Perfect Questions Perfect Answers by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Pr...

The devotee does not even care for the post of Indra. Materialistic persons aspire for the sense enjoyment of heavenly pleasure in the heavenly kingdom, but devotees reject such material pleasure at once. Pure devotees, who take transcendental pleasure in hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord, do not care for any kind of liberation even if they are offered the five liberations, they refuse to accept them, as stated in the Bhāgavatam in the Third Canto. Pure devotional service is śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. They are concerned only with glorifying the Supreme Lord and His auspicious activities. Nor are they inclined to accept any of the other four kinds of liberation, namely to live on the same planet as the Lord, to live with Him side by side as an associate, to have the same opulence, or to attain the same bodily features. Devotees don’t care for such liberation because they are actually intelligent. “There are five kinds of liberation, the least important of which is called sāyujya, to become one with the Supreme. Bob: If you know the process, then the Deity becomes Kṛṣṇa?” It is actually worship of God, provided you know the process. And Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that He can present Himself fully in His energy. Therefore, it is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. That’s a fact, because metal is an energy of Kṛṣṇa’s. When we worship this metal form of Kṛṣṇa, that is Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore, when we worship Kṛṣṇa in a form made of something – of earth, stone, metal, or something like that – that is Kṛṣṇa. And because everything is Kṛṣṇa’s energy, Kṛṣṇa can manifest Himself from any energy. In the material sense, you cannot conceive that a thing is simultaneously positive and negative. Acintya-bhedābheda – inconceivable difference and nondifference.

Without the sun, where is the sunshine? But at the same time, it is not the sun. “Still, you cannot say that sunshine is not the sun. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead That is the import of the familiar saying “God is great.” No one is equal to the Godhead, and no one is greater than Him. From the very moment of His appearance to the moment of His disappearance, every one of His activities is unparalleled in the history of the world, and therefore anyone who knows what we mean by Godhead will accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He stayed on this earth for 125 years and played exactly like a human being, but His activities were unparalleled. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is a historical person who appeared on this earth 5,000 years ago. But we have never seen any one person who is unlimitedly and simultaneously wealthy, powerful, famous, beautiful, wise and unattached, like Kṛṣṇa, in the history of humanity. “We have seen many rich persons, many powerful persons, many famous persons, many beautiful persons, many learned and scholarly persons, and persons in the renounced order of life unattached to material possessions.

Perfect Questions Perfect Answers by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Pr...