In this devotional lecture, the speaker explains that Krishna is the ultimate source of all material and spiritual phenomena, including the sun, moon, planets, and even the taste of fruits. He contrasts Vedic cosmology with modern scientific claims, highlighting the world’s growing scarcity of water, oil, and coal, and noting the turn toward solar energy as humanity attempts to harness one of Krishna’s "eyes" – the sun. The talk critiques material scientists for relying on limited empirical data, emphasizing that many planetary bodies are invisible and that Vedic scriptures provide a more complete picture of the universe. Using analogies such as the chintamani stone, a jackal’s deception, and a fictional Dr. Frog, the speaker illustrates the inconceivable (acintya‑shakti) nature of divine energy and warns against trying to understand the Lord through material means alone. He then outlines the three planetary systems (lower, middle, upper) and explains the spiritual counterparts of material emotions—anger, love, greed, envy, and hatred—showing how these can be transformed in devotional service. Finally, he urges listeners to distribute Krishna‑conscious books and prasāda as essential tools for saving humanity, and announces his upcoming travel to Leningrad.
Chapters
Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya! Oh my God— oh no! Bhagavad Gita Vasudevaiah! Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna.
So we're just going to carry on for about 20 minutes more. Devotees have to take rest, and I also have to prepare to leave for Leningrad tonight. So in the verse that we discussed today, we have seen how Krishna says that every planet is being maintained by him, and we've also seen how Krishna is the source of the sun and the moon, and we've also seen how the taste that is derived in the vegetables and fruits is due to the rays of the moon. The Vedic scriptures say that though everything is emanating from the Lord, the Lord retains his spiritual identity and he's unlimited. Some of you are probably aware that the world is running out of natural resources. There's a tremendous water shortage in many parts of the world. They have to walk for half an hour to get one bucket of water. I I have seen even in your country, uh, because every house does not have a water connection, people have to carry water from great distances. And the whole world is running out of petrol. The prediction is that the oil supplies of the world are just going to last for another 20 years. So what are they going to do after 20 years? How are they going to run their cars and airplanes? How are they going to generate electricity, etc.? —because the world is definitely running out of natural resources. Your country has a lot of coal reserves, but even the coal reserves are eventually going to run out. So these scientists are relying on something which they think will go on giving them unlimited sense enjoyment. And that is one of the eyes of the Lord, and that is the sun. And these scientists are now relying on solar energy. Now these scientists have devised and are devising formulas by which rays of the sun can be captured to run cars and to move everything that is being done by petrol at the moment. I do not know in your country, but in India and America, I've seen many houses which are designed with solar energy. That is, on the roof of their house, they have a special plant, so they take the rays of the sun and it converts to energy. So the sun, it never fails to do its duty. The rays of the sun are unlimited. So now they're going to use device, derive energy from the rays of the sun. So we should acknowledge that this sun is also one of the eyes of Krishna, and as Krishna has explained in this chapter, he's the source of the sun and the moon. The material scientists are trying to understand the laws that govern the movement of the planets. In the Vedic scriptures, it is explained that many planets are visible and many are invisible. So you can't rely on the evidence or other data that these scientists will present. For example, in the scriptures it is explained that when the Rahu planet goes in front of the sun, then there's an eclipse. But the scientists don't accept that. They do not know how the eclipse takes place. So Krishna is producing everything Lord Caitanya used to give the example of a chintamani stone. A chintamani stone produces many other jewels, but it still retains its original spiritual identity. It still retains its own identity. So Lord Caitanya said that the energies of the Lord are acintya-shakti. Acintya-shakti means inconceivable. You cannot understand the inconceivable energies of the Lord. By some material calculations. Therefore it is said one should take shelter of a devotee of the Lord, to adopt the process of devotional service, in order to understand the inconceivable nature of the Lord. So the Lord is the cause of all the energies. So these scientists are busy defying the laws of God. They want to try and travel to other planets through some mechanical devices. In the material world, you and I can't fly. Only the birds can fly. But if you become an inhabitant of Siddha Loka, then you'll be able to fly. In Siddha Loka, everybody has hands that are like wings. So then you can fly. So all this is available, and knowledge is available only through the scriptures. Just like the 5th Canto of the Bhāgavatam explains the location of the different planets. And it also gives the distances between different planets. But unfortunately, the present-day civilization doesn't take advantage of it, and the scientists are posing as vyāsadev. They are posing as if they have the answers to everything, but their bluff will be exposed. It is being exposed and will be exposed. Prabhupāda used to tell us a story of a jackal in the forest. The jackal, as you know, is a very cunning animal. He can trick even the lion. So once the jackal fell down in a dye, in a pond where there was blue dye. So his whole body became blue. So all the other animals in the forest were saying, "Oh!" They've never seen a jackal like this. The lion also came to the jackal and said, "I have never seen an animal like you in this forest. Where have you come from?" So the cunning jackal said, "I'm not a jackal, I'm not an animal. I've been sent by God." So all the animals started worshipping him. They said that he's come from God, so he has to be given special respect. But the jackal has one big weakness. When he hears other jackals saying, "Wah, wah," he cannot resist. So one night, this jackal heard other jackals nearby saying, "Wah, wah." So this jackal also replied and said, "Wah." He also replied and said, "I'm here, I'm coming." So as soon as they did walk, all the other animals recognized this man's not sent by God, but he's a jackal, and they attacked him. So these scientists are making big, big claims that they have a lot of knowledge, but they can only bluff those who are not fortunate enough to receive this Vedic information. So this Krishna Consciousness movement is establishing to the entire humanity that God is the cause of all causes. As the Brahma Samhita says, not a blade of grass can move without God's permission. So Lord Chaitanya has described this as acintya shakti. Acintya shakti means inconceivable to material vision. So the Lord is inconceivable to material vision. So if you try to understand the Lord through material endeavors, you will be baffled, just like Dr. Frog in the ocean. Dr. Frog in the ocean was trying to measure the length and breadth of the vast Indian Ocean. He wanted to know how many times his size is the vast ocean. He was taking very deep breaths, because when you take a deep breath, you expand the size belly out. And then attempting to measure the length and breadth of the ocean, he— his stomach burst and he died. So that is the plight of the frustrated scientist. So Krishna is also a scientist, but the supreme scientist. You just see, science is— God is providing everything. Even this microphone that you may see, you may think is made of synthesis, synthetics, is actually made from petrol that is provided by God. All that scientists have learned to do is manipulate the resources given by God, but they can't create the resources. That's only done by God. And now that the scientists are putting their hopes on solar energy, Even the sun is created by God. So the devotees, they always acknowledge the gifts given by God by glorifying God. They never get tired of glorifying the Lord. The devotee never gets tired because as he glorifies the Lord, he feels more and more pleasure. And as he experiences spiritual pleasure, he gets the strength to resist material pleasure. You cannot give up material pleasure till you experience a higher pleasure. And as we read and understand the philosophy, we, we obtain higher pleasure. And as we said in the class this morning, as you obtain, as you understand the spiritual philosophy, you can overcome the enemies of spiritual life like lamenting and hankering. And as you understand the philosophy, you'll also understand the importance of distributing these books. A Vaiṣṇava is not selfish. He's anxious to share his source of pleasure with everyone. Because except in these books, you can't obtain this knowledge anywhere else. That is why Prabhupada encouraged book distribution, because Prabhupada wanted to save humanity by making them understand the greatness of God. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So I have about 4 minutes for questions if you all have.
What are the lowest planets and why there is some material wealth there? Well-being. I don't understand. Why are they— when there is some material well-being there, what happens to all the planets?
We have lower planetary system, middle planetary system, and upper planetary system. The lower planets are the hellish planets, then you have the middle planet, and the upper planets are the heavenly planet.
Uh, as far as these 5 angles of spiritual life are concerned For instance, Śrīla Prabhupāda says in many of his points, preposits, that anger can be used in spiritual life, like this example of Kloci, times like that. And what's about other types of enemies? Can they be used in spiritual life? Risky.
Every material attribute has a spiritual counterpart. So you have material anger and spiritual anger. Material anger is when you don't get your quota of sense enjoyment. Spiritual anger is when the Lord or His devotees are blasphemed, just like Hanuman was angry when Sita was kidnapped. Lord Caitanya, he emphasized the principle of humility, but he himself was angry when Nityananda was attacked. So spiritual anger means you become angry when devotional service is being hurt. The gopis were angry at Brahma. Why were they angry at Brahmā? He created eyes, eyelids that blink. So that anger is different from your anger when you don't get sense enjoyment. The gopīs were angry at Uddhava. "You have taken Kṛṣṇa away from us." So that is spiritual anger. So if some devotee is disturbing it, then there is lust. Now the counterpart of lust in spiritual life is love. In material life, in material society, you use the word, hear the word love all the time. Listen to any radio song anywhere in the world that is centered around love. But it is not this love that we are talking about. Love is for the Supreme Lord and His devotees. Caitanya-caritāmṛta explains that just like gold and metal, though they are metals, but they are of different content. So similarly, love and lust is far apart. Then greed. There is material greed. Everybody wants more and more, more. Even if you go to a man with 100 cars, he'll complain he's— there's some problem. I know a man in Bombay, he has 110 cars and they're all Rolls-Royces. You devotees may not even have heard of Rolls-Royce. It's the most expensive car in the world. The Queen of England drives in the Rolls-Royce. Still, if you meet him, he always looks unhappy. And they want more, more, more. So this is material greed. So there is spiritual greed also. Everything for Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupāda said, "Give me the money of the whole world, I'll take it. I'll use it for Kṛṣṇa." So you can be greedy for Kṛṣṇa. There's no problem. Then envy. So in the material world there's envy. And A is envious of B, B is envious of C. And the human being is envious of the animals. So he says, "Kill them." So in the material world there's envy. Now there is also spiritual envy. Spiritual envy means when you see somebody else doing some service, you're inspired to do even more service. Just like amongst the gopis, there is spiritual envy. There is fierce competition going on between Lalitha and Vishakha. One day when you have a big temple in Moscow, you may have Lalitha and Vishakha gopis on the altar also. In our Bombay temple, we have Radha Krishna in the center. They're known as Radha Rasbihari. And on the left is Lalita, and on the right is Vishakha. And in Vrindavan temple also, we have Radha Shyamsundar, Radha Krishna known as Radha Shyamsundar. And Lalita is standing on the side of Krishna, and Vishakha on the side of Radharani. But amongst Lalita and Vishakha, there is fierce competition. Lalita is trying to please Krishna, and then Viśākha says, "Lalita is doing so much for Krishna, so I should do more than her." So Viśākha tries to do more than Lalita, and then Lalita gets envious of Viśākha. She says, "She has overtaken me. I must overtake her." So that is spiritual envy. The devotees can go on increasing their service because Krishna's glories are increasing every minute. Just like in the last 1.5 hours that we've had this class, Krishna's glories have gone up so many more points. You go to sleep tonight, tomorrow morning you get up, Krishna's glories would have gone up even more. Similarly, amongst Chandra Bali and Radharani, there is also spiritual envy. But Radharani wins always. So that is spiritual envy. Hatred. Yes, there's no spiritual hatred. The devotee loves everyone. Devotee has no enemies. Even if somebody gives him trouble, the devotee doesn't consider him to be an enemy. You know what the devotee thinks? He thinks, due to my past karma, I should have got thousand times more suffering, but Krishna has minimized it. So devotee doesn't complain against anyone. He puts the blame for all miseries on himself. So I think I'll stop at this point. I just want to request all of you to please go on with your preaching mission. Flood this place with Prabhupada's books. Hare Kṛṣṇa and prasāda distribution. These are the three weapons that we have. So I'm going to go to Leningrad for three days and come back on the 26th morning for the Bhāgavatam class. And 26th afternoon I'll have to leave your country. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Mahāprabhu. Kṛṣṇa Swāmi. Huru Mahārāja. Bahut Bhārata ki. Jāy! Hare Krishna! Hare Krish—
