There are 8,400,000 different forms of living entities. Out of them, only 400,000 forms of bodies are human beings. Out of the 400,000 species of human beings, mostly they are uncivilized. And out of them, a very few men are civilized. And out of many civilized persons, a very few know what is Vedic knowledge. And out of many persons who know Vedic knowledge, they do not act according to the Vedic instructions. And out of many such persons, there are very few persons who act accordingly to the Vedic instruction. And those who act, they are attached to karma-kāṇḍīya-vicāra, fruitive activities. Just like perform yajñas and be elevated to the heavenly planets. These are called karma-kāṇḍīya-vicāra. Out of many thousands of these persons who are attached to karma-kāṇḍīya chapter of Vedas, one, somebody may be jñānī. Jñānī means "one who knows, one who is in perfect knowledge." Not perfect knowledge, but searching after knowledge, jñānī. And out of many thousands of jñānīs, one is mukta. Mukta means liberated, liberated from material body. And out of many thousands of muktas, there is very difficult to find out a devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
Material bodies (Lect. SB ch 4 - 12)
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Now, in this age, Kali-yuga, this system of civilization is very much prominent. But in the material world, that is going on time, from time immemorial. Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva is advising His sons, "My dear sons," ayaṁ deha. Na ayaṁ deha. "This body, this human form of body," deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke, "those who have taken, accepted this material body in this human society," nṛloke, kaṣṭān kāmān na arhate... Sense gratification is needed because we have got this body. So that is not denied. But He says that kaṣṭān kāmān na arhate: "For sense gratification, there is no need of working very hard." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This kind of labor, hard labor, day and night, and get some money, and then apply it for sense gratification, kaṣṭān kāmān... Kāma means sense gratification. So this is not very good. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Human form of life is not meant for this purpose. This type of working hard day and night to find out the necessities of life, that is the business of the hog. Hog. Viḍ-bhujām. Viḍ-bhujām means "the animal who eats stool." That means hog.
Dhīra, one who is cool-headed. Not a passionate(?), crazy fellow, but cool-headed. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. He can understand that as one passes through different bodies, baby's to childhood, childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, then old age, similarly, this body, when it will be no more existing, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), the body may be destroyed, but the soul will continue to exist. This is the Vedic principle of knowledge. This is called spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge does not mean anything else. To understand the spiritual, constitutional position of the living entity, that is called spiritual. And at the present moment, by constitution, my position is that I never die or I never take birth. But because I have accepted this material body, therefore I have to change. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like we change our garments. I am putting on this garment. When it is old or not usable, I give it up. I accept another coat or shirt. Similarly, we have got coat and shirt over our position as soul. The shirt is the subtle body: mind, intelligence, and ego. And the gross coat is made of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, sky. In these two coverings, I, the soul, I am existing.
The karmīs, the ordinary workers, fruitive workers... Just like big, big city, they are whole day and night the motorcars going this way and that way, this way and that way... "Whoosh, woosh, woosh, woosh, woosh, woosh, woosh..." Why? For finding out, "Where is happiness? Where is happiness? Where is happiness?" Happiness. But happiness we are not receiving because in this contaminated world happiness is not possible; therefore we have to get out of this body, material body. Then there will be happiness.
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam (BG 6.21). What is real happiness, that will be realized when you are on the transcendental sense gratification. At the present moment we are on the material sense gratification. So material sense gratification will not give us real happiness. Everyone is trying to get happiness; so therefore Ṛṣabhadeva said, tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). Your exis... First of all, purify your existence; then talk of happiness. Happiness, if you want to enter happiness with this covered material covering, you'll never find happiness. And that is actually experience of everyone. If you say that "Yes, I am enjoying this. I am enjoying this life very nicely. I don't require to give up this material body," no. It is foolishness.
So the problem of life is discussed here by Ṛṣabhadeva. He says, "My dear boys," nāyaṁ deha deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). Ayam. Ayam means "this," this body, this human form of body. It is also a body, and the dog's body is also a body, material body. It is also made of blood and bone and urine and stool and so many other things. The dog's body is also made the same ingredients. But what is the difference between dog's body and this human body? He advises, ayam deha: "This human form of body..." Deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. And where this body is obtained? It is obtained in the human society. This intelligent brain and good form of body, it is to be found in the human society. In the human society you will find from this body, big, big professors, big, big philosophers, scientists, mathematicians and..., they are coming, not from the dog society. That is not possible. Therefore it should be properly utilized. Nāyam deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Nṛloke means in human society.
So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is reminding the whole human society that "Don't lose this chance of getting a human body." You must properly utilize it. And how it is to be utilized? That is stated here by Ṛṣabhadeva: tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvam śuddhyet (SB 5.5.1). Sattvam, our existence, is now polluted. Therefore we are getting this material body and changing this material body. And as soon as we get a material body, then our miserable condition begins. In this material body nobody can say that there is no miserable condition. It is full of miserable condition. There are three kinds of miserable conditions: adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. Adhyātmika means pertaining to the body and pertaining to the mind. There are so many miseries. Otherwise... The other day Swami Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa was telling that in this country there is maximum number of suicide. Is it not? So, why one commits suicide unless he feels bodily position very uncomfortable, mental condition very disturbing? So this is called adhyātmika, pertaining to the body and mind. There are many troubles.
That is the aim of human life. Therefore it is said, tapo divyam: (SB 5.5.1) "My dear son, don't become like cats and dogs and work hard for the bodily necessities of life. This human form of life is meant for austerity." "Why austerity? Let us enjoy." "No." Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyet: "If you accept the path of austerity, then your existence will be purified." Now, at the present moment, the existence is not purified; therefore we have to accept birth, death, old age and disease. This is not our business. But because we have got this material body, the nature's law forces to accept all these things—birth, death, old age and disease. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). We are trying to be happy fighting with unhappiness, but we do not know our real unhappiness are that we have to die, we have to take birth again, we have to become diseased and we have to accept old age. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam. This is intelligence, that "I am trying to solve all the problems of life by advancement of civilization, education, scientific knowledge and so many things. That's all right. But what is the solution of my, these four principle of miserable condition: birth, death, old age and disease?" And because we cannot make any solution, we set aside these four problems. We go on with the temporary problems and become busy to solve it, and in this way we waste our, this valuable human form of life like the cats and dogs. This is the instruction.
And as soon as I get a material body, immediately there are so many miserable condition. But I am... As spirit soul, part and parcel of God, I have nothing to do with all these things, but I have been forced to be working with these problems of life. This is human intelligence. Therefore he requires to live a saintly life. It is not possible, of course, that everyone should become saintly. That is not possible. Therefore in the Vedic civilization it is prescribed, varṇāśrama-dharma. Varṇāśrama-dharma. Varṇa means four classification of the society, and āśrama means four division of spiritual life. The society, it is not meant for any particular nation or particular community. It is meant for the whole human society. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). The human society should be divided into four groups. What is that? The first-class men. There are first-class, second-class, third-class, fourth-class men. We have got our experience. Not that everyone is equally intelligent. No. There is difference of classification or intelligence or genuineness. There are so many things, division. So here also you have got division, classification. That is natural.
This is austerity. And chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is very easy. It is not very difficult. Just like these boys, girls, they are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and they are undergoing the austerity. So they have not died. Nor they are unhealthy. You can see. They are living, and they will live. But they have become purified. Tapo divyaṁ yena sattvaṁ śuddhyet (SB 5.5.1). This is purifying our existence. Purifying existence means no more material body. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). These are the information we get, that if we purify our existence, our existential position, then the result will be that... Tyaktvā deham. We have to give up this body. The cats and dogs also will give up, and I'll also give up. That's a fact. But the cats and dogs, they'll get another material body, but if you purify your existential position, then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), you'll not to have, accept any more material body. You shall stay in your spiritual body. And when you stay in your spiritual body you become equal with God—sac-cid-ānanda: eternal, ānanda, blissful, and full of knowledge. That is the human form of life..., er, aim of human mission. Don't miss this. There is ample information. The practice is very easy. Anyone can do it.
So our only request is take advantage of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Try to understand it properly. It is not meant for any particular person, nation, or community. It is for every human being. So we request you to study this movement and take to it seriously. Then you will be all happy.
Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
So nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). So we have become mad and we are engaged in these forbidden works. If we want to get out of these clutches of material bondage, then we must stop these forbidden activities, mad, the activities of a mad man. So if you go on like that, then we shall have to accept another material body. The problem is that we are suffering threefold miseries, every one of us. Maybe the degree different, but under being intoxicated, we do not take the sufferings as sufferings. That is another madness. But the sufferings are there. That is being pointed out by Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). You may be very perfect by arranging your material civilization to enjoy life but, you will not be allowed to live. That we do not see. There is no insurance. I am making very nice arrangement for my future enjoyment, having good bank balance, nice skyscraper building and other things, but where is the guarantee that you shall live and enjoy? That we do not see. Therefore we are madmen. If you are arranging something utopian for happiness, and if you understand that "I shall die tomorrow," then immediately my enthusiasm will decline. "Now, who is going to take so much trouble? I am going to die tomorrow."
You are living entity; you are not these flesh and bones. You are spirit soul and you are within this body. You are now entrapped with this material body, and so long you will act irresponsibly, you will get another material... Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. You will get another body, and that body is not guaranteed. There are 8,400,000 different forms of body. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4). Although the spirit soul is there, but this particular body, the hog's body or the man's body or the demigod's body There are so many. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. There are 900,000 forms of body within the body. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And there are trees, plants, two million forms of body. So we have already gone through all this body, and we have got this human form of body after many, many millions of years by evolutionary process. Therefore Ṛṣabhādeva says, ayam deha. This body, don't think it is ordinarily received. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke: "In the human society you should not waste it like the hogs and dogs simply for sense gratification." This is the Bhāgavata instruction. You should soberly use it.
Pradyumna:
- ṛṣabha uvāca
- nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke
- kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye
- tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ
- śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam
- (SB 5.5.1)
"Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever."
Prabhupāda: So we have discussed this verse yesterday. It is very essential that this human form of body is meant for rectifying or purifying our existence. That they do not know, especially in the modern age, that this body is temporary and we living entities, we are eternal and this is our bondage. So long we are within this material body, it is our bondage. Real life is eternal life, without any birth, death, old age and disease. Where is that science? There is no such department of knowledge that how one can live eternally without any disease, without any old age and without any death and without any birth. If there is birth there is death. And between the two, birth and death, there is old age and disease. Where is that scientist who are trying to solve this problem?
What is the use of purifying? There is need. If you purify, purify yourself, existentional condition, then you will be saved from the four kinds of troubles or miseries of life, namely birth, death, old age and disease. So God realization means spiritual realization. So Ṛṣabhadeva says tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed (SB 5.5.1), by purification of your existentional condition you enjoy brahma-saukhyam. After all, we are searching after happiness, pleasure. So on account of our impure existential condition, our so-called happiness is temporary. Brahma-saukhyam means, here again, yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed, when your existence is purified. Now we have got impure existence, this material body. When we get our spiritual body, that is called purified. So Ṛṣabhadeva says sattvaṁ yasmād brahma-saukhyam anantam. As soon as you get your spiritual body, then there is unlimited happiness. We are, after all... In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said that the living entity or God, both of them are for enjoying life, blissful life. Just like when you are diseased, you have got some fever. So, you cannot enjoy life. Similarly in this diseased condition of material existence we, actually, we cannot enjoy life. Therefore, if we purify our existential condition by tapasya, then we come into our spiritual existence and we can enjoy our life eternally. (break) ...therefore, that when we have got this human form of life, we shall not waste it simply for sense gratification like the dogs and hog. We should practice tapasya, restrain, and then we purify our existence and we are situated in a position wherein we can enjoy blissful life forever.
Bhavānanda:
- ṛṣabha uvāca
- nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛ-loke
- kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye
- tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ
- śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam
- (SB 5.5.1)
"Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever."
Prabhupāda: Next verse.
Bhavānanda:
- mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes
- tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam
- mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā
- vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo ye
- (SB 5.5.2)
"One can attain the path of liberation from material bondage only by rendering service to highly advanced spiritual personalities. These personalities are impersonalists and devotees. Whether one wants to merge into the Lord's existence or wants to associate with the Personality of Godhead, one should render service to the mahātmās. For those who are not interested in such activities, who associate with people fond of women and sex, the path to hell is wide open. The mahātmās are equipoised. They do not see any difference between one living entity and another. They are very peaceful and are fully engaged in devotional service. They are devoid of anger, and they work for the benefit of everyone. They do not behave in any abominable way. Such people are known as mahātmās."
Prabhupāda: So Mr. Jyesthish(?) Gandhi, ladies and gentlemen, the instruction of Ṛṣabhadeva is very important. Ṛṣabhadeva was the father of Mahārāja Bhārata, under whose name this planet is called Bhāratavarṣa. So before retirement, Ṛṣabhadeva instructed His one hundred sons about the aim of life. So this is Vedic civilization. So He says, "My dear boys, don't spoil your life by living like hogs." This very word has been used. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛ-loke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). Viḍ-bhujāṁ. Viḍ-bhujāṁ means there are hogs who are very much enthusiastic to eat stool. So why this particular animal has been named? Because we can find especially in Indian villages, the hogs, day and night, they are working very hard to find out where there is stool.
Ṛṣabhadeva was incarnation of God. He was instructing His sons before retirement. So he's instructing nāyaṁ dehaḥ, this body, deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Deha-bhājām means one who has accepted this material body. Actually this body has no existence. It is simply a covering, therefore it is called māyā. Everyone, we have got experience, that at night we forget this body. We act in a different body in dream. At night we feel there is no existence of this body, and at night, dreaming, we get another body, walking in a different place, creating in a different situation, acting in a different body. It is a fact, every day, every night, we see it like this. And during the daytime we forget that night body. So actually we are possessing the gross body and the subtle body. When we act on the subtle body, the gross body is no longer existing, and when we work in the gross body, the subtle body is not existing. But I am existing. I am existing both in the subtle body and gross body. This day's body is also a dream, but we are so foolish that we do not understand it. Mad, we are mad after. Therefore this subtle body and gross body, and their vanishing at daytime and night's time, the cats and dogs cannot understand. But a man, if he has got cool brain, he can understand.
Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī said, "It is not for you, don't take it, don't..." "No, no, it is very nice!" In this way Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī increased, and later on, when after departure of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when he went to live in Vṛndāvana with the six gosvāmīs, he is also one of the gosvāmīs, he was taking three times bathing, but not eating. Every alternate day, he will take a little buttermilk. That's all. This is called tapasya, austerity. Coming to the point of nil, no more eating. No more sleeping, no more sex life, no more defense. This is perfection. Who will accept this? (laughter)
Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva says nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke, to collect for eating, sleeping and mating, whole day and night working, this is not good. Then what is good? Tapaḥ. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed (SB 5.5.1). Sattvam means your existence has to be purified. Our existence, this existence is not purified, therefore we have got this material body. Now what is the decitement (?). Let us have this material, we are enjoying very nicely. What is this bad? But these rascals, they have no idea that we can avoid the, I mean to say, miserable condition of this body. We can avoid. This, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudar... (BG 13.9), but they do not know that this is unhappiness, this is distaste.
Pradyumna: The Lord's descent from His transcendental abode is already explained in the sixth verse. One who can understand the truth of the appearance of the Personality of Godhead is already liberated from material bondage, and therefore he returns to the Kingdom of God immediately after quitting this present material body. (break)
Prabhupāda: Janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). How Kṛṣṇa expands Himself, how He appears, what is the nature of His body, these things if you simply understand, then you become immortal. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Just to give the people a chance to understand Kṛṣṇa then he becomes immortal. That is the mission of life. Not that to enjoy sense gratification in a polished way, but the business is the same as the dogs and hogs enjoy. That is being instructed here. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). Viḍ-bhujām means the pigs who eat stool. They're also enjoying like that. They have got very free sex enjoyment. They do not care who is mother, who is sister, with anyone. We have seen, that is, nature has got example, everything, you can study. You'll find in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that by studying nature you can get so many instruction, perfect. So one devotee made the nature his spiritual master, and studying nature and getting so much information. So if you study like that, here as it is given, the example, viḍ-bhujāṁ ye. So viḍ-bhujām means the pigs or the hog. They are also eating nicely, getting fat, and having sex intercourse very freely, so does it mean that human being is also meant for this business, like the hogs and dogs. This is the point. This is the instruction. This body is not meant for such enjoyment for the senses, but this body is meant for tapaḥ, austerity, as Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī showed example. He came to the point of neti. How to come to that point, tapasya. Why? By that process your existential position will be purified. And if you say, what is the use of purifying? There is use, because you want happiness, but your happiness is disturbed. You cannot have perpetual, uninterrupted happiness in this body. Therefore, if you really want happiness, then you purify your existence and you'll get continued eternal happiness of bliss and knowledge. This should be the aim of human life.
So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means, as we have read from the Bhagavad-gītā, that tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya: (BG 4.9) "My dear Arjuna, Kaunteya..." Arjuna's another name is Kaunteya because he is, happens to be, the son of Kuntī. His mother was named Kuntī. So from Kuntī, he was Kaunteya. Kaunteya means "son of Kuntī." So Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, tyaktvā deham. Tyaktvā means quitting this body. Mind that always, that we are changing different types of body just like different types of dress. I am the spirit soul. So, so long you are not completely purified, you have to accept this kind of body, that kind of body, this body, that body, that body. That is going on. But one who comes to the perfectional stage of purification, for him, Kṛṣṇa says tyaktvā deham, by quitting this body, punar janma naiti... Punar janma means rebirth, reincarnation, within this material... No more. Finished. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punaḥ, mām eti: "He comes to My planet, or unto Me." Who? Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: (BG 4.9) "The person who can understand the science of Kṛṣṇa, that person." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Simply by understanding what is Kṛṣṇa, how He appears on this planet, how He disappears, what does He do, what does He instruct, what is the purpose, so many things... They are classified in two headings, janma karma: birth and activities. Kṛṣṇa has got activities. When Kṛṣṇa was present, He was full with activities. Simply by knowing this, janma karma, one, after quitting this body, does not accept any more this material body, but he's immediately transferred to the Kṛṣṇaloka.
So tapo divyam. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyet: (SB 5.5.1) "My dear boys," Ṛṣabhadeva says, "if you accept this austerity, the principles of austerity, then your existence will be purified." The same example, just a man is suffering from fever. If his fever is cured, then he gets healthy life. And, when he's in healthy life, he's free to eat, move, and everything of his business. But so long he's not in healthy life, he's restricted by the physician. Similarly, our present existence, conditional life, is due to this material body. I'll not expand my lecture, how we are suffering from this material body, but several times I have explained that this body is subjected to so many conditions. Just like adhyātmika we have got some bodily pains, mental inequilibrium and so many things. That is called adhyātmika, pertaining to the body and the mind, sufferings. Similarly, there are sufferings imposed by other living entities. Similarly, there are sufferings imposed by natural phenomena. So because we have got this body, we are subjected to threefold miseries of life. And we are hankering after eternal life, blissful life, life of knowledge. If you want to attain that perfectional stage of life, which is called brahma-saukhyam—Brahman, Brahman means the greatest—then you have to follow some regulative principles of austerity so that your existence will be purified and, Ṛṣabhadeva says, then you'll be eligible to enjoy eternal life. Brahma-saukhyam anantam (SB 5.5.1). Anantam means unlimited. We are hankering after happiness, but due to our material condition, the happiness is not eternal, neither blissful. But there is life where happiness is eternal, never disturbed. Unlimited. There is life of full knowledge. There is life of full bliss. And there is life of eternal.
So don't be misfortunate. Be fortunate. Everything is there. Try to understand Bhagavad-gītā. And here, in the Fifth Chapter, Fifth Canto, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the same thing is recommended by Ṛṣabhadeva to his sons. The first paragraph we have discussed last night. The second paragraph, the Ṛṣabhadeva says, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). If you want to be liberated from this entanglement of bodily concept of life and mental concept of life and become more and more entangled in the process of transmigration of the soul from one body to another... That is entanglement. And to come out of this entanglement is called mukti. That is mukti: no more material body, no more material mind—everything is spiritual. That is called mukti. So Ṛṣabhadeva recommends that if you want mukti, if you want to come out of the entanglement of bodily concept of life and mental concept of life, then mahat-sevā: associate with mahātmās. Mahat. Mahat means who are not crippled, who are broad-minded. Mahat-sevā. You have to serve him. In the... One Vaiṣṇava ācārya, he says, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā. If you do not agree to serve mahat... That is the Vedic injunction. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). This is the injunction. So mahat-sevā, the same thing. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram. Dvāram means the way, the gate, the gateway. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2).
Actually that is happening. By one man's endeavor all these foreigners they're getting real life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They have sacrificed everything practically. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is required. That is human life. Otherwise, if we simply work very hard just like the stool-eater hogs, "Where is food? Where is food? Where is sex? Where is..." This is... Therefore this particular name has been mentioned here, viḍ-bhujām. It is very peculiar. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛ-loke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This is the business of the stool-eater hogs. Śāstra sometimes uses very strong language. That is required. Just like if you want to train your children, sometimes you have to slap, you have to chastise for his benefit. That is the... Therefore this very word is used, viḍ-bhujāṁ ye. These kind of engagements are there among the hogs and dogs. Are you hogs and dogs or human being? Your engagement is brahma-jijñāsā, athāto brahma jijñāsā. Inquire about Brahman. Learn about Brahman. Learn about yourself, that you are not this material body. If you are still thinking that you are this material body—you are Indian, you are American, you are brāhmaṇa, you are śūdra, you are white, you are black—then you are in the dog's consciousness, not Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is to be learned.
Kṛṣṇa is sitting within your heart, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Kṛṣṇa is with you, but you do not know. But as soon as you try to chant and hear, hear Kṛṣṇa's name, then immediately the cleansing of your heart begins, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. Then bhava mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpanam, as soon as your heart is cleansed... Heart is cleansed means you understand that you are not this material body. That is cleansing of heart. Everything is going on on this misunderstanding that "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am this," "I am that." This is the grossest type of misunderstanding. So that becomes clear. Then you stand on your own position, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). There are so many things we'll gradually follow. Therefore if we chant Kṛṣṇa's name without any offense... There are ten kinds of offenses—but in the beginning, even there is offense, you go on chanting and gradually, as your heart will be cleansed... That is explained by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
So the real purpose is tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyed sattva (SB 5.5.1), to purify our existence. Therefore tapasya we have explained already. Now how this tapasya can be practiced? Tapasya can be practiced in the association of mahat, mahat-sevā. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes. People do not know what is vimukti. They do not know it. The first instruction of Bhagavad-gītā is suggesting that "You are not this body. You are within this body." And vimukti means not to accept any more this material body. That is vimukti. And Bhāgavata says, mukti definition: mukti hitvānyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṇa avasthitiḥ. That is mukti. Mukti means when you are situated in your original position. That is mukti. My original position is that I am Brahman, I am spirit soul. I'm not Para-brahman. That is another māyā. I am Brahman, every one of us. But I am working not as Brahman, but I am working as this body. My responsibility..., I am thinking "I'm Indian," so I'm working for nationalism, for Indian welfare and so on, so on. You are working for America or another is working for England. So this is all bodily conception. So body, I'm not body. So therefore mukti means when I shall give up this bodily conception of life, that is mukti. And so long I shall be absorbed or captivated or conditioned by the bodily concept of life, there is no question of mukti. Mukti hitvānyathā rūpam. Anyathā rūpam means I'm acting at the present moment on the bodily conception of life.
There are two classes of persons. One is interested for developing material standard of life, and one is interested for spiritual development of life. So a householder, he can also become a mahātmā, provided he has got this tendency that he wants to develop his spiritual life. Then he is mahātmā. And not interested to increase economic development, or persons who are too much attached for enjoyment. Ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu. Dehambhara-vārtikeṣu means persons here in the ordinary men, they are simply interested how to satisfy the bodily needs. That's all. They are called dehambhara-vārtikeṣu. The materialistic civilization means how to keep this body very comfortably. Not only in this life. From their thinking also they accept works of piety, just like charity, religion. How? So next life they may be elevated to the heavenly planets and they can enjoy very long duration of life, association of very beautiful girls, and drink so many beverages. Their only aim is like that, how to provide this material body with all comforts. They are called dehambhara-vārtikeṣu. Deha means this body, and bhara, just to maintain this body.
Yes. The real aim is spiritual realization. But for realizing perfect spiritual life one has to undergo some training. Just like if one is serious of being cured of a certain type of disease he has to undergo certain type of training or regulation as prescribed by the physician. Then he gets cured. Similarly, we are all materially diseased at the present time. So spiritual life means completely freed from material disease. The material diseases are birth, death, old age, and bodily diseases. They are material disease. Because I am spirit soul, I am eternal. I have no death. I have no birth. But because I am contaminated with this material body, therefore with the birth and death of this body I am thinking that I am taking birth and dying. That is my material condition of life. Actually I am not subjected to birth and death. These things are very nicely described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācin na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So the immortality of the soul, transmigration of the soul, everything is described there. So there are books of authority. If we learn, if we'll be trained, then our spiritual liberation is open. Therefore it is recommended here that one should associate with great souls. Without associating with great souls we don't get all this information.
So simply for sense gratification, you are prepared to commit so many criminal activities, and you are passing on as civilization. Therefore it is said, nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). Āpṛṇoti. Na sādhu manye, Ṛṣabhadeva says: "O My dear boys, it is not very good." Na sādhu manye. Sādhu means honest work, nice sādhu means saintly person or good. It is not good. Why it is not good? I am enjoying, enjoying. Enjoying means palate, very nice. Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). You do not know that you have got this material body. And what is this material body? Material body means full of miserable condition. That's all. Who has got a material body, they do not understand what is spiritual body. So suppose material or spiritual, anyone who has got this body, can anyone here say, "I have no trouble, I am free from all trouble"? Is there anyone? Is it possible to say? What do you think? Can anyone say that "Yes, I've got this body, but I have no miserable condition, I'm always very happy"? Is there anyone? That rascal civilization, they cannot understand. They are trying to stop miserable condition, but he does not know that miserable condition is his body. Just see how much foolish (it) is. He does not know that this very body is the cause of your miserable condition. They do not know.
Therefore life, the..., whatever time we have got, whatever opportunity you have got, we have to prepare ourself. No more taking material body. That is only possible if you are transferred to the spiritual world. Then it is possible. And how it can be done? Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: (BG 4.9) if you simply try to understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Simply by this understanding. Otherwise, you'll have to accept this material body if you have got any desire to enjoy in this material world. Therefore, bhakti means anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). If you take the path of jñāna-kāṇḍa karma-kāṇḍa, or without knowledge of... People do not know what is jñāna-kāṇḍa, karma-kāṇḍa. They are just like animals. So they are desiring like animals. Therefore anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam. Except becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, except this desire, no more other desires. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam: (CC Madhya 19.167) Simply cultivating the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness favorably, favorably, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not like Kaṁsa. Therefore, this word has been used, ānukūlyena, "favorably." Kaṁsa, he was afraid of Kṛṣṇa. He was always Kṛṣṇa conscious. Because he was thinking, "Kṛṣṇa may come, may come and kill me. Where He is now? How He's coming?" His consciousness was always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa, but it was not ānukūlyena; it was prātikūlyena. Prātikūlyena means adverse. He was thinking of Kṛṣṇa as enemy. So that was prātikūlyena. But still, he got salvation. He became merged into the effulgence.
Acyutānanda:
- ya vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā
- janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu
- gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu
- na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke
- (SB 5.5.3)
"Those who are interested in reviving Kṛṣṇa consciousness and increasing their love of Godhead do not like to do anything that is not related to Kṛṣṇa. They are not interested in mingling with people who are busy maintaining their bodies, eating, sleeping, mating and defending. They are not attached to their homes, although they may be householders. Nor are they attached to wives, children, friends or wealth. At the same time, they are not indifferent to the execution of their duties. Such people are interested in collecting only enough money to keep body and soul together." (reads purport)
- nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma
- yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti
- na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam
- asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ
- (SB 5.5.4)
"When a person considers sense gratification the aim of life, he certainly becomes mad after materialistic living and engages in all kinds of sinful activity. He does not know that due to his past misdeeds he has already received a body which, although temporary, is the cause of his misery. Actually the living entity should not have taken a material body, but he has been awarded the material body for sense gratification. Therefore I think it not befitting an intelligent man to involve himself again in the activities of sense gratification, by which he perpetually gets material bodies one after another." (reads purport)
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
- nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma
- yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti
- na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam
- (asann api) kleśada āsa dehaḥ
- (SB 5.5.4)
The real problem of life is not to adjust things materially, change from one form of government to another form of government. These things are temporary things. It will not give relief. And this fighting between one party with another amongst the politicians or the kṣatriyas or the administrators, they are going on perpetually. That is not a very new thing. So we should not forget our real life. For ruling over to get political predominance, there may be fighting. That is natural. It is going on. Just like the Battle of Kurukṣetra—it is a fighting between two sections of the same family, who will rule over. So there was fighting, but at the same time, they did not lose Kṛṣṇa culture. That is the important point. Similarly, India has got a great culture, background, Vedic culture or Kṛṣṇa culture. Vedic culture means Kṛṣṇa culture, and Kṛṣṇa culture means Vedic culture. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). So study Veda or Vedānta means to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is the purpose. Vedaiś ca sarvair. Veda means knowledge, and anta means end. Vedānta. Vyāsadeva, Śrīla Vyāsadeva, he has given us the Vedānta philosophy.
Pradyumna: "When a person considers sense gratification the aim of life, he certainly becomes mad after materialistic living and engages in all kinds of sinful activity. He does not know that due to his past misdeeds he has already received a body which, although temporary, is the cause of his misery. Actually the living entity should not have taken on a material body, but he has been awarded the material body for sense gratification. Therefore I think it not befitting an intelligent man to involve himself again in the activities of sense gratification, by which he perpetually gets material bodies one after another."
Prabhupāda:
- nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma
- yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti
- na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam
- asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ
- (SB 5.5.4)
So it is recommended that mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes (SB 5.5.2). Mahat-sevā, we have described the symptoms of mahātmā. The sum and substance of mahātmā is mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (BG 9.13). That is mahātmā. Otherwise durātmā. Simply putting on a saffron dress and having a big beard, he's not mahātmā. Mahātmā is he who is cent percent engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim (BG 9.13). He's not in the control of this material nature. He's completely under the direction of spiritual nature. Daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ. And what is the sign? What is the difference between a person under material nature and spiritual nature? The difference is that one who is under spiritual nature, he is cent percent engaged in the service of the Lord. This is the sign.
So they are all mad. So nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). And they are implicating so many sinful activities. Legally and virtually, they are becoming implicated. Yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra lokāyaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ. If you don't act only for yajña, then you become implicated. The evidence is, the proof is I am implicated that there are different varieties of life. You should know that "Why there are so many varieties of life." That is explained here. The varieties of life is na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). Here, and anyone who has got this material body Material body means kleśada, different degrees of kleśada. Somebody is millionaire—but don't think that his body is not kleśada. His body is also kleśada, giving some pain. Nobody is free from kleśa. There was a very big rich man in Calcutta. So he could not eat. His appetite, there was no appetite. So he's rich man. So he was given sufficient foodstuff, and simply show, he could not eat. But a big rich man. And one poor man was passing on the street, taking a fish and chanting very Not chanting; singing very jubilantly.
I have got already one body which is kleśada. Everyone has got experience. No one is here who can say that "My body is very nice. There is no kleśa. There is no pains and pleasure. I am very perfect." That is not possible. As soon as you get a material body, it must be subjected to so many sufferings: adhyātmika, adhibautika, adhidaivika. Tribulations there must be. Material body means kleśada. Therefore the Vedic civilization is to stop getting this material body. That is Vedic civilization. Not that increase. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Two things are there. You must accept, you must get the service of Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise you go on in this way. Mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartamani. Aśraddadhānān puruṣā dharmasyasya parantapa māṁ aprāpya. If you don't get Kṛṣṇa, then there is no other way. There is no other alternative. The only alternative is mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). You get one body and again you die, again get another body. This will go on. Therefore we should not Na sādhu manye. Ṛṣabhadeva, boys, said, "This is not good." Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4).
So in the previous verse Ṛṣabhadeva has said that this madness after sense gratification, nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute, and doing all kinds of sinful activities, this is not good. And actually we can see... (aside:) No, I daily say that during talking you should not cut, cut. So one may argue, especially those who are atheists, that "Suppose we get a material body and little miserable. What is the wrong there? It will be finished. Then there will be no more pains and pleasures." That is the Buddhist theory, that the body is combination of matter, and there is pains and pleasures, so make this body zero. Then there will be no more pains and pleasures, and you will have to accept another body. And so long you shall continue to accept one body after another, the miserable condition of material existence will continue. Therefore in the beginning it was said that "This body, human body, is not to be misused simply for sense gratification like the dogs and hogs." That was the beginning.
Or take your birth in Africa. There there is no such facilities, they are not very good-looking, not very learned scholars, not birth is very nice, not aristocratic, not riches, poor. So from spiritual point of view, both of these kinds of facilities or inconvenience are one, because when you take your birth, you have to enter within the womb of a mother and stay ten months in a packed-up condition. Not only ten months. Nowadays it is going on, killing the child within the womb. Even you cannot come out. Before your coming out from the womb of your mother, you might be killed by your very mother or father. Because that movement is going on, abortion. So either you are in a womb of a very rich mother or a poor mother or in the womb of a black mother or white mother or a learned mother or foolish mother, the pains of staying within the mother is the same. It is not that because you are in the womb of a rich mother, therefore there will be no pain of living within the womb. The same pain. So janma. Then again, as soon as you accept some material body, you will have to suffer the bodily pains and pleasure. Then, at the time of death, the same painful condition.
Pradyumna: "As long as one does not inquire about the spiritual values of life, one is defeated and subjected to miseries arising from ignorance. Be it sinful or pious, karma has its resultant actions. If a person is engaged in any kind of karma, his mind is called karmātmaka, colored with fruitive activity. As long as the mind is impure, consciousness is unclear, and as long as one is absorbed in fruitive activity, he has to accept a material body."
Prabhupāda:
- parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto
- yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam
- yāvat kriyās tāvad idaṁ mano vai
- karmātmakaṁ yena śarīra-bandhaḥ
- (SB 5.5.5)
It is very quite natural, whatever you do, your mind will be absorbed in that business. Karmātmakam. Therefore our mind should be engaged always in Kṛṣṇa: sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padaravindayor (SB 9.4.18). Then we can be relieved from this śarīra-bandhaḥ. Unfortunately, there is no education that it is a great hamper, impediment, to our progress of life, this material body. And in the Vedic civilization, this material body is condemned everywhere—material, śarīra-bandhaḥ. They do not understand.
Pradyumna: "When the living entity is covered by the mode of ignorance, he does not understand the individual living being and the supreme living being, and his mind is subjugated to fruitive activity. Therefore, until one has love for Lord Vāsudeva, who is none other than Myself, he is certainly not delivered from having to accept a material body again and again."
Prabhupāda:
- evaṁ manaḥ karma-vaśaṁ prayuṅkte
- avidyayātmany upadhīyamāne
- prītir na yāvan mayi vāsudeve
- na mucyate deha-yogena tāvat
- (SB 5.5.6)
This is another important verse. The problem is presented, deha-yogena. Deha-yogena, this body, contact with this material body, this is the problem. But nobody knows it. Especially in these days they cannot understand that "This material body is a foreign element, and somehow or other I am victimized, I am entrapped within this body." This problem is real problem. But they do not know. And this is called avidyā, ignorance.
The allurement of material civilization is so strong and so bad that those who are by pious activities born in brāhmaṇa family, they are being dragged to the tamo-guṇa behavior like śūdras. They are learning how to drink, how to eat meat, how to have illicit sex. These are the symptoms of tamo-guṇa, lowest type of tamo-guṇa. There are different degrees of guṇa. The degrees are so mixed up. Therefore three guṇas is manifested into 8,400,000 different forms of life, mixture. You can calculate. We have several times calculated. Three multiplied by three equals nine. Nine multiplied by nine, eighty-one. So therefore there are so many varieties. So human civilization should be so arranged that never mind, it is so mixed up, you have to gradually draw him again to the sattva-guṇa. That is human civilization. Not that drag him again to the tamo-guṇa. Somebody, by pious activities, by good work, he's already in the sattva-guṇa, but the arrangement The social, political, economical arrangement is so bad that one is dragged to the tamo-guṇa. This is not civilization. This is degradation. Civilization means elevation. The aim is how to become disconnected with this material body. This is civilization. Otherwise that is not civilization. It is animal life. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kunape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13).
If you can constantly, twenty-four hours, if you hear and chant Hear means somebody chants or you chant yourself or hear, or some of your colleague may chant, you hear. Or he may hear, you may chant. This process must go on. This is śrāvaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. Viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). That is Bhāgavata. Not any other nonsense talks, gossiping. Simply hear and chant. Then śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇa. If you seriously hear and chant, seriously—"Yes, this life I shall engage only for increasing my love of Vāsudeva"—if you are determined, it can be done. There is no difficulty. And as soon as you do this, you increase fully your love for Vasudeva, then there is no more chance of contacting material body.
- janma karma ca divyam
- me yo janati tattvataḥ
- tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
- naiti...
- (BG 4.9)
That is the same thing.
And if you do not understand Kṛṣṇa, if you do not increase your natural love for Kṛṣṇa, then na mucyate deha-yogena tāvat. There is no chance. They have no chance. You may take birth next life in a very rich family, in a brāhmaṇa family, yogo-bhraṣṭaḥ, but that is also not release. Again you may fall down. Just like we see there are so many... Just like you Americans, you are born in rich family, rich nation, but falling down, becoming hippies. Falling down. So there is chance. Not that it is guaranteed. "Because I am born in a rich family or brāhmaṇa family, that is guarantee." No guarantee. This māyā is so strong that it is only trying to drag you—drag you down, drag you down. So many influences.
This we must understand, that although we have got also a body, and the dog has also a body, the same composition kṣitir āp marud vyoma, mind, intelligence, and ego. There is no difference. The dog has also mind, and I have got mind, you have got mind. The dog has also intelligence, we have got also intelligence. The dog also can eat, you can also eat. The dog can sleep, you can also sleep. So there is no difference so far the bodily constitution. And superficially, if you cut my body there will be blood, if you cut the body of an animal there will be blood. So, in every respect, so far the material body is concerned, it is the same, either of the human being, or of a small insect. The same construction, physiological and atomical, everything is the same. But the difference is, in other body there is no arthadam, but with the human body there will be arthadam. You can realize your position, you can act accordingly, you can make your life successful. That is the special advantage of this human form of life.
That is saṁsiddhi, that if you become able how to become free from this encagement of material body, liṅgaṁ vyapohet. Therefore the endeavor should be how to give up this material body and be situated in our spiritual status, and that will give us...
So for that there are so many practices, regulative principles, mentioned here. The first thing is haṁse gurau mayi bhaktyānuvṛtyā. This is religion. Ādau gurvāśrayam. If you do not get a qualified guru, then everything is bogus. If you, by good fortune, if you get the association of a guru, qualified haṁsa, paramahaṁsa... Paramahaṁsa guru means sannyāsī's last stage is paramahaṁsa. Kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, parivrājakācārya, and paramahaṁsa, these are the different stages. When one takes sannyāsa, he lives outside the village in a kuṭī, in a cottage, and the family members goes and delivers him the food, because he is not practiced. So in the beginning, he keeps up this association of neighborhood or family, but he is not practiced. He therefore lives outside the village, and if somebody gives some food, he eats. Then when he becomes experienced, then he does not accept food from one, either his own home or one home. He takes foodstuff from many homes: "Give me a little piece of cāpāṭi."
So, the bhakti-yoga process is described in the previous verses. Real purport is, karmāśayam, how to be free from karmāśayam. So long our mind will be absorbed in karmāśayam, then there is no question of becoming free from this material body. Karmānubandhaṁ na mucyate deha-yogena tāvat. This is already advised, the whole purpose is how to make the spirit soul from the bondage of contamination of repetition of birth and death. That is the purpose of human life. Karmāśayam, everyone is trying to become happy by working hard and getting the result. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ, not only here, but also in other planets up to the Brahmaloka, this process is going on. And to counteract this process, in the previous three verses it has been explained how one can gradually become relieved. The first process is recommended, haṁse gurau mayi bhaktyānuvṛtyā.
So therefore it is our little attempt that to train some boys to become first-class character. Śamo damo titikṣa. That is required in the society. Simply all fourth-class, fifth-class men, how the society will improve? That is not possible. And therefore, kas taṁ svayaṁ tad-abhijño vipaścid avidyāyām antare vartamānam. And one who is actually educated in the Vedic knowledge, how he can say that "You are all right"? He cannot say. He gives chance for being trained to be free from the avidyā. Avidyāyām antare. Śarīra avidyā-jāl. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, śarīra avidyā-jāl. This material body is a network of avidyā, ignorance. Śarīra avidyā-jāl, jaḍendriya tāhe kāl. On account of this body of avidyā, ignorance, the blunt senses are simply... They have been described sometimes as kāla-sarpa. Kāla-sarpa indriya-paṭalī durdānta-indriya-kāla-sarpa paṭalī. So therefore yoga system is recommended to control this kāla-sarpa, the indriyas. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Real yoga, ordinary yoga Nobody is getting that yoga-siddhi, aṣṭa-siddhi. Generally the so-called yogis, they show some āsana, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, praṇāyāma, but that is meant for controlling the senses. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Without sense control nobody can make any progress in human life. Tapasya. That is called tapasya. The yoga is also another tapasya. Tapo. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13).
Pradyumna: "Of the two energies manifest, spirit and dull matter, beings possessing living force, that is vegetables, grass, trees and plants, are superior to dull matter, or stone, earth, etc. Superior to nonmoving plants and vegetables are worms and snakes, which can move. Superior to worms and snakes are animals that have developed intelligence. Superior to animals are human beings, and superior to human beings are ghosts because they have no material bodies. Superior to ghosts are the Gandharvas, and superior to them are the Siddhas. Superior to the Siddhas are the Kinnaras, and superior to them are the asuras. Superior to the asuras are the demigods, and of the demigods, Indra, the king of heaven, is supreme. Superior to Indra are the direct sons of Lord Brahmā, sons like King Dakṣa. And supreme among Brahmā's sons is Lord Śiva. Since Lord Śiva is the son of Lord Brahmā, Brahmā is considered superior, but Brahmā is also subordinate to Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because I am inclined to the brāhmaṇas, the brāhmaṇas are best of all." (break)
Prabhupāda: What is that?
- ...uduttamā ye
- sarīsṛpās teṣu sabodha-niṣṭhāḥ
- tato manuṣyāḥ pramathās tato 'pi
- gandharva-siddhā vibudhānugā ye
- devāsurebhyo maghavat-pradhānā
- dakṣādayo brahma-sutās tu teṣāṁ
- bhavaḥ paraḥ so 'tha viriñca-vīryaḥ
- sa mat-paro ahaṁ dvija-deva-devaḥ
- (SB 5.5.21-22)
So Mahārāja Ṛṣabhadeva analyzing the different grades of living entities. Bhūteṣu, anything which is generated. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Everything is generated from Kṛṣṇa, Para-brahman. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo (BG 10.8). From Kṛṣṇa everything is generated. But according to consciousness, they are divided into two energies: the superior energy and the inferior energy. The more the consciousness is developed, one comes to the platform of superior energy. So the dull stone, dull matter, they have no consciousness, but there is life.
So this misconception should be given up. He is aṇor aṇīyāṁ mahato mahīyān.
Manuṣyāḥ... These are gradual, pramathāḥ. Pramathāḥ, they are also living entities. We have heard, some of them, about the ghost. They have no material body. The advantage of material body... (break) ...they are covered with mind, intelligence, and ego, but their gross body—earth, water, air, fire—that is not there. So one king, he also rejected the material body and remained, Videha. Videha king. So one can remain like that, without this gross body and subtle body, material. Just like in the Vaikuṇṭhaloka, that is... But in the material world, when one is not covered by the gross body but subtle body, they are called ghosts or pramathās. Those who are good, not harmful, they are called pramathās. And those who are harmful... As in this material world there are good men and bad men, similarly, amongst the persons who has no this gross body, they are sometimes called ghosts and sometimes they are called pramathā.
So in this way, varieties of life, beginning from the insects and the aquatics, animal, up to the point of Lord Brahmā. But they are all within this material world. It does not mean because the Gandharvas, Siddhas, they have got higher standard of life and power hundreds and thousands times more than our power, do not think that they are liberated persons. They are not liberated person. They are all conditioned soul. Ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokān punar āvartino arjuna. All these conditioned soul, according to karma, they are getting different types of body. One has got the body of an ant, and one has got the body of Brahmā, Lord Brahmā. But that is not our aim. Our aim is how to avoid this material body. For that purpose, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not that "I have got now the body of an ant. Let me get the body of Brahmā or Indra or in a Siddhaloka." This is not gain.
Therefore those who are devotees, they do not care either for Brahmā or for the ant. They do not care. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tridaśa-pūr ākāśa puṣpāyate, vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. For a devotee... Vidhi means Lord Brahmā, and Mahendra means this maghavat—here it is said—means Indra. So for a devotee they treat equally either Brahmā or Indra kīṭāvat, just like an ant, because they know that he may be Brahmā, he may be Indra, but he has got this material body; one small insect, it has got material body.
So the entanglement is made by the senses. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung that śarīra avidyā-jāl, joḍendriya tāhe kāl, jīve phele viṣaya-sāgore. This body is covering of ignorance, śarīra avidyā-jāl. Everyone has got a material body, and according to the different proportion of ignorance (aside:) This child is so crying. From three miles we can hear. Balanaṁ rodanaṁ balam. This is strength of the children, crying. They can disturb the whole world (laughter) simply by crying. So just see. This is the body, immediately. You cannot cry like that. Even if you are aggrieved, you cannot cry so loudly that up to four miles one can hear. That is not possible. Why it is not possible? Because he has got a different body and you have got a different. Everything is going on according to the body. This is mahā-vimoha. This is going on, 8,400,000's of different forms of body according to mano, vaca, dṛk, karaṇa, etc. This body is the entanglement, and the senses are the instruments, and we are acting with the senses and we creating another type of body. This is going on. Śarīra avidyā-jāl, joḍendriya tāhe kāl.
So here are the examples in the śāstras, that Bharata Mahārāja, elected or selected, nominated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Ṛṣabhadeva... And He retired, avadhūta-veṣa. Avadhūta-veṣa means He is no more within the social community. Just like the word nirgranthā... Kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim ittham-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained this word nirgranthā. Nirgranthā means one who has no granthi, no tight knot with this material world. And the another meaning, one who has no connection with granthā, nirgranthā. So there are two classes of men. One is foolish rascal, no education. He is called also nirgranthā, and another person who has no connection with this material world, he is also nirgranthā. So here the sign of Ṛṣabhadeva, He became just like a madman, a deaf and dumb, a rascal, a fool, a ghost. But He is not madman. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is... Apparently it may look like that, but He is Supreme Personality of Godhead. He has no connection, either you call Him deaf and dumb, fool, rascal, whatever you call. You can call. Tṛṇād api sunīcena. He has no connection with this body. This is avadhūta-veṣa. When one, no more he has got any connection with this material body, he is avadhūta-veṣa.
Thank you very much. (end)
So God's body is not material. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, prākṛta kariyā māne viṣṇu-kalevara aparādha nāhi ara inhāra para. Anyone considering the body of Viṣṇu or Viṣṇu-tattva, Kṛṣṇa, Ṛṣabhadeva... They are not material body. A further description will be there—even the stool and urine also transcendental.
So we cannot conceive in our present stage what is the difference between prākṛta and aprākṛta. The description in the śāstras we have to accept. Just like practically Kṛṣṇa, when He was in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, He was great-grandfather. His grandchildren also had sons. It is said that the whole family of Kṛṣṇa consisted of about one crore of living entities, Yadu-vaṁśa, very big family. So grandchildren, their children, their children, like that... But still, Kṛṣṇa was looking just like a boy of sixteen to twenty years. That is aprākṛta. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). This is the description. He is the oldest person because... Kṛṣṇa says, aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2). Even Brahma, Lord Śiva, they also are born of Him.
This is the difference between material body and spiritual body. It doesn't matter. The Māyāvādīs, they cannot think of, that material body can be so beautiful, neither they can think of, that the Supreme to possess a body... But He possesses body. The description of the body is there. But it is not like our body. Therefore nirākāra means His body, ākāra, or form, is not like ours. That is to be understood. He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha means body. He has got body, but not a body like ours. That is misunderstanding. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). And He expands His body into millions of other bodies. Just like when Kṛṣṇa was present upon this earth, He married sixteen thousand wives, and He expanded Himself also into sixteen thousand forms. And each and every form is differently engaged. Nārada was astonished when he heard that Kṛṣṇa has married sixteen thousand wives, and with each and every wife He is different engaged. That he saw.
So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for showing mercy to the innocent who are suffering in this material world. That is wanted. It is not daridra-nārāyaṇa seva, that "I am very rich man. I am rich Nārāyaṇa, and therefore I can serve the daridra-nārāyaṇa." There is no question of serving. That is not. No. The fact is everyone is suffering. There is nobody... Because asad-grahāt. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). Anyone within this material..., he is suffering, full of anxieties. Even the birds and beasts, you'll find, they are full of anxiety. Why? Asad-grahāt. Because he accepted this material body, which is asat, which is temporary. Asato mā sad gamaḥ. Therefore Vedic injunction is, "Don't stay in this material existence. Come to the spiritual existence, sat." Oṁ tat sat. This is the civilization, not to keep the people in ignorance and flatter them that "You are making very good advance." There is no advance unless one is interested in spiritual life. There is no... Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18). In this way we are wandering within this universe in different forms of life, in different planets, in different social positions, in so many varieties.
So this is transcendental body. It has nothing to compare with the material body. Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. Kṛṣṇa also says, janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). So one has to know Kṛṣṇa. But that tattvataḥ, in truth to understand Kṛṣṇa, is very difficult job.
- manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
- kaścid yatati siddhaye
- yatatām api siddhānāṁ
- kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ
- (BG 7.3)
Not to understand superficially but to understand tattvataḥ. Then you are liberated immediately. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). One who has understood Kṛṣṇa tattvataḥ, he is immediately liberated person. He is fit for being transferred to the spiritual world. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Punar janma... One who does not understand Kṛṣṇa, he will have to repeat birth after birth. Nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). Unless you understand Kṛṣṇa—hariṁ vinā na mṛtiṁ taranti—you cannot escape death, birth, death, old age and disease. It is not possible.
So here is Ṛṣabhadeva giving example. So far the body is concerned, it has nothing to do with the spiritual activities. The body is as good as that of the animals, the crows and the cows, birds, beasts. He is showing the same now, that so far body is concerned, it is the same thing. But when you come to the spiritual platform, that is... This is negation or equation with the material body. But real activities are ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttama. Simply be ready to work for Kṛṣṇa, sad-dharma-pṛcchāt, as Sanātana Gosvāmī exemplified. He came to Caitanya Maha Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīm. He was minister. His business was with the big, big men, maṇḍala-pati. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīm sadā tucchavat: "It has no meaning. No more dealing with them." Tucchavat. Bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. And in order to give some benefit to the dīna-gaṇeśakau Gaṇa. Gaṇa means general public. To give them some benefit, that is Vaiṣṇava life. Stop material activities, and for the benefit of the mass of people, dīna. They are very dīna, very poor. Mahad-vicalanaṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. Dīna-cetasām. They're very, very crippled, dīnasām. Gṛhiṇām. Those who are gṛhi, they are very dīna, very poor-hearted, because they do not know anything except to maintain the family.
So because we may fail... There is chance; we are prone to fail. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). But sometimes we forget. Not sometimes—practically always we forget. That is material. When we forget that we are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, that is material life. Otherwise, if we remain servant of Kṛṣṇa, even in this material body, still, we are liberated.
- īhā yasya harer dāsye
- karmaṇā manasā vacā
- nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu
- jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate
So we must follow the rules and regulation very... Therefore it is said that viśrambham anavasthānasya śaṭha-kirāta iva saṅgacchante. We should not believe our mind, that we have become perfect. By mental dictation we should not be guided. That is a very bad practice, to think of, that "I have now become liberated, I don't require to follow the regulative principles." So we must be very careful.
By the superior arrangement, according to my karma I get a body with varieties of kāma, krodha, moha, like that. Kāma, because somebody has got the body of a human being, his kāma, desires, are different from the hogs and pigs because he has got a different body. He has got also kāma, and the human body, he has human being, he has got also kāma. But one is desiring to have a very palatable dish, and the other is desiring stool. The different..., according to the bodies the desires are (indistinct)-less. So conclusion is that when you get your spiritual body then the desire will be different. And that is prema. Desires are going on. Now the desires are designated. Designated. Because one has got a particular type of body, his desires are different from another because another person, he has got a particular type of body. But in the spiritual world, because there is no material body, only desire is how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Kāma kṛṣṇa-karmārpaṇe. This is spiritual. Spiritual means when the center is Kṛṣṇa. That is spiritual. Otherwise it is material. That is material means to forget Kṛṣṇa and satisfy His own senses. That is material. Just like a flower, a nice flower. One is accepting this flower for satisfying his smelling power and another is accepting the same flower with the desire that "Here is a nice flower. Let me offer it to Kṛṣṇa." So according to different mentality. The Kṛṣṇa, sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravindayor (SB 9.4.18), if we simply engage our mind to Kṛṣṇa, naturally the flower will be offered to Kṛṣṇa.
Pradyumna: "Lord Ṛṣabhadeva was the head of all kings and emperors within this universe, but assuming the dress and language of an avadhūta, He acted as if dull and materially bound. Consequently, no one could observe His divine opulence. He adopted this behavior just to teach yogis how to give up the body. Nonetheless, He maintained His original position as a plenary expansion of Lord Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa. Remaining always in that state, He gave up His pastimes as Lord Ṛṣabhadeva within the material world. If, following in the footsteps of Lord Ṛṣabhadeva, one can give up his subtle body, there is no chance that one will accept a material body again."
Prabhupāda:
Athaivam akhila-loka-pāla-lalāmo 'pi vilakṣaṇair jaḍavad avadhūta-veṣa.
(SB 5.6.6)
So this is also opulence of Kṛṣṇa. Jaḍavad avadhūta-veṣa. Although He is the proprietor, sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29), still, this is another opulence, how to become renounced. This is another opulence. It is as good as the other opulences. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya. All the op..., means property, money, wealth—these are aiśvarya. And He says, Kṛṣṇa, sarva-loka-maheśvaram. Not only in one planet but all the universes, all the planets within the universes, they are all the properties of Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-loka-maheśvaram. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya vīryasya. Strength... What is that? Eh?
That is vairāgya-vidyā. Even to the body. That is... Ṛṣabhadeva is teaching us. This is vairāgya-vidyā. Bhakti-yoga means vairāgya. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also has spoken the same thing, niṣkiñcanasya bhagavad bhajanonmukhasya. Niṣkiñcanasya. If you actually want to become a pure devotee, then you have to make this material way of life completely zero. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Then it will be possible. If you have still a pinch of attraction for material life, then it will be stopped, your promotion to the other, spiritual world. Simply attachment to Kṛṣṇa, that will make you advanced. Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā deham (BG 4.9). He can, after giving up this body... Mām eti. He does not accept any more the material body. He is immediately promoted to the spiritual world and Goloka Vṛndāvana, Vaikuṇṭha. There are many millions of Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual world.
Pradyumna: "Actually Lord Ṛṣabhadeva had no material body, but due to yogamāyā, He considered His body material, and therefore, because He played like an ordinary human being, He gave up the mentality of identifying with it. Following this principle, He began to wander all over the world. While traveling, He came to the province of Karṇāṭa in South India and passed through Koṇka, Veṅka and Kuṭaka. He had no plan to travel this way, but He arrived near Kuṭakācala and entered a forest there. He placed stones within His mouth and began to wander through the forest, naked and with His hair disheveled like a madman."
Prabhupāda:
- Tasya ha vā evaṁ mukta-liṅgasya bhagavata ṛṣabhasya.
- (SB 5.6.7)
Bhagavān, in His any form, He is mukta-liṅga. As we have got liṅga, deha, liṅga, this material body, and we have got our spiritual body also... The spiritual body is covered by the material coating. This is not our actual body. But in the case of Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no such difference. Deha, dehī. As we have got difference... Dehino 'smin yathā deha. Deha and dehī. Dehī means the owner of the body. Just like I say, "It is my body." I don't say, "It is I body." Everyone has got this experience. Even a child, ask him, pointing out to the finger. He will say, "It is my finger." Nobody says, "I finger," because there is difference between the body and the spirit soul. This is to be understood.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, "Any rascal"—of course, "rascal" he did not say; I say—that. "Anyone who considers the body of Kṛṣṇa is prakṛta"—prakṛta means material—"that is the greatest offense." The Māyāvādīs, they say so. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, māyāvādī haya kṛṣṇe aparādhī. They think that when... "God is impersonal, but when He becomes a person, He accepts the material body." That is wrong. Here it is said that mukta-liṅgasya bhagavata ṛṣabhasya. It is no difference. Even a big scholar, while writing comments on Bhagavad-gītā, when Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), he warns the reader, "It is not to the person. The soul or the spirit within the person." Means he is thinking Kṛṣṇa as ordinary person, and he's a big scholar. This is going on.
Kṛṣṇa condemns, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritaḥ (BG 9.11). Anyone who thinks that Kṛṣṇa has a different soul... No. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's so-called soul, the same thing. There is no difference. That is the... Otherwise how Kṛṣṇa can lift, as a seven-years-old boy, Govardhana Hill? Is it possible by this material body? No. That is not possible. This is common sense. But they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, mūḍhā. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā. They call, "It is mythology. Mythology. Everything mythology." First of all they cannot find out what is God, and when God comes, shows His opulences, these rascals say, "It is mythology." What God will do? He comes before you. He displays His mighty opulences. He expanded Himself into sixteen thousand form. "Mythology." So what can I do? What Kṛṣṇa can do? Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). Śāstra says He has got ananta-rūpam, but still one. There is no difference. They cannot understand the Absolute Truth, and they like to comment upon it foolishly.
The varṇāśrama-dharma, that is beginning of human civilization. So in this age they have already given up. There is no varṇāśrama. In India it is simply in name. Actually, there is no varṇāśrama. The, most of the people, they are śūdras. But without varṇāśrama, there cannot be any human civilization, because the aim of human life is to understand God. That is the aim of human life. Unfortunately, they have given up this idea, the aim of life is to understand God. You inquire all over the world, 99.9% will deny God or they have no clear idea of God. Even the so-called religionists, they have also no clear idea. Maybe some power; no clear idea. Neither they are interested to know. But so far we are concerned, we have got full description of the Lord and His pastimes, His activities. Everything is recorded in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other Vedic literatures. And God says in the Bhagavad-gītā personally that "I was existing in the past and I shall continue to exist in the future." Similarly, the living entities, they also existed in the past and they will continue to exist in the future individually. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Second Chapter. It is not that we shall be finished in future or there was no existence in the past. No. We are, both of us, we are eternal. God, Kṛṣṇa, and we, living entities, we are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Our destruction of this material body does not mean we, as spirit soul, we are destroyed. No.
Material means to satisfy one's senses. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītayā āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). Karma means they are working very hard like dogs and hogs, but the purpose is indriya-prīti. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ: they are mad. They should not... And why mad? Because the karma means you are creating another body. And as soon as there is another body, dehāntara-prāptir, so long you have got this material body, you'll suffer. That is the law of nature. Karmānu bandhaḥ. Yāvan prīti mayi deve... tavat karmānu bandhanaḥ. The karmānu-bandha will continue. Therefore in the śāstra it is recommended, yajñārthe karma anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. Don't act anything except for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. If you do anything for your sense gratification, that means you are being bound up by the laws of karma. Laws of karma, it is very strict according to the modes of activities. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte karma-jān guṇān (BG 13.22).
We have got our spiritual body. And they say the spirit is formless. No. Now if this body is my dress, then how the body has got these hands and legs? Just like because you have got actually hands and legs, therefore your coat and pant has got hands and legs. If you have no form, then how the coat and pant is made? The coat, the pant has got legs because actually I have got leg. The coat has hands or body because actually I have got body. So the argument that the spirit is formless, that is bogus. Unless I have got form, how the dress body is made with hands and legs and heads and everything?
So these are the subject matters to be considered. That is called brahma-jijñāsā, to understand about his spiritual life, spiritual knowledge. Then there will be question, "How the spirit soul—I am—I have contacted this material body?" And it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā that because I have accepted this material body, all miserable conditions are there. We are trying to get over miseries. That is called struggle for existence. Everyone is trying. He thinks, "One status of life is miserable. Let me avoid it and get better life." That is our struggle. In this way, from lower bodies we have come to this spiritual..., I mean to say, human form of body. Now it has to be decided what is our next body. Next body. That is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā.
So we have to understand from authoritative literature. The subtle body is working, just like when you sleep your gross body is not working, but the subtle body, the mind, intelligence and ego is working; therefore you dream. Your subtle body is lying is some apartment, and you have gone to the seaside by the mental body. So, so long this gross body is able, you again come and enter into this gross body, but when it is not workable, then you have to find out another gross body in the womb of a certain type of mother. This is the law of transmigration of the soul. That subtle body will be carried by the laws of nature. According to the work you have done to your whims, then a certain type of body will be offered to you. You will be forced to enter into the womb of a certain type of mother, and the mother will give you the body. That we have got, everyone, experience. In the mother's body, after pregnancy, the body grows. Everyone knows it. So body grows why? Because the soul has entered, and according to his karma, either good mother or bad mother... So you are growing the same body or better body or lower body, and when it is mature, then you come out. You begin again your life. That is called pravṛtti-mārga. In this way we have to accept birth, death, old age. As soon as you get this material body, there is birth, and as soon as there is birth, there is death. And as soon as the body is there, it is growing old. It is suffering disease.
Saṁsṛtiḥ means the cycle of birth and death. This is called saṁsṛtiḥ. Saṁsṛtiḥ. And asaṁsṛtiḥ means to stop the cycle of birth and death and go back to home, back to Godhead. Then, if you want to go back to home, back to Godhead, then you have to follow the nivṛtti-mārga. Pravrtti is there, my inclination is there, but if you practice nivṛtti-mārga, then you overcome the cycle of birth and death, saṁsṛtiḥ. So this human form of life is meant for nivṛtti-mārga, not to indulge the sense gratification but minimize sense gratification as far as possible. Try to make it zero. Then that is called nivṛtti-mārga. We are. We require this eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But if we try, if we practice, that is called austerity. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvaḥ (SB 5.5.1). Śuddha. Śuddha means purification, existence, purifying the existence. We are eternal, we are existing, and on account of impurity, we have got this material body, and it is subjected to the laws of material nature, and we have to change one after another. This is pravṛtti-mārga. But in the human form of life if we come to senses that "Why I shall accept repetition of birth, death, old age, disease, and so many miserable conditions?" so that is called sense. That is intelligence. That intelligence can be developed in human form of life, and if we do not do, then the same example: just you use the sandalwood for burning purpose.
Thank you very much. (end)
Therefore śāstra says that ayaṁ dehaḥ. Dehaḥ means this body, ayam means "this." What is this body? Now, nāyaṁ dehaḥ deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Deha-bhājām, deha-bhājām, one who has got this material body... Everyone, all living entities, either a cat, dog or human being, everyone has got this material body. If you analyze the body of a dog and your body, you will find the same ingredients—the same blood, the same skin, the same mucus, the same bone, the same urine, same stool. That is bodily construction. So bodily construction is the same. There is no difference. From chemical point of view, from physical point of view, the same thing. Just like the biologist. They study the human body by dissecting, the frog's body. They say, the biologists say, that there is similarity of anatomical construction of the frogs and the human body. Anyway, we also accept that because, after all, it is this material body. So the arrangement in the frog's body and in the dog's body or in the human body it must be the same material. So then what is the advantage of this human body? That is instructed, ayaṁ deha: "This body, this particular type of body, human body, is not meant for the purpose, serving the cats and dogs." Nāyaṁ dehaḥ deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Nṛloke means in the human society. Nṛ means human being. So human society, when you have got this nice body, you should not utilize this body for the same business as the cats and dogs and hogs are utilizing.
The different types of bodies means that is our punishment. We may think it as happiness, but as soon as you accept a material body, you are subjected to the four principles of material distresses. What is that? Janma, mṛtyu, jarā, vyādhi. You may think that you are very scientifically advanced—"There is no more distress in my life"—but Kṛṣṇa says, "No. If you are intelligent, then you should think of these four principles as distresses." What is that? Birth, death, old age and disease. But the modern so-called scientists, they cannot make any solution to birth, death, old age and disease; therefore they have left them aside: "Oh, don't care for them." That is ignorance. Our real problem is not this temporary problem that we are in such and such distressed condition. That is temporary. But real problem is, as Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). If anyone is intelligent enough, he should always keep before him that there are, these are my distresses: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. I don't want to die, so what I have done for stopping my death? What have I done to stop my birth? Huh? Because as soon as I die, again I enter into the womb of a particular type of mother. Hm? Again I have to live there, packed up. That is the... Everyone knows. I cannot move even. No independence.
Anyone who is fully, constantly, twenty-four hours engaged, avyabhicāriṇi... Avyabhicāriṇi, without any stoppage. Therefore I want that in our temple there should be program that we are always engaged in devotional service, twenty-four hours. But because we have got this material body we require a little rest, the minimum rest, as minimum as possible. Because the sleeping means waste of time. We are supposed to be engaged twenty-four hours in the service of the Lord, but as it is not possible, we have to sleep, take little rest, so that should be the minimum. Because the whole period sleeping means waste. So all these Gosvāmīs, they used to sleep not more than two hours. That was also not possible in some day. They were so busy in writing books and other...
So this should be minimized, and we should be engaged twenty-four hours. If we remain engaged in that way... We have got so many engagement. We are daily singing—I do not know whether you understand the meaning—śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira mārjanādau, yuktasya bhaktāṁś ca niyuñjato 'pi vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam **. We have got śrī-vigraha. The śrī-vigraha-sevā—all rising early in the morning, arrange for maṅgala āratrik, then dressing, then offering food, then āratrik, so many hours. The whole day can be used in that way. Then reading books, class, taking care of the temple.
"If anyone understands about My appearance and disappearance and activities in truth, not superficially, in truth..." Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Tattvataḥ means truth, not superficially, ephemerally. Actually. What he gains? He gains that tyaktvā deham, after giving up this body... Because we have to give up this body, every one of us. We are giving up body every moment. So the last phase of giving up this body is called death. Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā deham... After giving up this body, punar janma naiti, he does not accept any more a material body. Why? Mām eti. Because he returns back to Kṛṣṇa. When you have to go to Kṛṣṇa, then you have to prepare your body, spiritual body. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If your keep yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then gradually you make, you prepare your next body, spiritual body, which carries you immediately to Kṛṣṇa-loka, and you become happy and live there perpetually, blissfully.
Thank you very much. (end)
So these two kinds of things are going on, parallel. But actually, everyone who is encaged in this material body, he's unhappy. That is the sum and substance of the whole material existence. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said, dvaite bhadrābhadra sakale samān. In the dual world or in this material world, what we have manufactured that "This is very nice and this is not nice"—this bad or good conception—he says that it is simply mental concoction. Actually, there is nothing good here. One should be very much pessimistic. Otherwise, he'll have to remain in the darkness of ignorance of this material nature. One should thoroughly understand that we are in a very precarious condition of this material... Because they have no information that there is happy life, there is eternal life, there is blissful life. They have no information. They think, "This is the life. So let us adjust things as far as possible." This is the covering energy of material energy.
Tat tu nimitta-pramattaḥ śanair labhate nānya iti sadṛṣṭāntam āha. Pathyam eva annam aśnataḥ puruṣān yathā vyādhayo na bādhante tathā niyamādi kārtā kṣemāya tattva-jñānāya samartho bhavati. Very nice. He says just like a person who is following the rules and regulation prescribed by the physician. A man may be diseased. Every one of us is, some way or other, we are diseased. This material body means we are in diseased condition. So he is giving very nice example, that,
- nāśnataḥ pathyam evānnaṁ
- vyādhayo 'bhibhavanti hi
- evaṁ niyamakṛd rājan
- śanaiḥ kṣemāyā kalpate
- (SB 6.1.12)
Just like in diseased condition of life there are some restraints. Doctor says that "You are suffering from diabetes. You should not take sugar. You should not take sugar, you should not eat this thing, that thing," so many restriction. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that niyama-kṛd, if you follow the regulation and rules of life, then śanaiḥ ksemāya kalpate, then very soon that dirty things of the heart can be cured. Just like we prescribe. Not prescribe—it is already there in the śāstras. Our students, those who are initiated specially, we say that "Don't have illicit sex life, don't take part in gambling, don't take foodstuff except vegetables, and don't take intoxicants." Four rules. So if these four rules are followed, gradually, gradually, one becomes free from the dirty things of the heart.
"They are acting adversely, against the principle of life." Vikarma. Karma, vikarma. Karma means to act according to the injunction of the śāstra, and vikarma means to act against. Then you suffer. So vikarma. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Now, why they are doing? Because they are mad, pramattaḥ. What for mad? Yad indriya-prītaya: "Simply for sense gratification." There is no other profit. A temporary sense gratification. They are acting so sinfully. So Ṛṣabhadeva says, na sādhu manye: "This is not good." Why? Yata ātmano 'yam: "Because you have got already this material body, this temporary body." So "That's all right. I have got this temporary body. It will be finished." No. Asann api kleśada: "Although it is temporary, so long you will possess this material body, you will have to suffer so many suffering, threefold miseries." So they don't care for it because illiterate. Not illiterate—ignorant. Literary knowledge is not sufficient. There must be real knowledge. The real knowledge you will get from the Vedas. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Real knowledge you will get from guru, from Kṛṣṇa. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). That is real knowledge. Otherwise, anything has got some knowledge, that knowledge is not sufficient.
So there are different varieties of sinful activities, just like there are different varieties of diseases. To become diseased is not our normal life. To remain healthy is our normal life. When we become diseased, that is abnormal condition of life. Therefore we want to treat, get out of the disease. Similarly, this material life is the diseased condition of the living being. We are all living beings, but because we have accepted this material body, we are suffering. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). Now we require this fan. Why? Because feeling some pains on account of heat. That heat is felt by the body, not the soul. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. These material pains and pleasure, they are simply touching this body, not the soul. Soul is always aloof. Just like we are on a car. Suppose there is some accident: the car is broken, but not the person, the driver, is broken. The car is broken. But because the driver or the proprietor of the car is too much adhered to the car, when the car is broken, his heart fails. Actually the person has nothing to do with the car, but because he is too much attached to the car, when the car is broken, he thinks, "I am finished." Heart is broken. Like that.
Just like a father engages his son in the same way, the same family life, same business life, same working day and night. But he does not think that "I was a married man. I got children. I have got business. I have got car. Whether I have become happy?" That he does not conclude, that "Again I am engaging my son in the same business? So why shall I be unhappy if my son has joined the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement?" No. He wants, "Please come home and again be doing the same thing. Which I have done and I am frustrated, you do the same thing and be frustrated." (laughter) This is called punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Nobody will advise. His son will become hippie—he will tolerate: "This is modern fashion." And if he joins Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, he is unhappy, because he wants that "My son also be doing the same thing." That is called punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). The world is going like that. They are chewing the chewed. We are teaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that "What you will gain by this material way of life? Just try to understand Kṛṣṇa, and then you will get the greatest benefit." Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). The all troubles which we are suffering, that is due to our accepting this material body. That they do not know. They do not know except this material body anything. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kunape tri-dhātuke, sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13).
So long the material world is there, the living entities are after sense enjoyment like a madman. This is the position. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). They are acting very irresponsibly, and all kinds of sinful activities they are committing like a madman, without any responsibility of life. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). And what for they are doing? Yad indriya-prītaye, simply for sense gratification, that's all. So Ṛṣabhadeva says, na sādhu manye: "This is not good." "Why it is not good? I am enjoying life." No, you are not enjoying. Because you have got this material body, there is no question of enjoyment. It is simply suffering. And you are thinking it is enjoyment. That is illusion. That is māyā. You are accepting something which is not.
So everyone should be careful, that "I have got this material body. This is disease. Why I shall get material body?" That they do not know. From Bhagavad-gītā we understand, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We are not finished after the body is annihilated, no, or destroyed, no. So we are eternal. That is called brahma-jñāna. Unless one has the brahma-jñāna, that "I am not this body," ahaṁ brahmāsmi, aham, "I am brahman, spirit soul," so people will go on doing all irresponsible things. Because he does not know. So we human being should come to the understanding—that is knowledge—that so long we get this material body, this is my disease. And disease means suffering. Nobody can say that "By being diseased, I am very happy." Nobody will say that. Disease means suffering. "So the śāstra says—and I am practically experiencing—that I am eternal. I am changing body every moment. So I am eternal. Why I am put into this condition, repetition of birth and death?" This is intelligence. Unless one comes to this intelligence, he is not human being. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13).
So it is recommended that adhayo vyādhayaḥ. There are three kinds of miserable condition—everyone, not for a particular person—adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. And as soon as you get this material body, you will have to suffer. So if you want to stop this suffering, then you must live regulative life. Regulative life is recommended in the next verse,
- tapasā brahmacaryeṇa
- śamena ca damena ca
- tyāgena satya-śaucābhyaṁ
- yamena niyamena vā
- (SB 6.1.13)
These are prescribed duties of human being. What are the prescribed duties? The first prescribed duty is tapasā, they must execute austerities. This is human life. That is everywhere recommended. Ṛṣabhadeva also recommended, tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed sattva: "My dear boys, don't live like cats and dogs and hogs." He advised. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). "If I don't work hard, how shall I satisfy my senses? At night I must have this intoxication, this woman, this club, this If I don't work hard how shall I get this enjoyment?" So Ṛṣabhadeva says, "This kind of enjoyment is available to the hogs.
They do not believe that there is next life, but dismantle this material condition of life. That is their nirvāṇa theory. Because Buddha philosophy was taught not amongst very intelligent person, atheist class of men. So that is punar... They are also trying for punar-janma-jayāya. The Christians, the Lord Christ, he also said that "Come to kingdom of God," not repetition of birth here again and again. That is the principle of all religious system. Punar-janma-jayāya. So it is not for the Hindus, Muslim, or Christian. Every human being should try his best, how to avoid to get another material body. This is the basic principle of civilization. But this can be attained only when you agree to live a regulative life. Just like we see one..., what is called? "Repent sinners." What is that? (laughter) Every day we go, see that. So one must be repentant for his sinful activities. One must know what are sinful activities. Apart from any other scripture, in Christian scripture it is said, "Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not covet. Thou shall not do this." These are sinful activities. Otherwise why it is forbidden, "Thou shall not"?
So people are neglecting. Any religious system—it doesn't matter—forbids, "Don't commit sinful life, you will suffer." So people have made a civilization that "There is no life, and you can go on irresponsibly, as you like, enjoy life, and never mind if I become a dog. What is the wrong there?" That's all. This kind of civilization must be stopped if we want to remain a human being. And if we don't want, if we want to remain as cats and dogs, that is a different thing. But if you want to remain as human being, you must live regulative principle. And that we are teaching. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is teaching regulative life for next spiritual life, back to home, back to Godhead. This is our mission. So regulative life means... Sinful life, if we become sinful, irresponsible, then another material body. That is the advice. Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada. As soon as you get another material body, it is suffering. So try to realize these things. Therefore, punar-janma-jayāya. The whole aim should be how to conquer over again material... This is intelligence. This is intelligence.
Now he clearly summarizes: na tathā hy aghavān. Aghavān means one who is sinful. Every one of us sinful, more or less. That's all. Otherwise, unless you are sinful, you don't get this material body. As soon as we are free from sinful life, then we are liberated. We are transferred to the spiritual world, and we get spiritual body. The whole process is how to cleanse ourself from the contamination of our sinful life. That is material world. So here Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that na tathā hy aghavān rājan. "My dear King"—rājan, he's the king, rājan. Aghavān, "Those who are sinful...," rājan na tathā hy aghavān rājan pūyeta. Pūyeta means becomes purified from contamination. Tapa-ādibhiḥ. Tapa-ādibhiḥ..., tapa means this austerity, beginning from austerity, tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena damena ca (SB 6.1.13). I've described. We have discussed. He says that one cannot be completely purified by executing these process of purificatory methods. Na tathā. Maybe. Just like there are many examples. There are Dhruva, Viśvāmitra Muni. He underwent all this tapasya. He was a kṣatriya. He wanted to become a brāhmaṇa. There was a quarrel between him and a ṛṣi. So he saw the extraordinary power of the ṛṣi, and he wanted to become a brāhmaṇa. So he began austerity. But he became also a victim of Menakā, the society girl of heavenly planet. And being entangled, he begot a child. In this way he became implicated, because he was not pure.
So we have been discussing for the last few days how to become free from the reaction of our sinful life. That is real problem. But people, they have no knowledge what is life, what is sinful life, what is pious life, why we are put into this condition that "We have to do this; we haven't got to do that." This is real philosophy of life. The āsuras, as we were discussing in this morning walk, they do not know it. Āsurās... Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca na vidur āsurāḥ janāḥ. We are living... In the ordinary life also, we live a little carefully so that we may not fall sick. For that purpose there is very vigilance in the immigration department that in Australia we had some nice mangoes brought from Bombay, and they did not allow to take it. They thought this mango is more dangerous than the dry meat. They will allow importation of dry meat, three hundred years old, (laughter) put into the refrigerator, and that is imported. That is not infectious. But mango, very nice mango, fresh mango—we started in Bombay at night, and we came in the morning, it has become poisonous. So we are so much precautious that not any germs, infectious disease, may enter. That is there. But what is that infection which has caused me to accept this material body again and again? That they do not know. That they do not know. They do not believe in the next life, and therefore āsurāḥ janāḥ. This is, the symptom or characteristic of the āsurāḥ janāḥ. You should be precautious. That is natural. We become precautious, that "We should not do this so that I may not fall sick." But we do not know what is our real sickness. That we do not know.
"Somebody" means "very rarely." It is not so easy thing to become vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ. Yesterday I explained that Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa, says that yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Siddhi means perfection of life. Generally they take it aṣṭa-siddhi of yoga practice—aṇimā, laghimā, mahimā, prāpti, siddhi, īśitva, vaśitva, prākāmya. So these are called siddhis, yoga-siddi. Yoga-siddhi means you can become smaller than the smallest. Our actually magnitude is very, very small. So by yoga-siddi, in spite of having this material body, one yogi can come to the smallest size, and anywhere you keep him packed, he will come out. That is called aṇimā-siddhi. Similarly, there is mahimā-siddhi, laghimā-siddhi. He can become lighter than the swab of cotton. The yogis, they become so light. Still there are yogis in India. Of course, in our childhood we saw some yogi, he used to come to my father. So he said that he could go anywhere within very few seconds. And sometimes they go early in the morning to Jagannātha Purī, to Rāmeśvaram, to Haridwar, and take their bathing in different Ganges water and others. That is called laghimā-siddhi. He became very light. He used to say that "We are sitting with our guru and just touching. We are sitting here, and after few seconds we see in a different place." This is called laghimā-siddhi.
Even one priest in Boston, he was astonished that "These boys, Christian boys or the Jewish boys, they are our men. And they did not care to know what is God, what is... Now they are after God. They are mad. How it is?" There are many practical proof. Just like in our many temples. The Los Angeles temple, it was sold by the church because nobody was coming. Nobody was coming. We have many churches purchased in that way. Now you will see in Los Angeles it is always packed up. So we did not bring all these men from India. The men are the local men, and the church is the same church. Why they are coming? Why they are taking interest? So this is the effect of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy. He is personally being merciful. He is distributing, Kṛṣṇa Himself. Therefore so quickly. So if we keep ourself in the right way of executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it will be possible—even in this very life we shall be perfect. Perfection means tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). This body, this material body, we have to give up. Everyone knows. But those who are not becoming perfect, they will have to come back again to accept another body. But those who are developed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this is the final giving up material body, go back to home, back to Godhead. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And try to execute it very carefully, lovingly. Then your life is successful. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9).
So this is the summarization of our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that the path followed by pure devotees. Pure devotees means who has no material desire. That is pure devotee. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Śūnya means zero, one who has made all material desires zero. That is the way. In the Buddha philosophy it is called nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa means make zero, śūnyavādi. But we cannot remain in the śūnya. That is not possible. Śūnyavādī-nirvāṇa means to give up material desires. It is not possible to give up desires. That is not possible. To give up desires means I am dead body, a stone. If I have got life, if I am not a stone, there must be desires. Where is the living entity who has no desires? That is not possible. If we kill somebody to make him desireless, that "If you are killed, then there will be no more desire," no, the desire will continue in the subtle body. Even one is finished, this material body... Sometimes they commit suicide out of frustration, that "This desire is not fulfilled. Let me commit suicide." No. That is ignorance. Desires continue in the subtle body, mind, intelligence, and ego. And to fulfill the desire, Kṛṣṇa will give you another body. If we make a desire, it must be fulfilled and Kṛṣṇa will give you facilities. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). Desire is so strong. So how to make it zero? That is not possible. To make it zero means no more material desire. That is to make zero material desires. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170).
So literatures also, there are different kinds of literature. For the crowlike men there are different kinds of literature. And for the swanlike men there are different kinds of literature. So swanlike men..., swan means haṁsa. From nature's study you can see. The swans, they have got a special qualification. What is that? If you give a swan milk mixed with water, the swan will take out only the milk portion, and the water portion will remain. That means those who are swanlike men, they take the essence, not the adulteration. Similarly, there are elevated persons who are also called paramahaṁsa. Paramahaṁsa. The same example of the haṁsa, swan. Paramahaṁsa means they are interested with the essence of this world, not with the adulteration. What is the adulteration? The adulteration is matter and the essence is spirit. Just like this body. What is this body? This body is that I am a spirit soul, living entity. I am encaged in this material body. Everything. Even in the atom there is some active principle. A drug, there is some active principle. So similarly, in this body, my body, your body, or any body, what is the active principle? The active principle is that living soul. As soon as the active principle is gone, then it is useless. "Dust thou art, dust thou be-est." Then this body is made of this earth, and it again becomes earth. Either as stool or as earth or as ashes. These are the our experience. Just like Hindus, they burn this body. So this body become ashes. And there are communities, they throw out the body for being eaten up by birds and beasts. So it becomes stool. Because after eating they will pass stool. So the aftereffects of this beautiful body will be stool or ashes. We are now soaping so nicely, dressing so nicely this body, but the (laughs) aftereffects will be stool or ashes. Or earth. In your country you bury the body. So after few days it will be moth-eaten, and it will be turned into earth.
So we have to give up this body and we have to accept another body. So labor or work for such body which will no more be material body. This is intelligence. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25). Next body means as we are acting, according to the resultant action of our activities, we get next body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). How you get next life? In this life we are acting in a certain way, and by nature we shall get a similar body. Nature's law is so perfect that the law you... Just like infection. I have several times explained. You infect some disease, the disease will come out. Not that somebody will come to award you the disease. By nature's way, it will come out. If you say that "Somebody will come," no. The nature's law is so perfect. Just like if you touch fire, immediately it will burn, not that you have to wait. Similarly, nature's law. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). As you are associating with different modes of material nature, you are creating your future.
So there is future life. You should take it. You should try to understand it. It is not very difficult, but by the modern education we have become so dull-headed, we cannot understand the simple truth that we have to change this body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). So this is a fact. You take it. So we must have the next life at least without any danger. Not to go to the hellish planet. At least remain in this planet. That we can do. Yānti bhūtāni bhūtejyā. If you want to stick to this planet or this world, that also you can get the facility. And if you want to go to the higher planets, that also you can get. And if you go to the hellish planet, that also the possibility is there. And if you want to go to Kṛṣṇa, that possibility... (break) ...yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām (BG 9.25). So we are creating a situation by our activities, our next life. This is the fact. So why not work for going back to Kṛṣṇa? This is intelligence. So what is the benefit of going to Kṛṣṇa? Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramam (BG 15.6). You won't have to again come back and accept this material body. This is benefit.
They want to make the spiritual world without varieties because they have got a very bad experience of this material varieties. So their conception is just the opposite. Just the opposite. There must not be any varieties. Just like there are... They say Kṛṣṇa... Because they are convinced the Supreme Brahman is impersonal, brahma-jyotir, so when brahma-jyotir appears, He must take a form of this material world. Just like we are spiritual sparks, but we have taken this material form in this material world, so they take it also that God, when He comes, appears, He also accepts a material body. That is called Māyāvādī. But Kṛṣṇa says that janma karma me divyam: (BG 4.9) "When I come I do not accept a material body." Divyam, janma divyam. It is completely spiritual. And yo jānāti tattvataḥ: "Anyone who knows it, he becomes liberated." But these Māyāvādī philosophers, they do not know Him; therefore they are not liberated. Do you follow? Yes. They are not liberated. Kṛṣṇa says, "One who knows perfectly well about Me, he becomes liberated." But they do not know. They accept Kṛṣṇa as ordinary man. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). Because they are rascals, they accept Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being. God can display Himself, manifest Himself, just exactly like ordinary human.
So this is the advancement of spiritual life. When we conquer over these things, that means we have come to the spiritual platform. So, so long we have got this material body, it is not possible, but try to minimize. Try to minimize. Therefore Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī... He was very rich man's son. His father's income, five hundred years, ago was twelve hundred thousand rupees. So now, you know, the exchange is... What is the exchange today? It is at least five hundred times increased. Anyway, that Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, when left home... His father and uncle was very strictly observing. He was given very nice beautiful wife and very beautiful house. But he was not very much satisfied. He wanted to join Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So his father was very strictly keeping guard, that "This boy may not go out." Just like some of your parents do. (laughter) So... But this cannot be checked. So Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, after all, by some tricks—after all, he was very intelligent, rich man's son—he went away to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And his mother was advising to his father that "Why don't you handcuff this boy?" So his father was saying that "I have already handcuffed him with such beautiful wife and such beautiful residence, and he has opened this. Now what this material handcuff will do?" So anyway, he left father's home and approached Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He was in Jagannātha Purī, and he was intrusted to Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's secretary, to take care of him.
Those who are determined that in his life we shall finish this material way of life... That is real struggle for existence. Actually everyone is trying. Material life means it is full of distress. Duḥkhālayam, Kṛṣṇa says. So, so long you prolong this material way of life, that is called struggle for existence. The struggle for existence, as I have repeated, this word is very common, but nobody knows what is that struggle for existence and what is the platform of becoming fittest. Nobody knows. It is we are preaching. If you remain in this material world, then struggle for existence will continue. And fittest means one who has come to the spiritual platform. He is fittest to survive. What is survival? Who is going to survive? Do you mean to say that by cultivating health culture, big, strong, and you will survive? Nobody will survive. So who will survive? Only Kṛṣṇa conscious. If he is strictly Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he will survive. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). The Kṛṣṇa conscious person who has studied Kṛṣṇa only (?) perfectly, then he is fit. This body is also... This body is not permanent, that's a fact. But tyaktvā dehaṁ, after giving up this body, no more material body—spiritual body. Sat-cit-ānanda-vigraha.
Otherwise I shall kill you. Here is knife." This is called bandy-akṣaiḥ. Arrest somebody and take whatever he has got. This is called bandy-akṣaiḥ. And kaitavaiḥ, cheating: "I shall give you this. I shall..." There are so many cheating processes. Bandy-akṣaiḥ kaitavaiś cauryaiḥ. Cauryaiḥ means stealing. Cauryair garhitām. All these are condemned things. Vṛttim āsthitaḥ. He became situated in this profession for earning his livelihood. Because he lost sadācāra, he must be coming... You'll find this. As soon as there is no sadācāra, people will be addicted to all these means. Any way get money. Bandy-akṣaiḥ kaitavaiś cauryair garhitāṁ vṛttim āsthitaḥ. Why? Now, bibhrat kuṭumbam. He is thinking that "I have to maintain my family, my children, so any way I must get money." So bibhrat kuṭumbam. Kuṭumbam aśuciḥ, unclean. This is unclean method, aśuci. And yatayām āsa dehinaḥ. And as soon as one takes all this profession, it means his business will be to give trouble to the all living entities. Yatayām āsa dehinaḥ. Dehinaḥ means one who has accepted this material body. So he will not hesitate to kill anyone because he is practiced to give pains and misery to other living entities, and what to speak of killing animals under the plea, "The animal has no soul"? This rascaldom will go on.
So the civilization is how to make human being elevated to the standard of becoming a brāhmaṇa, dvija. And if one dvija falls down by bad association, especially by prostitution, then he comes to this. This is the Ajāmila's life.
So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that why we shall accept this material body, which is limited? Maybe one hundred years or one thousand years or one hundred second or millions of... The our advice is that take, revive your original, permanent life, eternal life, and go back to home, back to Godhead. That is our program. Don't die like Ajāmila and others. This is our program. Those who are intelligent, they will take advantage of this movement, and... Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). So take advantage of this movement intelligently, and there is no difficulty. You can see practically. We are not in any kind of difficulty. Very easily... Susukhaṁ kartum avyayam (BG 9.2). Those who are devotees executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, susukham, they are happy. Susukhaṁ kartum... To execute this Kṛṣṇa conscious atmosphere, susukham, what is that? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and dance and take prasādam. That's all. Where is the difficulty? So our request is take advantage of this movement and push it on. Those who are in ignorance, they do not know what is the value of life, what is next life. Just enlighten them. That is a good business. Kṛṣṇa will recognize. Anyone who is pushing on this movement, he is immediately recognized. Because Kṛṣṇa wants... We are all sons of Kṛṣṇa.
Those who are determined that "In this life we shall finish this material way of life, or material..." That is real struggle for existence. Actually everyone is trying. Material life means it is full of distress, duḥkhālayam. Kṛṣṇa says. So so long you'll prolong this material way of life, that is called struggle for existence. The "struggle for existence" and "survival of the fittest," this word is very common but nobody knows what is that struggle for existence and what is the platform of becoming fittest. Nobody knows. It is we are preaching that "If you remain in this material world, then struggle for existence will continue." And fittest means one who has come to the spiritual platform, he is fittest to survive. What is survival? Who is going to survive? Do you mean to say by cultivating health culture, very strong, you'll survive? Nobody will survive. So who will survive? Only Kṛṣṇa conscious. If he is strictly Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he will survive. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). The Kṛṣṇa conscious person who has studied Kṛṣṇa only, nothing more, perfectly, that is fit. This body also, this body is not permanent. That's a fact. But tyaktvā deham, after giving up this body no more material body; spiritual body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1).
So the child said, "My dear best of the asuras, I think that is the best thing for the persons who have accepted this material body, asad grahā..." Why anxiety? The anxiety is because this material body. I am thinking of "I may be hot." Oh, what's that hot? The hot means body. The soul is never hot. The soul is eternal, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). That they do not know. They think this body, "I'm this body. I'll be hot, I'll die, I'll this," and so on and so many. Simply anxiety: "How I shall protect my body? How I shall protect my bodily relationship?" everything in connection with the body. Everything asat. The body's asat, perishable, temporary. So whatever you have got in relationship with this body—my country, my society, my bank balance, my money, my wife, children—everything in the body, they're also temporary. So they are very, very anxiety. Tat sādhu manye. So "I want to relieve them from this anxiety." What is that? Tad sādhu manye asura-vārya dehināṁ sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt. Then, what you advise? Hitvātmā-pātaṁ gṛham andha-kūpam. He's fallen in this dark region of black well, this family life.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to give them idea of real enjoyment. If... So real enjoyment means that when you are uncontaminated with this material body. Spiritual enjoyment. Now we are trying to enjoy with this body. The body is senses. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhuḥ. Bodily enjoy means the sense enjoyment. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ, manasas tu parā buddhiḥ (BG 3.42). In this way we have to understand that this body is false; therefore the bodily enjoyment is also false. That they cannot understand. This is their misfortune. Therefore one who does not understand in the beginning of spiritual life that "I am not this body. I am different from body..." Then his spiritual life begins. Otherwise, cats and dogs and everyone is engaged with this bodily enjoyment. So long we shall be captivated by this bodily enjoyment, we are in the groups of animals. That's all.
Say, fifty years, hundred years, that's all. Not this kind of home. So that home is eternal. That is called, therefore, sanātana. Avyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ. Yasmin sarveṣu naśyatsu means when in the material world everything will be dissolved, annihilated, then it is said that the other nature... We have tried to describe in our Easy Journey to Other Planets, anti-material, material and anti-material. So that world, the spiritual world, there is if you go beyond this covering of the sky. You cannot touch even the ultimate covering even, Brahmaloka. We can see there is a covering round, what is called? Horizon. That is covering. This covering is covered by seven layers, same earth, water, fire, ether. One layer is ten times bigger than the other layer. If you can penetrate and go through, then there is the other world, spiritual world. So this is the position. We should be clever enough to understand the constitution of this material world, this material body, and the spirit soul, how the spirit soul can be liberated, how the spirit soul can go to the spiritual world and live there eternally. Everything is very nicely described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Everyone can go. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25).
Mālatī: Is it true he has the same body in the spiritual world and when he comes into the material world?
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is Nārada's facility. He has got the benediction that he can travel anywhere, without any restriction. Even some of the yogis... Durvāsā Muni, he also went to the spiritual world, saw Lord Viṣṇu. And Arjuna also went to the spiritual world with Kṛṣṇa. So, not that this material body cannot be transformed into spiritual body by the supreme will of the Lord. Anything can be changed. We think that this is stereotyped; it cannot be transformed. No. That's not the fact. By the supreme will, anything can be changed into anything.
Revatīnandana: I have a question. One of my prabhus told me that you once said that your Guru Mahārāja said that Jesus Christ was a śaktyāveśāvatāra. Is that correct?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because he said it, it must be correct. Muhammad also, śaktyāveśāvatāra. Śaktyāveśāvatāra means a living entity is especially empowered to preach the glories of the Lord. Lord Buddha is also śaktyāveśāvatāra. They are not ordinary human being. They are especially empowered personalities.
Revatīnandana: In the picture in the revealed book, Nāradajī is asking questions of Lord Brahmā. I was thinking that Nārada has actually an all-spiritual body, and Brahmā has a material form, material body. And yet Nārada appears to Brahmājī to ask questions from him as spiritual master. How is that?
Prabhupāda: Brahmājī also enters the spiritual kingdom at the time of annihilation with his persons.
Revatīnandana: Does he undergo a change of body at that time?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That automatically takes place. Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu's son is Prahlāda. It doesn't matter. And spiritual body, material body, that can be changed. (break)
Revatīnandana: It will all be one thing(?), spiritual into material or material...
Prabhupāda: Material means when the consciousness is not Kṛṣṇa. That is material. The same example, that iron rod, if kept to the fire, gradually it becomes warm, warmer, and at last it becomes red. When it is red, it is no longer iron; it is fire. Similarly, by spiritual association, your body gradually becomes spiritualized. And at the perfection stage, there is no more material activities, simply the activities of the fire.
So the Ajāmila, young man, on account of association with a prostitute, he lost his good character and began to maintain the prostitute by stealing, by cheating, one after another. So by mistake or on account of the age, he became captivated by the prostitute. So Kṛṣṇa was watching. Therefore He gave him this chance that on account of his affection towards the child, he will at least repeat "Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa." "Nārāyaṇa come. Nārāyaṇa take your food. Nārāyaṇa sit down." So bhāva-grāhi-janārdanaḥ. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. He takes the purpose or the essence. Because the holy name has its effect. So although this Ajāmila, by his foolishness, he was attached to the material body of the son, but because he was chanting "Nārāyaṇa," Kṛṣṇa was taking that essence, that's all, that "Some way or other, he is chanting." The importance of chanting is so nice. So do not give up chanting. Then Kṛṣṇa will protect you. This is the example. "Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa," you practice. Naturally, when you are in danger, you will say, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." This much do. If you are practiced to do something, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then you are safe.
Why tapasya? Divyam: for spiritual realization. Why it is necessary? Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattva. Your existence will be purified because... Just like in diseased condition we cannot relish very palatable foodstuff. A man, jaundice, suffering from jaundice, if you give him something just like candy, sugar candy, he'll taste it as bitter because he is suffering from jaundice. But sugar candy is not bitter. Similarly, in our diseased condition, this material body, actually you cannot taste real happiness. That is not possible. Therefore we have to cure the disease. Bhagavad-gītā therefore says curing the disease means janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-doṣa..., kleśa-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). Those who are actually advancing in spiritual life, they should always keep in front that "We may advance in so many things, but these four things—birth, death, old age, and disease—cannot be solved by our so-called material advancement of science." And Bhagavad-gītā points out that you should always keep these four principles of misery in front. Then you'll be able to advance in spiritual path. And if you become callous—"Oh, death takes place. What is that?" Why you should die? You are not subjected to death. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Even after the destruction of this body you do not die. "Then why should I accept this material body?" This is intelligence. This is science. "I do not want to be old. Why I become old?" Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam. Because the living entity is eternal, so why he should become old? Kṛṣṇa never becomes old. Kṛṣṇa's picture you have never seen old. Similarly, you also cannot become old.
So kasya vā kuta āyātāḥ kasmād asya niṣedhatha: "Then why you are forbidding us? You look so nicely, very highly born, and why you are forbidding us? We have come here to discharge our duties, to take this man to Yamaloka. He is so sinful. Why you are interrupting our business?" Yes. So in the next verses the description is there of the Viṣṇudūta. So sarve padma-palāśākṣāḥ: exactly the feature like Nārāyaṇa. Padma-palāśa: their eyes are compared with the lotus petal, very nice. Sarve: "All of you look so nice." Padma-palāśa-akṣāḥ pīta-kauśeya-vāsasaḥ. In Vaikuṇṭha, people, they also dress with yellow cloth, pīta-kauśeya, or this saffron color. This is Vaikuṇṭha dress. Kauśeya, pīta, the dress, garments. Kirīṭinaḥ: "with helmets." Kuṇḍalinaḥ: "with nice earring." Kirīṭinaḥ kuṇḍalino lasat-puṣkara-mālinaḥ, "and very nice flower garland." This is Vaikuṇṭha dress. Lasat-puṣkara-mālinaḥ, sarve ca nūtna-vayasaḥ: all young men. In Vaikuṇṭha there is no old age, although they are eternal. That is the real form of the spirit. The old age is due to this body, material body. Material thing is born and stays for some time, and then it is annihilated. So up to the time of annihilation, it becomes so old, nasty, bad-looking. But in the Vaikuṇṭha there is no such thing. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam.
This is another description of the feature. Sarve ca nūtna-vayasaḥ. In the Vaikuṇṭhaloka, the inhabitants are always young, just like Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu is always young. There is no old age. Old age is here in this material world because this material body becomes old, not the spirit soul. Spirit soul is always fresh. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So they are describing that "You are... You look all just very young." And sarve cāru-caturbhujāḥ: "And you are beautifully embodied with four hands." Sarve cāru-caturbhujāḥ. (aside:) What is that? Dhanur-niṣaṅgāsi-gadā-śaṅkha-cakrāmbuja-śriyaḥ: "And exactly like Viṣṇu, you have got dhanur, bows; and śaṅkha, conchshell; cakra, disc; gadā, club; and ambuja, padma, lotus flower. Everyone." That means everyone in the Vaikuṇṭhaloka, they are exactly like the bodily feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa. This is called sārūpya-mukti. There are five kinds of liberation. This liberation, to have the same bodily feature like Nārāyaṇa, is called sārūpya, "the form exactly like Viṣṇu." Sārūpya-mukti. There are five kinds of liberations: sāyujya, sālokya, sārūpya, sārṣṭi, sāmīpya (CC Madhya 6.266).
That is God. By His breathing, millions of universes are coming with exhaling. And when He's inhaling, billions of universes are going within. Can you show like that? That is also not original God. That is plenary expansion of God. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣa (Bs. 5.48). This transaction is going on in the body of Maha-Viṣṇu. The material world is being created and annihilated. When there is exhaling, the universes are coming into existence; when there is inhaling, it is all finished. This material world is like that. It is not permanent. Everyone got such experience. Your body, it has a beginning at a certain date from your father and mother. It stays for some time, it develops, it gives some by-products, then it becomes old and you finish. This is material body. Everybody knows it. Similarly, the whole cosmic manifestation, what you are seeing, so big things—it may be very big thing, but the process is the same. Either you take the body of an ant or you take the body of Brahmājī or... The process, the same rules and regulations. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). There is no change. So that is God. God is producing by His exhaling, inhaling, so many universes. Why should you take such a cheap God? As soon as the God has got some toothache, he goes to the dentist. And he's God! Don't take such cheap Gods. We don't take them. At least, we Kṛṣṇa conscious persons. Just to accept Kṛṣṇa as God...
Prabhupāda: Demigods or God, God is also situated in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Devaḥ. And sandhyā. In the morning there is sun, in the evening there is moon, and sandhyā ahanī. Ahanī means day. And diśaḥ, the direction: east, west, north, south, then corner, then up and down. These are called diśaḥ. Kam, then water. And kuḥ means the land. Kaṁ kuḥ svayaṁ dharma. And the Dharmarāja, Yamarāja, he is present. Iti, "thus," hi, "indeed," ete, "all these," daihyasya. Daihyasya means one who has accepted this body, material body. A living entity who has accepted this material body he has to work. This is called field of work. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is called What is called?
Devotees: Kṣetra.
Prabhupāda: Kṣetra, yes. Kṣetra-kṣetrajña. I am kṣetrajña. I am the soul. I know this is my body. I never say "I, the body." "My body." Never say "I body." Nobody says. So daihyasya. Any sane man, he knows that "I am not this body. It is my body." I never say, "I finger." "My finger." I never say, "I head." "My head." So this body is mine.
So nāyaṁ deha deho-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Everybody has got material body. The ant has got also material body, and Lord Brahmā has got also material body. Anyone who is in the material world, he has got this material body. Therefore it is called ayaṁ deha: "this deha, this body." I am not deha. That is the tenth-class ignorance if I think, "I am this body." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Everyone has got body, but nrloke, in the human society, the body which you have got, or the person who has got this human form of body, kaṣṭān kāmān na arhate, for such animal, having this material body, human body, it is not meant for working so hard. That is first-class civilization when people are not working very hard, living very peacefully, and getting their necessities of life. That is first-class civilization, not that to work day and night like hogs and dog, and get a cup of tea and little morsel of bread. That is not civilization. Therefore śāstra says, nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhu... (SB 5.5.1). This kind of hard labor for sense gratification little, it is done by the hogs and dogs. So to teach people to work day and night for simply eating purposes, sense gratification, that is hog civilization, according to śāstra. Nāyaṁ deha deho-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). Then what is the purpose of human life? Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed sattva yena brahma-saukhyaṁ anantam. You are seeking after happiness.
Nitai: "O inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha, you are all sinless, but those within this material world, they are all karmīs acting piously or impiously. Both kinds of activities are possible for them because they are contaminated by the three modes of nature and must act accordingly. One who has accepted a material body cannot remain inactive, and it is inevitable for one acting under the modes of nature to be sinful. Therefore all the living entities within this material world are punishable."
Prabhupāda:
- sambhavanti hi bhadrāṇi
- viparītāni cānaghāḥ
- kāriṇāṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sti
- dehavān na hy akarma-kṛt
- (SB 6.1.44)
So dehavān we have explained several times. Deha means the body, and vān means one who possesses. Asty arthe vatup. This vat-pratyāya is affixed when there is the meaning of possessing. Therefore Bhagavān. Bhāga means opulence, and vān means one who possesses. That is Bhagavān. So same thing, in the same process: dehavān. So dehavān, every one of us, dehavān. The dog is also dehavān; he has got body. I am also dehavān, every one of us.
So anyone who has got this material body, he cannot stop even for a moment working something. Na hy akarma-kṛt. This is the nature. He must do some... Just as child. Child is always restless. Similarly... "Child is the father of man." One who becomes father, the same restlessness because that is the nature. Na hi dehavān akarma-kṛt. So if you are not engaged in good work, then you must act badly. That is natural. You have to work. Therefore idle brain is devil's workshop. If you are sitting idly, then brain also will work, mind also will work. The bodily function will go. So if you don't engage yourself in good work, then you must be engaged in bad work. And if you are not engaged in good work and if you are engaged in... There are two things, good or bad. So in one of them we must be engaged.
Pradyumna: Translation: "O inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha, you are sinless, but those within this material world are all karmīs, whether acting piously or impiously. Both kinds of action are possible for them because they are contaminated by the three modes of nature and must act accordingly. One who has accepted a material body cannot be inactive, and sinful action is inevitable for one acting under the modes of material nature. Therefore all the living entities within this material world are punishable."
Prabhupāda:
- sambhavanti hi bhadrāṇi
- viparītāni cānaghāḥ
- kāriṇāṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sti
- dehavān na hy akarma-kṛt
- (SB 6.1.44)
This material world is karma-kṛt—you have to do something. Kṛṣṇa has explained that "Without acting, you cannot even maintain your body and soul together." Śarīra-yātrāpi te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ. If you become idle, then you cannot even maintain your body. That is the difference between civilized man and uncivilized man or developed country... (aside:) Stop that. Developed country and undeveloped country. Just like America. This land was inhabited by the Red Indians. They could not do anything, but the Europeans, when they migrated, they made it so beautiful country. So karma-kṛt, one has to work. This material world is so made. Tṛtīyā karma-saṅgā anyā śaktir īṣyate.
So in the previous verse we have discussed, dehavān na hy akarma-kṛt. Anyone who has got this material body, he has to work. Everyone has to work. In the spiritual body also you have to work. In the material body also you have to work. Because the working principle is the soul—soul is living force—so he is busy. Living body means there is movement. There is work. He cannot sit idly. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, "Not even for a moment one can be idle." That is the symptom of living being. So this working is going on according to the particular body. The dog is also running, and a man is also running. But a man thinks he is very much civilized because he is running on motorcar. Both of them are running, but a man has got a particular type of body by which he can prepare a vehicle or cycle, and he can run on. He is thinking that "I am running in greater speed than the dog; therefore I am civilized. This is the modern mentality. He does not know that what is the difference between running on fifty miles speed or five miles speed or five thousand miles speed or five millions miles of speed. The space is unlimited. Whatever speed you discover, it is still insufficient. Still insufficient.
It has been very broadly described by Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī. Read all this. Don't try to imitate. That is sahajiyā. We should know the position of Kṛṣṇa. His expansion of pleasure potency. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's līlā is put into the middle of the Tenth Canto. First of all, try to understand Kṛṣṇa from the very beginning. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). What is Kṛṣṇa? Vāsudeve, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. So what is Vāsudeva? Janmādy asya yato. Here is the original source of everything. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). First of all, try to understand Kṛṣṇa. So therefore Vyāsadeva has dedicated full nine cantos for understanding Kṛṣṇa. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). (break)...siddhis, they think of gopīs. That is recommended in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, siddha-deha. Where is siddha? And siddha-deha means there is no more any material lusty desires. That is siddha-deha. Yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt tad-avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne. So long we shall think of nārī-saṅga, association, unity with woman, we must consider this is material body. Not siddha body. Siddha body means anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). All material desires, zero. That is siddha body. So therefore it is very confidential. But to clear it, that "How Kṛṣṇa accepted to dance with so many gopīs," this was for clearance.
Just like a pig. It is very much fond of eating stool. So if you want to ask, "Why this animal is fond of eating stool?"... So dharma adharma jñāpaka, because in the past life this living entity practiced tamo-guṇa, no discrimination of eating... Tamo-guṇa means no discrimination. Eating... We have got four businesses in this life, so long we have got this material body: āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca, eating, sleeping and sex and defense. These are primary business of the body. So why there are different types of eating, different types of sleeping? Why different types of mating, sex intercourse, and different types of defense? It is due to different qualities of the nature. A dog is happy sleeping on the street. A man does not want to sleep on the street. He wants to sleep in a nice apartment. Why this difference of...? According to guṇa. A dog enjoys sex life on the street without any shame, but a man has got some social convention. So he does not do so. But now they are coming, improving, that "There is no harm if there is sex on the street. Why we should have apartment?"
So these are all due to different infection of the guṇa. Tamo-guṇa means shameless, tamo-guṇa. Rajo-guṇa means lusty desire. And sattva-guṇa means knowledge, to see things as they are. So just like here in the temple, we are cultivating sattva-guṇa, or more than that, above sattva-guṇa. Above sattva-guṇa. It is said in the śāstra that to live in the forest is sattva-guṇa. Sattva-guṇa, people have got tendency to live in a secluded place, solitary place, without any disturbance. That is sign of sattva-guṇa.
That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā, that "Arjuna, yourself, Myself, and all these persons who have assembled in this battlefield, all of us, we were existing before, we are existing now, and we shall continue to exist." Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is the first, preliminary knowledge of understanding spiritual life, that "I am eternal." Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācin. As spirit soul, I do not take birth, neither I die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). I am not finished with the destruction of this material body. That is going on already. My childhood body is destroyed now. You cannot find out where is that body. My youthhood body, that is destroyed. We cannot find out anymore. So in this way, this body will be also destroyed, and we shall get another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). In this way, we are changing body, one after another. So why there are different types of body? That means the living entity, spirit soul, he is contacting different types of material modes of nature. And according to that, we are developing a gross body. The transmigration of the soul means the gross body is lost. Because anything material, it will be finished. That is the nature of material, anything material. It will be finished. But the spirit soul is not finished.
So we have got this body according to our past work. Karmaṇā daivā-netreṇa jantra jantor deha upapatti (SB 3.31.1). How one gets a particular type of body? Because according to his past karma. Nature will automatically act. Just like if you contact some contaminous disease, nature will act. You will have to undergo the process of disease or develop that disease. So nature's law is working so nicely. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Everything is being done by the laws of nature. So, human body, when we are civilized, we should know that "Why I am suffering?" Although under the spell of māyā we take suffering as enjoyment. That is called māyā. Māyā means what is not. We are thinking we are enjoying, but actually we are suffering. In this material body we have to suffer. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). This example is given by Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, that suffering means on account of this body. There is pinching cold, scorching heat. We feel these things on account of this body. At a certain circumstances, we feel pain; at a certain circumstance we feel happy. But actually, this so-called happiness and distress is due to the body.
So a sensible man should consider: "Is it not possible to stop this material body? Because I am spirit soul, it is simply covering." Here, that is human life: how to stop this contamination of this material body. So, so long we shall work irresponsibly,
- nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma
- yad indriya-prītaya āpṛnoti
- na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam
- asann api kleśada asa dehaḥ
- (SB 5.5.4)
We do not understand that this deha, this body, is always kleśada. Kleśada means giving pains. For the time being, we may feel some pleasure, but actually it is a reservoir of pain, not pleasure. The example is given in this connection... Formerly, this was done by the government servants to criminal, to take a man in the middle of the river and drown him, and catching his hair, and when he's almost suffocating, then they again draw from the water and he takes little rest and again put him into the water. So that was the system of punishment. Similarly, whatever little pleasure we are feeling, that is exactly similarly the man, when he's taken from the water, that's all. Again he's to be drowned. This material world is like that.
Either you are President Nixon or a man in the street, you are already suffering. That's a fact. Now you are suffering on account of this body. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). And still you are doing something which will cause to accept another material body. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma. And you are suffering because you indulged in your past life sense gratification, and you have got this body according to karma, and again, if you are engaged in sense gratification, do not try to elevate yourself from this platform of sense gratification, then you'll again suffer. You'll get, by nature's way, you'll get another body according to the desire. According to the mentality you create at the time of death, nature will supply you another body. And as soon as you get another body, your suffering begins. Your suffering immediately begins, even from the womb of the mother. As soon as the body is developed, the suffering is there. To remain in that compact bag and for so many months, hands and legs all tied up, cannot move. And nowadays there is risk of being killed also. There is so much suffering from the beginning of my body in the mother's womb. And then I come out, again suffering, again suffering.
So one should have the sense that so long we shall go on accepting this material body, the sufferings will go on. We simply forget. So this awakening of consciousness is possible simply by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. It is so simple thing. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, then you'll understand. Ceto-darpaṇa. Suffering means there are so many dirty things within our heart. That is the cause of suffering.
So Ṛṣabhadeva said, "For only sense gratification, why you are accepting so much suffering life after life? Now you have got this human form of life, you just try to rectify, that no more material body. This is human life." Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed sattvam (SB 5.5.1). "You purify your existence, tapa, by tapasya, by austerity, penances." Therefore in the human life you'll find so many tapasvīs undergoing tapasya. Voluntarily not accepting the so-called material pleasures, that is called tapasya. Tapo divyam. So tapo means undergo some austerities, penances, for divyam. For awakening your spiritual existence. Then your struggle for existence will stop. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed sattvam (SB 5.5.1). Just like one man is infected with some disease. That is aśuddha, impure condition. So we try to make it purified by injection, by medicine. And similarly, we are getting repeatedly different types of body. Now we should purify this bodily existence. And that purification in this age, it is very, very simple: chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's contribution.
So we have to follow this. If we are actually serious about Kṛṣṇa consciousness and going back to home, back to Godhead, make our lives successful in this very life, then... Life successful means mukti, to be not entangled again with this material body. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). That is success. That after giving up this body... This body means the combination of the so many, twenty-four elements. So long we'll be entangled within this network of twenty-four elements, it is called conditioned life. And mukti, liberated, means no more entanglement. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpam. We are now entangled in these twenty-four elements, and mukti means we are not entangled. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpam. Because we are entangled, we are thinking otherwise. "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am this," "I am that," "I am that," "I have got so many duties." These things. But when one understands that these so-called duties and entanglement of these twenty-four elements of matter, "I do not belong this. I am aloof, I aloof," this understanding is called brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). At least theoretically if we understand, then our duty changes. Prasannātmā, fixed up. That whatever I am doing now, I am doing with this material, for the benefit of this material, not for my personal benefit. I am not these twenty-four elements. This is called mukti.
That's a fact. So if we want to come to the light... Because our qualification is, not only in this age, any living being who has accepted this material body, he is ajñaḥ; he is a rascal. He is a rascal, in ignorance, and he cannot control the senses. This is his qualification. Dehy ajño ajita-ṣaḍ-vargo. And on account of this ignorance and being unable to control the senses, then he unwillingly, he is being forced by nature to act sinful activities, unwillingly. Necchan. Necchan means unwilling. He doesn't like it. Just like even a thief: he is practiced to steal, so he knows that "I will be arrested again." He has had experience. He knows that "I will be again arrested, and I will go again to the jail, and will suffer there." But he is still forced to commit stealing again. A man suffering from venereal disease, he goes to the doctor, injection, so much painful. Still, he acts the same way. Necchan. Practice. "Habit is the..." What is called? "Second nature." So practice.
They give up: brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. But that will not stay. If you... Even if you give up for the time being, that jagat mithyā—"We have no business with the jagat"—it may be sentimentally enduring for some time, but because you are not purified, therefore Bhāgavata says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Simply to understand that "I am not this material body, so I have nothing to do with this body, and I am spirit soul," simply this much knowledge is not perfect.
Therefore, sometimes the Māyāvādīs, they think, "Now we have understood that I am not this body. I have nothing to do with the material world. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: I am Brahman," but they do not understand the Supreme Brahman, Para-brahman, Kṛṣṇa. They do not understand. Therefore śāstra says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. Because they have understood what is the difference between spirit and matter, that knowledge is not perfect. He aravindākṣa. Anye. They are thinking, "Now we have understood what is spirit and what... Therefore we are liberated. We are the... Aham. So 'ham: I have become the same." So for them the śāstra says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād (SB 10.2.32). Tvayy means "unto You, Kṛṣṇa." They have not understood yet what is Kṛṣṇa, the Puruṣa, the Supreme Puruṣa. Tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Therefore their intelligence is not yet clear. Simply understanding that "I am not this material body; I am spirit soul," is not sufficient because unless you come to the point to understand Kṛṣṇa, this will not stand.
The Prahlāda Mahārāja was asked by his father, "What you have learned most...," I mean to say... I forget. Yes, "The best thing, what you have learned?" He said, hitvāndha kūpaṁ, hitvātma-ghātaṁ gṛham andha-kūpaṁ vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta (SB 7.5.5). Tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehināṁ sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt. The same thing. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt. The materialistic persons, they are always in anxiety. Tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. Dehinām means not only human society. Anyone who has accepted this material body, even a small ant, and a big, the demigods, Indra and Lord Brahmā, such big, big They are also living entities, and the ant is also living entity. By their pious activities they have got big, big post as demigods, prolonged life and many other facilities. But they are all living entities. So these living entities means everyone has got a material body. Material body means it will end. Antavanta ime dehā (BG 2.18). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said. However strong you may be for one, antavanta ime dehā, it will end. You cannot You may run in the morning three miles and then take very stimulative foodstuff, and Everyone is trying to become very strong.
So long we will be in want, our mind will be agitated. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja advised that, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām: "Those who are always agitated..." Everyone is agitated. Samudvigna. Tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. Anyone who has accepted this material body must be always agitated in mind, sadā. Why? Asad-grahāt. Because he has accepted this temporary body, he must be full of anxiety. It cannot be avoided. Asad-grahāt. Asato mā sad gama. The Vedic injunction is "Don't keep yourself in this temporary world or temporary body. Must go to the spiritual world, back to home, back to..." This is Vedic injunction. Sad gama. Asato mā sad gama. Asad-grahāt. If you accept this temporary material world, means temporary body... Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanam... (BG 2.13). We are transmigratng from one body to another. This is asad-grahāt. Why I shall transmigrate if I am eternal? Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). I am eternal. So this is intelligence: "How I can get permanent body so that I may not have to change bodies one after another." This is intelligence.
The intelligence is how to get out of it. That is this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, how to get out of this dangerous position and go back to home, back to Godhead—this is the mission. It is not that by spiritual advancement one gets material facilities to increase the income and increase the standard of sense enjoyment. This is karma-kāṇḍīya-vicāra karma, to get the resultant action of our fruitive activities. And that is not very... They are called mūḍha. Those who are engaged in karma-kāṇḍīya entanglement, they are called mūḍha. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has commented on the word mūḍha described in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. The mūḍha means karmīs. Karmīs, they work day, day and night, very hard. What is their aim? The aim is sense gratification. That is done by animals like dogs and hogs and asses. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This is the recommendation, that this life, human life, ayaṁ deha, nṛloke, in this Everyone has got a material body, but one who has got a material body in the human society, nṛloke Kaṣṭān kāmān na arhati. To work so hard simply to satisfy the senses is not desirable.
That is natural. If one becomes a devotee... That is the certificate, that how one has achieved good qualities. That is the test of becoming a devotee. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. A devotee means he has, what is called, awakened all the good qualities. The good qualities are there. Because we are part and parcel of God, there is no bad quality in our constitutional position. We are godly. We may be small, but the same quality. So there cannot be originally. Asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. This is Vedic instruction. A living entity means spiritually part and parcel of God. There cannot be any bad quality. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). Arjuna said to Kṛṣṇa that pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān: "You are the most pure." So how His part and parcel can be impure? Gold may be a small particle, gold, but it is gold. It cannot be otherwise. Similarly, we, being Mamaivāṁśaḥ. Kṛṣṇa says that "They are My living beings. They are My part and parcel." So there cannot be any bad thing. The bad thing is because we have accepted this material body.
So in order to come back to our original position—completely good, no bad thing—we must come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise we are gone; we are condemned. This is the purpose of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, to bring him again to the platform of complete goodness.
Thank you very much. (end)
If you do not follow the injunction of the śāstra, then your human life is unsuccessful. Na siddhim. Human life means that you stop the process of transmigration from one body to another. That is human life mission. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). One should endeavor in such a way that you do not take again birth in this material world. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Because as soon as you accept any material body, either the material body of Lord Brahmā or the material body of an ant, most inignificant, the trouble is there. You will have to suffer. You cannot escape it. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Irresponsibly, we, if we act, pramattaḥ, like madman, without following the sastric injunction... That is a madman. Just like a madman does not care for any instruction. He acts according to his own whim. That is described here: svaira-cāri. Svaira-cāri. Svaira-cāri means "I will act according to my whims. I don't care for any authority." That is called svaira-cāri. No. The laws are meant for human beings. Even on the street, as soon as you go out on the street, immediately the law is there: "Keep to the right. Keep to the left." And if you violate, immediately you'll be punished, immediately become criminal. Similarly... This is government law. Similarly, law given by the Supreme Lord.
Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja said, hitvātma-ghātaṁ gṛhaṁ andha-kūpaṁ vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśyrayeta. He was asked by his father what was the best thing he had learned. So he said, "I have learned this best thing." What is that? Hitvātma-ghātaṁ gṛham andha-kūpaṁ vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta: (SB 7.5.5) "This is the first-class thing." What is that? "Now, giving up this gṛha andha-kūpaṁ, gṛhastha life." They are thinking very happy, husband, wife, living together, enjoying. But that is grha andha-kūpam. Andha-kūpam means if you are thrown into the dark well, it is like that. Of course, those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, that is different thing. But ordinarily, the so-called household life means to be in the darkness, in the dark well. Gṛhānda-kū..., hitva: "One should give up." Therefore, according to Vedic civilization, when one is fifty years old, above that, he must give up family life. No more. Then sannyāsa. Not that up to the point of death one should remain a gṛhastha. No. If he wants to become free from anxiety, that is... Otherwise anxiety. Tat sādhu maye asura-varya dehināṁ sadā samudvigna-dhiyām. Dehinām, one who has accepted this material body, he must be always restless with anxiety. This is the... Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). You cannot avoid it.
That is the position at the present moment, that people are not educated to distinguish or to become pious. They are not educated. They are being... Now, at the present moment, education means you learn technology and learn how to earn money, and then, after earning money, you spend it for sense gratification: eating meat, eating wine, going to the brothel, prostitute. This is modern civilization. So therefore it is the civilization of paśu, animal civilization, polished animal. It is not civilization. It is the duty of the guardian, father, guru, government or elderly relative. Everyone should be compassionate with the dependent. The father should be compassionate to the children, that "My children, they have come to me. They are now innocent. If I do not train them nicely..." What kind of training? Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. That is the duty of the father, of the guru, how to save the dependent from the clutches of death. This is the duty. The government also. Because death is sure. As soon as we get this material body, the death is sure.
Just like government gives you license, say for... One is... Every businessman is given some license. The municipality gives license. The sales tax department gives license, certificate. There are so many licenses a businessman has to follow, income tax licenses. But there are rules and regulations because all these departments know it very well that any businessman or karmī, he is sure to commit sinful activities. Therefore there are so many regulations just to stop him as far as possible from sinful activities. Similarly, there are twenty kinds of viṁśati-prakāśa-dharma-śāstra. How one can live faithfully, religiously, the directions are there in twenty kinds of scriptures made by Parāśara, Manu, and many other sages. There are different types. So therefore it is said here that na niṣkṛtair uditair brahma-vādibhiḥ. Brahma-vādibhiḥ. Brahma-vādī means those who are trying to lead persons to realize Brahman. The whole direction of the Vedic injunction is to understand that "I am not this material body; I am spirit soul." And in order to understand this factual position there are so many directions in the dharma-śāstra or religious scriptures. And you'll find here the Yamadūta or Yamarāja will speak, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19).
So sinful activities, it is punishable. You cannot violate the laws of nature. Prakṛti is very strong. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Just like the government has police department, military department, law courts. Why? Because not all the citizens were good citizens. There are many outlaws. So more or less, whoever is in this material world, they are outlaws. Outlaw means they do not abide by the laws of nature, and therefore they are punishable.
The first punishment is that we have got this material body. This is the first punishment.
- kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vāñchā kare
- pasate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare
The first criminal action is that when we forget Kṛṣṇa and our relationship with Him Our relationship with Kṛṣṇa is that Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer; we are eternal servant. This is our relationship. Just like a big man, rich man: he is the enjoyer and he has got many servants. That we practically see. The capitalist, he starts some business, big factory. Ten thousand men are working, but the capitalist is not working. It is our practical experience. He is aloof from the factory. In a nice place, in a nice bungalow, garden house, he is enjoying. Similarly, God, Kṛṣṇa, He is the enjoyer. You will find, therefore, Kṛṣṇa here in this temple, He is enjoying. He is standing with His elder brother, enjoying in the forest, sporting with His cowherd boy friends, His cows, calves—enjoying in the forest. The description is there in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. And those who are playing with Him, those who are associates of Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana, they are also not ordinary persons.
But sinful activities must be there. We are put into certain condition; therefore it is called conditional life. Suppose you are very pious man. You are not killing any man or any cow—we are very careful—but still you have to kill. What is that? Because we are walking on the street. You have seen. You are killing so many ants. The position is like that. Even if you do not wish to kill, even if you are very pious man, still you have to kill, unconsciously or consciously. The world situation is like that. Anyone who has come here, he must commit sinful activities. As soon as you get this material body, then you must have to commit sinful activities, even if you are very careful. It is not possible. Therefore śāstra says, padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām: (SB 10.14.58) "Every step there is vipadā." You cannot be excused. Because you are killing one ant unconsciously while walking, your name is noted. Your ticket is immediately there: "Oh, you have killed so many ants." The law is so nice. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi (BG 3.27). Automatically it is recorded, automatically, and you have to suffer.
On the whole, the conclusion is that anyone who is in this material world, he is a sinful man. Anyone. Otherwise he would not have gotten this material body. Just like anyone who is in the prison house, you can conclude that he is a sinful, criminal man. You do not require to study one after another. Because he is in the prison house you can conclude that "Here is a criminal." Similarly, anyone who is in the material world, he is a criminal. But not the superintendent of jail. You cannot conclude, "Because everyone is in the jail, criminal, therefore the superintendent of jail, he is also criminal." Then you are mistaken. Those who are conducting these sinful men to take them back to home, back to Godhead, he is not criminal. His business is how to release this rascal from this prison house and take him back to home, back to Godhead.
So for a devotee only, the door of God is open. For others, there is no possibility. Therefore, He's called durbodham. Durbodhaṁ yaṁ jñātvā. But somehow or other, if he can understand the principles of religion and God, then immediately he becomes immortal. Immortal means he's no more going to accept any material body. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- janma karma me divyaṁ
- yo jānāti tattvataḥ
- tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
- naiti mām eti kaunteya
- (BG 4.9)
Anyone who can understand in truth, not ephemerally, substantially, if one understands what is Kṛṣṇa, how He appears, what are His activities, what is our relation—these things, when one understands, immediately he becomes liberated. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9). Such person, giving up this body, no more comes into this material world. The same thing is herein: jñātvā. If one can understand what is religion and what is Kṛṣṇa, only by this understanding, jñātvā amṛtam aśnute. Amṛtam. Mṛtam means death. A means "none," "not," negation. So amṛtam aśnute: he drinks nectarine. The word nectarine, sudhā. You know there was fight between the demons and the demigods, who will drink the amṛta, the nectarine. Because by drinking nectarine one becomes immortal. So here it is said, amṛtam aśnute. As by drinking nectarine, one can become immortal, similarly, by drinking the nectarine of devotion, one becomes immortal. Therefore we have named the book Nectar of Devotion. You drink it and become immortal. That's all. Amṛtam aśnute.
So this is our position. Although we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, sanātana, eternally... Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhāni indriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati. Because on account of our material mind... Material mind means the mind is absorbed in the thought of enjoying this material world. This is the beginning of our material disease. Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhāni indriyāṇi (BG 15.7). Then according to the mind, we develop different senses, and we are trying to enjoy this material world in different type of body. That is our material disease. Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhāni indriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati. Therefore the whole Vedic literature is meant for reminding us about our original position. That is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Kṛṣṇa... Anādi bahirmukha jīva kṛṣṇa bhuli' gela. We have forgotten Kṛṣṇa anādi. Anādi means we do not know when we did forgot, but we have forgotten our relationship. Anādi bahirmukha jīva kṛṣṇa bhuli'... ataeva kṛṣṇa veda-purāṇa karilā. These Vedas and the Purāṇas, they are meant for reminding us, to give us information that "You are not this material body. You are not Indian, you are not American, you are not brāhmaṇa, you are not śūdra. You are eternally part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. So your business is to serve Kṛṣṇa." This is the purpose of all Vedic literature. Vedaiṣ ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15).
This Prahlāda Mahārāja, although he was a five-years-old boy, he became an authority in the devotional line. So his father was atheist. He wanted that his son should be politician. He should be taught how to cheat others, how to get money. But this boy was devotee. The difficulty was a devotee is not accustomed to all these tricks of materialistic way of life. They are not interested in such things. Purposefully, they avoid all these things. Because devotional life means coming to the original position. Original position is that we are part and parcel of God; therefore our original position is godly. Not exactly like God, but godly. Just like gold and a particle of gold is also gold. A drop of ocean water contains the same chemical composition. Similarly, qualitatively we are as good as God in our original position. Now we are covered by this material body, but as soon as we take to the devotional service, that is our original position. Then very quickly we develop our good qualities, original godly qualities. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇair tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12).
So this business, when we are disgusted with this business, that is called knowledge. So that knowledge and that renunciation, or detachment, can be achieved only by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Only by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). If we simply study Kṛṣṇa in truth, then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya: (BG 4.9) then the result will be that after giving up this present body he will not have to accept another material body. To accept another material body, that is called punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Either I get this human form of body, either get as the body of a dog or either I get the body of a demigod, the business is the same, āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca: eating, sleeping, and sex life, and defense. Don't think that the heavenly planet, they are very safe. We have got information from Bhāgavatam. Lord Indra, he is always perplexed. So many demons disturbing, the fighting is going on, although they have got a long duration of life, ten thousands of years, their duration of life. And their one day is equal to our six months.
So they are under the laws of nature. They do not now why the laws of nature acting in a different way, against their will. Suppose I do not wish to die. Why laws of nature enforcing, forcing me to die? Nobody wants to die. So you cannot surpass the laws of nature. Therefore Kṛṣṇa presents in the Bhagavad-gītā that "You are trying to solve the problems of life, but here are the real problems of life: janma-mṛtyu-jarā vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9)." The real problem is that there is death, there is birth, there is old age and there is disease. This is real problem. That problem is due to this material body. Therefore our real problem is that we have got this material body, but we have no sense that "Within this material body I am the spirit soul, living. So how to get out of this material body and again revive our spiritual body?" Spiritual body is already there. How to become free from the bondage of this material body and become free again in spiritual life, that is real problem of life. That they do not. Who knows? Bring any big, big leaders. Ask him that "Do you know what is the problem of life?" They do not know. Therefore it is said, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31).
The body of man is not exactly body of God. There is no difference between the body and soul of God because it is spiritual. The soul is spiritual, the body is spiritual. Just like if you have got your golden body and golden soul, there is no difference between the soul and body. But in our case, we, as we are, we are spirit soul but this body is material, therefore I am different from this body. But when you are liberated, we get spiritual body, similar, at that time, as Kṛṣṇa has no difference between His body and soul, similarly, we also have no difference between body and soul. But at the present moment we have got difference with the body and soul. Therefore as soon as the soul goes away from this body, the body being matter, "Dust thou art, dust thou beist." It mixes with the matter. The soul takes another body. The whole problem is that we have to stop this repetition of migration from one material body to another material body. That is the highest perfection of life.
So much facility is offered. And the Bhagavad-gītā is there. You can understand with all your reason, with all your argument, with all your senses what is God. It is nothing dogmatic. It is all reasonable, philosophical. Unfortunately they have decided that God is dead. How God can be dead? This is another rascaldom. You are not dead; how God can be dead? So there is no question of God's being dead. He is always present, just like sun is always present. Only the rascals, they say there is no sun. There is sun. It is out of your sight, that's all. Similarly, "Because we cannot see God, therefore God is dead," these are rascaldom. It is not very good conclusion. So one has to understand what is God, divyam. So Kṛṣṇa says anyone who understands this philosophy or science of God, philosophy... (break) ...called the science of sciences. So therefore I use this word "science." So science of God. Then, after leaving this body, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma na eti (BG 4.9). He does not come back again to take this conditional material body. Then, he's finished? No. He says, mām eti so 'rjuna. "My dear Arjuna, that person comes to Me." That means you are transferred to the spiritual kingdom or God's kingdom.
Yes. It is intelligent question. You forget because you have got this material body, and because the material body is changing every moment, every second, therefore we forget. Is it not? You are forgetting. You do not know what exactly you were doing at this time, because your body has changed. Similarly, you do not exactly remember last year on this date at this time what you were doing because body has changed. Similarly, it is the nature of the body to change and you forget. That is the nature of this material body. But if you constantly remain in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that means you stand on the spiritual platform. In the spiritual platform you don't forget Kṛṣṇa. In the material platform you forget so many things, but in the spiritual platform you don't forget Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's duties. So if you can continue in that way, then you continue in spiritual platform, and the result will be that after getting out of this body, you are spiritually situated. So we have to continue the spiritual stand on spiritual platform by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, always remembering Kṛṣṇa. Smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇuḥ vismartavyo na jātucit. This is the process. You have to remember always Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu. That is called meditation. That is called samādhi.
So Viṣṇu means all-pervading. But by our material conception we think that anything which is all-pervading, how it can be localized personally? That is our material conception. Just like I am sitting here, you are sitting here. You cannot be all-pervading. But your mind, because it is finer, the mind can be in so many places. Similarly, when you are still finer intelligence, you are still finer, a spirit soul, you can also become all-pervading. At the present moment we are hampered, conditioned, by the covering of this material body. Therefore our endeavor should be how we get out of this material body. That formula I've already explained that tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). If you simply understand what is God, simply by this understanding, tyaktvā deham, after leaving this body, punar janma naiti, you don't get any more this material body. Simply try to understand what is Viṣṇu, then you become as good as that Viṣṇu. First of all you understand Viṣṇu, that He is all-pervading. So Viṣṇu, because He has got spiritual body, similarly, when you get your spiritual body How you can get? By understanding Viṣṇu.
That is bhakti. You have to be free from all designation. Then when you begin service, then Kṛṣṇa reveals Himself. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam (BG 10.10). He is within you. He'll give you intelligence, "This is this. This is this. This is this. This is this." Why? When? Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-purvakam. "When he's in love and faith engaged in My service." Then? Why, otherwise, why Kṛṣṇa will talk with you? He is within you. That's all right. But He'll talk with you when you are qualified. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to make you qualified, qualified to talk with Kṛṣṇa, to see Kṛṣṇa, to understand Kṛṣṇa. And then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9). Then you, while quitting this body, no more you are going to accept any material body. You are directly transferred to Kṛṣṇa. Mām eti kaunteya. This is the simple process.
Therefore Bhagavān says that bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). He is a jñānavān that... Jñānavān means "I am not this body; I am not matter; I am spirit soul." That is jñāna. Jñāna means there must be vairāgya, detestfulness, that "I have nothing to do with this material world." Jñāna-vairāgya. If there is real jñāna, then there will be vairāgya. Because we are suffering on account of an attachment to this material world, so jñāna means that "I have nothing to do with this material world because I am not this material body." Everyone is engaged in this bodily engagement, so-called, so many isms, all the activities of the world, because on account of this bodily conception of life. So when one becomes freed from the bodily conception of life he comes to the understanding of Brahman identification, and that is the beginning of mukti. That is not mukti.
So anyone can say "This material body is there, even to the dogs and the cats, and what is the difference? Let us enjoy." No. Arthadam, in this life, in this human form of life, you can fulfill your mission. Arthadam. You can understand what is the value of life. So don't waste it. Begin bhāgavata-dharma immediately. And what is that bhāgavata-dharma?
- śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
- smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
- arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyam
- sākhyam ātma-nivedanam
- (SB 7.5.23)
Bhāgavata-dharma means beginning is hearing. That's all. Śravaṇam. You simply hear about God. You haven't got to do anything. God has given you the ear. You simply hear about God. That is the beginning of bhāgavata-dharma. It doesn't require that you have to pass M.A., Ph.D. examination, then you'll understand God. No. Very simple thing. What God says, Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto (BG 18.65), you hear it from Bhagavad-gītā. God says, Kṛṣṇa says that "You simply think of Me." Is it a very difficult task? Here is God, Kṛṣṇa. Either you say the image of God... We take God as He is. It is not image of God, but God Himself. He has come here in the form which you can see. God is everywhere, but unfortunately we haven't got eyes to see Him.
Why you should understand God from the beginning of life? That is explained here: because the human life is meant for understanding God. The cats and dogs, they cannot understand God, but although He has got this material body like us, the cats and dogs body and my body, if we make analysis, there is some blood, there is some muscle, there is some bone, there is some urine and stool. You'll find in the dog's body and in my body. Although these material things I am not. I am different from this muscle or blood or air, whatever it is composition. I am different. That also we can analyze what is this body. This body, first of all, you analyze when there is no breathing, the life is lost. Do you think that breathing is life? No. Analyze it. What is breathing? It is a air only, little air. Do you mean to say when this breathing is stopped you can inject some air by some machine and life will come? No, that will not come. Therefore air is not life. Neither the blood is life, neither the bone is life, neither the muscle is life. Life is different from all these things. That you have to learn. That is called bhāgavata-dharma.
So actually I am now servant of senses, everyone. So that has to be transferred. Instead of being servant of the senses, of your so-called material body, you have to become the servant of the senses of Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means agreeing, "Kṛṣṇa, whatever You will say, whatever You like, I shall do that." Just like Arjuna did. First of all he was a servant of his senses. He was thinking, "How can I kill my teachers? How can I kill my grandfather, my brother, nephews, the other side, all my relatives? How can I kill?" So that was, that thinking was, he was servant of his senses. He was thinking that "This father, this brother or this grandfather, or this teacher will save me." But when he understood that "Nobody can save me except Kṛṣṇa," then he said, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava: (BG 18.73) "Oh, I shall satisfy You. Whatever You will say." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. First of all he was trying to satisfy his senses, and when he understood Bhagavad-gītā nicely, he agreed to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa.
So constitutionally we are all servant for satisfying senses. So when instead of satisfying our false senses, this material body, sense of this material body, if we try to satisfy the spiritual senses of Kṛṣṇa, that means our liberation. That we have to learn. Prahlāda Mahārāja is teaching that philosophy. We are trying to follow the same philosophy. We are very glad that you come and favor us. So it is very kind of you.
Prabhupāda: Just see this girl, little girl, is aiming for going back to Kṛṣṇaloka. Just see. (laughter) I am giving an example. They don't care for this material senses. They are always thinking "When I shall go there, home, back to home, back to Godhead?" This is the psychology. Yes?
Śāradīyā: When we serve Kṛṣṇa, even though we don't have a material body...?
Prabhupāda: No. Material body you have to finish here. You are finishing your material body so many times even during this bodily existence. So material body cannot go into spiritual world. You have your material body here. Similarly, as soon as you enter in the spiritual world you have spiritual body.
Śāradīyā: We have a spiritual body to serve Kṛṣṇa?
Prabhupāda: As good as Kṛṣṇa's body. Kṛṣṇa has got spiritual body, similarly you will have spiritual body. Is that clear?
Śāradīyā: I want to know, when we serve Kṛṣṇa, we have spiritual senses, then that satisfies our spiritual senses when we serve Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇaloka?
Prabhupāda: Yes. You dance with Kṛṣṇa, you eat with Kṛṣṇa, talk with Kṛṣṇa, you enjoy with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa will kiss you also. (laughter) Kṛṣṇa is very kind to everyone, either you love Him as a lover, either you love Him as your son, either you love Him as your friend, or you love Him as your master. In whichever way you like you can love, and Kṛṣṇa will respond. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). In the Bhagavad-gītā you will see Kṛṣṇa says, "Anyone who loves Me in different ways or different type," so Kṛṣṇa also loves reciprocating that way. If somebody Kṛṣṇa..., loves Kṛṣṇa as enemy, Kṛṣṇa also gives him salvation in that way also. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. Yes.
That is the benefit. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). Kṛṣṇa gives assurance that if you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, and if you really understand Kṛṣṇa... Janma karma ca divyaṁ me yo jānāti tattvataḥ. If you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa in truth, not vague... "Yes, I understand Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa has no form"—this is not understanding of Kṛṣṇa. This is rascaldom. Kṛṣṇa says such persons, such rascals who says that "Kṛṣṇa has no body. He has no form. It is māyā..." They are called Māyāvādī. "Everything māyā. Kṛṣṇa is also māyā." That is Māyāvāda. So these Māyāvādīs are condemned by Kṛṣṇa: na mām... What is that? Mānuṣīṁ tanum... Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā (BG 9.11). These rascals, Māyāvādīs, avajānanti, he thinks Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being, or even if He is God, He has taken a body made by māyā. This is Māyāvādī philosophy. "The spirit soul cannot appear without being dressed by māyā." But that is not the fact, that... A man is diseased, suffering from fever. It does not mean that without fever nobody can exist. That is nonsense. Fever is a symptom for the time being, and feverlessness is the real life. Similarly, somehow or other, iccha-dveṣa-samutthena (BG 7.27), by some desire, we have got this material body, but it does not mean that without this material body I cannot live. That is nonsense. Actual life is spiritual life. Actual life is spiritual life.
One man can become a devotee without any cause and without being checked. There is no such thing which will check to become a devotee. Anyone can become devotee in any condition, provided he is fortunate enough to associate with another devotee. That is the way. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "My dear friends, because you have been taught for sense gratification—eating, sleeping, mating and defending—so this is, this kind of happiness, is material happiness, sense enjoyment." So deha-yogena dehinām, two bodies combined or in connection with this body... Deha-yogena dehinām. Just like sex life. Sex life, it requires two bodies, one male or female. Deha-yogena. As soon as we say, yogena, that means extra something. Yogena. Yoga and viyoga. Viyoga means minus, and yoga means addition. So deha-yogena dehinām. The living entities who have accepted this material body, such kind of happiness, sarvatra labhyate. You can have anywhere, any life. Just like two bodies, male and female. It is not that in the human society two bodies, male and female, join and enjoy the pleasure. The dog also do that. The quality of happiness between a beautiful man and beautiful woman does not increase or decrease by other body. The hog also, they enjoy. It is not because they have got a nasty body therefore the enjoyment is less than human being, no. The feelings of enjoyment is the same, either of the dog or of the hog or of the human being, everyone. It is not... The quality does not change.
So the suffering also, and enjoyment, this is also due to the senses. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). So in the material world, so long we have got this material body, two things will be there: suffering or enjoyment. And what is the suffering and enjoyment? With reference to the senses. Or... Senses... Just like the skin is called touch sensation. We feel pleasure by touching the skin. So this pleasure, due to the touch sense, sometimes it is painful, sometimes it is pleasing, due to different circumstances. Just like water. Water is very pleasing to the skin if it is winter. So water is the same, my skin is the same, but due to seasonal changes, the same water is sometimes pleasing and sometimes displeasing. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. So, so long we have to remain in this material world or so long we have to continue this material body, two things will continue. You cannot stop it. It is not possible. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. And what are actually there? Agamāpāyino 'nityās: they come and go. They're all temporary.
Just try to understand. First thing is, "I am not this body." That's all right. Then what you are, or what I am? The next stage is to understand that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. The exact Sanskrit language is that, to understand that "I am spirit soul." All right, then is that finished? No. Still you have to go farther. Then "I am a spirit soul." So the spirit soul in this material body has so much activities. Now, regarding this body, I have got so many activities. And when the body is finished, is it correct that the spirit soul stops to act? No. It does not stop to act. Because that is the active principle. Because the spirit is there within this body, therefore the body's acting. Now, suppose I am not this body. Then does it mean that the spirit has no activity? So this is now wrong theory. Spirit has various activities, but you do not know. That is illusion. So meditation means to understand oneself, that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul," and farther advancement of that meditation is to know that what are the activities of the spirit soul, and when one is actually engaged in those spiritual activities, that is the perfection of meditation.
The real problem is that how to stop to get another another body. Where is that education? They do not know what is material body or there is spiritual body. No knowledge. Big, big scientists, philosophers, but they have no knowledge even that "What I am." Everyone is thinking, "I am this body." And in the śāstra if anyone is thinking like that, he's no better than the dogs and cats because dog is also thinking like that.
- yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke
- sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ
- yat tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
- janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ
- (SB 10.84.13)
Animals. Go means cows and khara means ass. So without self-realization, without understanding what I am, whether I am this body or something other than the body, without this knowledge, it is animal civilization.
That is stated in the Fourth Chapter, Bhagavad-gītā: janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. "Anyone who understands in truth how I take My birth, how I work, how I am transcendental..." Simply by knowing these three things—how Kṛṣṇa is born, and how does He work and what is His actual position—the result is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya: (BG 4.9) "My dear Arjuna, simply knowing these three things, one comes to Me after quitting this material body." Punar janma naiti: "He never again comes back to..." That means, in other words, if you can understand the birth of Kṛṣṇa, then you will stop your any more birth. You will be free from this birth and death. So try to understand how Kṛṣṇa takes His birth. Simply by understanding this... Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). If you can understand how Kṛṣṇa takes his birth, then your birth and death problem is solved. How becomes liberated. So birth of Kṛṣṇa has to be understood. And who can understand? That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye: (BG 7.3) "Out of many thousands of men"—sahasra means thousands; thousands, many thousands, means many hundreds of thousands men—"one is interested for spiritual advancement of life." Kaścid yatati siddhaye. Siddhaye means "perfection." Not all men are interested. "What is perfection, nonsense? Let us eat, drink, be merry, enjoy. Don't care for perfection. This is perfection.
As you had misused your independence in your past life or in past, similarly, you can immediately, properly use your independence. Do you follow? You... Somehow or other, you misused your independence. Similarly, immediately, if you use your independence properly, then the result of that misuse of independence is corrected. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Because the conditioned souls here in this material world, they have all misused their independence... Anyone, beginning from the highest planet down, beginning from Brahmā down to the small ant, everyone has misused his independence. This conditional life, this material body, is due to that. Therefore our reactions of that misuse is going on life after life. Now, Kṛṣṇa says that "If you surrender immediately, then I take charge of you." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You just give up all your other engagements. Just surrender unto Me." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi: "I shall give you protection from all reaction of your misuse of independence."
So in these four āśramas, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa, in three āśramas, there is no sex life. Brahmacārī, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. Only gṛhastha allowed sex life. That is also restricted only for begetting children. So in the Vedic civilization sex life is actually denied. Only in gṛhastha life with the restriction. Not that whenever I like. No. That is bondage. So long we'll be attached to sex life, then we'll have to accept this material body. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham (SB 7.9.45). We should remember this. But what will be the effect unless we are trained up? People are not educated what is the value of life, how life should be conducted, what is the aim of life. But everything can be done. It is no difficulty. Just like a man practicing to lift... I think everyone, you know, if he takes on his back one small calf, it grows, when the calf becomes a very big bull one can lift. This is practice. But all of a sudden, if you want to lift one big bull on your shoulders, that is not possible. But if you practice to take the little calf from the very beginning, it grows and your strength grows. It grows... This is gradual process. So in the human form of life, the whole training is... That is Vedic civilization, how to avoid sex life. That is liberation. If I have got desire for sex life, some way or other, then I will have to take birth again in this material world to satisfy.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says if you don't train up in the beginning, then ko gṛheṣu pumān saktam ātmānam ajitendriyaḥ. Ātmānam ajitendriyaḥ, the whole training is to control the senses, and the most powerful sense is the tongue. Sense control begins from the tongue. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has given you the song: tār madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura gives a description that Śarīra avidyā-jāla joḍendriya tāhe kāl. This body is the encagement. We are in the prison of this material world. How we are imprisoned? We have been given a material body. This is imprisonment. Śarīra avidyā-jāl. And we are very happy to keep this body very comfortably without knowing the aim of life. That is avidyā-jāl, a network of ignorance. Śarīra avidyā-jāl, and the senses are our greatest enemies. Unless we control the senses, we are put into this avidyā-jāl, network of... And out of all the senses, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says tār madhye jihvā-jihvā means tongue-jihvā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati. It is very greedy. Jihvā, to control the tongue. To control the senses means begin with the controlling the tongue. That is also very difficult job. So therefore to control the tongue, best thing is to take kṛṣṇa prasādam. First of all, offer to Kṛṣṇa and then take. Tāra madhye jihvā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati tā'ke jetā koṭhina soṁsāre. Kṛṣṇa boḍa-doyāmoy kori bare jihvā joy. At least if we take it as a vow that "I shall not eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa," that will help us. Kṛṣṇa boḍa-doyāmoy, kori bare jihvā joy svaprasād ānna dilā bhāi.
Now, that does not mean that Prahlāda Mahārāja is recommending to neglect the, this family life or society and... No. He was family man. Prahlāda Mahārāja was a great king. He was ruling over. So it is not the question of neglect. But we must know that if we become more and more entangled in these affairs, then our real business will be lost. Our real business is how to get out of this entanglement, not to be more and more, I mean to say, implicated in this entanglement. That should be the point of view: to make the best use of a bad bargain. That should be the philosophy of life. We are put into this material existential condition, and we have to get out. But at the same time, so far, so long this material body is there, we have to maintain it also. Just like... The example is very nice. We can cite that you have to go to some place, and you have got a car. You have to take care of the car so far it can carry you to your destination, not that you simply take care of your car and you forget your destination and your own body. This is not your business. Similarly, we have to carry on our business. We have to... Because with this body...
So he's explaining in different ways. Kuṭumba-poṣāya viyan nijāyur na budhyate 'rthaṁ vihataṁ pramattaḥ. So without fulfillment of our life's mission, generally we become involved in maintaining the family, and all of a sudden death appears, then finished all our attempts. According to karma, we have to accept another body, maybe human body or not human body. In this way we become entrapped, and sarvatra tāpa-traya-duḥkhitātmā. Tāpa-traya, traya means three and tāpa means tribulation, suffering. So tāpa-traya, three kinds of tribulations: adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. Pertaining to the body, we feel so many troubles due to the body, due to the mind. Then adhibhautika, troubles offered by other living entities, and adhidaivika, troubles offered by nature or the demigods. In this way, sarvatra. It is not that in India there is tāpa-traya and in America there is no tāpa-traya. No, in America there is tāpa-traya. "All right, I shall go to the heavenly planets." No, there is also tāpa-traya. Anywhere you go within this material world, as soon as you get this material body, then tāpa-traya will be there.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja warns his friends that if we become attached to this sense gratification, then vimocituṁ kāma-dṛśāṁ vihāra-krīḍā-mṛgo yan-nigaḍo visargaḥ. Nigaḍo, nigaḍo means the root, the root cause of accepting the material body. These things are sense gratification. Tato vidūrāt, from distant place. Tato vidūrāt parihṛtya daityā. "My dear friends, although you are born of daitya family, I am also born"—his father is also daitya. Daityeṣu saṅgaṁ viṣayātmakeṣu: "give up their..." Asat-saṅga-tyāga ei vaiṣṇava ācāra (CC Madhya 22.87). The same thing. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also said. Who is a Vaiṣṇava? Vaiṣṇava, He immediately explained, that Vaiṣṇava, what is the duty of Vaiṣṇava? Some devotee asked Caitanya Mahāprabhu, "Sir, what is the duty of a Vaiṣṇava?" So He immediately replied in two lines, asat-saṅga-tyāga ei vaiṣṇava ācāra: "To give up the company of materialistic persons." Then the next question may be "Who is materialistic?" Asat eka 'strī-saṅgī: "One who is attached to woman, he is asat." And kṛṣṇa-bhakta āra, "And one who is not a devotee of Kṛṣṇa."
So, Prahlāda Mahārāja has very nicely analyzed the characteristics of the soul by twelve items: ātmā, nitya, avyaya, śuddha, eka, kṣetra-jña, āśraya, avikriya, sva-dṛk, hetuḥ, vyāpaka, asaṅgī, anāvṛta. These things I have explained in Calcutta. Again we may repeat. These are important points. The characteristic of ātmā, either ātmā or paramātmā, the same characteristics are there. Exactly like gold bar and gold particle. The chemical composition of the gold bar and the gold particle is the same. So, ātmā nitya eternal. The materialistic scientists, they have no information of the ātmā. They think that this material combination of elements evolved some living force. That is their theory. As such they think that in other planets, where the atmosphere is different, they think there is no life, because they do not know that life means presence of the ātmā, and the ātmā, the soul, can live in any condition of material existence, any condition. Even in fire the ātmā can live because according to the information we receive from Bhagavad-gītā, the ātmā is never burned even in the fire. It is never moistened in the water. It cannot be cut into pieces. These things are there. This material body can be cut into pieces, it can be burned, it can be wetted in water, but ātmā, spirit soul, is different from this body.
So how I am being carried to different kinds of body, although I am the eternal and existing? How? Now, the very example is here, that gandhair vāyum. Just like vāyu. Vāyu means air. Air is passing through a, I mean to say, garden of rose. So air is carrying the flavor. The aroma of rose is being carried by the air. Now the air is passing through some filthy place, obnoxious, very bad smell, so air is catching. So air has neither this flavor, nor this bad or good. But as it is passing on, according to the association, it is getting certain time of, certain type of flavor and aroma. Similarly, by your association, you are getting different types of body. If you make your association with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you get next your Kṛṣṇa body. And if you make your association with non-Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you'll have this material body, and you have to undergo birth and death repeatedly.
That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: tat sādhu manye 'sura-varya dehināṁ sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). Prahlāda Mahārāja was asked by his father, "My dear boy, what best thing you have learned from your teachers? Will you kindly explain?" So he answered immediately, tat sādhu manye: "To my opinion, my dear father, that is very nice thing." What is that? Tat sādhu manye 'sura-varya dehināṁ asad-grahāt sadā samudvigna-dhiyām. Dehinām means those who have accepted this material body. There are many millions and millions, unlimited number of liberated souls in the spiritual world. They have not accepted this material body. We are conditioned souls. So Prahlāda Mahārāja recommends that "For those who have accepted this material body, and due to acceptance of this material body, they are always full of anxiety..." Nobody can say that "I am freed from all anxiety," beginning from a person lying on the street, up to..., go to the President Johnson. Ask everybody, "Are you free from material anxiety?" Everyone says, "No." Everyone has got some problem. That is material existence. So sometimes, when we are disgusted with this material life, we want to forget, forget all the things. Sometimes a man takes to drinking: "Oh, business anxiety, so many worries, cannot solve.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, etad dvāraḥ hi saṁsāraḥ. Material existence means we are passing on, I mean to say, do not know how long we are passing. They say, "We cannot remember," "Time immemorial." This is called saṁsāra. This is called material existence. Etad dvāro hi saṁsāro guṇa-karma-nibandhanaḥ. And this material body is there due to my material qualities and according to the quality, my work; and these two things are binding me. Guṇa-karma-vibhāga. So here the caste system, according to guṇa, according to quality, and karma, according to work.
Devotee (1): ...Kṛṣṇa knows everything we're thinking and He knows exactly when each of us will give up the material body, does that mean that everything is predestined?
Devotee (2): Kṛṣṇa knows everything in the past and everything in the future, so can we say it is predestined?
Prabhupāda: Yes, so long within these material laws, it is predestined, but according to karma. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). You are doing work, you are acting, and that is being supervised by the superior authorities. And you get a type of body that this living entity has worked in this way, he should get this type of body. Therefore, it is predestined. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). That is being automatically done because a materialistic person is associating with different types of the modes of material nature. So he is forming a certain type of body, sattvic, rajasic, tamasic. Therefore, it is predestined. But karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54), those who are engaged in devotional service, they are not under karma. Their destiny is being prepared by Kṛṣṇa. Even though they are supposed to be doing ordinary work, but because he has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, his destiny is being manufactured by Kṛṣṇa Himself, not by this material nature. He is not under these material laws. Therefore, he is called mukta, liberated.
Prahlāda Mahārāja is instructing his friends, all small children, about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He is instructing so many things. We have been discussing this subject matter for the last few days. Now he's placing before them for submitting, for consideration. "My dear friends," deha-bhṛtām, those who have accepted this material body, asura... Asura means demons. He also belonged to the family, atheistic family. His father was great atheist, and all his friends... Because his father was king, so all his friends happened to be the citizens of that atheistic kingdom. So all of them are being addressed as asura. Asura means demons, godless. There are two kinds of people, asura and sura, or deva and asura. So who are asuras and who are devas? Devas means godly, and asura means nongodly, or atheistic. In the Vedic literature you'll find there are definition that there are two kinds of people. Dvau bhūta-sargau loke daiva āsura eva ca (BG 16.6). There are two kinds of people in this world: viṣṇu-bhakto bhaved daiva. And who are... Daiva means godly. Who are godly? Viṣṇu-bhaktaḥ, those who are devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are called godly. And āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ. Tad-viparyayaḥ means just the opposite number. What is the opposite number? The atheists. At once they hear something of God, oh, they become fire: "What is this God? I am God." So he is asura.
Every living entity originally nitya-siddha, but somehow or other, just like Jaya-Vijaya, fell down in this material world, and he was delivered also, both of them were delivered. So although you have fallen in this material world, and suffering the pangs of material existence, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9), on account of accepting this material body, still, Kṛṣṇa personally comes, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). This is glāniḥ, discrepancies. We are living this material existence, this is not real life. Real life is to become mahā-bhāgavata. So you cannot become a mahā-bhāgavata all of a sudden, but from kaniṣṭha-adhikārī,
- arcāyām eva haraye
- yaḥ pūjāṁ śraddhayehate
- na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu
- sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ
Prākṛtaḥ stage, so prakṛtaḥ stage means just like we are worshiping The Deity, but not only we shall worship Deity but we make advancement. What is that advancement? To become gradually a preacher. That is madhyama-adhikārī, second stage, preacher.
So "I think," tat sādhu manye-sādhu means honest, very good, very nice—"that is very nice." What is that? Dehināṁ: "For the entities who have accepted this material body..." He is speaking universally. Not for himself or for his father, but he was speaking generally for everybody. Everybody. Anyone. Dehināṁ. Dehi means this body. We are different from this body. We have several times discussed this point. So in Sanskrit word there are two implications in the understanding of our existence. One is deha. Deha means this body. And dehi means the proprietor of this body. I am the proprietor of my body, you are the proprietor of your body. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "For all the proprietors of the body"—that means for everyone who has accepted this material body, all living entities—"that is the best thing." What is that? Sadā samudvigna-dhiyṁ. And anyone who has accepted this material body, his symptom is that he is full of anxieties. This is the disease. To get this body, material body, means to remain always full of anxieties. Either you become the first-class, I mean to say, executive head, President Johnson, or an ordinary man in the Bowery Street—everyone is full of anxiety. Not only human society but also bird society, beast society—everyone. Anyone who has got this material body, he's full of anxiety. But we want to get free from anxieties. That is our aspiration.
For these two things, Śocati and kāṅkṣati. Lamentation for the loss and hankering after which we do not possess. Prahlāda Mahārāja says that if somebody wants to get free from this anxiety... And this anxiety is due to asad-grahāt. Asad-grahāt means for accepting this temporary body. Asat. Asat means temporary, that will not exist. So Prahlāda Mahārāja suggests the remedy that if anyone wants to get free from anxieties... Because the anxiety is sure and certain for everyone who has got this material body. But if he wants to get free from it, then hitvātma-ghāṭam gṛham andha-kūpaṁ, the so-called atmosphere of material happiness, he should give up, and vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta (SB 7.5.5), and go to the forest and accept the lotus feet of Hari, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The same instruction is everywhere. In the Bhagavad-gītā also the same instruction is there: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). The one word is that unless and until we take shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no, I mean to say, possibility of our getting free from the anxiety of material existence.
So when Prahlāda Mahārāja explained this verse to his father, atheistic father, he was so angry that he threw him from his lap. "You nonsense, what you are speaking?" Yes. Actually, this is the position.
So your material knowledge will not help you, unless you have got Kṛṣṇa consciousness knowledge. You can, anyone can understand. Suppose if I want to protect this body with all hygienic principles, soaps and pumice and injection and medicine and so many things, does it mean that you shall live? Can you overcome the laws of nature? No, that is not possible. Can you overcome the laws of nature that you will not fall sick? No, that you cannot. Can you make any material laws or scientific knowledge that you will not become old? No. You cannot stop death, you cannot stop birth, you cannot stop old age, you cannot stop disease. So what is the value of your material knowledge? And these are the troubles. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). Any intelligent man will see that what is the value of my material knowledge? I have to die. I have to be victim of disease and old age. Then what is the value? The best thing is that so long this material body is there, you have got the opportunity to develop your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, do that. That will save you from all dangers. Otherwise, nothing will save you. Simply śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8), simply waste of time. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)
He advised, "Yes, I understand there are pains and pleasures like that, but they have to be tolerated. You cannot be disturbed. You have to execute your business of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If there is any trouble, you must know no trouble or no happiness exists because this is material. It has come. It will go. So for the time being, don't be mad after happiness and don't be mad after miseries." Āgamāpāyina: "They come and go." Just like nowadays it is very hot. This season will change, and again we will be disturbed by cold. So disturbance will continue, either heat or cold due to this material body, mātrā-sparśā, due to this skin attachment. So we have to tolerate.
Who are conditioned souls? Those who have got this material body. They are called conditioned souls. Because this material body means you have to live under certain conditions. Just like I require fan. Why? Because I have been put into the condition of warm. I cannot tolerate it, but I have to live. Similarly severe cold. I do not want it, but I have to live. I do not want set fire at home, but there is fire, and there is fire brigade. In this way, in every step of our life we are always in danger. But foolish persons, they do not understand it. They are thinking that "I am happy." They are thinking... This is called illusion, māyā. Actually, he's unhappy in every step, but the spell of māyā or illusion is so strong that even in the lowest stage of life, anyone will think that he's happy. Even in the animals, you have experienced that so many animals, they are living in such a miserable condition, but still, he does not like to give up this body. But the pain is more felt by God than the living creature in this conditioned life. So it is always... There is always endeavor on the part of God to send His representative; He comes Himself, He gives book.
So we are combined together, religion, goddess of fortune, greatest warrior, and above all, the greatest friend, Kṛṣṇa. Why we are in difficulty?" This question was asked. Kṛṣṇa... This question was asked not for their personal benefit, just to teach us that sometimes in Kṛṣṇa consciousness you may be put in difficulty, but don't, I mean to say, be hesitated. Fixed up. You should know Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Why? Kṛṣṇa says, yasyāham anugṛhnāmi hariṣye tad dhanaṁ śanaiḥ (SB 10.88.8). He answered to Yudhiṣṭhira, "My dear Yudhiṣṭhira, the first test of a devotee is that I, if I show him special favor, then I take away all his wealth." Why? Why this sort of special favor? Because this material attachment is so great that one cannot go to Kṛṣṇa. So anyone who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, at the same time he wants material enjoyment, Kṛṣṇa sees his foolishness. Foolishness. Anyone who is making progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness should not be envious, "Oh, he is so great. He is so rich man. He has got so nice palace. He has got so nice wife. I haven't got anything." Don't be. Because it is completely different life. Don't be captivated by the material opulence, even you are put into great difficulties. Because you are not this material body. You are spirit soul. So your progress should be steady on the spiritual platform.
Haṁsadūta: Swamijī, in one of Professor Sanyal's books he says that the mind is an organ of the soul. Is that correct? I always thought the mind was part of the material, the subtle body, the subtle material body.
Prabhupāda: No. Organ of the self. It is covered by the material energy. Originally, you have got everything. You have got mind, ego, and everything. Just like when I think, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa," that is also ego, "I am." But that is pure. But as soon as I think "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am this body," that is impure. This is impure egoism, and that is pure egoism. So ego is there. Similarly, mind is also there, intelligence is also there, but when it is covered by this material contamination it is called māyā, and when it is out of material contamination, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa. I shall act for Kṛṣṇa, I shall live for Kṛṣṇa, I shall eat for Kṛṣṇa, I shall prepare foodstuff for Kṛṣṇa, I shall sing for Kṛṣṇa—everything Kṛṣṇa," that is liberated stage.
The Bhāgavata says, parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto. We are all born ignorant. Unless there is ignorance, nobody takes birth in this material world. Anyone—may be he is Brahmā or the smallest insignificant creature like a germ or an ant—everyone has got body, a particular type of body. So anyone who has got this material body, he is more or less sinful. That is the verdict. Without being sinful, we do not get this material body. And as soon as we are out of the influence of this material energy, sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). How? Māṁ ca vyabhicāriṇi-bhakti-yogena. Simply by bhakti-yoga. Simply by engaging yourself cent percent, without any deviation, in the devotional service of the Lord, you immediately become freedom or liberation from this material bondage. And if you keep yourself in that position, then you are liberated in this life, and after leaving this body, you get your liberated body. That is mukti. Mukti means hitvā anyathā rūpam. Mukti means when you give up your material contaminated life. Hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ sa guṇena avasthiti. To be, I mean to say, situated in the constitutional position, that is called mukti. So our constitutional position is that God is great and we are small. And our position is that God is the Supreme and we are subordinate, and our business is to serve God. This is our position.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja decided, tasmād ahaṁ vigata-viklava īśvarasya sarvātmanā. Real thing is with heart and soul everything. No reservation. Just like Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa everything, whatever he has got. He says, manasa deha geha, yo kichu mora: "Whatever I have got, no reservation." So what I have got in this material... He said, "I have got this body, material body, lump of matter, and I have got my wife, simply changing from this platform to that platform." Because my business is saṅkalpa-vikalpa. We accept something—"It is very good"—and next time we reject it—"No, it is not good." This is mind's business. So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, "I have got this lump of body." I am... We are very much proud of possessing, but what we have got? We have got this body and the mind. And with the mind we have created so many things—"This is my house. This is my wife. This is my children." Nobody is your. You have come according to your karma, and they have come according to their karma, and it is a play only that one is father, one is mother, one is son. It is by arrangement of the material nature. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). Everything will be finished in the twinkling of an eye. So actually it has no fact, but we think this is our possession. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said that "My possession means some mental concoction and this lump of body." Mānasa deha geha. "So therefore, whatever possession I have got, I surrender unto You." Mānasa deha geha, yo kichu mora. This is surrender. Arpilun tuwā pade, nanda-kiśora.
So fortunately, one of our students, he has taken a very large tract of land in West Virginia to develop a society like that, that simple life, eat simple things, grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, and save your time for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Don't be implicated in the ugra-karma. Modern civilization is implicated in ugra-karma—vast machinery, everything complicated. The government complicated, the society complicated, economics rule complicated, foreign exchange complicated. Everything has become complicated. So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung very nice song. Satsaṅga chāri kainu asatye vilās, ei kāraṇe lāgila more karma bandha-phāṅsa. Because we have given up Kṛṣṇa consciousness, therefore we have been entangled in the different varieties of material activities. Now we have to simplify it. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to simplify, to save the valuable life, to save the time of valuable life. This human form of life is very valuable. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). After many, many births we have got this important life. So we have to save our time to utilize it for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That should... So far we have got this material body, we want to maintain it. The body and souls live together. That is all right. For that, Kṛṣṇa has given every chance. Anywhere you sit down, you have got land and cow. You produce something and cow's milk. That is sufficient for maintenance. So let us try to make an attempt to organize a New Vrindaban scheme, and I shall request all my students to develop this idea and show a good example to this Western part of the world where people are always engaged in ugra-karma, asuric-karma. Things are becoming very implicated, complicated.
Duḥkhauṣadhaṁ tad api duḥkham atad-dhiyāham. Atat. Atat means untruth, flickering, not... Atad-dhiyāham. We do not know what is our identification. Misunderstanding. Dehātma-buddhi. Asad-grahāt. Atat, asat, the same thing. We have accepted this body, identifying this body, on account of this. If you are on the spiritual platform, then there is no trouble, there is no misunderstanding. If we understand properly by education or knowledge that "You are also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. I am also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Our real position is to serve the Lord," so if we serve that, then there is no misunderstanding. If we be engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, there cannot be any misunderstanding. Otherwise, if we work on the platform of this body, material body, there must be misunderstanding. Atad-dhiyāham. Bhūman: "My Lord, the great," bhramāmi, "in this way I am wandering life after life, changing the body, changing the situation, and in different situation, different mentality, but there is no peace. There is no happiness, simply changing the body." Bhūman bhramāmi vada me tava dāsya-yogam: "In this way I am wandering throughout the whole universe. Now please engage me in Your service."
So if you study yourself, that "I am spirit soul and this body is external expansion only," then you can understand that within this external expansion of cosmic manifestation there is the Supersoul. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). The Lord says that "By My one portion I enter into this cosmic manifestation and thus I maintain it." Similarly, as we are maintaining this body by entering into this body, similarly God is maintaining this cosmic manifestation by entering into it. Therefore we are qualitatively one. As I enter into this material body and expand it and maintain it, similarly the Supersoul enters into this cosmic manifestation and maintains it and develops it. (disturbance in the background) (aside:) That's all right. Don't disturb. So as you have got consciousness, a small consciousness or limited consciousness, similarly the Supersoul has got unlimited consciousness. You are conscious of your bodily existence, I am conscious of my bodily existence, but I am not conscious of your bodily existence, neither you are conscious of my bodily existence.
That is the instruction in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt 'na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. Your duty is to give protection to children, father, mother. That's very good. But real protection is that "My children, this boy, this girl, has come in my belly. Now this is the last. I shall train them in such a way that next birth, he'll not have a material body." How it is? Yes, it is possible. How? Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). One can give up this material body... Everyone has to give it up. There is no doubt. But one is giving up this body and accepting another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). But there is another method, that he's not going to accept any more material body. That is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti: (BG 4.9) "After giving up this body, he's not going to accept another material body." Who? Janma karma ca divyaṁ ye jānāti tattvataḥ: "Anyone who has understood Kṛṣṇa as He is." This is the secret, to teach your children like that, that what is Kṛṣṇa. From the beginning, you can do that. The children are under your control. Just like we are teaching these boys. They are simply chanting, dancing. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Similarly, māyā... Māyā is very strong, but Kṛṣṇa, the Lord, when He comes within this material world—yuge yuge sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6)—He comes in His own original turya status. He does not become affected. Guṇāṁś ca yuṅkṣe. He's not affected. This is the position of Kṛṣṇa. He's always transcendental. Na me karma-phale spṛhā. Na māṁ limpanti karma... Karmāṇi. Yes. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). This is position. We are here under the pressure of karma-phala. By the result of our past lives' fruitive activities we have got this body, material body. That is also not our real body. That is the body of the prison house, just like when a criminal is put into the prison house, he is given a different dress. In hospital, in prison house, when a man is there, his original dress is taken away. It is kept. When he's released from the hospital or jail, the same dress is again returned. Otherwise his present dress is taken and a separate dress is given. Similarly, we have got our spiritual body, not that we are zero, as the Māyāvādī thinks. We are not zero. We have got our spiritual body but very, very small. Very small. The measurement is given: one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair, very minute. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. The Supreme Lord is great. "God is great." He's greater than the greatest, and He is smaller than the smallest. He is... The living entity is even smaller than the atom, but it has got a body.
So we have to go through the right channel. Then we'll know Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as you know Kṛṣṇa as He is, your life is successful. That is the aim and object of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement—simply to help the people to know Kṛṣṇa. This is the only business, because as soon as you know Kṛṣṇa, your life is successful in which way, eh? The success is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). This is success. This body should be the last acceptance of material body. That is success. Otherwise, if you continue, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ... (BG 2.13). These foolish people, they do not know that dehāntara, there is change of body. Change of body is there already. You are experiencing, but they do not believe that after death there is body. Why not? If you have got experience in the life—"I have passed through so many changes of body, from babyhood to childhood, childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youth-hood, then middle age and old body"—then what is next? Why do you finish here? It is common logic. Why should you finish here? There must be body. This is real reasoning. And Kṛṣṇa confirms it. Not only your contemplation. Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: (BG 2.13) "In this way you'll have another body." The Kṛṣṇa, the great authority, He says, from whom Brahmā, the first creature, he learned. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva... Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. He... Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. He taught this Vedic literature to the heart of Brahmā. He can teach you through the heart also because He is sitting there. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe (BG 18.61).
So this forgetfulness is going on. Evaṁ sva-karma-patitaṁ bhava-vaitaraṇyām anyonya-janma maraṇa. Here is again, anyonya-janma: "Not only this birth, but another birth, another birth, another birth." You cannot say that "This is the final" or "This is the beginning." No. That is not. Anyonya-janma-maraṇa. In another body also there is birth and death. As in this body we have got birth and death, similarly, in another body also, either I take my birth as Lord Brahmā or a small, insignificant ant... It doesn't matter. Any material body you take, there is birth and there is death. You may live... Just like we are human being. We may live for many years, hundred years, in comparison to the ant's life, and similarly, we may live hundred years, and Brahmā is living for millions of years. So it does not mean there is no death. Death must be there. One who has taken birth, he must die. The janma-maraṇa. And as soon as you take birth, all the material conditions, tri-tāpa-yātana, adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika, you have to accept. There is no rescue. As soon as you take birth, janma-maraṇa, jarā... Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). As soon as you take birth, then you have to take jarā, old age, and vyādhi, and disease, and last, maraṇa.
So everyone is full of anxiety. That is also explained by Prahlāda Mahārāja that sadā samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). When his father... After all, father and son, the relationship is very affectionate. So even though father was not happy that his son was growing to be a great devotee, still one day he called his son, "My dear son, what best thing you have learned from your teachers?" So Prahlāda Mahārāja is answering. He knew that his father was a demon, so he is addressing directly. Tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. Asura-varya. "My dear father, you are the best of the asuras." Asura-varya. Varya means the best. "My dear father," tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. "I think," dehinām, "for the living entities who have accepted this material body..."
There are living entities who do not accept this material body. They are in the spiritual world. Their number is greater than the number of the living entities within this material world. They are called nitya-siddha. Eternally perfect. And here in this material world, the living entities are called nitya-baddha. Nitya-baddha means eternally conditioned. Therefore, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. Dehinām means in this material world. We are not this deha, this body. We are dehī, only accepting. Just like I am not this shirt. I am different from this shirt. This is called self-realization.
"I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am white," "I am black," "I am learned," " I am fool," " I am rich," "I am poor." All these designations are our ignorance. Therefore, Prahlāda Mahārāja says dehinām. Anyone who has accepted this body, tat sādhu manye 'sura-vārya dehināṁ sadā samudvigna-dhiyam. Because the living entity, although spirit soul, he has accepted this material body, asat. Asat means which will not exist. This body will not exist, but we forget that. This is the most wonderful thing in this material world. Everyone is dying every moment, still one who is living, he thinks that he will live forever. That is the most wonderful thing.
- ahany ahani lokāni
- gacchanti yama-mandiram
- śeṣaḥ sthitam icchanti
- kim āścaryam ataḥ param
So our position is in ignorance and, therefore, we are always full of anxiety. Just like this war between India and Pakistan (indistinct), the anxiety is not yet over, it is going on. There may be another war. So in this material world you cannot be free of anxiety, that is not possible. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). Asad-grahāt means because we have accepted something which is temporary, not permanent... Take for example this body... Therefore, we must be always full of anxieties.
So here it is said kṛpaṇān. Kṛpaṇān means "These people, these conditioned souls, they are not endeavoring for liberation from this material world." They are so callous, foolish, just like cats and dogs, eating, sleeping, and mating. That is their happiness. So they are reluctant. Nobody is interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore you have to... By the grace of Kṛṣṇa you have to adopt such means that they may be interested a little about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise they are so dull and miserly, they do not understand that Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very, very important for them. They have no sense even to understand. But the preacher who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he knows that without Kṛṣṇa consciousness these people are condemned. They cannot be happy. They cannot be liberated. They will simply remain within this material world, accepting one body after another. And whichever material body we accept, it is meant for suffering. It is not meant for any happiness. Tri-tāpa-yātana. The three kinds of material miseries-adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika—he has to undergo.
So at the present moment we see that (indistinct), they are all in tamo-guṇa because they are taking this body as self. Anyone goes any part of the world, ask him, "Who are you?" He will say, "I am the material body, I am Mr. such and such, I am Russian" or "I am German," "I belong to this family" and so on, "this nation," all the body(?). That is our (indistinct) experience. Nobody knows that he is not this body. This is tamo-guṇa. And you maybe trying to speculate that he is not this body, he is something else. That's a fact. But because out of the influence of the tamo-guṇa, he cannot understand (indistinct). And we have to come to the stage of nirguṇa, even there will be no sattva-guṇa. Here sattva-guṇa, the mode of goodness, is sometimes not (indistinct), they are attracted by the lower qualities, by the rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa. Mixed. It becomes mixed. But if you want to become devotee, then you have to overcome even this mixed quality of sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. You have to come to the platform of nirguṇa, no more influenced by the material qualities. That is the bhakti stage, nirguṇa. Therefore, here it is said, bhaktyā bhaktena nirguṇaḥ.
From this tree, whatever you want you can get. That is called kalpa-vṛkṣa. In the material world, because it is covered by the three guṇas, you can get the mango from the mango tree and the orange from the orange tree, not that any tree you have grown you get both the mango and the orange, that is not. That is there in the spiritual world. Just like if I ask you, "Please bring me a glass of water," you can give me. If I ask you, "Please bring me this little (indistinct)," you can give me. That means because you are spirit soul, whatever I ask from you, you can give me. Spirit soul. Whatever I order, you can supply because you are spirit soul. So the spiritual platform, you can get everything whatever you want. So there is no need of working for something. As soon as you desire, the things are there. That is called nirguṇa. Nirguṇa does not mean it is zero. That is the Māyāvādī philosophy. They have no conception of the nirguṇa. Nirguṇa (Sanskrit), it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa is always nirguṇa. He is not within anything of this material world. But fools and rascals, they cannot understand. They say that God is impersonal; when He comes He takes the help of material energy and gets a body, material body. This is their philosophy. No. Kṛṣṇa says that "I appear...," sa guṇān ātma-māyayā.
So this is the secret of bhakti. A bhakta does not endeavor for anything except devotional service. Karma, jñāna, yoga, these things are very popular. By karma, by activities, you can earn money and fulfill your material desire. That is called karma. And then jñāna. Jñāna means to understand that "I am spirit soul; I am not this material body." And then there is another sphere of activities. That is spiritual activities, jñānam. And then yoga. Yoga means whatever you want, aṣṭa-siddhi, aṇimā, laghimā, prāpti, īśitā, vaśitā, whatever... This is yoga. So karma, jñāna, yoga. These are the different processes of opulence. Now, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. Here it is said, kāma-pūraḥ asmi aham. "You desire something. So I'll fulfill your desire." Kāma-pūraḥ. "I shall fulfill your desire. Why you are bothering? You just become My devotee." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. (BG 18.66) "I shall fulfill all your desires. Why you are endeavoring? There is no need of endeavoring. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and whatever you want, you'll get it." This is wanted.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja was chastised by his father so many ways, but he could not forget Kṛṣṇa. The love was fixed up. Therefore Kṛṣṇa became very much pleased, prīto 'ham. Prīto 'ham. Prahlāda atyanta. So mām aprīṇata āyuṣman. Āyuṣman, blessing: "Now you can live long," or "eternally live," āyuṣman. Āyuṣ means duration of life. When one approaches Kṛṣṇa... Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, nāpnuvanti. Duḥkhālayam (BG 8.15). So long we have got this material body, material world, it is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). It is full of miserable condition, and at the same time not permanent. Even if we accept miserable condition... Everyone is trying to live. A old man does not like to die. He goes to the doctor, takes some medicine so that he can continue his life. But he will not be allowed to live. Aśāśvatam. You may be very rich man, you may take many pills, many injection to prolong your life, but that is not possible. That is not possible. But as soon as you see Kṛṣṇa, then you get your eternal life. Eternal life we have got. We are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We do not die after the destruction of the body. We get another body. This is the disease. And when you see Kṛṣṇa, when you understand Kṛṣṇa, even without seeing, if you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, then you become eternal.
So if you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, divyam, divine nature... Simply you understand that Kṛṣṇa is not like us: Kṛṣṇa has no material body, Kṛṣṇa is not unhappy, Kṛṣṇa is always happy—simply a few things, if you become convinced that Kṛṣṇa's nature..., immediately you become eligible to be transferred back to home, back to Godhead. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so nice. Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself, and if you become convinced, "Yes, what Kṛṣṇa says, it is all right..." Just like Arjuna said, sarvam etam ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava: (BG 10.14) "Whatever you have said I accept in total. No reduction, no..." Sarvam etam ṛtaṁ manye: "Whatever You have said, I believe. I have taken. I have..." That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says something, and I understand something. That you go on with your millions of years; it will never be possible. You have to understand Kṛṣṇa as He says. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. That is real understanding. Arjuna says, sarvam etam ṛtaṁ manye. Ṛtam means fact. "Everything, whatever You have said..." Not that "I cut this side and that side..."
As soon as you raise the daṇḍa, immediately they go away because anxiety is there. Or either in Brahma's life or ant's life, this is the material nature. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asat... Why? Asad-grahāt. Because you have accepted this material body, this means you have accepted anxiety.
So we have to do in such a way that no more material body. And that is Kṛṣṇa's advice. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). And if you have got a pinch of material desire, Kṛṣṇa is ready to give you a type of body so you can satisfy your desires. But the material desire is never satisfied, one after another, one after another, one after another. In this way at the time of the death we are not satisfied. We desire some thing... (break) ...and then it is to be very easy. Mām aprīṇata āyuṣman darśanaṁ durlabhaṁ hi me. If somehow or other, if you can see Kṛṣṇa, dṛṣṭvā māṁ na punar janma. Punar jantur ātmānaṁ taptum arhati. There is no more necessity of undergoing austerities, and everything is free. Ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim (Nārada Pañcarātra). If you have got Kṛṣṇa, there is no need of tapasya. You are free.
We are entangled in this chain of repeated birth and death, old age and disease, but we are not yet fed up. We think that, "All right, let us go on like this," but that is not actually advancement of knowledge. That is ignorance. There is a way to stop this repetition of birth, death, old age, and disease. Therefore in this age, in this life especially, we should try to get out of this entanglement. That is the special function of this human form of life. Dehinām iha dehiṣu. There are many dehī Dehī means one who accepts this material body, he is called dehī In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, kaumāraṁ yauvanam jara, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Dehinām iha dehiṣu. So dehī means I am not this body, but I have accepted this body. Just like we accept a kind of dress. Similarly, according to my desire, according to my karma, I have accepted a certain type of body and according to that body, I am subject to different types of pains and pleasures. This is going on. Therefore Bhāgavata says especially in this body it is the duty of everyone, śreya ācaraṇam. There are two words in the Vedic literature—śreya and preya. Preya means... Just like ordinarily everyone is engaged in some sort of duty for sense gratification. Everyone is working very hard to satisfy the senses according to his standard of desire. So that is called preya, immediate benefit. But besides this preya, there is another departmental activities which is śreya. Just like children, they like to play. That is preya. But his guardians are anxious that the child may not be spoiled, he may be educated for his future life. That is śreya. So Bhāgavata says that in this life, we should not be after preya, immediate benefit or immediate object of sense gratification. We should be thoughtful what I am, why I am put into these material conditions of life, and what is the way to get out of it. That is śreya. Śreya ācaraṇam.
That is the real necessity of this human form of life. The animals, they cannot inquire about himself or about the Supreme. But a human being can inquire, that "I want to become happy, but miseries are coming upon me one after another." At least, one should know what are the miseries. The miseries are three kinds of miseries. It is not the question of one religion or another religion. The miserable condition of life is for everyone, either he is Hindu or he is Muslim or Christian or Jew. It doesn't matter. Anyone who has accepted this material body has to undergo the miserable condition of material existence. That is a fact. And what are the miserable condition? There are three types: adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. Adhyātmika means pertaining to the body, mind. Everyone is experienced that "I'm not feeling today well due to some sickness of my body or some mental disturbance." This is called adhyātmika. And there are other miseries inflicted by other living entities, my enemies, some animal, some mosquito or some bug. There are so many living entities, they are also try to give me some trouble. This is called adhibhautika. And there is another type of misery, which is called adhidaivika. That is natural disturbance—severe cold, severe heat, some famine, some earthquake, some disaster, some hurricanes. There are so many things, natural disturbance.
The person in knowledge, he must see that "I cannot avoid death, I cannot avoid birth, I cannot avoid old age, I cannot avoid disease so long I have got this material body." But Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, "Anyone who understands Me in reality, what I am, then he immediately becomes immune from these four things." Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). After giving up this This body we have to give up. And then next body, tathā dehāntara-prāptir... So a devotee at least is not going to be cats and dogs or trees. The nondevotees, they are.
Now they are, now the modern advancement is to be naked. So these people are going to be trees. You know Yamalārjuna. You have seen the picture. They were dancing and they were taking bath naked, and they were not ashamed when Nārada Muni was passing. So he cursed them that "You are so fool, you have lost your sense. All right, next life you become a tree, immediately." So these senseless, shameless persons who are advancing in their knowledge by becoming naked, they are going to be tree next life. The naked tree is standing naked for many thousands of years. Or animals. They have no shame. So if human being becomes so shameless, then next life is to become animal and trees.
| Page Title: | Material bodies (Lect. SB ch 4 - 12) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur |
| Created: | 26 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=188, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 188 |