THE SUPREME ARTIST

[Guest guest]

In February 1973, Srila Prabhupada

was invited to speak at an art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. There he

invited his listeners to contemplate the works of the supreme artist--Lord Krsna.

"The rose is created out of the energies of the Supreme Lord, but these energies

are so subtle and so artistic that a nice flower can bloom overnight. So,

Krsna is the greatest artist." Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you

very much for coming here and giving us a chance to speak about the supreme

artist. The Vedas describe how great an artist Krsna is: na tasya karyam karanam ca

vidyate na tat samas cabhyadhikas ca drsyate. Nobody can be found who is

greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead or equal to Him, and

although He is the greatest artist, He doesn't have to do anything personally. In this world everyone of us knows

somebody lesser than us, somebody equal to us, and somebody greater than us.

That is our experience. However great you may be, you will find somebody equal to

you and somebody greater than you. But as far as the Supreme Personality of

Godhead is concerned, great sages have concluded by research and experiment

that nobody is equal to Him or greater than Him. God is so great that He has nothing

to do, no duties He must perform (na tasya karyam karanam ca vidyate).

Why? Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate: His energies are multifarious, and they

are working automatically, according to His desire (svabhaviki jnana-bala-kriya

ca). Suppose you are an artist. To paint a picture of a very nice rose, you

have to take your brush, mix your colors on the palate, and tax your brain to make

the picture beautiful. But in a garden you can see not only one rose but many

thousands of roses blooming. They have been very artistically

"painted" by nature. But we should go deeper into the

matter. What is nature? Nature is a working instrument, that's all--an energy.

Without some energy working, how could the rose bloom so beautifully from the

bud? There must be some energy working, and that energy is Krsna's energy. But

it acts so subtly and swiftly that we cannot understand how it is working. The material energies seem to be

working automatically, but actually there is a brain behind them. When you paint

a picture, everyone can see that you are working. Similarly, the

"painting" of the actual rose is also worked out by several energies. Don't think that

the rose has been created automatically. No. Nothing is created automatically.

The rose is created out of the energies of the Supreme Lord, but these energies are

so subtle and so artistic that a nice flower can bloom overnight. So, Krsna is the greatest artist.

Nowadays, in the electronic age, a scientist just pushes a button and

his machine works so perfectly. Or an airplane pilot simply pushes a

button and a huge machine just like a small city flies in the sky. So if it is

possible for ordinary men of this world to work so wonderfully simply by pushing some

buttons, how much greater must be God's ability to work. How much more

fertile His brain must be than ordinary artists' or scientists' brains. Simply by His

desire--"Let there be creation!"-- everything is immediately manifest.

So Krsna is the greatest artist. There is no limit to Krsna's

artistic ability, because Krsna is the seed of all creation (bijam mam sarva-bhutanam). You have all seen a banyan tree. It grows from a small seed. This small

seed has so much potency that if you sow it in a fertile place and water it, one

day it will become a big banyan tree. Now, what are the potencies, what are the

artistic and scientific arrangements, within that small seed that allow it

to grow into a big banyan tree? Also, on that banyan tree there are many

thousands of fruits, and within each fruit there are thousands of seeds, and each

seed contains the potency of another tree. So where is the scientist who can

create in that way? Where is the artist within this material world who can create a

work of art as pleasing as a banyan tree? These inquiries should be made. The first aphorism of the

Vedanta-sutra is athato brahma-jijnasa: "In the human form of life one should

inquire about the Absolute Truth." So one should

carefully study these questions. You

cannot manufacture a machine that automatically grows into a big banyan tree. So don't you think there must be a big artistic brain, a great

scientific brain, behind nature? If you simply say, "Nature is working," that

is not a sufficient explanation. The second aphorism of the

Vedanta-sutra is janmady asya yatah: "The Absolute Truth is He from whom everything is

generated." We have to expand our vision from the small things to the great

things. Now we become amazed when we see a

small sputnik flying in the sky. It

is flying toward the moon, and we are giving all credit to the scientists, and

the scientists are challenging, "What is God? Science is everything." But if you are intelligent you will compare the sputnik to the millions and trillions of planets and stars. Just

on this tiny earth planet there are so many oceans, so many mountains, so many

skyscrapers. But if you go above this planet a few million miles, it will look

just like a small spot. You will see it as just a spot in the sky. And there

are millions of planets floating in the sky like swabs of cotton. So if we give

so much credit to the scientists who have manufactured a sputnik, how much

more credit we should give to the person who has manufactured this universal

arrangement. This is Krsna consciousness-- appreciating the greatest artist,

the greatest scientist.

We may appreciate so many artists,

but unless we appreciate the greatest artist, Krsna, our life is wasted.

We find that appreciation in the Brahmasamhita, the prayers of Lord Brahma, the

creator of this universe. In appreciation of Govinda, Krsna, he

sings, yasya prabha prabhavato

jagad-anda-koti- kotisv asesa-vasudhadi-vibhuti-bhinnam tad brahma niskalam anantam

asesa-bhutam govindam adi-purusam tam aham

bhajami Now we are trying to understand the

planetary system by our scientific method. But we have not been able to

finish studying even the nearest planet, the moon, what to speak of the

millions and billions of other planets. But from the Brahma-samhita we get this

knowledge: yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-andakoti- kotisu. By the glaring effulgence

emanating from Krsna's body, innumerable universes are created. We cannot

study even one universe, but from the Brahmasamhita we get information that there are

innumerable universes and that in each and every universe there are

innumerable planets (jagad-anda-koti-kotisu). (Jagad-anda means

"universes," and koti-kotisu means "in innumerable.") So

there

are innumerable universes with

innumerable suns, innumerable moons, and innumerable planets. All of this is made possible by

Krsna's bodily effulgence, which is called the brahmajyoti. The jnanis, those

who are trying to approach the Absolute Truth by mental speculation, by dint of

their tiny brain power, can at most approach

this brahmajyoti. But that

brahmajyoti is only the illumination of Krsna's body. The best analogy is the sunshine.

The sunshine is coming from the sun globe. The sun is localized, and the effulgence

of the sun, the sunshine, is distributed all over the universe. Just as the

moon reflects the sunshine, the sun also reflects the brahmajyoti. And the

brahmajyoti is the bodily effulgence of Krsna. So the greatest art is to understand

Krsna. That is the greatest art. If we actually want to be an artist, we

should try to understand, or try to be intimately associated with, the

greatest artist, Krsna. For this purpose we have established the International

Society for Krishna Consciousness. The members of this society are trained to see in

everything the display of Krsna's artistic sense. That is Krsna

consciousness--to see the artistic hand of Krsna everywhere. In the Bhagavad-gita (10.8) Krsna

says, aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate: "Whatever you see

is an emanation from Me. Everything is created out of My energy." One should

understand this fact--that Krsna is the origin of everything. Lord Brahma confirms

this in his Brahma-samhita (5.1): isvarah paramah krsnah. "Krsna is the

supreme controller." Here in this material world we have experience of many

controllers. Every one of us is a controller. You are a controller; I am a controller. But

above you there is another controller, and

above him there is another

controller, and so on. You may go on searching out controller after controller, and

when you come to the supreme controller--He who is not controlled by anyone but who

controls everyone else--that is Krsna. This is our definition of God: the

supreme controller. Nowadays it has become a cheap

business to see many "Gods." But you can test someone to see if he is God. If he

is controlled by somebody else, he is not God. Only if he is the supreme

controller should you accept him as God. That is the simple test for God. Now, another quality of God is that

He is full of pleasure (anandamayo 'bhyasat). By nature the Supreme

Absolute Person is anandamaya, full of pleasure. Suppose you are an artist.

You engage in artistic work just to get some pleasure. By painting a picture

you enjoy some rasa, some pleasurable mellow. Otherwise, why would you

work so hard? There must be some pleasure in painting. So, Krsna is raso vai sah, the

reservoir of all pleasurable mellows. He is sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah, full of

eternity, knowledge, and pleasure. (Ananda means "pleasure.") His

pleasure potency is Srimati Radharani. You have seen pictures of Radha and Krsna. So,

Radharani is the manifestation of Krsna's pleasure potency. As I have already explained, Krsna has innumerable energies, and one of these is His pleasure

potency, Radharani. So those who have developed love of

God are enjoying transcendental pleasure at every moment by seeing the

artistic work of Krsna everywhere. That is the position of a devotee. Therefore we

request everyone to become a devotee, to become Krsna conscious, so that you

will see the artistic work of Krsna everywhere. Seeing Krsna everywhere is not

difficult. For example, suppose you are thirsty and you drink some water.

When you drink you feel so much pleasure. And Krsna is the reservoir of all

pleasure (raso vai sah). So, that pleasure you feel by drinking water--that is

Krsna. Krsna states this in Bhagavad-gita (7.8): raso 'ham apsu kaunteya. "I am

the taste of water." For an ordinary person, who cannot fully appreciate Krsna, Krsna

is giving the instruction that He is the taste of the water that quenches

your thirst. If you simply try to understand that this taste is Krsna, or God, you

become God conscious. So it is not very difficult to

become Krsna conscious. You simply require a little training. And if you read

Bhagavad-gita As It Is--understanding it the way it is stated by Krsna Himself,

without any rascaldom or false interpretation--you will become

Krsna conscious. And if you become Krsna conscious, your life is successful.

You will return to Krsna (tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti). There is no loss in becoming Krsna

conscious, but the gain is very great. Therefore we request all of you to

try to become Krsna conscious. Read Bhagavadgita As It Is; you will find all the

information you need to become Krsna conscious. Or, if you don't want to

read Bhagavad-gita, please chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare.

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. You will still become Krsna

conscious. Thank you very much.DOWNLOAD 'THE BHAGAWAT GITA AS IT IS' BY SRILA PRABHUPADA FROM ATTACHMENT.

 

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