we can see the Lord in the heart. We can see how the different living entities are parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We can see how some living entities have rejected the Lord and, as a result of that, they are suffering in this material nature. And we can also see how the Lord is lamenting, how the Lord is inflicted, how the Lord is feeling the pain that these living entities have gone away from Him. And therefore, a devotee wants to bring those living entities back to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That’s why he is engaged in preaching.
The point is, this is not just an imaginary perception. That is the difference between a devotee and the impersonalist. The impersonalist will try to say that sarvam khalvidam brahman, everything is Brahman. [Chandogya Upanishad 2.14.1] Yes, everything is the manifestation of the spiritual energy but they do not see the variegatedness or individual’s personality and individual’s individual characteristics. They cannot see that. Similarly, if somebody says, “Oh, you are Krishna”, no, the devotee never says, “You are Krishna.” He sees Krishna but he doesn’t think that everybody is Krishna. Rather, he sees in relation to Krishna. Like, for example, I know that this finger is a part of my body but no one will say that this finger is the body. Just this finger by itself is not the body. It is just a part of the body. Similarly we have to see the difference between the part and the whole. A living entity is a part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A living entity is not the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So a devotee’s perception is not imaginary, not speculative but real. And it is in relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead from a real context. Yes, the Lord is present in the heart, therefore a devotee sees the Lord in the heart of all the living entities.
The wise man’s perception has been described in Bhagavad-gita as
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
[Bg 5.18]
A brahmana who is qualified, very qualified, very exalted brahmana, vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmana, gavi hastini, a cow, an elephant, and suni caiva sva-pake ca, a dog and sva-pake is a dog eating chandala, he sees sama-darsinah, he sees them as equal. He sees them equal. That doesn’t mean that he thinks that an elephant is a dog and a dog is a chandala. [laughs] No, he sees a dog as a dog. He sees an elephant as an elephant. He sees a brahmana as a brahmana, in their respective positions, but sama-darsinah. Why sama-darsinah? Is a dog and an elephant equal? Is a brahmana and a chandala equal? No, they are not equal. Qualitatively they are different but his perception is equal because he is not seeing their external material condition, rather they are seeing their spiritual identity. They are seeing them from their spiritual identity, in relation to their spiritual identity. They are all spirit souls. One spirit soul is in a certain situation, he is a brahmana. His activities, his past karma, his background has situated him in this platform, in this particular body. Another personality is a chandala, meaning the lowest of mankind, absorbed in very, very undesirable activities. And he sees the cow, also he sees that the cow she is also a spirit soul. An elephant is also a spirit soul. A dog is also a spirit soul. A snake is also a spirit soul. They are all spirit souls but according to their conditioning, according to their material involvement they are situated in different types of bodies. And then he goes even deeper. Then he sees that how the living entities became separated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They shouldn’t be separated. They should be situated along with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the spiritual sky, but unfortunately they have become separated. Why they became separated? Because of their perverted mentality. And because of becoming separated from the Lord look at their condition: in the material world they are undergoing so many types of sufferings.
So that is the perception of a pure devotee. And then he also sees that the inert objects, not only he is seeing the Lord, or seeing everything in relationship with the Lord, only the living entities, but he is also seeing the inert objects. And he sees how these inert objects can be engaged in the service of the Lord. “Oh, there is a nice mridanga. So let’s just get it and engage it in Krishna’s service.” Or there is a very nice saying, the perception of a devotee, he sees some vultures in the sky and he becomes very happy. Now who becomes happy seeing a vulture? Because vultures are very inauspicious animals, very inauspicious birds. Vultures bring all inauspiciousness, but a pure devotee sees a vulture flying in the sky, hovering – sometimes we see some vultures are hovering in the sky, clustered together – he becomes happy. Why? Because he knows that there is a dead cow. Now, again, a dead cow also is not a very pleasant sight, but he becomes happy. Why? Because now he thinks that, “I’ll take the skin of the cow and I’ll make a mridanga and I’ll sing the glory of the Lord.” So that is the perception of a devotee. Therefore it is very difficult to understand the perception of a devotee, vaishnavera kriya-mudra vijne na bujhaya. Even a very learned person cannot understand the activities and mentality of a Vaishnava, a devotee of the Lord, because he sees everything in relationship to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He sees everything in the light of how everything can be engaged in spreading the glory of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So that is the perception of a pure devotee. To be in a most advanced stage means to be situated in a certain platform by developing a certain outlook, a certain attitude, a certain mentality. That is a pure devotee. And then Prabhupada in the purport is pointing out another very wonderful aspect of this perception, that Brahma, not only he will see from his perspective, but Brahma also will see according to the Lord’s pastimes. During his day the Lord will appear. Once in a day of Brahma Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears on the twenty eighth chaturyuga in the Dvapara yuga, Krishna appears. And in those pastimes Krishna will have some wonderful exchange with Brahma. He will allow Brahma to see so many wonderful things.
Like, for example, one day Brahma will see that this little boy, who is only about seven years old – no not even seven, He was about six years old at that time – this pastime took place even before lifting of Govardhana, when He was about six years old. He is tending the cows. He just started to tend the cows, take the calves to the pasturing ground. So one day Brahma saw that this little boy killed Aghasura. This little boy Krishna killed a terrible demon called Aghasura. So he was very surprised because Aghasura was such a powerful demon that even the demigods were afraid of Aghasura. Not only afraid, they used to tremble just by hearing the name of Aghasura. And Aghasura was not only very powerful but he was practically immortal. Nobody could kill Aghasura.
Brahma was seeing Krishna as a little boy due to the arrangement of Yogamaya. Sometimes Yogamaya bewilders the perception of a devotee so that he can have a very intimate, loving exchange with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yogamaya, maya means forgetfulness, forgetfulness, not seeing things as they actually are. That’s called maya (illusion).
