Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he heard so many things, but he is very much perplexed that "How these suffering men who are put into this hellish condition of life, not all, some of them?" So he is asking, "My dear sir, you have explained so many things. They are very nice." Adhunā, "just now"; iha, "in this connection"; mahā-bhāga, "O the great fortunate"; mahā-bhāga yathaiva narakān naraḥ. Yathā eva, "and as"; "from this hellish condition," narakāt, "from the hell"; nara, the human being, nāna-ugra-yātanān . . . they are put into the hell means they are suffering very severe type of pains. Nāna-ugra-yātanān neyāt: "they become free." Tan me vyākhyātum arhasi: "Now, leaving aside all other topics, kindly let me know how these men can be delivered from this hellish condition of life." This is his praśna.
So we may declare very foolishly that we are independent. That is the foolishness of the modern civilization. They are not independent, nobody. Everyone is dependent. But because they are dependent and there are so many sufferings awaiting them for their so-called independent life, they do not believe in the next life. This is the, I mean to say, special feature of the modern civilization. They say, big, big professor, big, big leader, "No, there is no life after death. This is once we get, and finished." That is also another foolishness. Just like a child. A child, he knows that his body will be changed. Nobody will remain a baby. Nobody will remain a child. Nobody will remain a boy. Next life is awaiting. It is very simple philosophy. And then after this body, another body is waiting. That's a fact. And not only fact. If you cannot understand it—there is no difficulty in understanding—but the authority says, Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). As we are changing from this body to that body, this body to that body, this body to that body, every moment . . . according to medical science, every moment we are changing body. That's a fact. But the changing is going so swiftly that we do not see how it is being changed. But if you come after some years . . . just like we are seeing so many children, and if you come some years after, his father says, "This is the same child," oh, you will be sur . . . "Oh!" Because he has changed body. You will say, "Oh, you have become so big."