Swami, BVKS, Maharaj

Inconceivable mercy of Srila Prabhupada. We are fortunate to be gathered here today to celebrate Sri Janmashtami, the birthday of Krishna, who never takes birth. ajopisann avyayatma bhutanam isvaropisann prakritim svamadishtaya sambhavamy atma mayaya Krishna says, although I am unborn and my transcendental body never deteriorates, still I appear in this world by my own transcendental energy. So it's a great subject how Krishna has appeared. He explains it briefly in Bhagavad Gita. Krishna, he has appeared amongst us, he is the very purpose of existence, he is the basis of existence and to know him is the very purpose of existence and there is a saying, to know him is to love him, he is a lovable person. We see some people in this material world also, we see some people who are very, by their nature everyone likes them, isn't it? Some people like that. So Krishna is like that to the ultimate degree, he is the most lovable person, which naturally makes him very popular, Krishna is very popular, he is the most popular person. All the worlds, all the people of the spiritual world, all the living beings, millions of living beings, they are simply focused upon Krishna in love. Some may be envious of that and therefore they don't love Krishna, that means all of us have come to this material world, but Krishna is so lovable, not by any displays of charisma or any such things, but he is so genuine, if others don't love him, which is unnatural for them, he still loves them. Therefore Krishna comes into this world and displays his wonderful pastimes and speaks Bhagavad Gita just so that we can understand him, because to know him is to love him, and if we love him then we no longer have to stay in this material world, and Krishna will be very pleased that we come to him, we don't have to suffer, is unlimited and unbroached, that means it's not impeded, not stopped, by our not loving him, it's not that Krishna, his happiness ceases because we cease to love him. But on the other hand, still his happiness is increased, although his happiness is unlimited and it's unimpeded by our not loving him, still when we turn our face towards him and love him again, still his happiness increases by that. And therefore great devotees of the Lord, they try to bring others to Krishna, so that Krishna will be more pleased, because the devotees of the Lord are always trying to increase Krishna's happiness. So to know Krishna is to love him, and to know him means to be liberated, to understand the transcendental nature of his appearance, it's not an ordinary appearance, and the transcendental nature of his activities, to Krishna. But one cannot go to Krishna simply by knowledge, it's not that simply one can get, if one gets a Bhakti Shastra degree, that means he's guaranteed to go to the spiritual world, it doesn't mean that at all. Or if one does a PhD on Krishnaism, that will not help, but one has to love Krishna. And actually it's only possible to know Krishna is to love him, but it's only possible to really know him unless one loves him. So it sounds like a contradiction, which comes first, should I try to love him and then I'll know him, or should I try to know him and then I'll love him? Both things go simultaneously. One cannot love a person one doesn't know. If we are to tell you that you should love, I know someone called, I'll have to give an English name because I'm not very good at Slovenian names, I know someone called Gordon Parker, I'll give him a name, you should love him, okay? How can you love him? You don't know him, never saw him, never heard of him, where does he live, what does he do? How can you love? You have to know about him to love him. One may think that well, at least I have to see him then I can love him, but Krishna's qualities are so great that simply by hearing about his qualities one can completely fall in love with him, like Rukmini Devi. She simply heard about him from Narada Muni and she thought, oh, now I'm betrothed to marry this nonsense Shishupala, but I want to marry Krishna. My life is going to be spoiled if I marry Shishupala. So she sent a messenger to Krishna, Krishna, please come and kidnap me. You already took my heart, so you better take the rest of my body too. Take me all. So simply by hearing about Krishna, one becomes attracted to Krishna because by his qualities he's all attracted. And even by chanting the names of Krishna, even if one doesn't have knowledge of Krishna, just simply by chanting his names, that will awake an attraction for him because Krishna's names are non-different from Krishna. However, it is also important to hear about Krishna so that we can know about Krishna and be guided on the path of reviving our dormant Krishna consciousness by performing activities This means Bhakti Yoga. So it's a composite process. Hearing about Krishna, chanting about Krishna, serving Krishna in various ways, offering Krishna food, flowers, so many nice things can be offered to Krishna. And by offering them to Krishna, then our love for Krishna awakens. But we should also know who is Krishna. Prabhupada, at the beginning of Krishna book, in his introduction, he writes that many people in the western countries, when they see the picture of Krishna, they ask, who is Krishna? And who is that girl with Krishna? So in the introduction, Prabhupada answers the question, who is Krishna? And significantly maybe, Prabhupada doesn't answer the question, who is that girl with Krishna? That may be not your business. Who is that girl with Krishna? That's his own private affair. Of course, the answer is given in the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam, in the pages of Krishna book, actually in Bhagavatam, Radharani is, she's there in every syllable, but she's hidden. But in Krishna book, Prabhupada reveals her more. So who is Krishna, Prabhupada explains in the introduction to Krishna book, because actually this Krishna Leela, to hear about Krishna, one should first understand basically who is Krishna. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One should understand him as such, yo mam eva samudho dhyanati puruṣo tamam sa sarva-vidbhajati mam sarva-bhavena bhāvata Krishna says, whoever knows me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without doubting, he knows everything. One should know Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, puruṣoṁ śāśvatam divyaṁ, the eternal divine person. One should know Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, from Bhagavad Gita and then from Srimad Bhagavatam, the 9 cantos before the 10th canto. So Prabhupada gave the 10th canto in the form of Krishna book. Just to give people some proper focus, he gave an introduction explaining who is Krishna, although actually even in millions of books, it is not possible to describe fully who is Krishna. But Prabhupada gave that in that introduction and actually throughout the 10th canto of Bhagavatam also, in the prayers of different devotees, in the statements of Śukadeva Goswami and Vyasadeva, in Krishna's statements himself, about himself, it is defined who is Krishna. Because Krishna, even as he appeared in this world, he was a great mystery. People couldn't understand him. Even Śiśupala, of course, he was not a very nice person, which is why he ended up getting his head cut off. But he brought up the objection when Sahadeva, he gave the suggestion that among all the honourable persons present at this Rājasūrya Yajna, Krishna, he should be honoured first because he is the most honourable person, he is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So Śiśupala, hearing this, because he was a demon, he became angry. Demons don't like to hear Krishna praise. Devotees like to hear Krishna praise, but demons, they become upset. So Śiśupala, he spoke words of blasphemy against Krishna. But by the attitude, what he said was blasphemous. But actually his words were quite correct, if understood in a different way. For instance, he said that, we can't even understand who this Krishna is. He invaded culture, everyone's position should be defined, and if it's not known who you are, then people are afraid to have anything, maybe to an outcast or from the lowest caste. A person should know who he is and he should be able to tell others very precisely, even telling all his forefathers back to Lord Brahmā. He should be able to give the whole list, if required. Not every time you introduce yourself, you can just say, I'm in such and such a gotra. But if necessary, you can say the whole line, going back to Brahmā. So Śiśupala was saying, first of all he seemed to be like a vaiśya, then afterwards he seemed to be like a kṣatriya. What is this? Yes, Krishna is unknown. Here we have the prayers, this verse is from the prayers of Queen Kunti. So she addressed him as being unknown, it's difficult to understand Krishna. Krishna, you are eternally, you are covered by your covering potency. You are not visible by the material senses, and therefore foolish people, foolish people cannot understand you. You are invisible just like an actor is dressed up. You can't understand who he is. So it's difficult to know Krishna, but it's possible to understand Krishna. How is it possible to understand Krishna? Any answers to that one? Krishna is not understandable by the material senses. That's a clue to a well-known verse. Krishna is not available, not understandable, not perceptible, not understandable by the material senses, perceivable, not perceptible. Krishna is not available to the material senses. Krishna, his name, his form, his qualities, his pastimes, they all remain un-understandable by the material senses, but if one develops an attitude of service to Krishna, which begins by engaging the tongue in chanting his holy names and tasting Krishna prasadam, then Krishna in reciprocation reveals himself to such a devotee. So Krishna is described in the 10th count of Bhagavatam. Here Kuntidevi is describing Krishna, how he is Krishna, the Supreme Lord, Vasudeva, the son of Vasudeva, who is the son of Devaki and Nanda Maharaj, and all the elderly inhabitants of Vrindavan, and who is known as Govinda. So how he is the son of Vasudeva and the son of Yashoda, all these mysteries are described in the 10th canto of Bhagavatam, and there also it is described who is Krishna. Krishna is, there are so many things we could say Krishna is, Krishna is great, Krishna is the greatest, he is the smallest, Krishna is the most fair, f-a-i-r, Krishna is the most fair means he is the most just, is dark. So Krishna is the most fair, he is also the most crooked, don't try to cheat Krishna, he is a better cheat than all of us. So who is Krishna, there are many statements in the Srimad Bhagavatam, throughout the Srimad Bhagavatam, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatāka, he compiled from the 10th canto of Bhagavatam, which I am going to read out now, for hearing, 145 statements about Krishna, beginning Krishna is, and actually these are not all the statements about Krishna from Bhagavatam, because there are many more actually from the 10th canto. From the 10th canto of Bhagavatam, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatāka has extracted 145 statements about how Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but there are many other statements about him in the 10th canto, which he has not included, for instance, I didn't see that, no he has not included this kind of statement, for instance the Gopis say that Krishna is Kittava-yoshita, means a cheater of women. women, so this kind of statement, suratavādhanam, one who increases the, surat literally means sexual affairs, loving affairs, so one who increases the loving affairs, so such names he has not included, he is not in any, it doesn't seem, it's not in the Gopis, it's in the order that they appear, anyway, here's number one, Krishna is possessed of an unlimited intellect, it may not seem like that, everything and understands everything, Krishna knows everything that is stated by Lord Krishna himself in Bhagavad Gita, what does he say? I wasn't thinking of that one, sarvasya caham hṛdi sanniviṣṭo, there's a better one than that, anyone? Vedāham samatītāni bhārtamāṇāni cārjuna paviṣṭhāni ca bhūtāni, that will come in the next Krishna is. everything, past, present and future, not only does he know it, but he knows it from all different angles of understanding and he understands it fully, it's inconceivable how Krishna can know everything, but on the other hand he must know everything, because he is maintaining everything, every atom and particle of an atom, Krishna is maintaining, so he knows and how everything is interacting with each other, be the subject of millions of books, Krishna is possessed of an unlimited intellect, then number two, Krishna is inaccessible to sensuous knowledge, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura used to use the term empiric knowledge, which means more or less the same thing, knowledge which is derived from the senses, from the mundane senses, Krishna cannot be understood by such knowledge, but I am not understandable, actually Krishna is not understandable even by purified knowledge, but he is understandable to some extent, but he is not at all understandable by the empiric method, therefore people who do research in the universities into, by this mundane scholarly method, such people they can probably tell you, philosophy of Gauriya Vaishnavism, maybe better than our devotees, they could explain it, but no one could ever become Krishna conscious by hearing such an explanation from a mundane scholar, because they don't understand, they may think that they understand it, but it's only an extrinsic understanding, because Krishna can only be understood when he agrees to be understood, bhaktyātmananya yāśakya, bhakti, not by any other process, so simply by making, we may think we can understand some subject matter by studying it, there are so many things being studied in the university, the mating habits of nocturnal frogs and so you have to, someone has to, a big scholar has to stay up at night, crawling around in the mud, looking at frogs, so he can write his PhD on the mating habit, people are interested in such things, instead of being interested in Krishna, they are interested in the mating habits of nocturnal frogs and other such useless subjects, so if we think that we shall study Krishna, someone is studying biology, someone is studying mathematics, someone is studying geology, so these subjects are all fascinating, no doubt, is fascinating, it's amazing how numbers interact with each other, the qualities of pie, I'm not talking about apple pie, pie, you must say it in your language, the Greek symbol is given, it's an infinitely indeclinable number, I can't remember, but it's amazing, if you study mathematics, how the numbers relate with each other in so many different complex ways, it's amazing, so people find some, if you study anything, you'll find, it's amazing, if we study matter, raw matter, that's the study of physics, if we study atoms and then subatomic particles, and then we find they are not particles, they are waves, it's amazing, it's fascinating, then if we study the cosmos, how the different planets are moving, the stars, the comets, it's fascinating, any subject is fascinating, but Krishna cannot be understood by the, method, because we have limited intelligence, whereas Krishna has unlimited intellect, we have limited intelligence, so if we think that just by employing standard methods of observation, inquiry, hypothesis and coming to conclusions as we do with other subjects, we shall understand Krishna, it is not possible to do so, it is not possible, only be understood when he reveals himself to us. Number three, Krishna is Lord, the Lord of the infinity of worlds, we're just talking about cosmology, someone is studying cosmology, they're studying this vast universe, how many light years away is the nearest star, vast universe, information from the Vedic literature is that this universe is only one among unlimited universes and actually this is the smallest, so we are studying the vast universe, so many stars, if you look in the sky at night, if you're not in Ljubljana, because in the city there are so many street lights, but if you go out in the mountain area, then you'll see at night so many, so many stars, are so many universes and Krishna is the Lord of them all, and there he is running in Vrindavan with a little bit of yogurt in his hand, his mother has given him some yogurt, he's licked it and some is still in his hand and he's running, Krishna is inconceivable. Krishna wields the power of creating the unlimited, how, it's maybe a little difficult to understand, Krishna wields the power, you can say has the power, but wields means to exercise the power, to use that power, Krishna wields the power of creating the unlimited. about that, what does it mean? How can one create something which is unlimited? How is it possible? You can only create something which is limited, you can't create something which is unlimited, because we are limited and this material world is also, everything within it is limited, but Krishna has the power to create the unlimited, so there are so many, if we take the vast expanses of universes, practically if we put all the material universes together, it's practically unlimited, the Vaikuntha planets are unlimited, although they are not created, but it's said like that, that they are created by Balarama, just like the sun rays eternally exist with the sun, nevertheless the sun rays are dependent upon the sun, so Krishna creates the unlimited, the unlimited can create the unlimited, what unlimited means, but that's another facet of the unlimited, another facet of the unlimited is that the unlimited cannot be understood by limited brain power. Number five, Krishna carries the impress of limitless power, that means, Krishna has the power to create the unlimited, Krishna is, by his very features, it is understood that he has limitless power, of course in his Krishna feature as a young boy, it may not seem like that, but particularly in his forehanded Vāsudeva form, then he has, he holds the Śaṅkhya Chakra, Śaṅkhya Chakra, Gada Padma, the conch, the disc, Sudarshan disc, Śaṅkhya Chakra, the club and the lotus. Now of course anyone could hold these things, that Paundrika, he imitated this, but these four emblems, they are the emblems of Lord Vishnu, and his discus, it's not a discus, not any ordinary discus, that's Sudarshan Chakra, and his club is not any ordinary club, what's the name of Krishna's club? Kamodaki. And what's the name of his Śaṅkhya conch? Pancha Chandra. And lotus? I don't think he has any name for his lotus. the signs that he has unlimited power. Krishna is possessed of inconceivable potency. Who can think of any pastimes of Krishna which show his inconceivable potency? There are so many of them. Brahma Vimohana Lila, that's the very good example, that's the first one that came to my mind also. world he appears to be the most powerful person, and to have practically unlimited potency. But then he saw this Krishna who is supposed to be greater than him, who is supposed to be the giver of potency to him, to Brahma, running around looking after some cows. would God do that? So Brahma stole his cows, and he stole his cowherd boys, and then Krishna showed to Brahma that, my dear little boy Brahma, you are thinking that you are the greatest, you are thinking you are very big and mighty, and I'm just a little boy, but actually you are my little boy, you're born from me, I'm your father. my mercy you have got some potency, which to you, just like a little boy, any little boy when he gets a little strength he feels, I'm so great, but actually you're just a little boy. Let me show you something of my potency. Oh, then Brahma felt like a little ant. And actually there's not that, from Krishna's perspective, there's not that much difference between Brahma and a little ant. with the five-year-old boys, they go to school, so they may be fighting amongst themselves. Young boys in school here, they fight, they punch each other and all this kind of thing. Do they do that? Yeah? Okay. And five years old? Here in Slovenia also, they bring bombs to school. They're catching up with America. So among the five-year-olds at school, there may be say 40, 50 in the school, five-year-old. compared to the others, he's the local bully, and there's no one to compare with him. So he's really much greater than the others. And all the other five-year-olds are afraid of him, and they respect him. However great that five-year-old fighter may be, there's not much difference between him and the weakest boy in the school, in the eyes of the world heavyweight boxing champion. fighter in the school, five-year-old, and the weakest, they're just the same. They're both insignificant. They're so insignificant that there's no question of, just like the five-year-old may come and say, hey, I want to fight with you. The world heavyweight boxing champion, fight with me. Krishna first of all considered, now I should smash him. But then he thought, why should I bother? He's so insignificant. This Indra, all the demons are afraid of him, and all the demigods are also afraid of him. He has this thunderbolt. Krishna thinks, he's attacking me. Just like a little child runs up to a big strong, just to impress others. He's a little child. creating, he's just doing a little moving things around. But Krishna, and Brahma he has to do austerity, and he has to, it's a lot of work for Brahma to create, but Krishna creates millions and billions and trillions of universes just while he's snoozing. He doesn't have to do any work. When he breathes, millions of universes, breathes in again. come back. For Krishna it's no work. He doesn't have to do any austerity to create anything. He has unlimited potency, inconceivable potency. Number seven, Krishna is unborn. So again, Krishna is inconceivable. Krishna is unborn, then why are we celebrating Janmashtami? It means the day that Krishna is born. What does it mean? It means that Krishna is never born as we are born. that no one, he is anadiradi, he is beyond timelessness, he's before timelessness. He's the cause of Krishna. Krishna is the cause of everyone. So he takes birth from the womb of Devaki, but it's not that he is caused by Devaki. Krishna is not caused by the interaction of semen and ovum. Krishna takes birth by his own desire. all heterogeneous views. There are so many different opinions, and people who are atheistic propose that all views are as good as any other, but Krishna solves all, actually it's heterogeneous views, heterogeneous. It could be pronounced either way, I'm not sure. Krishna solves all philosophical vadas, different theories, by appearing and showing that I am the absolute truth, and destroying persons who have no faith in this, and destroying all their wrong theories in Bhagavad Gita. People may have so many different theories, and people have written so many books of philosophy, but Krishna finishes them all off, and gives the real understanding by speaking Bhagavad Gita as it is. by so many different opinions, I remember I had this experience that, someone is saying this, someone is saying that, someone else is saying that, and so on, and just, oh, totally, so confused you don't want to listen to what anyone else has to say. And then Bhagavad Gita says, oh, at last, something that makes sense, so many different opinions, and all of them nonsense. is reality, which is the absolute truth. So, all these different theories that are prevalent in the world, we may ask, well, how can people accept them if they are not correct? To this it may be said that all of these theories have at least a semblance of correctness. There may be some semblance means resemblance, they resemble correctness, or they may have something correct in them, just like, there are so many different things, beauty is truth. This is a saying of John Keats, an English poet, beauty is truth. Of course, beauty is truth. You can imagine what the poet's idea of beauty is. A beautiful body, but that is not truth, because its own beauty is skin deep, that kind of beauty. consider the beauty of skin, it's not very beautiful. If I was to offer you, just like the Nazis used to make wallets and cover books with human skin, they had a lot of it. So if I was to offer, here, here's a wallet, I'd like to present you with a wallet, this is made from human skin. You wouldn't think that's very beautiful, would you? If you said, well, it's actually from a very beautiful woman. That's okay, but you keep it. is truth, or the beauty of nature, but that's also temporary. And actually, even the beauty of nature, we see beautiful forests. What is that forest? That is, trees and many other living entities, having taken that form, and suffering due to their sinful activities. And it cannot be the truth, because it is subject to decay. The truth means that which is infallible. The truth means that which is not destroyed. it may be a relative truth, it may look nice now, but the truth means that which is sat-chit-anandan. Satyam, shivam, sundaram, these are different terms. That which is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss, this is the analysis from Shastra, what is truth. Satyam, which is true, that which is shivam, that which is auspicious, and sundaram, that which is beautiful. truth is beauty, yes, but what is actually beautiful? That is Krishna. He is truth. So, Krishna's, anyway, you see, any one of these topics, one could speak for days. So we got through eight, we have another 135 to go. So I'd better go a little quicker. Krishna is vanquished. Vanquished, you know what that means? Conquered and destroyed by prema, love, exclusive devotion. Krishna is unconquerable. is Ajita. So there is a famous line in the Bhagavatam, which this must be from, yes, it's from this Brahma's prayers, that the unconquerable is conquered, Ajita-jita, by exclusive devotion. Krishna is conquered. He is destroyed. Not exactly destroyed, but that he is the supreme controller, he becomes controlled by his devotees. baby Krishna, they are clapping and singing, and baby Krishna is dancing. Ekali Isvara Krishna Aara Sabha Britta, Jaara Joiche Nache Tare Toyche Kore Nritta. There is only one supreme controller and he is Krishna, and all others dance according to the way he makes them dance. That is Krishna. But Krishna is dancing to the tune of the gopis, because of their exclusive devotion to him. Anyone know that? Chaita Guru, yes. He is the inner guide. Our consciousness, of course, if our consciousness is pure, then we will get pure direction from the inner guide. But at least if our intent is, otherwise if people say I have to follow my consciousness, that can be very tricky, because Krishna impels us, or he gives us intelligence according to our desires. be pure either. If someone says, well, I acted according to my consciousness, it may seem to be good to us, but if our consciousness is contaminated by material desires, then what we think is good may not actually be proper at all. Just like Arjuna, he didn't want to fight. He was a conscientious objector. Do you have such a term? There is a term in English, conscientious objector. at the time of war due to his consciousness, that I cannot fight, I believe it is wrong to fight. So Arjuna was a conscientious objector. Nayotsya iti govinda. Govinda, I will not fight. I am following my consciousness. But then Krishna explained to him that actually your consciousness is polluted. You are a damn fool and a rascal. So then he purified his consciousness by giving proper knowledge, and then Chaitra Guru, who is standing before him as his Shiksha Guru, Krishna, he followed his consciousness and he followed the direction of Krishna. But Krishna asked Arjuna, that what do you want to do? After explaining Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, Krishna told him that yate chasita taakaru. Now I explained everything. Before you were saying according to your consciousness, I will not fight. Now you have heard everything from me. Now what do you say? Now you consult your consciousness. And Arjuna said, nashto moha smriti labdha, tvad prasada, maya chuta, sthito smigata sandeha, karische vaccharantava. That now I chuta, I was fallen down, but you never fall down. By your mercy, I have gained my original consciousness, and now I am fixed in that. And the very man who had said, I will not fight, said, now I am ready to do what you say. So Krishna is our inner guide, but we shouldn't take that I will just follow my inner guide. We should be guided by an outer guide also. guru who gives shiksha, main function of guru is to give shiksha, also guides, but he may not be present all the time with us. It's not that the guru is a babysitter. The guru has to be with you at every moment. But we should be with him at every moment by taking his instructions. So at every moment we can consider what are those instructions and put them into practice in our lives. to Krishna. It's a very big topic, that's only one. Krishna is the withholder of the energy of the wicked. The rascals, they have some facility to be rascals in this material world, but Krishna does not give them unlimited energy. but they can, ultimately the wicked, they can never prevail, because Krishna doesn't allow them to. Just like Hiranyakashipu asked Prahlad, what is the source of your strength? I got so much strength to conquer the universe, Hiranyakashipu was thinking, by performing terrible austerities, and you, my son Prahlad, you never did anything. boy, but you have so much strength that you can defy me. That means you've got more strength than me. So where did you get your strength from? He wanted to know. Not just out of curiosity, he was thinking, I'd like to get that strength also. So Prahlad replied that the source of your strength and the source of mine is the same. But I recognize it and you don't. Because I recognize it, I get more power from him than you do. your own endeavor, but actually that power came from Krishna. You don't recognize that, so Krishna is only giving you limited power. You think you have unlimited power, but I have got more power than you, without doing anything to get it, because I simply accept that Krishna is the source of all power, and he gives me the power to defy you. Actually I don't do anything. be Krishna, and Krishna empowers him. Krishna gives energy to the wicked, but not unlimited. For some time he lets them play out their little game. Just like little boys they play games, young boys they play games of wars and fighting and conquering, and then when they get bigger they play the same game, but in real life. to conquer over another, it's just childish play. Hiranyakashipu thought he was such a great person, but he was just like a foolish little boy. I want to conquer the universe, see I'm bigger than anyone else, just like a little boy. But Prahlad Maharaj, who was a little boy, was actually much more wise than him. Krishna is the giver of salvation of Jivas that are free from vanity. Vanity here means ahamkara, false ego. are free from false ego get liberation, not by their endeavour. If someone thinks, I will become liberated by my own endeavour. Liberation means to be free from false ego, but if you think that I will liberate myself by my own ego, that in itself is false ego. By my own strength I will become liberated. How can you become liberated if you are thinking I will become liberated by my own strength, because that is, it's impossible. be free from false ego if we have the false ego of thinking I will free myself from false ego. You follow? One cannot be liberated from false ego if one has the false ego of thinking I will liberate myself from false ego. It's an impossible, it's like a conundrum. It's impossible. So it is possible to be liberated by the grace of Mukunda. on the grace of Mukunda and stops thinking I am the doer, I am simply a servant of Mukunda, then one can attain liberation because he gives it. No one can liberate themselves, but Krishna can liberate. We are tied up in this material world, Krishna can liberate us, no one else, not even Shiva or Brahma. Krishna ordains the worldly course of conceited Jivas. Conceited here means those who have the, now it doesn't mean puffed up and proud, it's a different use of the word, it's an almost archaic use of the word conceited, like a Victorian use. Here conceited means those who have the Abhiman, it's like a hunker, or the thinking of themselves as a product of this material world. of this material world, they are thinking I am acting and I'm making plans and I'm doing this, but actually it's all under the control of Krishna. Again, any one of these topics could be a whole big glass, but I'll try and go through it fairly quickly. You have to have patience to listen to this, and a taste for philosophy. fully absorbed in hearing and chanting about Krishna, so let's see if we can do it for one day. Actually it's supposed to be every day, but this is why Prabhupada said we don't try to be a Babaji, because we have to do some work for Krishna, because we don't have the taste simply to hear and chant. So Krishna is the primal God, Deva. we may say Indra-Deva, Chandra-Deva, Surya-Deva, the names of different demigods, but the original God is Krishna, Deva. Krishna is the primal person, Purusha. This is all stated in Bhagavad Gita also. What is that verse Arjuna spoke, describing this? Parambrahman, Parambrahman Parambrahman, Parambrahman, Parambhama, Parambha, Parambhama, Parambhama, Parambhama, Parambhama. Purusham, Purusham Shashvatam Divyam, so these words come. He is the eternal, primal person and the primal deva. Purusham Shashvatam Divyam, Divyam and Deva, they come from the same root who shines, purusham shashvatam devyam, adi devam, means the primal, ajam, vibhum. So Krishna is an overwhelming flood of bliss, that's nice, isn't it? We're hearing about Krishna's ontological position, but it's not simply how he's great, how he's the original, he's the most powerful, that is one aspect of understanding Krishna. But another aspect to understand how he's the reservoir of pleasure, Prabhupada gave this in English, the reservoir of pleasure, an overwhelming flood of bliss. Krishna possesses fulfilled desire, apta karma, his desires are fulfilled, whatever he wants, he has, his desires are fulfilled, it means, I get what I want, you've seen that advert all over India, for some tobacco, some cigarette, I get what I want, of course no one in this material world gets what they want, and even if they get it, they remain un-apta karma, they remain unfulfilled in their desires. So Krishna, this word apta karma comes, Shukadeva Goswami is describing, just when he's going to describe the rasa dance, that although Krishna is fulfilled in all his desires, still he desires to dance with the gopis. So Krishna is apta karma, all his desires are fulfilled, and he's also atmarama, he is self-delighted, he takes pleasure in himself. We may do also, we may look in a mirror and think, how wonderful, and then combing our hair, that's one reason we shave our heads, and ladies bind it up so you just can't comb it all day, otherwise, so many times you see the karma, even, I can't understand actually why they go on combing and combing, there's no need, I mean you comb it to put your hair in place right, they just go on and on and on and on, stand in front of the mirror and look at their face, which is, I never saw such a wonderful face, even if it's got spots and warts and pockmarks, everyone thinks, I'm so beautiful, that is foolishness, but in Krishna's case it's not. He takes pleasure in himself, he's the most beautiful, the most powerful, he is the source of all pleasure, so he takes pleasure in himself, and intelligent persons, in the mirror at their lousy ugly face, they keep nice pictures of Krishna, and look at that, because Krishna is the reservoir of all pleasure, because we are considering ourselves God, we take pleasure in ourselves in this material world, but that pleasure that we take in ourselves is soon shattered, by Krishna, in the form of time, and our beautiful body ends up getting burned, Krishna is the opponent of the sinuous, the Bhakti stanzas are Thakur's language, it's unusual, sinuous, you'll hardly find this word used in English, I had to look it up actually in the dictionary, Krishna is the opponent of the sinuous, so it means, someone who's got a big strong body, lots of muscle, Krishna takes pleasure in fighting with them, he's the opponent of those who think that, by my strength I will conquer over others, so Krishna takes pleasure in fighting with such people, he's the opponent, and therefore Krishna has many names, which when you think of sinuous, you think of a big strong body like a wrestler, so Krishna, his one name is Chanurari, he's the enemy of the Chanura, who knows who Chanura is, I just gave a clue, anyone? the wrestlers that was called by Krishna, there are many, but Chanura and Mushtika, so the first is Chanura, so Chanurari, that means it's like a generic term, Chanura and all the others, Krishna was the enemy, of course Balaram killed a bunch of them too, Krishna is the opponent of the sinuous, Krishna is sung by the best of hymns, who can think what that name is? Loka Sukhavaham, Krishna is praised by the best of verses, and hearing about Krishna gives pleasure to all the pious people throughout the whole universe, so Uttama Shloka, there are many verses, there are so many verses, verses means the Vedic literature is composed largely in verses, of Krishna, they are the best of all, therefore he's called Uttama Shloka. Krishna is the dispeller of the night of pseudo-religion, Tamasimajyoti Argamaya, this material world is darkness, we should come to the light, what is the light? Krishna Angad Vishnu Paramam Padam, what is that, Angad Vishnu Paramam Padam, Sadapashanti Surya, the devotees they always look up to the effulgent spiritual world which is the abode of Krishna, Krishna Surya Sama, Maya Hoi Andhaka, Jaha Krishna, Taha Nahi, Maya Adhika, where there is Krishna there is light, Krishna is just like the sun, presence of the sun there is no question of darkness, so in the presence of Krishna there is no question of Maya, so pseudo-religion, generally we think religion that's very good, but that is also darkness if it is pseudo-religion, so Krishna by appearing in this world gives the actual, he establishes what is actual religion, Bhagavad Dharma, surrender to me and thus destroys all wrong theories about religion, decrease, Krishna is not material, therefore he is perfect and complete and he neither increases nor decreases, in other words he is immeasurable, of course sometimes it is said that Krishna is always increasing, but he is already immeasurable, so that is a kind of saying, Krishna is always, he is immeasurable, unlimited, yet he is always increasing, he does not increase from the material point of view, Krishna does not increase nor decrease, Krishna never becomes less, it is not that as some rascal so-called philosophers say that God created the world, he must have died a long time ago, because it was a long time ago when the world was created, no, Krishna does not decrease, Krishna is the efficient and material cause, there are different causes, is the cause of the pot, there is a clay pot, what is the cause of the pot, the cause of the pot is clay, that is right, isn't it? But it is also, you could also say the cause of the pot is the potter, that is also true, so the material cause is the clay and the efficient cause, the one who makes it is the potter, so Krishna is the efficient and material cause of everything, he is everything, he is in everything, yet he is aloof from everything, it is a big philosophy, Krishna is the only truth, any so-called truth not in relation to Krishna is not actually truth, it may be called a relative truth, but it is not an actual truth, just like it may be true to say that this is my brother, he was born two years before me, same mother and father, therefore he is my brother, it is true, no one can say it is not true, but it is a relative truth, it is relative upon us having these bodies, it depends upon us having these bodies, which was not true before we were born, which was a short time ago, and will cease to be true after we leave these bodies, so it is true, but it is not actually true, it is a relative truth, it depends on conditions, of this material world, which is also destroyed at a certain point of time, so there is no actual truth in this material world, there are relative truths, but they are not actual substantial truths, the only substantial truth is Krishna, Krishna is the only truth, Krishna is the awarder of the fruit of work, I worked hard and I became rich by my own effort, no, no, Krishna gave, Krishna is giving, Krishna is not subject to the consequences of work, Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita, I am not under the rules of karma, whatever we do, there is some reaction, either good or bad, depending on whether our work is good or bad, but not for Krishna, everything Krishna does is good in an ultimate sense, is no karma for Krishna, either good or bad, some very nonsense rascal people, they think like that, these Jains, people say, Jains are very good, they are vegetarians, but their philosophy is most hellish, they say that, anyway, it is almost unspeakable, they say Krishna did so many bad things, he is suffering in hell, what a rascal, or there is other Brahma Kumaris, such nonsense, he will be completely moral, last time he was immoral, but he was still a very advanced soul, he spoke the Bhagavad Gita, no, actually they don't believe he spoke the Bhagavad Gita, they say Lord Shiva's, they are really, really, way, way off, anyway, they say Krishna, he was immoral, but he will come again, next time in a fully moral form, are there in Srimad Bhagavatam, just to counteract such people, they are so eager to go to hell, that they make statements, or they think like this about Krishna, so Krishna is not subject to the consequences of work, Krishna is the seer of cause and effect, he is the seer of cause, he sees everything, but he is aloof, he is not subject to it, he is, in one sense, he is the primal cause of everything, see in Srimad Bhagavatam, some small statements, Krishna is the seer of cause and effect, Krishna is the material and efficient cause of everything, there is big, big philosophy behind all this, just in two or three words, big, big philosophical arguments are finished, the whole of Sankhya philosophy, cause and effect, is all a study, cause and effect, what is the cause, is the effect, finished, Krishna is everything, Krishna is the person who is time, Krishna is time, Krishna is another feature of Krishna, generally it is considered that time is impersonal, you don't see time, we see time by its effects, just like if I was to go away from here and meet you all again after ten years, then I would see you all looking older, and you would see me looking older, to him, well, he was subject to the influence of time, in the form of getting another body, so the effect of time can be seen, but impersonally, but here Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur is pointing out from Bhagavatam, that Krishna is the person who is time, ultimately it is not impersonal, everything is going on under the direction of Krishna. Krishna is time's own self, time that appears to be an impersonal force, the very personage of time is Krishna. Krishna is even the time of time, what does this mean? It is the time is very difficult to understand, but the point is that even if time is considered as an independent force, just like different philosophers, is independent of Krishna, but no, Krishna is, if we think of time as some force independent from Krishna, then even that time, Krishna is the time of that time, just like Krishna causes death to the Lord of death, so there is no avoiding Krishna. heart of every animate entity like fire inside wood, where is Krishna? Krishna is in everyone's heart, we can't see Krishna, cut up the body, cut up the heart, you won't find. You may say, well that's the proof that Krishna is not in everyone's heart, but yes, he is present, but how is he present? by cutting up the wood, but it is there dormantly, that is understood, that if you place a small flame against wood, that will become so much fire, and the fire is coming out of the wood, that means the fire is in the wood, but it cannot be seen, only by a particular process to bring that out. to bring Krishna out, to manifest Krishna, and that is just like you touch fire to wood, and so much fire comes out. So in the same way, if we bring Krishna to the living being, in the form of his name, his prasadam, his devotees, then Krishna becomes manifest in that person. Krishna is grateful. Krishna never forgets, and he always rewards. So we should go on serving Krishna with a great confidence, that Krishna is very grateful, he will never forget what we are doing. Krishna is the augmenter, like the full moon, of the ocean, of earth, gods, twice born, and animals. And I must admit, I'd have to look that up to see what it is, because I don't understand it, so I won't try to explain it. Augment usually means that way, but I don't know which makes greater, but exactly how like the full moon. In Sanskrit, there is often very poetic language. I should have done my homework before I just sat down and read this. I was overconfident. Krishna is the tormentor of cannibalistic persons, means rakshasas. Rakshasas torment others, but Krishna torments them. Krishna is the destroyer of the pride of the arrogant. Krishna is so kind to arrogant people, that he destroys their pride, which is causing their, by their arrogance, arrogant people cause suffering to others, but they also cause suffering to themselves. By that attitude, they commit sinful activities. So Krishna very kindly destroys their pride. arrogant, but he was overly confident. Indra, by sending the rain clouds to Vrindavan, that could be said to be arrogant, and certainly persons like Paundraka, Shishupal, Jaraasandha, they were certainly very arrogant. So Krishna destroyed their pride. They were thinking, I am very great, but Krishna smashed them. So their arrogance was smashed along with it. The creation of the world, its maintenance and its destruction. So Krishna is the root cause of that. Actually when we say Krishna is the creator, that means in his Vishnu feature. So Krishna is the origin of, yatovam ahimani bhutani jayante. Krishna is the root cause of the, yena jatani jivanti. destruction of the world, Krishna is the root cause of that. Krishna is the cause of the world. He is the root cause and he is the cause. He is the remote cause and he is the more, there are various stages of causes. Just like someone may, in the factory, someone may push a button and cause a chemical reaction to take place. person who pushed the button, he is the cause. But he would, someone may come and say, why did you push the button? Because I'm working under my supervisor. And the supervisor will say, well, the supervisor is working under the factory boss. And the factory boss is working under the, the manager of the factory is working under the owner of the factory. So like this, there are various levels of administration of causes. the world. But he is also the intermediate cause, because Krishna is everything. There's a lot of philosophy in the 10th Canto. This is often, all this is from the 10th Canto of Bhagavatam. So actually, Bhaktisthan Saraswati Thakur wrote this when he was on Rajamandala Parikrama. So generally we think the 10th Canto is only lila, but actually it's full of philosophy also. the creator of the world. Now we're coming down, root cause, cause, now creator. These are different levels of stratification. The creator, Brahma is a secondary creator, original creator is Krishna. Krishna appears as if possessed of a body like that of mundane entities for the good of the world. into the world and appears to have a form like that of any other human being in many ways. The absolute truth has a form like that of a human being. Krishna is the Guru of the world. Now here, Guru of the world, Jagadguru, Vishwaguru, here Bhaktisthan Saraswati Thakur has explained the word Guru as center of gravity. in a scientific manner, we'll find that the center of gravity is Krishna. Of course gravity, that's what the scientists call the attractive force or the physical attractive force which holds things together. But in that sense, Krishna is the most, he is the attractive force, in another way attractive. Now Krishna is the center of gravity. a force that is described in physics, it also means the quality of graveness, being grave. Krishna is very grave. Grave means it's the opposite of frivolous, very grave. And Krishna is also frivolous sometimes, but not so frivolous. pastimes as a young boy in Vrindavan, but he never becomes so whimsical that he gives up his duties as Vishnu in maintaining the universe. Krishna is the refuge, ashraya, of Jiva's individual souls who are afraid of birth and death. in the tenth canto of Bhagavatam, the great devotees, they approach Krishna and say, I'm very afraid of birth and death, please give me shelter. So it's good to be afraid of birth and death. It's good to be afraid. A devotee is fearless, but we shouldn't be so fearless because of, a devotee is fearless because he's taken shelter of Krishna. But a devotee is still afraid, it's good to be afraid of maya. afraid of maya. If we think like that, then we're in difficulty. We should be afraid of maya and always taking shelter of Krishna. Krishna, please protect me from maya. Krishna is devoid of birth, that we've already explained briefly. Krishna is equally the internal guide, cause, and director of Jiva's. So these have been explained. directs the Jiva's, just like someone, directs the Jiva's means, the Jiva's they have different desires, so he directs them. How to fulfill that? Just like, at least in India, if you just drop a little, say, honey on the floor, then very soon there'll be so many ants coming to get it. soon there'll be all crows all around it to eat the dead body. The vulture, they can see if some, it's said in Shastra that if vultures start to come around you, it's very inauspicious. That means you're about to die. The vultures, they know. to get what they, the vultures somehow, they may be ten miles away, but somehow they get to know. That means Krishna is in there. There's some cow is dying over here. Often you see the cow is lying down and they're about to die, and the vultures are just hopping on their body, just waiting. They're cowards. They don't do anything until the animal actually dies. upon him. Just like we were singing the Dashavatar Stotram, Shrinu Sukhadam Shubhadam Bhavasaram. That by, in this world of birth and death, which is miserable, if one simply hears about Krishna and his various avatars, then that is all auspicious, means destroys all miseries and gives us happiness. there are, it's considered in this world there are three dimensions, length, breadth and height, plus a fourth is time. So Krishna is the fourth dimension, and Krishna is self-manifest. Anadhiradhi, he manifests himself. Krishna is worthy of being gifted. means that Krishna is good to be given away, but I think it should mean that one should offer a gift to Krishna. Krishna is the right person to offer things to. We like to offer gifts to others. We like to see them become happy. But the right person to offer gifts to is Krishna. Krishna is the punisher of the wicked. That's fairly straightforward. And he's the god of gods. Yet, Krishna is rarely cognizable by the gods. The gods who people pray to in this world, the different demigods, people pray to the demigods when they get in trouble, or when they want something. But when the gods want something, or when they get in trouble, they go to him, but then they cannot see him. sing the Purusha Sukta, but generally they cannot see him. That's why he's so kind. He's come to this world. He cannot generally be seen by the demigods, but he comes to this world and is seen by ordinary human beings. That is his great mercy. Just imagine how great is his mercy appearing in this world. Krishna is unconcerned about body, house, etc. has everything, but he's not concerned. He's concerned about the love of his devotees. Krishna is the supreme ruler of the greatest gods. The greatest gods are Brahma, Chandra, Indra, Surya, Vayu. They're very great from our angle of vision, but he's far above them. Krishna is the exponent of religion. He speaks Bhagavad Gita. He teaches what is actual religion. Krishna is the eternal son of Nanda. son of anyone. He is unborn. That has already been stated. Now it's been stated that he's the son of Nanda. He is born of pleasure. He is pleasure. He is the source of all pleasure, but it may be said that he's born from pleasure because his father's name is Nanda, which means ananda. Krishna is visible to man with great difficulty. any material process. Actually it's very easy to see Krishna if one has got the eyes of love to see Krishna. Otherwise Krishna is very rarely seen. And even if he's seen, he won't be understood by materialistic people. Krishna's presence mocks the world of man. This is wonderful. Here we are living in this world. We're proud of our great society. We build so many buildings. just round the corner from here, Union Brewery. So the owner of the Union Beer Company must be proud of this modern fancy looking brewery. And the architect must be proud. And the constructor, those who built it and the construction company, what a wonderful thing. This is one of the best sites of Ljubljana. It's an architectural plus. just that I'm from Britain, as Prabhupada said, the British are the most puffed up people in the world. So our Britain is so wonderful, rural Britannia. Britain is so great, even though their football team always loses, and their cricket team always loses. But nevertheless, there was once a great empire. So we are the British, or whatever. Everyone thinks they're great. I used to laugh. I was in Bangladesh. cars. At that time there were very few cars and lots of cycle rickshaws. So the people who had cars, they were the Bangladeshi people who had cars. There are not many of them. But they had reconditioned Japanese cars. That means cars the Japanese threw away. They put a new engine or re-souped up the engine and sent it to Bangladesh and sold to the richest Bangladeshis. And they'll be driving around. a hired driver. And they'll look very proud. I have a car. And this is a car that in the West, you know, a father may give his kid on their 17th birthday when they're allowed to drive. So just some useless old car, they drive around and smash it up. So we're so puffed up, whatever we have, a pauper is proud of his penny. It's an English saying which Prabhupada quoted. A pauper is proud of his penny. That means among penniless people, someone somehow or the other gets $100. So he goes back to his slum and says, hmm, I've got $100. So Krishna marks the world of men. Everyone is so proud. I am so great. I am so wonderful. Whatever it may be. We're American. We went to the moon. We are the most powerful country in the world. world. What to speak of this tiny universe, what to speak of this tiny planet, what to speak of this tiny America, or really tiny Slovenia. Krishna marks. I mean, I can, coming from such a great nation as Britain, I can mock Slovenia. But Krishna marks. directly mock, but just his presence makes everything seem, what it is, insignificant, meaningless, child's play. It's so wonderful, the description of Krishna. What number are we on? I've got lost. Yeah, 56. Only another 89 to go. If you don't like, you can go away. I'll enjoy. Krishna, ah, this is really, this is very nice. Krishna is the object of palatable drink of the human eye. books. In Vrindavan, Krishna was the sinnor-seer of all eyes. Sinnor-seer means the object, the sinner-seer of all eyes means the object of what everyone is looking at. That means everyone is attracted to look at Krishna. Ah, Krishna, ah, ah, Krishna, ah. wanted to see Krishna, because to see Krishna is compared with drinking, just the pleasure you get from nectar, drinking nectar. So drinking nectar through the eyes, that is Krishna. There's that story that Dhana does. I was talking about him yesterday. He was with his wife, who was very beautiful. And he was always looking, he was holding an umbrella over her head and looking at her all the time. great fool. He's overly attracted to his wife. So he said to him, why are you always looking at this woman? Actually, I don't think he was ever his girlfriend. She was a prostitute at the time. He said, you see, have you not seen such beautiful eyes? How can I not take my eyes off her eyes? They're so beautiful. So Ramanuja said, I can show you more beautiful eyes than that, if you will agree. There are no more beautiful eyes. Yes, I will show you more beautiful eyes. If you say you can, you take me, but I don't believe. Then he took him to the temple of Ranganath, Lord Vishnu. Just see these beautiful eyes. By the grace of Ramanuja, Ramanuja Acharya, his Dhanadas had the vision, oh yes, these eyes are much more beautiful than the material eyes. of all. Yes, so this is a repeat. Krishna is worthy of the worship of all the worlds. Krishna is worthy of the worship of all the worlds. So sometimes people say, why are you doing this? You're doing all this worship of Krishna. So our answer is then, why are you not doing? Everyone should do. to worship is, if we don't worship Krishna, we worship a, in the modern age they'll worship a football star, or a cinema star, or a pop star. But these people are not worthy of worship. Krishna is worthy of worship. He is the proper object of worship, even for Lord Brahma. So what to speak of insignificant beings like ourselves. Krishna accommodates all the worlds. Yes. So, just like for instance, if Durvasa Muni was to come here today, would you be able to accommodate him? You say, why not? Durvasa Muni is only one person. No, because wherever Durvasa Muni goes, he goes with his disciples. And he has 60,000 disciples. So if he was to visit Iskcon Lubliana and say, I'd like to come to the Janmashtami festival, you say, there's no space. We only have this courtyard. room. Today we're having the festival in the courtyard, but we don't have space for 60,000 people. What shall we do? Durvasa Muni will get angry. You don't have space for me? What to do? Where is there enough space? Or the refugees are running away from one country. And the soldiers on the other side are pushing them back. Then they're caught in difficulty. If we go back, we'll be killed. come. No, there's no space in our country. We don't have space for you. We're already overcrowded. So there's limited space. But Krishna provides the space in which everything exists. Krishna accommodates all the worlds. Krishna is the manifesto of all light. God is light. You ever heard that? People like to say. So that's true. God is light. that's not completely true. Rather, it's true he's light, but it's not that light that is the sum total of God's Godness. Rather, he is the manifesto of that light. He is light because light is non-different from him. You need a break, is it? Translating is hard work. Is there anyone else who can translate? Okay. Slower. Krishna. Actually, I could use some water. You know that glass of mine? And that lota, yeah, and there's some water is there. And although I'm not the Supersoul within Divya Prabhanda Prabhu's heart, but I would guess that he probably needs some water also. So, Krishna is unstinted in giving himself away to one who recollects him. means to call to memory, to one who has the habit of remembering Krishna. No, unstinted means in this sense, in this context, it means without any reserve. He doesn't hold himself back. He gives himself fully to those who recollect him. So recollect means to call to memory. Now we're always supposed to remember Krishna, but there may be directly and indirectly. That means we may be doing some work for Krishna, but we're concentrating on the work. Just like if you're cooking a chapati, you have to concentrate on it. You're doing it for Krishna, to offer to Krishna, but you have to concentrate. So we're thinking of Krishna because we're thinking of doing this service for Krishna. But the concentration is on making the chapati. You have to concentrate. you have to go back, otherwise it will get burned. Even to make a chapati, you have to get the right kind of flour, it should be milled properly. If there's not enough brown matter, then it won't make a nice chapati, the brown. Then you have to mix it with water, just the right consistency. You have to leave it for some time. mix it means you have to knead it, but not too much. And then leave it for some time. And you have to roll it out to the right thickness. And depending on the thickness, you have to have the flame just, of course, we're talking about gas fire here, but it may be on a wood fire, or a cow dung fire. So you just have to put it, and comparing to the thickness of the tawa, you have to see that. for that. Whatever it's called. Pan you could call, yeah. Then you have to put it, you have to see, and then you have to cook it just right, at the right speed, not too long, not too short. So it's a whole art, just how to make a chapati. that, doing it for Krishna, but then when you're finished, you may have the awe now, may recall to mind Krishna, directly remember Krishna. So both are non-different actually. If we're fully absorbed in serving Krishna, that is as good as thinking of Krishna. And the result of that is that we will call to, automatically we'll remember Krishna. like someone may come and just say, why are you burning all the chapatis? You can't offer that to Krishna. Oh, that's true. So everything should be done in consciousness of Krishna. Or actually here on this side of the world, they tend to undercook the chapatis and not burn them. They're afraid of any little mark comes on it, and they're afraid. But actually the mark should come on it anyway. gives himself to that person. Krishna is the efficient cause. That's already discussed. Krishna, although devoid of all mundane quality, assumes mundane qualities by his inconceivable power for the purpose of creation, etc. This means that Krishna has no contact with this material world. world. So these are the guna avatars, Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva. Lord Krishna assumes these forms. Even though Krishna is beyond all mundane qualities, Krishna assumes these forms in the mode of goodness, passion and ignorance for the sake of creating, maintaining and destroying the mundane world. Krishna is not subject to change. subject to change. Krishna is not subject to change. There are six kinds of changes or transformation that everything in this material world comes into being, expands or grows or develops, stays for some time, produces by-products, dwindles and is destroyed. These are the shada vikas, six kinds of changes. Krishna is not subject to such changes. We may say, well Krishna also changes. Krishna's form as a baby is eternal. How eternal? He was a baby and then he became grown up. Then where was the baby? The baby is eternal. The baby form of Krishna is in another universe because Krishna's pastimes are going on eternally. Krishna is not subject to change. Krishna is not capable of discrimination by reason of being void of any extraneous covering. What this means, I can deduce, is that here discrimination is used not in the sense of making a judgment, but it's used in the sense of being discerned, which means being seen. This is very archaic old English actually. So Krishna cannot be seen by reason of being void of any, he doesn't have any external covering. But it would be thought that if he has an external covering then he cannot be seen. cannot be seen because he doesn't have an external covering. In other words, we cannot see Krishna if we think that he's an ordinary person of this material world. Even if we see him, we cannot see him. Just like Duryodhana saw Krishna, but he never understood he was the Supreme Personality of Godhead because he considered him an ordinary person. is the giver of himself to those who covet nothing. A kinchana dhan is a better word. Krishna is the property of those who desire nothing in this material world. If we desire nothing, I don't want wealth, followers, women. Krishna becomes the property of such a person because he gives himself to such a person. Krishna does no work. have to go to the office or factory or work in the fields. He does work in a sense, he looks after the cows, but that is not work, it is all play. Even his creating, maintaining and destroying the material world, everything for him is play. Krishna has no work. He's not obliged to do any work. Krishna is human, hidden, primal person, purusha. like form, but nevertheless he is hidden, his nature is hidden to those who he does not reveal himself to. He is the primal person, original person. Krishna is present in the hearts of Jivas like the five elements. Just like the five elements, they are present within the material cosmos, but they cannot be seen, they are unmanifest. You cannot see pure earth. The element, when we say earth element, when we say earth it doesn't mean you dig up the earth, that's not what it means. It means solidity, that which possesses solidity. Water means that which possesses liquidity. Fire means that which is hot, that's why we say fire in the stomach. If you do an x-ray of the stomach you won't see any flames, but it means that which has the quality of heat. material world, but they cannot be perceived in the same way Krishna is present within every Jiva. Krishna is the supreme sorcerer, the supreme mystic. We may manifest some mystic powers. Pull a rabbit out of my ear, oh it didn't work. Sometimes it works, didn't work today, maybe because we are fasting. Anyway, sometimes I pull rabbits out of my ears. I don't, but some people know the trick how to pull rabbits out of their ears and perform various mystical tricks like bringing people back to life. Maya Danava did that, Jesus did that, it's a mystic power. Krishna is the supreme mystic, the supreme yogi. Krishna is the supreme Godhead and the internal guide of all. That's again repetitive, but again to hear it again is very nice. can say it again. So let's say it one more time. Krishna is the supreme Godhead and the internal guide of all. And go on to the next one, which is number 73. Krishna is the crest jewel of those whose praises are sung by the sacred law, L-O-R-E, law. That's a little bit. Law, you know what that means? Law here, it means like a literary tradition. best of all the persons praised in the Vedas is Krishna. Krishna is. Krishna is the primal person and ever existing. He is the person who came before all other persons. Now sometimes people say, well who created God? People think that's a good argument. But God, if at all we are to accept that there is God, then by nature he cannot have any other cause. He is always existing. objects of worship. Some people worship trees, some people worship ghosts, some people worship their forefathers, some people worship various demigods. The highest object of worship is Krishna. Krishna is the healer of the miseries of the submissive. This is very important. We hear a lot these days about healing. psychological scars. So there are various persons who purport to be our well-wishers. I will heal you of your psychological scars. But we should know that our real well-wisher is Krishna and he can heal us if we are submissive to him. being submissive to Krishna is another demonstration of one's enviousness of Krishna, trying to take the position of Krishna. So it is Krishna who heals and if we simply take to the process of Krishna consciousness very seriously, then we will be, seriously means here submissiveness is stressed, then we will be healed from our various miseries. of the sins of the submissive. As Krishna states in Bhagavad Gita, what is that verse? Anyone? No. Krishna is the destroyer of the sins of the submissive. What's the use of learning verses if you don't know when to quote them? Which means that succinctly it may be stated that Krishna is the destroyer of the sins of the submissive. If we are distressed, oh, so much pain in my heart, go to Krishna, be submissive to Krishna. Krishna will destroy our distress. Krishna is the residue after the cataclysm. This is so wonderful. excerpts from the Tenth Canto, selection from the Tenth Canto of all different qualities of Krishna. When everything is finished, Krishna will remain. What's the names of these mountains in Slovenia? Is it still the Alps? It's the edge of the Alps, is it? It's the baby Alps. These are not the real big Alps though. It's just the beginning. I come from Britain, we don't have big mountains there, but we look down on Slovenians anyway. Sorry? Almost 3,000 meters high. Well, you should go to the Himalayas. Actually Prabhupada said about, he was flying over the Alps once, and he was flying over Switzerland, and he said that these mountains go up to the next Varsha. see, which Prabhupada can see, they are much higher than we think they are. They go up to the next planetary level. So anyway, what were we talking about here? I got a little carried away. So these mountains will not exist. They will be finished in due course of time. The whole universe will be finished. And what will remain? Krishna. are finished, when the oceans are finished, when there's no more Adriatic Sea left to go to for holidays, then Krishna will remain. When all the planets are finished, Krishna will remain. Krishna is devoid of touch with the mundane senses. Mundane senses cannot reach Krishna. Hmm, I should keep my finger here. Krishna is the soul and friend of all animate entities. names is Jiva. We find in the Vishnu Sahasrana. Jiva, generally we think, this means, the general meaning of Jiva is a living being, separate from Krishna. Jiva Tattva. Separated energy, separate and not separate. But the life of all that lives is Krishna. And because he is the life, he is intimately connected with us. connected with her child. The mother, at least superficially, gives birth to the child. Therefore she always cares for the child. Even if the child doesn't care for her, the mother can never renounce her love for her child. So in the same way, Krishna gives life to all living beings. Therefore he always loves all living beings. He is the life of all living beings and the friend of all living beings. to an alien. Maybe I'll just explain that. I'll explain it. It's not ordinary English. It's unusual English. So Krishna is not an alien. He is not a foreign person. He is not something different to us. He is not someone to be rejected. He is a foreigner. No, he is one of us. He is not of a different nature to us. He is very much one of us. us, yet he is very much one of us. Krishna is inconceivable by his very nature. Everything about Krishna is unlimited. So as jivas, as individual living beings, we have limited capacity to perceive and to understand. But Krishna is unlimited, therefore by his very nature he is inconceivable. It's pretty good if you can translate this because it's pretty philosophical stuff. That's good. Canto. Sentimental people think we shall just listen to Krishna Leela. We only want the Tenth Canto. So if someone says I only want the Tenth Canto, you can give them this. It's all Tenth Canto. Krishna consciousness is all on a very philosophical basis. It's not sentiment alone. Krishna is the master of the universe. because even people with a very rudimentary level of God consciousness, they understand that God is the master of the universe. Even any Christian or Muslim will tell you that. So Krishna is the master of the universe and he is the nourisher of the universe. That means every living being attains nourishment from food, from air, from water. The bodies are nourished. by sleep. There are so many factors that lead to our nourishment. But they all come from Krishna. If we consider this material world, it's so complex. Krishna is the source of everything. Oh, this is very beautiful. Krishna is the sun that cheers the lotus of the kindred of the Vrishnis. So here the Vrishnis are compared to a lotus. kinds of lotus that close up at night. And then when the sun rays come, then they open up again. Open and close. Can Bhavananda Rai grow some of them? Not here. They won't survive in the winter here. So there are similar flowers here. So the example is given that Krishna is just like the sun in relationship to the Vrishnis who are just like the lotus, who they open up and become inspired. who is just like the sun. Krishna is the God worshipped by the Brahmanas. Does anyone know that term? Brahmanyadev. He is the God worshipped by the Brahmanas. Of course he is worshipped by so many others. But particularly by the Brahmanas, everyone in Vedic society is supposed to worship, do some kind of worship. much time doing worship. And the true Brahmanas are those who worship Krishna. He is known as Brahmanyadev or the God who is worshipped by the Brahmanas. Krishna is the foremost of the Brahmanas. Now that seems very strange because Krishna appears as a Kshatriya or maybe a Vaishya. But he is the foremost of the Brahmanas. in the caste system by birth, then Lord Brahma is the first Brahmana. He took birth from Krishna. Actually Krishna is transcendental to all these castes. But he is the foremost of the Brahmanas because Brahmana means Brahma janatiti Brahmana. One who has got knowledge of Brahman, who has got spiritual knowledge, he is a Brahmana. So in that sense Krishna is the foremost of the Brahmanas. that I just said. Brahma is called Ajah one day, one who has no birth. But he is born another name for him is Padmaja who is born from the lotus. Padmaja is also a name for Krishna which means he gives birth to the lotus. So Krishna gives birth to the lotus from which Brahma takes birth. Krishna is the worshipped of Brahma. Young Brahma, Varunendra, Rudra, Maruta, Stunvanti, Divyai, Stavai. All the demigods headed by Brahma, they worship Krishna. Krishna, this is not a Krishna is. Most of these are Krishna is. And now we have something slightly different. Krishna loves his devotees. How do we know? Because it is said in Bhagavata. Krishna, here is another one which isn't Krishna is. Krishna wears forms in accordance with the wishes of his devotee. Krishna assumes various forms for the satisfaction of his devotees. Just like Hanuman said, Srinath, Janakinath, Abhidha, Paramatman, Tasmat, Namasarvas, from Rama, Kamal, Janaha. He said that I know that Srinath or Narayana and Janakinath, Lord Ram. Srinath means the Lord of Lakshmi. Janakinath means the Lord of Sita. personality of Godhead. But nevertheless as far as I am concerned, my worship of the Lord is the lotus-eyed Rama. So Krishna assumes various forms for the satisfaction of his devotees. That doesn't mean that one can imagine any imaginary form and say this is God. Krishna has specific forms which are attractive to genuine devotees. And certain devotees are attracted to various forms. has analysed that the most attractive form of the Lord is his original form that Krishna has Kaviraj Goswami also says, Krishna Jyotek Kailasarvottam Nara Lila, Nara Bapu Taha Sarup. That among all the different forms of the Lord, Ramana, Shringha, Varaha, Akarma, Vamana, the most attract, the topmost are the human forms and among all his pastimes, pastimes are the topmost because his human-like form is his very form, it's his original form. So Rupa Goswami has analysed that Krishna, among all the forms, the most attractive is Krishna because Krishna has four specific qualities which even the Narayan forms don't have and which even the Narayan forms are attracted to. Dashavatar Stotram, about the ten of it, but there are unlimited forms of the Lord, not just ten forms. But all these different forms of the Lord, Ramana, Shringha, Varaha, Akarma, etc., they also worship Krishna. So when Gauriya Vaishnavas can also worship various forms of the Lord, knowing that they are the Supreme Lord, yet they are also devotees of Krishna. Inconceivably so. Madhuri, his amazing incomparable pastimes, incomparable even to those of the Narayan and his various, anyone else can say, any of the others? Now we know you know. His Venu Madhuri. Krishna has three kinds of flutes, namely Venu, anyone? The other two? Venu, Vamsi and Murali. But his Venu, that's the little one, he just sticks it in his belt, it's convenient. all the worlds. The Yamuna becomes still, to stop and listen. That which is liquid becomes solid, that which is solid like the rocks, they melt on hearing Krishna's flute. The calves who are so busy sucking the milk from their mothers, the cows, they stop. The deer becomes stunned on hearing the sound of Krishna's flute, which even Narayan doesn't have. Then? Another? Anyone else? Two more? Anyone else can say? Anyone? All right, you say. Yes, Parikama Madhuri, or Prema Madhuri. Krishna's devotees are one of his special qualities. Of course, Narayan, Rama, Nrsimha, they all have devotees. But the devotees of Lord Krishna in his original form, this especially means Krishna in Vrindavan by the way, because he doesn't play his flute outside Vrindavan, have swords. Cowherd boys have flutes. So this especially refers to, these four qualities especially means Krishna in Vrindavan. So Krishna has, the devotees, the level of devotion they have for him is incomparable, even to that of others. And then one more. Anyone from over there? One more special feature of Krishna. Rupa Madhuri, his form is the sweetest of the sweet. So, which one am I on? No, it's not. Krishna loves his devotees, isn't it? No, Krishna wears forms in accordance with the wishes of his devotees. So that was a little elaboration on that. Nevertheless, Krishna has many forms, but the best form is Krishna. Krishna is eternally present in Mathura. He's a Mathura man. appears to be like a liar, a cheat, badly behaved, unreliable. Well, it's not surprising because he's from Mathura, and people from Mathura are like that even today. We shouldn't make any offenses against them. That's actually stated in Shastra that Krishna's, one devotee was saying to Krishna like this, what can we expect? You're a Mathura person. devoid of the sense of kinship and regards all in the same way. Kinship, in this Mathura world, we think this is my country, this is my family, and in this world we have friends and enemies. Just like I heard in Macedonia, in English we say Macedonia, you say Macedonia, isn't it? Yeah. That even today they have this kind of blood feuds which go on generation after generation, different families. killed another, so it goes on from time to time. Some members of a family are sitting in a cafe, and someone comes up in a car, jumps out with a machine gun and shoots them all dead, and drives off. And then again, the members from that family after some time, they go in their village and shoot them all dead. Because this is an extreme example. Also we have, you see, like Northern Ireland, because of the Battle of the Boyne, there was a battle which took place in 1700 and something, and the Protestants and Catholics are still fighting over that. If we ask them what is the reason that they're fighting, what actually are you fighting about? The Battle of the Boyne. That's Northern Ireland accent. It's because of the Battle of the Boyne. It makes no sense. like that. He loves everyone. He's devoid of a sense of kinship, that these are mine, these are my friends, these are my enemies. He loves everyone equally. Of course, if someone becomes his enemy, he reciprocates, but he doesn't have intrinsic hatred for anyone. Krishna is beyond all measuring potency, known as Maya. Everything within this material world is measurable. Just like you say, I bought some nine inch deities. Krishna is not nine inches tall. Even sometimes deities, they get fatter or thinner, it may be. Don't think that because they're in that form, they have to remain like that. gave the devotees the opportunity to show that they're genuine representatives of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they let me stay in the temple. So, at Bhaktivedanta Manor in those days, you can see the photos. Radha, Gokula, Ananda were very thin, because there was no money and the devotees were not feeding them very much. And then a new GBC came and said, feed them. 120 huge sandeshas, all different varieties, among other kinds of milk sweets, and that's only Mangalati. So, they started feeding Radha, Gokula, Ananda, and that caused a big problem, because within two weeks, none of their clothes fitted them anymore, and everyone could see how they were getting fatter. new clothes for them. I personally witnessed, I have mystical stories also about Krishna. So, Krishna, of course they had to measure the outfit for the immeasurable Krishna. And interestingly enough, when they started to do that, the poverty stricken temple where there was no money, so much money came. And now Bhaktivedanta Manor, so much money comes. Today alone on Janmashtami, they are going to collect hundreds and thousands of pounds. So many people are coming. Prabhupada said, feed Krishna. Lakshmi, she is looking after. Don't think we don't have any Lakshmi. If you don't have any Lakshmi, you won't have any Lakshmi. Means Lakshmi won't manifest. You feed Krishna and Lakshmi will make all arrangements. Oh, you want to feed Krishna. Lakshmi's job is to feed Narayana. So, now I have to find again. 96, I keep on losing. Krishna is subdued by the love of Yudhisthira. Specifically, Yudhisthira is mentioned. Of course, all the devotees, but specifically Yudhisthira is mentioned. How wonderful is Maharaj Yudhisthira. He was able to subdue Duryodhana because Krishna was submissive to him. That story is well known. Arjuna, acting on behalf of Yudhisthira, came to Krishna when he was resting in his tent. And Duryodhana came at the same time. They both had the same object. They wanted Krishna to help them in the battle. Because they knew, Krishna himself, he is already shown, he can kill all the soldiers on any side, just by himself. Krishna is the best fighter. So, Arjuna and Duryodhana, they both came to get Krishna's help. And Krishna was lying down on his bed, resting. So, Arjuna waited at the feet of Krishna. And Duryodhana, being puffed up, waited by his head. He thought, I am not going to stand at his feet. So, when Krishna woke up, he opened his eyes and he saw Arjuna. Oh, I am here too. Oh, Duryodhana. Duryodhana said, I want you to help in the battle. You have to help me. What do you want, Arjuna? Well, I also want you to help me. I have come for this. So, Krishna said that, all right, you both came, so I have to help you both. So, you can either take me personally or my army, whichever you want. I will give one to one and one to the other. But if you take me, I am not going to fight. I will just be with you. I can do something else, like carrying water or something. Driving a chariot, something like that. But, who to give the first choice to? I will give it to Arjuna, because I saw him first. And Duryodhana thought, oh no. And Arjuna said, Krishna, I have to choose between you and all your armies. I cannot choose. It is not possible for me to choose, because I cannot even think of choosing. I can only take you. What is the value of anything else except you? And Duryodhana was thinking, hey, that's great, the fool. He took Krishna and Krishna is not even going to fight, such a fool. Oh great, I will take all the army. So, Duryodhana was the fool. The Pandavas must always be successful in fighting, because Krishna is on their side. Even if he doesn't fight, they must be successful. Because, as he stated at the end of Bhagavad Gita, yatra yogeshwara krishna, yatra padana dana daraha, tatra sriya vijaya bhutya, dhruvani timati mama, wherever there is Krishna, the master of all mystics, even if he doesn't fight, he is the master of all mystics. He has the method to make everything work, even without fighting. And what to speak of Arjuna, who was fighting, and he is the best of all bowmen. So wherever there are these two, there is certainly victory, morality, tatra sriya. There is certainly auspiciousness, victory and morality. Krishna is concealed by the screen of maya from the sight of people. Show me God. I don't believe in God. Show me God. Cannot see him. Just like if there is a thick curtain. Cannot see what is behind. So if we insist that we shall see without removing the curtain, it is not possible. And the curtain is removed from the other side. It cannot be removed from this side. That means Krishna himself will open the curtain. When Krishna is convinced that we are worthy to see him. Krishna does not follow the ways of the world. Krishna is different. We see often, especially that hippie generation, 1960s it began. They wanted to be different. The thing is that they all became, then they started growing their hair, which at that time for men to grow long hair was considered very bad. It was considered actually very, people thought it was something very bad, something morally wrong that men should have long hair. So the hippies were different. The thing is they were all different in the same way. They were all trying to be different, but they all did the same thing. And then there were different things that tried to be different. Then you had punk rockers who put things in nails in their noses and kept a rat on their shoulder. And then they had green, red, blue and yellow hair on half the side of their head in spikes coming up. Trying to be different, but the thing is that it was all too similar to each other. They were all different, but then they became just another category of materialistic people. So some people try to be different, but intrinsically they have to follow the ways of the world. They may say, I'm different. You're not different. You have to suffer birth, death, old age and disease just the same as anyone else. But Krishna actually is different. He's not under the control of material nature. He's not forced to follow the ways of the world. He follows general morality generally, but he's not forced to do so. He's not forced to follow even Vedic Dharma. Although what he does is the ultimate Dharma, but he's not under the constraints of ordinary Dharma, nor any morality conceived of by mundane people, nor is he, even different people invent different modes of living, subcultures. Krishna is not obliged to act according to any way that people think he should do. He is independent. Krishna is the destroyer of the fear of the mundane sojourn of the submissive. Is that the time? Quarter to one. We're about two thirds through now. We're going quickly. Just giving a summary of each one. Krishna is the destroyer of the fear of the mundane sojourn of the submissive. So that means the fear of material life. Those who are in material life, that is a fearsome situation. But if we become submissive to Krishna, Krishna destroys the fear of material life. Number one hundred. Krishna is the womb of the scriptures. In other words, the scriptures come from Krishna. Krishna is Sri Guru of oneself. Krishna is the natural Guru of everybody. When we say Guru, what does that mean? Guru means representative of Krishna. The original Guru is Krishna. Guru means who represents Krishna. Krishna means he only speaks as Krishna speaks and only behaves as Krishna ordains. So Krishna is the ultimate Guru. Krishna is devoid of hankering for wife, offspring, etc. In the material world, everyone desires these things. Unless one is a liberated soul. Krishna is a liberated soul. Krishna is so liberated that simply by thinking of him, one becomes liberated. So certainly Krishna has, even though he has wife, offspring and all these things, but he has no mundane desire for them. He marries 16,108 queens to give pleasure to them and to experience himself, the spiritual pleasure of giving pleasure to them and being served by them. But he has no mundane desire to expand himself as wife in the form of a family and children. He has no such mundane desire. He has already expanded himself as every living being and everything in the cosmos and everything beyond the cosmos. When we say Krishna accepts 16,108 wives, we may think that's very many, but actually every living being is part and parcel of Krishna. Every living being is by nature Krishna's wife. Already, it's not that Krishna ultimately doesn't marry anyone because everyone is eternally the servant of Krishna. Number 103, Krishna is the ordainer of the worldly sojourn and of the samambonam. Very simply we can say that Krishna, he sets up the system by which there is a mundane world and a spiritual world. People say, why does this world exist? Why did God do it? God did? That's up to him. He did like that. He made it. It's not ours to question why. Krishna is the cause of all entities. Already stated, Krishna is the friend of the good. Already it's been stated that Krishna has no particular attraction to anyone, but at the same time those who are good, those are his devotees, Krishna takes special care of them. He is especially friendly to them. Krishna is defied of discrimination as of kinship. Yes, so that's also been stated that transcendentally he has his friends, family, but not in a material sense because Krishna is related to everyone, so he doesn't make any mundane discrimination. Anyone who wants to come to Krishna is welcome to come. Krishna is in existence. Just in case anyone thought this is all mythology, it is affirmed in the Srimad Bhagavatam that Krishna exists. Krishna is real. Krishna is true. There is nothing but Krishna. Krishna possesses true desire. The Buddhists have analyzed that the cause of all suffering is desire. This statement is partially true. The cause of all suffering is material desire, but the cause of all pleasure is real desire. Krishna possesses that true desire. Krishna is the true entity. Coke is not the real thing. Krishna is the real substantive entity. Krishna is true of speech, as Queen Kuntidevi stated, that the sun may freeze and the moon may give forth hot light, but Krishna, the ocean may dry up, but Krishna will never renege on his promise. Renege means go back on. He will always fulfill his promise. Krishna is true of resolve. Resolve means his decision to do something. So Krishna is not spaced out, this means. When he desires to do something and he does it, he doesn't think, well, maybe I should, I shouldn't. Krishna decides he does it. That is the sign of a great person even in this material world, that they make a decision and they follow it through. Krishna sees with an equal eye. That's already been described. It's just being described in a different way, that he sees everyone equally. Krishna is the cause of all causes. Krishna is the originator of all. Krishna is the soul's own self of all jivas, individual souls. Krishna is omniscient. So all these things have been stated. They're just being stated again in a slightly different way. Omniscient means that that's one feature. When we say Krishna knows everything, knowing, there are various factors of knowing. So awareness is one factor. Omniscience means awareness of everything. Awareness is one factor of knowing. Just like I am aware that this is a microphone. Awareness. Consciousness. So I know this is a microphone. I know it's a microphone, it's an amplification, it's part of an amplification system. But I don't know how it works. I'm aware what it is, but I don't know how it works. So Krishna not only knows everything in the sense that he knows everything exists, but he also knows how everything works, how everything interacts. His omniscience refers to his awareness of everything. Krishna is all-seeing. He sees into the very core of our hearts. Krishna is the Lord of all. This is also axiomatic, just like that anyone who believes in God accepts that they are the Lord of all, at least if they have a slightly personalistic understanding of God. He is the Lord of all. Krishna is the embodiment of all gods. That means that all the gods are personified in Krishna. Indra, Chandra, Vayu, they all have different functions. They take their power to do so, and their function of doing so is embodied in Krishna. Just like Indra means king. The greatest king is Krishna. The Indraness of Indra is in Krishna. The Chandraness, or the sense of being the god of the moon, that is in Krishna. It's all very interesting, at least to me. I never thought of so many things. This is all bordering on very complex philosophy, actually. We could get into it more, but it's already ten to one, and we lost half of them, but still. You might as well stay to the end. We've been through 118, and there's only 27 left. No, wait a minute. We've been through 120, only 25 left. Krishna is the stay, ashraya of all entities. Ashraya means shelter. Here, Bhaktisthana Saraswati Thakur uses the word stay, again in a practically archaic sense. How to explain that, the stay? You have to get a dictionary to define it. I know what it means, but just to... Yeah, yeah, like that, yeah. He's that in which all living beings exist, but which also, not only they exist in it, but it also means that he supports them. Stay in this sense means like support. So Krishna gives shelter, means gives support, of all living beings. Krishna is all-pervasive and eternal. Actually, we got as far as 122, we didn't get this all-pervasive yet. That's an important quality of God. That's again something which all theists will say, that he's all... Actually, it's almost... If we don't understand this properly, how Krishna is all-pervasive, then we'll take God to be impersonal. Mostly people say, oh yes, God is everywhere. He's omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He's omnipresent, yes, but also... He's in everyone's heart, he's everywhere, but he's also in his own abode, in his original form, Goloka. Which number are you? Yeah. Krishna is the soul of all elements. Element means, means there's no soul, but Krishna is the soul of all elements. That which gives existence to the elements is Krishna. Krishna is the knower of the minds of all elements. Do elements have minds? Ultimately they do, because all the elements are represented by various demigods. Just like the earth, Bhoomidevi, water, Varuna, fire, Agni, air is Vayu, and Issa. Who is the God of Issa? Is it the Ashrami Kumars? Is it? It may be, I don't know. You can check it out. Krishna is the soul's self of all elements. I'm sure if Bhaktisthansa Sartako is going to explain it, he could do so, but this is getting, this is the difference between this, between the soul of all elements and the soul's self of all elements. This subtlety is beyond my level of penetration at this particular point in time. Krishna is the internal guide of all elements. How the elements are. You see, volcano, or the avalanche, earthquake, all the elements are moving. Krishna is under Krishna's direction. Krishna is the cause of the origin of all elements. The cause of the origin. So origin also means like cause. So even if we, by scientific analysis, find out that there is some material cause of the elements, still there is a cause of that material cause which is Krishna. The ultimate cause of everything material is non-material. There cannot be an, the ultimate cause of everything material cannot be material. It must be supramundane. That is Krishna. Krishna is the limit of all good. Krishna is unlimited, but if we find out the best person in this world, we'll find a better person is Krishna. Just like in the modern era, Mother Teresa has been much lauded for the good work that she did for others. But the good that Krishna does is far, far greater than the good that millions of Mother Teresas together could do. The doing good that she does is limited. The doing good that Krishna does is unlimited. Krishna is omnipotent. He has all power to do all things in all times and all places and all circumstances. No one can check Krishna's desire. Krishna is the Lord of Lakshmi, the presiding deity of all riches. So if you want Lakshmi, better not to try to take away as Ravana did, try to take away Lakshmi from Narayana. But serve Narayana and you will get Lakshmi also. You may not get Lakshmi in this world, you may or may not, but we will get Krishna. And if we get Krishna, then Lakshmi comes. Krishna is the internal guide of all, already said. Krishna is the stay ashram, already said. Krishna is the witness and seer of the self. Yes, Krishna sees everything and witnesses everything. Krishna is the refuge of the good. Those who are not good, those who are not devotees, they do not take refuge in Krishna. We see that various demons, they have worshipped various demigods. Just like Ravana worshipped Lord Shiva and Hiranyakashipu worshipped Brahma. But we never find that any demon worships Vishnu. Because if they worship Vishnu, they will become purified. Then they won't be a demon anymore. And they don't want to be purified. By their very nature they want to be a rascal. So, Krishna is the refuge of the good. Because the materialistic people who approach demigods, they want something material from them. And they know they can get it from them. But if we worship Krishna, even for a material boon, we don't know whether he'll give it or not. He may not give it. He may rather, if we worship him, he may take everything material away from us. But he takes everything away from us and gives himself to us. So, Krishna is the refuge of the good. The bad do not like to come to Krishna. And that is the symptom of their badness. That is the main characteristic of their badness, is that they do not like to take shelter of Krishna. Krishna is most difficult to serve. Sounds very strange. You see, we are talking about Hiranyakashipu, how he approached Lord Brahma by performing very difficult austerities. Ravana also, by great austerities, he approached Lord Shiva. And Lord Krishna says, patram pushpam phalantayam yome bhaktya prayacchati tadaham bhakti-uparitam ashnami prayatatmana If you offer me with love, leaf, flower, fruit or water, I will accept it. So how is Krishna difficult to serve? It seems very easy. It is very easy. But there is just one condition by which Ravana could not worship Lord Vishnu. He could perform severe austerities. But there is one thing too difficult to do for Ravana, by which he cannot worship Vishnu. And the same for Hiranyakashipu. Very severe austerities, but he could not worship Vishnu. It's too difficult for him to worship Vishnu. He can stand on one toe for thousands of years and his whole body rot away and be covered by an anthill. He can do, that's difficult. But there is something which is too difficult for him to do. And that is to give up his false ego. To become submissive and admit that there is someone greater than me, namely Vishnu. So Krishna is difficult to worship if we are puffed up. Otherwise it's very easy. Krishna is the friend of one's heart. This means suhrit. In Sanskrit there are different words for friend. Mitra, bandhu, suhrit. Mitra means an ordinary friend. Bandhu means a good friend. Suhrit means heart to heart friend. That I can die for you, you can die for me. Krishna is within our heart. He is such a good friend, that we have rejected him for millions of lifetimes. But he loves us so much, if we once turn to him, he will immediately accept us. Krishna is the withholder of creation. That means that the creation only takes place when Krishna desires it to do so. Krishna is, oh here actually he is using the word in a different sense. I can see from the next verse. Krishna is withholder, creator and preserver. That means Krishna creates, maintains and destroys the material world. Generally we think it's Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva. But actually it's all done by Vishnu. And Brahma and Shiva do so. Actually it's Krishna, we are saying Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna is. So even Vishnu is an expansion of Krishna. So the guna avatars, Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva, they are simply representatives of Krishna in one sense non-different from Krishna, who is the ultimate creator, of the creation. Krishna is the master of the functions of creation etc. Yes, the power to create, maintain and destroy comes from Krishna. That's why Brahma, he has to meditate on Krishna, then he gets power from Krishna to create. He is not an independent creator. Krishna is devoid of distinction as of kinship, already stated. Krishna is devoid of distinction as between kin and alien, more or less already stated. Krishna indwells in the universe created by himself. Yes, Krishna as Mahavishnu creates the universe, then as Garbhodakshay Vishnu he enters within that universe and dwells within it. And also again as Kshiradakshay Vishnu. So Krishna is the destroyer of the worldly sojourn of his devotees, that's already stated also. But why it's been stated again? Because it's been quoted from a different verse. And again the last one is already... Krishna is the wearer of... no, actually it's not stated before. Before we had that Krishna takes different forms according to the wish of his devotees. And here it's stated, the last one, Krishna is the wearer of a body according to his own wish. Krishna takes different forms according to his own desire. These forms, Ram, Nrsimha, Varaha, Matsya, Kurma, Krishna takes these forms. We say why? Because he wants to. He's God. If he likes to, he can. He enjoys in various forms. This is Krishna. Krishna is everything. We'll finish there. All glories to Lord Sri Krishna on the festival of Janmashtami. All glories to Ved Vyas, who has compiled all this wonderful information about Krishna. All glories to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, who has collected these few, this is a selection of statements about Krishna, from the Srimad Bhagavatam 10th Canto. And all glories to Srila Prabhupada, who introduced us to all these wonderful personalities, of whom the root wonderful personality is Krishna. Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Hare