View source for This is my position, nowhere. I do not know. Just like I am being kicked like a football. I have no place. You have seen football playing. The football has no place. As soon as comes, somebody's feet, he kicks. He goes to another body. He kicks

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{{terms|"This is my position, nowhere. I do not know. Just like I am being kicked like a football. I have no place. You have seen football playing. The football has no place. As soon as comes, somebody's feet, he kicks. He goes to another body. He kicks"}}
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonBG92932NewYorkDecember201966_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="325" link="Lecture on BG 9.29-32 -- New York, December 20, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 9.29-32 -- New York, December 20, 1966">
<div class="heading">Our destruction is... You always remember: our destruction means material existence is the destruction of our spiritual existence. Because destroyed does not mean that as spiritual being, I will be nowhere, no. This is my position, nowhere. I do not know. Just like I am being kicked like a football. I have no place. You have seen football playing. The football has no place. As soon as comes, somebody's feet, he kicks. He goes to another body. He kicks. He's another body—kicking. His only situation is being kicked, football. So we are just like football. We are being kicked up. Now I am American. Next time I shall be kicked up to China. Maybe. And from China, I will be kicked up to India. And from India, I shall be kicked up to Burma or kicked up to another place. This is going on. We do not know how we are being kicked up like a football from one place to another, one place to another. This is all false notion. How long I shall remain here?
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 9.29-32 -- New York, December 20, 1966|Lecture on BG 9.29-32 -- New York, December 20, 1966]]: </span><div class="text" style="display: inline; "><p style="display: inline; ">I will give you one example how Kṛṣṇa sometimes breaks His promise. It is very nice story. Kṛṣṇa, when He joined Arjuna, He promised from His own side that "Because the fight is between your brothers, so it is not My duty... Because both of you are My relatives, so it is not My duty to join one party and not to join another. But because I have divided Myself—Myself, one side, and other side, My soldiers—but Duryodhana has decided to take My soldiers, not Me, so I shall join you. But I shall not fight. I shall not fight. I may take some work which may assist you." So Arjuna offered, "Whatever work You like, You can take." So He said, "All right. I shall drive your chariot." So Kṛṣṇa's promise was that He will not fight. But at a time when Arjuna was perplexed by fighting with Bhīṣma... Bhīṣma was the greatest fighter, although he was very old man. Duryodhana incited him that "Because the other side are your very pet grandsons, you are not fighting fully." That was the complaint of Duryodhana. So in order to encourage him, Bhīṣma said to Duryodhana, "All right, tomorrow I shall finish all these five brothers. Tomorrow I shall finish. And I have got now special arrows for killing these five chivalrous brothers."</p>
<p>So Duryodhana was very intelligent. He told, "All right, please keep these five arrows with me for the night. I shall deliver you tomorrow in the morning." "All right, you take it." And Kṛṣṇa understood. Kṛṣṇa is, everything knows, past, present and future. Kṛṣṇa knew it that "Bhīṣma has now promised. He will kill." So He asked Arjuna—this is also politics—that "You go to Duryodhana. Do you remember that Duryodhana"—Duryodhana is elderly than Arjuna—"that he would keep some promise which was offered to you?" Duryodhana told him, "Arjuna, whenever you want something, I shall give you." "Now this is the time. You can go." "And what is that?" "Now, he has got five arrows for killing you. You should take and come to Me." So after fight, they were friends. So Arjuna went to the camp of Duryodhana, and he was well received. "Well Arjuna, come on. What do you want? Come on. Sit down. Do you want anything from me? If you want, I can stop this fight. I can return you this..." Arjuna said, "No. I have not come to you for begging my kingdom. Fighting will go on. But I want... You promised something." "Yes. I know. I offer you. What do you want?" "Now, I want those five arrows." At once he delivered.</p>
<p>And this information was carried to, I mean to say, Bhīṣma. Bhīṣma knew that "Kṛṣṇa is very cunning also. He will save His devotee. So He has done this. All right, in spite of Kṛṣṇa... He has broken my promise, and tomorrow I shall see. If Kṛṣṇa does not break His promise, then His friend will be killed. I will fight in such a way." So he was fighting in such a way that Arjuna became almost dead. Then at that time, Kṛṣṇa... The chariot was torn into pieces, and Arjuna fell down. And then Kṛṣṇa took up one of the wheel of the chariot and came before: "Now, Bhīṣma, you stop this fighting; otherwise I will kill you." Bhīṣma at once gave up his arrow, and he offered, "All right. Kill me." So thing is that because Bhīṣma promised that "I shall kill Arjuna tomorrow," and Kṛṣṇa also promised not to fight, just to save these two devotees, Arjuna and Bhīṣma—Bhīṣma also was a great devotee—just to show him that "I am breaking My promise. Please stop..." He wanted that "Either I shall break My promise or you shall kill Arjuna. So better see that I have broken My promise." So in this way, sometimes, for devotee, He sometimes breaks His own promise.</p>
<p>So here Kṛṣṇa says, kaunteya pratijānīhi. "You promise so I shall protect your promise." And what is that? Na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati: "Anyone who has taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he will be never destroyed. He will never be destroyed." Na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati. What is that destruction? The destruction is... Of course, a living entity is never destroyed so far his constitution is concerned. Na hanyate hanyamāne ([[Vanisource:BG 2.20|BG 2.20]]). The destruction of this body is not his destruction. The real destruction is that when we lose our spiritual consciousness, we lose our identity, that is destruction. That is destruction, that now, in our material conception of life, we are practically destroyed because, destroyed in this way, because as spiritual being, I have got my eternal life, I have got my blissful life, I have got my knowledge, full knowledge, but here I am living in a wretched condition that my life is not eternal, I am not blissful, and I am not in full knowledge. So don't you think that we are already destroyed? We are thinking that "I am very much advancing in civilization," but unless you revive your original life of eternity and full knowledge and bliss, you should know that you are not advancing; you are being defeated by the illusory energy. This is destruction. Destruction of my real life is materialism.</p>
<p>So here Kṛṣṇa says, kaunteya pratijānīhi: "Please declare in the world that anyone who has taken to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness will never be destroyed. He will never go back again to that material life of sense gratification and pull on this material existence full of miseries. He will be taken out. He will be taken out sooner or later. As he has taken to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he will be never destroyed." Our destruction is... You always remember: our destruction means material existence is the destruction of our spiritual existence. Because destroyed does not mean that as spiritual being, I will be nowhere, no. This is my position, nowhere. I do not know. Just like I am being kicked like a football. I have no place. You have seen football playing. The football has no place. As soon as comes, somebody's feet, he kicks. He goes to another body. He kicks. He's another body—kicking. His only situation is being kicked, football. So we are just like football. We are being kicked up. Now I am American. Next time I shall be kicked up to China. Maybe. And from China, I will be kicked up to India. And from India, I shall be kicked up to Burma or kicked up to another place. This is going on. We do not know how we are being kicked up like a football from one place to another, one place to another. This is all false notion. How long I shall remain here?</p>
<p>Therefore this is the only way, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to become perfect. Perfection means to attain spiritual life, eternity, blissful, and full of knowledge. That is waiting us. That is waiting us. Why should we refuse it? It is not a theory. Don't think that Bhagavad-gītā is something, imaginary thing. No. People have taken to it. They have practiced. They have attained success. It is coming on since a very, very long time. It was first advised to the sun-god. Then, after many, many millions of years, again, five thousand years before, it was advised to Arjuna. So it is coming down. It is accepted by all great ācāryas of India, and it is being followed, still being followed. So take it. Don't be destroyed. Take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and you will be saved. You will be saved from this destruction in the material...</p>
<p>Suppose if I am thrown into the ocean, that is practically my destruction. I may be very good swimmer, but that is no hope. That is no hope of my life. Any moment, I can go down into the depth of the ocean. Similarly, we are struggling very hard in this material ocean of existence, simply struggling. Just like a man is trying to save himself in the Atlantic Ocean, similarly, we are also trying here. This is not the process of getting yourself from the struggle-for-existence ocean. The thing is one must get you out from the ocean. Teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt ([[Vanisource:BG 12.7|BG 12.7]]). So Kṛṣṇa promises—you will find in the later, tenth, chapter, that "Those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I promise I shall take him from this ocean of birth and death."</p>
:māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
:ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
:striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās
:te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim
:([[Vanisource:BG 9.32|BG 9.32]])
<p> Now, somebody may inquire, "Now, to become a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, is there any qualification required? Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa. He appeared to be a Hindu, and it was spoken in India, and all the ācāryas, they are very learned men. They have adopted. But how we can take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness? I am not... I do not belong to such particular creed or, say, particular country." Now Kṛṣṇa says, "No, that is not disqualification." Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ. Pāpa-yonayaḥ... Of course, according to Vedic literature, there are mentions of pāpa-yoni. Yoni means species. Pāpa-yoni. Just like it is mentioned here, striyaḥ śūdrāḥ, striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim. Even the striyaḥ, even women, they are also classified amongst the pāpa-yoni. Pāpa-yoni means those who have got little facility for advancing themselves in spiritual life. So it is particularly mentioned here, striyaḥ, the woman class, śūdra—śūdra means the laborer class—and the vaiśya, mercantile class. Or less than that.</p>
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