View source for The bug and the king, they are on the same throne, but the bug and the king, much difference. Sitting on the same throne does not mean that they have become equal. Why? Due to the constitutional position

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{{terms|"The bug and the king, they are on the same throne, but the bug and the king, much difference. Sitting on the same throne does not mean that they have become equal. Why? Due to the constitutional position"}}
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonBG45MontrealJune101968_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="140" link="Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968" link_text="Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968">
<div class="heading">Just like a king is sitting on the throne and there is a bug. The bug and the king, they are on the same throne, but the bug and the king, much difference. Sitting on the same throne does not mean that they have become equal. Why? Due to the constitutional position. The bug's constitutional position is to bite only, and the king's position is to rule.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968|Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So far appearance and disappearance is concerned, Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa are on the same level. Bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni. "My dear Arjuna, I have many many appearance and disappearance in the past. Similarly, you had also many appearance and disappearances in the past. But the difference is, tāny ahaṁ veda. My appearance and disappearances, I remember everything, past, present, future, everything. Na tvaṁ vettha parantapa, but you do not." Now, we cannot remember what was, what I was in my past life. Neither I know what I am going to be in the next life. But there is. I was in the past, I am in the present, and I shall remain in the future. That is my position.</p>
<p>In the Second Chapter, it is said by Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Arjuna, both you and Me and all these kings and soldiers who are assembled here, do not think that they did not exist in the past, or they will cease to exist in the future. They existed in the past as individuals, and they are existing at present as individuals, and they will exist in the future also as individuals." This is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Second Chapter. The difference between God and living entity is this, that God knows past, present, future, and I or you do not know past, present and future. That is the difference.</p>
<p>Tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi. Sarvāṇi. There were millions and millions of births and appearances and disappearances in past. Because time is unlimited, nitya. There is no... The past, present, future, this is due to this body. Just like a small ant, it's calculation of past, present, and future, and my calculation of past, present, and future are different. Because he has got a different body, I have got a different body, the atom has got a different body. So it is according to the body, past, present, and future. But there is a life where there is no existence of this material body of past, present, and future. Therefore in the eternal world means there is no past, present and future. Because there is no, not this material body. This is the difference between past, present, and future. Therefore it is called nitya. Nitya means eternal, where there is no influence of this time. Here the influence of time is there. Therefore we experience past, present, and future.</p>
<p>Now from this verse, Kṛṣṇa says that tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi. That means "For Me, there is no past and present and future." That means His body is different from Arjuna's. Because He knows... Why I forget? Because I have got this material body. And Kṛṣṇa does not forget, therefore He has no material body. It is natural conclusion. Because past, present, and future is due to this material body. Otherwise, there is no... Just like for the sun. These are all scientific truth. You know when from Russia the first sputnik was started, in one hour they circumambulated twenty-five times the whole world. In one hour and twenty-five minutes. Now the circumambulating the whole world means so many twenty-five day and night. That twenty-five day and night was finished in one hour. And it is scientific truth. Professor Einstein has established that in the higher planetary system the timing system is different.</p>
<p>So when there is no these material impediments, naturally the life is eternal, the knowledge is eternal, the bliss is eternal. As soon as we are free from this material body, then these questions of past, present, future, pleasure, not pleasure, knowledge, no knowledge, these dualities, this world of duality will finish. The impersonalists, the Māyāvādī philosophers, they think that because the past, present, and future, and this duality is finished, therefore there is no variegatedness. They cannot understand. They cannot accommodate in their tiny brain that this is possible.</p>
<p>Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, now it is established that He hasn't got this material body. It will be confirmed in the Tenth Chapter also: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam ([[Vanisource:BG 9.11|BG 9.11]]). Rascals... Mūḍha means rascals. Most ignorant, he is called mūḍha, or an ass. So this word is used there, mūḍha. Mūḍha means rascals. "Rascals, they decry upon Me, Kṛṣṇa, because I am here just like an ordinary man. Mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam. Because I have appeared here as an ordinary man, as Kṛṣṇa, as Arjuna's friend or the son of Devakī and Vasudeva, or the descendant in the Yadu dynasty, so many things. Avajānanti. They are decrying Me, neglecting." Why? Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. "They do not know the real constitutional position of Me." Paraṁ bhāvam. Paraṁ bhāvam means "the supreme truth about Me." That supreme truth is partially explained here, that tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi. "I know past, present, and future, but you do not." This is paraṁ bhāvam.</p>
<p>This is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. They are on the same level, on the same chariot, they are friends. Not only on that particular moment of fighting, battlefield, but they are friends from the beginning. Just like friend and friend, they stick together, they eat together, they lie together, they talk together, they quarrel together. This are friendly. So Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna was in friendly terms and almost of equal age, very intimate friends, as it has been explained in the previous verse, bhakto 'si sakhā ceti. "You are My friend and devotee." So in spite of their living together, there is difference. Now here the difference is disclosed. Tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi. Although he is living together, the difference is clear because constitutional position.</p>
<p>I'll give you another very small example. Just like a king is sitting on the throne and there is a bug. The bug and the king, they are on the same throne, but the bug and the king, much difference. Sitting on the same throne does not mean that they have become equal. Why? Due to the constitutional position. The bug's constitutional position is to bite only, and the king's position is to rule. Although they are on the same level, the difference is great gulf of difference. Similarly, God and the living entity may sit down together, may talk together, they lie together, eat together, but that difference will be there.</p>
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