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Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Srimad Bhagavatam, third Canto, chapter nine “Brahma’s Prayers For Creative Energy”, text thirty one.

tata atmani loke ca
bhakti-yuktah samahitah
drashtasi mam tatam brahman
mayi lokams tvam atmanah

Synonyms:
tatah — thereafter; atmani — in yourself; loke — in the universe; ca — also; bhakti-yuktah — being situated in devotional service; samahitah — being completely absorbed; drashta asi — you shall see; mam — Me; tatam — spread throughout; brahman — O Brahma; mayi — in Me; lokan — all the universe; tvam — you; atmanah — the living entities.

Translation:
O Brahma, when you are absorbed in devotional service, in the course of your creative activities, you will see Me in you and throughout the universe, and you will see that you yourself, the universe and the living entities are all in Me.

Purport:
It is cited herein by the Lord that during his daytime Brahma would see Him as Lord Sri Krishna. He would appreciate how the Lord expanded Himself into all the calves during His childhood at Vrindavana, he would know how Yasodamayi saw all the universes and planetary systems within the mouth of Krishna during His playful childhood pastimes, and he would also see that there are many millions of Brahmas during the appearance of Lord Krishna in Brahma’s daytime. But all these manifestations of the Lord, appearing everywhere in His eternal, transcendental forms, cannot be understood by anyone but the pure devotees, who are always engaged in devotional service to the Lord and are fully absorbed in the Lord. The high qualifications of Brahma are also indicated herein.
[End of Purport]

tata atmani loke ca
bhakti-yuktah samahitah
drashtasi mam tatam brahman
mayi lokams tvam atmanah

O Brahma, when you are absorbed in devotional service, in the course of your creative activities, you will see Me in you and throughout the universe, and you will see that you yourself, the universe and the living entities are all in Me.

So a pure devotee sees the Lord in his heart, the pure devotee sees the Lord in everyone’s heart and a pure devotee of the Lord sees the Lord in everything. And at the same time he also sees that he himself, everyone else and everything is resting in the Lord. That has been described as the qualification or perception of a pure devotee.

sarva-bhuteshu yah pasyed
bhagavad-bhavam atmanah
bhutani bhagavaty atmany
esha bhagavatottamah
[SB 11.2.45]

So sarva-bhuteshu yah pasyed bhagavad-bhavam atmanah. Sarva-bhuteshu, in every living entity he sees the Lord. Yah pasyati, and he also sees that how the Lord is present in everybody and how everybody is actually resting on the Lord. So that is the perception of the most advanced devotee, bhagavatottamah, the most advanced devotee.

There are three types of devotees: kanistha-adhikari, madhyama-adhikari and uttama-adhikari. The kanistha-adhikari, he is a devotee, he accepts the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He worships Him but he sees the Lord and he thinks that he is the only devotee.

arcayam eva haraye
pujam yah sraddhayehate
na tad-bhakteshu canyeshu
sa bhaktah prakritah smritah
[SB 11.2.47]

Prakritah means mundane, materialistic. He is a materialistic devotee. He is a devotee but his consciousness is not properly spiritually situated. But when he becomes more advanced then he sees that how others are also engaged in devotional service, how others are also in advanced devotional situation. And at the same time he also sees some others, they are not devotees, rather, they are innocent, balisha. And then he also sees that some others are offensive to the Lord, dvishatsu ca.

isvare tad-adhineshu
baliseshu dvishatsu ca
prema-maitri-kripopeksha
yah karoti sa madhyamah
[SB 11.2.46]

So madhyama-adhikari devotee’s qualification is being described here. He sees ishvara. He sees Krishna. He sees tad-adhineshu, Krishna’s devotees, baliseshu, the innocent and dvishatsu ca, the offenders. And accordingly he has love, friendship, compassion and disregard. For ishvara, Krishna, he has prema. To the devotees he has maitri. To the innocent he has compassion, kripa, and to the offenders upeksha. He disregards them, avoids them. He doesn’t want to have anything with them. So that is the madhyama-adhikari. He makes discrimination. He discriminates. Different living entities are situated in different platforms.
But uttama-adhikari, uttama-adhikari is sarva-bhuteshu yah pasyed bhagavad-bhavam atmanah. In every living entity he sees the Supreme, the manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He sees that the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart and he also sees that how everyone is actually resting on the Lord. Everyone is dependent upon the Lord. So that is the pure spiritual perception. After all, everybody is a living entity. Everybody is a spirit soul. In Chaitanya Charitamrita the same concept has been described in this way, that

sthavara-jangama dekhe, na dekhe tara murti
sarvatra haya nija ista-deva-sphurti
[CC Madhya 8.274]

Sthavara-jangama dekhe, na dekhe tara murti, he sees the non-moving, inert objects and he also sees the moving living entities. He sees moving or non-moving. Everything in this material world is either moving or non-moving. Generally living entities are moving and the inert matter is non-moving. So he sees both – inert and living entities – not according to their murtis, not according to their shape or form. Sarvatra haya nija ista-deva-sphurti, everywhere he sees his worshipful Lord.
Now the question arises, does he then see Krishna everywhere? Yes, there is a way to see that. Like, one way is when we see a living entity, a pure devotee sees that the Lord is situated in his heart. Prabhupada made it very clear to us, for example, when we offer obeisances to each other then we don’t really offer obeisances to the person. Or rather, while we are offering obeisances to the person, we are actually offering the obeisances to the Lord in the heart. So this is how we have to see the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in different living entities.

So we can see the Lord in the heart. We can see how the different living entities are parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We can see how some living entities have rejected the Lord and, as a result of that, they are suffering in this material nature. And we can also see how the Lord is lamenting, how the Lord is inflicted, how the Lord is feeling the pain that these living entities have gone away from Him. And therefore, a devotee wants to bring those living entities back to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That’s why he is engaged in preaching.
The point is, this is not just an imaginary perception. That is the difference between a devotee and the impersonalist. The impersonalist will try to say that sarvam khalvidam brahman, everything is Brahman. [Chandogya Upanishad 2.14.1] Yes, everything is the manifestation of the spiritual energy but they do not see the variegatedness or individual’s personality and individual’s individual characteristics. They cannot see that. Similarly, if somebody says, “Oh, you are Krishna”, no, the devotee never says, “You are Krishna.” He sees Krishna but he doesn’t think that everybody is Krishna. Rather, he sees in relation to Krishna. Like, for example, I know that this finger is a part of my body but no one will say that this finger is the body. Just this finger by itself is not the body. It is just a part of the body. Similarly we have to see the difference between the part and the whole. A living entity is a part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A living entity is not the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So a devotee’s perception is not imaginary, not speculative but real. And it is in relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead from a real context. Yes, the Lord is present in the heart, therefore a devotee sees the Lord in the heart of all the living entities.
The wise man’s perception has been described in Bhagavad-gita as
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
[Bg 5.18]

A brahmana who is qualified, very qualified, very exalted brahmana, vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmana, gavi hastini, a cow, an elephant, and suni caiva sva-pake ca, a dog and sva-pake is a dog eating chandala, he sees sama-darsinah, he sees them as equal. He sees them equal. That doesn’t mean that he thinks that an elephant is a dog and a dog is a chandala. [laughs] No, he sees a dog as a dog. He sees an elephant as an elephant. He sees a brahmana as a brahmana, in their respective positions, but sama-darsinah. Why sama-darsinah? Is a dog and an elephant equal? Is a brahmana and a chandala equal? No, they are not equal. Qualitatively they are different but his perception is equal because he is not seeing their external material condition, rather they are seeing their spiritual identity. They are seeing them from their spiritual identity, in relation to their spiritual identity. They are all spirit souls. One spirit soul is in a certain situation, he is a brahmana. His activities, his past karma, his background has situated him in this platform, in this particular body. Another personality is a chandala, meaning the lowest of mankind, absorbed in very, very undesirable activities. And he sees the cow, also he sees that the cow she is also a spirit soul. An elephant is also a spirit soul. A dog is also a spirit soul. A snake is also a spirit soul. They are all spirit souls but according to their conditioning, according to their material involvement they are situated in different types of bodies. And then he goes even deeper. Then he sees that how the living entities became separated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They shouldn’t be separated. They should be situated along with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the spiritual sky, but unfortunately they have become separated. Why they became separated? Because of their perverted mentality. And because of becoming separated from the Lord look at their condition: in the material world they are undergoing so many types of sufferings.

So that is the perception of a pure devotee. And then he also sees that the inert objects, not only he is seeing the Lord, or seeing everything in relationship with the Lord, only the living entities, but he is also seeing the inert objects. And he sees how these inert objects can be engaged in the service of the Lord. “Oh, there is a nice mridanga. So let’s just get it and engage it in Krishna’s service.” Or there is a very nice saying, the perception of a devotee, he sees some vultures in the sky and he becomes very happy. Now who becomes happy seeing a vulture? Because vultures are very inauspicious animals, very inauspicious birds. Vultures bring all inauspiciousness, but a pure devotee sees a vulture flying in the sky, hovering – sometimes we see some vultures are hovering in the sky, clustered together – he becomes happy. Why? Because he knows that there is a dead cow. Now, again, a dead cow also is not a very pleasant sight, but he becomes happy. Why? Because now he thinks that, “I’ll take the skin of the cow and I’ll make a mridanga and I’ll sing the glory of the Lord.” So that is the perception of a devotee. Therefore it is very difficult to understand the perception of a devotee, vaishnavera kriya-mudra vijne na bujhaya. Even a very learned person cannot understand the activities and mentality of a Vaishnava, a devotee of the Lord, because he sees everything in relationship to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He sees everything in the light of how everything can be engaged in spreading the glory of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So that is the perception of a pure devotee. To be in a most advanced stage means to be situated in a certain platform by developing a certain outlook, a certain attitude, a certain mentality. That is a pure devotee. And then Prabhupada in the purport is pointing out another very wonderful aspect of this perception, that Brahma, not only he will see from his perspective, but Brahma also will see according to the Lord’s pastimes. During his day the Lord will appear. Once in a day of Brahma Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears on the twenty eighth chaturyuga in the Dvapara yuga, Krishna appears. And in those pastimes Krishna will have some wonderful exchange with Brahma. He will allow Brahma to see so many wonderful things.
Like, for example, one day Brahma will see that this little boy, who is only about seven years old – no not even seven, He was about six years old at that time – this pastime took place even before lifting of Govardhana, when He was about six years old. He is tending the cows. He just started to tend the cows, take the calves to the pasturing ground. So one day Brahma saw that this little boy killed Aghasura. This little boy Krishna killed a terrible demon called Aghasura. So he was very surprised because Aghasura was such a powerful demon that even the demigods were afraid of Aghasura. Not only afraid, they used to tremble just by hearing the name of Aghasura. And Aghasura was not only very powerful but he was practically immortal. Nobody could kill Aghasura.

Brahma was seeing Krishna as a little boy due to the arrangement of Yogamaya. Sometimes Yogamaya bewilders the perception of a devotee so that he can have a very intimate, loving exchange with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yogamaya, maya means forgetfulness, forgetfulness, not seeing things as they actually are. That’s called maya (illusion).
Now there are two types of maya: one is Mahamaya and the other is Yogamaya. Mahamaya is the maya or illusion caused by forgetfulness, but Yogamaya is the spiritual aspect of that maya, a kind of forgetfulness, a kind of illusion. But it is not exactly illusion that we generally know of due to forgetfulness. So he was being affected by that illusory energy of the Lord, Yogamaya. Brahma could not recognize Krishna, this little six year old boy. He was seeing the six year old boy as just a cowherd boy. He couldn’t see Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So he saw the cowherd boy was playing with His friends and He was taking the calves to the pasturing ground. They were all happily having a wonderful loving exchange among themselves and then they came across this terrible demon, Aghasura. Brahma knew that that was Aghasura and Brahma became worried. “Oh, now these little children are approaching this terrible demon! What’s going to happen?” Brahma became curious and in anxiety. So then Brahma saw that all these young boys, cowherd boys became curious to find out what is this. They thought that it was a cave, a mountain cave, and they thought, “Oh, it will be a nice place to explore.” So they walked into the mouth of Aghasura. Brahma knew that Aghasura actually has come to swallow them up. The boys entered and, following the boys the cows also, the calves also entered into the mouth of Aghasura. And Krishna was just standing there, a six year old boy. And then Brahma saw that finally that boy, Krishna, that cowherd boy entered into the mouth of Aghasura. And Aghasura also was waiting for Krishna. Just as Krishna would enter he would close his mouth and crash them, eat them up, swallow them. But before Aghasura could do that Krishna expanded Himself into such a huge form that, what to speak of swallowing, that little boy got stuck in Aghasura’s throat. And not only Krishna expanded Himself into a huge form, Krishna started to emanate. Krishna became like a ball of fire. So much fire, it became so hot, that Aghasura started to ride in pain. He was in a terrible situation. He tried to throw this boy out of his mouth but he couldn’t do that. The boy was stuck in his throat! [laughs] So Aghasura’s situation became so unbearable that he left his body. How did he leave his body? His throat was stuck. There was no way that he could leave his body. So all his other holes were stuck. I don’t know how many holes a snake body has but Aghasura then finally left his body penetrating through his brahmarandhra, the cerebral hole. Generally the yogis leave their body through the cerebral hole. That’s a kind of perfection. Now this Aghasura demon was forced to a situation like that where he left his body through his brahmarandhra. And then he came out of his body, he hovered on the space for the time being, as if the soul was waiting for Krishna to come out of the mouth. When Krishna came out, his soul actually merged into His body.

So Brahma was very surprised. He thought, “Maybe this is my Lord, Narayana.” So Brahma just kept on watching the activities of this boy. Then Brahma saw that after that all these cowherd boys and the calves, along with Krishna they came to the bank of Yamuna and there they sat down to have a picnic. They brought their food along with them, so they were sharing their food with each other and the calves were grazing nearby, and they were having a picnic. Then again Brahma was surprised. He was thinking that this is Narayana, but then Brahma saw that how they were actually having an exchange among themselves, that Krishna, this boy, was taking the remnants of another cowherd boy and other cowherd boys ate something and found it to be very tasty and that half eaten stuff, he said, “Come, see how wonderful it is.” And He happily He is taking it and eating it. Brahma thought, “My Lord Narayana cannot behave like this! Who will ever offer any contaminated remnants to Narayana? Who will offer ‘jhootha’ to Narayana? And why will Narayana eat the jhootha of somebody else?”
So Brahma became quite surprised and then he thought that he would check it out whether He is really Narayana. So then Brahma first stole the calves. He just stole the calves. In a wink of an eye Brahma just took them away. And all of a sudden the cowherd boys noticed that not a single cow is in sight. So they began to worry what happened. They all were just eating, so Krishna said, “Okay, most probably they have entered into the forest, so I’ll go and bring them back.” Saying that, “You all carry on eating and I’ll just go and bring the calves back,” so saying that Krishna went to look for the calves. And He couldn’t find the calves, so He came back. And when He came back He saw that all the boys are also missing. When Krishna went to search for the calves, Brahma actually stole the cowherd boys as well. Then Krishna realized that this is the doing of Brahma. So Krishna just smiled to Himself. “You are trying to check Me out. Fine! See My ‘pasya me yoga aisvaram’, see My mystic potency.” [Bg 9.5] So Krishna expanded Himself to all these calves and all the cowherd boys. So they were replaced by His expansion.
And for Brahma, just to steal the calves and the cowherd boys and put them in a cave and block the mouth of the cave and turn around, it took him one year. According to Brahma it took one second, Brahma’s second. But one second of Brahma is one year according to our calculation. So when Brahma turned around and looked, it was actually after one year that Brahma looked, and when Brahma looked around he found that all the cowherd boys, all are having a picnic, Krishna is sitting in the centre, they all are having a picnic, they are sharing their food and the calves are grazing in the field. So Brahma again looked into the cave and he found that this set of cowherd boys and calves are asleep in the cave and on the other side they are all having their picnic. And then, the second time Brahma looked at them, what did he see? He saw that every cowherd boy is actually a Narayana. All the calves are actually Narayana. Krishna’s expansions means Narayana. So they all are Krishna’s expansions. So Brahma realized that, “Oh, this is not only my Lord, He is the origin of my Lord. I worship one Narayana and He can create so many Narayanas from His expansions.”

So this is how Brahma became bewildered, Brahma Mohana Lila. Krishna bewildered Brahma in this way. So Prabhupada is pointing out that this is how Brahma, the Lord was telling Brahma that, “This is how you will see, sarva-bhuteshu yah pasyet. You will see Me in everyone. You will see that how I will expand Myself into all these cowherd boys and calves. And then you will see that everything is within Me. That of course you won’t see yourself, that you won’t see yourself, but that you will see through mother Yashoda.”
Playfully one day Krishna had a fight with some of His cowherd boyfriends. No, I am sorry, they didn’t have a fight. One day Krishna playfully ate some mud, so they came home and reported to mother Yashoda that Krishna ate mud. Now for a child, sometimes a child eats mud but that is not good for him, because mud is not going to be digested in the stomach so it will just cause problem in the stomach. So mother Yashoda was asking Krishna, “Krishna, did You really do that?” Krishna said, “No, I didn’t do that.” Then mother Yashoda asked all the boys, “Why are you saying this?” And they said, “No, no, Krishna did that. He is lying.” Then Krishna said, “No, I am not lying. Actually, I had a fight with them and they unnecessarily are complaining to you.” So in this way it was going on, so then finally mother Yashoda said, “Okay, open Your mouth and let me see.” And when Krishna opened His mouth mother Yashoda saw the entire universe within Krishna’s mouth. So this is again ‘pasya me yoga aisvaram’, so His mystique opulence.

Krishna is in everybody, Krishna is in everything and everything is in Krishna. Not only one universe, there are innumerable universes, there are innumerable Brahmas. So Brahma should not think, Brahma should not become proud of his position. “Oh, I am so big!” Krishna reminded that, “Actually you are just one insignificant living entity.” And Krishna, through His pastimes He pointed out. One day Brahma wondered, that when Brahma came to see Krishna, he came a little proudly and said, “Please inform”… naturally Krishna was in Dwaraka, He was a prince there so nobody could just walk into His chamber, walk into His room. So Brahma came and Krishna’s attendants asked, “So what should I tell Him?” He said, “Please tell Him that Brahma has come to see Him.” So Krishna could detect that Brahma had a little pride, thinking that he is so exalted. So Krishna asked, “Which Brahma?” And then when Krishna wondered which Brahma, He also called, the other Brahmas immediately appeared. And then this Brahma saw there are so many Brahmas! And out of them he was the most insignificant: he had only four heads. There were Brahmas with sixteen heads. There were Brahmas with sixty four heads. There were Brahmas with hundreds of heads, thousands of heads. So this is the potency, this is the mystic opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So to be a devotee means to understand the supreme position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And compared to Him everything becomes insignificant. From our perspective we may think, “Oh, we are so big.” But compared to the Lord’s perspective all living entities are absolutely insignificant. Like we can consider, there is an ant community. In the ant community say, one ant can lift how much? One grain of sugar. But another ant he can lift two grains of sugar, double the size. So this ant community will consider, “Oh, he is mister universe! He is so big. He is so great!” But look at from the human perspective. It’s just an ant. From our perspective whether it can lift one grain or two grains, it’s totally insignificant. Similarly, not only from Krishna’s perspective, even from the demigod’s perspective, our situation is like that of an ant. And the demigods are insignificant in relation to Lord Brahma. And Brahma’s position is insignificant in relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, we must recognize our insignificant situation, our insignificant position and surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then what will happen? As the Lord pointed out in the previous verses that, “Brahma, yes, you have been assigned with a very big responsibility, but don’t worry. I will be there. I will assist you. I will enable you to accomplish all those things.” So when we surrender to the Lord, the Lord empowers us.

And what is the difference between a devotee and a non-devotee? A non-devotee always desires for his sake, whereas a devotee always desires for Krishna’s sake. A non-devotee always thinks, “Oh I want this, I want that for my sense gratification, for my pleasure.” But a devotee thinks in relation to Krishna’s pleasure. Hrishikena hrishikesha-sevanam bhaktir ucyate. [Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.1.11] To engage all the senses, all the abilities in serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead is devotional service. So a devotee thinks in terms of Krishna. It’s not that a devotee doesn’t think. It is not that a devotee doesn’t desire, but a devotee’s desire is simply in relation to Krishna’s pleasure. How can I please Krishna? How can I serve Krishna? How can I fulfill the plans of Krishna? So that is the intention of a devotee. Then, what Krishna does? Krishna fulfills those desires and that is called becoming empowered. Empowered, he is not functioning according to his ability. He has been especially empowered, invested by Krishna’s potency.

So that is how wonderful this process is and that is the ultimate perfection of our existence: to become completely absorbed in Krishna and be completely engaged in serving Krishna and pleasing Krishna.

Thank you all very much! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!

Any question?

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, you mentioned that there are three types of devotees: the madhyama, the kanistha and uttama. The madhyama actually discriminates and the uttama sees Krishna and everything related to Him. So this kind of vision, do we just have to wait until it comes by itself or do we have to also kind of train our mind to see it that way also?
BCS: Well, training the mind is also there but that aspect is the vaidhi bhakti (practicing the process). But ultimately it is a state of consciousness. It is not some sort of external imposition or imagination, like it is a natural development. Like, for example, when one is a baby he crawls, but when it grows up it walks. So it is a different development of one phase to another phase. So the spirit soul, at the initial stage, when it is accepting the spiritual process but he is situated on the material platform, then his mentality will be like that. That is the kanistha-adhikari. It is a situation. It is a situation that is unavoidable in the course of his development. So there is no need to be upset.
“Oh, why am I a kanistha-adhikari?”
“Well, if I am a kanistha-adhikari, let me be a kanistha-adhikari. At least some adhikara has come. At least some devotion has begun. Previously I didn’t even know who Krishna was. Previously there was no acceptance of Krishna’s authority. Previously I never even thought of becoming a devotee. But today at least I have come to the devotional platform, and in this platform, because of my crooked mentality, because of my perverted mentality I am thinking that I am the greatest devotee. But what to do? I can’t help it!”
But keep on practicing the process, then from kanistha you will come to the madhyama platform. Continue to practice the process, from madhyama you will come to the uttama-adhikari platform. So it is a development of consciousness. It is a matter of development of consciousness. Therefore, wherever we are, let us recognize that situation and try to improve ourselves. Yeah, if I don’t want to remain a kanistha-adhikari, but at least let me recognize that I am a kanistha-adhikari, and now let me practice the process with all sincerity. Then, yes, I will develop, I will transcend this situation and come to the higher platform and so forth.
Yes, Anshul? How many questions are there?
Devotee: So far two questions.
BCS: Okay.

Devotee: This is a question from Guru Gauranga prabhu. Our eyes absorb us easily in maya and Krishna remains outside our material vision. How can we see Krishna everywhere when our senses are looking for happiness through our eyes?
BCS: Well, yeah, the same point, keep on practicing the process of devotional service. Practice the process of vaidhi bhakti. That is, vaidhi bhakti, shravanam, kirtanam, Vishnu smaranam, archanam, vandanam. The process actually begins with shravanam. So when we hear then we’ll get to know Krishna more and more and as a result of that we will develop our attachment to Krishna. We will develop our appreciation for Krishna. We will develop our love for Krishna. It will keep on happening by practicing the process.

So now, yes, we are in a contaminated state. We are seeing things in a certain way because of our conditioned state. But if we practice the process then we will transcend this conditioned stage and come to a perfected stage. It will happen. So now we are seeing things in a certain way, but through the practice of devotional service we will be trained to see things in some other way. Like, that other way is that seeing things in the light of our love for Krishna. Now what happened? We forgot Krishna. Therefore we do not know who to love, but we want to love. So what we are loving now? Where we are imposing our love? We are imposing our love in the objects of our sense gratification. But as we develop our Krishna consciousness then we will develop our love for Krishna and then the perception will change.

Like, in this respect Prabhupada gives the example that the mother, when she was a young girl she was completely into sense gratification. She didn’t know anything beside her sense gratification. She was only concerned with what will please her, what will give her pleasure. But the moment she becomes a mother her attitude completely changes. Then she doesn’t consider about herself. She is always concerned about her own child. Morning till night she is completely absorbed about her child the moment she becomes a mother, the moment she gives birth to a child.
So Krishna consciousness is like that: as we develop our Krishna consciousness our whole perception will change. Like now we are completely absorbed in our bodily consciousness and as a result of that we are naturally inclined towards sense gratification. But by practicing the process, just like in the case of the mother, case of the girl, the process was she got married, then she had the union with her husband and as a result of that the child was conceived and the child grew and then she gave birth to a child. So similarly Krishna consciousness also goes through a specific process and that process is shravanam, kirtanam, Vishnu smaranam. That process. And if we practice the process it will happen. From loving ourselves we will develop our love for Krishna. It will happen. The transformation will take place.
Thank you, Guru Gauranga. Any other question?

Devotee: The second question is from Nilambari Radhika mataji. The Lord is present in everyone’s heart. So how do we deal with the people with a demonic nature in this material world?
BCS: Yeah. It depends whether you are a kanistha-adhikari, madhyama-adhikari or uttama-adhikari. So especially when you are a madhyama-adhikari then you will see the discrimination. You’ll recognize, “oh, he is a demon.” He is a spirit soul, no doubt, but he is a demon. Demon means he is offensive to Krishna. So what is the attitude of a madhyama-adhikari devotee towards an offender? Disregard. I have nothing to do with him. I don’t want to have anything to do with him. But if you are an uttama-adhikari then you won’t see him as a demon. You will see that how he is a part of Krishna’s divine arrangement. Like you will see that actually he is behaving like that because Krishna has a plan to take him back to Godhead. So he is a demon for the time being. Just like Hiranyakasipu was a demon for the time being but then he becomes a devotee. So some day he will become a devotee of Krishna and Krishna is just making him go through certain phases and eventually he will become a devotee.
Hare Krishna! Thank you, Nilambari, for your nice question.

Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Yes?

Devotee: Brahma is stealing the living entities and Krishna is replacing the same living entities. So my question is
BCS: When Krishna expands then He is not a living entity, then He is an avatara. When Krishna expands then He is not a jiva, when Krishna expands He is Vishnu-tattva. So those cowherd boys were not jiva-tattvas. They were not living entities. How did Brahma saw those cowherd boys? As Narayana. Is there a difference between a jiva and Narayana? Or you think they are the same?

Hare Krishna! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Any questions from you all students from Bhopal? Do you have any question? No? Okay.
Okay, I have a question. Did you all come for the first time? How many of you came for the first time this time? Oh, most of you. How many of you came here before? Okay, just two, three of you. Okay, those who came for the first time and those who came here before, are you properly situated? When did you arrive? [students: yesterday] Yesterday. Are you comfortably situated? [students: yes] Are you happy being here? You are enjoying your stay here? Very good! Thank you.
Seventeen of them came, eh? Very good. Welcome to Ujjain!
Yes, Raghava Pandita?

Devotee: I have two questions.
BCS: Yes, sure.

Devotee: My question is, Guru Maharaja, can someone be born with a state of consciousness
BCS: Can someone?

Devotee: Be born with
BCS: What kind of consciousness?

Devotee: Like with an uttama-adhikari consciousness.
BCS: Yes! Sure, sure. Like Prahlada Maharaja, with what consciousness he was born, all the associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Narottama Dasa Thakura, all these pure devotees. They are pure devotees.

Devotee: One more question.
BCS: Yeah.

Devotee: What do you prefer: becoming brahmachari with saffron clothes or becoming brahmachari with white clothes? I mean to say, most of the devotees are students.
BCS: Okay, I get your point.

Devotee: Yeah.
BCS: Okay, brahmachari in saffron clothes, brahmachari in white clothes. So that means you are asking which kind of brahmachari is better: brahmachari brahmachari, grihasta brahmachari, vanaprastha brahmachari or sannyasi brahmachari? Okay, brahmacharis are brahmacharis, irrespective of external situation. So we have to become brahmachari not by dress, but we have to become brahmachari in the heart. So become a brahmachari in the heart. That’s what really matters.

Devotee: Thank you. One more question.
BCS: Go ahead.

Devotee: [inaudible, question about a statement in the previous Bhagavatam class]
BCS: Okay, so the main thing is that don’t get into a loop when it is on auto-pilot. [laughs] Then you get into control. If you are a pilot, if you are running the vehicle, if you are flying the aircraft then don’t set it on auto-pilot and leave it at that. Then take the control of that. And don’t depend upon Krishna. Take control. What I was giving the example of the auto-pilot, guna-karma is the auto-pilot, Krishna’s arrangement. It is Krishna’s arrangement but the human beings have the ability to transcend the guna-karma platform. Other living entities, sub-human species, they are completely under the control of guna and karma, but the human beings are meant to transcend the guna-karma platform and come to the platform of devotional service (surrender). So surrender means giving the control to Krishna. So there are three stages: you are controlling, you are flying the aircraft, then you set the thing on auto-pilot and then you hand it over to Krishna. So the best thing is to ultimately hand it over to Krishna, recognizing that I am not actually the doer. Everything is happening by His arrangement.

Devotee: I have one question. Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that this knowledge of Bhagavad-gita I gave to the Sun god in the beginning. (?) The Sun god is also a great devotee of Krishna, that’s why He gave, so why he is in a demigod’s position?
BCS: Why he is in a demigod’s position? Because he has been assigned with some responsibility. Because he is a devotee, he is given some responsibility. The responsibility is to control the sun planet, right? Now say Krishna has some important responsibility, now who will He give the responsibility? To somebody who is loyal to Him or somebody who is disloyal to Him? So isn’t it natural that Krishna gives those positions to His devotees? So demigods have their respective responsibilities and generally Krishna gives those responsibilities to His devotee. They may not be pure devotees, but they are devotees. Okay?
Thank you! Hare Krishna! Yeah?

Devotee: As you said, there are three stages of piloting an aircraft. The auto-pilot is surrender to Krishna. Like this human body as we have, half of it is on auto-pilot, things which we cannot control, our heart going on, [inaudible] while the others are under our control, like we can move [inaudible]. If we try to get the auto-pilot things in our control, sometimes it looks like we cannot do it.
BCS: Yeah.

Devotee: So how can we help that?
BCS: That’s why, if you are a co-pilot then hand it over to the pilot, right? [laughs] Hand the vehicle, the control over to Krishna, because He knows how to control. After all, He is controlling everything. And then what happens? Then everything becomes easy. But it doesn’t mean that I stop functioning. If I am a co-pilot I keep on flying but assisting the pilot, under his direction. But if I am a co-pilot and if I disregard the captain and try to fly, because I am not experienced enough, I may get into trouble. So the intelligent thing is to hand the control over to the captain.

Hare Krishna! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!