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In part 2 of this series we discussed how Kṛṣṇa is universally accepted in the Vedic literature as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, svayam bhagavan. Then why are people making so much research and speculation about God, “Where is God?” Why are they uselessly making so much hard labor out of the search for God, when the answer is easily available from the Vedic literature?

Bhagavad-gita says, right in the beginning of the second chapter, “Here is God, Kṛṣṇa: sri bhagavan uvaca.” Bhagavad-gita is the most famous book of spiritual knowledge all over the world. So there is no reason not to accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gita, Kṛṣṇa personally declares:

mattah parataram nanyat
kincid asti dhananjaya
mayi sarvam idam protam
sutre mani-gana iva

“O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.7]

aham sarvasya prabhavo
mattah sarvam pravartate
iti matva bhajante mam
budha bhava-samanvitah

“I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.” [Bhagavad-gita 10.8]

na me viduh sura-ganah
prabhavam na maharsayah
aham adir hi devanam
maharsinam ca sarvasah

“Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin or opulences, for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and sages.” [Bhagavad-gita 10.2]

And in Bhagavad-gita Arjuna confirms this:

arjuna uvaca
param brahma param dhama
pavitram paramam bhavan
purusam sasvatam divyam
adi-devam ajam vibhum

“Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn, the greatest.” [Bhagavad-gita 10.12]

Then there are so many statements in the Vedic literature, corroborating this same truth:

isvarah paramah Kṛṣṇah
sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah
sarva-karana-karanam

“Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, is the cause of all causes. He is the primal cause, and He is the very form of eternity, knowledge and bliss.” [Brahma-samhita 5.1]

ete camsa-kalah pumsah
Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavan svayam
indrari-vyakulam lokam
mrdayanti yuge yuge

“All the lists of the incarnations of Godhead submitted herewith are either plenary expansions or parts of the plenary expansions of the Supreme Godhead, but Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.3.28]

kalau janisyamananam
duhkha-soka-tamo-nudam
anugrahaya bhaktanam
supunyam vyatanod yasah

“To show causeless mercy to the devotees who would take birth in the future in this age of Kali, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, acted in such a way that simply by remembering Him one will be freed from all the lamentation and unhappiness of material existence.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 9.24.61]

There are hundreds of similar Sanskrit quotes. All the Vedic literatures confirm that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So there is no difficulty for anyone who is actually sincere about understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All they have to do is accept Bhagavad-gita as it is.

But those who are obstinate, sinful, the lowest of humankind, whose knowledge has been taken away by maya, and who are atheistic do not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even though they pose themselves as great yogis, philosophers or spiritual teachers. They are covert atheists; otherwise, there is no reason for them to reject Kṛṣṇa.

Kṛṣṇa therefore describes:

na mam duskrtino mudhah
prapadyante naradhamah
mayayapahrta-jnana
asuram bhavam asritah

“Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.15]

Unless one is duskrtina, a miscreant, always mischievous, full of sinful life, he cannot deny Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So Kṛṣṇa denounces such rascal false spiritual people as mudhas, donkeys. A donkey works very hard, unnecessarily for a cruel master, for a little bit of grass, which is easily available everywhere. They are so foolish. So similarly the atheistic mudhas are working so hard to try and find God, but they do not accept when God calls out to them in Bhagavad-gita, “Here I am. Come and worship Me.”

man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo ’si me

“Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.65]

So this Esoteric Teaching movement is preaching all over the world via the Internet that “You all consider yourself to be advanced in civilization, advanced in scientific knowledge, and advanced in economic development, but you are missing one thing—God, Kṛṣṇa. So here is God; here is Kṛṣṇa. You try to understand Kṛṣṇa, become Kṛṣṇa conscious and make your spiritual life successful.” That is our proposal.

But they do not want to accept this because according to Kṛṣṇa they are mudha, asses and donkeys. And more, they try to stop others from understanding by making false propaganda against the Absolute Truth of the Vedas. They try to say that the objective of the Vedic self-realization process is merging into the Absolute Truth, spiritual suicide.

So Kṛṣṇa appears in various forms just to protect His devotees:

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

“To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.” [Bhagavad-gita 4.8]

He appears in His original spiritual form and speaks Bhagavad-gita, He appears as the Vedic scriptures, He appears as His Holy Name, and He appears as the Brotherhood of the Esoteric Teaching to protect His devotees.

So our business, our duty, is to accept Kṛṣṇa’s words and act accordingly. We have to engage all our activities for Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure, for Kṛṣṇa’s service. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness or self-realization.

Just like Arjuna. In the beginning of Bhagavad-gita, he declined to fight. So apparently Arjuna was a very nice gentleman, forfeiting his claim over the kingdom because he wants to be nonviolent. He’s unwilling to fight with his cousin-brothers, and he was crying because he was so compassionate. So from the materialistic point of view, he was very nice.

But immediately, as we’ll begin to discuss in forthcoming selections, Kṛṣṇa says that “Why you are thinking like anarya?” Anarya means a non-Aryan, and according to the Vedas, arya means progressive. So an Aryan is a person who is progressive in spiritual values; he does not misuse philosophy to justify inaction, but does his spiritual duty even though it may be personally inconvenient.

But Kṛṣṇa chastised Arjuna that he was anarya-justam. “This kind of thinking is not for aryas, Aryans. It is for the non-Aryans.” He did not approve of Arjuna’s inaction. So the whole Bhagavad-gita was spoken to Arjuna to make him aryan, spiritually progressive.

At the end of Bhagavad-gita, Kṛṣṇa inquired from Arjuna, “What is your decision?” Yathecchasi tatha kuru. And Arjuna replied, karisye vacanam tava. [Bhagavad-gita 18.73] “Now I shall fight.”

And Kṛṣṇa approved:

sa evayam maya te ’dya
yogah proktah puratanah
bhakto ’si me sakha ceti
rahasyam hy etad uttamam

“That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery of this science.” [Bhagavad-gita 4.3]

Now, fighting is not a very good business, because it involves killing. But Arjuna was a warrior, a fighter. His duty was to fight, so he fought for Kṛṣṇa. Thus he became a devotee by fighting to satisfy Kṛṣṇa.

So everyone, no matter what their occupation, should be engaged to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is our whole philosophy. Kṛṣṇa has advised:

saha-jam karma kaunteya
sa-dosam api na tyajet
sarvarambha hi dosena
dhumenagnir ivavrtah

“Every endeavor is covered by some fault, just as fire is covered by smoke. Therefore one should not give up the work born of his nature, O son of Kunti, even if such work is full of fault.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.48]

So one can perform any kind of work for which he is fit, but the result must be given to Kṛṣṇa. That is the secret. You may work as a brahmana, as a ksatriya, as a businessman, as an engineer, as a doctor, as a warrior, whatever you may be. No type of work is condemned. Every kind of work is spiritual, provided it is offered to Kṛṣṇa. That is the secret of work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And according to the Esoteric Teaching, such work is without any karmic reaction.