“Coming down from the Kingdom of God”

So this claim of Lord Jesus Christ, we admit

Prabhupada, New York, July 20, 1966: The principal religions of the world—Hindu religion, Muslim religion, Christian religion, and Buddha religion—most of them believes some supreme authority or personality coming down from the kingdom of God. Just like in your Christian religion Lord Jesus Christ, he claimed to be the son of God and coming from the kingdom of God to reclaim you. So this claim of Lord Jesus Christ, we admit. We, the followers of Bhagavad-gita, we admit this claim. So there is no difference of opinion between the followers of Hindu religion and Christian religion. In details there may be, according to country, climate and people, in details there may be difference, but that does not make any material difference. Just like bona fide representative, Jesus Christ or other great, I mean to say, leaders of the religious faiths, they do not come with the inferior nature. They come with the superior nature of God. That we have to accept. If we have to accept the truth explained in the Bhagavad-gita, then we must accept that, that God and His representative, they do not come, who come directly from the kingdom of God, they do not come, accepting this inferior nature. So far devotional service is concerned, now, there are several items for offering devotional service to the Lord. They are called sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam [SB 7.5.23] These are nine. Now, here, in this room, we are performing the process of sravanam and kirtanam. Just like we chanted Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare This is reciprocation of sravanam and kirtanam, hearing and chanting, that I chanted, you heard, and you chanted, I heard. Reciprocation. So this is, these two methods are the first method in devotional service. Sravanam kirtanam. And, and what about hearing and chanting? Now, Visnu. Visnu means the Supreme Lord. Visnu. Not any other thing. If we make chanting and hearing in some other subject matter, no, that will not do. We have to hear and chant about Visnu, the Supreme Lord. Similarly, sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam. Meditation, if you meditate upon the Supreme Lord, that is also bhakti, devotional service. Smaranam. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada- sevanam arcanam [SB 7.5.23]. Arcanam, temple worship. You, in your country there is no temple worship. In our India there is temple. There are thousands and thousands of temples in India. And in Vrndavana, where my residential quarter is, Vrndavana… It is a small city, about fifty thousand people living there. But you’ll be surprised to know, there are five thousand temples. For fifty thousand people, there are five thousand temples, in one small city. And out of that, there are about dozen very big temples. Very… Just like fort. Very big temples. So temple worship is very popular in India. Similarly, you have got your churches here. That is vandanam. Vandanam. Vandanam means offering prayers. You also offer prayer to the Supreme Lord. So that is also accepted as devotional service. Muslims also, they go to the Mosque and offer prayers to Allah. So practically… And in Buddhism… Lord Buddha is accepted as incarnation of Krsna in Srimad-Bhagavatam. So we also, Hindus, we worship Lord Buddha as incarnation of God. There is a very nice verse recited by one great poet, Vaisnava poet. You’ll be glad to hear. I’ll recite it. nindasi yajna-vidher ahaha sruti-jatam sadaya-hrdaya darsita-pasu-ghatam kesava dhrta-buddha-sarira jaya jagadisa hare jaya jagadisa hare The purport of this verse is “O Lord Krsna, You have assumed the form of Lord Buddha, taking compassion on the poor animals.” Because Lord Buddha’s preaching was to stop animal killing. Ahimsa, nonviolence. His main objective was to stop animal killing. So similarly, the, from higher kingdom, I mean to say, kingdom of God… There is a, exactly the kingdom of God. We have got this information from this Bhagavad-gita. Paras tasmat tu bhavo ’nyah [Bg. 8.20]. Anya. There is another nature, another nature. Just like you have got a vision of this nature. You find this wall in the sky, blue. Beyond this sky, millions and millions miles away, there is another sky. Paras tasmat, anya. Anya, there is another nature, which is called sanatana. You’ll find in this Bhagavad-gita, as you make progress. That is called sanatana nature. Sanatana means that nature never annihilates. This nature, this material nature, it is manifested at a certain time, and it remains for a certain period, and then the whole thing is dissolved again. Bhutva bhutva praliyate. It is manifested and again dissolved, and in, in the spiritual sky. That is the function of this material nature, there is another nature, superior nature, which is called the kingdom of God, sanatana, eternal. Yes. So from that eternal nature all these, either God or representative of God, or incarnation of God, they come down.