That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- yānti deva-vratā devān
- pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
- bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni
- mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām
- (BG 9.25)
Now you select where you want to go. If you want to go to the higher planetary system, you can go. Then take shelter of the demigods, worship Indra, Candra, Varuṇa. They are trying to go to the moon planet, but one cannot go there unless he's qualified to go there. Deva-vratān. There is prescription how you can go to the Candraloka. In karma-kāṇḍīya vicāra, fruitive activities, if one executes fruitive activities very nicely, he's promoted to the Candraloka. He gets there life for ten thousands of years, and he's given opportunity of drinking soma-rasa. So this is saṁsāra-cakra, not that if you go to the higher planetary system you become happy. No. That is not possible. Kṛṣṇa says,
- ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokān
- punar āvartino 'rjuna
- yad gatvā na nivartante
- tad dhāmaṁ paramam
- (BG 8.16)
Even if you go to the Brahmaloka, from down, Pātāla, up to Brahmaloka... You can go there if you want. Kṛṣṇa is very, very kind. He has given you chance because you wanted to come here and enjoy material world. Kṛṣṇa says, "All right, go."
So beginning from Brahmā down to the insignificant worm in the stool, they are coming down and going up, coming down. This is going on. This is called saṁsāra-cakra, cycle of birth and death. That is going on perpetually. And they do not know what to do. You have to die. You get one form of life, enjoy it, either as human being or as hog, pig, cat, dog or demigod. Whatever you wanted, you have got it, desire. Now enjoy. But after some time you have to die. But actually your position is not to die. You are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Destruction of this body does not mean your destruction. This is saṁsāra-cakra. I am getting different opportunities, different bodies, to fulfill my material desires. This is going on. This is called saṁsāra-cakra-kadanāt. Prahlāda Mahārāja, a devotee, is afraid, very, very afraid. He is not afraid of the lion or the elephant or the tiger or the snake. No. He's not afraid of these. But he's afraid of this repetition of birth and death. That is called saṁsāra-cakra. Is it not botheration? Any sane man will understand how much botheration it is. Just like I am now old man. There are so many inconveniences. And in this way every old man will die. And if he's fortunate enough, if he has done something, he may be promoted to the higher planetary system, or if he has tried for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he may go back to home, back to Godhead. So why one should bother here in this material world, changing body, one after another? This is called saṁsāra-cakra-kadanāt.
So the ordinary person, they cannot understand what is the difficulty. As soon as I die, I enter into the womb of a mother according to my karma. The mother may be a lady dog or lady pig or lady such and such, because the body will be manufactured within the womb of the mother. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantor dehopapatti (SB 3.31.1). Upapatti means getting one type of body. So that type of body is given by the mother, and the seed is given by the father. Yathā bījaṁ yathā yoni. So we take a form. This is going on. So a devotee should be very, very much afraid of this repetition of birth and death. Saṁsāra... This is Prahlāda Mahārāja... To follow the footprints of Prahlāda Mahārāja, one should be very, very afraid. And the whole process of Vedic civilization, especially devotional service, is how to avoid this saṁsāra-cakra-kadanā. Everyone should be very, very afraid of. Foolish persons... "Where angels dare not, the fools rush in." They think, "What is that? I shall die." Now it has come to the stage that in your Western countries, if we say like this, that "Next life you may become a dog," university student, they say, "What is the wrong if I become a dog?" They are not afraid. They think, "If I become a dog, then I'll be free to have sex on the street without any restriction. This is the facility. Because being a human, I have got so much restriction, and if I become a dog, then there will be no restriction. I'll have... I'll be very free to have sex anywhere." So this is the education. In Hawaii, when I was lecturing, one student said, "No, what is the wrong, Swāmījī, if I become a dog?" You see? Bah!
So people have fallen so much. But we should not be like that. Those who are taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness... Of course, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person is never afraid of any species of life—provided there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness continuing. That's all. That is wanted. We are not afraid of becoming a dog, provided I can remember Kṛṣṇa. This is our position. Just like Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, kīṭa janmāobi, icchā yadi tora. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, "I don't mind if I am born as a kīṭa, or an insect, but kindly give me the chance that I become an insect in the house of a devotee. Then I'll get chance again. Because a devotee will eat, I'll be able to take a little grain left by the devotee. That is my satisfaction." So a Vaiṣṇava is not afraid of to becoming in the form of any species of life, provided he simply... That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's prayer, mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye (CC Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). A devotee does not aspire of being born in a very rich family or getting very nice wife and many controlling power, much controlling power. They do not want. Mama janmani... Neither a devotee wants stop birth and death, because he has no desire. That is called akāmī. A devotee has no desire to fulfill. Therefore Caitanya-caritāmṛta kaj says,
- bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami sakali 'aśānta'
- kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma ataeva 'śānta'
- (CC Madhya 19.149)
Niṣkāma, no desire. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11)—this is devotee, no desire: "As You..." As Kṛṣṇa likes. Simply how to take charge of serving the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.