Expressions researched:
"certainly eligible for liberation"
|"sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram"
|"yam hi na vyathayanty ete"
O best among men (Arjuna), the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.
Anyone who is steady in his determination for the advanced stage of spiritual realization and can equally tolerate the onslaughts of distress and happiness is certainly a person eligible for liberation. In the varṇāśrama institution, the fourth stage of life, namely the renounced order (sannyāsa), is a painstaking situation. But one who is serious about making his life perfect surely adopts the sannyāsa order of life in spite of all difficulties. The difficulties usually arise from having to sever family relationships, to give up the connection of wife and children. But if anyone is able to tolerate such difficulties, surely his path to spiritual realization is complete. Similarly, in Arjuna's discharge of duties as a kṣatriya, he is advised to persevere, even if it is difficult to fight with his family members or similarly beloved persons. Lord Caitanya took sannyāsa at the age of twenty-four, and His dependents, young wife as well as old mother, had no one else to look after them. Yet for a higher cause He took sannyāsa and was steady in the discharge of higher duties. That is the way of achieving liberation from material bondage.
The laws of nature work in subtle ways unknown to us. Mahārāja Bharata was a great king very advanced in devotional service. He had almost reached the point of loving service to the Supreme Lord, but even from that platform he could fall down onto the material platform. In Bhagavad-gītā we are therefore warned:
"O best among men (Arjuna), the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation." (BG 2.15)
It was very dangerous for Bharata Mahārāja to sacrifice all his regulative principles simply to take care of an animal. The principles enunciated in Bhagavad-gītā should be followed. Yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha (BG 2.15). As far as the material body is concerned, we cannot do anything for anyone. However, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, we may raise a person to spiritual consciousness if we ourselves follow the rules and regulations. If we give up our own spiritual activities and simply become concerned with the bodily comforts of others, we will fall into a dangerous position.
Jaḍa Bharata used to work only for food. His stepbrothers took advantage of this and engaged him in agricultural field work in exchange for some food, but actually he did not know how to work very well in the field. He did not know where to spread dirt or where to make the ground level or uneven. His brothers used to give him broken rice, oil cakes, the chaff of rice, worm-eaten grains and burned grains that had stuck to the pot, but he gladly accepted all this as if it were nectar. He did not hold any grudges and ate all this very gladly.
The platform of paramahaṁsa is described in Bhagavad-gītā (2.15): sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ so 'mṛtatvāya kalpate. When one is callous to all duality, the happiness and distress of this material world, one is fit for amṛtatva, eternal life. Bharata Mahārāja was determined to finish his business in this material world, and he did not at all care for the world of duality. He was complete in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and was oblivious to good and evil, happiness and distress.
Here it is stated that anyone who chants and hears about the activities of Prahlāda Mahārāja and, in relationship with Prahlāda's activities, the activities of Nṛsiṁhadeva, gradually becomes free from all the bondage of fruitive activities. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.15, 2.56):
"O best among men (Arjuna), the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation."
Madhudviṣa: "O best among men, the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress, and is steady in both, is certainly eligible for liberation."
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the sign, characteristics or symptoms of a person who is going to be liberated in this life. He has to do his duty. So far we are concerned, we have accepted Kṛṣṇa consciousness duty, so we have to execute our duties faithfully and seriously. Then it is sure Kṛṣṇa will give us the desired result.
That is the instruction of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā, amāninā mānadena: "For himself, one should always think that he has no respect. He doesn't require to command any respect. But all respects he offer to others." In this way, if we become practiced, then we become fit for going back to Godhead, back to home. That will be explained in the next verse:
"If one practices like that, then he becomes fit for going back to home, back to Godhead." So practice, anything you practice... In Bengali it is said śarīrera nama mahāśaya ya sahabe tai sa.(?) You practice in you body, and if you come to the point of tolerance, then anything you can practice and it will be tolerable.
Prabhupāda: Sa amṛtatvāya kalpate (BG 2.15). Amṛtatva. Here, in this material world, we are put into mṛtatva, subject to birth, death, old age and disease. But there is another position where there is no birth, death, old age and disease. So which position we should like—birth, death, old age and disease, or no birth, no death, no old age, no disease? Which one we should like? Hmm? I think we should like no birth, no death, no old age, no disease. So that is called amṛtatva. So amṛtatvāya kalpate. Every living being is amṛta. That will be explained. Amṛta... As we are, in our own original, constitutional position, we are not subjected to birth, death, old age and disease. Just like Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), eternal, blissful, knowledgeable, similarly, we, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we are also of the same quality. The... We have accepted this position of birth, death, old age and disease on account of our association with this material world. Now, everyone is trying not to die, everyone is trying not to become old, everyone is trying not to be dead, meet death. This is natural. Because, by nature, we are not subjected to these things, therefore our endeavor, our activity, is struggling, how to become deathless, birthless, diseaseless. That is struggle for existence.
So here, in the Bhagavad-gītā, gives you a nice formula. Yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha. This transmigration of the soul, one which is not afflicted by this, dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13), one who understands... Suppose my father dies, if I have got clear understanding that "My father has not died. He has changed the body. He has accepted another body." That is the fact.
The purpose of Kṛṣṇa, to teach all these things to Arjuna... Because he was very much perplexed how he would live, killing all his kinsmen, brothers. So Kṛṣṇa wanted to point out that "Your brothers, your grandfather, they'll not die. They'll simply transfer the body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). As we change our dress, similarly we change our bodies also like that. There is nothing to be lamented." In another place, Bhagavad-gītā, therefore, it is said, brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). "One who has understood Brahman," prasannātmā, "he's always joyful. He's not disturbed by these material conditions." That is here stated: yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete. These different transformation, different changes of nature, body, and everything, one should not be disturbed by all these things. These are external. We are spirit soul. It is external body, or external dress. That is changing. So if we understand nicely, na vyathayanti, and you are not disturbed by these changes, then saḥ amṛtatvāya kalpate, then he's making progress, spiritual progress. That means, spiritual progress means, he's making progress towards eternal life. Spiritual life means eternal, blissful life of knowledge. That is spiritual life.
If somebody thinks "I have got some money. I am very fortunate." It is, actually it is not fortune. Real fortunate is he who is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He is fortunate. Otherwise, all are unfortunate. All are unfortunate.
So in this way, one should come to the spiritual understanding, and the symptom is he's not disturbed by the material upheavals. Yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha, sama-duḥkha-sukham. The symptom is sama-duḥkha... Because he knows this is dreaming. Suppose you are dreaming. So either you suffer in the presence of a tiger, or you become a king in dream, what is the value? It is the same thing. There is no difference. After all, it is dreaming.
Pradyumna:
"O best among men (Arjuna), the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation."
Prabhupāda: There is a mistake. "Is best," it should be "the best," not "is best" "The best." It is address. Not nominative. Go on.
Pradyumna: Finished.
Prabhupāda: Finished?
Pradyumna: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa is addressing Arjuna, puruṣarṣabha, the best of the men. "O the best of the men." Certainly, Arjuna is the best of the mankind. Because he is directly friend of Kṛṣṇa, who can be better man than him? The best of the men. So the best of the men, why he's distressed in executing his duty? Therefore, this very word is used, that "You are the best of the men." Actually, the best of the men should not be disturbed by any material condition. He should discharge his duties.
So how to take Kṛṣṇa consciousness? That is also answered by Prahlāda Mahārāja. Matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām. Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be awakened for a person who wants to stay in this material world and become happy. He cannot become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Gṛha-vratānām. Gṛha means home, and vratānām means one who has taken the house or home or this body as everything. Vrata. Vrata means... Just like you are observing this today, a Janmāṣṭamī-vrata, under vow. We shall fast, an austerity. The aim is different from the gṛha-vrata. Gṛha-vrata's aim is how to decorate the home, how to become happy in this home, in this world, in this material world. That is their... So they cannot become Kṛṣṇa conscious. One who has become callous of this material happiness, he can become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Therefore it is said here, yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete. These material things, seasonal changes, so-called happiness, so-called distress, if one is not disturbed... There is no cause of disturbance. This is another foolishness. Why one should be disturbed? Because the so-called happiness or happiness or distress, whatever you are destined to receive, you must get it. You try or do not try, it doesn't matter. Whatever portion of happiness you are destined to get, you'll get it. And whatever portion of... Because this material life is mixture. You cannot get unadulterated happiness or unadulterated distress. No. That is not. You'll get distress and happiness both.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa has explained in the previous verse, here also: yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha (BG 2.14). Here in this material world there is winter and the counterpart summer also. In the winter we aspire, "If it would have been warmer." That means you want summer. And again summer you'll require, you aspire had it been, I mean to say, cooler. You apply cooling machine. So this is our struggle. In the summer, we apply cooling machine, and in the winter, we apply heating machine. So undisturbed happiness, either in coolness or warmth, you cannot have. This is not possible. Therefore we have to become callous.
Prabhupāda: (translated into Spanish by Hṛdayānanda throughout)
So we have been discussing for the last four days about the constitutional position of the soul. First thing, we have discussed that the living being... This body is not the living being, but the living being is within the body. Just like the motorcar is not the driver; the driver is within the motorcar. Now, that driver, or the soul, within the body is immortal. And it is transmigrating from one body to another.
In the beginning it appears to be little difficult. Actually it is not difficult, but because we are habituated, we feel difficulty. So if you are actually anxious and serious to stop this repetition of birth and death, then we must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because without Kṛṣṇa consciousness nobody can stop the repetition of birth and death. Therefore Kṛṣṇa advises in this verse that "Accept this little difficulty." Actually there is no difficulty, but because we are practiced, in the beginning we find little difficulty. Therefore here Kṛṣṇa says, yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete: "All these so-called difficulties, if they do not bother or give some pain to a person..." Yam... All these difficulties... Just like I am feeling difficulty. I am habituated to smoke. Now I am forbidden, "Not to smoke." So I am feeling difficulty. So therefore Kṛṣṇa said, "Although it is not difficulty, but although one feels difficulty—still he sticks to the principle—then he becomes fit for going back to home, back to Godhead."
So dhīra means that although there is cause of disturbance, one is not disturbed. Although there is cigarette, but I should promise, "I shall not smoke." Although there is facility for illicit sex, I'll not do it. That is called dhīra. Dhīra means the cause of agitation or disturbance is present there, but one is not disturbed. So in order to advance in spiritual life we have to become dhīra. And that is said here, sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīram. As soon as one become dhīra, sober, these so-called material pains and pleasure does not disturb me (him). Then he is fit for becoming immortal. Everyone is immortal, but he is fallen in such material condition that he thinks himself as mortal. Because I am spirit soul, therefore the Vedic injunction that feel:(?) ahaṁ brahmāsmi, so 'ham, means "I am as good as the Supreme Being," means "He is eternal; I am also eternal. He is also living being; I am also living being." That means qualitatively we are one, God and me. But quantitatively, He is great; we are small.
In the previous verse, yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha, Kṛṣṇa says: "Those who are not disturbed by the material changes..." Sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ so 'mṛtatvāya kalpate. Our mission, human mission, is to come to the platform of amṛtatvam, immortality. We have discussed this point. Amṛtatvam, immortality. The modern civilization, the so-called scientists, philosophers, they cannot imagine even that there is possibility of becoming immortal. They cannot imagine. Their brain is so dull that they cannot think of, that we can become immortal. Then how Kṛṣṇa is speaking about immortality? Is He speaking something nonsense, utopian? No, He is speaking the fact. Otherwise, if Kṛṣṇa speaks something nonsense, utopian, then nobody would be interested to read Bhagavad-gītā.
So they do not understand that there is a controller. We may theorize and so many ways of our happy life. But you cannot be happy, sir, so long you have got this material body. That's a fact. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). Therefore intelligent persons, they should be... Kṛṣṇa is making everyone intelligent: "You rascal, you are under the bodily concept of life. Your civilization has no value. It is rascal civilization." Here is the point,
Your problem is how to be reestablished again as eternal. Because we are eternal. Some way or other, we have fallen in this material world. Therefore, we have to accept birth and death. So our problem is how to again be eternal. That is amṛtatva. But these rascals, they do not know that there is possibility of becoming eternal. Simply by trying to understand Kṛṣṇa, one can become immortal. Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9).
So our actual business is to become brahma-bhūtaḥ. So who can become? That is explained already. Kṛṣṇa has already explained that, what is that verse? Yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete. Vyathayanti, does not give pain. Material, material burden, that is always troublesome. Even this body. This is also another burden. We have to carry it. So when one is not disturbed by this bodily pain and pleasure... There is no pleasure, simply pain. Here, pleasure means a little absence of pain. Just like you have got a boil here. What is called? Boil? Phoṛā? So it is always painful. And by some medical application, when the pain is little relieved, you think that "Now it is happiness." But the boil is there. How you can be happy? So here, actually there is no happiness, but we think we have discovered so many counteraction.
So they do not understand that there is a controller. We may theorize and so many ways of our happy life. But you cannot be happy, sir, so long you have got this material body. That's a fact. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). Therefore intelligent persons, they should be... Kṛṣṇa is making everyone intelligent: "You rascal, you are under the bodily concept of life. Your civilization has no value. It is rascal civilization." Here is the point,
Your problem is how to be reestablished again as eternal. Because we are eternal. Some way or other, we have fallen in this material world. Therefore, we have to accept birth and death. So our problem is how to again be eternal. That is amṛtatva. But these rascals, they do not know that there is possibility of becoming eternal. Simply by trying to understand Kṛṣṇa, one can become immortal. Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9).
Anyone who has got this material body, he has to die. Janma-mṛtyu. One who is born, he must die. But here Kṛṣṇa says, punar janma naiti. "No more birth." Then there is no more death. Because if there is birth, there is death, and if there is no birth, there is no death. That is immortality, amṛta. That is amṛtatva. So amṛtatvāya kalpate. In another place Kṛṣṇa says,
We are disturbed by the bodily concepts of life, every one of us. Everyone is busy how to relieve the bodily pains and pleasures. That's all. The real pains and pleasure: that the living entity who has accepted this material body, he has to continue these pains and pleasure. That is explained in the Bhagavad, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). So you there is no science to give relief from janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. How can expect relief? It is temporary relief. So Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, we should not be disturbed by the temporary pains and pleasure.
They have no idea. And that is civilization. How to get out of this birth, death, old age, and disease, that is civilization. But no one, nobody knows, scientists no, philosopher no, politician. They can concede that there is such possibility. In the Bhagavad-gītā, therefore it is said,
Amṛtatva, amṛtatva means no more births, no more death. No more birth, no more death, no more disease, no more old age. That is called amṛtatva. Amṛta means eternity or immortality. Hiraṇyakaśipu tried. Hiraṇyakaśipu, you know Prahlāda Mahārāja's father, he was defeated by the demigods. Therefore he left home and went for tapasya, to become immortal. So he was a demon, so he was undergoing tapasya, other demigods, not Kṛṣṇa, because he was against Kṛṣṇa. Demons means against God. They'll never go to God. They'll go to somebody else for power. So Hiraṇyakaśipu, when Brahmā visited, that, "Why you are undergoing so serious tapasya that the whole world is trembling by your tapasya? What do you want?" So he said, "I want to become immortal." Lord Brahmā said, "That is not in my power because myself is not also immortal? How can I give immortality?"
Indian man: I am very much thankful to you for giving this divine knowledge to our crippled people, who are suffering in this material world. But... And I'm also convinced by this of kīrtana. I am somewhat surprised and I feel very much grateful about... Or the world, it is not grateful for Kṛṣṇa consciousness(?). And there were many Kṛṣṇa devotees in that part of the world which is now called Bangaladesh. And millions of Kṛṣṇa devotees, all sons of Kṛṣṇa, are being butchered by the..., and butcher of their family or... I'm talking about west Pakistan. What is your answer to this sort of the genocide or greatest man-made disaster.
Prabhupāda: That is going on since the creation. How can you stop it? The history repeats itself. This butchering, this attack by one country by another or by one king to another, that is going on. This is the nature; therefore it is called duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This is a place simply for suffering. Therefore everyone's business is how to get out of it. You cannot stop what is going on in Bangaladesh. It may be in Bangaladesh or it may be in Vietnam or it may be in some other places—this is nature's law; it will go on. You cannot stop it. The best thing is to get out of the scene. That is your business. You cannot stop it. Even if you show sympathy, that is useless. Because this is the way of nature. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). Paritrāṇāya sa... vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām. The vināśa is there. The two things are going on: maintenance and dissolution and creation. So you cannot stop the process. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha. All these ephemeral things which come and go, if one is not disturbed by all these things, then he is the right candidate for liberation.
Prabhupāda: (chants maṅgalācaraṇa prayers) His Excellency, the High Commissioner; ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your coming here and participating in this ceremony, Janmāṣṭamī, advent of Kṛṣṇa. The subject matter I've been ordered to speak on is advent of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,
This fact, that we can achieve such a stage of life when we can stop our birth and death... Sa 'mṛtatvāya kalpate. This morning, I was explaining this verse:
Amrtatva means immortality. So the modern civilization, they have no idea, either the great philosopher, great politician or great scientist, that it is possible to attain the stage of immortality. Amṛtatva. We are all amṛta. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, na jāyate na mrīyate vā kadācin. We living entities, we never die, never take birth. Nityaḥ śāśvato yaṁ, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Every one of us, we are eternal, nityaḥ śāśvato; Purāṇa, the oldest. And after annihilation of this body, we do not die. Na hanyate. The body is finished, but I have to accept another body. Tathā dehāntara prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13).
Our real business, real education, is to understand, "What I am? I am not this body." But that education is lacking. So our main business is to understand that "I am not this body, and the bodily pains and pleasure, they are due to the change of season only." Just like now it is winter season. We are covering our body. In the summer season we do not like so heavily dressed. So this feeling of pains and pleasure is due to this material body. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says,
Real business of human life is to understand the spirit soul, and so far the material body is concerned, just like seasonal changes, we feel pains and pleasure. Just like water. In this winter season, on account of the seasonal change, we do not like to touch water at the present moment. But the same water in the summer season will be very pleasing. So the water is the same, but due to seasonal changes, sometimes the water is very pleasing and sometimes it is very painful. So this material world, so long we shall remain in the material world, the pains and pleasure on account of this material body we have to feel. But if we come to the spiritual platform, that is, understanding of the soul, then in any condition we shall be happy.
Prabhupāda: Prakṛti, in the prakṛti there are three modes of material nature. They will be manifested. It is not possible to make everyone of the same standard, the standard must be different. So they are simply spoiling their time to make the whole society on the same status. The communists are trying, the others are trying. That is not possible. So one should not be disturbed with all these superficial low and high places. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says,
One is not disturbed with this outwards happiness and distress, he's eligible to become immortal. Saḥ amṛtatvāya. How? (Hindi) Yaṁ hi... (break) ...amṛta, eternal. And that is perfection. And that is going back to home, back to Godhead. But they do not know what is the aim of life. Still, they are leaders. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31), leaders are blind, and they're leading blind men. Therefore there is always disaster, confusion.
Prabhupāda: Anyone lives in that way, that "Kṛṣṇa has put me in this distressed condition of life. It is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. I would have been put into more severe condition of life, but He is a little, giving me little pain. So I must be very much obliged to Kṛṣṇa that He's so kind upon me." So if one lives like that, mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk, he has got the claim to become liberated. Just like a son has got the right to claim the property of father, similarly, one who lives like this, he has the claim to become liberated. Mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk. That is... This is Bhāgavata's statement. And similarly, in the Bhagavad-gītā, also it is stated... Sit down. Yes. Why you are late? We have talked so many things.
Woman: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha. That I have already explained.
Just like one is in winter season, and the winter... Not in this country. In Western countries, it becomes below thirty degrees. In Canada and what other places?
Acyutānanda: New Vrindaban.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Acyutānanda: New Vrindaban.
Prabhupāda: Virginia?
Acyutānanda: Oh yes. Thirty below zero.
Prabhupāda: So we have no experience below zero degrees. But in Europe, America, there is places. In Russia also, below fifty degrees. But they do not stop their business. They know that "Winter season has come. It will go away again." So devotees, even they are in distressed condition, they know, "It has come due to my bad activities in the past. It will go away. Let me suffer and finish it."
Prabhupāda: Just like if you become, all of a sudden, infected with some disease. So what? You'll go mad? No. You know that "I have infected this disease. Let me suffer a few days. It will go away. That's all." This is the mentality of the devotees. They are not disturbed. And if he's not disturbed, then he's fit for becoming liberated.
And our aim is amṛtatva, how to become immortal. That is our aim of life. So we have to achieve that goal of life. We should not be disturbed with this temporary distress and pleasure. That is called tapasya.
These are the processes to become perfect. Tapasā. First thing is tapasya. And nobody's prepared to undergo tapasya. And human life is made for tapasya. Therefore in Vedic civilization, you'll find tapasya. The brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, they were all engaged in tapasya. Rājarṣi, devarṣi. Bharata Mahārāja, under whose name this planet is called Bhāratavarṣa, at the age of twenty-four years, he gave up his young wife, children, and went for tapasya. Tapasya is the life of the human being.
Prabhupāda: So birth, death, old age, disease can be stopped only by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if you don't like to be Kṛṣṇa conscious then what is the use of becoming your disciple, and if the guru, if he cannot stop your death, birth and death, then what is your becoming guru? So 'mṛtatvāya kalpate. Yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha. Find out this verse. Yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete.
Śrutakīrti: Y-a-m?
Prabhupāda: Yeah, y-a-m. Yaṁ hi... Get this light on. (break) ...there is birth and death and old age and... That is liberation. That is siddhi. That is perfection. These rascals are making plans, material plans. Jawaharlal Nehru made plan of this New Delhi. But he is kicked out. "Go out!" And now he has become a dog in Switzerland.
Śrutakīrti: In Sweden.
Prabhupāda: In Sweden.
Śyāmasundara: What?
Śrutakīrti: He's one of two dogs in Sweden.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Śrīdhara Mahārāja told me. Some astrologer has...
Brahmānanda: He's taken his birth there.
Śyāmasundara: Ah.
Pṛthu Putra: He says in the Buddhist philosophy there is these three things. There is these three steps.
Prabhupāda: No, no, apart from this philosophy, we are talking general, general talk. So when he understands, "Yes, I have also no problem," then he is fixed up. Then spiritual life begins. Yes. When he becomes problemless, no more problem, then spiritual life begins. So long he is busy to solve the problems of the material, that is no spiritual life. Find out this verse, yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha, sama-duḥkha-sama... Yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha. Y-a-m, yam.
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete...
Prabhupāda: Ete, yes.
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: 2.15.
Prabhupāda: Saḥ amṛtatvāya kalpate.
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa:
"Translation: O best among men (Arjuna), the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation."
Prabhupāda: Yes. So long these material disturbances disturb him, he cannot get any spiritual life. Fixed up, that is the position of fixed up. (French)
Pṛthu Putra: He's all right with this point. He agree with this point.
Prabhupāda: He will agree with all the points provided he is fixed up. (French) Not, (sic:) after death, in this life you can be fixed up, provided you associate with the persons who are fixed up. (French)
Pṛthu Putra: He says we have to be constantly fixed up, not only one moment and after it's slowing. We always have to be fixed up each time, each time, all the time, all the time.
Prabhupāda: Not each time. Just like our devotees. They come in the saṅkīrtana once, twice, thrice. He becomes interested. Then he becomes fixed up. (French)
Pṛthu Putra: He says to want to become fixed up, that is important, just on the moment.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Unless one is fixed up, his spiritual life does not begin. Spiritual life means fixed up, who is not agitated. Sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ duḥkham. What is that? Same verse.
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīram. "unaltered in distress or happiness."
Prabhupāda: Is there any purport?
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: "Anyone who is steady in his determination for the advanced stage of spiritual realization and can equally tolerate the onslaughts of distress and happiness is certainly a person eligible for liberation." (French)
Pṛthu Putra: He says so we then just have to practice now.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Goal must be fixed up, practice must be there, and one must be fixed up. Then it will be... (French)
Pṛthu Putra: He says it's very simple.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is simple. It is simple. First thing to know that I am not this body. Because within this body there is the living force. I am that living force.
| Page Title: | BG 02.15 yam hi na vyathayanty ete... cited |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, MadhuGopaldas |
| Created: | 10 of Feb, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=4, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=21, Con=6, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 32 |