“That is the Prerogative of the Supreme Lord”

Prabhupada, New York, April 1, 1966: […] Practically, nowadays everyone knows it, that any sound vibrated, it, within a second it takes round all over the world seven times. It is so… The arrangement is so. Just like in a pond if you drop a stone, the circle, the circle begins to enlarge, enlarge, enlarge, enlarge, enlarge, and so similarly, we catch the radio vibration. You know there is numbers. Under such and such vibration, you can catch the sound. So the whole arrangement is like that. Now, if we work even in that arrangement, yoga-sthah, being situated in my spiritual plane, then that will reach to the spiritual sky by enlargement of the circle, enlargement of the circle.

I can do work here. You will find in the Bhagavad-gita that the Lord says that patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati: “Anyone who offers in devotion patram puspam, a little flower, a little, small leaf, a little water, I accept them. Because it is offered to Me in devotion, therefore I accept them. I take them in My hand.” But people may ask question that “Where is the hand? Where is the hand of God?” He says that “I take.” “I take” means “I take it in my hand.” Without hand there is no question of taking. Therefore Vedic hymn says that apani-pado javano grahita: “The Lord has no legs, no hands, but still, He can walk more than the speed of the air, more than the speed of the mind, and He can accept whatever we offer. But He has no hand; He has no leg.” So this means that He has no hand, He has no leg, like our limited measured hand or leg. He can stretch His hand anywhere. And similarly, He can stretch, He can hear, from anywhere. That is the prerogative of the Supreme Lord.

I have given you several times the example that the sun is far, far away from us. Still, he can distribute his heat and light to us. So if we work with God consciousness, although we are here in this platform, material platform, that work is admitted by the Supreme Lord. That is called yoga-sthah. Yoga-sthah… Yoga means keeping touch with the Supreme. That is called yoga. There are different kinds of yoga mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita, especially jnana- yoga, karma-yoga, and bhakti-yoga. And within jnana-yoga there are many other yogas—dhyana-yoga, hatha-yoga, so many things. Now, here it is said that yoga-sthah kuru karmani: “You be situated in your yoga or in meditation.” Generally yoga is understood as meditation. But yoga, real meaning of yoga—to keep in touch with the Supreme—that is called yoga, to keep in touch. So you have to work for, er, from the platform of spiritual consciousness. At the same time you have to work. The Lord never says that “You stop work,” never says. Arjuna… Arjuna’s friend was Lord Krsna, but Krsna never said… He is God Himself. He is the Supreme Personality of God Himself. He never said Arjuna that “I am your friend. I shall supply all your necessities. You don’t require to work. You stop.” No, He never said that. Rather, Arjuna was declining to fight, but Krsna is inducing him to fight. So in spiritual platform there is no question of stopping work, no question of stopping work. But work for the Supreme. That’s all, isavasyam idam sarvam, with God consciousness.