God cannot be Hindu God, cannot be Muslim God, cannot be Christian God. God is God, the great. Now, if you study how His greatness expands...

God, Allah, Krishna

Understanding how God is great

The Christians say, "God is great." The Muslims also say, "Allah akbar." That is also same meaning. The Vedic literature also says, Brahman, Parabrahma. Brahman means the greatest. Brihatvat brihannatvad iti brahma. Brahman means because it is very, very great. And not only great, it is becoming greater and greater. Brihannatvat. So the great understanding, greatness understanding, of Krishna or the Absolute Truth is accepted everywhere in civilized human society.

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But how God is great, that you can find in the Vedic literature. Simply to know God is great... Just like everyone knows that he has got a father. That is not difficult. Anyone who is in this material world, in material world or spiritual world, there is a father. Everyone knows that. But who is my father, how he is, how great he is, what is his qualification, what does he do, what is his father's name, what is his address—that you can understand from Bhagavad-gita. Therefore it is essential that everyone should read Bhagavad-gita. Simply to know God is great, that is also good. He is accepting the greatness of God. But if you want to know in detail how great He is, to what extent great He is, how the actions of His greatness are going on, how His activities of greatness are going on, then you read Bhagavad-gita.

Bhagavad-gita says mattah parataram nanyat kiñchid asti dhanañjaya [Bg. 7.7: "O conquerer of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread."]. Krishna says, "There is no more greater factor than Me." Everyone knows God is great. Great means everyone is small. He is great. Nobody is equal to Him. Nobody is greater than Him. That is the meaning of greatness. So how He is greater than everyone and nobody is equal to Him, everyone is subordinate, everyone is creation of Him—this knowledge, if you get... Janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah [Bg. 4.9: "One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."]. If you understand these factors of the greatness of God perfectly well, then you become fit for being transferred to the spiritual world. That is called daivi sampad. Daivi sampad vimokshaya [Bg. 16.5: "The transcendental qualities are conducive to liberation, whereas the demoniac qualities make for bondage."]. If you become divine, this is cultivation. This is education. This is not sentiment.

People misunderstand that this movement, Krishna consciousness movement, is Hindu movement: "Krishna is one of the Hindu gods." But that is not the fact. Krishna is God. God is God. God cannot be Hindu God, cannot be Muslim God, cannot be Christian God. God is God. Just like gold. If the Hindus deal gold, that does not mean gold becomes Hindu gold. Or the Christian or Muslim deals in gold, it does not follow that the gold becomes Christian or Muslim. Gold is gold. Similarly, God is God, the great.

Now, if you study how His greatness expands... Just like here is one example [Bg. 18.61]:

ishvarah sarva-bhutanam
hrid-deshe 'rjuna tishthati
bhramayan sarva-bhutani
yantrarudhani mayaya

Very simple. Ishvarah, God, in His Paramatma feature is sitting within everyone's heart—your heart, my heart, everyone's. You haven't got to find out God somewhere else. Therefore the yogis practice, "How to find out God within myself?" That is called meditation. Meditation means to find out... It is heard from the shastra, "God is within my heart. Now let me find out where is God within my heart." That is called yoga, yoga system. Dhyanavasthita-tad-gatena manasa pashyanti yam yoginah [SB 12.13.1: "...Whom the perfected yogis see within their minds after fixing themselves in trance and absorbing themselves within Him..."]. Yogi's business is to become engaged in meditation, dhyanavasthita. Now this meditation is very profusely used in your country especially. But what is the meditation? This is meditation. When you fix up your mind to find out God, Krishna, within your heart, that is called meditation, not thinking some foolish objective is meditation. This is meditation. Dhyanavasthita-tad-gatena manasa. Tad-gatena, mind being fully absorbed in Him, by that mind, you can find out. So Krishna consciousness is little more than that.

Consciousness is above mind. Mind is above the senses. Indriyani parany ahur indriyebhyah param manah [Bg. 3.42]. Our body means the senses. The senses are prominent. Therefore body is active. But the senses cannot work if the mind is absent. Therefore we call, "attentively, concentrating your mind." So mind is above the senses. And how the mind is acting—thinking, feeling and willing—that is called intelligence. Everything finer. You can see your senses, my senses, but everyone knows that you have got mind, I have got mind, though we cannot see the mind. Can you say, anyone, that "Here is mind"? No, because it is finer. Then everyone has got some intelligence, but can you see intelligence? Go on. It is still finer. Similarly, there is soul, which is still finer than the intelligence. So how you can see the soul? If you cannot see the mind, if you cannot see the intelligence, then how you can see the soul? Then the source of soul, the Supreme Soul, how you can see?

Therefore it is said, atah shri-krishna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. If you speculate your senses to find out where is God, where is the soul... The doctors are daily operating, heart operation, and so many finer, finer surgical operations, but they cannot find out where is the soul. But soul is there. That we can perceive. When the soul goes away from the body, we can understand, "Now the soul has gone; the body is dead." So you can perceive; you cannot see. It is not understandable by speculating your gross senses. You cannot... If you want to see what is mind, what is intelligence, what is soul, what is Supersoul, that is not possible to see by your these blunt eyes, conditional eyes. Everyone is very proud of his senses. Somebody says, "Can you show me God?" But have you got the power to see God first of all? So this is not very intelligent question. You have to practice according to the direction of the shastras.

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Just like here is Bhagavad-gita. You follow the direction. You will understand what is God, what you are, what is this world, what is our relation between ourself, what is our condition, how we can get out of this miserable condition. Everything you will find. In the beginning a small child cannot understand what is mathematic, but if he studies mathematic science, he one day becomes a very big mathematician, the same child. Similarly, this spiritual science, every one of you can become spiritually advanced provided you study the science. That is Krishna consciousness movement. It is not a bluff sentiment. It is a great science. Those who are actually studious, they can understand the science perfectly if they study all our books. We have got twenty volumes books like this already published. And we propose to publish seventy-two volumes, how to understand God. So God is not so cheap thing, that "I have become God; you have become God." It is a great science. So those who want to understand God scientifically, philosophically, let them read these books. That is our presentation, Krishna consciousness.