Cleanliness is next to godliness. So the . . . actually, our material conditioned life means the mind is covered with dirt, all unclean, dirty things. That is the disease. When we are in the lower stage of tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa, these dirty things are very much prominent. Therefore one has to raise himself from the position of tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa to sattva-guṇa. The process is recommended, how to cleanse the mind: śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). 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 belong 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."
This is called karmīs. The karmīs, all these big, big karmīs, big, big multimillionaires, they are just like ass, because they are working so hard. Not only these big—small also. Day and night. But eating two cāpāṭis or three cāpāṭis or utmost, four cāpāṭis. But he's working hard, so hard. These three, four cāpāṭis can be had easily even by the poorest man, but why he's working so hard? Because he's thinking, "I am responsible for maintaining such a big family." Similarly, a leader also, public leader, a politician, he's also thinking like that, that "Without me, all the members of my nation will die. So let me work day and night. Up to the point of my death or up to the point until I am killed by somebody, I have to work so hard." These are called dirty things. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Ahaṁ mameti. Ahaṁ mamābhimānotthaiḥ. These dirty things that . . . take individual, social, political, communal or national—any way—these two things, ahaṁ mameti, is very prominent, "I belong to this family," "I belong to this nation," "I belong to such-and-such community. I have got such and such duty." But he does not know these are all false designation. That is called ignorance. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore begins His instruction that jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108-109). The actual position is that eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. That is the actual position. But he's thinking, "I am servant of this family," "I am servant of this nation," "I am servant of this community," "Servant . . ." So many. Ahaṁ mameti. This is due to ignorance, the mode of tamo-guṇa. Tamo-guṇa.