(Reprinted from the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust)
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A lecture by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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I'll sing from Vedic literature the description of the spiritual world. (chants verses from the Brahma-samhita with devotees) So there are about thirty-five verse like this in the Brahma-samhita describing the transcendental place of the Lord. It takes time. I have cited about a dozen only. Let me try to explain some of them. Because I have already taken much time. So one verse in these we find:
advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam
adyam purana-purusam nava-yauvanam ca
vedesu durlabham adurlabham atma-bhaktau
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhaja
[Bs. 5.33]
The Lord is one, without a second, advaita. Acyuta: the Lord never falls down. The distinction between Lord and ourself... We are also eternal living entities, and the Lord is also eternal. He's also a living entity, a person, just like us, but His name is Acyuta. He never falls from His position. But we living entities, sometimes we fall down. Just our material condition of life. This is our falldown. Therefore He's called advaitam acyutam anadim. And He has no beginning. He is the beginning of everything. The creation is from Him, but He has no creator. So advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam [Bs. 5.33]. And He has got multi-forms. He can expand Himself. The one expansion is that isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese arjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. He has expanded Himself to live with you within your heart. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam. Not only that; another place it is described, eko 'py asau racayitum jagad-anda-koti. One portion of the Lord... That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita: ekamsena sthito jagat [Bg. 10.42]. Jagat means this material world. That is being maintained by one of His plenary portions, which is called Paramatma. Or Garbhodakasayi Visnu, or Ksirodakasayi Visnu. So one portion of His plenary portion, He is within the material world. A material world means within the universe. Andantara-stham. Anda, brahmanda means this universe. This is not only one universe, but there are many millions of universes. So He's there. Advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam [Bs. 5.33]. And andantara-stham: He is within the universe. Andantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara-stham: [Bs. 5.35] and He is within the atom also. Just, just imagine expansion of God. So advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam adyam purana-purusam nava-yauvanam ca. Although He's the oldest of all, you'll find Krishna always a young man. He's, from His face, we'll find a young boy, twenty to twenty-five years. Nava-yauvanam ca. Vedesu durlabham. If you want to search out God by studying Vedas, it will be very difficult. Adurlabham atma-bhaktau. But He's very easily available from His devotee. This is the description.
Then, in another place,
ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis
tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhih
goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhuto...
[Bs. 5.37]
The Lord... Everything is not material. That is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]. Krishna is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha. His form is eternity, blissful and full of knowledge. So all His paraphernalia in the Goloka Vrndavana, that is His expansion of that quality, eternity, blissfulness and knowledge. Ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis. His gopis, His consorts, His father, His mother, His friends, His trees, His flowers, His calves and cows -- everything is spiritual, expansion from Him. Everything... The... We are also expansion from Him. We are marginal potency. And this is spiritual potency. So everything is expansion. Therefore the Vedic literatures say, sarvam khalv idam brahma: "Everything is Brahman." We are now combination of two energies, marginal energy and the external energy. But in the spiritual world, everything is only spiritual energy. So we are constitutionally spiritual energy. Somehow or other we have been entangled with this material energy. So if we try in this human form of life, we can get out of this material energy and again go back to the spiritual energy. That is the opportunity. Ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhih [Bs. 5.37].
Another sloka is to explain: angani yasya sakalendriya-vrtti-manti [Bs. 5.32]. The spiritual body is equally qualified for doing everything. Just like with our hand, we can touch only. We cannot do... Or we can pick up something. But by simply having hand, or with the hand, we cannot eat. For eating we shall have to use this mouth, we have to use the stomach. But in the spiritual world, Krishna, about Him is described: angani yasya sakalendriya-vrtti-manti [Bs. 5.32]. Each and every limb of Krsna has got the potency of other limbs. He can eat by His eyes. He can hear from His eyes. And anything, all the parts of the limbs, because they are spiritual, you can use it for any purpose. This is not understandable in this material condition of life, but it is possible. These things are there.
angani yasya sakalendriya-vrtti-manti
pasyanti panti kalayanti ciram jaganti
ananda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.32]
So His spiritual world, this, His planet, is described that cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa-laksavrtesu surabhir abhipalayantam [Bs. 5.29]. In His planet, there are many trees, many palaces, but they're all spiritual. Cintamani means spiritual. The houses, they're made of touchstone. Just like here the houses are made of bricks and wood; there the houses are also spiritual. The touchstone... It is described in the sastra that if there is any touchstone in this material world, the touchstone can turn the iron into gold. So anyway, the houses... There are houses also. Big, big palaces, like here. Cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa. And the trees are kalpa-vrksa. Kalpa-vrksa means where you can get fruit, one kind of fruit from one tree, but there, any fruit you want, you can get any tree. That is spiritual world. Prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa. Kalpa-vrksa means that. And surabhir abhipalayantam [Bs. 5.29]. And Krishna is very fond of tending cows. And what are those cows? Surabhi. Surabhi means you can take as much milk as you like and as many times as you like. Here in this material world you have got cows, but you can take milk, limited quantity. And also once or twice. That is the difference.
In this way, if you read Brahma-samhita, you'll get complete description of the spiritual world, the spiritual entities, the Supreme Lord, His associates. His country, His pastimes, everything, very nicely described. And if we become attached to such place, then we can try, we can try, we can prepare ourself for going back to home, back to Godhead. That is the perfection of life. That is the mission of Krishna consciousness movement.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
(Srila Prabhupada lecture, Stockholm, September 6, 1973, Upsala University)
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