Questions for the Welfare of the World, Part 4

BY: SUN STAFF - 11.9 2023

Krsna Saves the Cows and Vrindaban
 

By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Back To Godhead Vol. 10, No. 5/6, May 1, 1975.

A discourse delivered at the New Vrndavana spiritual community in West Virginia

We should not think that material nature is working independently; that is not possible. Matter cannot act independently. We may see that matter is working, but actually we are superior. Scientists may see that a molecule is working in this way or that way, but one who is seeing this activity is actually superior. Matter works under certain material laws, but in actuality the living entity is superior, and of all living entities, the supreme living entity is God. This is the verdict of the Vedas: nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam (Katha Up 2.2.13).

Nitya means eternal; God is eternal, and we are also eternal. Cetananam: God is full in knowledge, and we have some knowledge. Dull matter has no knowledge. Krsna is the supreme eternal, and He is supremely cognizant. Eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman (Katha Up. 2.2.13). Krsna is singular, and the living entities are plural; God is one, and the living entities are many. There is no limit to the living entities. We have experience of this, for even within our room thousands and thousands of ants may come out of a small hole, and even within a drop of water there are thousands of microbes. These are all living entities under different conditions of life. Thus the living entities are many, but God is one.

What is the distinction between the plural living entities and the singular supreme living entity? It is that the supreme living entity is supplying the plural entities with all necessities. As civilized men, we have industries and businesses to solve our economic problems, but we human beings are but a small part of the many living entities. According to Padma Purana, out of 8,400,000 species of life, different types of human beings comprise only 400,000 species. Out of these, 75% are uncivilized. Aside from the small number of civilized human beings, other living entities have no problem eating, sleeping, defending and mating. We have created so-called problems by our civilization. Otherwise, there is no difficulty. Elephants eat a large quantity of food, but God is supplying it for them, and they also have sleeping arrangements and mating arrangements. The same can be said for the other species of life. An educated man should understand that if God makes such arrangements for other living entities, he makes them for man also.

In the human form of life we should try to understand what God actually is; this is our special prerogative. We should not worry that if we search after God our other problems will not be solved. By such a search, all our other problems will automatically be solved. Just as there is an arrangement for our distress, there is a similar arrangement for our happiness. No one wants distress, but why do distresses come upon us? The distresses have already been arranged, and we should know that if our distresses have been arranged, our happiness is also. We should not be disturbed by so-called distress and happiness; they are going and coming. Krsna enlightened Arjuna about this at the beginning of Bhagavad-gita:

matra-sparsas tu kaunteya
sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah
agamapayino 'nityas
tams titiksasva bharata

"O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." (Bg. 2.14)

Krsna Kills Putana
 

Neither summer nor winter remains forever; they both change. We should not bother, therefore, about so-called happiness and distress. Perfect civilization depends on the arrangements made by God, even as the lower animals depend upon them. Birds chirp in the morning, and they do not worry about how they are going to find food during the day, for they know that there is food provided and that they simply have to go get it. Our real problem is not insufficient food or sleeping arrangements. Our real problem is that we have forgotten God. We must revive our God consciousness again it is not very difficult and utilize our time in reestablishing our relationship with God. Our business should thus always be to inquire about Krsna, God, and try to understand Him, for as soon as we understand God, our material conditional life will be finished. This is validated by Krsna Himself in Bhagavad-gita:

janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so 'rjuna

"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna" (Bg. 4.9)

We should know Krsna in truth; we should not try to know Him by our own concoctions. We should know Him scientifically, for knowledge of God is a great science, and it is set forth by Krsna Himself in Bhagavad-gita:

jnanam te 'ham sa-vijnanam
idam vaksyamy asesatah
yaj jnatva neha bhuyo 'nyaj
jnatavyam avasisyate

"I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge both phenomenal and noumenal, by knowing which there shall remain nothing further to be known." (Bg. 7.2)

Sa-vijnanam: it is a great science. If we try to understand God, we have nothing more to understand. All knowledge is there; God is everything, and if we understand Him, we understand everything. Therefore Suta Gosvami proclaimed that the great sages' questions about Krsna are so nice that they are auspicious for the entire world.

We have begun this Krsna consciousness movement, and it is not for our personal benefit; it is good fortune for the whole world. We should all try to inquire about Krsna and try to understand Him. Yayatma suprasidati. In this way our soul (atma) will feel satisfaction.