Prabhupada 0149 - Krsna Consciousness Movement Means to Find Out the Supreme Father
Tenth Anniversary Address -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to find out the supreme father. Supreme father. That is the sum and substance of this movement. If we do not know who is our father, that is not a very good position. At least, in India, it is a custom, if somebody cannot say his father's name, he is not very respectable. And it is the system in the court that you write your name, you must write your father's name. That is Indian, Vedic system, and the name, his own name, his father's name and his village name. These three combined together. I think this system may be prevalent in other countries, but India, this is the system. The first name his own name, the second name his father's name, and the third name is the village or the country where he is born. This is system. So father's..., we must know the father. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. If we remain forgetful of our father, that is not a very good position. And what kind of father? Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma (BG 10.12). The richest. Not the poor father who cannot feed his children. It is not that father. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That father is so rich that He alone is feeding millions and millions and trillions of living entities. In Africa there are hundreds and millions of elephants. He is feeding them. And within the room there is a hole, there may be millions of ants. He is also feeding them. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). These are the Vedic information.
So human life, this is meant for understanding who is father, what is His law, who is God, what is our relationship with Him. This is Vedānta. Vedānta does not mean talk some nonsense and no relationship with the father. Śrama eva hi kevalam. If you do not know who is your father...
- dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ
- viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ
- notpādayed yadi ratiṁ
- śrama eva hi kevalam
- (SB 1.2.8)
This is not wanted. And Kṛṣṇa says, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). So you become Vedantist, that's very nice. In the beginning of Vedānta it is said that the Absolute Truth is that from whom everything comes. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is beginning. Now the human life is meant for understanding the Absolute Truth, jijñāsā. One should inquire what is the Absolute. That is human life, to find out the Absolute Truth. So the next sūtra immediately says that Absolute Truth is that who is the source of everything. And what is that everything? Two things we find: animate and inanimate. Practical experience. Some of them are animate and some of them are inanimate. Two things. Now we can expand the varieties. That is another thing. But two things are there. So these two things, we see there is a controller above these two things, the animate and inanimate. So we have to inquire now whether the source of two things, animate and inanimate, what is the position? The position is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1).
The original source of everything is abhijñaḥ. How? Anvayād itarataś cārtheṣu. If I have created something, I know everything, all details, anvayād, directly or indirectly, I know. If I manufacture something... Suppose if I know some special cooking, then I know all the details how to do it. That is the origin. So that origin is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, vedāhaṁ samatītāni: (BG 7.26) "I know everything—past, present and future." Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate. Aham ādir hi devānām (BG 10.2). According to creation theory... Not theory, fact. Brahmā viṣṇu maheśvara. So these are the principle devatās. So Viṣṇu is the original. Aham ādir hi devānām. The creation, first Mahā-Viṣṇu; then from Mahā-Viṣṇu there is Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. From Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu there is Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, expansion of Viṣṇu, and from Him, Brahmā comes. Brahmā is born out of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu on the lotus flower, then he gives birth to Rudra. This is the explanation of creation. So Kṛṣṇa says aham ādir hi devānām. He's also origin of Viṣṇu because, from the śāstra we say, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). The original Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa. And the first expansion of Kṛṣṇa is Baladeva. Then from Him this Catur-vyūha, Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha, like that. Then Nārāyaṇa. From Nārāyaṇa, the second Catur-vyūha, and from the second Catur-vyūha, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Mahā-Viṣṇu. In this way you have to learn the śāstras. You'll find that actually, as it is said in the śāstra, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. And Kṛṣṇa says, aham ādir hi devānām (BG 10.2). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). And Arjuna accepts, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). So we have to accept śāstra. Śāstra-cakṣuṣāt: you have to see through the śāstra. And if you learn śāstra, then you'll find kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to present to the human society the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So we started this movement in 1966, registering it. Our Rūpānuga Prabhu has already explained. So take this movement very seriously. The same, Kṛṣṇa, started within the historical, five thousand years ago. And He started this movement with Arjuna as His disciple. Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu, five hundred years ago, He revived again the same movement. He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. And that is going on. Don't think that this is a manufactured movement. No. It is the authorized movement and confirmed by the authorities. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). There are mahājanas mentioned in the śāstra. So be fixed up in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and try to understand Kṛṣṇa. We have got so many literatures, authorized literatures. And make your life success.
Thank you very much.