This is very important. Ṛṣabhadeva says, yadā na paśyaty ayathā guṇehāṁ svārthe pramattaḥ sahasā vipaścit. So we have to become intelligent that guṇehā... Guṇa, guṇa means these three guṇas, goodness, three modes of material nature. Everyone is trying to love one of these three guṇas: goodness, passion and ignorance. That is material existence. Somebody is trying to become brāhmaṇa, that is goodness. And somebody is trying to become a kṣatriya. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, these are under the influence of different modes of material nature. So even one is brāhmaṇa, he is also under the grip of material nature. And what to speak of one who is a śūdra or less than a śūdra. Everyone is trying to improve himself under the influence of certain modes of material nature. So when one becomes vipaścit, viveki... Vipaścit means enlightened. These, my activities under the influence of different modes of material nature, this is waste of time. Even if I become a brāhmaṇa, that is also waste of time, and what to speak of if I become a kṣatriya, passionate. Passionate... This vaiśya, this mercantile class of men, they are passionate and ignorance mixture. They are very active: "I am very running, I am very busy," but running here and there in ignorance. Just like you will see the monkey. Monkey is always very busy, but what is the meaning of his business? He is in ignorance. As soon as a monkey comes... You have so such disturbance. In India, as soon as a monkey comes, everyone wants to drive him away. Because he has come to become business and to make some loss. That's all. That is his business. Wherever he sits, he will move like this. (makes sounds moving arms back and forth) He is not at all silent. He is always active. But because he is monkey, monkey is a symbol of... Ass, they are symbol of ignorance. Therefore such kind of business is useless. It is simply harmful.
SB 05.05.07 yada na pasyaty ayatha guneham... cited
Expressions researched:
"asadya maithunyam agaram ajnah"
|"gata-smrtir vindati tatra tapan"
|"svarthe pramattah sahasa vipascit"
|"yada na pasyaty ayatha guneham"
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 5
Even though one may be very learned and wise, he is mad if he does not understand that the endeavor for sense gratification is a useless waste of time. Being forgetful of his own interest, he tries to be happy in the material world, centering his interests around his home, which is based on sexual intercourse and which brings him all kinds of material miseries. In this way one is no better than a foolish animal.
In the lowest stage of devotional life, one is not an unalloyed devotee. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam: (CC Madhya 19.167) to be an unalloyed devotee, one must be freed from all material desires and untouched by fruitive activity and speculative knowledge. On the lower platform, one may sometimes be interested in philosophical speculation with a tinge of devotion. However, at that stage one is still interested in sense gratification and is contaminated by the modes of material nature. The influence of māyā is so strong that even a person advanced in knowledge actually forgets that he is Kṛṣṇa's eternal servant. Therefore he remains satisfied in his householder life, which is centered around sexual intercourse. Conceding to a life of sex, he agrees to suffer all kinds of material miseries. Due to ignorance, one is thus bound by the chain of material laws.
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So when one comes to understand that "This is my business, this my goodness, everything, it is all useless. Unless I become attached, I am a devotee of Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, all these attempts are simply futile attempts," that is enlightenment. When one understands, "Yes, my only business is to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, to love Kṛṣṇa," then he is to be understood, he is enlightened, educated. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān (CC Madhya 19.151). That is fortune. Yadā na paśyaty ayathā guṇehāṁ svārthe pramattaḥ. He does not know his interest. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). They do not know that "My svārtha, my interest, my goal of life, is to love, to find out God and to love Him. That is my real interest." So, so long one is not enlightened to that standard of life, then he is defeated. Then how he is defeated? Gata-smṛtir, gata-smṛtir vindati tatra tāpān āsādya maithunyam agāram ajñaḥ. He remains a ajñaḥ, foolish. And what is his happiness? His happiness is sex life. That's all. That is his happiness. Maithunyam agāram. He is in the prison house of this material nature, but he does not know that "I am in prison." He is simply enjoying the three things. Udāram varitha.(?) Udāram varitha: the tongue, the belly and the genital. That is stated here. Gata-smṛtir vindati. And to enjoy this material, he has to undergo so much tribulation. Tāpān vindati.
Therefore Govinda dāsa sings, śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa, e dina jāminī jāgi re, biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana, capala sukha-laba lāgi' re. In this country, there is snowfall. Still, people will have to go to work very hard, day and night. But why? Why they are accepting such hard labor? Somebody is coming from India in this country. The climate is not very suitable in comparison to India, but they have come here to work hard. Why? Sex pleasure. That's all. He will get money and he will have home and sex pleasure or tongue pleasure. So therefore it is said, gata-smṛtiḥ. Actual. Actually, he has forgotten. His own business, he has forgotten, but he is entrapped by a process of sense gratification. Although it is very great hardship and miserable condition, but he is satisfied because this sense gratification is there. Gata-smṛtiḥ tatra tāpān āsādya maithunyam agāram ajñaḥ. Because he is foolish, therefore he likes to be imprisoned simply for sense gratification.
Pradyumna: "Even though one may be very learned and wise, he is mad if he does not understand that the endeavor for sense gratification is a useless waste of time. Being forgetful of his own interest, he tries to be happy in the material world, centering his interests around his home, which is based on sexual intercourse and which brings him all kinds of material miseries. In this way one is no better than a foolish animal."
Prabhupāda:
- yadā na paśyaty ayathā guṇehāṁ
- svārthe pramattaḥ sahasā vipaścit
- gata-smṛtir vindati tatra tāpān
- āsādya maithunyam agāram ajñaḥ
- (SB 5.5.7)
So, one has to be vipaścit, learned, to understand the interest of life, self-interest. Everyone is working, especially the karmīs, the jñānīs, the yogis, and mixed devotees, they are working for self-interest. The devotees also, so long there is self, there is self-interest also. So there is little difference, that the devotees, they work for Super-self-interest. There is self, but it is Super-self-interest. And the karmīs, jñānīs, yogis they work for individual self-interest. Self-interest there must be. That is the difference between lust and prema, or love. It has been defined in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, what is the difference between lust and love. It appears almost the same but Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has given a definition very clear, ātmendriya-prīti-vāñchā-tāre bali 'kāma' (CC Adi 4.165). When one is interested for his personal sense gratification, that is called kāma or lust, and kṛṣṇendriya-prīti-icchā dhare 'prema' nāma, and when one is interested for satisfying the senses of Kṛṣṇa, that is prema. And the concrete example is there in the Bhagavad-gītā, that in the beginning Arjuna was thinking of interest of the family. How can I kill my brother, my nephews, my master, teacher, my grandfather, in terms of his family interest.
Yadā na paśyaty ayathā guṇehāṁ svārthe. Everyone should be interested, but svārthe. This is svārthe, that if you get a nice food stuff, if you put to the stomach, then real svārthe. Not only the fingers which have picked up the foodstuff, not only his interested, tasmin tuṣṭe jagat tuṣṭaḥ. Yathā taror mūla, prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇām. If you put the foodstuff through this one way, not foolish way, that we have to put the foodstuff within the body. So there are nine holes in the body, this mouth, the eyes, the ears, the genital, the rectum the navel. There are nine holes. If some rascal says that any hole will do, you put the foodstuff through any hole. Sometimes it is done. When one cannot eat, the foodstuff is forced through the body, through the rectum, through the nose. That is very troublesome. But the real process is, one process, you put the foodstuff through the mouth. It must go to the stomach and then the energy will be distributed, everyone will be happy. Similarly, if we serve Kṛṣṇa, if we abide by the orders of Kṛṣṇa, and satisfy Him, as He says, Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), that is the perfection of life. If we work otherwise, forgetting Kṛṣṇa... Here it is said, gata-smṛtir vindati tatra tāpān. If we forget Kṛṣṇa, if we make our own plan to satisfy myself, community, society, nation, this is forgetfulness and the result will be, gata-smṛtir vindati tatra tāpān. You get simply trouble. That is being done, actually. The whole world is forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa, or God. Kṛṣṇa, forgetfulness, and they are making so many plans to become happy but the result is vindati tāpān, simply suffering, simply suffering. It will never be successful.
Therefore it is said, yadā na paśyaty ayathā guṇehām. We are struggling, guṇe, in this material world. Guṇamayī. Māyā, māyā is called guṇamayī. Guṇe means in the māyā. Īhā, īhā means aspiration. So everyone is trying according to different modes of material nature. Everyone is working, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. That is, everything is guṇe īhā. So when one does not become conscious that I am working under the influence of material nature in different status of life, they're all useless. As soon as you see that it is all useless, sahasā vipaścit, that is actually enlightenment. So as soon as we find, by the guidance of spiritual master, bona fide spiritual master, by the guidance of Kṛṣṇa personally, as soon as we come to this understanding, that we are simply wasting our time. Simply wasting our time, śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). When, in the beginning, when I understood the one song of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, māyā-jāle baddha ho'ye ācho miche kāj lo'ye, Bhaktivinoda says, many times he has said,
- māyār bośe jāccho bhese'
- Khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi
jīv kṛṣṇa-dās, ei viśvās,
- korle to' ār duḥkho nāi
Very instructive, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's songs, very instructive simple, and Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's. So,
- hari hari biphale janama goṅāinu
manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā,
- jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu
Regretting, lamenting, my Lord I got this human form of life. Unfortunately I have simply wasted. Why? Rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā. It is exactly like drinking poison knowingly. Sometimes we become poisonous unknowingly. Sometimes food poison or something poison. But if one takes poison knowingly, that means he's killing himself. He knows it. Similarly, in this human form of life, if we do not come to this understanding sahasā vipaścit, that without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I am simply taking poison, then his life is spoiled, gata-smṛtir vindati tatra tāpān. He will simply be put into miserable condition. That is the nature's way, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā dur... (BG 7.14). You cannot escape the stringent laws of material nature. You will go on suffering, suffering. Mṛtyu-saṁsāra vartmani (BG 9.3). You will suffer again and again this body and next body, next body. That is nature's way. But ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). These rascals, on account of false prestige, false knowledge, false education, he is thinking that I am independent, I can do what ever I like. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham (BG 3.27), we have to give up this, then vipaścit, sahasā vipaścit. Otherwise we have to continue the miserable condition of life. Gata-smṛtiḥ, because we have forgotten our real position.
Be business-like. People say talk business-like. Why you are talking nonsense? So Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes." For business man there is one interest, real businessman. Vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana. One who is actually interested in business-like way to make some profit arthadam, then there is only interest is how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Otherwise you will manufacture so many interests. Bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo 'vyavasāyinām. One who is not actually businessman, he is a rascal, he creates so many branches of different interests. The only one interest is how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. This is our only business. But forgetting this business, gata-smṛtir vindati tatra tāpān. Whatever business we are doing, we are simply suffering. Tāpān āsādya, he is actually tasting miserable condition. Then how they are working? This is the conclusion of this verse, how they are being baffled in every stage, and how they are working so hard.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Pradyumna:
- yadā na paśyaty ayathā guṇehāṁ
- svārthe pramattaḥ sahasā vipaścit
- gata-smṛtir vindati tatra tāpān
- āsādya maithunyam agāram ajñaḥ
Prabhupāda: Ajñaḥ.
Jayapatākā: Which verse?
Pradyumna: It's Canto Five, Chapter Five, verse number seven. "Even though one may be very learned and wise, he is mad if he does not understand that the endeavor for sense gratification is a useless waste of time. Being forgetful of his own interest, he tries to be happy in the material world, centering his interests around his home, which is based on sexual intercourse and which brings him all kinds of material miseries. In this way one is no better than a foolish animal."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Maithunyam agāram ajñaḥ. The selection of words in Bhāgavata are, from even literary point of view, perfect. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām (SB 10.14.58). Bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na... This is literary. Samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavam. Again plavaṁ plavam. Anuprāsa. This is literary, anuprāsa. Samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ. Padam. Bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām. Just see literary arrangement. And full of meaning. This is Bhāgavatam. Any way you study, from literary point of view, from knowledge, from philosophy, from social, every-perfect. Therefore lokasya ajānato vidvāṁś cakre. Vidvān. One who has learned, Vyāsadeva, vidvān, the first-class learned person. The sātvata-saṁhitām—for the devotees, Vedic cream. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ idam (SB 1.1.3). Nobody can be like Vyāsadeva; He's incarnation of Nārāyaṇa. Where is such scholar throughout the whole world? Is there?
Hari-śauri: That man from Delhi said that he thought you were an incarnation of Vyāsadeva.
| Page Title: | SB 05.05.07 yada na pasyaty ayatha guneham... cited |
| Compiler: | SunitaS |
| Created: | 15 of Sep, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=6, Con=1, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 8 |