120825  Janmastami in Ponderosa Park.mp3 (37 minutes, 16.9 MB)

The following is a transciption of the first few minutes of the talk Srila Janardan Maharaj gave at Ponderosa Park in Sunnyvale, California on August 25th, 2012:

Everything about Krishna is eternal. Before our eyes He appears and disappears, but actually Krishna is existing eternally. For that matter, so are we. The living entity is always existing.

na tv evaham jatu nasam
na twam neme janadhipah
na chaiva na bhavisyamah
sarve vayam atah param
(Srimad Bhagavad-gita: 2.12)

“Never was there a time when you, I or all these kings did not exist. Just as we exist in the present so we have existed in the past and shall continue to exist in the future. ”

We are existing eternally as souls and Krishna is also existing eternally and His pastimes are eternal, but there’s a difference between us as conditioned living entities and the Lord.

nityo nityanam chetanash chetananam
eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman
(Katha-upanishad: 2.2.13)

Of all the living entities who are nitya there is one who is supreme, nityo nityanam. Chetanash chetananam, and we are conscious but our consciousness is limited. In Bhagavad-gita it is said that we are kshetrajna; we have consciousness of this body.  But the Lord is conscious of all living entities. Therefore He says, “I am maintaining all these living entities in this world and everywhere.” The Lord is maintaining everyone.

nityo nityanam chetanash chetananam
eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman

These things can be understood if we come in contact with the devotees.

Normally in this world everyone is making some plan for happiness. They’re trying to get something out of this world but they don’t know what actually is their own real interest. Happiness and unhappiness coming and going; this is normal in this world. One day we’re happy one day we’re not. What is giving them some real happiness, not just something sukha dukha?