Question (in a public gathering): I have heard that Swami Ramakrishna taught that people should first worship demigods like Mother Kali and then worship Lord Krishna. Is worshipping Krishna and worshipping other demigods the same thing? Is there a difference between worshipping different Deities or forms of the Lord?
Srila Govinda Maharaj: Your questions are simple and their answers are also simple. In Srimad Bhagavad-gita it is said,
yanti deva-vrata devan pitrn yanti pitr-vratah
bhutani yanti bhutejya yanti mad-yajino ’pi mam
«Those who worship the devatas, demigods, go to the domain of the demigods. Those who worship the pitrs, forefathers, go to the place of the forefathers. Those who worship the bhutas, ghosts, go to the plane of the ghosts. And those who worship Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, go to Krishnaloka, the transcendental abode of Krishna.»
This is the advice of Srimad Bhagavad-gita. Ramakrishna told people that all of these forms of worship and all of these destinations are the same. This is not true, and they are not the same. All diseases are not the same; all happiness is not the same; all sadness is not the same; each of our fingers are not the same; all people are not the same. No two things are exactly the same. How can all forms of worship and all destinations be the same? They are never the same.
The teaching of Srimad Bhagavad-gita is that you have free choice and you decide what you want. You choose your destination. You have to properly realise what your needs are and then proceed in the appropriate direction. By worshipping demigods you can attain kanak, kamini, and pratistha: temporary wealth, enjoyment, and fame in this world. These are not the essential needs of our hearts. To always be searching in one direction or another in pursuit of material desires is not good, and it will not give anyone a fulfilling result. If you are willing to satisfy anyone, regardless of who they are, to fulfil your material desires, then your nature is like that of a prostitute. But if your mood is that exclusively you want to satisfy your Lord, then your nature is like that of a chaste servitor. The question about whether worshipping the Lord and the demigods is the same is actually a matter of chastity and prostitution.
Srimad Bhagavatam has advised us that by pleasing our Master we will automatically please everyone and attain everything we need.
yatha taror mula-nisechanena
trpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopasakhah
pranopaharach cha yathendriyanam
tathaiva sarvarhanam achyutejya
«If you pour water on the root of a tree, the whole tree is nourished. If you offer your devotion and service to Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all demigods, all goddesses, and the whole world are satisfied. You can fulfil all your duties and desires by worshipping Lord Krishna. This is what is truly necessary for everyone.»
When I was young I used to go out every day collecting money for the service of Srila Guru Maharaj. During this time I was living with Srila Swami Maharaj at Sitakanta Banerjee Lane in Kolkata. He was working on his translation of Bhagavad-gita As It Is then, and every day he would teach me something from Srimad Bhagavad-gita, or give me some advice, and then I would go out. I would tell the people I met the things I heard from Srila Swami Maharaj. Some days I would get a very good response and come home in a dancing mood. But some days I would not collect anything. And on some days people would even try to beat me. During that time I met many devotees of Mother Kali and would often end up debating with them. The worshippers of Mother Kali pray to her for selfish purposes: «O Mother Kali, dhanam dehi janam dehi rupam dehi yaso dehi, and so on: give me wealth, give me manpower, give me beauty, give me fame, and so on. Dehi dehi dehi, give me, give me, give me….»
Mother Kali is actually a param Vaisnavi, a perfect chaste servitor of her Master, the Lord. And she can also give Visnu-bhakti to the conditioned souls. But the conditioned souls are foolish and cannot understand what is good for them. They do not understand that they must die someday and will be forced to leave everything they may gain in their life through their worship. Pursuing material desires, even through worship, is never in the actual interest of anyone.
One day I told some of the devotees of Mother Kali who wanted to debate with me, «Vivekananda is a gunda [dacoit] and Ramakrishna is a murkha pujari [ignorant priest].» They became very angry with me and tried to beat me. Many of Mother Kali’s devotees especially would always want to fight with me.
After this I asked Srila Swami Maharaj, «What should I say to worshippers of Mother Kali?»
Srila Swami Maharaj’s preaching style was always very hard, and he told me jokingly, «Ask them why they are worshipping Mother Kali. If they are faithful devotees of Mother Kali what will they ultimately attain? Tell them they should know that if they worship Mother Kali, they will go to Mother Kali’s domain. That will be their destiny. What Mother Kali eats, they will eat. What Mother Kali does, they will do. Where Mother Kali lives, they will live. Their final destiny will be to become an associate of Mother Kali.
«So you should ask them, ‘Where does Mother Kali live? Mother Kali lives in a cremation ground. Who are Mother Kali’s associates? Dakinis and yoginis, that is, many varieties of witches and ghosts. What does Mother Kali eat in her domain? The meat and blood of her dead sons. What is Mother Kali’s mood? Mother Kali has no shyness; she stands naked showing her tongue to her sons. She attracts her sons to come to her and then she takes their heads, cuts their necks, and puts their skulls on her garland. Have you seen the garland of the skulls of the demons she kills around her neck? This is Mother Kali’s nature, and if you worship her you will go to her abode, Kaliloka. Ye yatha Mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy Aham (Bg: 4.11). If you feel you need to go to Mother Kali’s abode you can go there to stay with her, and lastly she will cut off your head and add it to her garland. If this is your desire then we have no objection.’»
Srila Swami Maharaj joked in this way. Then he said, «But just see our Krishna! Krishna lives in Vrndavan Dham. There Krishna has so many girlfriends and so much butter, ghee, cheese, milk, sandes, rasagullas, fruits, sweets, luchis, puris, laddus, kachoris, and so on. We can eat all of these things there with Lord Krishna. There the forests and gardens are beautifully decorated and so many cows can be found everywhere. We will be associates of Lord Krishna and play with Him and the cowherd boys near the Yamuna River. Krishna is so beautiful: He attracts everyone with the beauty of His divine form.
«You can do as you like. You have free choice: the meat and witches of Mother Kali or the sweetness of Krishna. You decide for yourself.» In this way Srila Swami Maharaj jokingly explained to me what I could say to the devotees of Mother Kali and gave me very good nourishment.
It is necessary to understand the positions of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the demigods. There is a story in the Upanisads which clearly explains the supreme position of the Lord as the master of the demigods.
Once the demigods were very proud of their universal powers and they thought, «We do everything.» The Lord was aware of this and wanted to give them some proper consciousness. He took the form of an old man and appeared before the demigods. He first asked Agnidev, «Who are you, sir? Where are you going?»
Agnidev said, «I am Agnidev, the master of fire.»
The Lord asked him, «What can you do?»
Agnidev said, «I can burn whole universes.»
Then the Lord tested him, «If you have such power, can you please show it to me by burning this grass here before us?»
Agnidev tried with his full energy but, by the Lord’s will, he was unable to burn the grass. Finally he left.
Then Vayu came along and the Lord asked him, «What is your power? What can you do?»
Vayu said, «I can blow anything and everything away with my power.»
The Lord asked him, «Can you move this grass here before us?» He tried but, by the will of the Lord, he was unable to move the grass.
In this way many demigods came before the Lord but were unable to demonstrate their power.
Finally Devaraj Indra, the king of all the demigods, heard about what was happening and himself came to see the old man. The Lord then disappeared and sent Mahamaya to appear before Indra.
Indra asked her, «Who was that old man?»
Mahamaya said, «You demigods think you have so much power and can do anything, but without the power of the Supreme Personality of Godhead you cannot do anything. He is that Supreme Personality of Godhead.»
When Mahamaya revealed the identity of the old man to Indra, he and all the demigods understood their actual position and from far away they all bowed down to the Lord.
Devaraj Indra was often very proud. This is natural. «The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power», these things can easily make anyone proud. Once, Krishna wanted to control Indra’s mentality and demolish his pride. Krishna wanted to do this because He liked Indra. He didn’t want to punish Indra but rather give him proper knowledge. When the time came for the yearly worship of Indra, Krishna inspired Nanda Maharaj and the Vraja-vasis, «Why you are worshipping Indra? It is really Giriraj Govardhan who provides us with our food. Giriraj Govardhan gives us everything we need the whole year round. We are all living together happily at the feet of Giriraj Govardhan. We should offer puja to Giriraj Govardhan. Why should we worship Indra?»
Krishna spoke to the Vraja-vasis in a very gentle and sober way, and they believed Him. Already Krishna had performed so many miracles in Vrndavan and all the Vraja-vasis knew that Krishna was not an ordinary boy, they knew He had extraordinary power. They were also proud of Krishna’s power and felt that whatever Krishna told them must be truthful. So they followed His advice. Even though Krishna was only a seven-year-old boy at the time, all the Vraja-vasis chose to follow Him. It was no problem for them. The Vraja-vasis said, «We will follow Your advice.»
Then the Vraja-vasis left aside the worship of Indra, made a big festival, and began worshipping Giriraj Govardhan. Krishna participated in the festival with the Vraja-vasis but also showed them that when they offered everything to Giriraj Govardhan, Giriraj Govardhan accepted their offerings. Krishna took the form of Govardhan under His control and showed everyone that Govardhan was eating all of their offerings. In this way all the Vraja-vasis were very much obliged and happily offered everything to Giriraj Govardhan.
When Indra heard of the big festival the Vraja-vasis held for Giriraj Govardhan, he could not tolerate being left aside and became very angry. He decided to demolish Vraja Dham. He ordered all his subordinates, Chandra, Vayu, Varun, and so on to assist him and sent everything he had — his weapons, powerful clouds, and thunderbolts — to demolish Vraja Dham. For seven days his clouds and thunderbolts struck down upon Vraja Dham. The Vraja-vasis became very disturbed. They came to Krishna and prayed, «What shall we do, Krishna? We are suffering a very bad reaction because we did not worship Devaraj Indra. You are our shelter. Give us Your protection.»
Krishna said, «No problem. Giriraj Govardhan is very merciful. He accepted your offerings, your honour, your everything, so Giriraj Govardhan must save you. By accepting your offerings He has given you assurance He will provide for you. Pray to Giriraj Govardhan and He will save you. I will also pray to Govardhan.»
Then Krishna said to Giriraj Govardhan, «O Govardhan, please save them. I am taking You…» Krishna picked up Giriraj Govardhan with the small finger of His left hand just as a small child picks up a mushroom (utpatyaika-karena sailam abalo lilochchhilindhram yatha).
Krishna told all the Vraja-vasis, «Come beneath Giriraj Govardhan.» The Vraja-vasis entered beneath Govardhan Hill with all of their wealth, cows, and the various living entities of Vraja Dham.
Indra tried to punish the Vraja-vasis for seven days. He sent many clouds and completely flooded Vraja Dham. After this, Indra thought all the Vraja-vasis had been driven out of Vraja Dham by the flood and died somewhere. When he finally stopped the storms, Krishna told the Vraja-vasis, «Now you can go outside. The sky is clear and everything is over.»
When Indra saw the Vraja-vasis, their cows, and all the living entities of Vraja Dham come out from beneath Giriraj Govardhan, he was surprised and understood who Krishna really was. Indra understood that Krishna was not an ordinary boy but the Lord Himself, who had come to perform His divine Pastimes in this world. Indra also understood that he had made a great offence to Krishna. Indra came before Krishna, paid his dandavat pranam, and surrendered. He apologised and praised Krishna so much, «O Lord, I am foolish. I could not understand Your glories or Your divine Pastimes. Please forgive my offences. Please be merciful to me.»
Krishna smiled and said, «It is okay. It is no problem. I forgive your offences.»
Indra said, «I want to worship You with Surabhi’s milk. Surabhi has the power to give unlimited amounts of milk, and I want to perform an abhisek for You with her milk.»
Then Indra performed an abhisek puja for Krishna with Surabhi’s milk and said, «You are so merciful to the cows, and to the whole world, so from today on we will worship You with the name ‘Govinda’. He who gives joy to the hearts of the cows, calves, and cowherd boys must be known as ‘Govinda’.» In this way Indra gave Krishna the name Govinda and Krishna forgave Indra’s offences.
It is Krishna’s nature to be merciful. Krishna also forgave Lord Brahma many times. Once Brahma stole a group of cows and cowherd boys from the banks of the Yamuna in Vrndavan and hid them in a cave. Later Brahma noticed that Vrndavan was still full of cows and cowherd boys. Brahma went to check on the cows and cowherd boys he hid in the cave and saw that they were still there. Then again he saw in Vrndavan all the same cows and cowherd boys playing with Krishna near the Yamuna. He was surprised, «I stole these cows and cowherd boys. I just saw them all within the cave where I hid them, but here in Vrndavan everything is intact and they are still playing with Krishna near the Yamuna. What is this?» Brahma was puzzled and finally surrendered to Krishna. He folded his hands, offered prayers to Krishna, and lastly said:
jananta eva janantu kim bahuktya na me prabho
manaso vapuso vacho vaibhavam tava gocharah
«O Krishna, if anyone says, ‘I know Your glories. I know You’, he can say so, but I cannot say that. So many times I have seen Your glories, but I still have not come to their end. I cannot properly or fully understand You. I feel it is impossible for me or anyone to understand Your unlimited glories.»
It is described in Sri Brahma-samhita that Brahma was initiated by Krishna. But Brahma has a very difficult life, and many times he forgot Krishna’s position and glories. Krishna taught Brahma many times, but again and again disturbance would come to Brahma and he would forget Krishna’s glories. Later he would regain his proper consciousness by Krishna’s grace. Thus Brahma prays to Krishna that he can never understand Krishna without Krishna’s mercy.
Not only are conditioned souls and the demigods, headed by Indra and Brahma, bewildered by Krishna’s Pastimes, but also liberated souls are puzzled by them. Lord Siva is not a conditioned soul; he is a liberated soul. Lord Siva is Mahesvar Devadidev: the leader of all the demigods, who is worshipped by all the demigods. Whenever there is a great difficulty or obstacle creating trouble within the universe that no one can solve, it comes to Lord Siva. Lord Siva has the power to correct anything.
We can understand that this is Lord Siva’s position when we hear the story of the devas and asuras churning the ocean. After making a compromise with Lord Visnu the devas and asuras came together to churn the ocean. They all worked together to churn the ocean, expecting to produce nectar, but many different things were produced. Airavata, the king of the elephants, was produced. Uchchaihsrava, a horse as beautifully white as the moon, was produced. Surabhi, the heavenly cow, was produced. Even Laksmi Devi, the Goddess of fortune, was produced. So many things were produced and then distributed. Laksmi Devi went to Narayan, Surabhi was taken by Indra, and so on.
As the devas and asuras continued churning the ocean, poison was produced, and everyone was disturbed. No one could destroy or control the poison. When the devas and asuras were confused about what to do with the poison, Visnu said, «Go to Lord Siva. He is meditating on Mount Kailash.»
Then all the demigods went to Lord Siva and prayed, «Prabhu, save us! Poison has been produced from the ocean.»
Lord Siva said, «No problem». Then he came down from Mount Kailash and drank all the poison. This is Lord Siva’s nature: he can digest poison that can kill all the other devas. He has such power. Lord Siva saved the devas in this way by drinking the poison and holding it in his throat. The poison was blue and appeared like a beautiful blue ornament on Lord Siva’s neck. For this, Lord Siva became gloriously known as Nilakantha, «He who has a bluish neck.»
This is Lord Siva’s position and power. He has a very detached nature, and he is worshipped by all devas. But that Lord Siva, who is a liberated soul beyond all material illusion, is also bewildered by Krishna.
When nectar was produced from the churning of the ocean, the asuras stole it. Lord Krishna appeared in the form of Mohini Murti, an attractive young woman, to trick the asuras into returning the nectar to the devas.
Lord Siva had seen many of the Lord’s forms, but when he heard that the Lord had appeared as Mohini Murti before the asuras, he went to the Lord and requested, «I was not present when You distributed ecstasy and appeared in the form of Mohini Murti. Please show me this form of Yours.»
Krishna said, «You want to see that form of Mine?»
Parvati Devi was with Lord Siva at this time. She smiled, «Oh? The Mohini Murti?» When Krishna showed His Mohini Murti form, Lord Siva forgot his position, lost his senses, and ran madly after Mohini Murti. He was completely attracted by Mohini Murti’s beauty.
Afterwards, when Lord Siva’s mood finally finished, he came back to his senses and Mohini Murti disappeared. Then he saw that he was again standing with Parvati Devi next to him. When Lord Siva saw Parvati Devi he smiled, and Parvati Devi also smiled. They both have no shyness actually. Lord Siva told Parvati Devi, «Have you seen what just happened? I am a liberated soul. Not only that, I can make liberated souls. By my word I can liberate souls. If I say so, anyone can receive liberation; I have this type of power. So now you have seen Lord Krishna’s supreme power. I myself have become enchanted by His power and run madly after His attractive form.»
There is a great difference between the worship of the demigods and the worship of Lord Krishna. This must be so because all the demigods themselves worship Krishna.
Sri Krishna alone is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the Creator of all creation and the controller of all power (Harim iha paramam sarva-saktim). As the Creator of all creation, He cannot be powerless. He must be all-powerful. Especially now, in the age of the scientists, we can easily see examples of Krishna’s miraculous power and its manifestations everywhere throughout creation. When we are enlightened with transcendental knowledge by Krishna’s grace, we will see Krishna’s power existing everywhere in every direction within this mundane world. There will be no place where we will not see His power.
The invention of the atomic bomb shows us how much power is present inside every atom of Krishna’s creation. The scientists have shown that when the charged electrons and protons within an atom are separated, a tremendous explosion occurs. We heard that one of the scientists who helped invent the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, read Srimad Bhagavad-gita. When he saw the first test explosion of an atomic bomb he remembered this verse:
Divi surya-sahasrasya bhaved yugapad utthita
yadi bhah sadrsi sa syad bhasas tasya mahatmanah
He remarked, «What I am seeing now before me appears like thousands of suns in full bloom. Seeing such light must be similar to seeing the effulgence of the visvarup, the universal form of Krishna.»
Through the example of the atomic bomb we can understand how much power is present within every atom of creation. All of that power is controlled by Krishna.
Krishna is so powerful. Even the smallest fragments of His creation contain so much power. But Krishna is actually more powerful than we can conceive. We cannot even conceive of the full extent of His power. We cannot actually prove how powerful Krishna is through our experience of the mundane world. If I say, «His power is so great!» How much can I actually understand? I may say, «His power is as great as the sky!» The sky may be the biggest thing I can see, but how big is the sky? Beyond what we can see to be the sky is the mahakas, the outer space of this universe. That is far greater than the sky we can see. But the mahakas includes only the space found within this particular universe. The scriptures teach us that there are millions of universes existing side by side within the Viraja, the river that divides the material and spiritual worlds. And the whole of the material nature existing within the Viraja is only one vibhuti, one part, of the majesty and creation of the infinite kingdom of Lord Krishna. There is no end to how much more exists beyond the sky we see with our eyes. So we cannot understand how great Krishna’s power is with only our mundane experience. It is achintya, inconceivable.
When all of Krishna’s power is considered at once, we cannot conceive of it. We are finite, and His power is infinite. But everything about Krishna’s supreme position and power is expressed in the first verse of Sri Brahma-samhita:
isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam24
[«The embodiment of spiritual energy, consciousness, and ecstasy, Sri Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Lord of all Lords. He has no origin, He is the origin of all, and He is the cause of all causes.»]
In this verse Krishna is called the Paramesvar [Supreme Lord]. If we do not know what an isvar [lord] is, we will not be able to understand Krishna’s position as Paramesvar, the supreme isvar. Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur explained the word isvar: kartum akartum anyatha kartum samarthah: one who can do anything, can undo anything, and can change anything into anything else is an isvar. All the different forms of the Lord are isvaras: Narayan, Visnu, Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Vaman, Ramachandra, and so on. Lord Siva is also an isvar. We can understand that Krishna is above them all, because He is described not only as an isvar, but as the parama-isvar, the supreme isvar. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Supreme Controller; everything is under His control, including all the isvaras. Krishna is most powerful. He is all-in-all, and He has all rights reserved over everything. He can do anything, everything, something, and nothing at any time. All power is within Him.
Krishna is the one Reality, for Itself and by Itself. His position, activities, character, and all else exist exclusively for His satisfaction. Krishna’s qualification as Paramesvar, the Supreme Controller, is first. His position as sarva-karana-karanam, the cause of all causes, is last. Everyone is always searching for the cause of everything, the central source of all activity. The answer is Krishna: Krishna is the origin of everything, everything transcendental and mundane. But Krishna’s position as the Supreme Controller is more important for us to understand. We will really begin to understand creation, existence, power, and eternity when we understand that Krishna — Reality the Beautiful — is the Supreme Controller.
na tasya karyam karanam cha vidyate
na tat samas chabhyadhikas cha drsyate
parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate
svabhaviki jnana-bala-kriya cha25
The Upanisads explain that Krishna is the Paramesvar and that no one is equal to Him. As the Paramesvar, Krishna can do anything and everything effortlessly through His divine power. This means that creation and everything else happen naturally through Krishna’s power and Krishna is always in full control of everything, but that Krishna Himself does not actually have to do anything.
Bhagavan Sri Krishna is known as Sasakti-saktiman: the Supreme Powerful accompanied by His power. God means the Lord with His power. The Lord creates the universe with His power, and through His power everything everywhere takes place by His will. It is effortless for Him. But even more significant than creation, the Lord’s divine beauty and divine play are manifest through His power. The most important expressions of Krishna’s power are His attractive beauty and sweet Pastimes, not His capacity to create the mundane world. Sarva-saktim rasabdhim: Krishna’s qualities of being all-attractive, beautiful, and loving (rasabdhim) are greater than His qualification of being all-powerful (sarva-saktim). The highest form of power (sarva-saktim) is beauty (rasa). Krishna’s quality of being all-powerful actually means that He is all-attractive — infinitely beautiful.
Srila Guru Maharaj used to say, «Beauty is the controlling principle. Beauty is controlling everything.» Through Srila Guru Maharaj we can understand that Krishna’s very nature as ‘Krishna’, which means ‘all-attractive’, automatically shows us that He is most powerful. We can also understand that the great examples of Krishna’s power within His creation are clues about how intensely attractive and beautiful Krishna Himself is. This is why it is most important to understand that Krishna is the Paramesvar, the Supreme Controller. Such understanding gives us consciousness about the divine significance of beauty everywhere, about how, why, and in which way creation is existing and moving under the influence of beauty. Krishna’s nature as the all-powerful Supreme Controller is actually understood only by experiencing His beauty. Through His beauty one will best and most fully experience His infinite power. This is the Krishna conception of divinity.
24 «The embodiment of spiritual energy, consciousness, and ecstasy, Sri Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Lord of all Lords. He has no origin, He is the origin of all, and He is the cause of all causes.»
25 «He has neither a material body nor material senses. There is nothing equal to or greater than Him. His divine energy is naturally divided into three aspects: knowledge, strength, and action.»