–The Australian Society for Krishna Culture. AUSKCULTURE, operation start 1984 — ABN 65 231 425 870.

Hayagriva has such a visceral aversion against Srila Prabhupada’s repeated and intended expression “the Supreme Personality of Godhead” that we must doubt very much his capability to present Bhagavad Gita As It Is. The sly fellow (and university professor) actually whisked away the expression ” the Supreme Personality of Godhead” as many times as he felt he could, thus greatly weakening Srila Prabhupada intended impact. He is basically disqualified. He has in fact a visceral aversion against the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, Himself. What does that make him? Certainly not a pure devotee qualified to write about God, Sri Krishna! In BGAII 2.40 he added on his own and sole accord some Christian wisdom: ” Or, as the Christians say, “What profiteth a man if he gain the whole world yet suffer the loss of his eternal soul?” These are NOT Srila Prabhupada’s words! Christian wisdom may be all right. But to add it to Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita As It Is without authority is not all right.

By His repeated, gentle and steady affirmation, Srila Prabhupada makes the point that Sri Krishna is indeed “The Supreme Personality of Godhead” or the Supreme Boss to Whom we have to surrender sooner or later , one way or another. There is no escape. And Hayagriva still hopes for that escape and gives his followers the same false hope. This reminds us of Goethe’s famous “Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch’ ich Gewalt.“ – in the 1792 ballade Erlkonig. As a perfect and most powerful gentleman, Sri Krishna invites us to surrender to Him during our life time by intelligently and blissfully cultivating a consciousness of Him, Krishna, or forces us to surrender at the time of death. What option will we choose? The loving option or the forceful option? Or a combination of the two?

So we present here the three existing versions of Bhagavad Gita As It Is, 10.42 and invite the reader to make up his own mind. The three version being:

One. Srila Prabhupada’s original version, with some slight alterations as required and sometimes the speculations and mishearings of the transcriber must also be taken into account:

10.42 O Arjuna, what more shall I speak to you? The circumstance is that whatever you see in the cosmic manifestation is supported by my impersonal (?) energies.

Purport.

The Supreme Lord is represented everywhere within this material world by entering in it as the Supersoul. The Lord tries to convince Arjuna that there is no need of understanding separately how things are existing in their opulence and grandeur. One should know that everything that exists is due to Krishna’s entrance as Supersoul in all things. So beginning with Brahma and Shiva down to the small ant, from the most gigantic to the smallest existence, they are all existing because the Lord has entered each and everyone of them. He is the Sustainer and Maintainer of everything and He is maintaining all material existence in that way.

There is a regular mission proponent to advertise that one can worship any form of demigod and that will lead one to the Supreme Personality of Godhead or the Supreme Goal. In the tenth chapter, this idea is consistently and thoroughly discouraged. In order to eradicate this wrong idea completely, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has informed us that even the great demigods like Brahma and Shiva are also a partial presentation of the opulence of the Supreme Lord. He is the origin of everyone born and no one is greater than Him. He is asamordhva which means that nobody is better than Him and nobody is equal to Him. In the Vishnu mantra it is said that anybody who calculates the Supreme Lord Krishna with the label of the demigods even up to the standard of Brahma and Shiva becomes at once an atheist. If however one thoroughly studies the different descriptions of the opulence and expansions of Krishna’s energy in different ways, then one can understand without any doubt the position of Lord Sri Krishna and he can fix his mind on the worship of Krishna without any diversion. The Lord is all-pervading by an expansion of His spatial representation, the Supreme-Soul, Who enters in everything that is. Pure devotees, therefore, concentrate their minds in Krishna consciousness in full devotional service, therefore they are always situated in a transcendental position. The devotional service and worship of Krishna are very clearly stated in this chapter in the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleven verses. That is the way of pure devotional service. How one can attain the highest devotional perfection of associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been thoroughly explained in this chapter. This disciplic succession from Krishna states:

Lord Krishna is worshipable because by His potent energy even the sun is so powerful and so highly radiant and by His partial expansion of planetary energy, He maintains the whole world. END.

Two. Hayagriva’s presentation of the original version:

But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.
PURPORT
The Supreme Lord is represented throughout the entire material universes by His entering into all things as the Supersoul. The Lord here tells Arjuna that there is no point in understanding how things exist in their separate opulence and grandeur. He should know that all things are existing due to Krsna’s entering them as Supersoul. From Brahma, the most gigantic entity, on down to the smallest ant, all are existing because the Lord has entered each and all and is sustaining them.
Worship of demigods is discouraged herein because even the greatest demigods like Brahma and Siva only represent part of the opulence of the Supreme Lord. He is the origin of everyone born, and no one is greater than Him. He is samata, which means that no one is superior to Him and that no one is equal to Him. In the Visnu-mantra it is said that one who considers the Supreme Lord Krsna in the same category with demigods-be they even Brahma or Siva-becomes at once an atheist. If, however, one thoroughly studies the different descriptions of the opulences and expansions of Krsna’s energy, then one can understand without any doubt the position of Lord Sri Krsna and can fix his mind in the worship of Krsna without deviation. The Lord is all-pervading by the expansion of His partial representation, the Supersoul, who enters into everything that is. Pure devotees, therefore, concentrate their minds in Krsna consciousness in full devotional service; therefore they are always situated in the transcendental position. Devotional service and worship of Krsna are very clearly indicated in this chapter in verses eight to eleven. That is the way of pure devotional service. How one can attain the highest devotional perfection of association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been thoroughly explained in this chapter.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purports to the Tenth Chapter of the Srimad-Bhagavad-gita in the matter of the Opulence of the Absolute.

Three. Jayadvaita’s presentation of the original version:

10.42 But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.

Purport

The Supreme Lord is represented throughout the entire material universes by His entering into all things as the Supersoul. The Lord here tells Arjuna that there is no point in understanding how things exist in their separate opulence and grandeur. He should know that all things are existing due to Krsna’s entering them as Supersoul. From Brahma, the most gigantic entity, on down to the smallest ant, all are existing because the Lord has entered each and all and is sustaining them.
There is a Mission that regularly propounds that worship of any demigod will lead one to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the supreme goal. But here in the Tenth Chapter that idea is thoroughly discouraged. To completely eradicate this wrong idea, in this chapter Lord Krsna informs us that even the greatest demigods like Brahma and Siva represent only part of the opulence of the Supreme Lord. He is the origin of everyone born, and no one is greater than Him. He is asamordhva, which means that no one is superior to Him and that no one is equal to Him. In the Padma Purana it is said that one who considers the Supreme Lord Krsna in the same category with demigods — be they even Brahma or Siva — becomes at once an atheist. If, however, one thoroughly studies the different descriptions of the opulences and expansions of Krsna’s energy, then one can understand without any doubt the position of Lord Sri Krsna and can fix his mind in the worship of Krsna without deviation. The Lord is all-pervading by the expansion of His partial representation, the Supersoul, who enters into everything that is. Pure devotees, therefore, concentrate their minds in Krsna consciousness in full devotional service; therefore they are always situated in the transcendental position. Devotional service and worship of Krsna are very clearly indicated in this chapter in verses eight through eleven. That is the way of pure devotional service. How one can attain the highest devotional perfection of association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been thoroughly explained in this chapter. Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, a great acarya in disciplic succession from Krsna, concludes his commentary on this chapter by saying,
yac-chakti-lesat suryadya
bhavanty aty-ugra-tejasah
yad-amsena dhrtam visvam
sa krsno dasame ‘rcyate
From Lord Krsna’s potent energy even the powerful sun gets its power, and by Krsna’s partial expansion the whole world is maintained. Therefore Lord Sri Krsna is worshipable.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purports to the Tenth Chapter of the Srimad Bhagavad-gita in the matter of the Opulence of the Absolute.

in construction……

SRILA PRABHUPADA in original transcript (OT):

It is stated in the seventh chapter that there are many persons who are trying to elevate themselves to a platform of spiritual realization. They are not ordinary men. They are better than millions and millions of ordinary men who have no knowledge of spiritual realization. But out of those actually trying to understand their spiritual platform of life, anyone who comes to the understanding that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the proprietor of everything, the Unborn, he is the most successful spiritually realized person. And in that stage only, when one has fully understood the Supreme Personality of Godhead can one be completely free from all sinful reactions. 

Sexist Hayagriva writes:

As stated in the Seventh Chapter, those who are trying to elevate themselves to the platform of spiritual realization are not ordinary men. They are superior to millions and millions of ordinary men who have no knowledge of spiritual realization, but out of those actually trying to understand their spiritual situation, one who can come to the understanding that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the proprietor of everything, the unborn, is the most successful spiritually realized person. In that stage only, when one has fully understood Krsna’s supreme position, can one be free completely from all sinful reactions.

And sexist Jayadvaita writes:

As stated in the Seventh Chapter (7.3), manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye: those who are trying to elevate themselves to the platform of spiritual realization are not ordinary men; they are superior to millions and millions of ordinary men who have no knowledge of spiritual realization. But out of those actually trying to understand their spiritual situation, one who can come to the understanding that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the proprietor of everything, the unborn, is the most successful spiritually realized person. In that stage only, when one has fully understood Krsna’s supreme position, can one be free completely from all sinful reactions.

As if by black magic, both editors make sure that the first “many persons” by Srila Prabhupada disappears completely. Which makes the first part sounds completely sexist. The unspoken truth is: “You ladies are not part of this male self-realization club and can never ever be part of it. This is for men only!” When in fact they are only trying to hide their sexual weaknesses and strong attraction for the opposite sex. Ladies please, show these chauvinists what you are capable of and teach them a lesson! The transcendentally most melodious and attractive kirtans by young Bhakti Priya DD as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhFyDFmwPhI go a long way to prove my point.

Additionally, smart-ass Jayadvaita, again, feels a need to display his small erudition and to remind the reader where to find the relevant passage in chapter 7. This is an insult to the reader’s intelligence! It is also an insult to the Acarya, Srila Prabhupada, for unnecessarily trying to correct Him. Srila Prabhupada was tactful not to do that, as it is a famous passage in chapter 7 and faithful Hayagriva follows in his Guru’s footsteps. But smart-ass Jayadvaita again feels “superior” and adds his stupid, unashamed and unwanted blabber. (They both use the word “superior” in a unauthorised way, as Srila Prabhupada Himself does not use the word). Kick him in the face in retaliation! And kick him again in the face a second time for globally misrepresenting the glorious and perfect Acarya, Srila Prabhupada. It is because of Jayadvaita’s presentations that so many people all over the world formed and still form an unjustified negative idea and impression of Srila Prabupada. These are very serious, verified facts to be taken into consideration. Please take some action against this mad dog and stop promoting the illusory Bhagavad Gita As It Is NOT by puppy Jayadvaita.

Final remark will have to be about both editor’s STRANGE habit the spell the word “chapter” and chapter number both with capitals letters. This is a kind of unwanted superstition on the part of the editors to be done away with.

We have recently noted how Srila Prabhupada is ALWAYS very careful to balance “ladies and gentlemen” or “boys and girls” as follows. He is not specifically in favour of men and He is not specifically in favour of women. He wants both for the service of the Divine Master, Sri Krishna. And that is the SRILA PRABHUPADA REVOLUTION especially in the face of traditional India. To us in the West it is welcome and represents nothing new. We see mixed police patrols. It is a lady police officer who displayed the most professionalism on the occasion and shot dead the Sydney knife aggressor on April 13th 2024!

“September 21, 1968
The immediate reason Srila Prabhupada went to Seattle was that two of his disciples, Upendra and Gargamuni, had just begun an ISKCON center there and had invited him. For several years, this had been Prabhupada’s method of spreading Krsna consciousness in America: he went to a city, stayed, preached, and directed his disciples. He had done so in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Montreal, Los Angeles-all with good success. As he had written in a letter of March 1968, “We want to open hundreds of centers so that people may take up Krsna consciousness. And we need many enthusiastic boys and girls for carrying on this great mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.” page 1

Prabhupada-lila. Additional Pastimes of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Chapter two. Seattle September-October 1968. Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami.

and further on page 5, again:

Joy Fulcher is speaking: “Then His Divine Grace softened his voice, like a rose, and indicating his disciples with a wave of his arm, he said, “But you just associate with these nice boys and girls here, chant this Hare Krsna mantra, eat krsna-prasadam, study my books scrutinizingly, and engage yourself in a little service, and then the Lord will reveal Himself to you from within your heart, in His own time, by His own sweet will, with all His name, fame, form, pastimes, paraphernalia, and entourage.”

To me the following Prabhupada remarks on pages 6 and 7 are also amazing. Srila Prabhupada compares the two appartments supplied by the devotees:

“He liked the tulips lining his windows and the view down the sloping green lawn to the shore of the lake. He liked walking in the backyard, from where he could see boats passing. “That other place,” he chuckled, “was like being in the womb of the mother, and this place is like coming out into the world and seeing the light.” The apartment was well furnished, and Prabhupada put his Radha-Krsna Deities on a dresser before the mirror, which made a nice backdrop.” Let the “Jay Srila Prabhupada!”s reverberate all over the whole universe and still it will remain insufficient to glorify His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

And on page 7, we have the most striking proof of the equality of both genders in Srila Prabhupada eyes:

“Prabhupada took advantage of the presence of the traveling sankirtana party in Seattle. He told Tamala Krsna he wanted to organize a world sankirtana party, with twelve men, twelve women, and himself going all over the world. But for the present, the devotees went out daily in the downtown city.”

To Pancadravida Swami Srila Prabhupada bluntly told: ” No lady would ever put up with you.”

Not sure, but the drops on the left hand, bottom glass can be interpreted as drops of semen. Both giants Woolworth and Coles are mentioned.

Srila Prabhupada’s analysis and reply remains valid after 50 years or so.

On Nudity and the Hoggish Life

The following conversation between His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and some of his disciples took place in March 1975 in Dallas.

Srila Prabhupada: Human life is meant for cultivating God consciousness. But in the modern so-called advanced civilization, instead of cultivating God consciousness people are cultivating nudity. Isn’t it so? So nature will punish them:
“All right, you want to be nude? Then become a tree and remain standing naked for five thousand years.” Trees sometimes live up to five thousand years. I’ve seen them in a park near San Francisco.

Devotee: But they argue that if God wanted us to wear clothes. He would have made us with clothes.

Srila Prabhupada: Here in the material world, you have to work for whatever you Want. Things are provided, but you have to work for them. In the spiritual world, there is no need for work: you get all your necessities automatically. That is one difference between the spiritual world and the material world.

Devotee: We could argue with the nudists that by their logic, if God had wanted us to have food He would have made us with food, too. Just as you have to work for your food, you also have to work for your clothes.

Srila Prabhupada: The Visnu Purana explains why we have to work:
visnu-sakthih para prokta
ksetrajnakhya tatha para
avidya-karma-samjnanya
trtiya saktir isyate
This is a definition of the three divisions of God’s energy. One energy is the internal, spiritual energy. Another energy is the marginal energy — the living entities, who are also spiritual. And the third energy is the external, material energy, where there is ignorance and work. In the material world, everyone is ignorant, and they have to work.
So, the people of the modern civilization have simply increased their work. They call it civilization, but it is actually just like a prison house, where you have to work. They are thinking that to work constantly is civilization. So they have created more work: from early morning, five o’ clock, till ten o’ clock at night they are simply working. They do not know that this working is their punishment. Because they’re ignorant, they think that working is life. Instead of decreasing work and saving time for self-realization, they increase their work and complicate life. This they call advancement of civilization, but it is actually avidya, ignorance.
Our tendency is not to work but to get things freely. That is why we sometimes hear that question: “If God wanted us to wear clothes, why has He not created us with clothes?” This question shows that our tendency is not to work. And that is a spiritual tendency — to want all our necessities to be automatically available. This is why we see that as soon as a man becomes rich, he generally gives up work. He gets his things by having others work for him. So the human tendency is to retire from work.

Devotee: Many people would disagree with you. They think that to be unemployed is one of the worst things that can happen to you.

Srila Prabhupada: Man is not meant to work like an ass all day long. Real civilization means to minimize work, save time, and cultivate your spiritual life. That is civilization — not to work like a hog or a dog for sense gratification. That kind of life is condemned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam [5.5.1]: nayam deho deha-bhajam nrloke kastan kaman arhate vid-bhujam ye. Human life is not meant for working very hard for sense gratification, which is done by the dogs and hogs. Human life is meant for austerity (tapah). Why austerity? To purify your existence (yena sattvam suddhyed). Then you’ll get unlimited pleasure (yasmad brahma-saukhyam tv anantam).
We are all seeking unlimited pleasure. But that is not possible in this material life. Unfortunately, people do not know this, so they are working very hard like hogs for a little happiness. The hog works day and night, searching out stool. And as soon as he gets some stool he becomes stout and strong. Then — sex with the nearest female. Never mind whether it’s his mother, sister, or daughter. This is hog life.
So, human life is not meant for imitating the stool-eating hogs. But people of the modern society are imitating them: “We shall work hard, eat whatever we like, and have as much sex as we want.” They have no discrimination in the matter of food: they eat all sorts of nonsense. And in this way they grow very strong and have sex, even with their sister or daughter. The Bhagavatam warns that this is not human life, but this has actually become the life of many modern, “civilized” men.

Devotee: But if people didn’t work hard, how could things go on? Wouldn’t there be an economic crisis?

Srila Prabhupada: No. Lord Krsna tells how we can make our life very comfortable: Just produce some food grains, vegetables, and fruits, and take the milk from the cow. All your economic problems will be solved. And even if you don’t produce food grains and vegetables, you can still live on fruits and milk. But no, modern man takes the source of milk — the cow — cuts her throat, and eats the meat. This is civilization?
All their intelligence is being utilized for sinful life. They have good intelligence, but it is being used sinfully.
Therefore they must suffer very severe reactions — war, famine, earthquakes, and so on. (To be continued.)
Ref. VedaBase => Better than Good

As Srimad Bhagavatam 3.31.47 says:

” Therefore, one should not view death with horror, nor have recourse to defining the body as soul, nor give way to exaggeration in enjoying the bodily necessities of life. Realizing the true nature of the living entity, one should move about in the world free from attachment and steadfast in purpose.”

On Australia day, Sunday 26th, 2025, in line with The Australian Citizenship Act 2007 more than 280 ceremonies around the country delivered Australian Citizenship to about 14 600 people from 160 countries such as New Zealand, UK, South Africa, Canada, India, China, Germany, Italy, Brazil, US, Philippines, Thailand, Venezuela, Vietnam, Netherlands and Spain etc etc…

natah parataro loke
pumsah svartha-vyatikramah
yad-adhy anyasya preyastvam
atmanah sva-vyatikramat

Word for Word

na — not; atah — after this; paratarah — greater; loke — in this world; pumsah — of the living entities; sva-artha — interest; vyatikramah — obstruction; yat-adhi — beyond that; anyasya — of others; preyastvam — to be more interesting; atmanah — for the self; sva — own; vyatikramat — by obstruction.

TRANSLATION

There is no stronger obstruction to one’s self-interest than thinking other subject matters to be more pleasing than one’s self-realization.

PURPORT

Human life is especially meant for self-realization. “Self” refers to the Superself and the individual self, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entity. When, however, one becomes more interested in the body and bodily sense gratification, he creates for himself obstructions on the path of self-realization. By the influence of maya, one becomes more interested in sense gratification, which is prohibited in this world for those interested in self-realization. Instead of becoming interested in sense gratification, one should divert his activities to satisfy the senses of the Supreme Soul. Anything performed contrary to this principle is certainly against one’s self-interest.

The benevolently smiling Srimatee Radharani of ISKCON Adelaide, South Australia, and feminine prototype.

To us the beautiful feminine expressions, rather then a negative, are to be celebrated as an expression of Krishna ‘s opulence, as in version 3 or The Bhagavad Gita As It Is Challenge 10.41:

10.41 Everything opulent and worthy of strong feelings or attention that may exist within the universe, all should be understood as only a part and fragment manifestation of My opulence. Actually they are born of My opulence.

Purport. Whether in the spiritual world or the material world, any glorified and beautiful existence should be understood to be but a fragmental manifestation of Krishna’s opulence. Anything extraordinarily opulent should be considered as a presentation of Krishna’s opulence.

And those who are unable to tolerate such “fragmental manifestations” of Krishna’s beauty and opulence, may take shelter in the forest, as Srila Prabhupada indicated once to His own monks and perhaps others in New York City.

“We are Krsna’s parts and parcels and have been created to give pleasure to Krsna. The chief pleasure potency is Radharani, and so Radha-Krsna are always together. Whereas the material energy is conducted by the external potency, Maya, the spiritual world is conducted by the internal potency, Radharani. We often pray to Radharani because She is the pleasure potency of Krsna. The very word “Krsna” means all-attractive, but Radharani is so great that She attracts Krsna. If Krsna is always attractive to everyone, and Radharani is attractive to Krsna, how can we imagine the position of Srimati Radharani? We should try humbly to understand and offer Her our obeisances, saying, “Radharani, You are so dear to Krsna. You are the daughter of King Vrsabhanu, and You are Krsna’s beloved. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You. Radharani is very dear to Krsna, and if we approach Krsna through the mercy of Radharani, we can easily attain Him. If Radharani recommends a devotee, Krsna immediately accepts him, however foolish he may be. Consequently in Vrndavana we find that devotees chant Radharani’s name more often than Krsna’s. Wherever we go in India we will find devotees calling, “Jaya Radhe.” We should be more interested in worshiping Radharani, for however fallen we may be, if somehow or other we can please Her, we can very easily understand Krsna. If we try to understand Krsna by the speculative process, we will have to spend many lifetimes of speculation; but if we take to devotional service and just try to please Radharani, then Krsna can be very easily realized. Radharani is such a great devotee that She can deliver Krsna.

Even Krsna cannot understand Radharani’s qualities. He fails to understand Her because She is so great. In order to understand Radharani, Krsna actually accepted Her position. Krsna thought, “Although I am full and complete in every respect, I still don’t understand Radharani. Why is that?” This obliged Krsna to accept the propensities of Radharani, and this accounts for His manifestation as Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna Himself, but He is Krsna accepting the propensities of Radharani. Radharani is always feeling separation from Krsna, and similarly, in the position of Radharani. Lord Caitanya was always feeling that separation. Furthermore, those who follow the teachings of Lord Caitanya should experience and relish the feelings of separation, not of meeting.

The Six Gosvamis, disciples of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the most perfect and highly elevated beings, never said, “I have seen Krsna.” Instead, they constantly cried, “Where is Radharani? Where are Lalita and Visakha and the other damsels of Vrndavana?” In their mature stage of love of Godhead, when they were living in Vrndavana, the Gosvamis, would also cry, “Radharani, where are You? Where are Your associates? Where are You, O son of Nanda Maharaja? Where are you all?” In this way they were searching after Krsna, and they never at any time said, “Last night I saw Krsna dancing with the gopis.” Such claims are not made by a mature devotee, but by one who takes things very cheaply. Some people think that Radha and Krsna are so cheap that They may be seen every night, but this is not the teaching of the Gosvamis, who were always searching after Krsna crying, “Where are You? Where are You Radharani? Where are You Krsna? Are You there by Govardhana Hill? Are You on the bank of the Yamuna?” In this way, throughout the whole tract of Vrndavana, the Gosvamis, were crying and searching after Radha and Krsna like madmen.
We have to follow in the footprints of the Gosvamis and search out Radha and Krsna in this way. Vrndavana is in our hearts, and we must search for Him there. This is the process recommended by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the process of worship in separation. Feeling separation from Krsna, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu would throw Himself into the sea. Sometimes He would leave His room in the dead of night and disappear. No one would know where He had gone, but all the while He was searching after Krsna. Thus it is not that we are to enjoy the loving exchanges between Krsna and Radha like spectators at some sports show. We must feel separation from Them. The more we feel separation, the more we should understand that we are advancing. With our material senses, we cannot see Krsna, nor can we even hear His name. We can begin to perceive Him when we advance in devotional service. That devotional service begins with the tongue, not the legs, eyes or ears. The tongue must be utilized to chant

Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

and take Krsna prasadam.

Thus the tongue has a dual function, and by utilizing it in this way, we will realize Krsna. We cannot see Krsna with our material eyes, nor hear about Him with material ears, nor touch Him with our hands; but if we engage our tongue in His service, He will reveal Himself, saying, “Here I am.”
This chanting of Hare Krsna extinguishes the blazing fire of material nature. This is also the purport to the following prayer to the spiritual master.

samsara-davanala-lidha-loka-
tranaya karunya-ghanaghanatvam
praptasya kalyana-gunarnavasya
vande guroh sri-caranaravindam **

“The spiritual master is receiving benediction from the ocean of mercy. Just as the cloud pours water on the forest fire to extinguish it, so the spiritual master extinguishes the blazing fire of material existence. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master.” (Sri Gurvastakam, Verse 1)

This material world is often compared to a forest fire which takes place automatically. No one wants a forest fire, but there is often lightning, or carelessness, or friction, or whatever, and the fire immediately takes place. Similarly, this material world is beset with a blazing fire of problems. Everyone wants to live here peacefully, but situations develop in such a way that this is not possible for anyone. We struggle very hard to adjust things in so many ways, but nature’s laws are so cruel and dangerous that in spite of our hopes and plans the blazing fire of the problems of material existence continues.
In this century, ( the twentieth ) for instance, we have attempted to put out the fire of war, but it has not been possible. There was a First World War, and then a League of Nations was formed to try to prevent a second, but despite their attempts a second took place. Now a United Nations has been constructed to help end war, but war is going on in Vietnam, in Egypt, in Pakistan and other places. No one wants a Third World War, but it seems imminent. It is not possible to send a fire brigade, a few men with buckets of water, to extinguish a great fire in the forest. To extinguish a roaring forest fire there must be volumes of water; in other words, there must be an arrangement that is beyond human endeavor. When there is a merciful cloud over the forest fire, the cloud bursts, rain pours down in torrents, and the blazing fire is immediately extinguished. As a cloud collects water from the ocean, similarly the spiritual master collects water from Krsna’s ocean of mercy and pours it over the blazing fire of material existence. Thus one who bestows or distributes the merciful rain of Krsna is called a spiritual master or guru.
In Vedic literatures it is said that in order to understand the transcendental science of Krsna consciousness, we must try to acquire knowledge of how to extinguish this blazing fire of problems. Scientists, philosophers and other educated men are trying very hard to extinguish it, but the result seems to be bigger and bigger bombs. The karmis or fruitive laborers are working with heart and soul, day and night, to extinguish this fire or to diminish the miserable condition of material existence by dint of hard labor. The jnanis or philosophers are also trying, but they have become disgusted and so proclaim, “This world is false.” Thinking this, they try to merge into the existence of the Supreme and in this way extinguish the fire. This is like the jackal who tries to pick some grapes from a vine, and when he fails, says, “Oh, these grapes are sour anyway.” The yogis or meditators try to gain superior mystic power by becoming greater than the greatest, smaller than the smallest, lighter than the lightest, and heavier than the heaviest, but this is just so much child’s play. With any material body — whether it be great or small, light or heavy — the problems of material existence still remain. In this way one may progress from one stage to another, coming from the stage of karmi or fruitive laborer, to the stage of jnani or philosopher, to the stage of yogi or meditator, but in any case one finally has to come to the platform of bhakti, or devotional service. This is the real evolutionary process. It is indicated in Bhagavad-gita in this way:
bahunam janmanam ante

Elevation to Krishna consciousness 5: Knowing Krsna’s Energies.

To be continued…..