Prabhupada 0218 - Guru Opens the Eyes
Lecture on SB 6.1.55 -- London, August 13, 1975
So we living entities, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Just like fire and the small fragments of fire, sparks, our position is like that. Or the sun and the small particles of shining elements combined together becomes the sunshine. The sunshine which we daily see, it is not a homogeneous mixture. There is molecules, very small, shining particle. So we are like that, a very small... As there are atoms, material atoms—nobody can count—similarly, we are atomic sparks of God. How many we are, there is no count. Asaṅkhyā. Asaṅkhyā means we cannot count. So many living entities. So we are very small particle, and we have come here in this material world. Just like the Europeans especially, they go to other countries for colonizing to use the material resources for their sense gratification. The America was discovered, and the Europeans went there. The idea was to go there and... Now they are trying to go to the moon planet to find out if there is any convenience. This is the tendency of the conditioned soul. So they have come to this material world. Kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vāñchā kare. Means puruṣa is bhokta.
Bhoktā. Kṛṣṇa is actually bhoktā. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasām (BG 5.29). So we are imitating Kṛṣṇa. This is our position. Everyone is trying to become Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvādīs, although they have undergone penances, austerities—very strictly they follow the principles of spiritual life—but because they are under māyā, at the end they are thinking that "I am God, Purusa," the same disease, puruṣa. Purusa means bhoktā. That "I am Kṛṣṇa..." Bhoktāraṁ yajña... And even after advancing so much by austerities, penances, following regulative principle, the māyā is so strong that still, he is under this impression that "I am puruṣa." Not only ordinary puruṣa, but the Supreme Puruṣa, as Kṛṣṇa is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, puruṣam śāśvata: (BG 10.12) "You are puruṣa." So māyā is so strong that after being kicked so many lives, life after life, still he is thinking, "I am puruṣa. I am enjoyer." This is the disease.
Therefore here it is said that eṣa prakṛti-saṅgena puruṣasya viparyayaḥ (SB 6.1.55). His material life begun from this conception, that "I am puruṣa. I am enjoyer." And because he cannot give up this idea that "I am enjoyer," life after life he is viparyayaḥ, reverse condition. Reverse condition means... Because the living entity is part and parcel of God and God is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), so we are also sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, a small sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, but our position is prakṛti, not puruṣa. Both of them... Just like Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, They are of the same quality. Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmāt (CC Adi 1.5). They are one, but still, Rādhā is prakṛti, and Kṛṣṇa is puruṣa. Similarly, we are, although part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, but we are prakṛti, and Kṛṣṇa is puruṣa. So by falsely, when we think of becoming puruṣa, this is called māyā or viparyayaḥ. That is stated here. Evaṁ prakṛti-saṅgena puruṣasya viparyayaḥ. Viparyayaḥ means he is meant for actually enjoying with the puruṣa. When the puruṣa and prakṛti, male and female, enjoy, they enjoy, they get the same pleasure, but one is puruṣa; one is prakṛti. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is puruṣa, and we are prakṛti. If we enjoy with Kṛṣṇa, then the ānanda, sac-cid-ānanda, is there. That we have forgotten. We want to be puruṣa. So some way or other, this condition has come into existence, a false conception of becoming puruṣa, enjoyer. Then what is the result? The result is that we are trying to be enjoyer life after life, but we are being enjoyed; we are not enjoyer. We are simply struggling to become enjoyer. This is our position.
So how you can stop this struggling and come to your original position? That is stated here. Sa eva na cirād īśa-saṅgād vilīyate (SB 6.1.55). This false conception of life, that "I am puruṣa," it can be vanquished completely. How? Īśa-saṅga, by association with God, Īśa. Īśa means the supreme controller. Īśa-saṅga. "So where is Īśa? I cannot see Īśa. I cannot see... Even Kṛṣṇa is Īśa, the Supreme, but I cannot see Him." Now, Kṛṣṇa is there. You are blind. Why don't you see Him? Therefore you cannot see. So you have to open your eyes, not close. That is the business of guru. The guru opens the eyes.
- ajñāna-timirāndhasya
- jñānāñjana-śalākayā
- cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena
- tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
- (Gautamīya Tantra)
So how Kṛṣṇa opens the eyes? By jñānāñjana-śalākayā. Just like in the darkness we cannot see anything. But if there is matches or candle, if the candle is ignited, then we can see. Similarly, guru's business is to open the eyes. To open the eyes means to give him knowledge that "You are not puruṣa. You are prakṛti. Change your views." That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.