Karma-kāṇḍa—according to karma you'll get a different body. Jñāna-kāṇḍa also. If you actually become very much advanced in knowledge, you can get a body in a brāhmaṇa family, in a very educated family. But I'll have to go through the transmigration of the soul, repetition of birth and death. There is risk. I do not know what I am going to get. It is not guaranteed. Little mistake. Little mistake... Just like Bhārata Mahārāja, little mistake. At the time of..., he was thinking of a deer. Next life he got the life of a deer. Little mistake. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajanty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Because nature is so perfect, at the time of your death, what is the mental condition, you will get a similar body, next life. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). Because daiva, Kṛṣṇa is with you. Kṛṣṇa will see, "Now he is thinking of become a king. Now he is thinking to become a dog." So Kṛṣṇa immediately gives you. You take the body of a dog. You take the body of a lion. You take the body of a king. Take the body. Similarly, if you are thinking of Kṛṣṇa, take the body of a Kṛṣṇa, immediately. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how to train the mind to die thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Then your life is successful.
Next body (Lectures, BG)
Expressions researched:
"body in next life"
|"body in the next life"
|"body next life"
|"body, next life"
|"next body"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Now, this body, this body made of earth, water, fire, air, sky, this gross body; and behind this, there is another subtle body. That is mind, intelligence and ego. So when we give up this gross body, that subtle body carries me to another gross body. So when this, this body is lifeless, that body, subtle body, is not lifeless. Just like at night, when this gross body is asleep, the subtle body works. Therefore we dream. So subtle body carries to next life. And I have given in the introduction that how one man changes his body. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Now, the subtle body, I mean to say, mind, intelligence and ego, when these three things, psychic life, is absorbed in a certain kind of thought, the dying man gets a similar body in the next life. The, that we shall come when we make progress in the study of Bhagavad-gītā. Just like the air passing over the rose tree carries the flavor of the rose, and the air passing over a filthy place carries the flavor of that filthy place—the air is pure, but because it is passing over certain conditions, it carries the flavor—similarly, the mind, intelligence and ego carries the flavor of our present activities to the next life. That is the subtle mystery of transmigration of the soul from one body to another.
If we do not try to understand in this form of life "What is God, what I am, what is our relationship," then we are committing suicide. Because after this life, as soon as I give up this body, I'll have to accept another body. And we do not know what kind of body I am going to accept. That is not in my hands. You cannot order that "Next life make me a king." That is not possible. If you are actually eligible to become a king, nature will offer you a body in the king's house. You cannot do that. Therefore, we have to work to get the next, better body. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- yānti deva-vratā devān
- pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
- bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
- yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām
- (BG 9.25)
So if we have to prepare ourself in this life for the next body, why not prepare yourself for a body back to home, back to Godhead. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
We are teaching every man how he can prepare himself so that after leaving this body, he can go directly to God. Back to home, back to Godhead. This is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Tyaktvā deham, after giving up this... (break) ...we have to give up. I may not like to give up this body, but I'll have to. That is nature's law. "As sure as death." Before death, we must prepare ourselves, what is next body. If we are not doing that, then we are killing ourselves, committing suicide. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to save the human kind from being fatally injured by the wrong conception of bodily concept of life. And the simple method is by chanting the sixteen words, or if you are philosopher, if you are scientist, if you want to know everything scientifically, philosophically, we have got big, big books like this. You can either read books or simply join with us and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.
According to Darwin's theory, the human form of body comes from monkey. But the evolution is accepted in the Vedic literature but not like Darwin's. The evolution, again according to Vedic scripture, is that the living entity is different from the body, and the living entity is passing through many forms of body. We shall read that. So the bodies are according to my desire. I am desiring something. Just like here we are sitting, so many ladies and gentlemen, but not one of them is similar to anyone else. They have got different bodies. That body is created according to one's desire. The mind, the subtle mind, is the creator of the next body. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). At the time of death whatever I am thinking, a similar body will be offered to me by the laws of nature. Subtle body. The mind, intelligence and ego, they are subtle body, and the gross body is made of earth, water, air, fire, ether. So when we give up this gross body, the subtle body carries me to another gross body. This is the way of transmigration of the soul. The prakṛti, nature, nature's law, is very strict and stringent. The nature will immediately offer you a similar body according to the thinking at the time of your death. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13).
So when this body will be finished, I'll get another body. As I have got consecutively from boyhood to childhood, childhood, I have, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, aged body, so why not next body? This is simple truth, that the living entity, or the soul, is transmigrating from one body to another. This is the basic principle of spiritual understanding. The vital force of the body is the spirit soul. It is not a mechanical arrangement of matter. The modern so-called scientists, they think that the body is combination of matter and, at a certain stage, these combination of matter develop living symptoms. But that is not a fact. If it is a fact, then the scientists can manufacture with chemicals a living body. But a scientist even up to date is unable to manufacture even a body like an ant, and what to speak of other, bigger animals.
That's nice, but when you leave this body, you do not know what you are going to become. Suppose, theoretically, you become next life a cat in the same skyscraper building, then what is your value? And there is possibility, because your next body will be awarded by nature according to your work, according to your mind, intelligence. So you may have a very good bank balance and skyscraper building and dozens of motorcar, but you have created your mind just like cats and dog, then you are getting the body of a cat and dog. The most concession will be allowed—because you have got attachment for the skyscraper building—you will be allowed to live there as a cat, that's all. This is the law of nature. So if we are wasting our time in the business of cats and dogs and hogs, just try to understand how much loss you are suffering. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is giving you information: don't be a loser, become a gainer.
We have got different grades of life. Just like the child is crying, that is also life. Then the child body vanquished, then gets another body, boy's body. Then this body also vanquishes. Another body, youthful body. This body also vanquishes. And then an old man's body like me, this will also vanquish. So the logic is as the other bodies vanquish and I get a next body, similarly, when this old body will be vanquished, I'll get another body. So here it is stated by the supreme authority, Kṛṣṇa, that as these bodies are changing in this duration of life... It is changing. The old body, the child's body, boy's body of me, they are no longer existing, but I am existing. I know that I had a small body like this. I had a boy's body, youthful body. I can remember. Therefore I am eternal. The bodies are temporary.
Therefore the whole body is imperfect and full of ignorance. The spiritual body means full of knowledge, just opposite. So we can get that body next life, and we have to cultivate how to get that type of body. We can cultivate to get the next body in the higher planetary system or we can cultivate the next body like cats and dog, and we can cultivate such body as eternal, blissful knowledge. Therefore the best intelligent person will try to get next body full of blissfulness, knowledge, and eternity. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). That place, that planet, or that sky, where you go and you'll never return back to this material world... In the material world, even if you promote to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, still, you'll have to come back again.
Prabhupāda: Yes, the planets... There are different planets means different facilities of material convenience.
Hṛdayānanda: (translating) Who is in charge of giving us our next body?
Prabhupāda: God. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati. God, in His Supersoul feature, He is situated in everyone's heart and he is seeing all our activities, and he is awarding the different kind of bodies. You can... If you like, you can find out this verse,
- īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
- hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati
- bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
- yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
- (BG 18.61)
You can explain this. Find out. (Hṛdayānanda reads translations in Spanish) Purport? (Hṛdayānanda reads purport in Spanish) So we have to accept that we are fully under control. If childishly we say that we are independent, that is foolishness.
So as the color painter, er, painter knows how to mix and make varieties of colors, similarly, the three modes of material nature being mixed up, they are represented in so many different forms of body. So at the present moment, in your human form of body, you are also mixing the same qualities in your different desires. That means you are creating your next body. So at the time of death the thoughts and the activities which will be prominent within your mind, you will get a similar body in next life. Therefore the intelligent man should be very cautious to get the next body. We can get the body like God; we can get the body like the dog. Therefore the best intelligent person should try to endeavor to get the next body like God. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that you endeavor in this life so long you are alive to get a body like God. That will solve your all problems, namely birth, death, old age and disease.
First of all, the next body may not be for cultivating knowledge in spiritual life because we are already fallen, and if we do not elevate, we may accept another body, still fallen. Therefore the intelligent person in this human form of life should take to spiritual cultivation of knowledge immediately. Immediately means before another death takes place. Because death will take place—that is certain—so our duty is immediately take to cultivation of spiritual knowledge so that we may get next life either liberation or another opportunity for cultivating spiritual knowledge. So anyone who begins cultivation of spiritual knowledge, he is on the path of perfection, but even if he falls down immaturely, he is guaranteed to get next life a human body so that he can again begin his cultivation of spiritual knowledge and make his life perfect.
Therefore every human being should be very intelligent that "What is going to happen, my next life?" and prepare for that because it is said..., avināśi tu tad viddhi: "That small particle is avināśi," means it is not going to die; the body is going to finish. Then if my next life, next body, becomes rat and cat, then what is the benefit I get by this skyscraper building I have constructed with so hard labor and perseverance? This is knowledge. If you simply become interested on this small span of life, say, fifty or sixty or hundred years, utmost, but if you neglect your eternal existence, is that intelligence? We are teaching that science, and the Bhagavad-gītā is there. Take advantage of it.
Your, at the time of death, whatever you desire, you get the next body. That is the nature's law. (break) ...had been in Russia, in Moscow, many young men there are, very much anxious to accept this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And some of them were initiated by me. And they are going on. Just like these boys are going on. So this... So far my experience is concerned, everywhere I go, people are the same. It is by artificial, I mean to say, means, they have been designated as Communist and this and that. (break) ...people, they're all the same. As soon as we speak of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they respond immediately. That is my experience.
Take, for example... I am not... Or Pakistan is thinking "Oh, India, Hindustan, is our great enemy." What is this Hindustan and Pakistan or Russia? This is this body. Next life, you can take birth in Russia, or you can take birth in... There is no certainty. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi. But according to Bhagavad-gītā, you can understand, at the, at the time of death, if you are going on thinking, "Oh, Pakistan, my, is my enemy, enemy," then you get a birth in Pakistan. (laughter) Yes. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Because I shall get my next body according to my mental condition at the time of death. So just like our women are taught to become very chaste. Why? That is a process to give her a chance to become a male next life.
The changing... Now, I have got now this body, Indian body, and then, next body may be cat's and dog's or demigod's, according to my karma. So the body changes. So sanātana-dharma cannot be applied to this body. Sanātana-dharma means the characteristic of the soul. That is sanātana-dharma, to understand the characteristic of the soul. Kṛṣṇa is describing here the characteristic of the soul: sanātana. And at the conclusion, He gives you information of the sanātana-dharma. What is that? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is sanātana-dharma. Kṛṣṇa is sanātana, I am sanātana, you are sanātana.
Madhudviṣa: The Bhagavad-gītā has stated that whatever one's consciousness is during his lifetime will be at the time of his death, and that will determine his next body. Now, one who is living very lustily during his lifetime, his mind will be on that body.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So there are many varieties of life. Just like somebody is very lusty, and he wants sex enjoyment so many times a day. So there are many animals, many birds. They are given the opportunity like that. Just like the pigeons, the sparrows. Or there are many birds, the swans, the ducks. They have got every day twenty times, sex intercourse. So this facility is given to them. You see? Similarly, somebody wants to eat meats and blood. He is given the chance to become a tiger. So Kṛṣṇa is giving chance everyone.
That is real dharma. Just like the spirit soul is eternal, similarly, the spirit soul's natural occupation is also eternal. That cannot be changed. But when the spirit soul identifies himself with this body and the mind, that is changed. Just like at the present moment you have got American body. So your dharma or your occupational duty is different from another body. And the next life, if you change this body, you become say other animal or human being, then your occupational duty changes. But if you stick up to the spiritual platform, then that service mood to the Supreme Personality of Godhead will never change, either in this body or next body.
Why the differences? According to karma. Karmaṇā daiva... Infection. As you infect, as you associate. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). These are all explained. Why one is the stool worm, and why one is Lord Brahmā? Now, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. As we are associating with the laws of material nature, we are infecting and we are getting the next body. So this is our position.
We are spirit soul, pure, as Kṛṣṇa is pure. We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we are also pure. That is qualitative equality. Not quantitative. Kṛṣṇa is the great, we are the small. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. He is mahato mahīyān, we are aṇor aṇīyān. We are aṇu, atomic. Atomic sparks of Kṛṣṇa. So actually, we are pure, but as we associate with the qualities of material nature, we become impure.
What is the reason? Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya. We are associating with different modes of material nature by our karma, activities. Therefore there are divisions of karma. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). That is also creation of God, cātur-varṇyam, guṇa-karma. It is very subtle subject matter. According to guṇa and karma, we are getting bodies, and we are preparing also next body according to this guṇa and karma. So if we change our guṇa and karma, then we can again regain our spiritual body. This is the process. Guṇa... In the Bhagavad-gītā it is also advised, traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna. We have to transcend the guṇas, the infection of these material qualities.
According to their karma, they have got different bodies, the color, as I explained. According to kāraṇam guṇa-sango 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). These things are described in the Bhagavad-gītā. One has got a different type of body according to his karma. Karmaṇā daiva netreṇa jantor deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). By karma we create next body.
So this is a great science. People do not know how things are taking place, how there are so many species of life, how one is so-called happy, one so-called distressed. Why one is rich, one is poor. Why there are so many planets. Why some of them are demigods and some of them are human beings, some of them are animals. It is a great science. But there is no cultivation of this knowledge in the modern universities or educational institutions. Perhaps we are the only group of men, we are trying to propagate this science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But it is a perfect science to understand the position.
A poor man, he has to work very hard. His body is very sturdy. He can work very nicely. But a son of very aristocratic family or king, oh, his body is very delicate. He cannot work. He can apply his brain in something else. So so long we are... These bodies are made according to the different status of our work we have done in our past life. And next body is being prepared according to the work which we are doing now. But here Kṛṣṇa says that as soon as one can understand the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa's activities, he becomes free from the reaction of activities.
Now, here is the question, that because we are now preparing ourself to have our spiritual body or spiritual life developed, and being freed from this material existence, therefore our duty should be such so that we may not be entangled again into this material body. That can be made possible if we are Kṛṣṇa conscious.
"All people, being mad, they are committing all sinful activities." They do not know what is sinful activity. They think everything is all right. No. Nature will take account of everything and he will give you a next body.
The same example. If you infect some disease and the after result, you must suffer from that disease. This is nature's law. Similarly, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā. Why one gets low grade life and why one gets high grade life? What is the reason? That is explained by Kṛṣṇa, that kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. The reason is as he is being infected by the different qualities of material nature. Therefore we have to be very careful. There are three qualities and mixed qualities. Originally three qualities: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Then three multiplied by three, mixture, then it becomes nine.
Then jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ. They go to the lower planetary system, Tala, Atala, Vitala, Pātāla, Rasātala, Talātala. There are so many planets. Or in the animal kingdom. So we are creating our next body, karmaṇā, by our work. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, karmaṇo hy api boddhavyam.
You must know, because you have to accept next body. You can talk foolishly, "No, there is no body." Bhasmī-bhūtasya... That is the atheistic theory, that after the body is burned into ashes, everything is finished. Big, big professors, big, big learned scholars, so-called scholars, they say like that, "Oh, there is no life. Everything is finished after this body is finished." But that is not a fact. If we have to accept the authority of Bhagavad-gītā... We have to accept it. If we don't accept, that is our foolishness.
This is simply labor. It has no meaning, because you are creating, your own formation, next body, another body, that out of your responsibility, you are acting like a hog, you get the body of a hog. You are acting like a monkey, you get the body of a monkey. If you are acting like a god, demigod, you get your body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1).
Therefore one should know, "What class of work I shall be engaged in?" So the easy process is... It doesn't matter... According to your qualification, you engage yourself in any work, but try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Then your life is successful. Otherwise it is śrama eva hi kevalam.
Just like we change our dresses from one dress to another, similarly, this body to another body, transmigration of the soul. But we are meant for now completely ceasing to have any material body in the next life. That should be our aim of life. That is called... That knowledge is called the purest knowledge. Na hi jñānena sadṛśaṁ pavitram iha... That knowledge is the purest knowledge. Tat svayaṁ yoga-saṁsiddhaḥ kālena ātmani vindati (BG 4.38).
Now, by becoming Kṛṣṇa consciousness, by this yoga, bhakti-yoga, you can be successful. Yoga-saṁsiddhaḥ. And, in due course of time, you'll understand that "Yes, I am in right path. Oh." In due course of... Immediately you may be very doubtful, "Whether I have accepted the right path or not?"
Now he has to begin eleven percent again. Now, in order to begin, I mean to say, eleven percent in Kṛṣṇa consciousness he has to take the human body. So this means that if anyone takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his next life human body is guaranteed. It is guaranteed. It is very nice. Without Kṛṣṇa consciousness I do not know what my next body is going to happen. But if Kṛṣṇa consciousness or spiritual consciousness you are advanced, never mind whatever little percentage it is, you are sure to get the chance of another human body. Therefore it is said.
So at least to have a guarantee that our next life is going to be human life, everyone should take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. From mundane profit point of view. There is a story, Sāvitrī-Satyavān. Sāvitrī-Satyavān, it is not a story. It is historical fact that one gentleman, he was a king's son, prince. His name was Satyavān.
Therefore you are infecting that material mode of nature, and according to the infection, you will develop the next body. Just like according to infection you develop the disease, so this material body is disease. That we do not understand. We are soaping this material body, keeping it fit, but we do not know that this is disease. Anyone, does anyone want to keep the disease and say, "My dear disease, please live with me forever"? (laughter) Is there any intelligent man say like that? Disease is to be cured, is to be driven away. In Hindi they say, jara ar para okhane kha na baviya ar.(?) Means "Unwanted guest and disease, you do not give him to eat, and he will go away." He will go away. So any disease, you starve for few days, two days, three days, it will go. And any unwanted guest, you don't supply him food. He will automatically go away.
"Yes, I will become old man." And ask the old man what he will become? He cannot answer. Can anyone say?
But there is next life. This body is now old enough. It will be finished. Everyone knows. "As sure as death." Then after finishing the body, what will be your next body? Who will answer this? Where is the scientist? Where is the philosopher? Where is the learned man? Nobody knows. Nobody knows. Therefore he is blind. He does not know what is his future. But there is future. You cannot say no. The example is here. And besides that, Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Kṛṣṇa, the most superior authority, He says, and it is accepted by all the ācāryas and all persons who have attained perfection. So we should learn it, that "What is my next life?" And if I prepare for the next life, that is called siddhi. That is called siddhi. If we don't prepare for the next life, if we remain just like cats and dogs.
These men are no better than these cats and dogs and animals.
So practically you ask so many big, big men... Last time when I was here, Lord Fenner Brockway came here to see me. I asked him this question, that "What is your next life?" He is also old man, eighty-four years. He said, "Swamiji, we shall die peacefully. That's all." Peacefully you may die, but you have to accept the next body. Whether that will be peaceful or not, that they do not know. Similarly, I spoke with Professor Kotovsky in Moscow. He also said that "Swamiji, after finishing this body, everything is finished." This is the position of human society at the present moment, that they do not know how to make life perfect. To make life perfect means how to make my next life very perfect or happy or better life. Otherwise, if I remain in darkness—Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13)—then I shall be, I may become any of these so many types of body.
So nature brings you up to the point of human form of life. Now you make your choice. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. And if you misuse like cats and dogs, then again go. Again go to the aquatics or cats and dogs according to your karma. That they do not know. Therefore they are called mūḍhas. They are very much advanced in knowledge and science and money-making, but what they are going to take the body next life, they do not know. Mūḍho nābhijānāti. This is their advancement. Therefore they refuse to believe that there is next life. That is one solace: "Oh, there is no next..." Bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar āgamano bhavet: "Oh, this body will be burned into ashes, and who is coming back again?" They don't believe. Because if they believe the śāstra, then it will be horrible affair for them. But therefore they do not believe. But you believe or not believe, things are going to happen. That's all. That is laws of nature.
He may become a dog, and he may become a demigod also, according to his karma. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām. Api. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni (BG 9.25). So according to his karma, he gets the next body. There is no guarantee that he'll get human body. Therefore it is very risky civilization at the modern time. They do not know what is the goal of life. Simply like cats and dogs, they are eating, sleeping, having sex life and dying. That's all. They do not know. Very risky life. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). This is the statement of the śāstra, "These rascals, they do not know that what is the goal of life, to understand Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa."
The quality of activities becomes transcendental. Karma cākhilam. Akhila. Whatever he does in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whatever he does, that becomes Brahman, or transcendental. That means free from the contamination of the three modes of material nature. Therefore, as he becomes free from the contamination of the three modes of material nature, therefore he's not going to have next body of this material nature. Next body he's not going to have material... The same example: just the, if you put iron rod into the fire, it becomes gradually the fire. The nature of fire the iron rod attains. So when it is red-hot, there is no possibility of its being the iron, but it is fire.
So by our activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we become free from the contamination of these three modes of material nature, and thus, at the end, we become purely, purely spiritual, transcendental.
"One who at the time of death simply thinks of Me," smaran, "simply by remembering," muktvā, "immediately he becomes liberated." Muktvā kalevaram, yaḥ prayāti. "Anyone who passes away from this body..." So what is the result? Yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvam. Mad-bhāvam means he gets the next body just like Kṛṣṇa. That means that sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), eternal body, blissful life, and full of knowledge. Yaḥ prayāti sa mad...yāti. He attains, yāti. Nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ (BG 8.5). Do not be doubtful. It is fact.
So somebody, if gives me title, Sir Anatole, or this or that, oh, I become very happy: "Oh, I have got this 'sir' title." But I forget that this is my designation. It will exist so long I have got this body. But the body is sure to vanquish, so designation will vanquish. When you get another body, then you get another designation. Suppose in this body I am American and next body you get China. Then you become Chinese designation. So we are changing our designation. We should stop this business of designation. You see? So sarvopādhi-vinir... If one is determined to get out of all these nonsense designations, then he can attain bhakti.
That will depend on his work. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapatti (SB 3.31.1). According to the association of the material nature, you get the next body. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). We have got different types of bodies. That is due to our association, past association with the different modes of material nature. Therefore, in this life, if we associate with the modes of goodness, then there is possibility of being promoted to the higher planetary system, or if we become God conscious, then we go back to home, back to Godhead. This chance is there. Now it is up to us to utilize it properly.
Then, when the body is no more usable, then the body is finished and the soul again enters another mother's body. This is called transmigration of the soul. This is going on, but this is not very happy thing. Today you may have Australian body or American body or Indian body, but when this body is finished, what is the next body you are going to get? You must have information. You are human being. But that education is not there. There is no education throughout the whole world how the soul is being transmigrated from one body to another, what body we are going to get next. This will be happy or distressful?
If we get a nice body, human form or demigod, we may live very happily. Not happily, at least better than the animals. But if we get the body of an animal, then just imagine what is the suffering. If you get the body of a tree, now just imagine. A tree is standing in the open atmosphere.
Because the spirit does not die, eternal, so spiritual knowledge continues. If you develop spiritual knowledge... Suppose cent percent spiritual knowledge you acquire in this body. Then that will continue with you. Even after destruction of this body that spiritual knowledge will continue with you, and when you get next body, you begin... You finished your ten percent. You will begin again from eleven percent. That knowledge will not be lost. That is the law of nature. Spiritual knowledge... In the Bhagavad-gītā we have studied already, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. If you cultivate spiritual knowledge even one percent, two percent, that can render you greater service because it will continue. Once spiritual knowledge begun, it will not be stopped. The best thing is to finish it cent percent in this life because this human form of life is meant for cultivating spiritual knowledge.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, yad vikārī yataś ca yat (BG 13.4). How one becomes a hog, dog, cat or demigod or Indra, or Brahma, that will be explained. You are given the facility of human being and if you misuse your facilities, then according to your mental condition, you'll be offered the next body. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajyaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6), you'll find.
Therefore, give up doggish mentality. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Train up your mind, God, godly mentality. Then you'll be transferred next life, back to home, back to Godhead. That is required. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is training the people for being promoted to the highest standard of life. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so important. We are giving chance to the people not to become next life cats and dogs and vultures. But associate of Kṛṣṇa. To become a cowherd boy, to play with Kṛṣṇa, or gopī, to dance with Kṛṣṇa. This much facilities we are going to giving.
There are eight million four hundred thousand forms of bodies. I can get one of them. These are very subtle things. One has to understand it. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). At the time of death our next body will be decided according to my mental condition.
So entanglement means today I am thinking, "I have got this body"—Indian body or American body or this body or this body or fat body, thin body—tomorrow I may not possess. As soon as I get another body, that means the chapter changes. If I get the body of a dog then I may act like a dog. If I get the body of a hog, then I act like a hog. And if I get the body of a God... God you cannot. Demigod, higher standard of life, then you can act like that. The body is the destiny. With the body everything is destined, your material happiness and distress, everything.
By superior arrangement. You cannot say that "I want this kind of body." God is not your order supplier. You'll get. Either you ask for it or don't ask for it, you according to your karma, you'll have a next body. Karmaṇā daiva... By the superior arrangement. If you work in this life like God you'll get next life a god's body. And if you work in this life as a dog then you get next the life as a dog. That is not in your hands. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Guṇaiḥ. According to your qualities, as you will work, and prakṛti, nature, will give you a similar body.
Otherwise, why do we find so many varieties of bodies? So many varieties. Just like so many varieties of apartment, so many varieties of hotels, so many varieties of appointment. So you are appointed, you are put into an apartment, or hotel, according to the terms of your payment.
So the enjoyable is this matter, this material world, and the living entities, they are trying to enjoy. They are not actually enjoyer. They are suffering. They are becoming entangled because by this enjoying spirit we are developing different types of mentality, and at the time of death, according to that mentality, I get the next body. That means by this enjoying spirit I am getting entangled. I am not becoming free. If at the time of, if I live like dogs, dog mentality, then naturally at the time of death my mentality will be like a dog and naturally I get a dog's body. Then I enjoy. The dog is also enjoying. They forget. The animals... The ant is also enjoying, and Lord Brahmā is also enjoying. So this puruṣa spirit is material life.
So if you keep yourself constantly engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you are not in this material world. There is no more fear of what kind of body you will get next. You will get next body go back to home back to Godhead. This is wanted. If you go back to home, back to God, in the same style of body as Kṛṣṇa has got, spiritual body īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1)—then no more birth. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). The devotees who are constantly thinking of Kṛṣṇa, trying to understand Kṛṣṇa and engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, such personality, after giving up this body.
So as you can pay for it, you get a different type of car, and you can travel, similarly, according to your karma, good and bad, you are getting a type of body. There are eight million four hundred thousand species of body. You can get one of them and suffer and enjoy.
Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to change your body. Next body you can get a cat's body or dog's body, a tree's body or a demigod's body or a Brahmā's body or a Indra's body, Indian body, American body, serpent body, insect body, bird's body, aquatic, any, any, There is no guarantee. That will be awarded to you according to your karma. Unfortunately, they do not know it. Just like animals. The animals do not know how to get a better body.
This is statement in the Padma Pur... Janma-paryayāt, by evolution, we come to this human form of body, and in this human form of body, we have got the chance to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And if we do not do that, then we are losing the opportunity, missing the opportunity.
Next body I shall get according to my karma. But if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious in this body, in this human form of body, and if you try to understand what is Kṛṣṇa, then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), then after giving up this body, you do not accept another material body. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are trying to educate men to become Kṛṣṇa conscious so that he may not have to accept another material body.
So we should not follow the life of a snake, pravṛtti-mārga. Human life is meant for nivṛtti-mārga. We have got so many bad habits. To give up these bad habits, that is human life. If we cannot do that, then we are not making any spiritual progress of life. Spiritual progress... So long you will have a little desire for committing sinful life for your sense gratification, you will have to accept a next body. And as soon as you accept a material body, then you will suffer. Yena.
It is said that nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). These rascals, they are mad. They are committing sinful life simply for sense gratification. There is no need of committing sinful life but for sense gratification they are doing that. So Ṛṣabhadeva says, "It is not good because for sense gratification you have got already this body, and you know, experiencing, that you are suffering threefold miseries, and again you are committing something which will oblige you to accept another body.
They have no eyes to see. They simply see the superfluous combination, permutation. No. That superintendence is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ (BG 9.10). The Bhāgavata also says, daiva-netreṇa. Daiva-netreṇa means "under the leadership of the Supreme." As soon as one dies, gives up this body... He does not die; he changes the body. Now, the next body... Here is a duration of changing body. Say for a hundred years the changing is going on. Then, after that, when he changes this body, then there is daiva-netreṇa, the judgement: "What kind of body should be awarded this living entity?" That is called daiva-netreṇa. And when it is decided that "He has done such and such thing; therefore he should be promoted," "He has done such and such thing; he should be degraded," "He has done such and such thing; therefore he should go back to home, back to Godhead"—all these judgements are taken—then he's offered.
The result is at the same time... Because at the time of death, yaṁ yaṁ bhāvaṁ smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram. Pralayantam means at the time of death, when we give up this body. Upāśritāḥ. Then we get a similar body next life. That is, I mean to say, arranged by the nature's law. Nature has nothing to do. It will automatically follow.
Just like you infect some disease, nature's law is that you must suffer from that disease. Nobody has got to do anything. The law is so... Nature's law is like that. If you take more food than you can digest... (aside:) (child crying) Where is that child? Then immediately there will be dysentery. This is nature's law. If you take more than you can digest, then immediately there will be indigestion, means you cannot assimilate so much food. That is nature's law. If you touch fire, either you touch or your innocent child touch, the fire will burn it.
Fire will not consider that "Here is a child. Let me excuse." No, it will burn. This is nature's law. Similarly, the thoughts which you are maintaining during your lifetime, if that thought becomes prominent—naturally it becomes—at the time of death, then you are going to get a similar body. If you are thinking like a demon, then you get the demon's body next life. And if you are thinking like a devotee, then you get your next life back to home, back to Godhead. This is nature's law.
Therefore, if you practice instead of thinking like the demons, how to gratify senses... That is the demonic thought. They are concerned with this body. If you think of Kṛṣṇa, how to serve Him, that is your perfection of life. Because you'll think at the time of death of Kṛṣṇa. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). That is the perfection of life. Ante, at the time of death, if you remember Kṛṣṇa, then your life is successful.
So what kind of body I shall get, that is the preparation stage in this life. What kind of body I'm going to get. That is karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapatti (SB 3.31.1). As you are working here, this is a chance, human body. Here is a chance. You can make your next body as lower animals, or demigods, or go back to home to Godhead. Whatever you like. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25). These are the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā.
So one has to understand all these things by little tapasya. Because to go back to home, back go Godhead is not very easy thing. Because we are so much entangled with this gross material body and subtle material body. And the subtle material body is creating... Just like a spool, creating another body, another body, desires. Material desires. So we have to change these material desires into spiritual desires. Then we get spiritual body.
| Page Title: | Next body (Lectures, BG) |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 18 of Feb, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=50, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 50 |