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Pada-pa means

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Apadāni means those who have no legs, like plants, trees, the grass. They have no legs. They are standing. They have got legs, but they have no moving power. They are called pāda-pa. Pāda-pa means they have got legs for eating. We are eating with mouth; they are eating with legs.
Lecture on BG 7.11-12 -- Bombay, February 25, 1974:

This is life. Human life is meant for this purpose. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. We require something to eat because we have got this body. So minimizing the bodily enjoyments... Bodily enjoyment means... Or necessities. When you use bodily necessities in excessive proportion, that is called kāma. Otherwise, to satisfy the bodily necessities, that is not kāma. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that kāmo 'smi bharatarṣabha. Dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu. Dharma aviruddha. The religion, religion means regulation. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Everything has got regulation. Just like in our ordinary life, we get license. Even a man is keeping a wine shop—that is not good thing—but he must take license, regulation. The whole śāstra means regulation. Śāstra. The word śāstra has come from śās-dhātu. Śās-dhātu means ruling, controlling. So from śās-dhātu, the śāsana has come, government ruling. And śāstra has come. And śastra has come. Śastra means weapon. Just like sword. It is called śastra. Or guns. And śāstra also. Śāstra is the regulative principles, the book of law. You cannot violate the book of laws. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ (BG 16.23), na sukhaṁ sāvāpnoti. You must keep yourself in regulative principles, according to the śāstra.

So here Kṛṣṇa says, dharma aviruddhaḥ kāmaḥ. The... In the śāstra it is stated that jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. "Every living entity is living by eating another living entity." That is nature. Ahastāni sahastānām. Śāstra says, in the Bhāgavata, that "Those who have got no hands, they are food for the animal with hands." Those who are eating animals, they are also animals. Even human being, in the form of human being, eating animal. So one... human being means with hands, sahastānām. Hasta means hand, and sa means with. And the animals, ahastānām, ahastāni, they have no hands. They have got only legs, four legs. So ahastāni sahastānām. This, the with-hands animal, means those who are meat-eating, they are animals, but with hands. That is the difference. Here is an animal. Just like cows, goats, lambs. They are animals. And dogs. There are dog-eaters also. There is the word, śva-pacaḥ. Śva-pacaḥ means dog-eaters. Yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyam, aho bato śva-paco 'to garīyān yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyam. Even a person coming from the family of dog-eaters... There are dog-eaters still. So if he chants Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, he becomes glorious. Aho bato śva-paco 'to garīyān yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyam. Caṇḍāla... They are called caṇḍālas. Caṇḍālo 'pi dvija-śreṣṭho hari-bhakti-parāyaṇaḥ. Even if a caṇḍāla... Caṇḍāla means the dog-eaters. So these animal-eaters, they are also animal, describing, animal with two hands. Ahastānāṁ sahastā... Ahastāni sahastānām. Apadāni catuṣ-padām. Apadāni means those who have no legs, like plants, trees, the grass. They have no legs. They are standing. They have got legs, but they have no moving power. They are called pāda-pa. Pāda-pa means they have got legs for eating. We are eating with mouth; they are eating with legs.

So everything, analytical study is there in the śāstras very minute, senses and power, who has got. The fish, they have got very good sensation power. Means two miles away, they get sensation there is enemy, "Somebody's coming to eat me." These are all described in the Bhāgavatam. The frogs, they can become in samādhi, situated in samādhi, for many, many years. So these things are not very great things, to have samādhi, to have yogic principles. Even in the animals you will find. I read long, long ago that in the coal mine, while they were digging coals, one frog came out from the coal and jumped over and died. That means the frog was buried within the lump of coal for many, many thousands of years, and he was keeping samādhi. Kumbhaka, kumbhaka-yoga they know. So these are not very extraordinary things. Because after all, living entity is eternal, does not die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). If, by some process, he lives for some time more, that is not very wonderful thing. The wonderful thing is how to stop this birth and death. That is wonderful thing. Not that I am living, say, for fifty years or hundred years, another man is living for three hundred years. That is not very wonderful thing.

Just like the trees, plants, grass. They cannot move. They have no leg. They have got leg, but they cannot move. They are eating through the legs. Therefore they are called pada-pa, means "collecting waters through the leg."
Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Miami, February 27, 1975:

The natural law is that ahastāni sahastānām: "The animals which has no hands"—that means four-legged animals; they have got legs, no hand—"so they are food for animals with two legs and two hands." That means human being. Human being is also animal, more powerful, more intelligent than the lower animals. So the śāstra says, ahastāni, "The animals who hasn't got hands, they are food for the animals with two hands." Ahastāni sahastānām and apadāni catuṣ-padām: "And the animals or the living entities which cannot move, apadāni..." Pada means legs.

Just like the trees, plants, grass. They cannot move. They have no leg. They have got leg, but they cannot move. They are eating through the legs. Therefore they are called pada-pa, means "collecting waters through the leg." Just these trees. They are drinking water from within the earth with their legs. Therefore they push their roots very deep to find out where is water. And if you put little water on the root of the tree, they live. They drink water. They are standing on the river side drinking water and becoming very flourished. But although they are drinking the same water, still, they are differently constituted with different fruits, different flowers. This is God's creation, we have to understand that.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Pāda-pa means they drink water by the legs. You drink water by the mouth and they drink water by the legs.
Morning Walk -- December 14, 1975, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Alright. That is your... Out of 8,400,000 forms of life, the economic development is taken, a few only. Why others they're developing without any economy? There are so many other living entities

Harikeśa: Well for example, the bees or the ants, they're, the bees are making hives.

Prabhupāda: They are also.

Harikeśa: They are developing a big bee-hive.

Prabhupāda: No, no, that is collection of food. The trees also do that. They are called pāda-pa. Pāda-pa means they drink water by the legs. You drink water by the mouth and they drink water by the legs. Pāda-pa. Just like the, what is called? Bats. They pass stool through the mouth. Is it not? You do not know this? Yes. (laughter) You'll find the bats, they are hanging down the head, and they're passing stool. Sometimes man also does so, when there is strangulation. That is very dangerous disease. What is called? Intestine strangulation. Then passing stool through the mouth. In Bengal sometimes they curse, "You'll pass stool through the mouth!" Yes, sometimes they do. Sometimes they eat through the rectum. Do you know that?

Haṁsadūta: No.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They inject glucose through the rectum. There are many varieties of life. That is the fault of the modern rascals. They want to compare with himself, everything. They do not know that in the God's kingdom there are varieties of life. Otherwise why the 8,400,000? There are varieties. What these rascals know about these varieties? Ātmavat manyate jagat. They think, "Everyone should be like me." (sound of crows in background) Now these birds, within a second, goes hundred feet high. You cannot do. This is variety.

Harikeśa: But the bird is always looking for food.

Prabhupāda: Everyone is looking, that is another thing. But food is there. He has no arrangement for making industry. (to passer-by) Hare Kṛṣṇa! He has no arrangement for making industry.

Page Title:Pada-pa means
Compiler:Rishab
Created:19 of Mar, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=2, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:3