View source for Any worship we first worship Lord Ganesa, India

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[[Category:Prabhupada Responding to Comments]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Responding to Comments... 1971]]
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<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
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<div id="1971_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1971 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1971 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="RoomConversationNovember111971NewDelhi_0" class="quote" parent="1971_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="28" link="Room Conversation -- November 11, 1971, New Delhi" link_text="Room Conversation -- November 11, 1971, New Delhi">
<div class="heading">That is not necessary. If we worship other demigods to fulfill our, some particular desire... There are different demigods they worship, but one who knows that "If I approach Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, then everything is obtained..."
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- November 11, 1971, New Delhi|Room Conversation -- November 11, 1971, New Delhi]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Guest: (indistinct) Any worship we first worship Lord Ganeśa, India.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That is not necessary. That is not necessary. If we worship other demigods to fulfill our, some particular desire... (Hindi) There are different demigods they worship, but one who knows that "If I approach Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, then everything is obtained..."</p>
<p>Guest: You say a true devotee of Kṛṣṇa, such a person need not go after the demigods?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, no, no.</p>
<p>Guest: Secondly...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: There is no need.</p>
<p>Guest: But if he goes after demigods...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: If he wants some material profit. (Hindi conversation) So kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante anya-devatāḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 7.20 (1972)|BG 7.20]]). (Hindi)</p>
<p>Guest: (Hindi)</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Tulasī Dāsa is different; therefore we don't take Tulasī Dāsa as authority.</p>
<p>Guest: Not? Then, sir, there is Rāma and there is Kṛṣṇa. You have Hare Rāma Hare Kṛṣṇa. So Rāma is Hari. Kṛṣṇa is considered Hari. So when you...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: So Rāma... Bhagavān has different forms: rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan (Bs. 5.39). Bhagavān (Hindi).</p>
<p>Guest: That's good. So that explains...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Viṣṇu-tattva. That is called Viṣṇu-tattva.</p>
<p>Guest: In that expansion can't we take Durgā and Siva, even for...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. That is śakti-tattva. We have to take expansion according to the tattva. Substance and categories; in which category. The substance is Viṣṇu, and all other tattvas are categories. So devatās, they are śakti-tattva, śakti category, the same category as you are. The same example. Just like here a government officer, he is also Indian gentleman, you are also Indian gentleman, but he has got his power on account of his high qualities. Similarly you can become also Durgā. You can become Indra, Candra, Sūrya. So qualitatively the ant, you are a learned brāhmaṇa, they are all the same category.</p>
:vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
:brahmaṇe gavi hastini
:śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
:paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
:([[Vanisource:BG 5.18 (1972)|BG 5.18]])
<p>A paṇḍita knows that they are on the same jīva-tattva categories. Viṣṇu-tattva, jīva-tattva, śakti-tattva, there are many tattvas. Brahman-tattva, paramātmā-tattva, and Bhagavat-tattva, they are the substance, and all other tattvas, they are jīva-tattva, śakti-tattva, like that. So Bhagavān is not jīva-tattva, but others, they are jīva-tattva. Demigods, they are jīva-tattva. Brahma is also jīva-tattva. Devī is śakti-tattva. Jīva is also śakti-tattva. In one sense jīva-tattva is higher than this material śakti-tattva. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:</p>
:apareyam itas tu anyāṁ
:viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parāḥ
:jīva-bhūtaṁ mahā-bāho
:yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat
:([[Vanisource:BG 7.5 (1972)|BG 7.5]])
<p>(Hindi)</p>
<p>Guest: For meditation, which form should we...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Meditation Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu form.</p>
<p>Guest: (Hindi)</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Viṣṇu form is the objective. So, tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayo. Viṣṇu-tattva lakṣa(?), very good mantra. Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ divīva cakṣur ātatam, like that.</p>
<p>Guest: But in the Eleventh Chapter of the Gītā...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes.</p>
<p>Guest: ...then Lord has shown His virāṭ-darśana.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes.</p>
<p>Guest: He has shown Brahma, Viṣṇu, Maheśa, etc. They are all in Him.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes.</p>
<p>Guest: Subordinate to Him.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: You are also in Him.</p>
<p>Guest: They are subordinate to Him.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Subordinate. Yes.</p>
<p>Guest: Therefore to meditate on Kṛṣṇa, the only Hare Kṛṣṇa.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. To meditate upon Kṛṣṇa is the highest yogic principle.</p>
<p>Guest: So that's what I asked...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Generally yogis, they observe viṣṇu-tattva, generally.</p>
<p>Guest: For what...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: But higher yogis, bhakta-yogīs, they see only Kṛṣṇa.</p>
<p>Guest: Kṛṣṇa.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā ([[Vanisource:BG 6.47 (1972)|BG 6.47]]).</p>
<p>Guest: What is fit for lay people? Which form should we meditate upon?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: For Kali-yuga, this is Kṛṣṇa. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya ([[Vanisource:SB 12.3.51|SB 12.3.51]]). Kali-yuga, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya.</p>
<p>Guest: I asked which form, that is the form...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa form.</p>
<p>Guest: Kṛṣṇa form holding muralī(?) in His hand?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Veṇu, muralīdhara.</p>
:veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ
:barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda sundarāṅgam
:kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ
:govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
:(Bs. 5.30)
<p>Guest: But when you chant "Rāma," the other...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Rāma is another... There is no difference between Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. If you like...</p>
<p>Guest: The form comes different in the...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, but they are the same. Rāmādi mūrti.</p>
<p>Guest: For purpose of practice I am asking, when you chant Rāma, should you have the form of Rāma before you?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That, that depends on your affection. Bhagavān has got many forms. If you want, if you love Rāma, that's all right. If you love Kṛṣṇa, that is all right. If you love Nārāyaṇa, that is also all right. But Bhagavān mūrti, rāmādi-mūrtiṣu.</p>
<p>Guest: Along with Rādhe? (Hindi) (laughter)</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That is incongruency. Rāma with Sītā.</p>
<p>Guest: Along with...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Huh?</p>
<p>Guest: Kṛṣṇa along with Rādhikā.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa with Rādhārāṇī.</p>
<p>Guest: Then what is Rādhā category?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: The same śakti. Cit-śakti. Bhagavān ke pleasure potency. Śakti, śakti-tattva. So Śaktimān. Bhagavān is Śaktimān, and that śakti is Rādhārāṇī or Sītā or Lakṣmī. Durgā is also śakti, another feature of Rādhārāṇī.</p>
<p>Guest: Śakti in original is Rādhā?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Parāsya śaktih..., parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). (Hindi) Originally cit-śakti. That cit-śakti is expanding. Just like we are..., rāmādi mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan (Bs. 5.39). Kalā means part and parcel. So we are also part and parcel, but we are very small part and parcel. But rāmādi mūrti, they are bigger part and parcel. Just like if you throw one brick on the floor, so there will be so many small particles, big particles, this particle, that. They are all part and parcel of the brick, but one part very small atomic part, and one big part, this part, this part, then this part, then this part. So all, Kṛṣṇa is the origin, and everyone is part and parcel. Some of them are bigger and some of them are smaller. So Viṣṇu-tattva is almost like Kṛṣṇa.</p>
<p>Guest: Like Kṛṣṇa.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Others, they are very small. So according to the size, or according to the power...</p>
<p>Guest: Power.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: ...the part and parcel exercises his position. Some of them are Viṣṇu-tattva, some of them are Jīva-tattva, some of them are Śakti-tattva and some of them para-tattva. Like that.</p>
<p>Guest: Para-tattva?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Para-tattva.</p>
<p>Guest: Means?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Para-tattva is Bhagavān. Para-tattva means Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu. These are para-tattva. Bhagavān avatāra, rāmā, nṛsiṁha, varāha, kūrma, vāmana, daśāvatāra, all avatāra. (Hindi) Or śakti-tattva, material energy, aparā-tattva, matter. Similarly cit-tattva, spiritual world. The living entities, although they are in the material world, they belong to the spiritual world. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, apareyam. This material energy is inferior. Itas viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. Beyond this there is another, superior energy, jīva-bhūta, that is jīva.</p>
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