“Real Advancement
Means Knowing God”’
“The purpose of this Krsna consciousness movement is to propagate God’s
name, Goa’s glories, God’s activities, God’s beauty, and God’s love. . . . This
Krsna consciousness movement is meant to give perfect knowledge to human
society.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for kindly participating
in this Krsna consciousness movement. When this society was registered
in 1966 in New York, a friend suggested that it be named the Society for
God Consciousness. He thought that the name Krsna was sectarian. The
dictionary also says that Krsna is a Hindu god’s name. But in actuality, if
any name can be attributed to God, it is ‘‘Krsna.”’

Actually God has no particular name. By saying He has no name, we
mean that no one knows how many names He has. Since God is
unlimited, His names also must be unlimited. Therefore we cannot settle
on one name. For instance, Krsna is sometimes called Yasoda-nandana,
the son of mother YaSoda; or Devaki-nandana, the son of Devaki; or
Vasudeva-nandana, the son of Vasudeva; or Nanda-nandana, the son of
Nanda. Sometimes He is called Partha-sdrathi, indicating that He acted as
the charioteer of Arjuna, who is sometimes called Partha, the son of
Prtha.

God has many dealings with His many devotees, and according to
those dealings, He is called certain names. Since He has innumerable
devotees and innumerable relations with them, He also has innumerable
names. We cannot hit on any one name. But the name Krsna means “<all-
attractive.’’ God attracts everyone; that is the definition of ‘‘God.’’ We
have seen many pictures of Krsna, and we see that He attracts the cows,
calves, birds, beasts, trees, plants, and even the water in Vrndavana. He
is attractive to the cowherd boys, to the gopis, to Nanda Maharaja, to the
Pandavas, and to all human society. Therefore if any particular name can
be given to God, that name is ‘‘Krsna.”’

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