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ANNOUNCER: The following is a
class on the Bhagavad-gītā As It
Is, 16th chapter, text number 6,
given by His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupāda, recorded on
February 2, 1975 in Honolulu,
Hawaii.

NITĀI: “O son of Pṛthā, in this
world there are two kinds of
created beings. One is called the
divine and the other is the
demoniac. I have already
explained to you at length the
divine qualities. Now hear from
Me of the demoniac.”

PRABHUPĀDA:

dvau bhūta-sargau loke ’smin
daiva āsura eva ca daivo
vistaraśaḥ prokta āsuraṁ pārtha
me śṛṇu

Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is addressing
Arjuna as… Sometimes He
addresses him as Bhārata, “the
descendant of the Bharata
dynasty,” and sometimes He
addresses him as Pārtha, and
sometimes He addresses him,
Dhanañjaya, His friend. This time
He addresses him as Pārtha.
Pārtha means his mother’s name
was Pṛthā. From Pṛthā, the word
Pārtha comes. His mother
happened to be Kṛṣṇa’s father’s
sister. So very intimately and
friendly, He addresses him as
Pārtha, “My dear son of My aunt.”
That means “We have got very
intimate relationship. Not only
we are friends, but we have got
family relationship. So therefore I
am speaking you about the truth
that there are two classes of
living beings.” Two classes of
living beings, dvau. Dvau means
two. One class is called daiva, or
divine, divine nature, and the
other class is called demonic
nature, āsura. So in Viṣṇu-Purāṇa
there is also reference to this
context where it is said,

dvau bhūta-sargau loke ’smin
daiva āsura eva ca viṣṇu-bhakto
bhaved daiva asuras tad-
viparyayaḥ

Daiva means generally viṣṇu-
bhakta. Viṣṇu means the
Supreme Lord who is all-
pervasive. Everywhere He is
present. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme
Lord, He is Viṣṇu also in His
Paramātmā feature. Kṛṣṇa has
got three features. Brahmeti
paramātmeti bhagavān iti
śabdyate. Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute
Truth, He is known in three
features or three angle of visions.
One is Brahman, all-pervasive
Brahman. Sarvedam akhilaṁ
jagat. So Brahman means His
effulgence, bodily rays. Yasya
prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-
koṭi [Bs. 5.40]. His prabhā, His
bodily rays… You may ask, “What
is that bodily rays?” You can see
every day. Everyone has got
bodily rays according to his
quality. You see the sun, the
bodily rays, the sunshine. There is
sun-god within the sun globe
whose name is Vivasvān. That is
also mentioned in the Bhagavad-
gītā.

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān
aham avyayam vivasvān manave
prāha manur ikṣvākave ’bravīt
[Bg. 4.1]

Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ
rājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg. 4.2] So
exactly like that. Here sun is an
insignificant part, creation, of the
Lord. And the sun has got so
much effulgence, bodily rays,
that it is illuminating and heating
the whole universe. You cannot
deny it. This is the position of the
sun. And there are millions and
trillions of suns, each one
sometimes bigger than this sun.
This is the smallest sun. There are
bigger, bigger suns. So we can
understand what is the bodily
rays. There is no difficulty. That
bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa is called
Brahman. Yasya prabhā
prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
koṭiṣu vasudhādi-vibhūti-
bhinnam, tad brahma: [Bs. 5.40]
“That is Brahman, that prabhā.”

So similarly, Kṛṣṇa is present in
everyone’s heart, localized. This is
impersonal expansion. Just like
sunshine is impersonal expansion
of the sun rays, so similarly,
Brahman effulgence is the
impersonal expansion of Kṛṣṇa’s
bodily rays. And the portion by
which He is present everywhere,
aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-
cayāntara-stham… He is within
this universe. He is within your
heart, within my heart. He is
within everything. “Everything”
means even within the atom,
paramāṇu. That is His Paramātmā
feature. And the last and ultimate
feature is Kṛṣṇa’s personal body.
Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ
paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-
vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1].

Vigrahaḥ means form. That form
is not like ours. That is sat, cit,
ānanda. The body has also three
features. Sat means eternal. So
therefore, His body is distinct
from our body. Our, this body is
not eternal within the history.
When this body is created by the
father and mother, there is a
date, beginning. And when this
body is finished, annihilated,
there is another date. So
anything within the dates, that is
history. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that.
Anādi. You cannot estimate when
Kṛṣṇa’s body began. Anādi. Ādi,
again ādi. He is the beginning of
everyone. Anādi. He Himself is
anādi; nobody can find out what
is the date of His appearance. He
is beyond history. So but He is
the beginning of everyone. Just
like my father is the beginning of
my body. Father is the cause of
the beginning of my body or
your body, everyone. So
therefore He has no beginning,
that He has no father, but He is
the supreme father. That is the
conception, Christian conception:
God is the supreme father. That is
fact because He is the beginning
of everyone. Janmādy asya yataḥ:
[Bhāg. 1.1.1] “Whatever has come
into being, that is from Kṛṣṇa.”
That is stated in the Bhagavad-
gītā. Aham ādir hi devānām. The
devatās… This brahmāṇḍa is the
creation of Brahmā. He is called
one of the demigods. So Kṛṣṇa
says, aham ādir hi devānām, “I
am the beginning of the devatās,
demigods.” So if you study Kṛṣṇa
in this way, then you become
daiva, divine. Divine.

Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness
movement is meant for
educating everyone to become
divine. That is the program. So
what is the gain by becoming
divine? That is described in the
previous verse. Daivī sampad
vimokṣāya. If you become divine
and acquire the divine qualities,
abhayaṁ sattva-saṁśuddhiḥ
jñāna-yoga-vyavasthitiḥ… That
is… We have discussed already.
So if you become divine… There
is no impediment to become
divine. Simply you have to
practice for the post. Just like
everyone can become a high
court judge. Everyone can
become the president of United
States. There is no bar. But you
have to be qualified. If you
qualify yourself, you can become
any…, fitted in any position.
Similarly, as it is said, to divine, to
become daivī, you have to qualify
yourself to become divine. How
to become divine? That is already
described. We have already…

So if you qualify yourself by the
divine qualities, then what is the
benefit? Daivī sampad vimokṣāya.
Mokṣa. Mokṣa mean liberation.
So if you cultivate divine
qualities, then you are fit for
being liberated. What is
liberation? Liberation from
repeating birth and death. That is
our real suffering. The modern,
rascal civilization, they do not
know actually what is the end of
suffering. They do not know.
There is no education. There is no
science. They are thinking that
“Here this small span of life, say,
fifty years, sixty years, hundred
years, utmost, if we get a nice
wife, a nice apartment and nice
motor car, running with seventy
miles speed, and a nice whiskey
bottle…” That is his perfection.
But that is not vimokṣāya. Real
vimokṣa, liberation, means no
more birth, death, old age and
disease. That is vimokṣa. But they
do not know even.

They do not know even that
there is birth after death. Such a
foolish civilization. Although we
are experiencing every moment
birth and death… Birth and death
every moment, it is going on so
finely. It is Kṛṣṇa’s arrangement.
Just like this world, this earthly
planet, is moving at the rate of
one thousand miles per hour.
Such a gigantic body, it is also
moving. Every, all planets are
moving. Even the sun is moving.
But we cannot perceive. You ride
on a best airplane—there are so
many disturbances, sound,
moving, sometimes table is
(trembling?) moving. But this
planet also moving more
speedily than the airplane, but
you do not perceive. This is
Kṛṣṇa’s manufacture, perfectly.
Pūrṇam idam. This is called
pūrṇam idam, everything perfect.
Pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇam adaḥ
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate,
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam
eva avaśiṣyate [Īśopaniṣad,
Invocation]. Because He is so
perfect, we do not perceive. But it
is moving.

Everyone knows that the
morning, there is sunrise, and in
twelve hours after covering
twelve thousand miles, the
evening is there. Again twelve
thousand miles moving—you are
sleeping—in the morning you
see again the sun. The sun is
there. Sun is not moving. But the
world is moving. It is moving so
nicely. Not only this earthly
planet, but there are millions and
trillions of planets within the sky.
They are all moving. Seasonal
changes, day and night,
everything is going on. This is
perfection. So those who are in
divine nature, they can
understand all these things. That
is called daivī sampat.

In other philosophies they can
say… The Christians say, “God is
great.” The Muslim also say that
allah akbar. That is also same
meaning. The Vedic literature
also says, Brahman, Parabrahma.
Brahman means the greatest.
Bṛhatvāt bṛhannatvād iti brahma.
Brahman means because it is
very, very great. And not only
great, it is becoming greater and
greater. Bṛhannatvāt. So the
great understanding, greatness
understanding, of Kṛṣṇa or the
Absolute Truth is accepted
everywhere in civilized human
society. But how God is great,
that you can find in the Vedic
literature. Simply to know God is
great…

Just like everyone knows that he
has got a father. That is not
difficult. Anyone who is in this
material world, in material world
or spiritual world, there is a
father. Everyone knows that. But
who is my father, how he is, how
great he is, what is his
qualification, what does he do,
what is his father’s name, what is
his address—that you can
understand from Bhagavad-gītā.
Therefore it is essential that
everyone should read Bhagavad-
gītā. Simply to know God is great,
that is also good. He is accepting
the greatness of God. But if you
want to know in detail how great
He is, to what extent great He is,
how the actions of His greatness
are going on, how His activities
of greatness are going on, then
you read Bhagavad-gītā.

Bhagavad-gītā says that mattaḥ
parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti
dhanañjaya [Bg. 7.7]. Kṛṣṇa says,
“There is no more greater factor
than Me.” Everyone knows God is
great. Great means everyone is
small. He is great. Nobody is
equal to Him. Nobody is greater
than Him. That is the meaning of
greatness. So how He is greater
than everyone and nobody is
equal to Him, everyone is
subordinate, everyone is creation
of Him—this knowledge, if you
get… Janma karma me divyaṁ yo
jānāti tattvataḥ. If you
understand these factors of the
greatness of God perfectly well,
then you become fit for being
transferred to the spiritual world.
That is called daivī sampad. Daivī
sampad vimokṣāya. If you
become divine… This is
cultivation. This is education. This
is not sentiment.

People are…, try to understand
that this movement, Kṛṣṇa
consciousness movement, is
Hindu movement: “Kṛṣṇa is one
of the Hindu gods.” But that is
not the fact. Kṛṣṇa is God. God is
God. God cannot be Hindu God,
cannot be Muslim God, cannot
be Christian God. God is God.
Just like gold. If the Hindus deal
gold, that does not mean gold
becomes Hindu gold. Or the
Christian deals in gold, that does
not become…, the gold becomes
Christian, or Muslim. Gold is gold.
Similarly, God is God, the great.
Now, if you study how His
greatness expands… Just like
here is one example.

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe
’rjuna tiṣṭhati bhrāmayan sarva-
bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
[Bg. 18.61]

Very simple. Īśvaraḥ, that God, in
His Paramātmā feature is sitting
within everyone’s heart, your
heart, my heart, everyone’s. God
is… You haven’t got to find out
God somewhere else. Therefore
the yogis, they practice, “How to
find out God within myself?” That
is called meditation. Meditation
means to find out… It is heard
from the śāstra, “The God is
within my heart. Now let me find
out where is God within my
heart.” That is called yoga, yoga
system. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-
gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ
yoginaḥ [SB 12.13.1] Yogi’s
business is to become engaged
in meditation, dhyānāvasthita.
Now this meditation is very
profusely used in your country
especially. But what is the
meditation? This is meditation.
When you fix up your mind to
find out God, Kṛṣṇa, within your
heart, that is called meditation,
not thinking some foolish
objective is meditation. This is
meditation. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-
gatena manasā. Tad-gatena,
mind being fully absorbed in
Him, by that mind, you can find
out.

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is little
more than that. Consciousness is
above mind. Mind is there. Mind
is above the senses. Indriyāṇi
parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ
manaḥ [Bg. 3.42]. The senses, our
body means the senses. The
senses are prominent. Therefore
body is active. But the senses
cannot work if the mind is
absent. Therefore we call,
“attentively, concentrating your
mind.” So mind is above the
senses. And the how the mind is
acting—thinking, feeling and
willing—that is called
intelligence. Everything finer. You
can see your senses, my senses,
but everyone knows that you
have got mind, I have got mind,
but we cannot see the mind. Can
you say anyone that “Here is
mind”? No, because it is finer.
Then everyone has got some
intelligence, but can you see
intelligence? Go on. It is still finer.
Similarly, there is soul, which is
still finer than the intelligence. So
how you can see the soul? If you
cannot see the mind, if you
cannot see the intelligence, then
how you can see the soul? Then
the source of soul, the Supreme
Soul, how you can see?

Therefore it is said, ataḥ śrī-
kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved
grāhyam indriyaiḥ [BRS. 1.2.234].
If you speculate your senses to
find out where is God, where is
the soul… The doctors are daily
operating, heart operation, and
so many finer, finer surgical
operation, but they cannot find
out where is the soul. But soul is
there. That we can perceive.
When the soul goes away from
the body, we can understand,
“Now the soul has gone; the
body is dead.” So you can
perceive; you cannot see. It is not
understandable by speculating
your gross senses. You cannot… If
you want to see what is mind,
what is intelligence, what is soul,
what is Supersoul, that is not
possible to see by your these
blunt eyes, conditional eyes.
Everyone is very proud of his
senses. Somebody says, “Can you
show me God?” But have you got
the power to see God first of all?
So these things are not very
intelligent questions and answer.
You have to practice according to
the direction of the śāstras.

Just like here is Bhagavad-gītā.
You follow the direction. You will
understand what is God, what
you are, what is this world, what
is our relation between ourself,
what is our condition, how we
can get out of this miserable
condition. Everything you will
find. In the beginning a small
child cannot understand what is
mathematic, but if he studies
mathematic science, he one day
becomes a very big
mathematician, the same child.
Similarly, this spiritual science,
every one of you can become
spiritually advanced provided
you study the science. That is
Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
It is not a bluff sentiment. It is a
great science. Those who are
actually studious, they can
understand the science perfectly
if they study all our books. We
have got twenty volumes books
like this already published. And
we propose to publish seventy-
two volumes, how to understand
God. So God is not so cheap
thing, that “I have become God;
you have become God.” It is a
great science. So those who want
to understand God scientifically,
philosophically, let them read
these books. That is our
presentation, Kṛṣṇa
consciousness.

And those who are unable to
read all these books for any
reason it may be, then it is a very
simple method: chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
It is so sublime. If you simply
chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then
you understand clearly what you
are, what is God, what is your
relationship with Him, what is this
world. Everything will be clear.
That is the advantage of this
fallen age. This age is very, very
fallen. People have completely
forgotten God. Not completely
because few men are still
interested. Otherwise why they
are joining this Kṛṣṇa
consciousness movement? We
cannot say completely. But
gradually, it will be completely
forgetful of God, day by day.

Just like we can see. Formerly,
our forefathers, they used to
construct churches, temples,
mosque, synagogue, but
nowadays, nobody is preparing.
In the modern history you won’t
find. They are constructing big,
big skyscraper buildings. That we
can see. But you don’t see
anywhere a magnificent church
or temple or mosque is being
constructed. That means people
are going down in the matter of
understanding God. They are
thinking these buildings are
waste of money, unproductive
creation. “If we manufacture a
skyscraper building, immediately
there will be some income. But if
I construct a gigantic temple, it
will be simply waste of money.”
They are thinking like that. That
means the standard of
understanding God is finished.
Not to speak of constructing new
churches, but… We are practically
purchasing many churches. They
are vacant. I have seen in
London. Hundreds of churches
are vacant. Nobody goes there.
Nobody goes there.

So one priest was surprised in
Boston that “These boys, they are
our boys. They are Christian boys.
They are American boys. So
previously they were not coming
to the church. They did not care
for God or to understand what is
God. But why they are mad after
God now?” That’s a fact. These
boys, you American boys, you
were not interested. But why you
are so interested and you are
preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness
all over the world? You are not
foolish. I have not bribed you. But
why you are doing that? So this is
a fact that we have got intimate
relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That’s a
fact.

Just like father and son. They are
intimately related. It may be the
son has gone out of home for
many years, but as soon as he
meets his father, again the same
love between father and son
revives. It does not mean
because the son was out of home
for many, many years, there is no
need of awakening the love of
father and son. Similarly, in the
Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said,
nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti. The
love between Kṛṣṇa and ourself…
It doesn’t matter where we are.
All living entities, especially the
human being, especially the
civilized human being, those who
have got sense, they can revive
Kṛṣṇa consciousness very easily
by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra. So that is our request,
that you are very intelligent boys,
American boys. Try to
understand Kṛṣṇa. Try to revive
your relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
Then you will be happy;
otherwise not. Thank you very
much.