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ANNOUNCER: Next is a
class on the Bhagavad-gītā As It
Is, 1st chapter, text number 13
and 14, given by His Divine
Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupāda, recorded on July 14,
1973 in London, England.

Pradyumna:  

Translation: “After that, the
conchshells, bugles, trumpets,
drums and horns were all of a
sudden sounded, and the
combined sound was
tumultuous.”

PRABHUPĀDA: So there are
mention of various types of
musical instruments. Those
instruments are no longer in use.
But different types of bugles,
drums, kettledrums, as they use
in modern days. So the same
principle. By musical instruments,
the soldiers are kept alive so they
can fight nicely. Sa śabdas
tumulo ’bhavat: “When
simultaneously all the
instruments were sounded, it
becomes tumultuous.” Next
verse.

Pradyumna:

Translation: “On the other side,
both Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna,
stationed on a great chariot
drawn by white horses, sounded
their transcendental conchshells.”

PRABHUPĀDA: So you have seen
the picture. Kṛṣṇa is driving four
white horses. (reads from
purport:) “In contrast with the
conchshell blown by Bhīṣmadeva,
the conchshells in the hands of
Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are described
as transcendental.” Kṛṣṇa is
transcendental. Nārāyaṇaḥ paro
’vyaktāt. Kṛṣṇa is not of this
material world. Kṛṣṇa’s body,
Kṛṣṇa’s activities, everything of
Kṛṣṇa, they are transcendental.
They are not of this material
world. Divyam. In the catuḥ-śloki
Bhāgavatam it is said when Kṛṣṇa
was instructing Brahmā, aham
evāsam evāgre: “Before this
material creation, I was existing.”
In the Vedas also, it is said, eko
nārāyaṇa āsīt. “Before creation,
only Nārāyaṇa was there.”

So Kṛṣṇa’s position is always
transcendental. He is not any
creation of this material world.
But because he comes just like a
human being and acts also just
like human being, those who are
less intelligent, avajānanti, they
think of Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human
being. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ.
Mūḍhāḥ. Mūḍhāḥ means asses.
Or less intelligent class of men.
They cannot understand Kṛṣṇa’s
position. Kṛṣṇa’s position is
always transcendental.

When Arjuna inquired from Him
about His instruction to sun-god,
Kṛṣṇa said, imaṁ vivasvate
yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam
[Bg. 4.1]. This bhakti-yogam of
as mentioned in the Bhagavad-
gītā… Bhagavad-gītā is bhakti-
yogam, to understand the
Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So this literature is also
transcendental. Bhakti is also
transcendental. Bhakti is not any
activities of this material world.
Janma karma me divyam. So
bhakti is activity in relationship
with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is not
material. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate, māṁ
ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-
yogena sevate [Bg. 14.26].
Bhakti-yoga is transcendental.
And because Kṛṣṇa is
transcendental, you cannot
understand Kṛṣṇa by any material
method. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says,
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti [Bg.
18.55]. The method also is
transcendental, not of this
material world. So if we can
understand simply these facts,
that Kṛṣṇa is transcendental,
Kṛṣṇa’s name is transcendental,
Kṛṣṇa’s form is transcendental,
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ
paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-
vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. Kṛṣṇa’s body
is sac-cid-ānanda, not body like
this. This body is asat, acit and
nirānanda, just the opposite. This
material body is asat. Asat means
temporary. It will not exist. But
Kṛṣṇa’s body is not like that.
Kṛṣṇa’s body is eternal. That is
cit. Sat-cit. Full of knowledge.

So less intelligent class of men,
they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa.
Therefore śāstra says, ataḥ śrī-
kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved
grāhyam indriyaiḥ [BRS.
1.2.234]. These indriya, these
material senses, cannot speculate
to understand the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. That is
not possible. Śrama eva hi
kevalam. That is simply laboring,
wasting time. Kṛṣṇa should be
understood as Kṛṣṇa says. He
can explain Himself. Nobody can
explain. Because our senses are
imperfect. We are deficient by
four kinds of faults. We commit
mistake; we are illusioned; with
imperfect senses, we try to speak
transcendental knowledge;
therefore cheating. With imper…
They will say, “Probably,”
“Maybe.” This is the so-called
scientists’ language. That means
imperfect knowledge. Still, they
want to teach. This is cheating.
Knowledge must be perfect.
Then you can teach others.

So our process is to receive the
perfect knowledge from the
perfect source and distribute it.
We don’t manufacture
knowledge. Therefore we are
presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is,
as it is. The Bhagavad-gītā is
already perfect. Why shall I
interpret with my imperfect
senses? This is cheating. But
people want to to cheated.
Vañcita-vañcaka-sampradāya.
The whole world is full of
cheaters and cheated. Because
we want to be cheated, there are
so many cheaters. They don’t
want real thing. Here is the real
thing, Bhagavad-gītā, the
Supreme Personality of Godhead
speaking personally about
Himself. Why should we
interpret? Does it mean that the
Supreme Personality of Godhead,
the supreme authority, left
something unexplained to be
interpreted later on by some
rascals? No. But the rascals dare;
they interpret. That is cheating.
That is another fault. There are
640-45 editions of Bhagavad-
gītā. Simply cheating. Amongst
them, there are big, big scholars.
Not scholars. All rascals, but they
cheat. They pose themselves as
scholars and people want to be
cheated, so they take their
words. So they cannot
understand Kṛṣṇa. Cheated. They
take the shelter of the cheaters.
Therefore they are cheated.

So the māyā is very strong. Māyā
always dictates so that we may
be cheated: “Why you are taking
Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality
of Godhead? Don’t take. He is
ordinary man. You can be also
equal with Kṛṣṇa. You also
become God. You become also
incarnation.” This is going on.
And people flock there because
they want to be cheated. What
Kṛṣṇa says, they will not accept
it. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān
parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam:
[Bg. 18.66] “Only take to Kṛṣṇa
consciousness.” Sarva-dharmān.
Because any dharma which is not
approved by the Supreme Lord
Kṛṣṇa, that is not dharma.
Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-
praṇītam [SB 6.3.19]. A human
being or a demigod or very
exalted person cannot
manufacture dharma. That is not
possible. Real dharma is given by
the Supreme Personality of
Godhead Kṛṣṇa, and that real
dharma is stated in the
Bhagavad-gītā: sarva-dharmān
parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ
vraja [Bg. 18.66] “Just surrender
unto me.” This is real dharma.
Surrender to Kṛṣṇa and follow His
instruction; your life will be
perfect. Because you follow the
perfect instruction, therefore you
are also perfect. Simple process.
To become perfect, we have to
follow the perfect instruction.

So in the Bhagavad-gītā there is
perfect instruction. And if we
take it as it is and follow it, then
we become perfect. To become
perfect is not very difficult job.
But because we don’t want to
become perfect, because we
want to be cheated, we do not
become perfect. This is the
difficulty. So we should know
from the very beginning that
Kṛṣṇa is transcendental. And all
His activities, they are all
transcendental. Although Kṛṣṇa
appears just like ordinary human
being… He does not appear like
ordinary human being because
Kṛṣṇa, when He was three
months old only, He killed the
Pūtanā rākṣasī. A three month’s
old child cannot kill such giant
demon. It is not possible. Kṛṣṇa,
when He was six or seven years
old, He lifted the Govardhana
Hill. So what is the difficulty for
Kṛṣṇa? If Kṛṣṇa can float big, big
gigantic planets in the air just like
cotton swab floating, so is it very
difficult for Kṛṣṇa to lift a
mountain with His hand, with His
finger? That is not difficult for
Kṛṣṇa. But those who want to be
cheated, when Kṛṣṇa shows His
transcendental strength, they
don’t believe it, another cheating.
They, they’ll admit, “Oh, these
are… What is called?

DEVOTEE: MYTHOLOGY.

PRABHUPĀDA: Mythology. As if
Vyāsadeva wrote this Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam to put before these
rascals some mythology, some
imaginary things. Just see how
they want to be cheated. Such
an exalted personality like
Vyāsadeva, who has given us the
Vedic literature, he presented
something which is imaginary.
What business He has got?
Therefore sometimes these
cheated people, they deny to
accept that Bhāgavata is written
by Śrī Vyāsadeva. But those who
are actually ācāryas, those who
can guide us, like Śaṅkarācārya,
Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya,
big, big…, Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
they do not say like this, that “It
is mythology. It is imaginary.”
They accept as it is. So we have
to follow these mahājana.
Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ
dharmasya tattvaṁ nihito
guhāyām. We have to follow
great personalities, ācāryas.
ācāryavān puruṣo veda. One who
has got, one who has taken
shelter of ācārya, bona fide
spiritual master, he knows.
Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. Because
he is receiving the right
knowledge from the right source,
ācārya… Evaṁ paramparā-
prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
[Bg. 4.2]. Ācārya means by
disciplic succession. As Kṛṣṇa
says, disciplic succession, all the
ācāryas will say the same thing.
They will not change, they will
not interpret. They can explain.
But the original fact is not
distorted. That is ācārya. Ācārya
will never say that “Kṛṣṇa is
material. Kṛṣṇa… There was no
such thing as Kṛṣṇa. There was
no such battle, Battle of
Kurukṣetra. These are all
imaginary.” So if we don’t want
to be cheated, then we should
take Kṛṣṇa as He is presenting
Himself and as it is confirmed by
the ācāryas. Then our knowledge
is perfect. So here it is said,

tataḥ śvetair hayair yukte mahati
syandane sthitau mādhavaḥ
pāṇḍavaś caiva divyau śaṅkhau
pradadhmatuḥ

Kṛṣṇa and His devotee Arjuna,
they are on the same platform.
Therefore Mādhava and Pāṇḍava.
They blew Their transcendental
conchshells. This is not ordinary.
(reads from purport:) “The
sounding of the transcendental
conchshells indicated that there
was no hope of victory for the
other side.” This is the sounding.
Divyau. They are also sounding
their conchshell, even Bhīṣma,
but that cannot be compared
with the conchshells of Mādhava
and Pāṇḍava. Arjuna, associates,
they are also equally powerful.
Nobody can be associates of
Kṛṣṇa without being very, very
much advanced. Just like fire can
mix with fire, similarly water can
mix with water; similarly, unless
one is transcendentally
advanced, he cannot be
associate of Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla
Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings,

gaurāṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe, nitya-
siddha kori māne, se jāy
brajendra-suta-pāś

Gaurāṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe. Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa,
and His associates,

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-
nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara
śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

All the devotees. So Narottama
dāsa Ṭhākura says, “So all these
associates of Caitanya
Mahāprabhu should be known—
they are also of the same
category.” Gaurāṅgera saṅgi-
gaṇe, nitya-siddha kori māne.
This word nitya-siddha is
significant. Nitya-siddha and
nitya-baddha. There are two
kinds of living entities. Nitya-
baddha means ever-conditioned.
Ever-conditioned means those
who are in this material world,
they do not know when they
came in touch with this material
world. Neither they do know
when they will be liberated. They
are called nitya-baddha, ever-
conditioned. And similarly, there
are nitya-siddhas. Nitya-siddhas
means they never come in
contact with this material world,
and even they come here for
some business, they do not
forget their position. That is
nitya-siddha. Try to understand.
There are two kinds of living
entities: nitya-siddha, nitya-
baddha. Nitya-baddhas are within
this material world. Beginning
from Brahmā down to a small
ant, insignificant ant, they are all
nitya-baddhas. Anyone who is in
this material world—nitya-
baddha. And nitya-siddhas, they
belong to the spiritual world.
They never come in contact with
this material world, and even
they come for some business
under the order of the Supreme
Lord, they do not touch these
material qualities. They remain
always transcendental. As Kṛṣṇa
remains always transcendental,
even though He is in this material
world, similarly, Kṛṣṇa’s nitya-
siddha associates, they are also
transcendental. They never touch
this material world.

So try to understand the position
of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is nārāyaṇaḥ paro
’vyaktāt, transcendental, paraḥ
avyaktāt. That is puruṣottama-
yoga in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa
has said, “Anyone who has
understood Me, ajam avyayam,
ajam—I never take birth in this
material world, neither I am
deteriorated by material
contact—he knows me perfectly.”
That is called puruṣottama.
Puruṣa uttama. Uttama. Uttama
means “not of this material
world.” Ut. Ut means above, and
tama means this darkness. So ut-
tama means “above this
darkness.” So uttama puruṣa.
Puruṣa uttama. Puruṣa. Puruṣa
means enjoyer. Prakṛti means
enjoyed. So actually, we are not
puruṣa; we are prakṛti. That is
stated in the Bhagavad-gītā,
apareyam itas tu viddhi me
prakṛtiṁ parām, jīva-bhūtāṁ
mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate
jagat. Apareyam, these material
elements, bhūmir āpo ’nalo
vāyuḥ, earth, water, fire, air, sky,
mind, intelligence, bhinnā me
prakṛtir aṣṭadhā, these are
separated energies, material
energies of Kṛṣṇa. They are also
prakṛti. As this material world is
prakṛti, similarly, there is another
prakṛti, Kṛṣṇa gives information.
Apareyam itas tu viddhi me
prakṛtiṁ parām. But that is parā-
prakṛti. So we are not puruṣa; we
are prakṛtis. Although by
materially dressed, we appear to
be puruṣa, actually, we are not
puruṣa. Just like if you dress one
woman like a man, that does not
mean she has become man. She
is woman. Similarly, we are
puruṣa in the sense that we are
trying to imitate the supreme
puruṣa, Puruṣottama. Kṛṣṇa is
the Supreme enjoyer. We are
trying to become imitation Kṛṣṇa.
Just like so many rascals, they
declare that “God, I am God.”
That is the last snare, Māyāvāda.
First of all we try to become
enjoyer like the head of the
family man or a minister or this
and that, so many. Everyone is
trying to become head, enjoyer.
And at last, being baffled in every
respect, he wants to become
God. This is the last snare of
māyā. Nobody can become God.
He is Puruṣottama and we are
prakṛtis. Artificially, how we can
become enjoyer? Prakṛti means
enjoyed. Enjoyer and…
Predominator and the
predominated.

So jīva-bhūta, we jīvas, we are all
prakṛti. Puruṣa is only Kṛṣṇa. All
living entities… Viṣṇu-tattva is
puruṣa-tattva, and we are śakti-
tattva, śakti, energy, marginal
energy of Kṛṣṇa. So energy is
prakṛti. The prakṛti is not puruṣa.
So Māyāvāda philosophy is
wrong. They pose them as so
’ham. So ’ham “I am the same.”
How you can be same? In the
śāstra it is said that “You living
entity, you are prakṛti.” How you
can become same, you puruṣa.
This is mistake. How prakṛti, how
a woman can become man?
Artificially one can become. Here
also so-called woman, they are
also puruṣa. They are thinking
puruṣa. Puruṣa means enjoyer.
Here woman is also thinking to
enjoy, and the so-called man is
also thinking to enjoy. Everyone.
Nobody wants to serve. Everyone
wants to be served. Puruṣa
attitude. Everyone wants to be
served. Nobody wants to serve.
This is the material conception of
life.

So when we agree to serve, not
to be served, that is liberated
person. When we agree to serve
only, not to be served. Not to
accept service from others, but to
serve others—that is real
liberation. But here the material
disease is that everyone is
making plan “How others will
serve me.” This is called māyā.
This is called māyā. Māyā means
that artificially we want to be
served. That is not possible.
When we agree to serve… As
Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given
us the path of liberation, jīvera
svarūpa hoy nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa,
this is our position. We are
eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa.

So when we engage ourself in
the service of Kṛṣṇa… The whole
Bhagavad-gītā is spoken on this
basis. Arjuna was artificially
declining to serve Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa
wanted him to fight, and Arjuna
was putting so many reasons,
“How he could fight and kill the
other side who are his kinsmen,
who are his nephews, who are
brothers, grandfather?” This
argument were being put. So
that means he refused to serve
Kṛṣṇa. That is material condition.

Thank you very much. Hare
Kṛṣṇa.