They say that "So far these necessities of life are concerned, they are ready, supplied." In any life, either in human life or in birds and beasts, lower animal, trees, plants, that is ready. Therefore we should not waste our time for these things, but we should be ready to enquire about the Absolute Truth. So human intelligence is there to enquire about the Absolute Truth. So they have got better developed consciousness or intelligence than the lower animals. So that higher intelligence should be utilized for enquiring about the Absolute Truth. So that is... Vedānta-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), athāto brahma jijñāsā. This life, human life, is not meant for wasting time for adjusting how to get better food, better shelter, better sex and better defense. So the human intelligence is that when one thinks that "If these necessities of body are ready even for the animals and beasts and birds, then why not it is ready for me?" It is ready for the human being also. That is a fact. We see when human being are uncivilized, the ready food is there. They live in the jungle. There is fruit ready for eating. Everything is ready there. They do not know how to produce food, the uncivilized man. They eat some animal. They eat some fruit. This is already ready. So uncivilized man, who cannot produce food, even for him, there is food ready. Similarly, the civilized human being, for him also the food can be improved. Just like he can produce from the field, agriculture, so many food grains, varieties of food grains he can produce. So these things are already there. There is no need of extra time for developing how to eat nicely, how to sleep nicely. One should be satisfied like the animals. They are satisfied with their position. They are not agitated. Similarly, we should be satisfied whatever is available automatically by the gift of nature or by God.
Plants (Lectures, SB cantos 1 - 2)
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Therefore the conclusion is that if we approach God for some material benefit, we may be cheated at some time. Therefore it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita atra kaitavaḥ: "This kind of motivated religious system is completely thrown away from this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam." Intelligent persons should know that "God is supplying food to so many living entities. Why He shall not supply me?" There are 8,400,000 forms of living entity. Out of that, only 400,000 forms are human body. So eight million means there are fishes, there are trees, there are plants, there are insect, there are birds, beasts, and in this way, eight million. They are getting all their foodstuff supplied by God. This morning we were walking on the, in the park. We saw. So many fruits are thrown on the street. That means the birds have eaten them, and they have thrown so many. So God supplies immense bread or eatable things without any asking. In a African jungle there are hundreds, thousands of elephants. They eat, at a time, huge quantity of food. But still, they are supplied by God. Actually, even from practical point of view—I have traveled all over the world—there are immense place. We can produce foodstuff for supplying food, ten times of the whole world population. So therefore there is no need of approaching God with a motive for material supplies or material satisfaction.
Everyone can understand it. So we are part and parcel of God. Take the whole body of God, the virāḍ-mūrti or the gigantic universal form. In whichever you like, you take. So every one of us is part of that universal body. Mamaivāṁśaḥ. So the same example: the finger or the one piece of hair, whatever you take, it is the part and parcel of the body. Whole combined together, it makes the body. Similarly, we all living entities in different forms...
There are 8,400,000's of forms. All together, every one of us, not only human being, but also animal, beast, birds, trees, plants, insect, everyone—they are all part and parcel of the Supreme, just like the hair, a piece of hair, is also part and parcel of the body. When one hair is picked up, you feel pains and pleasure. When the finger is pinched, you feel pains and pleasure—because they are part and parcel. Now, this is our relationship with God: part and parcel. God, or Kṛṣṇa, is the whole, and we are part and parcel. Then what is our duty? If this relationship is accepted, then what is the duty of the part and parcel? The duty of the part and parcel is to serve the whole. Anyone can understand. This finger is part and parcel of my body, so as the body desires, the finger is working. I desire the finger may work here like this; immediately works.
People are accepting all over the world very happily. India should have tried. The government should have known this. Unfortunately, they are all bereft of this knowledge, their own culture. There is a Bengali verse written by one poet, āpanār dhana vilaya-diye bhikṣā-māge parera dvāre.(?) They have lost their own culture; now they are begging from other countries. Anyway, this culture, this Bhāgavata culture, is not for any particular country or particular nation. It is meant for everyone. God is not monopolized by anyone. God is for everyone. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ (BG 14.4). Sarva-yoni, all kinds of species of living entities, all forms, not only human being, but aquatics, trees, plants, insects, reptiles, birds, beasts, animals... There are 8,400,000 species of life in the land, in the sky, in the water. All of them are sons of God. This is universal brotherhood. When we can think all living entities... Because the central point is missing. Central point is God, but we are making central point—somebody is making his own self, his body; somebody is making his family; somebody is making his society, community, or nation; or somebody is making the whole human race. But they are all imperfect. Unless we can make... All the living entities are our own men... Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). That is learned. That is knowledge. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ.
So this question is very nice." So he clearly says, the next line, yat kṛtaḥ kṛṣṇa-sampraśnaḥ: "Because you have put questions about Kṛṣṇa." Yat kṛtaḥ kṛṣṇa-sampraśno yenātmā suprasīdati. And if we discuss about Kṛṣṇa, if we question about Kṛṣṇa, if you try to understand Kṛṣṇa, then our life becomes perfect. Simply by trying to understand Kṛṣṇa, your will be perfect.
What is the perfection of life? The perfection of life means to get out of this material condition and to be situated in our original, spiritual life. Originally we are all spiritual spark, we all, sitting here, not only we, human beings, even other living entities, everyone—the trees, the plants, the aquatics, birds, beasts, insects, microbes, everyone. Wherever you'll find living symptoms, they are all part and parcel of God. But according to their karma, according to their pious and impious activities, they have been obliged to accept a certain type of body. That is in the hands of nature. Your science will not help. Your science will not help. It will be considered by the material nature.
There are aquatics, there are insects, there are birds, beasts, trees, plants, then human being, by evolution process. So they have no problem. You can see, in the early morning, these parrots, they are dancing, chirping, and they have no problem. Immediately they will go to some tree and they will find out some little fruit. They will eat. Their eating problem... There is no eating problem. There is no sleeping problem, and there is no sex life problem also. Along with them, there is opposite sex. And they defend in their own way. So these are not actually problems. These are already settled up according to your body. That is the verdict of the śāstra. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā. According to your body, your eating problem, your sleeping problem, your sense gratification problem and defending problem are already settled. That is the verdict of the śāstra. Your real problem is, as our Pañca-draviḍa Mahārāja explained, how to solve the problem of repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. That is your problem.
Therefore in the human society, there is some system of religion, how to solve these problems. But people in this age, they have become so misled, misguided, that they are not taking care of the real problem, but they are very much engaged in the temporary problems which are already solved. We are simply mismanaging them. So how to make solution of the problems of life, that means is called dharma. Dharma means the regulative principle which is given to the human society by God. I have already explained many times.
So in the previous verse it has been discussed, what is first-class religion. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). In the lower animal life, lower species of life, there is no question of religion. We have discussed many times that there is a gradual process of evolution from low..., lower animal life to the human life. Aśītiṁ caturaś caiva. Aśīti means eighty, catura means four, lakṣām, eighty-four lakhs, 8,400,000. Non... To tell...(?) Janma paryayāt. This is the evolution. From lower animals, from fish to plants, trees, insects, reptiles, birds, beasts. In this way, we come to the human form of life, and this human form of life is meant for dharma. Practically also, we see that the state laws, state laws are meant for the human beings. State laws are not for the animals. Animals, they do not require to observe the state laws. Neither they are able to do so. That is the difference between animal and human being.
So therefore dharma begins from human life. Dharma is the law given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just like laws are given by the state, similarly the dharma is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And it is meant for the human beings, not for the animals. But at the present moment, they are trying to go back to the animal life. Therefore dharma is neglected. Or practically there is no dharma. Just yesterday, the chief minister also came. He was speaking that "It has become a fashion of the modern age that to become irreligious is religious." Yes. That is fact. Therefore in any human civilization, any human society, it doesn't matter whether they're following the Vedic principles or other principles, there is a system of dharma in every human society. That is the beginning of human society. Dharmeṇa hīnāḥ paśubhiḥ samānāḥ. If there is no dharma, religious principles... Religious principles includes all moral principles also, social principles, social laws, economic laws. Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). Dharma is the beginning. Then artha, economic development; then sense gratification; then mokṣa, one after another.
There are so many devotees. Certainly there is meaning, there is importance of this dhāma. But still, if it is not possible to come here, you can create Vṛndāvana anywhere, provided you are a pure devotee and you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra without any offense. Just like we have got our New Vrindaban. This year we have seen practically how these American boys and girls, hundreds and thousands, always who are remaining, not less than five to seven hundred... And for one week continually, in Janmāṣṭamī, we observed Janmāṣṭamī festival. Actually it was as good as this Vṛndāvana, because the chanting of the holy name was going on and hearing about Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was going on. There was tulasī plants, devotees, śrī-vigraha. Everything was there. So actually, it was replica of Śrī Vṛndāvana.
So therefore the most important thing is, to make advance in devotional service, to increase the appetite for hearing. Viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ, notpādayed ratim, kathāsu ratim. Kathāsu means, rati means attraction to kathāsu, that means hearing. Śravaṇam. So this is the test, that anyone who is supposed to be advancing in devotional service, bhakti-yoga, the test will be how much he has awakened his intense desire for hearing about Kṛṣṇa. That is the test. That is the test. So the perfectional platform is stated here, that "You may execute your different occupational duties, dharma, but the test will be whether you have developed your consciousness, you have developed your Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That is the test. So you can read the purport.
This human form of life, deha-bhājām... The cats and dogs and hogs, they have also accepted a body. And the trees, the plants, the insects, the birds, beasts—everyone has got body, material body. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). I have explained it. According to the infection of the modes of material nature, one is getting a type of body, nature's way. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi. The same example: if you contaminate some disease, you'll have to suffer or you'll have to accept that disease. So similarly, this is the nature's way. If you are associating with a certain type of quality of the material nature, you are preparing your body for that purpose.
- prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
- guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
- ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
- kartāham iti manyate
- (BG 3.27)
We are very much proud of our body. "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am prime minister," "I am this," "I am that." The dog is also very much proud. "I am greyhound," "I am this bulldog," "I am this." Yes.
Everything is being done by His potencies. Just like a big man, a big business man, or a big, the president of the state, he personally does not do anything. But his energies, his secretaries and others, they do everything. He simply signs or gives sanction. So this is the fact. God has nothing to do. Everything is being done very nicely by His energies. Just like the sunshine or the sun planet is one of the energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the whole material world is being conducted very nicely by the sunshine... This is scientific. Due to the sunshine all the planets, they are rotating in their prescribed orbit and nobody is colliding with one another. Everything is going nicely, sunshine. Due to sunshine, the seasonal changes are taking place, and the varieties of trees, plants are growing. Everything is going on. The moon is also working under sunshine. And due to the moon, there are waves in the sea. There are changes of the ebb tide and low tide. So one energy of the sunshine is doing so much things.
So parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). His energies are working so nicely that svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Svabhāva, natural. Just like a rose flower is coming into existence, very nicely painted, very nicely colored, very nicely flavored. So it requires brain. How you can say that it has been done automatically? No. There is brain. That is said in the Bhagavad-gītā: mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). The nature is working under His direction. But His direction is so complete that it appears to us as it is being done automatically. Not automatic. There is brain behind it. Just like nowadays there are so many mechanical inventions. You just push one button and things come, as we see in the airplane. There are simply... The pilot is working simply by pushing some buttons, and such a big, gigantic plane is floating in the sky. We can understand. The television, simply by pushing one button... So if materially it is so much advanced, perfection is possible, you can just imagine, spiritually how much it is perfectly possible.
So everyone is suffering or enjoying the resultant action of his karma. Yas tv indra-gopam athavendram aho sva-karma-bandhānurūpa. Bandhana. As he's bound up by the resultant action of karma... Bandhānurūpa-phala-bhājanam āta... They are getting different results of their karma. It is very easy to understand. But for the devotees it is said, karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54), those who have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness in devotional service, their karma is cut off. There is no resultant action. Just like you know chick peas. Chick peas, if you sow on the ground, it will fructify into a plant. But the same chick pea, if it is fried and you sow on the ground, it will not fructify. So our karma should be fried up by devotional service. Then it will not produce any result. And Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). So there is no resultant action of a devotee's activity. Therefore here it is said, kṣīyante ca asya karmāṇi. Unless you have completely finished your resultant action of karma, you cannot be promoted to the spiritual world. You have to accept a type of material body so long karma will go on. Therefore in another place, Bhāgavata, it is said that people are engaged as karmīs, and Ṛṣabhadeva says na sādhu manye. One is engaged in karma. It is not very good.
The example is: just like if you want to have your work done, then fire is required. The wood is also another stage of fire; the smoke is also another stage of fire. But as fire is necessity, similarly, to come to the platform of goodness, that is necessity, especially in this human form of life. In other forms of life, they're mostly in the ignorance. Just like the earth. The earth has got potency to produce wood, trees and plants, but there are some earthen plot of land, it is not producing anything, desert. It has got the potency. If you pour water, it has got the potency to produce wood, but, in that... Similarly, the mode of ignorance, those living entities, those who are in the mode of ignorance, they cannot have any knowledge of the Absolute Truth. That's not possible. Therefore it is gradual evolution, from mode of ignorance to mode of passion. And passion, there is little activity. Just like animal, they have got activity. Just like a dog, we have seen, in the beach and other places, running very swiftly here and there, but there is no meaning. A monkey is very active. You have not seen monkey in your country. In our country there are monkeys. Unnecessarily creating disturbance. But they are very active. But human being, they are not so active, but they have got brain, they're working with brain.
So foolish activity has no meaning. Without brain, simply active, that is dangerous. Sober activity is required. Just like a high-court judge. He is paid very lump sum, money, but he's sitting on his chair and simply thinking. The others may think that "We are working so hard, we are not getting so big salary, and this man is getting so big salary. He's sitting only." Because foolish activity has no value. It is dangerous. So this modern world, they very active, but they're foolishly active, in the ignorance and passion, rajas tamas. Therefore there is confusion activity. Foolish activity, there is accident. Sober activity required. Because, just like unless you come to the platform of fire, you cannot utilize the material things. Fire is required. Similarly, to make your life successful, there is gradual evolution from aquatics to plant life, plant life to insect life, insect life to reptiles, reptiles to bird's life, then beast life, then human life, then civilized life.
In this way, gradually, evolution, we come to the platform of human life. And the Vedic knowledge is meant for the human beings, not for these other animals. Therefore it is said, dhūmas tasmād agnis trayīmayaḥ. By Vedic injunction, the human society, civilized human society, they require to perform sacrifices, fire sacrifices. Just like we do in all auspicious ceremonies... It is said that through the fire, God eats. We give to the fire the grains and the fruits and other thing. That is, means, God is eating, through fire. So sacrifice means you sacrifice for God, and God is accepting. God is accepting also when we offer prasādam to the Lord, He's accepting, but we want to see. That is our disease.
Similarly, God consciousness is there, dormant in every living entity. But the perception varies according to the development of body. Just like child. You say something serious, say, about sex life, they do not understand. But the same child will understand sex life when the consciousness is developed. Similarly, in this material world, our consciousness is covered, God consciousness. So there are different species of life. Just like the aquatics in the ocean. There are so many living entities. But if you preach there Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is not possible Their number is far greater than human being. Still, they have no capacity. Next development, plants and trees, there also, no sensation. You cut the trees, no protest, because there is no sensation. There is practically consciousness... There is consciousness, very slight. Sir Jagadish Candra Bose has proved that when you cut tree, he feels, and that is recorded in what is called, that machine? So everyone has got consciousness. Living entity means there is consciousness. But they have their consciousness only for eating, sleeping, sex life and defending. There is consciousness amongst the fish. Their consciousness is so strong, two miles away if some big fish is coming, they can understand. Immediately they can take precaution defending. These are all described.
"I am the origin, or seed-giving father." Trees, plants, aquatics, by their karma they have to accept different dress, but as spirit soul, everyone is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7).
So it is said here that manu-putrā mahaujasaḥ. Of course, those who are Prajāpatis, they are very famous. Naturally. They are the original. But all of them are kalāḥ sarve harer eva. Kalā. Kalā means just like part of the, part, plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Then the expansion of the plenary expansion, then again expansion, again expansion. In this way, the first expansion is called prakāśa. Just like first expansion is Baladeva, from Kṛṣṇa. These things are described in Teachings of Lord Caitanya. You must read. The first expansion is Baladeva. The next expansion is from Baladeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa. From Saṅkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, like that. So the first expansion is called prakāśa. Then there are divisions: prābhava, vaibhava... In this way, as you have learned from previous verses, many thousands of expansions. We are also expansion, but we are separated expansion, living entities. Svāṁśa-vibhinnāṁśa. Svāṁśa. Just like this my hand is my part and parcel of my body, direct expansion. And from the hands there are so many hairs. They are also from the hand. Just as my head. And from the head there are so many hairs. So they are also expansion. But they are separated expansion. I can cut my hair, but I cannot cut my throat.
Somehow or other, they could not execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness in full. So although they are born in a country where there is no trace of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no, I mean to, even purity of life, still, they are taking up. So where is the loss? There is no loss. Nārada Muni wants to point out that anywhere... Bhagavad-gītā also confirms it, that one who has once taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, anywhere he is in the next birth, he will again take it up. This is natural.
So Nārada Muni stresses this point, that yatra kva vā abhadram abhūd amuṣya kim. There is no loss. The... Because the seed, once sown, it will grow. It will grow. This example is given in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta by Lord Caitanya to Rūpa Gosvāmī, bhakti-latā, the plant of bhakti, growing. Simply we have to water it. Those who have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they should not be satisfied that whatever they have done, it is nice—"Even I fall down, there is no..." No, you have to execute as far as possible. But this is spoken. If by chance there is falldown, there is no loss. But we should not take that... We should not be careless. Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana (CC Madhya 19.152). Just like our program in this New Vrindaban, very nice program. From four-thirty in the morning till ten o'clock, there is nice program. So this program should be continued. Then there is no question of falling down. Simply executing this program.
Next verse: bhakti-vāsanā sad-bhāva iti bhava avayad vistu kevalam sva dharma pakvo 'tha
vayaptya abhajatam(?) Now, once this Kṛṣṇa consciousness awakens, it is so nice that it will not let the person fall down. No. The... Rest assured. Fall down. It will go simply. If it is checked for the time being, but that checking is for temporary checking. It will again come out. So don't lose this opportunity. Go on with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the simple method. So there is no question of falldown. Bhakti-vāsanā sad-bhāvāt.(?) Bhakti-vāsanā, this desire, that "I'll serve Kṛṣṇa," this desire is sufficient to keep him, I mean to say, intact. This very desire, bhakti-sad-bhāvāt. This desire will never die.
" And this "I am this. I am that," they cannot make any solution.
They have created the United Nations, but there is no solution because everyone is under the grip of the māyā, material energy, and they are simply creating problems. This is their business. Yayā sammohito jīva ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam (SB 1.7.5). Ātmānam. I am spirit soul, but I do not belong to these material qualities; still, I am thinking, ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam. One cannot go beyond these three guṇas, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa, or mixed. Three into three equal to nine, and again mix, nine into nine equals eighty-one. Therefore there are 8,400,000 species of living entities under the impression that "I am this; I am plant; I am fish; I am mosquito; I am man; I am demigod; I am tiger; I am Indian; I am American." In this way there are 8,400,000's of different types of identification. Therefore we find so many forms of life. Ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakaṁ manute. Yayā... This is all the work of māyā, to keep us under certain impression. And we work under certain impression and create another situation, and we get, "tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13)." Now, this life, if I create a situation like a dog, then I will get the body of a dog. That's all. Or if I create a situation like the demigod, then I can go to the heavenly planets. But if I create a situation that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa," then you go to Kṛṣṇa. This is wanted. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Create a situation. Don't create a situation that "I am this. I am that." Simply create a situation that you completely understand that "I have no other business than to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and my only duty is to serve Kṛṣṇa." This is wanted. That is called anartha upaśamam.
That is omnipotency. And we do not know by which energy He's acting in a particular case. But this is a fact, that His energy is working. And He says also in the Bhagavad-gītā directly, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Mayādhyakṣeṇa, "Under My supervision prakṛti is acting." So how prakṛti is directed, how Kṛṣṇa is directing prakṛti to make a nice flower... Just like here, they're painting flower on the wall. It takes so much time, so much arrangement. Still, it is not as good as a natural flower. Here you have painted one rose flower, and here are roses. There is art also, and here is art also. Without art, without artistic sense, how this nice thing, beautiful thing, can come in? You'll find a beautiful flower bloom in a plant, you appreciate it. And don't think, as the rascal says, "By nature it has come automatically." No. The same energy as you are taking, you are applying your energy to paint a flower on the wall with your paints and brushes... But Kṛṣṇa is also doing that, but His energy is so inconceivable that we cannot see how He's working. But He's working. Otherwise why Kṛṣṇa says, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ: (BG 9.10) "Prakṛti is working under My direction"? Is it a bluff? No. Actually prakṛti is acting under His direction.
This life will be finished, and the next life we do not know what kind of life we shall have. It may be human form of life or it may be dog's form of life. You have to change this body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Kṛṣṇa does not say that a man after death becomes a man. No. There is no guarantee. He says tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. There will be change of body. And so far the body is concerned, there are 8,400,000 of different bodies. So any one of them you have to accept. There is no guarantee. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ.
So I, as spirit soul, I am individual, existing. I shall continue to exist as individual in this material world either as human being or as an animal or as demigod, or a tree, plants, fish, aquatics—so many. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. So this is going on. This is material world. And if you go to the spiritual world, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). The difference... What is the difference between the spiritual world and the material world? The difference is that if you go to the spiritual world, then you will not return again in this material world. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Spiritual life means punar janma naiti. Punar janma means this material world. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). One janma, then death, again janma, again death. And between the death and birth or birth and death there is disease and old age. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha (BG 13.9). This is our real problem.
Although he is in your front, the father or the brother whom you see every day, this man, being, has dressed himself in such a way, he is playing the part of a king or something else, you can not understand. Somebody says, "Did you see your father is playing?" "Where is my father? Where is my father?" This is the position. Because Kṛṣṇa is playing His part in a different way. He has ot so much business because He is directing the whole universal affair. You can understand, if one man becomes busy in so many things, his brain becomes puzzled. But Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart—not only the human being; the animals, the trees, plants, everyone. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ. And what He is doing? He is giving direction. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am sitting in everyone's heart," sarvasya ca aham hṛdi sann... Again hṛdi, in the soul, in the heart. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca, "I am giving particular direction to everyone." He is forgetting something, he is reminding..., he is reminded something. In this way Kṛṣṇa is doing. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanam. How much busy is that? The thief wants to steal something, somebody's house, so he is also praying God, "Please give me some opportunity so that I can steal." So Kṛṣṇa is giving him direction, "All right, you steal in this way." And the same person in whose house the stealing wil be committed, he is also praying, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, please protect me from thieves." So he is also believing. That just see Kṛṣṇa's business: He is giving direction to the thief, and giving direction to the person in whose house the stealing will be committed. So if..., just try to understand how much Kṛṣṇa is busy. That is God. Although He is performing so many contradictory business, contradictory business, opposing business, still His full brain, His full brain, He does not forget to dance with the gopīs at the same time. This is Kṛṣṇa.
So one who cannot see God, they have been advised to see God in so many ways. These are the instruction in the Vedic literature. Because you can simply conceive of God, the great... The greatness... You also do not know how great He is. So in your conception of greatness... Just like the very high mountains, the sky, the big, big planet. So the description is there. You can think of. That is also Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you think that: "This mountain is the bone of Kṛṣṇa," that is also Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Actually that is so. If you think that big Pacific Ocean is the navel of Kṛṣṇa. These big, big trees, plants, they are hairs in the body of Kṛṣṇa. Then the head, the skull of Kṛṣṇa, is the Brahmaloka. The sole is the Pātālaloka. Similarly... This is mahato mahīyān. When you think of Kṛṣṇa as the greater than the greatest, you can think like this. And if you think Kṛṣṇa is both, smaller than the smallest. That is also greatness. That is also greatness. Kṛṣṇa can manufacture this gigantic cosmic manifestation and He can manufacture also a small insect, smaller than the point.
You have seen sometimes in the book you'll find one insect is running. The shape is smaller than the full stop. This is Kṛṣṇa's craftsmanship. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. He can create bigger than the biggest and the smaller than the smallest. Now human being, according to their conception, they have manufactured the 747 airplane, supposed to be very big. All right. According to your consciousness, you have produced something big. But can you produce a small airplane like insect flying? That is not possible. Therefore greatness means that who can become greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest. That is greatness. If you can act one-sided... That is also not perfectly.
Tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā. But because he is a rascal, ignorant, he's not satisfied, again does the same thing. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Again. This is called bhava-roga. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham, kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham (SB 7.9.45). Iva duḥkha-duḥkham. Simply trouble. Therefore Vedic civilization is to train these small boys to remain brahmacārī, not to take trouble. But if one is unable, he's allowed. So on being trained up in the beginning as brahmacārī, he does not stay for many years in the family life. He retires very soon and becomes vānaprastha, then sannyāsa. That is the training.
So here it is said, kliśyamānānām. They are... Everyone is suffering—birds, beasts, animals and trees, plants, and even Brahmā, even Indra. Indra is also not safe. He is always anxious: "Nobody, competitor, may come." So here in this material world everyone is kliśyamāna, suffering, at least with anxiety. Sadā samudvigna, asad-grahāt. Tat sādhu manye 'sura-varya dehināṁ sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). Everyone in this material world—always anxiety. Kliśyamānānām. Therefore it is called... Asmin bhave kliśyamānānām. Why kliśyamānānām? Why they are always suffering in anxiety? Avidyā-kāma-karmabhiḥ. Because they are rascals. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is giving so much stress: "You rascal, give up all this business. You surrender unto Me," because everyone is rascal. That is Kṛṣṇa's very good mercy. He's the supreme father. Therefore directly He says that sarva-guhyatama: "This is the most confidential knowledge I am giving you: rascal, you give up everything and simply surrender unto Me." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Yes. That is required.
Each and every part, limb of Kṛṣṇa, has got the capacity of other parts. We, by our eyes part of our body, we can simply see. But Kṛṣṇa, by seeing, can make others pregnant. That is Kṛṣṇa. There is no need, use of sex life. There is no... Simply by Kṛṣṇa's glancing... Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Adhyakṣeṇa, adhi-akṣeṇa. Akṣa means eyes. "By My glancing," mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ, "the material nature..." These things are there in the Bhagavad-gītā. You study. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate: "gives birth." What kind of birth? Carācaram: "moving and nonmoving."
There are two living entities: moving and nonmoving. The nonmoving are the trees and the plants. They cannot move. They stand in one place. And we, human beings, animals, insects, flies, we move. So there are two kinds of living entities. Stāvara-jaṅgama. In Sanskrit it is called sthāvara-jaṅgama. So the sthāvara-jaṅgama, they're coming out of this material nature. Not the life is coming, but the body. When we say coming, coming means birth. So if you say, now, matter, from matter—no. The living entities, they are accepting a type of body from material nature. Not that actually coming. Just like a child is coming... A child is coming, taking the body from the mother. It takes ten months to prepare the body from the blood and secretion of the mother. But the child is not matter. The child is a living entity. That living entity takes shelter into the womb of the mother, and the mother supplies from the body. By nature's way, it is going on. The mother does not know how she's supplying, but from her body, another body is created, and when it is fit, it comes out to work. This is birth. Not that the living entity is taking birth. Because that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: na jāyate na mriyate vā. The living entity does not take birth, neither he dies. Anything which does not take birth does not die also. Death is for such thing which is created.
So here is very nice description how we can materially become happy. These are all description of material happiness, svṛddhāḥ, very flourished cities and towns. So how it is flourished? Now, supakvauṣadhi-vīrudhaḥ. The herbs and plants and trees and creepers, they are all luxuriously grown and sufficiently supply the needs of the human being. Every plant and creeper is useful for human being. We do not know how to use them. Experienced men, they collect so many auṣadhi. Vanauṣadhi, latā loke jāyate paramaṁ hitam. We are neglecting these herbs and vegetables, but because we do not know how to use them, we have to meet so much bill of the doctors. But there are everything complete.
Kṛṣṇa's arrangement is very complete. Pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate (Īśopaniṣad, Invocation). Kṛṣṇa has given us everything in complete. There is no question... Although we have come to this material world for undergoing some tribulation on account of our rebellious attitude towards Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa, we are meant for serving Kṛṣṇa, but we have rebelled: "Why shall I serve Kṛṣṇa? I shall serve my senses. I shall remain independent without Kṛṣṇa." This is our folly. That is not possible. We have discussed already that without Kṛṣṇa there is no question of happiness. There is no question of happiness. It is our... This is called ignorance.
In the higher sense there is no material world at all. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Everything—Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's energy. So Kṛṣṇa's energy is not different from Kṛṣṇa. Just like the sunshine is not different from the sun. Although sun is millions and millions of miles away, still, we can feel what is the sun by feeling the energy of the sun, the sunshine. We can understand that sun is complete heat and light. Although we cannot go to sun, but by the sunshine, we can understand. Similarly, we can understand Kṛṣṇa by His different energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got multi-energies. So these plants and creepers, they are also produced out of Kṛṣṇa's energy, and we take advantage of them.
So if we want to be happy, these things are required. What is that? Ime jana-padāḥ svṛddhāḥ. Jana-padāḥ, cities and towns, we require. Because we are human beings, we cannot live in the forest. There are certain uncivilized human beings, they are meant for living in the forest because they are not civilized. But civilized men, they require nice towns, cities, full of gardens, parks, and nice roads and paths, nice building. They're all described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about the Dvārakā City, Mathurā City, in the, those days. Still there are some samples. In Mathurā you'll find that outside the city there are many gardens. The gardens... Formerly the guests, kings and big, big men, when they became guests, these garden houses were meant for them. We get this information from many literatures, Vedic literatures.
The saintly persons, they depended mostly on the riverside. Anywhere they will put a cottage on the river... Still that is going on. A saintly person, if he wants to remain in a secluded place, so they select any place on the riverside, have a small cottage. Still you'll find in many places, especially on the bank of the Ganges, Narmadā, Godāvarī, Kāverī. There are many saintly persons, especially on the bank of Yamunā and Ganges. If you go to Allahabad, you'll find they are living very peacefully, a small cottage on the bank of the Ganges.
When Nārada Muni made the hunter a disciple, so he dragged him to the riverside, Ganges, and gave him a tulasī plant, that: "You sit down here and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. And the tulasī plant is here. You offer obeisances." Then he was very much anxious because he was hunter. He has been stopped, his main business, killing business. So he was thinking that "My Guru Mahārāja may not cheat me. He has stopped my business. He has broken my bows and arrows. And now he has dragged me here to sit down and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Then he asked, "What about my food, sir? I'll sit down here or..." Nārada Muni assured him that "Don't bother. I'll send you your food. You sit down here. You chant, and I will send your food." So he was little doubtful. Anyway, this news, as soon as the news spread in the neighboring places that "A hunter has become a Vaiṣṇava," so out of curiosity, people used to come to see the hunter-Vaiṣṇava. The hunter... When one is Vaiṣṇava, he's no longer a hunter or belonging to the any caste. But people used to say "the hunter-Vaiṣṇava."
It was very difficult to adjust where the another festival, in which month it should be observed. So we have got experience—in Lakṣmī-pūjā, all new cloth. The children, at least, at least the children and the housewife will have new cloth for every function. And what was the price of cloth? Very cheap. One rupee, four annas; one rupee, six annas, per pair. So we have seen it.
So festival. So there was no scarcity. Why? People were religiously inclined. Even for a beggar, there was sufficient. The temple, sufficient, everything. That is called ime jana-padāḥ svṛddhāḥ. Svṛddha, svṛddha means opulent. All the cities and towns were opulent; villages, opulent, no want. And they depended on the trees, plants, this river, the mountain, the sea. Those who were... They're expert, they would go underneath the sea and pick up the pearls. That is very valuable. And still there are. So for rich men, the jewelries, the silk, nice food, nice building. And poor man, also, even they do not require jewelries, but they were not hungry. Everything was complete.
Therefore I am speaking to our scientist friend that "Now it is the time for making propaganda amongst the so-called scientists, philosophers, leaders, politicians." Because they are misleading the whole people of the world under the bodily concept of life. They are fighting. So the opportunity of becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, this is the human life, they are checking that, stopping that. Greatest enemy of the human civilization, these rascals. These rascals who is checking Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness, and alluring them in different concept of life by designation, they're the greatest enemy of the human society. They are checking the progress of human life. If we accept evolutionary theory, by evolution we have come to... Actually, we have come from aquatics to plants and trees and then insects. Then beasts, birds. In this way we have come to this human form of life. Now what is next evolution? That they do not know.
Next evolution is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. You read carefully. What is that evolution? Yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). Now the next evolution is, if you want to go to the higher planetary system, you can go. But they cannot know, they do not know what are these higher planetary systems. They, we see, every night, there are so many planets, stars, but from the śāstra we can understand that the higher planetary system means the material comforts available there, many, many times more than in this planet. You live in this planet, at most, for one hundred years. But in the higher planetary system you can live which you cannot calculate. Just like Brahmā's life, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). Brahmā's twelve hours even you cannot calculate with your mathematical figures. But one has to die. Nobody can live permanently within this..., even if you have got a long duration of life.
So because that child is born in America, she becomes naturally American national. So if this fact is to be accepted, that anyone who takes birth on the land of America, he becomes immediately American, and the American government takes charge for his protection, so why this is restricted only for the human child? If this is definition, prajā, "one who takes birth," so the animals also take birth. The trees also take birth. So many other animals, other living entities, they also take birth. So yes, therefore, they are all prajās. Not only... Miserly, you limit your prajā conception, national conception, within the human society only, you expand it. Even it is taken nationally, anyone who takes birth in this land, he is national. Either human being or animal or tree or plant. That is the definition of prajā. Prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa jāyate. Any living entity who has taken birth. Just like in America, there are so many jungles and trees. If outsider like me comes and begins to cut the trees, so will the American government tolerate? Immediately I shall be prosecuted. I can say, "What is the harm? It is a tree. I am cutting." "No, you cannot cut this tree because they are on the American land." So this conception should be prayed.
Just like Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the father of all living entities." Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ (BG 14.4). And He is accepting not only human society. Sarva-yoniṣu. Sarva-yoniṣu means in all species of life. Kṛṣṇa claims that "Fish, beginning from fish, aquatic life, these living entities, they are also My sons. The birds, they are also My sons. The beasts, they are also My sons. The trees, they are also My sons. The human beings, they are also My sons. The demigods, they are also My sons." Sarva-yoniṣu, "in every species of life." This is the conception of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We do not say that simply human being has soul No. Every living entity. Even a small ant, a small plant, it is living entity. By its different work, he has got a different dress only. Just like we are sitting so many persons, and we have got our different dresses according to our different choice, similarly, we get these bodies. We are all sons of God. There is no doubt about it. We (are) all spirit soul, either in the human form of body or animal form of body or tree form of body, anything. Sarva-yoniṣu. We are all living entities. But we have got different dresses. That's all. According to karma. This is the philosophy. So we cannot make that "These dressed living entities are important than the other dressed living entities." No. Everyone. The paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). Those who are actually learned, paṇḍita, sama-darśinaḥ, they are equal, equipoised: "Never mind, here is a dog, he is also living entity; and here is a brāhmaṇa, he is also living entity.
You have to kill demons like Kaṁsa. But you'll find the so-called artists, they will paint pictures of Kṛṣṇa only with gopīs dancing and the... Not other things, how He's killing Kaṁsa, how He's killing Aghāsura, Bakāsura. That they'll not paint. That side is completely blind. But in our Kṛṣṇa book you'll find both the pictures.
So here you have to understand that the rivers, the ocean, the mountains, and the trees, and the creepers, they will all serve you very, I mean to say, regularly, provided you are obedient to Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. Phalanty oṣadhayaḥ. Nowadays we do not know. As soon as we become sick we go to the doctor or to the drug shop. But in the forest all the medicines are there. All the medicines are there. Simply you have to know which plant is the medicine for what kind of disease. Phalanty oṣadhayaḥ sarvāḥ, and kāmam anvṛtu tasya vai. And according to seasonal changes you'll get fruits, flowers and drugs and everything. During Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira's time all these things were being supplied by nature because Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was Kṛṣṇa conscious, and he maintained his kingdom, all the citizens, Kṛṣṇa conscious. Even at the time of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, grandson of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, so he condemned Kali. He was going to kill Kali because he was trying to kill a cow in the kingdom of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. So he surrendered, "Sir, I am also your subject. This is my business, to act sinfully. So you give me protection. Because you are king, you have to give protection to everyone." So, of course king has to give. So King Parīkṣit Mahārāja said that "You have to go out." But he said that "Where is your kingdom? Where is that place where there is no kingdom, where is no supremacy of your majesty? Where shall I go?" So he gave him these four places: illicit sex and intoxication and meat-eating and gambling. "Where these four things are going on, you go there." That is the place of Kali.
There must be some control. And the controller is Kṛṣṇa. That is stated in the Bhagavad... Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). "The prakṛti, material nature, is working under My direction." So nature is working... (aside:) Again the (coughing) same trouble. So do not think that nature is working, producing things, blindly. No. There is no such thing as blind. There is, arrangement. Just like we see the aeroplane is flying in the sky. It is not that the aeroplane is automatically flying. No. There is a pilot. This is intelligence. Similarly, the whole material nature is working, and these are the venues of nature's work, rivers, ocean, and the mountains, and the vegetables or the plants and creepers, and trees, drugs. Everything will give you sufficient supply if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, if you act according to Kṛṣṇa's direction.
Where you get the direction? Sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya. You get Kṛṣṇa's direction from saintly persons, from authorized scriptures, Vedic literature... Sādhu, śāstra, and guru. Guru means who knows how to follow previous saintly persons, who knows what is written there in the book of knowledge, he is guru. Sādhu-śāstra-guru. And śāstra means that the direction of Kṛṣṇa; that is called śāstra. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said, yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ, na sa siddhim avāpnoti (BG 16.23). Therefore you cannot manufacture scripture. That is not possible. Therefore it is said, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Śāstra, scripture, means the words and the laws given by God.
To understand Vedic literature means one must have firm faith in Kṛṣṇa and firm faith in guru, not that "My guru is not so learned, so let me capture Kṛṣṇa directly." That is useless. That is useless. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). One can get the seed of the plant or creeper of bhakti, how? Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpā. By the mercy of guru and by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, not that kṛṣṇa-kṛpā. First guru-kṛpā, then kṛṣṇa-kṛpā. So this brāhmaṇa attracted the attention of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He was illiterate, and he could not read even one word. What is the truth in it? The same thing. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya **. He took guru's order very seriously, that "My Guru Mahārāja has ordered me, and I must carry out. Never mind I cannot read. Let me open the pages and see. That's all." So he was doing that. So others criticized him that "This man is illiterate. What he is reading?" But Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not criticize. Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired, "Oh, what you are reading, My dear brāhmaṇa?" So he explained, that "This gentleman has not come to criticize me." So Caitanya Mahāprabhu knew that "He is a perfect knower of Bhagavad-gītā." Still, He inquired, "Well, if you are not reading, then how you are crying? I see there are tears in your eyes. What is the meaning?" Then he admitted, "Yes, sir. Yes. That is." "Why you are crying?" "No, as soon as I take this Bhagavad-gītā in my hand a picture comes before me that Arjuna is sitting on the chariot ordering Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is carrying out his order and driving the chariot. So that makes me amazed. Therefore I am crying, that 'How Kṛṣṇa is merciful, that He accepted a menial service for His devotee. He is so kind.' "
He says that "If I forget You and take by birth as Lord Brahmā, I don't want it. I don't want it." What is the use of taking a birth like Brahmā? "But I shall like to take my birth as even a small insignificant insect, where a devotee is there." This is the ambition of devotee. "I shall prefer to become an insect." Because there are different varieties of living entities, beginning from Brahmā down to the insect, insignificant. In the middle, there are so many varieties—aquatics, trees, plants, demigods, and men, human being. So many thing. So this is the end and one end to another. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl... Kīṭa-janma, insignificant ant, nobody cares for, and Brahmā is very important, supreme person within the... So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that "I will not prefer a birth like Brahmā if I forget You. But I will prefer to become an insect if I remain with Your devotee." Because if one remains with a devotee, he will not forget Kṛṣṇa. That is the advantage. Just like when you go, people address you, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." Oh, it is very great benefit. Automatically they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. We have seen it all over the world. And when I was going from London to Nairobi, we stopped at Athens, the dead of night. We are in the..., what is called? That transit room.
That is saintly person. Rascals inquire, "Have you seen God?" "Not seen God, sir. He is seeing every moment." There is no question of seeing God once. No. Sadaiva. Santaḥ sadaiva.
How one can see sadaiva? Kṛṣṇa is already there. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The location is given here in the Bhagavad-gītā, that you can see God, not you have to go far away from your place. Wherever you are, you can see, because God is within your heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe (BG 18.61). Sarva-bhūtānām. Not only for human being, but also animals, beasts, trees, plants, aquatics, insects—everyone, beginning from Brahmā down to the ant. God is everywhere. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). God is within this universe, within your heart, even within your atom. So where is the difficulty? Simply you have to make your eyes to see Him. That's all. That is premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38). Love. It is not very difficult to understand. If you love somebody, then you can see him always. When you are in office, you are seeing. When you are eating, you are seeing. You are seeing... If you are actually love. So if it is possible materially, how much greatly it is possible spiritually and perfectly? It is possible. Simply by this method, bhaktyā viśuddha-dhiṣaṇāḥ pare.
It is called Bhūrloka. Above this, there is Bhuvarloka. Above that, Svarloka, Janaloka, Maharloka, Satyaloka, like that, ūrdhvaloka. They are higher planetary... Then middle. And then lower planetary system. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ. If you develop sattva-guṇa, the quality of goodness, then according to your degree of goodness, you get promoted to the higher planets. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ (BG 14.18). If you are in the passion modes, then you stay here in this middle planetary system. And jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ. Those who are in the most abominable condition of life, adho gacchanti, they go down. Not only the down planetary system, but even to the animal kingdom, the beasts, birds, trees, plants, aquatics. You have to go.
After all, you have to change this body. Change... This is... Bhagavad-gītā says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). As we are changing this body from childhood, from babyhood to childhood, childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood... This is practical. You are not the same body as you had your body in the womb of your mother. That body is gone. Now daily changing; every moment we are changing body. Advancing age means I am changing body, you are changing body. So it is very easy to understood that we are changing our body. But I know, you know, every one of us, that "I had such and such body." You remember that you had a child's body. You were playing like that. When you see another child, you say, "Oh, I was also a child like him, and I was doing like this." But where is that body? That is gone. Now you have got another body. This example is given in the Bhagavad-gītā. So as you are changing body, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), similarly, after giving up this body, you have to accept another body.
Why the crow does not go to the nice garden? And why the swan does not go to the crow society?
So there are different classes of men, crow society and swan society. The swan society is different from the crow society. How you can make equal? The people are making, try to make classless society. It is not possible to make classless society because every living entity is being controlled by a different quality. So the qualitative distinction must be there. You cannot make them classless. It is all imagination. The crow class, the swan class, the pigeon class, the dog class, even in the animals, even in the birds, even in the plants... There is a plant, rose tree, and there are other plants, useless, no fruit, no flower. It is simply meant for becoming fuel. So by nature there are so many distinctions. You cannot make equal everything. This is called variety. But everything is required, provided one knows how to utilize it, and that is possible by Kṛṣṇa conscious person, not by ordinary person. To accept all varieties of creation and engage them in Kṛṣṇa's service, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
So the first condition is yadi, "if," kṛṣṇa-kathāśrayam. That should be the principle of devotees. Anything which has no connection with Kṛṣṇa, we have no interest. Let it go. We are simply interested if it is related with Kṛṣṇa. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. Our principle is to follow the Gosvāmīs. They have given two formulas, Rūpa Gosvāmī.
He was on the platform of karma, karmī. He wanted to deliver his countrymen from the clutches of the British, Britishers. That was his aim. But because he was not jñānī, he could not understand that "Why I am trying to drive away some people for the benefit of another?" That is a great subject matter.
So anyone who is on the karmī field, he is not jñānī. He is not jñānī or mahātmā. Then who is mahātmā? That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). After working uselessly for many, many lives like cats and dogs, trees and plants and like that, evolution, when one works for understanding the ultimate goal of life, jñānī... So jñānīs also cannot understand immediately that Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate goal of life. They cannot understand, although it is stated that vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). Through the studies of Vedas, what knowledge one should achieve? When one achieves the knowledge that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, that is, I mean to say, perfection of Vedic study. But these so-called jñānīs, they are simply bookworms, simply reading Vedas, four Vedas. And they say, "We are concerned with Vedas. We are not concerned with Kṛṣṇa." So... Just like the yājñika-brāhmaṇa. Yājñika-brāhmaṇa, they were interested in the Vedas, but their wives were interested with Kṛṣṇa. So they got perfection. So in this way, jñānīs... Karmīs are rejected. Karmīs are useless. And jñānīs, when they cultivate knowledge, not in one life... Because immediately they will not accept that Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate goal. They are surprised, "How Kṛṣṇa? He was a cowherd boy, playing with the cows and calves. He can be...? This is māyā." Therefore they are called Māyāvādī. They cannot understand. They cannot understand what is the position of Kṛṣṇa, although they are studying Vedas.
Because He appeared as the son of Devakī, therefore His name is Devakī-nandana. By the action. Kṛṣṇa is known as Yaśodā-nandana. Because Kṛṣṇa acted as the son of Mother Yaśodā, His name is Yaśodā-nandana. Kṛṣṇa's name is Rādhā-ramaṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa enjoyed with Rādhārāṇī, therefore His name is Rādhā-ramaṇa. Kṛṣṇa's name is Govinda. Because He gave pleasure even to the cows, therefore His name is Govinda. Or Kṛṣṇa gives pleasure to every sense; therefore His name is Govinda. There are so many thousands and millions of names of Kṛṣṇa. Actually, His name is calculated in relationship with devotee. That is Kṛṣṇa's name. And there are devotees in all fields of life, amongst human beings, among demigods, among plants, amongst trees, among animals, among insects. Everywhere, Kṛṣṇa has got His relationship. So therefore the supreme name of the Lord is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. That is the meaning. (aside:) Please sit down properly. Kṛṣṇa's name is... This is the supreme name, Kṛṣṇa, "All-attractive." He can attract everyone.
So this statement, that "God has no name," that is fact, but He has got His name in relationship with His activities with devotees. So Kṛṣṇa worked as sārathi, as it is stated here, sārathyam. He acted as the chariot driver of Arjuna. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Pārtha-sārathi. So Kṛṣṇa did all these things. He acted as a chariot driver. He acted as the president of the assembly. Not that He is eternally chariot driver. Eternally servant is the human being or the living entities. Eternally master, that is. In Vaikuṇṭha, in the spiritual world, there is equality with God and the living entities. They enjoy on equal level. But everyone knows that "Here is the Supreme." That is spiritual world. When Kṛṣṇa drives the chariot, Arjuna does not forget, that "He is my chariot driver." He knows that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. But He is so kind, He has accepted the post of my chariot driver." This is spiritual sense. And sometimes, by the influence of yoga-māyā, Kṛṣṇa also forgets that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the devotee also forgets that he is eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. That is the action of yoga-māyā.
When He wants father and mother, the devotee must be father... Even when He wants some enemy, the devotee will become His enemy, what to speak of father and mother. Therefore He is all-attractive. He is as much attractive to His father and mother, similarly, He is attractive to the small calf. You have seen the picture. Kṛṣṇa is embracing. Kṛṣṇa is not simply embracing Rādhārāṇī or the gopīs. He is embracing the insignificant animal, calf. Therefore He is all-attractive. And when the calf goes to Kṛṣṇa... This is described in the Kṛṣṇa book, how all the cows and calves were so much, I mean to say, attached to Kṛṣṇa. That is Vṛndāvana. Everyone is attached to Kṛṣṇa. It doesn't matter whether he is human being or plant or trees or water or animal or the land or the flowers or the fruits. Whatever there is, they are all attracted to Kṛṣṇa.
So similarly, if we become attracted to Kṛṣṇa... We are attracted to... Actually we love Kṛṣṇa. That is the fact. But we have forgotten it. We are under illusion. Just you analyze yourself. Why we love this body? It is very easy to understand. Because the soul is there. Does anybody love a dead body? Is there any instance, a dead body is loved and embraced and taken into the room and kept it? Nobody cares. Throw it. Or burn it. So the body is not a lovable object. But because the soul is there within the body, therefore we love this body. This house, if it is vacant, nobody will come. But because there is Kṛṣṇa or because there are devotees of Kṛṣṇa, so many people come. Not that this house is lovable. Similarly, you analyze. You love this body. You work so hard day and night to keep this body fit. Why? Because the proprietor of the body, soul, is there. Then the love transfers from body to the soul. Then why do you love the soul? Because it is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we love the soul. So ultimately, the love goes to Kṛṣṇa. This is natural feeling of love between Kṛṣṇa, or God, and between living entities, but the māyā is interrupting the relation. It is called illusion. The process of interruption is called illusion. Otherwise, we, every one of us, we love Kṛṣṇa. Everyone of us. You analyze. You see that ultimately goes to Kṛṣṇa.
Paṇḍita, one who is learned, he knows that all of them, animals, trees, plants or human being or demigods, everyone is the spirit soul. Now they are simply encaged in different bodies according to different karma. The soul, part and parcel of God, wanted to imitate God's supremacy, and they wanted to enjoy. But in the spiritual world there cannot be second enjoyer. The only enjoyer is Kṛṣṇa. Bhoktāraṁ sarva-loka, bhoktāraṁ sarva-yajñānāṁ sarva-loka... He is the supreme proprietor, supreme being. In the dictionary you will find, "the supreme being." "Supreme being" means nobody can be equal to Him, nobody can be greater than Him. That is, means supreme. So how one can become an imitator of Kṛṣṇa? That is not possible. That imitation is possible here in this material world, because they are all rascals. So one rascal may claim that "I am God," imitation, but as soon as he claims like that, any intelligent man knows that he is a rascal. That's all. That very assertion will establish that he is a rascal.
Nobody can be God. God is one. And religion is also one. If God is one, then how religion can be different? Just like state laws. If the state is one, the law is also, everyone. Now the ordinary law, just like "Keep to the right," if somebody says, "No, this is Christian law. Hindu law, 'Keep to the left,' " will it be accepted? If I say, "I am Hindu, I am coming from India. My law is 'Keep to the left.' " In India, the same thing, "Keep to the left." And many other countries also. So here, because all these laws are made by rascals, in some country you keep to the left, some country you keep to the right. And which is correct, that is unknown. That is unknown. Therefore for the foolish person, "This is Hindu religion,' " "This is Christian religion," and "This is Muhammadan religion." Religion is one. How it can be Hindu religion, Christian religion? No. Religion is one. God is one. Therefore religion is one. Because religion means the law or the order given by God. That is religion. Simple definition.
Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). I have several times explained. As you are infecting yourself with the quality of material nature, you get a different type of body. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. The lower and higher grade of life, different types of body, how we get? That is explained in the Bhāgavata. Kāraṇam. Kāraṇam means reason, cause. What is that cause? Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya. The living entity, the soul, is associating with certain quality of the material nature, and therefore he is getting different types of body. We are all living entities, even the trees and plants and cats and dogs. But why there are so many different species of life, 8,400,000 species of life? Why? The reason is given in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya. The guṇa-saṅgaḥ. As we are infecting the quality of this material nature, we are getting. This is completely in the hands of the material nature. So therefore it is the duty of the human being how to get out of the control of the material nature. That is the greatest science. But they do not know it. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ. The rascals have become mad. Pramattaḥ means mad. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Simply acting sinfully. If they are advised that "Don't do this. This is very dangerous. You will be involved again in the birth and death cycle..." They have no knowledge what is birth, what is death, what is this body, what is the aim of... No. Simply blind animals. Simply blind animals. And still, they are going under the name of scientist, philosopher, politician. This is the misfortune of the present age. So nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). The same thing is explained here: vyavāyonmukha-jīva. Indriya-prītaye. Simply for sense gratification they are doing anything nonsense, as madman. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute yad indriya-prītaye. What is the aim? Aim is not self-realization. Aim is how to satisfy. "Never mind. Risk everything. Satisfy your senses." Therefore real civilization is to teach the children from the very beginning of life how to control senses. That is called brahmacārī. That is called brahmacārī life. To learn how to control the senses.
Prabhupāda: The benefit is... Just like the bank sometimes gives you a box, "Whatever little money you save, put it in this." And when it is filled up, it becomes a big amount. Similarly, these people, abodha-jāta, rascals, if they little appreciate, "Oh, these people are nice," that is one asset. This is called ajñāta-sukṛti, accumulation of the result of pious activities. And when one is fully pious, at that time, he can understand what is God. So we are helping them, by and by, to advance in the matter of understanding God. This is our propaganda.
Bali-mardana: I believe I've heard you said in other lectures that a person who takes prasādam, even a plant or a..., any kind of living entity who takes prasādam or hears the name, that it will come back at least to human form of life. Is that correct?
Prabhupāda: No, if he's devotee, then he'll come. But this taking of prasādam, or hearing Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is advancement for becoming a devotee. But if he takes prasādam not as ordinary prasādam, foodstuff, he believes that "This is remnants of foodstuffs given to God," if he understands this philosophy, then guaranteed. If he takes the prasādam as ordinary food, "All right, these people are distributing, prasā... Let me take it. It is very tasteful," that will give him chance to accept prasādam next, next, next... In this way, one day he'll come to the point that "This prasādam is not ordinary foodstuff." Then he'll... There is guarantee. Because only the devotee can appreciate that "This prasādam is not ordinary foodstuff. It is Kṛṣṇa's remnant of..." Therefore, he understands Kṛṣṇa. That is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma-karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). In truth, when he understands, then his life is guaranteed. Why guaranteed? He goes back to home next life. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). If you simply can understand what is Kṛṣṇa and what is your relationship with Kṛṣṇa, that is sufficient to take you back to home, back to Godhead. That is sufficient. It is so nice.
Actually there is. There are... Svargaloka is not so very comfortable. Above the Svargaloka there is Janaloka, Maharloka, Tapoloka, Satyaloka, Brahmaloka, like that, seven lokas. So who will go there? Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). If you are situated in the modes of goodness, then you can be promoted to the higher planetary systems. And madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ, and if you are in the modes of passion, then you'll remain within this bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, three worlds. And jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ, and if you are simply in darkness, you do not know how to enjoy spiritual life or material life, just like cats and dogs, then you are degraded. You take the body of trees, plants, lower animals, insects, worms of the stool, and so many things. So one should know that.
So nirvāṇa. Actually, there is no benefit. Even if I go to the highest planetary system, with very, very long duration of life and material comforts, that is not actual benefit. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna: (BG 8.16) "My dear Arjuna, even if you are promoted to the Brahmaloka, the highest planetary system, still, it is not safe, because the death is there. And if you come to My place, no, there is no more..." That is called nirvāṇa. Our business is to finish this material existence and go back to home, back to... That is real business.
Suppose in the desert you can pump water from the sea, but that will not be effective. It must be managed by Kṛṣṇa. The water must be evaporated by the machine, sunshine, and they'll be turned into clouds. And when that water is poured, then it will benefit.
So you are always dependent on Kṛṣṇa and His mercy. You are thinking that "We shall adjust these material things and become happy." That is foolishness. That is not possible. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). The prakṛti is there. All the riches are there. Everything is there on the ground. Just like we are getting so many things from this ground. The trees, the plants, the foodstuffs, the minerals, so many things. There is everything, complete. You'll see in your garden there are different types of flowers, color, scent, flavor. But wherefrom it is coming? It is coming from the earth. Can you make any scent from the earth? But the scent is coming from the earth. The rose flavor, wherefrom it is coming? It is there. Anyone can understand. But you cannot extract that. Kṛṣṇa requires His hand. When Kṛṣṇa is there in the form of seed... Kṛṣṇa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām: (Bg 7.10) "I am the seed of all living beings." The seed. That... Just like there is sex. Unless the seed is there, there is no child. Similarly, unless the seed is there, there is no plantation. The banyan tree is there because the seed is there. And the rose tree is there because the seed is there. And Kṛṣṇa claims, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. And Kṛṣṇa's potencies are there in the seed so that different types of seeds producing different types of flowers, fruits, colors, flavor. This is Kṛṣṇa's supervision. Mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10).
The people do not even know that there is dehāntara-prāptiḥ, again we have to accept another body. They do not care for it. And there are so many varieties of body. Just like if we are sitting here, so many ladies and gentlemen, each one of us has got a different type of body. Nobody's body is similar exactly to the other body. This is a fact. We can see. So why we have got different types of body? That we do not try to understand. Not only human body, but there are other bodies also. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. We have got bodies in the water, we have got bodies on the land, the tree life, the plant life, the insect life, the birds' life, the beast life, the human form of life... Amongst the human beings there are different varieties—some American, some Indians, some others. So why they are different bodies? What is that science? Why there are different types of bodies?
The different type of body is due to our different karma and different mentality. That we do not know. But Parīkṣit Mahārāja, although he is king... Nowadays the king and president, they are sure that "I am Prime Minister" and "I am President. My position is secure," because he is prime minister. This is the difficulty. The big, big men, they think that "My position is secure," "I am prime minister," "I am Rahis," "I am Birla," "I am big man, so my position is secure." But Parīkṣit Mahārāja did not think like that. Although he was the emperor, most powerful king, Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he did not think that "I am secure. Because I am emperor of the world, I am secure." No. He immediately become alert: "Oh, I will have to die within seven days. So I must prepare." This is the problem. We do not know whether we are going to die within seven seconds, because there is no guarantee, whereas Parīkṣit Mahārāja had at least seven days' guarantee that he will die after seven days. But so far we are concerned, we can go on the street. There may be any accident. I can die immediately. There are, so many deaths are taking place. The death is sure, and when it will take place, that nobody knows.
So that Kṛṣṇa is ātmā, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān and Brahman. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11).
So kṛṣṇa-praśna means all-including, everything—past, present, future, moving, not moving, and big and small. This is Kṛṣṇa understanding. Kṛṣṇa understanding means past, present, future, small, large, moving, not moving. This is Kṛṣṇa understanding. But everything is in either of these categories. Everything must be either in the past or at present or in future. So this is past, present and future. And there are moving and... Just like we. We are, animals or man or birds and beasts and insect or aquatics, we are moving. And there are not moving, just like the hill, stones, the trees, plants, the grass. They do not move. But we are moving. So moving, unmoving. And we exist past, present, future. And there is biggest, bigger than the biggest, the whole universe. Although you have got airships, you cannot go, neither others. So many machines have been discovered, but go and see the... They cannot go even to the moon planet, what to speak of others. Therefore it is very big for us. When we speak of universe we cannot think of. They simply calculate, the scientists, by light year, and this year, that year, the speed. But we cannot approach even in this material world, and what to speak of Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is in the spiritual world. We cannot calculate the length and breadth of this material world. Our knowledge is so imperfect and meager, and what we can understand of the spiritual world? The material world is a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's one-fourth energy. And the three-fourths' energy is manifested in the spiritual world. This is the understanding of Kṛṣṇa.
Our only ambition is that we become Kṛṣṇa conscious.
So the animals, the cows and calves, who are Kṛṣṇa conscious... You have seen the picture of Kṛṣṇa? Yes. So better that we shall become animal of Kṛṣṇa. So there is nothing wrong. Even if we become an animal of Kṛṣṇa, that is also very worthy. That is not ordinary thing. Kṛṣṇa is embracing. Kṛṣṇa... You see the picture. Kṛṣṇa is embracing. Surabhīr abhipālayantam. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). Kṛṣṇa always tends the cows. His name is cowherd boy. To become animal of Kṛṣṇa is a great, great fortune. It is not ordinary thing. Any associate of Kṛṣṇa, either His cowherd boyfriends or calf or cows, or the Vṛndāvana trees, plants, flowers or water, they are all devotees of Kṛṣṇa. They like to serve Kṛṣṇa in different capacities. Somebody is serving Kṛṣṇa as animal. Somebody is serving Kṛṣṇa as fruits and flowers, as tree, as Yamunā water, or the beautiful cowherds men and damsels or Kṛṣṇa's father and mother, so many with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not imperson. So He has got so many lovers. Kṛṣṇa also loves them. So Kṛṣṇa's another name is paśu-pāla, paśu-pāla-paṅkaja. He is, mean, tender of the animals. Surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). He takes pleasure in tending the cows, surabhī. These are surabhī cows, not these ordinary cows, surabhī cows. Surabhī cows means you can milk the cow as many times as you like and as much milk as you like. That is surabhī.
So therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī says "It is glorified question you have inquired about Kṛṣṇa." So about Kṛṣṇa, it is called kṛṣṇa-kathā, topics about Kṛṣṇa. The topics or the instruction given by Kṛṣṇa is the Bhagavad-gītā, and the topics about the activities of Kṛṣṇa is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So some way or other, let us always discuss about Kṛṣṇa. That should be the life of Kṛṣṇa conscious people. So this is life of Kṛṣṇa, worshiping Kṛṣṇa in the temple, to sell Kṛṣṇa's books, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, to think of Kṛṣṇa—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa—to eat kṛṣṇa-prasādam, to take all risk for Kṛṣṇa, to do work for Kṛṣṇa, as Arjuna, to fight for Kṛṣṇa.
One who has no information of the spiritual world, they are interested in these newspaper and magazines. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām. Gṛheṣu means they have an impact of understanding. This is my body. Or this is my society. Or this is my community. Or this is my nation. Or this is my humanitarian. They can expand. But what is the... Even if you take the whole human society, what is the value? If you take all living entities, there are so many other living entities. Not only human beings, there are animals, thirty thousand species of animals. Not thirty thousand, thirty hundred thousand. Similarly, twenty hundred thousand species of living entities who are called the trees, plants. So where is the knowledge of all this? Suppose if one is naturalist, what knowledge he has got? He can study a thousand species of plants and trees, but there are two millions of plants and trees. Just try to understand how much meager a small quantity of knowledge you have got. It is practically not possible. But at least one must know that this material world, this material body is not myself. At least this self-realization should be there. Otherwise, we remain animals.
Apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām (SB 2.1.2). Gṛheṣu means within the bound up impact of life. This bodily concept of life, the social concept of life, the national concept of life. No, there is unlimited field of activities, and you should try to know. But because we are not interested, we are not educated to become interested to understand the light(?) and field(?) of spiritual life, we are compact, gṛheṣu. Gṛheṣu means at home. Gṛheṣu, at home. Just like I remember when the Russians put sputnik for flying in the sky, the man, he was trying to see from that sputnik where is Russia, Moscow. So this is called gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām. Our attachment is in this body or in the society or in this country. This is called gṛha-medhī. Gṛha-medhī means one who has made his center of activities only home or nation or community. He has no other aim. Gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām. They are called gṛheṣu.
The small children, four years, five years old, they are hearing about Kṛṣṇa, about God. They are chanting about Kṛṣṇa, they are rising early in the morning, attending maṅgala-ārātrika. Anyone goes there... Even the education superintendent came to visit our temple. He was astonished that "How these children are happy. How children, they are being educated." So this is to be introduced. Kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavat..., durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. This human form of life is durlabham. Durlabham, very rare to achieve. It is not so easily obtained. We have to pass through evolutionary process, 8,400,000 species of life, aquatics... Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. We have to pass through aquatics, animals in the water, then trees, plants, then insects, birds, beasts. After all, we get this human form of life, especially civilized form of life, with some idea of religion. If we do not utilize it... Religion means to understand God. That is religion. In religion, a godless religion, where there is no conception of God, that is not religion. That is called cheating religion. In the name of religion, but there is no conception of God. That is not religion.
Then here it is said that śrotavyaḥ bhagavān hariḥ. If you do not know who is Bhagavān, if you do not know who is Hari, if you do not know who is Īśvara, then what you will hear about Him? That is the problem. Those who are after God, they make God nirākāra. "There is no ākāra. There is no form." God is the origin of all forms, but the poor God has no form. Just see. This is the conclusion. He is the origin of all forms, yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante, from whom everything is coming out. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Everything... We have also come from God. We are also claimed as sons of God. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ (BG 14.4).
In this way, all the living entities, beginning from Brahmā down to the microscopic germ, everyone is rotating in different species of life, in different planets, in different position. Innumerable. As the living entities are innumerable, so varieties of bodies are also innumerable. Not innumerable, they are counted, 8,400,000 species of life. This is Vedic knowledge. Exactly giving the number. Exactly. 8,400,000. It doesn't say 9,000,000, or 500,000. No. Exact.
Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. In the aquatics, there are 900,000 species of life. Now, if you have got your science, now go and see. This is Vedic knowledge. Perfect, without any doubt. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And the plants and trees, they are 2,000,000 species of life. So, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite (CC Madhya 19.151). We are transmigrating from one species of life, one species of life, another, another, another, another... They cannot explain why there are so many varieties of life. The varieties of life is there because we have desire, kāma. "I want this." "All right, take this." Kṛṣṇa is immediately prepared. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). "If you want, you can take it." But Kṛṣṇa says, ultimately, that "You'll never be happy in this way. Therefore you give up this business. Simply surrender unto Me." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). So that is called akāma. So here it is said that akāmaḥ yajet puruṣaṁ param. If you want to be akāma, devoid of all material desires, then surrender to Kṛṣṇa.
This world is just like blazing fire. People realize it. And when they do not find any solution, they become frustrated, they become confused, they take to intoxication to forget the blazing condition of life. So actually everyone in this material world is burning in the blazing fire of material consciousness. That's a fact. Somebody is trying to solve by forgetting it through the influence of intoxication or something else artificially. That is not the solution. The real solution is to come to the original consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Actually, what is the real fact of our existence? Real fact of our existence is this consciousness. Either an animal or a man or a superman or an aquatic or a tree or a plant—any living entity—what is the ultimate stand? The ultimate stand is consciousness. The animal body is animal body so long there is consciousness. The human body is human body so long there is consciousness. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find this verse, avinaśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. Avinaśi tu tad viddhi. Just try to understand. Just try to understand that thing. What is that? Just try to understand that thing as imperishable. What is that thing? Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. That thing which is pervading all over your body. And what is that thing? That is consciousness. So long there is consciousness, you feel either from this part of this body or this part of the body or this part of the..., anywhere you pinch, because the consciousness is there, you feel, "Oh, it is painful," or it is pleasure. There are two kinds of feelings: painful or pleasure. And that is due to consciousness. And this consciousness is there in every body, but they are in degrees. That is, the consciousness in tree is very lower. Therefore if you cut a tree, it does not respond. It responds... According to modern science... Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, he has invented a machine that when you cut a tree or take out the fruit or the leaves or the branches, he feels, and that feeling is recorded in a machine. I do not know exactly the machine name, but there is a machine. It immediately...
Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). What is there in the sex literature? There is no new information; the same sex life, that's all. Sometimes half-naked, sometimes naked, sometimes this, sometimes that, but the central place is sex.
So when you have got developed consciousness, try to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Don't waste your time in nonsense literature. Don't waste. The life is very valuable. You don't think that "Because we have got human form of life, we shall live for one hundred years or sixty or seventy years, so let us enjoy." Bhāgavata says this kind of enjoyment is there everywhere—in animal life, in plant life. This enjoyment means sex pleasure. Viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt. Viṣaya. Viṣaya means eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. This is called viṣaya. One who is very much fond of these principles of life only... Just like animals. They have no other problem. They do not know what Kṛṣṇa consciousness, what philosophy, what is metaphysical understanding. They have no such problem. Their only problem is eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That's all. So this human form of life is not like that.
The Bhāgavatam says that certain trees live for hundreds and thousands of years. At Vṛndāvana there is a tamarind tree. The place is known as Imlitala, which is said to be existing since the time of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In the Calcutta Botanical Garden there is a banyan tree said to be older than 500 years, and there are many such trees all over the world. Svāmī Śaṅkarācārya lived only 32 years, and Lord Caitanya lived 48 years.
One may doubt that trees have life because they do not breathe, but modern scientists like Bose have already proved that there is life in plants, so breathing is no sign of actual life. The Bhāgavatam says that the bellows of the blacksmith breathe very soundly, but that does not mean that the bellows has life. The materialist will argue that life in the tree and life in the man cannot be compared because the tree cannot enjoy life by eating palatable dishes or by enjoying sexual intercourse. In reply to this, the Bhāgavatam asks whether other animals like the dogs and hogs living in the same village with human beings do not eat and enjoy sexual life. The specific utterance of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in this connection regarding other animals means that persons who are simply engaged in the matter of planning a better type of animal life consisting of eating, breathing, and mating are also animals in the shape of human beings. A society of such polished animals cannot benefit suffering humanity, for an animal can easily harm another animal but rarely do good."
At Vṛndāvana there is a tamarind tree (the place is known as Imlitala) which is said to have existed since the time of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In the Calcutta Botanical Garden there is a banyan tree said to be older than five hundred years, and there are many such trees all over the world. Svāmī Śaṅkarācārya lived only thirty-two years, and Lord Caitanya lived forty-eight years. Does it mean that the prolonged lives of the abovementioned trees are more important than Śaṅkara or Caitanya? Prolonged life without spiritual value is not very important. One may doubt that trees have life because they do not breathe. But modern scientists like Bose have already proved that there is life in plants, so breathing is no sign of actual life. The Bhāgavatam says that the bellows of the blacksmith breathes very soundly, but that does not mean that the bellows has life. The materialist will argue that life in the tree and life in the man cannot be compared because the tree cannot enjoy life by eating palatable dishes or by enjoying sexual intercourse. In reply to this, the Bhāgavatam asks whether other animals like the dogs and hogs, living in the same village with human beings, do not eat and enjoy sexual life. The specific utterance of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in regard to "other animals" means that persons who are simply engaged in planning a better type of animal life consisting of eating, breathing and mating are also animals in the shape of human beings. A society of such polished animals cannot benefit suffering humanity, for an animal can easily harm another animal but rarely do good.
Repeat it. (Devotees say the verse.) So aśītim means eighty. Aśītiṁ caturaḥ. Caturaḥ means four. So eighty-four. Eighty plus four means eighty-four. Lakṣāṁs. Lakṣāṁs means hundreds of thousand. So eighty-four hundreds of thousands. Aśītiṁ caturaś caiva lakṣāṁs tāñ jīva-jātiṣu. Jīva-jāti. This is different species of living entities. Jīva-jāti. The hog species, the ass species, the dog species, just like they have got species. Jīva-jātiṣu. So in different species of living entities, they are counted, eighty-four hundreds of thousands, or 8,400,000. Bhramadbhiḥ. Bhramadbhiḥ means transmigrating, wandering one after another. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. There are 900,000 species within the water.
Then trees, plants. In this way, passing through different species of life, the living entity... Jīva-jātiṣu. Jīva-jātiṣu, in different species of life, he is transmigrating, one after another, one after another. Bhramadbhiḥ puruṣaiḥ. Puruṣa. Puruṣa means the living entity. The living entity is described here "puruṣa" because he wants to enjoy. Puruṣa is the enjoyer. Actually enjoyer is Kṛṣṇa, but we are imitating Kṛṣṇa. We want to become God. That is the Māyāvāda philosophy. That is our trouble. I am trying to imitate something which I cannot. Suppose if I want to be God, is it possible to become God? But they are trying to be. Bhramadbhiḥ puruṣaiḥ. So in this way, for this misunderstanding, he is falsely trying to have happiness through so many species of life. "Let me enter this life, let me enter that life, that life, that life, that ..." In this way he falls down. He is fallen already from Vaikuṇṭha planet. He is fallen in this material world, and he is again trying to make progress.
"The child I produce, I give birth, if I cannot teach him Kṛṣṇa conscious, surrender to Kṛṣṇa, I shall not beget any child."
This is real contraceptive method. Not to beget child like cats and dogs. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-khara. So Bhāgavata says, "One should not become father, one should not become mother, one should not become relative, one should not become king, one should not become guru, if they cannot save their dependants from this cycle of birth and death." This is the meaning of this verse. Anāśritya govinda-caraṇa-dvayam, varākāṇām ātmābhimāninām. So after wandering through these so many species of life and so dangerous... There are two million species of plant life, tree's life. Just see. You have to stand for so many years. A great opportunity, this human form of life. Don't waste. Don't become dogs and hogs and asses and camels. Become devotee. Just surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Make your life successful. Thank you. (end)
That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). Kāraṇam. Kāraṇam means cause. What is the cause? The cause is that as he's associating with a particular type of the modes of nature, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa... If he's associating with tamo-guṇa, then next life he's preparing in the lower animal kingdoms or most degraded family. Jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ. If one is associating with tamo-guṇa, ignorance—no knowledge, in the darkness—then he is gliding down to the lower species of life: animal, birds, beast, trees, plants, aquatics, insects, serpents, so many. Adho gacchanti. Adhaḥ means going down. Tāmasāḥ. And ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). Those who are in the goodness, those who are associating with the modes of material nature in goodness, just like satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42), brahminical qualification, truthful, controlling the mind, controlling the senses, simplicity, tolerant, full faith in scripture and God, full knowledge, practical application of knowledge... This is called sattva-guṇa. So if you cultivate sattva-guṇa, then you are elevated to the higher planetary system. Why there are so many planets? The moon planet, the sun planet, so brilliant planets—why there are? There are also different places for different kinds of living creature. There is hetu. There is cause. And similarly, rajo-guṇa, passionate...
They do not know whether there are cities. They simply go to other planet and say there is no men, no living entities. Why God created such planet where there is no living entity? How it is possible? In everywhere we see living entity, and why one planet is there where there is no life? This is most obnoxious. I cannot believe that. How it is possible? We see while walking on the street, even within the earth... In jungle, neighbor, nobody goes. Full many, full many of flower... And there are trees. And see. Nobody sees where there are flowers. Why Candraloka is so condemned that there is no living entities, no trees, no plants, and only some dust? And these people go and bring some dust, take all credit. It cannot be.
According to our Vedic instruction, living entity is called sarva-ga. Sarva-ga. The living entity can go anywhere, anywhere. Why not in Candraloka? You are going. And why previous to you nobody was there? So it is very doubtful. What do you think? From reasoning point of view. And we get information from the śāstra that it is one of the heavenly planets. People live there for ten thousands of years. They drink soma-rasa. These are statement in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It is not yet published. We have explained this. It is cold. And that is also admitted by scientists here. It is 200 degrees below zero. Therefore they require some heating beverage. That is called soma-rasa. The Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated. And how we can believe that there is no living entity. One side is dark, and one side is full of dust. These are our doubts. What is your version? You think it is all right?
Devotee: Your Divine Grace, is this also true that every species of life... For instance, plants and trees, don't appear to be breathing as we do, but they breathe through their...
Prabhupāda: Don't appear to you. What do you know about plant life? Something does not appear to you, that does not mean there is nothing such thing. You don't be so courageous that you know everything. You have to know from the śāstra. They have got breathing. They have got feeling also. That is already proved by modern scientists, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, that when you cut a plant, it feels the pain and it is recorded in the machine, the feeling. So everything is there. As soon as you find some living entity... A small full stop-like... Sometimes you find in the book. It is lesser than the full-stop. It is moving, (makes sound) "but, but, but, but." It has got heart; it has got legs; it has got everything within it. Otherwise, how it is working? Everything is there. This is rascaldom, that "This has got soul; this has got no soul." This is rascal's theory. Living entity so small, one ten-thousandth part of the top tip of the hair, we are. Very... You cannot imagine. So any life he takes, any form, it has got all the, I mean to say, functional thing. Everything is there. That is God's creation. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. The biggest of the biggest. He has got the same, what is called, physiological construction. And the ant, he has got the same physiological construction. You cannot see. What is your strength? That we are studying with our tiny brain, "Oh, it has got no breathing. It has no soul," that is our tiny brain.
| Page Title: | Plants (Lectures, SB cantos 1 - 2) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 19 of Nov, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=60, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 60 |