TQK, Chapter Thirteen — […] In the beginning of her prayers, Kuntidevi said to the Lord, “You are within, and You are without, but still You are invisible.” Krishna is within everyone’s heart (isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese ’rjuna tisthati, sarvasya caham hrdi sannivistah [Bg. 18.61]). Indeed, He is within everything, even within the atom (andantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara-stham). Krishna is within and He is also without. Thus Krishna showed Arjuna His external feature as the visva-rupa, the gigantic cosmic manifestation.
This external body of Krishna is described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. There the hills and mountains are described as the bones of the Lord. Similarly, the great oceans have been described as different holes in the Lord’s universal body, and the planet known as Brahmaloka has been described as the upper portion of His skull. Those who cannot see God have thus been advised to see Him in many ways in terms of the material cosmic manifestation, according to the instructions given in the Vedic literature.
There are those who can simply think of God as being great but do not know how great He is. When they think of greatness, they think of very high mountains, the sky, and other planets. Therefore the Lord has been described in terms of such material manifestations so that while thinking of these different manifestations one can think of the Lord. That is also Krishna consciousness. If one thinks, “This mountain is the bone of Krishna,” or if one thinks of the vast Pacific Ocean as Krishna’s navel, one is in Krishna consciousness. Similarly, one may think of the trees and plants as the hairs on Krishna’s body, one may think of Brahmaloka as the top of Krishna’s skull, and one may think of the Patalaloka planetary system as the soles of Krishna’s feet. Thus one may think of Krishnaas greater than the greatest (mahato mahiyan).
Similarly, one may think of Krishna as smaller than the smallest. That is also a kind of greatness. Krishna can manufacture this gigantic cosmic manifestation, and He can also manufacture a small insect. In a book one may sometimes find a small running insect smaller than a period. This is Krishna’s craftsmanship. Anor aniyan mahato mahiyan (Katha Upanisad 1.2.20): He can create something greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest. Now human beings have manufactured the 747 airplane, which according to their conception is very big. But can they produce an airplane as small as a flying insect? That is not possible. Actual greatness, however, is not one-sided. One who is actually great can become greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest.
But even the great things men can manufacture in the modern age are still not the greatest things man has created. We have information from the Srimad-Bhagavatam that Kardama Muni, the father of the great sage Kapiladeva, manufactured a huge plane that resembled a great city. It included lakes, gardens, streets, and houses, and the whole city was able to fly all over the universe. In that plane, Kardama Muni traveled with his wife and showed her all the planets.
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