreading of Buddhism.

Prabhupada: That is natural. If the state is after some religion… Just like Christian religion spread in India because there was Christian government. The Muhammadan religion spread because there was Muhammadan government. That is natural. If the state is following a certain type of religion, then naturally… And that is said in the Bhagavad-gita: yad yad acarati sresthah. Just like in India, at least in Bengal, we have got the history that educated persons, they saw that “In Christian religion one can drink, one can eat meat. So why not become Christian?” So the drunkards and meat-eaters, they became Christians. Similarly the Muhammadans also, they thought a clue to deviate from the Vedic principles, and they turned themselves. Just like Aurangzeb enacted the lidia(?) tax, that all the Hindus will have to pay this tax. So the untouchables… Because Hindus made these untouchables, so untouchables, they thought that “Why shall I pay the tax? Better become Muhammadan.” So so many people, they became converted into Muhammadans. So a state controls anything, if the state… Now the state is secular, atheist. The people are becoming atheist. They are teaching that “Throw away these scriptures. You eat everything. What is the wrong in eating flesh, eating meat, eating chickens?” They are advertising, “Eggs are available here.” When the state supports, so people follow.

yad yad acarati sresthas tat tad evetaro janah sa yat pramanam kurute lokas tad anuvartate

This is stated in the Bhagavad-gita.

Revatinandana: The Emperor Constantine in Rome, when he became a Christian, that was the real beginning of the Christian era.

Prabhupada: Yes. Because the whole Europe was under Roman Empire. That’s nice.

Malati: Srila Prabhupada, in the United States’ constitution there is a bill of rights that says that any religion can be practiced. Therefore anything goes and people become atheistic?

Prabhupada: Yes, don’t you feel that your people are atheistic?

Malati: Yes. Because they can do anything.

Prabhupada: They are simply after wine and women. So that is fall of religion. Just like Maharaja Pariksit. As soon as he saw that one man was trying to kill a cow, immediately with his sword: “Who are you? You are killing a cow in my kingdom?” So if the state does not take steps in maintaining religion, then religion will fall down. Just like a father. If he does not take care of his son to be a man of character, he becomes a debauchee. That is natural. So according to Vedic principles, the kings were very much highly trained to see how the people are advancing in the spiritual knowledge. Just like one king… You will find in The Nectar of Devotion. There was law that… He said that, (chuckles) “If I do not find any one of my citizens with tilaka, then I shall punish him.” So everyone, out of that fear, they used to have this tilaka. And they were looking all Vaisnavas. (laughs) Although they had no very much faith in Visnu, but out of fear of the state orders, they were having tilaka. So sometimes authority orders are accepted in that, out of fear. Hare Krsna. (pause) I was thinking of Doctor…, yourself. You are a little late today? Yes. Let us stop here. Tomorrow we shall again… (end)