In the Bhagavad-gītā it is plainly said, mūḍha. Mūḍha means asses, rascal. He does not know his own interest. He is called mūḍha, ass. Just like ass. Ass is whole day working with tons of cloth on his back, but he does not... Not a piece of cloth belongs to him. This is ass. And he is working so hard only for a morsel of grass, which is available everywhere. But he is thinking that "This gentleman, washerman, is giving me food." This is ass. Such food can be available anywhere and everywhere, but he is thinking like that and working so hard. So karmīs are like that. He will eat two capātis or four capātis, but he is working day and night. If you want to see him, he will say, "Oh, I have no time." He does not think at any time that "I am interested to eat four capātis, which can be very easily available. So why I am working so hard?" But that sense does not come.
Washerman (Lectures)
Expressions researched:
"washer"
|"washerman"
|"washerman's"
|"washermen"
|"washerwoman"
|"washerwomen"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you just imagine how important movement it is. It is the best welfare activities for the human society. They are all fools and rascals, and they have no knowledge, ignorant of their constitutional position, and they are unnecessarily working hard day and night. Therefore they have been said, mūḍha. Mūḍha means ass. The ass works day and night for the washerman for little grass. Grass is available everywhere, but he, still, he thinks that "If I do not work for the washerman, very hard, I'll not get this grass." This is called ass. Therefore, when one becomes intelligent after cultivating knowledge, one becomes intelligent by and by. First of all brahmacārī. Then, if one cannot remain a brahmacārī, all right, take a wife, gṛhastha. Then give up, vānaprastha. Then take sannyāsa. This is the process. The mūḍha, they'll work day and night for sense gratification. Therefore, at a certain period of life, that stupidity should be given up and taken sannyāsa. No, finished. That is sannyāsa.
Karmīs, they are trying to utilize this body for happiness. Whole day, night, they are working like ass for some sense gratification. Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "These rascals, unnecessarily they are working so hard like an ass just to get a morsel of food." That's all. Unnecessarily. Everyone is eating four cāpāṭis, but he's working so hard, like an ass. Well, ass also can get his share of foodstuff anywhere. The ass is so fool that he can get grass anywhere. It is for a few pieces of grass only, he's loading on his back so much burden from the washerman. He thinks that "The washerman is giving me this morsel of grass." He's so foolish that he can see there are grasses so many here and there. Still, he has agreed to take the burden. Therefore, he's an ass. Similarly, the karmīs, you see in Bombay. There are so many karmīs. They are working so hard. What is that? He's also eating less. Four cāpāṭis, that's all. But he does not think that "Four cāpāṭis, why I am working so hard and wasting my time?"
Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). Uncovered, coverless, without any covering of jñāna and karma. Jñāna and karma. Because here it is said, jñānāgni-dagdha-karmāṇam. One is engaged in the material activities when he's not enlightened by knowledge. Therefore they are called mūḍhas. The karmīs who are working for sense gratification day and night, they have been called as mūḍhas. Mūḍhas means asses. The ass works very hard, the washerman's cloth loaded on the back of the ass to the greatest extent so that he cannot move. But what does he get in exchange? A morsel of grass. That's all. He knows it, that in exchange of... "None of the cloth belongs to me; still, I am carrying so much burden, and in exchange I'll get a few pieces of grass," which is available anywhere. But he's thinking that "This washerman will supply me grass." This is ass, ass-mentality. Therefore they are called mūḍha.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended this process. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām. This is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's recommendation, that sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ: "You remain in your position." It doesn't require to change, because you are gṛhastha, or you are engineer, you are doctor or you are washerman. It doesn't matter. You remain in your position, sthāne sthitāḥ. But lend your ears for aural reception of Kṛṣṇa's message. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām. Śruti mean this ear. Allow this much, the message of Kṛṣṇa, to enter your ears. That will help you. Sthāne sthitāḥ. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām.
If, by advancement of civilization, we forget God and forget the mission of our life, that is nothing but to become like an ass. Unnecessary working. The ass... The example is given, the ass, because ass has no sense. He works very hard. The... You have got experience. The washerman's ass, it is loaded with three tons of cloth and takes it to the ghāṭa and again brings it. And what is the result? He gets little grass. That's all. But he has no sense that this grass, I can get anywhere. Why I am so working hard for this washerman? Therefore it is ass. I'll take four cāpāṭis, but I am working so hard. There is no limit of my working. And one day Kṛṣṇa comes. Please get out. Finished. So we are all asses. Therefore Kavirāja Gosvāmī says: kṛṣṇa yei bhaje se baḍa catura. Only intelligent man is he who is Kṛṣṇa conscious. Otherwise all asses.
Those who are always engaged in sinful activities, they are called duṣkṛtina. And mūḍhāḥ, they have been described by learned scholars as the karmīs, mūḍhāḥ. Mūḍha, the exact meaning of mūḍha is an ass. So the karmīs, the fruitive workers, they work very hard for sense gratification. But a similar mūḍha is an ass. A similar mūḍha means the ass is generally engaged in service by the washerman. The washerman loads the ass with tons of cloth, and whole day he works for the washerman, carrying tons of cloth. But at the end of the day he is offered a morsel of grass, and he is satisfied. And by eating that grass, when he is sexually impulse, he goes to the she-ass, and the she-ass kicks on his face. And still, he runs after the she-ass. The karmīs, they are also like that. Therefore they have been called as mūḍhas. They are working whole day very hard, but they are eating sometimes two cāpāṭis. That's all.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Simply an idea: "More money, more money, more money." Therefore he's ass. Ass does not enjoy life, but works very hard. We have got... Several times explained. In India, the washermen keep an ass, and the ass bears ten tons of loads on the backside and goes to the ghāṭa, for washing ghāṭa. And he is let loose there, and a morsel of grass, a little, few pieces of grass. And he's eating there, standing, for again returning with ten tons of load. He is given freedom. He does not think that "Why shall I work so hard? This grass is available everywhere. I can go. Why I am working for this washerman?" But he has no sense. Therefore he is called ass. Similarly, all these karmīs, they are working so hard, but they are eating, say, two pieces of bread and a cup of tea or milk. That's all. Or something else. They have been collared.
Śarīra-yātrāpi. Just see how hard they are laboring. Even just like an ass. In big cities, we have seen, human beings are pulling on rickshaws, ṭhelās. What for? Simply for maintaining this body. In the Kali Yuga, the working will be more harder and harder. Just like an ass. Ass, the example is given always, ass. How much hard work it carries on. Tons of cloth, carrying on the back, going to the ghāṭa. What for? Simply little grass. That's all. Therefore it is called ass. The ass is working simply for a morsel of grass. Grass, there are so many. You can get. But it is because it is ass, he's thinking that "The washerman is my master. He'll give me the grass." Just see.
If you simply restrict yourself for life, inquiring about the Absolute Truth, then you'll be happy. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. That is, that is the only business of the human form of life and not working hard like asses and cows. Sa eva go-karaḥ. These examples are there in the... I was giving the example while coming. Who was there? That this ass... Ass, one ass was going. So the ass, he can eat grass anywhere. There are so many grasses. But he's thinking that "Unless I work very hard, the washerman will not give me grass." You see? This is ass intelligence. Everything is there. Why ass? There are elephants. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They're eating at the, at one time, at least eighty-two pounds, but they are supplied food.
Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). So now vaiśyas, they have got big, big factories, they can maintain big, big factories, but they cannot maintain a cow. That is the position. Similarly, Kṣatriyas, they have taken different occupational duties. Brāhmaṇas also, they have left their occupation. Only everyone has come to the platform of śūdras. Therefore it is very difficult to convince them about spiritual life. Mostly people are śūdras. Śūdras, less intelligent. They cannot understand. Mūḍha. Less intelligent means mūḍha. The symbol of less intelligence is ass, mūḍha. The ass... Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has described the karmīs as mūḍha because they work very hard. Although the necessity of life is very little, still they work very hard, day and night. The ass is the symbol because the ass eats only a morsel of grass, but for the washerman, he works so hard. So mūḍha. Because the people are mūḍhas, they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
We see, in America, they're increasing the number of motorcars and the problem is road. One flyway above another flyway, another another. The flyway construction is going on perpetually. Is it not? And this is called advancement. The rascals do not know that "I am simply laboring, laboring, laboring. Where is the stoppage of laboring? " No. That you cannot stop. Your progress means you simply work hard. And because you are illusioned, that hard-working, you are thinking progress, happiness. That's all. This is called māyā. He is working just like an ass. The ass, ass, ass is working whole day and night for the washerman for a morsel of grass. But ass, why it is called ass? He can, the ass can have grasses anywhere, but he, for that, he's working very hard for the washerman. Therefore he's ass. He has no sense that "Why I shall work for this washerman so hard? I can get this morsel of grass anywhere." But he'll work.
So therefore dog, hog, camel and ass. What is that ass I have several times given you. The ass means he is working for others for the washerman. So all these businessmen, very busy, but he is working for others, not for himself. He will eat, I suppose, a few slices of bread and a cup of tea or milk; that will satisfy him. But he wants daily one million dollars, and he has to work very hard because a million dollars is not so easy to get. The ass loads on the back tons of clothes of the washerman, and he carries it to the place where they wash, and again carries back. But he is satisfied with a little grass. The ass does not know that "I can get this little grass, there are thousands and thousands of tons of grass on the outer field. Why I am engaged in the service of this washerman and doing this?" He has no sense. He thinks that carrying the tons of clothes for the washerman he has responsibility in business, so many things.
Economic development. You don't require big factories, big workshop, and whole day and night with motorcar going this way and that way. No. There is no necessity for economic development. This is māyā. Simply at the end he will eat some grains or some this or that, little. And by whole day... Therefore they are called mūḍha. According to Bhagavad-gītā, they are rascals, mūḍha, ass. Just like ass, the beast of burden. He takes washerman's load, three tons, four tons. Whole day working, but eating a morsel of grass, that's all. He has no knowledge that "I take a morsel of grass only, I live. And why whole day I bear these so much tons of clothing of the washerman?" You have no experience of the ass, ass's business. In India the washerman loads the ass three tons and he goes to the waterside and the washerman washes all these clothings in some bank of river or reservoir of water. Again evening, the ass brings back the clothing.
The example of mūḍha, just like in our vernacular language, we condemn some person who is useless, gādhā. So gādhā, that is mūḍha. Gādhā, why he is condemned? Because he does not know his interest. He works under one washerman and loads tons of cloth on the back, and the washerman gives a morsel of grass. And he stands the whole day, again carrying back the big tons of cloth. But why he is gādhā? This grass can be had anywhere, but he is thinking, "The washerman is supplying me grass; therefore I must carry his burden." Therefore he is gādhā, ass. (laughs) He can get grasses anywhere, but he is thinking that "This Mr. Washerman is so kind that he is giving me grass, so I have to bear his cloth." So the karmīs, they are like that. They are thinking that "Unless we work, we cannot get our grass." Therefore they have been described in the śāstra as asses, mūḍha. Mūḍha. Mūḍho 'yaṁ nābhijānāti (BG 7.25).
Generally take birth from the vagina. But Nārāyaṇa is all-powerful. He begets a child from the navel. This is all-powerful, omnipotency. Why? Why it is so happened? That is Nārāyaṇa. Every part of the body has got every potency. That is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā: aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. Aṅgāni, the different parts of the... That is spiritual body. The different parts of the body of Kṛṣṇa or Nārāyaṇa has got all the potencies. Just like I can see with my eyes, but Kṛṣṇa can eat also with His eyes. So the foolish rascal people will say that: "You are offering Kṛṣṇa foodstuff, but where He has eaten? It is lying there. He has not eaten." He does not know, the rascal, that Kṛṣṇa by seeing can eat also. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti paśyanti pānti kalayanti. Just like the washerman who refused to supply cloth in Mathurā, Kṛṣṇa immediately cut his head with his hand. You know the story. So how it is possible to cut one's head with the hand? That is called omnipotency.
If you work for your own thing, there is some sense. But if you are working for others only, you have no claim, and day and night, hard work, then what is that intelligence? That is ass's intelligence. Ass. Ass just like works very hard, not for himself. He works for the washerman, for carrying tons of cloth on his back and for a morsel of grass. So in the actual sense also, if you go to see a gentleman, busy gentleman, businessman, ask him that "We want to talk with you something about Kṛṣṇa consciousness." "Oh, I have no time. I have no time, sir." "Why?" "I am very busy." "Why you are busy?" "For business." "What is this business for?" "For maintaining my family." So in this way, ultimately, he is thinking he is working for himself, but he is working for others.
One drop of semina is manufactured by so much blood. So unnecessarily we discharge semina means we are enjoying, spending your own blood. But the camel does not know. Similarly, camel-like man does not know. Therefore he falls diseased. It is to be used only for purpose of having good children, not for enjoyment. That is false enjoyment. So therefore it has been described as the camel. And ass. Ass means fool number one, because he works very hard. He carried the washerman's load of cloth, two tons of, but not a single cloth belongs to him. Not a single cloth. And he will agree to carry so big burden. What is the profit? The profit is that the washerman will give a little morsel of grass, and he is satisfied. This rascal does not know, "I can get grass anywhere. Why shall I be employed by this washerman?" And another ass's qualification is that when he goes for sexual intercourse, the lady ass kicks on his face. Fut! Fut! Fut! Fut! You have seen it? (lots of laughter) So these karmīs, they are like ass. They will eat two breads, pieces of bread, and the lady karmī will kick on his face at the time of sex intercourse, and he is very happy.
Mūḍha. Mūḍha means rascal. Ass. Because nobody knows what is the aim of life. They're exactly like the ass. He does not know what is his interest. Unnecessarily he is carrying three tons of cloth of the washerman. Therefore he is called ass. His gain is a little morsel of grass. He can get grass anywhere. Still, he is thinking, "I am obliged to this washerman. Because he is supplying me grass, therefore I must have three tons of cloth on my back." This is ass. This is ass. He has no interest. Not a single cloth belongs to him, and he is carrying, oh, three tons of cloth. Therefore the ass. Ass means one who does not do know his interest, and he works unnecessarily and wastes his time.
The ass is an animal who is celebrated as the greatest fool, even amongst the animals. The ass works very hard and carries burdens of the maximum weight without making profit for itself. Footnote. The ass is generally engaged by the washerman, whose social position is not very respectable. And the special qualification of the ass is that it is very much accustomed to being kicked by the opposite sex. When the ass begs for sexual intercourse, he is kicked by the fair sex, yet he still follows the female for such sexual pleasure. A henpecked man is compared, therefore, to the ass. The general mass of people work very hard, especially in the age of Kali. In this age the human being is actually engaged in the work of an ass, carrying heavy burdens and driving ṭhelā and rickshaws.
A street dog is never happy. One dog who has got master, he is happy. That is śva. Viḍ-varāha means eating everything, anything nonsense eatable. Varāha, viḍ-varāha. Śva-viḍ-varāha-uṣṭra. Uṣṭra means chewing or drinking his own blood, and he thinks it is very tasteful. And similarly ass. Ass is working hard for the washerman, not for himself, and still, he thinks he is happy. Therefore these four nice animals has been exemplified. That is our life. The karmīs are compared with the ass. Big, big businessmen, day and night working hard, earning money, not for himself. What he will eat? Two cāpāṭis, that's all. Or little milk or little... Not that he has earned 1000 dollars every day and he will eat it. No. He will eat, out of that 1000 dollars, he will eat fifty cents, and balance will be eaten by others.
The ass takes a morsel of grass. It is worth nothing. The ass can get anywhere the morsel of grass. But still, he thinks that the washerman is feeding me. So he remains there. And in Mexico you found some asses, carrying loads. So they are carrying loads, very heavy loads, tons, for that morsel of grass, which he can get anywhere. But he thinks, "Oh, I will die. If my master does not give me a morsel of grass, I will die. So let me remain here and carry all the big loads." You see. Similarly, the karmīs, they remain at home. They think that "My wife, my children, my family—without them, I shall die. So I have to work to maintain them like an ass." That's all.
One has to hear the kṛṣṇa-kathā. Kṛṣṇa is within everyone's heart, and when He sees that a conditioned soul... Because the individual soul is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa wants that "This individual soul, rascal, he is so much attached for material enjoyment, which is the cause of his bondage, birth and death, old age and disease, and he's so fool that he does not take into consideration that 'Why I should be subjected to repetition of birth, death, old age and disease?' "He has become so fool. Mūḍha. Therefore they have been described: mūḍha, ass. Ass... Just like ass does not know why he is loading so much, so many cloths of the washerman. What for? He has no profit. None of the cloth belongs to him. The washerman gives a little morsel of grass, which is available everywhere. If the... But the ass thinks that "This morsel of grass is given by the washerman. Therefore I must carry the heavy load, although not a single cloth belongs to me."
Intelligence does not mean you gather, like asses, all the stones and iron and put them together and be satisfied that "Oh, I am very happy." That is asses' business. Ass is very expert to overload his body with heavy tons of... You know that? Maybe you do not know, but in India there is washerman, he puts tons of cloth over the back of the ass, and it carries. It cannot move, still it carries it. And it goes to the washing ghāṭa, washing place, and it stands there whole day eating little morsel of grass. He's thinking that "Unless I overload my back with this cloth, I cannot get this grass." Although he sees there are so many thousands and thousands of grasses all over, still he'll serve that washerman. Therefore it is called ass. (devotees laugh) You see? Ass. (more laughter) No intelligence, simply working for others, and eating a morsel of... I've seen in New York, very big publisher, he's very busy, but he's eating a few slice of bread and cup of tea and nothing more, that's all. You see? There are so many big, big men, they cannot eat much but they work more than us, all day and night.
Either it may be affectionate or envy; it doesn't matter. So in this way we are living forgetting that death is ahead. Therefore we are mūḍha. Mūḍha means rascal, ass, who does not know what is actual interest. Just like ass. Ass, the... Mūḍha means ass. The ass does not know his own interest. We have seen that ass is loaded with three tons of cloth by the washerman, and he cannot go; still, he has to do it. And he does (not) know that "I am loading so many tons of cloth on my back, and what interest I have got with it? Not a single cloth belongs to me." So the ass has no such sense. Ass means he has no such sense. He is thinking, "It is my duty. To load upon me so much clothing, it is my duty." Why it is duty? Now, "Because the washerman gives you grass." So he has no sense that "Grass I can get anywhere. Why I have taken this duty?" This is the... Everyone is anxious about his duty. Somebody is politician, somebody is householder, somebody is something else. Because he has taken up some false duty and working hard for it, therefore he is an ass. He is forgetting his real business.
Our father is Kṛṣṇa. We can live there very comfortably without any botheration, without endeavor for earning money, but we have decided that we shall live here in this material world. This is called ass. This is the... Therefore mūḍha. We do not know what is our self-interest. And we are hoping against hope, "I shall be happy in this way. I shall be happy in this way." Therefore this word is used, mūḍha. They do not know what is actually his happiness, and he is trying one chapter, another, one chapter, another, "Now I will be happy." The ass. The ass. Sometimes the washerman sits on his back and takes a bunch of grass and puts in front of the ass, and the ass wants to take the grass. But as he moving forward, the grass is also moving forward. (laughter) And he thinks, "Just one step forward, I shall get the grass." But because he is ass, he does not know that "The grass is situated in such a way that I may go on for millions of years; still, I will not get the happi..." This is ass. He does not come to his senses that "For millions and trillions of years I may try to be happy in this material world. I will never be happy."
Persons who are very much influenced by this materialistic way of thought, āsuri-bhāvam āśritāḥ, such persons are always engaged in misdeeds, duṣkṛtina. Misdeeds. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. Why they are engaged in misdeeds? Because mūḍha. They do not know what is the responsibility of this human form of life. They are simply wasting their life in animal propensities, mūḍha. Mūḍha is the symbol of an ass. He does not know. The ass does not know why he is working so hard for the washerman. He carries a very heavy load, but he does not know "Why I am carrying so much heavy load?" That is the symbol of an ass. If you work so hard, you must know what benefit you are deriving out of it. But the ass does not know. Similarly, the karmīs, they are very busy, very busy accumulating wealth.
You have to learn from the śāstra that who is the master. I have to serve. The master is Kṛṣṇa. And that is our natural position. And if we do not serve Kṛṣṇa, if we serve a big man or a demigod or any other but he is not Kṛṣṇa, that is adharma. So dharma and adharma, these two things, are there. You serve either of them. But the result—according to your service. If you are serving as high-court judge, that salary, and if you serving as ordinary, what is called, washer of dishes, that salary cannot be equal. You cannot expect, becoming a dishwasher, to draw the same salary as the high-court judge is drawing. That is not possible. Therefore it is said, sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte. You get... You can become high-court judge. There is no, I mean to say, obstacle. You could be qualified like the high-court judge. Now you are qualified like this, so you have to accept this.
Although king, but they were saintly king, just like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, the ideal king. Bhagavān, Rāmacandra, the ideal king, ideal king, so ideal that because some citizen criticized that "Lord Rāmacandara, King Rāmacandra, has accepted His wife who was kidnapped by Rāvaṇa," and he was a low-class man, washerman, and still, the king, Lord Rāmacandra, thought that "My citizens are criticizing Me." Immediately He separated Lakṣmī-devi, Sītā. This is ideal king, no criticism from the citizen, even Lord Rāmacandra. This is called rājarṣi.
Menial servant means just like the sweeper, the cobbler, like that. They are called menial servants. So in India there is system. The sweeper class is different, the cobbler class is different, and domestic servant is different, and the barber, he is also servant, different. The washerman, he is also servant. So nīca means just like the washerman or the barber or the cobbler. They are less than the domestic servant at home. They are śūdras, and they are considered less than the śūdras, pañcama. So a disciple is expected to live in gurukula or... Gurukula means at the shelter of guru; nicavat, menial servant. Menial servant. Nīcavat. Ācaran dāsavan nīco gurau sudṛdha sauhṛdaḥ. This can be possible when one is very thickly related with the guru. Otherwise ordinary relationship will not do.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
Kṛṣṇa, He can act anything with any limb, part of His body. Kṛṣṇa can eat with His eyes, and Kṛṣṇa can hear with His eyes. Kṛṣṇa can cut by touching. These are there in the śāstras. Just like Kṛṣṇa, when, when entered Mathurā, He asked the washerman of Kaṁsa to deliver some cloth, but he refused. So Kṛṣṇa immediately cut off his head with His hand without any obstacle. So that is omnipotency. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti paśyanti pānti kalayanti... (Bs. 5.32). Just like we offer prasādam. We offer foodstuff to Kṛṣṇa. Atheist class will say that "You have offered Kṛṣṇa this foodstuff, but He has not eaten. It is there still lying." No. He does not see. He does not know that Kṛṣṇa can eat simply by His glance, by seeing. He eats. Because He says in the Bhagavad-gītā that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad aham aśnāmi (BG 9.26).
So out of such millions of fools who are working hard... They have been described just like asses. The asses work very hard for..., for the washerman, not for himself. He does not work for himself. Therefore the karmīs are called asses, mūḍhāḥ. The ass is satisfied with a morsel of grass and working very hard for the washerman. This is ass's qualification. The śāstras, they have selected some animals: śva-viḍ-varāha-uṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ. The... Generally, population, general population, they are just like dogs, śva; viḍ-varāha, the stool-eater, hog. Śva-viḍ-varāha-uṣṭra, camel. And kharaiḥ, and ass. They have been selected. So... Just like... Why they are compared with the dog? Because the dog is searching after a master. Without master, he cannot live. So those who cannot live independently, they are just like dogs. (indistinct) so many things, explanation. Viḍ-varāha. Viḍ-varāha means no distinction of eating. Anything.
God has nothing to do. Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. So we also have nothing to do. Why we are working? They are taking, "This is pleasure." This material life means... Because mostly they are infected with two qualities of material modes of nature, namely ignorance and passion. So impeded by this ignorance and passion they are working very hard, just like an ass, and still they are thinking that "I am happy." He comes back to home, working very, very hard in the office, and he thinks, "Now I... My successful... I have earned so much money." This is the nature of material life, that he will work very hard and he will think, "That is my life." This is material life. But actually, if you are actually happy, then why you have to work so hard? But that is nonsense. He is nonsense. He does not know. Therefore the karmīs are called mūḍhas, asses. The ass works hard for the washerman, and the washerman gives him a morsel of grass and he thinks, "I am happy." This is ass mentality. He has worked very hard, but getting that little bunch of grass. He can get it anywhere, but he thinks that "This washerman gives it. Therefore I have to work..." Or he does not know that "I'm working for it." This is ass mentality.
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: This is the most prevalent philosophy today, guiding people. It says that because God is dead, that we don't know where we came from, all we know is that we're here existing, the only way we can genuinely know ourself and exist authentically...
Prabhupāda: But our point is that we do not know genuinely. What we know, that is foolishness, that is asses' knowledge. Just like ass knows that "I am this body. I am the servant of this washerman." So this knowledge, like this. So he has made the decision. The ass has made this decision that "I shall take a morsel of grass and whole day I shall carry tons of cloth of this washerman." He has made this decision, that's all. Then is it that the decision is very nice? This is asses' decision, that's all.
| Page Title: | Washerman (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 24 of Apr, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=34, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 34 |