Everyone wants to keep this body fit. And maintaining the children and the wife . . . dehāpatya-kalatradiṣu. We are thinking that, "My this body and wife and children and home and country and society will save me." I am struggling against . . . what is that struggling? I do not wish to die. I do not wish to be diseased. I do not wish to become old man. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9).
I don't wish to get birth again, or I want to stop birth. Janma-mṛtyu. I want to stop death. I want to stop disease. And I want to stop old age. These are the activities, material activities, struggling against. And I am thinking that, "These soldiers, or this my body or my wife, my children, will protect me," dehāpatya-kalatradiṣv ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api, although I am experiencing every day that they are asat, they will not exist.
How do I know they will not exist? My father has died. My elderly . . . my mother has died, my grandfather has died. Therefore I will also die. And my next generation, he will also die. My wife also will die. So everybody will die. Asatsv api. They know by experience that they will not exist, but still, their business has become to struggle for existence. Dehāpatya-kalatradiṣu.
These are very important subject matter. Try to understand. We know that nobody will exist. I want to exist. That is my intention. I do not wish to die; I want to exist. But I know also that all these my soldiers, including my this stout and strong body, it will also not exist. Dehāpatya-kalatradiṣu, teṣāṁ pramattaḥ.
Pramatta means crazy, mad. Pramatto nidhanam, destruction. Nidhanam paśyan. Paśyan means although he is seeing every day, every moment. Just like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was quested by Yamarāja, "What is the most wonderful thing in this world? Can you say?" Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira immediately replied. What is that? Ahany ahani lokānī gacchantīha yamālayam (Mahābhārata, Vana-parva 313.116): "Every moment, every second, every day, every night, there are so many hundreds and thousands of living entities, they are going to the temple of death, or dying." Ahany ahani lokānī gacchantīha yamālayaṁ śeṣāḥ sthāvaram icchanti. "But one who is living, he is thinking that 'I will not die. I will live for good.' That is the most wonderful thing in this world."
Nobody is taking experience that, "I will have to meet death. And what is next after death? What I was before my birth? Why I am here? Why I am struggling so hard? I want to be happy. I want to be peaceful. Why there is no peace? Why there is no happiness? Why these things? Why I am put into this . . .?"
These are called ātma-tattvam. These are called brahma-jijñāsā. If a man is not enlightened to this point of inquiring of this "What? What I am? Wherefrom I have come? What is this world? What is this body? Why I am getting old? Why I am getting diseased?" So many "whys" there are. This is called brahma-jijñāsā.
But they are pramatta, they are mad after the struggle for existence, although they know nothing will exist; it has come just like a flash, and it will end like a flash. Then what is the actual platform of my life, my living condition, they do not inquire. They do not inquire. So gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām.
Dehāpatya-kalatradiṣv ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api, teṣāṁ pramatto nidhanam (SB 2.1.4). Everyone is seeing that it will destroy. Suppose if you know . . . suppose you are constructing a very nice skyscraper building, but if you know . . . somebody says that tomorrow the whole city will merge into the Atlantic Ocean. Would you like to construct such building? No. I am giving that one example, but it is a fact that the struggle for existence for living, but living condition will not be allowed.
Then the next question should be that, "Why this is happening? We are, everyone, is struggling for existing, but existence, there is no . . . I will not exist. Nobody will exist." This question, unless there is in the human mind, then, Bhāgavata says, parābhavas tāvat: "His all activities are simply defeat." Yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam (SB 5.5.5). So ātma-tattvam. One should be inquisitive to understand, "What is my constitutional position?" Then it is perfect life. Otherwise it is crazy life.
We may try to live by so much hard struggle of life, but we cannot exist. We can exist only when we understand "What I am." Then I shall . . . this is diagnosis. If I know that what is my actual need, if I know what is my actual position, if I know that wherefrom I have come and where I have to go, all these informations, if we are fully informed, that is perfection of life. Otherwise it is simply defeat, whatever we may do here.