HINDUISM PRACTICALLY WE DO NOT RECOGNIZE

 

HINDUISM PRACTICALLY WE DO NOT RECOGNIZE

681226iv.la
Reporter: Now can you explain to me, I have some background information about the Kṛṣṇa consciousness society, but I don’t know how to explain it in relation to the broad word Hinduism. Now how do you relate the International Society for Krishna Consciousness to Hinduism? How would you describe it, as a part of Hinduism?

Prabhupāda: No. Hinduism practically we do not recognize because this word “Hinduism” is not mentioned in any Vedic literature. It is a foreign term. The Muhammadans, they called the inhabitants of India as “Hindus.” From that word, it is has come to “Hinduism.” Otherwise, we don’t find that word in any Vedic literature. “Hinduism” is a foreign term, it is not a Vedic term.

Reporter: Yes. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness, its Vedic literature, they have some of the same books or also holy books for what we call Hindu religions, aren’t they?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just try to understand, the inhabitants of India were called by the Muhammadans from Persia and other places, “Hindus.” “Hindus” means the resident on the other side of the River Indus. You have heard the name of River Indus. So they cannot pronounce it Indus, they say “Hindus.” From “Hindus,” it has become “Hindu.” So actually the residents of India were called “Hindus.” And generally, at least in, say, three thousand years ago, all the inhabitants of India were strictly followers of Vedic principles. After the advent of Lord Buddha, a different religious system developed. Otherwise, before Lord Buddha, there was all the… Not only in India, in other parts of the world. They were followers of Vedic principles. So in that sense, you can say if followers of Vedic principles are called Hindus, then before Lord Buddha, everyone was Hindu all over the world. Not that particular part of India. So far we have got historical reference from Mahābhārata, Indo-European stock, they are also Hindus, the so-called Hindus, followers of Vedic principles. Yes. Gradually, they deviated. Just like recently there is division of Pakistan and India. Twenty years before, this Pakistan was part of India. Now, these Muhammadans, they did not come from outside. They changed their faith from Hindus to Muhammadans. Now they divided their property. Similarly, actually the whole planet was called Bhārata-varṣa. Gradually, people deviated from Vedic principles or imitated something else and they became different.

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740115SB.HAW
There are seven mothers according to Vedic civilization:

ātma-mātā guroḥ patnī
brāhmaṇī rāja-patnikā
dhenur dhātrī tathā pṛthvī
saptaitā mātaraḥ smṛtāḥ

Real mother, from whose womb we have come to this world, real mother, ātma-mātā. Then guroḥ patnī, wife of the teacher or spiritual master, guroḥ patnī. Brāhmaṇī, the wife of a brāhmaṇa. Ātma-mātā guroḥ patnī brāhmaṇī rāja-patnikā, and the wife of the king, or the queen. She’s also mother. Dhenu, the cow. Cow is also mother. And dhātrī means nurse. Nurse is also mother. Tathā pṛthvī, and the earth, the earth is also our mother. That we say in country, in the country which we take birth, we say deśa-mātṛkā. In Sanskrit it is called deśa-mātṛkā. That is also mother. Mother land, mother language. So this… So many mothers we have got, out of which, cow is also mother. Therefore she’s addressed as amba. Amba means mother. Still in Gujarat province, they call amba. And in U.P., United States, er, United Province, in India, they also call amba, or in a broken language they call amma. Still… That is from very long time, mother is… Amba-devī. There is a… From Amba-devī, there is a big temple of Mother Durgā, Kālī, in Bombay. So this Amba-devī was pronounced by the Englishmens as Bamba-devī, and from Bamba-devī it has come to “Bombay.” Actually, there is a big temple of Amba in Bombay. From that name, instead of Amba, they have become Bamba. Just like from Sindhu, they have called, they have designated the inhabitants of Sindhu-deśa as “Hindu.” The Muhammadans, they pronounce s as h. So from “Sindhu,” it has come to “Hindu.” Otherwise, this “Hindu” name is not mentioned in any Vedic literature. It is given by the… This name is given by the other foreigners. Especially the Arabian countries, they used to call this nation, Bhārata-varṣa…

ACTUALLY, HINDU IS NOT A RELIGION. HINDU IS A NAME GIVEN BY THE FOREIGNERS. THE RELIGION IS, OF INDIA, VARṆĀŚRAMA-DHARMA, FOLLOWING THE INSTITUTION OF FOUR VARṆAS AND FOUR ĀŚRAMAS. THAT IS VARṆ… OR SANĀTANA-DHARMA. SANĀTANA-DHARMA MEANS ETERNAL, ETERNAL RELIGION. RELIGION OF HUMAN BEING IS ONE. THAT IS CALLED SANĀTANA. A living entity is described as sanātana. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūto jīva-loke sanātanaḥ [Bg. 15.7]. In the Bhagavad-gītā you’ll find sanātanaḥ, and Kṛṣṇa is also addressed in the Eleventh Chapter as sanātanas tvam. And there is another place, or spiritual world, which is also called sanātana. In the Bhagavad-gītā you’ll find, paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ‘nyo ‘vyakto ‘vyaktāt sanātanaḥ [Bg. 8.20]. So this sanātana term is very important. The living entity is sanātana and God is sanātana and the spiritual world is sanātana, and the process by which your lost relationship with God established and you go back to home back to Godhead, that is called sanātana-dharma. Sanātana-dharma. That is our eternal relationship with God. And there is a place. So the system which makes these two sanātana, God and the living entity, meet again and they go back to enjoy life in the spiritual world, that system is called sanātana-dharma. Therefore sanātana-dharma is not meant for any particular class or particular country or particular nation or community. No. It is meant for the whole human being, especially human being; otherwise, all living entities.

Living entities, they are in this material world in different forms. That is accepted by Kṛṣṇa, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ [Bg. 14.4]. There are as many forms of life amongst the living entities. Tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. The mahad yoniḥ, mahat, this material world, material elements, or the sum total of material elements… Mother Durgā, she is the mother. And God is the father. Just like father and mother gives birth to a child, similarly, we spirit soul, the part and parcel of the supreme father, and the material elements, bhūmir āpo ‘nalo vāyuḥ [Bg. 7.4], they’re the recipient. Tasmin garbhaṁ dadāmy aham. Just like father gives the seed in the womb of the mother, then the child gets a body and it grows and come out, similarly this body is given by mother, material, material energy, but the father is the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg. 14.4]. This is the factual position. We are not this material body.

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Letter to: Sriman Bankaji
—
Los Angeles
13 March, 1970

70-03-13

Actually there is no such word as “Hindu” in the Vedic literatures. The “Hindu” name was given by the Mohammedans with reference to the river Indus or Hindus, from Sindhu. So the VEDIC CULTURE IS NOT FOR ANY SECT OF COUNTRY, IT IS MEANT FOR THE WHOLE HUMAN SOCIETY. In other words, Vedic culture is also known as Sanatana Dharma which means “eternal function of the eternal living entities.” Krishna is eternal, and we all living entities, being parts and parcels of Krishna, are also eternal. And the reciprocal exchange of love between the two eternals is called “eternal occupational duty” or Sanatana Dharma.

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SSR 3 Discovering the Roots
SOMETIMES INDIANS BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF INDIA THINK THAT WE ARE PREACHING THE HINDU RELIGION, BUT ACTUALLY WE ARE NOT. ONE WILL NOT FIND THE WORD HINDU IN THE BHAGAVAD-GITA. Indeed, there is no such word as Hindu in the entire Vedic literature. This word has been introduced by the Muslims from provinces next to India, such as Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Persia. There is a river called Sindhu bordering the north western provinces of India, and since the Muslims there could not pronounce Sindhu properly, they instead called the river Hindu, and the inhabitants of this tract of land they called Hindus. In India, according to the Vedic language, the Europeans are called mlecchas or yavanas. Similarly, Hindu is a name given by the Muslims.
India’s actual culture is described in the Bhagavad-gita, where it is stated that according to the different qualities or modes of nature there are different types of men, who are generally classified into four social orders and four spiritual orders. This system of social and spiritual division is known as varnasrama-dharma. The four varnas, or social orders, are brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya. and sudra. The four asramas, or spiritual orders, are brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. The varnasrama system is described in the Vedic scriptures known as the Puranas. The goal of this institution of Vedic culture is to educate every man for advancement in knowledge of Krsna, or God. That is the entire Vedic program.
When Lord Caitanya talked with the great devotee Ramananda Raya, the Lord asked him, “What is the basic principle of human life?” Ramananda Raya answered that human civilization begins when varnasrama-dharma is accepted. Before coming to the standard of varnasrama-dharma there is no question of human civilization. Therefore, the Krsna consciousness movement is trying to establish this right system of human civilization, which is known as Krsna consciousness, or daiva-varnasrama–divine culture.
In India, the varnasrama system has now been taken in a perverted way, and thus a man born in the family of a brahmana (the highest social order) claims that he should be accepted as a brahmana. But this claim is not accepted by the sastra (scripture). One’s forefather may have been a brahmana according to gotra, or the family hereditary order, but real varnasrama-dharma is based on the factual quality one has attained, regardless of birth or heredity. THEREFORE, WE ARE NOT PREACHING THE PRESENT-DAY SYSTEM OF THE HINDUS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF SANKARACARYA, FOR SANKARACARYA TAUGHT THAT THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH IS IMPERSONAL, AND THUS HE INDIRECTLY DENIED THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
Sankaracarya’s mission was special; he appeared to reestablish the Vedic influence after the influence of Buddhism. Because Buddhism was patronized by Emperor Asoka, twenty-six hundred years ago the Buddhist religion practically pervaded all of India. According to the Vedic literature, Buddha was an incarnation of Krsna who had a special power and who appeared for a special purpose. His system of thought, or faith, was accepted widely, but Buddha rejected the authority of the Vedas. While Buddhism was spreading, the Vedic culture was stopped both in India and in other places. Therefore, since Sankaracarya’s only aim was to drive away Buddha’s system of philosophy, he introduced a system called Mayavada.
Strictly speaking, Mayavada philosophy is atheism, for it is a process in which one imagines that there is God. This Mayavada system of philosophy has been existing since time immemorial. The present Indian system of religion or culture is based on the Mayavada philosophy of Sankaracarya, which is a compromise with Buddhist philosophy. According to Mayavada philosophy there actually is no God, or if God exists, He is impersonal and all-pervading and can therefore be imagined in any form. This conclusion is not in accord with the Vedic literature. That literature names many demigods, who are worshiped for different purposes, but in every case the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, Visnu, is accepted as the supreme controller. That is real Vedic culture.
The philosophy of Krsna consciousness does not deny the existence of God and the demigods, but Mayavada philosophy denies both; it maintains that neither the demigods nor God exists. For the Mayavadis, ultimately all is zero. They say that one may imagine any authority–whether Visnu, Durga, Lord Siva, or the sun-god–because these are the demigods generally worshiped in society. But the Mayavada philosophy does not in fact accept the existence of any of them. The Mayavadis say that because one cannot concentrate one’s mind on the impersonal Brahman, one may imagine any of these forms. This is a new system, called pancopasana. It was introduced by Sankaracarya, but the Bhagavad-gita does not teach any such doctrines, and therefore they are not authoritative.
The Bhagavad-gita accepts the existence of the demigods. The demigods are described in the Vedas, and one cannot deny their existence, but they are not to be understood or worshiped according to the way of Sankaracarya. The worship of demigods is rejected in the Bhagavad-gita. The Gita (7.20) clearly states:

kamais tais tair hrta jnanah
prapadyante ‘nya-devatah
tam tam niyamam asthaya
prakrtya niyatah svaya

“Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.” Furthermore, in the Bhagavad-gita (2.44), Lord Krsna states:

bhogaisvarya-prasaktanam
tayapahrta-cetasam
vyavasayatmika buddhih
samadhau na vidhiyate

“In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service does not take place.” Those who are pursuing the various demigods have been described as hrta jnanah, which means “those who have lost their sense.” That is also further explained in the Bhagavad-gita (7.23):

antavat tu phalam tesam
tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam
devan deva-yajo yanti
mad-bhakta yanti mam api

“Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees reach My supreme abode.” The rewards given by the demigods are temporary, because any material facility must act in connection with the temporary body. Whatever material facilities one gets, whether by modern scientific methods or by deriving benedictions from the demigods, will be finished with the body. But spiritual advancement will never be finished. People should not think that we are preaching a sectarian religion. No. We are simply preaching how to love God.

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Letter to: Mukunda
—
San Francisco
26 March, 1968

68-03-26

Please accept my blessings. I am sorry I am delayed to reply your letter dated March 14, 1968, which I received over a week ago. I am very glad that you are repentant even for some action which is not sanctioned by me. This attitude is very nice and improves one in progressing on the path of devotional service. The Rakhi Bandhan ceremony observed by you under instruction of Prasad isn’t approved by our Vaisnava rituals. Of course, such ceremony is observed among the Hindu community as a socio-religious convention. BUT IN OUR VAISNAVA COMMUNITY THERE IS NO SUCH OBSERVANCE. Now, forget the incidence, and in future don’t be misled by some unauthorized person.

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TEXT 14

yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena
tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ
prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇāṁ
tathaiva sarvārhaṇam acyutejyā

SYNONYMS

yathā—as; taroḥ—of a tree; mūla—the root; niṣecanena—by watering; tṛpyanti—are satisfied; tat—its; skandha—trunk; bhuja—branches; upaśākhāḥ—and twigs; prāṇa—the life air; upahārāt—by feeding; ca—and; yathā—as; indriyāṇām—of the senses; tathā eva—similarly; sarva—of all demigods; arhaṇam—worship; acyuta—of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; ijyā—worship.

TRANSLATION

As pouring water on the root of a tree energizes the trunk, branches, twigs and everything else, and as supplying food to the stomach enlivens the senses and limbs of the body, simply worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead through devotional service automatically satisfies the demigods, who are parts of that Supreme Personality.

PURPORT

SOMETIMES PEOPLE ASK WHY THIS KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS MOVEMENT SIMPLY ADVOCATES WORSHIP OF KṚṢṆA TO THE EXCLUSION OF THE DEMIGODS. The answer is given in this verse. The example of pouring water on the root of a tree is very appropriate. In Bhagavad-gītā (15.1) it is said, ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ-śākham: this cosmic manifestation has expanded downward, and the root is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As the Lord confirms in Bhagavad-gītā (10.8), ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds.” Kṛṣṇa is the root of everything; therefore rendering service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇa-sevā), means automatically serving all the demigods. Sometimes it is argued that karma and jñāna require a mixture of bhakti in order to be successfully executed, and sometimes it is argued that bhakti also requires karma and jñāna for its successful termination. The fact is, however, that although karma and jñāna cannot be successful without bhakti, bhakti does not require the help of karma and jñāna. Actually, as described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam: [Madhya 19.167] pure devotional service should not be contaminated by the touch of karma and jñāna. Modern society is involved in various types of philanthropic works, humanitarian works and so on, but people do not know that these activities will never be successful unless Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is brought into the center. One may ask what harm there is in worshiping Kṛṣṇa and the different parts of His body, the demigods, and the answer is also given in this verse. The point is that by supplying food to the stomach, the indriyas, the senses, are automatically satisfied. If one tries to feed his eyes or ears independently, the result is only havoc. Simply by supplying food to the stomach, we satisfy all of the senses. It is neither necessary nor feasible to render separate service to the individual senses. The conclusion is that by serving Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇa-sevā), everything is complete. As confirmed in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.62), kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya: if one is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, everything is automatically accomplished.
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/sb/4/31/14
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68-02-25. Letter: Satsvarupa
Please accept my blessings. I am in receipt of a copy of your last Istagosthi dated Jan. 27, and I am very much satisfied with your replies on the questions made in the Istagosthi. The meeting is called “Istagosthi” and not “Istagosthi”. YOU MAY KNOW ALSO THAT RAMAKRISHNA’S WORSHIP OF KALI MAKES HIM A THIRD CLASS MAN. IN THE BHAGAVAD-GITA IT IS STATED THAT ONE WHO WORSHIPS THE DEMIGODS JUST LIKE BRAHMA, SIVA, INDRA, CANDRA OR DEMIGODDESSES LIKE KALI, DURGA, SARASVATI, ETC., ARE DESCRIBED AS PERSONS WHO HAVE LOST THEIR INTELLIGENCE. One person who has lost his intelligence, how he can become an incarnation of God? A person who has lost his intelligence, is not even counted amongst the higher section of society. So, the Ramakrishna is a bogus man according to the statement of Bhagavad-gita. VIVEKANANDA WAS ALSO NOT EVEN INTELLIGENT MAN BECAUSE HE ACCEPTED RAMAKRSNA AS INCARNATION OF GOD. THIS RAMAKRSNA, WHO IS ACTUALLY GADADHARA CHATTERJEE, DECLARED HIMSELF AS THE SAME RAMA AND KRSNA. IF HE IS ACCEPTED AS SUCH BY SOME PERSON, IS HE VERY INTELLIGENT MAN? Suppose a man comes before somebody and says he is Pres. Johnson. and the foolish man accepts the pretender as Pres. Johnson, is that man to be accepted as very intelligent man? VIVEKANANDA WAS NOT EVEN AN INTELLIGENT MAN BECAUSE HE ACCEPTED GADHADHARA CHATTERJEE AS INCARNATION OF GOD WITHOUT ANY CREDENTIALS. We accept Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead on the evidence of Vedic literature. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE IN THE VEDIC LITERATURES THAT A COMMON UNINTELLIGENT PERSON BY WORSHIPPING A DEMIGODDESS KALI CAN BECOME AN INCARNATION OF GODHEAD. THE GODDESS KALI IS DIVINE MOTHER FOR THE CONDITIONED SOULS, NOT FOR THE LIBERATED SOULS. THERE IS NO DIRECTION IN THE VEDIC LITERATURES THAT ONE CAN BECOME LIBERATED EVEN BY WORSHIPPING THE GODDESS KALI. SHE IS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE PRISON HOUSE KNOWN AS MATERIAL WORLD. ONE CAN DERIVE SOME MATERIAL FACILITIES BY WORSHIPPING KALI OR DURGA, BUT NOBODY CAN BECOME LIBERATED BY WORSHIPPING SUCH DEMIGODDESSES, SO WHAT TO SPEAK OF BECOMING INCARNATION OF GODHEAD. SO THE PROPAGANDA THAT RAMAKRSNA BECAME INCARNATION OF GOD BY WORSHIPPING KALI IS NOT ACCEPTED BY ANY AUTHORIZED ACHARYA AND THEREFORE IT IS A BOGUS PROPAGANDA. ONE WHO FOLLOWS THEREFORE, SUCH BOGUS PROPAGANDA IS ALSO MISLED AS FAR AS HIS SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT IS CONCERNED.
You have to meet many opposing elements in the matter of preaching work therefore you should always be careful to follow the principles of Bhagavad-gita as it is. You will be glad to know that our arrangements with MacMillan for publishing Bhagavad-gita As It Is is already completed, and the manuscript is handed over to them. We should preach clearly that our Krsna Consciousness movement is surely on the basis of Bhagavad-gita as it is. Any other movement which does not tally with the principles of Bhagavad-gita as it is, is considered by us as unauthorized. All these so-called yogic or other spiritualist movements in this country imported from India are all against the principles of Bhagavad-gita. It is our movement only which strictly follows the principles of the Bhagavad-gita, under the guidance of the authorities or acaryas in disciplic succession from Lord Caitanya who practically demonstrated in life and practice the principles of Bhagavad-gita. The last word in the Bhagavad-gita is to surrender unto Krsna and Lord Caitanya taught us to surrender unto Krsna. His transcendental movement of chanting the Holy name of Krsna and Rama is the sublime movement, not only at the present age, but for all the time past, present and future.
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TEXT 26

mumukṣavo ghora-rūpān
hitvā bhūta-patīn atha
nārāyaṇa-kalāḥ śāntā
bhajanti hy anasūyavaḥ

SYNONYMS
mumukṣavaḥ—persons desiring liberation; ghora—horrible, ghastly; rūpān—forms like that; hitvā—rejecting; bhūta-patīn—demigods; atha—for this reason; nārāyaṇa—the Personality of Godhead; kalāḥ—plenary portions; śāntāḥ—all-blissful; bhajanti—do worship; hi—certainly; anasūyavaḥ—nonenvious.

TRANSLATION
Those who are serious about liberation are certainly nonenvious, and they respect all. Yet they reject the horrible and ghastly forms of the demigods and worship only the all-blissful forms of Lord Viṣṇu and His plenary portions.

PURPORT

The Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is the original person of the Viṣṇu categories, expands Himself in two different categories, namely integrated plenary portions and separated parts and parcels. The separated parts and parcels are the servitors, and the integrated plenary portions of viṣṇu-tattvas are the worshipful objects of service.
All demigods who are empowered by the Supreme Lord are also separated parts and parcels. They do not belong to the categories of viṣṇu-tattva. The viṣṇu-tattvas are living beings equally as powerful as the original form of the Personality of Godhead, and they display different categories of power in consideration of different times and circumstances. The separated parts and parcels are powerful by limitation. They do not have unlimited power like the viṣṇu-tattvas. Therefore, one should never classify the viṣṇu-tattvas, or the plenary portions of Nārāyaṇa, the Personality of Godhead, in the same categories with the parts and parcels. If anyone does so he becomes at once an offender by the name pāṣaṇḍī. In the age of Kali many foolish persons commit such unlawful offenses and equalize the two categories.
The separated parts and parcels have different positions in the estimation of material powers, and some of them are like Kāla-bhairava, Śmaśāna-bhairava, Śani, Mahākālī and Caṇḍikā. These demigods are worshiped mostly by those who are in the lowest categories of the mode of darkness or ignorance. Other demigods, like Brahmā, Śiva, Sūrya, Gaṇeśa and many similar deities, are worshiped by men in the mode of passion, urged on by the desire for material enjoyment. But those who are actually situated in the mode of goodness (sattva-guṇa) of material nature worship only viṣṇu-tattvas. Viṣṇu-tattvas are represented by various names and forms, such as Nārāyaṇa, Dāmodara, Vāmana, Govinda and Adhokṣaja.
The qualified brāhmaṇas worship the viṣṇu-tattvas represented by the śālagrāma-śilā, and some of the higher castes like the kṣatriyas and vaiśyas also generally worship the viṣṇu-tattvas.
Highly qualified brāhmaṇas situated in the mode of goodness have no grudges against the mode of worship of others. They have all respect for other demigods, even though they may look ghastly, like Kāla-bhairava or Mahākālī. They know very well that those horrible features of the Supreme Lord are all different servitors of the Lord under different conditions, yet they reject the worship of both horrible and attractive features of the demigods, and they concentrate only on the forms of Viṣṇu because they are serious about liberation from the material conditions. The demigods, even to the stage of Brahmā, the supreme of all the demigods, cannot offer liberation to anyone. Hiraṇyakaśipu underwent a severe type of penance to become eternal in life, but his worshipful deity, Brahmā, could not satisfy him with such blessings. Therefore Viṣṇu, and none else, is called mukti-pāda, or the Personality of Godhead who can bestow upon us mukti, liberation. The demigods, being like other living entities in the material world, are all liquidated at the time of the annihilation of the material structure. They are themselves unable to get liberation, and what to speak of giving liberation to their devotees. The demigods can award the worshipers some temporary benefit only, and not the ultimate one.
It is for this reason only that candidates for liberation deliberately reject the worship of the demigods, although they have no disrespect for any one of them.
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/sb/1/2/26
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TEXT 12

kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhiṁ
yajanta iha devatāḥ
kṣipraṁ hi mānuṣe loke
siddhir bhavati karma-jā

SYNONYMS
kāṅkṣantaḥ—desiring; karmaṇām—of fruitive activities; siddhim—perfection; yajante—worship by sacrifices; iha—in the material world; devatāḥ—the demigods; kṣipram—very quickly; hi—certainly; mānuṣe—in human society; loke—within this world; siddhiḥ bhavati—becomes successful; karmajā—the fruitive worker.

TRANSLATION
Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods. Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world.

PURPORT

There is a great misconception about the gods or demigods of this material world, and men of less intelligence, although passing as great scholars, take these demigods to be various forms of the Supreme Lord. Actually, the demigods are not different forms of God, but they are God’s different parts and parcels. God is one, and the parts and parcels are many. The Vedas say, nityo nityānām: God is one. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. The Supreme God is one—Kṛṣṇa—and the demigods are delegated with powers to manage this material world. These demigods are all living entities (nityānām) with different grades of material power. They cannot be equal to the Supreme God—Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa. Anyone who thinks that God and the demigods are on the same level is called an atheist, or pāṣaṇḍī. Even the great demigods like Brahmā and Śiva cannot be compared to the Supreme Lord. In fact, the Lord is worshiped by demigods such as Brahmā and Śiva (śiva-viriñci-nutam). Yet curiously enough there are many human leaders who are worshiped by foolish men under the misunderstanding of anthropomorphism or zoomorphism. Iha devatāḥ denotes a powerful man or demigod of this material world. But Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, does not belong to this world. He is above, or transcendental to, material creation. Even Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, the leader of the impersonalists, maintains that Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, is beyond this material creation. However, foolish people (hṛt-añjana) worship the demigods because they want immediate results. They get the results, but do not know that results so obtained are temporary and are meant for less intelligent persons. The intelligent person is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and he has no need to worship the paltry demigods for some immediate, temporary benefit. The demigods of this material world, as well as their worshipers, will vanish with the annihilation of this material world. The boons of the demigods are material and temporary. Both the material worlds and their inhabitants, including the demigods, and their worshipers, are bubbles in the cosmic ocean. In this world, however, human society is mad after temporary things such as the material opulence of possessing land, family and enjoyable paraphernalia. To achieve such temporary things, they worship the demigods or powerful men in human society. If a man gets some ministership in the government by worshiping a political leader, he considers that he has achieved a great boon. All of them are therefore kowtowing to the so-called leaders or “big guns” in order to achieve temporary boons, and they indeed achieve such things. Such foolish men are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the permanent solution to the hardships of material existence. They are all after sense enjoyment, and to get a little facility for sense enjoyment they are attracted to worship empowered living entities known as demigods. This verse indicates that people are rarely interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are mostly interested in material enjoyment, and therefore they worship some powerful living entity.
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/bg/4/12
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TEXT 90

kṛṣṇera pratijñā dṛḍha sarva-kāle āche
ye yaiche bhaje, kṛṣṇa tāre bhaje taiche

SYNONYMS
kṛṣṇera—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; pratijñā—the promise; dṛḍha—firm; sarva-kāle—in all times; āche—there is; ye—anyone; yaiche—just as; bhaje—renders service; kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; tāre—him; bhaje—reciprocates with; taiche—so for all time.

TRANSLATION
“Lord Kṛṣṇa has made a firm promise for all time. If one renders service unto Him, Kṛṣṇa correspondingly gives him an equal amount of success in devotional service to the Lord.

PURPORT

It is a completely mistaken idea that one can worship Kṛṣṇa in any form or in any way and still attain the ultimate result of receiving the favor of the Lord. This is a decision made by gross materialists. Generally such men say that you can manufacture your own way of worshiping the Supreme Lord and that any type of worship is sufficient to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Certainly there are different means for attaining different results in fruitive activity, speculative knowledge, mystic yoga and austerity. Crude men therefore say that if one adopts any of these methods one achieves the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s favor. They claim that it doesn’t matter what kind of method one adopts. A general example is given: If one wishes to arrive at a certain place, there are many roads leading there, and one can go to that place by any one of these roads. Similarly, these gross materialists say, there are different ways to attain the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They claim that one can conceive of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Goddess Durgā, Goddess Kālī, Lord Śiva, Demigod Gaṇeśa, Lord Rāmacandra, Kṛṣṇa, the impersonal Brahman or whatever, and one can chant the Lord’s name in any way and in any form. Such materialists claim that since ultimately all these names and forms are one, the result is the same. They also give the example that a man who has different names will answer if called by any one of them. Therefore, they claim, there is no need to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. If one chants the name of Kālī, Durgā, Śiva, Gaṇeśa or anyone else, the result will be the same.
Such claims made by mental speculators are no doubt very pleasing to mental speculators, but those who are actually in knowledge do not admit such conclusions, which are against the authority of the śāstras. A bona fide ācārya will certainly not accept such a conclusion. As Kṛṣṇa clearly states in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.25):

yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
yānti mad-yājino ‘pi mām

“Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods, those who worship the ancestors go to the ancestors, those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings, and those who worship Me will live with Me.” (Bg. 9.25)
Only the devotees of the Lord can be admitted to His kingdom-not the demigod worshipers, karmīs, yogīs or anyone else. A person who desires elevation to the heavenly planets worships various demigods, and material nature may be pleased to offer such devotees their desired positions. The material nature gives a person his own nature, by which he increases affection for different types of demigods. However, the Bhagavad-gītā (7.20) says that demigod worship is meant for men who have lost all their intelligence:

kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ
prapadyante ‘nya-devatāḥ
taṁ taṁ niyamam āsthāya
prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā

“Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.”
Although one may be elevated to the heavenly planets, the results of such a benediction are limited:

anta-vat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ
tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām
devān deva-yajo yānti
mad-bhaktā yānti mām api

“Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.” (Bg. 7.23)
Being elevated to the heavenly planets or other material planets does not mean attaining an eternal life of knowledge and bliss. At the end of the material world, all attainments of material elevation will also end. Again, according to Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.55), only those who engage in His loving devotional service will be admitted to the spiritual world and return to Godhead, not others:

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti
yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā
viśate tad-anantaram

“One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.”
Impersonalists cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore it is not possible for them to enter into the spiritual kingdom of God and return home, back to Godhead. Actually one attains different results by different means. It is not that all achievements are one and the same. Those interested in the four principles of dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa cannot be compared to those interested in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.2) therefore says:

dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ‘tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śiva-daṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ‘tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt

“Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhāgavata Purāṇa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Śrī Vyāsadeva, is sufficient in itself for God realization. As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, he becomes attached to the Supreme Lord.”
Those who aspire after liberation attempt to merge into the impersonal Brahman. To this end they execute ritualistic religious ceremonies, but Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam considers this a cheating process. Indeed, such people can never dream of returning home, back to Godhead. There is a gulf of difference between the goal of dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa and the goal of devotional service.
The goddess Durgā is the superintending deity of this material world, which is made of material elements. The demigods are simply different directors engaged in operating the departments of material activities, and they are under the influence of the same material energy. Kṛṣṇa’s internal potencies, however, have nothing to do with the creation of this cosmic material world. The spiritual world and all spiritual activities are under the direction of the internal, spiritual energy, and such activities are performed by Yogamāyā, the spiritual energy. Yogamāyā is the spiritual or internal energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those who are interested in being promoted to the spiritual world and engaging in the service of the Lord attain spiritual perfection under the control of Yogamāyā. Those who are interested in material promotion engage in ritualistic religious ceremonies and economic development to develop sense gratification. They ultimately attempt to merge into the impersonal existence of the Lord. Such people generally become impersonalists. They are interested in worshiping Lord Śiva or Goddess Durgā, but their return is one hundred percent materialistic.
Following the example of the gopīs, the devotees sometimes worship the goddess Kātyāyanī, but they understand that Kātyāyanī is an incarnation of Yogamāyā. The gopīs worshiped Kātyāyanī, Yogamāyā, to attain Kṛṣṇa as their husband. On the other hand, it is stated in the Sapta-śatī scripture that a kṣatriya king named Suratha and a rich vaiśya named Samādhi worshiped material nature in the form of Goddess Durgā to attain material perfection. If one tries to mingle the worship of Yogamāyā with Mahāmāyā, considering them one and the same, he does not really show very high intelligence. The idea that everything is one is a kind of foolishness indulged in by those with less brain substance. Fools and rascals say that the worship of Yogamāyā and Mahāmāyā is the same. This conclusion is simply the result of mental speculation, and it has no practical effect. In the material world, sometimes one gives an exalted title to an utterly worthless thing; in Bengal this is known as giving a blind child a name like Padmalocana, which means “lotus-eyed.” One may foolishly call a blind child Padmalocana, but such an appellation does not bear any meaning.
In the spiritual world the Absolute Lord is always identical with His name, fame, form, qualities and pastimes. Such identity is impossible in the material world, where the name of a person is different from the person himself. The Supreme Lord has many holy names like Paramātmā, Brahman and “the creator,” but one who worships the Lord as the creator cannot understand the relationship between a devotee and the Lord in the five types of transcendental mellow, nor can he understand the conception of Kṛṣṇa. One cannot understand the six transcendental opulences of the Lord simply by understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead as impersonal Brahman.
Impersonal realization of the Absolute Truth is certainly transcendental, but this does not mean that one who has attained this realization can understand the sac-cid-ānanda form of the Lord. Similarly, Paramātmā realization-realization of the plenary expansion of the Absolute Truth within everyone’s heart-is also an incomplete understanding of the Absolute Truth. Even a devotee of the Personality of Godhead Nārāyaṇa cannot actually understand the transcendental attractive features of Kṛṣṇa. Indeed, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa who is attached to the sublime attractive features of the Lord does not consider Nārāyaṇa very important. When the gopīs sometimes saw Kṛṣṇa in the form of Nārāyaṇa, they were not very attracted to Him. The gopīs never addressed Kṛṣṇa as Rukmiṇī-ramaṇa. Kṛṣṇa’s devotees in Vṛndāvana address Him as Rādhāramaṇa, Nandanandana and Yaśodānandana, but not as Vasudeva-nandana or Devakī-nandana. Although according to the material conception Nārāyaṇa, Rukmiṇī-ramaṇa and Kṛṣṇa are one and the same, in the spiritual world one cannot use the name Rukmiṇī-ramaṇa or Nārāyaṇa in place of the name Kṛṣṇa. If one does so out of a poor fund of knowledge, his mellow with the Lord becomes spiritually faulty and is called rasābhāsa, an overlapping of transcendental mellows. The advanced devotee who has actually realized the transcendental features of the Lord will not commit the mistake of creating a rasābhāsa situation by using one name for another. Because of the influence of Kali-yuga, there is much rasābhāsa in the name of extravagance and liberal-mindedness. Such fanaticism is not very much appreciated by pure devotees.
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/madhya/8/90
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Māyāvādī philosophers wrongly think that because the Supreme Person has entered the body of a poor man, the Supreme Lord has become daridra-nārāyaṇa, or poor Nārāyaṇa. These are all blasphemous statements of atheists and nondevotees.
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/sb/3/29/34
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The impersonalist sometimes accepts a poor individual soul as being daridra-nārāyaṇa, meaning that Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has become poor. This is a contradiction. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is full in all opulences. He can agree to live with a poor soul or even with an animal, but this does not make Him poor.
There are two Sanskrit words used here, māna and dāna. Māna indicates a superior, and dāna indicates one who gives charitable gifts or is compassionate towards an inferior. We cannot treat the Supreme Personality of Godhead as an inferior who is dependent on our charitable gifts. When we give charity, it is to a person who is inferior in his material or economic condition. Charity is not given to a rich man. Similarly, it is explicitly stated here that māna, respect, is offered to a superior, and charity is offered to an inferior. The living entities, according to different results of fruitive activities, may become rich or poor, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead is unchangeable; He is always full in six opulences. Treating a living entity equally does not mean treating him as one would treat the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Compassion and friendliness do not necessitate falsely elevating someone to the exalted position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We should not, at the same time, misunderstand that the Supersoul situated in the heart of an animal like a hog and the Supersoul situated in the heart of a learned brāhmaṇa are different. The Supersoul in all living entities is the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. By His omnipotency, He can live anywhere, and He can create His Vaikuṇṭha situation everywhere. That is His inconceivable potency. Therefore, when Nārāyaṇa is living in the heart of a hog, He does not become a hog-Nārāyaṇa. He is always Nārāyaṇa and is unaffected by the body of the hog.
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/sb/3/29/27
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THE MĀYĀVĀDĪS THINK THAT BECAUSE THEY ARE SPIRIT SOUL, THEY ARE ONE WITH THE SUPREME. BEING EQUAL IN QUALITY DOES NOT MEAN THAT ONE IS THE SUPREME SOUL. BECAUSE THE MĀYĀVĀDĪS THINK THAT THEY HAVE BECOME ONE WITH NĀRĀYAṇA, THEY ADDRESS ONE ANOTHER AS NĀRĀYAṇA. THEY SAY, “YOU ARE NĀRĀYAṇA, I AM NĀRĀYAṇA, EVERYONE IS NĀRĀYAṇA.” FROM THIS MISCONCEPTION, THE IDEA OF DARIDRA-NĀRĀYAṇA (POOR NĀRĀYAṇA) ARISES. The devotees fully engaged in the service of the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord do not think in this way. They think, “If I am one with the Supreme, how is it I have fallen into this condition?” They know that a drop of seawater is one in quality with the vast ocean, but they also know that a drop of water is never equal to the ocean itself.
Sometimes the Māyāvādīs worship Lord Viṣṇu, but they do not actually believe in the form of Lord Viṣṇu. They consider His image to be some imaginary form to utilize as a means for self-realization. Māyāvādīs say that the Absolute Truth has no rūpa, no form, but it is stated: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. “Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body.”
The word vigraha refers to the supreme form, but the Māyāvādīs do not understand this. There are also many so-called Vaiṣṇavas who worship Lord Viṣṇu with an aim of becoming one with the Supreme. They sometimes give the example of a drop of water merging into the great ocean itself. This is simply nonsense. The ocean is a combination of countless molecules of water, and it is impossible for one molecule to merge into the totality. The sunshine is a combination of countless trillions of small shining particles, and each particle has its individual identity as an atom. Because we do not have the eyes to see the small atomic divisions, we think that they are one, but actually they are not homogeneous. Similarly, although we are very small particles of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we all have different identities. In Bhagavad-gītā (2.12) Śrī Kṛṣṇa says:

na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ
na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ
sarve vayam ataḥ param

“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.”
Kṛṣṇa never says that He, Arjuna, and all the soldiers shall eventually become one. Rather, He says that everyone will retain his own individuality.
Those who have complete knowledge never think that in the future they will become one with the Supreme. They simply want to remain in their constitutional position as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Although we are now covered by the material body, the material body can be easily dissolved by the process of bhakti-yoga. If we are strong in bhakti-yoga, we actually no longer have a material body but a spiritual one. We are free.
When we are baffled, we want to become the husband of goddess Lakṣmī. The husband of goddess Lakṣmī is Nārāyaṇa, God Himself. In this material world, we are hankering after Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, but we are frustrated in our attempts. We think, “Now let me become the husband of Lakṣmī.” Actually, no one can enjoy Lakṣmī but Nārāyaṇa. Even exalted demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are inferior to Lord Nārāyaṇa, but we are so foolish that we are thinking of assuming Nārāyaṇa’s position, or making Nārāyaṇa into daridra-nārāyaṇa, the poor man in the street. The śāstras never equalize Nārāyaṇa with anyone, not even Lord Brahmā or Lord Śiva, what to speak of foolish rascals.
One may ask why Nārāyaṇa has created us, why it is we are part and parcel of Nārāyaṇa. Eko bahu-syām. Why has Nārāyaṇa become many? He has created us for enjoyment. Ānandamayo ’bhyāsāt. He has created us in the same way a gentleman accepts a wife. If one takes on a wife, he
will beget children. A man takes on the responsibility of maintaining a wife and children because he thinks that through them he will enjoy life. In the material world we see that during the evening a man tries to enjoy life with his wife, children and friends. Therefore he takes on so many responsibilities. This is supposed to be ānanda, bliss, but because it takes place in the material world, the ānanda is converted into something distasteful. However, we can enjoy this ānanda when we are with our Supreme Father, Kṛṣṇa. We are all children of the Supreme Father, and in Bhagavad-gītā (14.4) Kṛṣṇa claims all species of life as His children:

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā

“It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.”
The Supreme Father, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, has created us for His enjoyment, not to create distress. Although we are Kṛṣṇa’s children, we have given up our Supreme Father because we wish to enjoy ourselves independently. Consequently we are suffering. If a rich man’s son gives up his home to try to enjoy life independently, he simply suffers. It is to our benefit to return home, back to Godhead, to enjoy ourselves with our original father, Kṛṣṇa. This will give us happiness. Kṛṣṇa is full of all opulence. He possesses in totality wealth, strength, beauty, fame, knowledge and renunciation. He possesses everything in unlimited quantity. If we return to our original father, we can enjoy ourselves with Him unlimitedly. It is not that we can enjoy ourselves independent of Kṛṣṇa. Nor can we say that to enjoy ourselves we have to become one with Kṛṣṇa. In the material world, our father gives us our birth, and we are an entity separate from him. If we are suffering, do we say, “My dear father, I am suffering. Will you please once again make me one with you?” Is this a very good proposal? A father says, “I have begotten you separately to enjoy yourself. You remain separate, and I remain separate, and in this way we will enjoy. Now you are asking to become one with me. What is this nonsense?”
The Māyāvādīs want to become one with the Supreme because they are suffering in the material world. Kṛṣṇa has created us to enjoy ourselves in His company, but due to our desire for independent enjoyment, we are not doing that. Consequently we are suffering in this material world, and because we are suffering we are thinking of becoming one with our father. It is māyā’s business to try to build up the living entity, to puff him up, and māyā’s last snare is to make the living entity think that he can become one with God. Māyāvādīs think that becoming one with the Supreme is the highest perfection, but this is not perfection because our original constitutional position is to enjoy the company of Kṛṣṇa. Friends sit together in a room and enjoy one another’s company. What enjoyment can one have by himself? Variety is the mother of enjoyment, and real enjoyment is being in Kṛṣṇa’s company. Therefore devotees never desire to become one with the Supreme. It is Caitanya Mahāprabhu who says:

mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi

“My dear Lord, I do not want to put an end to the process of birth and death. I am not anxious for mukti. Let Me go ahead and take one birth after another. It doesn’t matter. Simply let Me engage in Your service birth after birth.” (Śikṣāṣṭaka 4) This is real ānanda. Unless we are fully qualified devotees, we cannot enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planets. We have to live outside in the brahmajyoti. If we desire this, Kṛṣṇa will give us the opportunity. After all, Kṛṣṇa is everything. He is brahmajyoti and Paramātmā also. If we want to become one with the Supreme, we will be allowed to live outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets, in the brahmajyoti. However, that position is not eternal. As we have explained before, we cannot live eternally in the brahmajyoti because we want variety. Without variety, there is no enjoyment.
In all conditions, the pure devotee is liberated. He may engage in some occupation or business, but he is always thinking of how to serve Kṛṣṇa, and in this way he is automatically liberated. It is not that he thinks of becoming one with the Supreme and attaining liberation. Rather, his liberation lies in his personal relationship with the Supreme Lord Himself.
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/tlk/14/tlk_vs_33

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Note: Swami Narayana Hindu sect worship a person they call “Swami Narayana” as their God. They worship his statue etc. There is no reference that he is God in our scriptures like Srimad Bhagavatam. He is NOT accepted as authority by Srila Prabhupada:
740404mw.bom Conversations
Prabhupada: Yes. You diverted. You brought Swami Narayana. WE DON’T ACCEPT SWAMI NARAYANA AS AUTHORITY. WE DON’T ACCEPT THAT.
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Note: Some Hindus still worship Sai Baba (now dead):
740429mw.hyd Conversations
Devotee: They are attracted by wonderful things such as Sai Baba. He is doing so many wonderful things. People…
Prabhupada: That is, means rascal. He does not see Krsna’s wonderful. If you want to see wonderful things, why don’t you see the more wonderful things? But they are foolish; they are captivated with small wonderful things. That means less intelligent. Just like small children, they will be amazed by seeing small wonderful things, but his father will not be. What is the amazement, wonderful thing, Sai Baba has done? If he is creator of gold, then why he is doing business of incense? You know that? He has a big incense business exactly like us. He can create gold? Why there is incense business?

770225rc.may Conversations
Prabhupada: Yes. The rascal Sai Baba says, “I am God.”

750212rc.mex Conversations
Prabhupada: Sai Baba, he also says, “I am Bhagavan.” Therefore he’s bogus. How you can say yourself that you are Bhagavan, God? What is your power? What you have shown? And this is cheap. Now, supposing Sai Baba is God. So people accept him God, why? Because he shows some jugglery. He creates little gold. Is it not? So if, by creating gold, he is God, then there is bigger God who has created gold mine. Why shall I go to this tiny god? I must go to the big God who has created gold mine. This is common sense. But foolish people, they have no common sense even. Therefore it is called mudha. Mudha nabhijanati mam ebhyah param avyayam. Tribhir gunamayair bhavair mohita, mudha nabhijanati. Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gita.
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730711r2.lon
Prabhupāda: No ignorant. Purposefully.
Guest (7): Purposeful, knowing that, knowingly that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord and Supreme Authority, even then, if they ignore it…
Prabhupāda: No. Knowingly means that every Indian knows that Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. At least… The every Indian, at least Hindus, they perform Janmāṣṭamī, accepting Kṛṣṇa. But still, they will not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality. They’ll bring many other competitors. “Why Kṛṣṇa shall be…? I have got Durgā. I have got this, Śiva. I have got that. I have got that. I have got that.” This is going on as Hinduism. So many gods. So many gods. Although the Vedic literature says, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28]. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. In Bhagavad-gītā… Everyone reads Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā it says, Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: [Bg. 7.7] “There is no more superior than Me.” Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: [Bg. 10.8] “Everything is emanation from Me.” Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. These things are there, but they’ll not accept. Therefore they are offenders. Otherwise where is the difficulty? God is one. That is accepted. Eko brahma. God cannot be two. God is one. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām ekaḥ (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). One nitya, one eternal, one living being…, that is Supreme. We are living being. We are also nitya, eternal. But he is nityo nityānām. He is the chief of the nityas. He’s the chief of the living entities. So that is chief. Kṛṣṇa personally says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat [Bg. 7.7]. “There is no more superior living being than Me.” So these things are there in the Vedas. And they are supposed to be Vedic scholars, but they do not know the simple thing. So in that way they are ignorant. They read the Vedic literatures, but they do not understand, or they misinterpret in a different way for their own purpose. So they are, they’re offender. Otherwise, there is no difficulty. This Māyāvāda philosophy has created this situation, that “God is impersonal, and, everyone can become God, or everyone is God.” This Māyāvāda philosophy has created this havoc. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended that māyāvādī haya kṛṣṇe aparādhi. “All the Māyāvādīs, they are offenders to Kṛṣṇa.” Therefore they cannot make any progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That difficulty is there—offenders. And later on, there are so many institutions. They say that “You can create your God. You can become God.” That is going on. “Whatever you think as God, that is God.” So how one can make progress under these circumstances? One gentleman was arguing with me… He was supporting Rama-Krishna Mission. He said, “Even stool I consider God. It is God.” (laughter) He came to this point. “If I worship stool as God, then it is also God.”
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Prabhupāda: :Yes, but our philosophy, Kṛṣṇa says, “You rascal, give up everything. Just surrender unto Me.” This is our philosophy. “You rascal, you give up everything and surrender unto Me.” This is our philosophy.
Devotee: Haribol.
Prabhupāda: Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam [Bg. 18.66]. He’s decrying this Vivekananda philosophy. Rascal philosophy. There was a suggestion when I (indistinct) international, I was going to register, they suggested, “Why don’t you make God conscious? Why you make Kṛṣṇa conscious?” And if I had made God conscious so many rascals will bring so many Gods. Therefore specifically only Kṛṣṇa God. That’s all. That is authorized. If you like, you take other’s God. But this is our philosophy, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. Was it not wise conclusion?
Guru-gaurāṅga: Yes.
Prabhupāda: If I have made a little liberal, God conscious, all rascals would have brought… “Here is my God.” To stop this nonsense I made it Kṛṣṇa conscious. Kṛṣṇa is God only. Nobody is God. If you like this philosophy, come others’ God. I don’t want your cooperation. What is the use of cooperation of some rascaldom?

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Prabhupāda: That’s all right. We are preaching Bhagavad-gītā. If you like, you take it. Otherwise, go to hell. Who cares for you? We have, we have started this institution, “Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.” So if you do not accept Bhagavad-gītā, then why did you come here? Why do you come here? You go away. We are not hankering after you. If you go to hell, go to go. Go to that. Who objects? Go. But if you come here, then you must be Kṛṣṇa conscious. If there is some signboard that “Indian sweets, rasagullā is available,” why do you go there for asking meat? What is this meaning? We, we, our Society, it is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So why do you come here for if you don’t believe in Kṛṣṇa? Go to hell. Don’t come here. If you want to understand Kṛṣṇa, then come here. That is the first principle. THEREFORE IN NEW YORK SOMEBODY SUGGESTED THAT “MAKE THIS INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF GOD CONSCIOUSNESS.” THAT WILL BE GREAT HAVOC. THEY’LL BRING, RASCALS, SO MANY GODS. MAKE IT CLEAR, KṛṣṇA CONSCIOUSNESS. If you are interested in Kṛṣṇa, then come here. If you are interested in something else, you go there.

 

(by Mahesh Raja)