Lecture
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Bhubaneswar, January 29, 1977,
(with Oriyan translator)

Prabhupada:

mayy asakta-manah partha yogam yunjan mad-asrayah asamsayam samagram mam yatha jnasyasi tac chrnu [Bg. 7.1]

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavan, personally speaking how you understand Him perfectly. [break] … previous chapter… [break] …already said that,

manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye yatatam api siddhanam kascid vetti mam tattvatah [Bg. 7.3]

It is not so easy to understand what is Krsna or what is Godhead. Therefore He is personally speaking about Himself. There are many persons within this world, they are trying to understand what is God. (aside:) What is…? [break] When you want to study me by speculation, it is not perfect. But if I speak myself about my career, my position, they you can understand very easily. So the speculators, they are thinking that “God has no form. You can imagine any form of the Lord and try to worship Him.” That is speculator. [break] … Another type of atheism. The atheists, they say, Sunyavadi, “There is no God.” But these Mayavadi, they say, “Yes there is God, but He has no head, no leg, no mouth, nothing.” Means, indirectly, they are saying there is not God.

So Caitanya Mahaprabhu has therefore clearly said that this Mayavadi, nirakaravadi, is more dangerous than the Sunyavadi. Sunyavadi, they publicly declare, “There is no God,” just like modern population, that “There is no need of God.” Asatyam aprathistham te jagad ahur anisvaram [Bg. 16.8] That is also described in the Bhagavad-gita. The atheist class, they say that “This world is asatya. There is no meaning.” Asatyam jagad ahur anisvaram [Bg. 16.8]. “And there is no God.” We can understand that they are atheist. [break]… Mayavadi philosopher, they take the shelter of Vedic literature and indirectly, directly, they try to wipe out the existence of God. [break] The Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore has said, mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa: “If you hear from a Mayavadi, nirakaravadi, then you are doomed.” You cannot understand about God at any time. [break] So our request is that if you at all want to understand what is God, don’t go to the Mayavadi or Sunyavadi, but try to understand about God from God Himself. Sometimes they may say that “What is the use of understanding God? What is the necessity of understanding God?” No. That is not the right conclusion. Human life is meant for understanding God. [break]…God, you may say there is no God, but there is God. There is no doubt about it.

So we must know what is God, what is our relationship with Him and how we shall act in that relationship. You cannot say, “There is no God,” from logic also. Just like Krsna says, aham bija-pradah pita, sarva-yonisu kaunteya: [Bg. 14.4] “I am the bija-pradah pita, the seed-giving father.” He says that sarva-yonisu kaunteya sambhavanti murtayo yah. There are different types of body, and we can see that all types of living entities, they are coming from the earth. So everything is coming out of the earth, beginning from the grass to the big, big animals or other thing. Therefore this prthivi, or the earth, is our mother. Everything is coming from the earth. So mata is there, mother is there, and the offsprings or children are there—there must be father. Without father, mother cannot beget any children. So when you see so many varieties of life, the mother is the… We say dhatri-mata. We have got seven mothers. One of them is the earth.

adau-mata guroh patni brahmani raja-patnika dhenur dhatri tatha prthvi saptaita matarah smrtah

According to our sastra, there are seven mothers: my original mother, adau-mata… Guroh patni is my mother. Dhenu, cow, is my mother. Dhatri, the nurse, is my mother. Tatha prthvi. Also earth is also my mother. So mata is there, and the sons are there. How you can deny, that “There is no father”? I may not see my father, but there is father; there is no doubt of it. That pita is personally presenting Himself—aham bija-pradah pita: “I am the seed-giving father.”

So therefore… So God is there, and there is no doubt of it, but because, due to our foolishness, we think there is no God, there is no father, that is our foolishness. But what is that God, how He is, what is His business, how He is formed—all these things we want to learn, and human life is meant for that purpose. In the life of cats and dogs we cannot understand God, but in the human life we can understand. Therefore in the Vedanta-sutra the first aphorism is that athato brahma jijnasa. This life, in the human form of life… Because we get this human form of life after many, many evolutionary… [break] So this is a chance to understand what is God and what is our relationship with Him. Therefore Narottama dasa Thakura has sung,

hari hari bifale, janama gonainu, manusya-janama paiya, radha-krsna na bhajiya, janiya suniya bisa khainu

So it is our duty to understand, and some of them are trying to understand what is God. Now, here Krsna, bhagavan uvaca, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, said that “You can understand Me perfectly.” Asamsayam samagram mam yatha jnasyasi tac chrnu [Bg. 7.1] Bhagavan is the last word of the Absolute Truth. Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam [Bhag. 1.2.11]. So to understand Bhagavan is the last word, vedanta. Vedanta means… Veda means knowledge, and anta means the last word. Everything has some end. So you can have so many knowledges, but unless you understand what is Bhagavan, your knowledge is imperfect. Therefore you’ll find in the Bhagavad-gita,

bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma su-durlabhah [Bg. 7.19]

So the conclusion is that we may be very learned scholar or scientist or philosopher, that we may be or very good worker, very good politician, but if we do not understand what is God, then we are in the categories of mudha, naradhama, duskrtina. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita,

na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah mayayapahrta-jnana asuri-bhavam asritah [Bg. 7.15]

Duskrtina means one who has got brain, but the brain is utilized for mischievous activities. And one becomes sinful, mischievous, on account of his foolishness. He does not know by mischievous activities he would be punished. This is going on by the laws of nature. Daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya [Bg. 7.14]. Maya is very strong. For all our mischievous activities we are being punished. Maya is punishing us by giving different forms of body.

isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese ’rjuna tisthati bhramayan sarva-bhutani yantrarudhani mayaya [Bg. 18.61]

Isvara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramatma, is sitting in everyone’s core of the heart, and He is witness, witnessing everything. So according to our karma, we are getting a body or a machine for movement given by maya. So therefore we are getting different types of body. The reason is karanam guna-sango ’sya sad-asad-janma-yonisu. The different types of body we are getting on account of association with the material qualities. So if we want to stop this business of repetition of birth and death in this cycle, we must understand. Mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te. We must understand. It is compulsory. We must understand “What is God, what is my relations with Him.” Then we can get release from this repetition of birth and death. That process is being described by Bhagavan Himself, that mayy asakta-manah partha. You have to increase your attachment for Bhagavan. Asakta. Asakta means attachment. You have to increase your attachment for Bhagavan. [break] …recommended process, you can understand Bhagavan. This process of increasing our attachment about God, or Krsna, is called bhakti-yoga. Mayy asakta-manah partha yogam yunjan mad-asrayah. Mad-asrayah: “taking shelter of Me or taking shelter of My devotee.” Mad-asrayah. That yoga is called bhakti-yoga. Mad-asrayah means “taking shelter of Me” or “taking shelter of the person who has taken shelter of Me.”

So in this way if we execute bhakti-yoga, then asamsayam samagram mam yatha jnasyasi: [Bg. 7.1] you’ll be able to understand God as He is without any doubt and in fullness. To understand Bhagavan fully means not only understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead but also understand what is Brahman, what is Paramatma. In other words, if you understand Bhagavan, Krsna, then you automatically understand what is Brahman, what is Paramatma. [break] …the instruction of Srimad-Bhagavatam:

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

So tattva-vastu, Absolute Truth, is observed from three angle of vision—Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan—but all of them are the same and one object. So simply by realization of Brahman, impersonal Brahman, is not perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth. Similarly, Paramatma-jnana is also not perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth. When you understand fully the Personality of Godhead, then the knowledge is perfect. There will be no more doubt. Asamsayam samagram mam yatha jnasyasi tac chrnu [Bg. 7.1]

So let us take this opportunity of the statement by Krsna how to understand God, and we may make our life perfect in that way. Because life’s mission is to understand God. [break] …that the process is bhakti-yogam. Bhagavan also says in another place distinctly, bhaktya mam abhijanati… [Bg. 18.55]. (end)