The material world is temporary but real, and everything should be used for Krishna's service with sincere devotional faith.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.3 — November 3, 1974, Bombay 741103SB-BOMBAY [35:00 Minutes] SB-03.25.03_741103SB-BOMBAY Nitāi: [leads chanting of verse, etc.] [devotees repeat] yad yad vidhatte bhagavān svacchandātmātma-māyayā tāni me śraddadhānasya kīrtanyāny anukīrtaya [SB 3.25.3] [break] [00:40] "Therefore please precisely describe all the activities and pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, who is full of self-desire and who assumes all these activities by His internal potency." Prabhupāda: yad yad vidhatte bhagavān svacchandātmātma-māyayā tāni me śraddadhānasya kīrtanyāny anukīrtaya [SB 3.25.3] So the speaker and the audience. śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam [SB 7.5.23] These are the nine different processes of devotional service, devotional life. The beginning is śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. This is the beginning of. Śraddadhānasya. And one must be very eager or sincere to hear, śraddadhānasya. Śraddhā.
Then it will be successful. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā nitya-yuktā upāsate [Bg. 9.14] So we have to speak, or chant, about the holy activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is simply by if we hear... Just like abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. Śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣit [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.265].
This Bhāgavata was... [buzzing sound] ...was recited by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and it was heard by Parīkṣit Mahārāja. So although there are nine processes... [buzzing sound] ...śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam [SB 7.5.23].
You hear about Kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu, the same. Kṛṣṇa is the origin of viṣṇu-tattva, and Viṣṇu is expansion of Kṛṣṇa. So when we speak of Viṣṇu, the origin of Viṣṇu is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, aham ādir hi devānām [Bg. 10.2]: "I am the origin even of the devas." The most important devas are Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara.
Creation, in the beginning of creation, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. From Viṣṇu, Brahmā is born; from Brahmā, Lord Śiva is born. And they take charge of the three modes of material nature. Brahmā...
Viṣṇu takes the charge of sattva-guṇa, and the Lord Brahmā takes the charge of rajo-guṇa, and Lord Śiva takes the charge of tamo-guṇa. But in the creation, before the creation, when there was no Brahmā, no Śiva, there was Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, aham ādir hi devānām. The create...
All the devas, demigods, or living entities, they are created after this cosmic manifestation is created. Therefore in the Vedas it is said, "In the beginning there was no Brahmā, no Śiva. Only Nārāyaṇa āsīt." Eko nārāyaṇa āsīt. That Nārāyaṇa is also another plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa.