video credit: Ralph Laurino, http://protectacow.typepad.com
Prabhupada, Stockholm, September 7, 1973: [...] You cannot realize, but God reveals Himself, what He is. So Vedic knowledge means to realize God. That is ultimate aim of Vedic knowledge. And here, Bhagavad-gita, He’s revealing Himself to Arjuna, because he’s a devotee. So if we take the words of Arjuna, then we also realize God. This is the process.
Guest: I would like to put a question about the relation between Krishna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Paramatma and Brahman…
Prabhupada: Brahman.
Guest: Brahman. Which is the relation between these concepts? They are, according to your commentaries, in Bhagavad-gita, different. But what is…
Prabhupada: No. It is not different. Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan. The Absolute Truth is one, but He is realized by different persons differently. Just like there is a big hill. So from very distant place you see that hill just like something like cloud. But if you go forward, then you see something green.
And if you go actually to the hill, you see there are so many trees, so many houses, so many living entities. The object is the same, but realization from different angle of vision is different. That is the description of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Absolute Truth is called tattva. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam [Bhag. 1.2.11]. When I see the hill as a cloud, it is the same hill. When I see the hill as something green, that is the same hill.
And when I see the hill actually, it is functioning, there are so many trees, so many animals, so many men, so many houses, this same hill. Similarly, Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan is the same thing, but it appears different according to persons’ different realization. But ultimately, the Absolute Truth is Bhagavan, Supreme Personality of Godhead. Full Lecture
