They are very expert scrutinizingly studying and it was put in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, so many other books also. Why? Sad-dharma-samsthapakau. Sad-dharma. Sad-dharma means spiritual life, not this material.... Just like these modern material scientists they are discovering so many things simply for the comfort of this body, not for any spiritual advancement. Therefore asat. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, (Sanskrit). "I have given up sat-saṅga, association wherein I can learn about spiritual advancement of life. (Sanskrit) I am engaged enjoying this asat, body. Body means the senses. (Sanskrit) I have become entangled in the action and reaction of fruitive activities." That is the lamentable position of present civilization. People are becoming entangled. He does not know, one does not know, that so long the mind will be absorbed in this karma—karma means bodily activities—I'll have to accept another body. And there is risk. I do not know whether I shall be able to accept a body, human body. There are 8,400,000 bodies, any body I have to accept as it is given by nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi. I am associating in different qualities and prakṛti is recording all, automatically it is being recorded what type of body you'll have next life.
Become entangled (Lectures, SB)
Expressions researched:
"became entangled"
|"become again entangled"
|"become entangled"
|"become more and more entangled"
|"become professionally entangled"
|"becomes entangled"
|"becomes increasingly entangled"
|"becomes too entangled"
|"becoming entangled"
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim. We have got already attraction. A man has got attraction for woman; woman has got attraction for man. Now, as soon as they are united, that attraction becomes more and more strong. Tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ. Then ataḥ gṛha, as soon as they are married and united, they require one apartment, gṛha; ataḥ gṛha, kṣetra, then land for cultivating for producing foodstuff. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-suta, children; āpta, friends. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ, and money. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8).
In this way the living entity becomes entangled and his sense of aham, "It is... I am this body and this property is mine," this sense increases, moha. It is called moha. Moha means actually nothing belongs to him. As soon as death will come, he has to change this body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). He has to change the body. As soon as he changes the body, then everything is finished. His property, his wife, his children, his country, his society, everything, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham. Kṛṣṇa comes as mṛtyu. Kṛṣṇa comes as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Śyāmasundara, dvi-bhuja Muralīdhara. He comes occasionally, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7), for the devotees. The devotees want to see Him. Therefore He comes. But for the nondevotees, He also comes, but they cannot see. But Kṛṣṇa comes as death. Then they can see, "Here is Kṛṣṇa." Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). They're... Like Nṛsiṁha-deva. Nṛsiṁha-deva... God was challenged. Prahlāda Mahārāja was devotee. He was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and his father revolted: "Why you should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa? Where is Kṛṣṇa? Where is God?" This is the atheistic temperament. They'll simply defy God, or Kṛṣṇa.
They are no longer existing. Sometimes when I pass by the side of the Red Fort, we see the department, the apartments of the great Mogul emperors in Red Fort, they are now lying vacant. So this is the material nature. Therefore Cāṇakya Paṇḍita advises, san-nimitte varaṁ tyāgo vināśe niyate sati: "If you are actually religious, then don't spoil your money for sense gratification." Use it for sat karyam. Sat karya means for service of Kṛṣṇa. Oṁ tat sat paraṁ brahma. San-nimi. San-nimitte varaṁ tyāgo vināśe niyate sati. That is Vedic civilization. If money comes, you don't hate it. Welcome. But it should be used properly. That is proper use. If you use properly your money, then you make your path parapavarga, clear. And if you misuse your money, then you become again entangled in the 8,400,000's of species of life.
Therefore, as recommended here, nārthasya dharmai-kāntasya. Dharmai-kāntasya: not for the irreligious demons, but those who are actually religious, dharmaikāntasya. Kāmo lābhāya... No kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ. Your money should not be free, should not be spent unnecessarily for sense gratification. Formerly, this was the civilization in India. We see so many big, big temple in South India, in other places also, especially South India. It is not possible—in Vṛndāvana also—it is not possible at the present moment to construct such huge, expensive temple. But actually they were done by rich kings, rich mercantile people. That Madana-mohana temple was constructed by Sindhi merchant.
"Sense gratification which is not against the religious principle, that is I am." Sense gratification is there, is also. Just like the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That is cin-māyā. Cini means home(?); mithuna means dual, couple, the spiritual couple. Similarly here also, the same spiritual our duties are there, but because it is covered by this material body, it is perverted. So, just like when you are diseased, we cannot enjoy life; that is forbidden. If one is suffering from tuberculosis, and if he wants to enjoy sex life, that means he is bringing death. Similarly, in this material condition of life if we want to aggravate our sense gratification process, then we invite very from..., very quickly death. Death means, spiritual death, to become more and more entangled in material things.
Therefore Bhāgavata says, Sūta Goswami says, that this life, human life, or the purpose of the Vedic civilization, they are not meant for kāmasya nendriya-prītir (SB 1.2.10). Kāma, that should be utilized for better purpose, not for sense gratification. The real business is jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. Life should be engaged simply for tattva-jijñāsā, to understand the Absolute Truth. The whole Vedic literature, Vedic knowledge is meant for understanding the Absolute Truth. Kṛṣṇa says, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). The purpose of studying Veda means to understand Kṛṣṇa. And vedānta-vit. Because people are very much proud, especially Māyāvādī philosophers, they're very much proud of becoming vedāntī. So the Vaiṣṇava philosophers... (aside:) Stop that. ...Everyone is vedāntī. Śrī Rāmānujācārya, he is also vedāntī. Madhvācārya, he is also vedāntī. Nimbārka, he is also vedāntī.
"This man or this beast is dying..." Of course, for lower than animals, they have got natural process of evolution. But when you come to the human form of body, you have got responsibility. Now you can make your next life better than this or lower than this.
Just like one man is given the chance of become some minister or magistrate. If he does very nice, he is promoted; otherwise degraded. Similarly, this human form of life is meant for understanding God. That is the only business. If we don't understand what is God, what is Kṛṣṇa and our relationship with Him, then we are missing the point. Then we become entangled, entangled. This entanglement is karma-granthi-nibandhanam, by our karma. By different kind of karma, we are becoming entangled. So to unknot this, I mean to say, binding of entanglement, (it) is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yajñārthe karma, "You work simply for Yajña, for satisfaction of Yajña." Yajña-pati, Viṣṇu, or God, or Kṛṣṇa. Yajñārthe karma, anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. "If you do not act for Kṛṣṇa, do not act for Viṣṇu, for Yajña, then karma-bandhana." Yajñārthe karmaṇaḥ anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ.
So this is karma-bandhana. This karma-bandhana begins from our attachment to this material world. How our material attachment increases? That is also explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam (SB 5.5.8). Mithunī-bhāvam. There is sex impulse between man and woman. There are two classes of living entities, man and woman, or male or female. So the male is attracted by the female, and the female is attracted by the male. Puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam. But what is that attraction, central point? Sex life. So this mentality, this propensity, is there not only in human body, but in the animal body also, that same propensity, sex life. So... But everyone is searching after, "Where is a male? Where is a female?" And when they are united, the karma-granthi becomes tighter. That's all. Puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etaṁ tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ (SB 5.5.8). They are searching after, and as soon as they are united, they become tightly knot. Hṛdaya-granthi.
Here in the material world the goodness is, of course, taken as the highest quality, but such goodness is liable to be infected by the other two qualities, passion and ignorance. It is exposed. And here also, goodness is also the cause of bondage in this material world. As passion is cause of bondage, ignorance is also cause of bondage, similarly, the material goodness is also cause of bondage. So we have to transcend the material goodness also. Then, when we get stability of goodness, that is spiritual life. When it is disturbed by passion and ignorance, that means it is not yet perfect. Therefore, sometimes we find a student is doing everything nice goodness, but he is attacked by passion and ignorance, and he becomes entangled.
So real goodness means without being attacked by the other modes, passion and ignorance. That goodness is in God. Hareḥ sattva-nidheḥ. When you go to the spiritual platform, sattvaṁ viśuddham... That spiritual platform is called goodness unaffected by other qualities. Sattvaṁ viśuddham. Viśuddham means complete pure. No adulteration. So long we are in the material platform, the goodness is liable to be adulterated. Just like we purchase milk from the market or anything. There is adulteration. Although there are so many laws by the government, "You cannot adulterate, you cannot do this, you cannot...," but people, propensity is to adulterate. So you cannot get pure thing. The whole atmosphere is so polluted. Therefore here the so-called goodness also is the cause of bondage. "Now I have become a Vaiṣṇava. I have become now learned." And God is so clever that "Now you fight with this passion and ignorance, if you are so good." And he fails, falls a victim. You see? So by pure devotional service only, you can remain in pure goodness. Otherwise it will be adulterated. Pure devotional service.
When his father inquired, "My dear boy, where you got all these ideas?" He was perfect devotee, and the father was perfect atheist. He said, "This status is..., cannot be achieved without being favored by a pure devotee."
Naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghrim (SB 7.5.32). Urukramāṅghrim, aṅghri. Aṅghri means lotus feet. Nobody can be interested to the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead... Because to be become interested in the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead means to become liberated. Anartha-apagamaḥ yad-arthaḥ. Anartha. Anartha means unnecessary. We are creating unnecessary necessities of life and becoming entangled. This is material life. But if one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, interested in Kṛṣṇa, then he becomes detestful: "What is the use?" Just like our brahmacārīs, our devotees, they can lie, lie down flat on the ground. They don't require any nice bedstead or cushion. Because the life is so molded, they think, "Well, I have to take some rest. So in this way and that way, why should I bother about that?" Yes. That is the sign of advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). Those who have no taste of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are trying to be happy by unnecessarily increasing the material demands because they have no other information. But as soon as one is engaged in devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, pareśānubhūti, he relishes some transcendental pleasure, and, as a result of that, this nonsensical pleasure becomes insignificant.
Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). But why people are not doing that? Because they have got little independence. Every living entity is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has got the quality of full independence. Naturally, the part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, it has also independence. But that is not absolute independence. Just like independent country. America, independent country. We are also now independent country. But the citizens, they have independence dependent on the state independence. Not absolute independence. Similarly, we have got independence. We living entities, we have got independence—but dependent on the independence of Kṛṣṇa. Not absolute independence. So... Therefore we become entangled in our own karma. Kṛṣṇa does not give anyone a position or karma. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that He does not give anyone a better position or anyone an inferior position. Everyone creates his own position. Kṛṣṇa simply orders that "This is your position. Now you enjoy or suffer." We create our own position.
So by this karma... vikarma rather. Karma means when you act according to the śāstra, that is called karma. Lawful activities. The lawful activities is very good. But unlawful activities, you are punishable. So the business of sense gratification is unlawful activities. You cannot gratify your senses more than necessity. Everywhere that is the stringent laws of nature. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). You cannot surpass it. Duratyayā. If you surpass, then you will be punished. There is simultaneous law of nature. The example is that you can eat, say, four ounce or eight ounce foodstuff. If you eat ten ounce, then there will be suffering, indigestion, you cannot eat, there will be dysentery, so many things. That is nature's law. So people are becoming entangled in karma. Yajña sa karma, one should work for Yajña, for Kṛṣṇa. But they are not doing that. They are doing for sense gratification. Ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇā. Bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpaṁ ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt (BG 3.13). That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. If you live only for sense gratification, then you become entangled in the law of karma.
The same milk. The milk is the cause of your dysentery, but the same milk, when it is medically treated, can cure it. This is the secret. How? One milk preparation. Milk is the origin. Rabri, you take too much and there is dysentery. And cikitsitam, the same milk converted into yogurt, add little black pepper, little salt and lime, it will cure. The origin is the milk. So one way you become diseased and the other way you become cured, but the preparation is the same—milk. Similarly, our activities in this material world with these material elements, when we violate the laws, we become entangled. But the same material activities, when it is turned into Kṛṣṇa prasādam, dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa for hearing and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, what we are doing? We are also doing the same thing. Here is the temple. What is this temple? The same ingredients, the same cement, same brick, same stone, same worker, same plan as the skyscraper. But what is the difference? Because it is cikitsitam, it is for Kṛṣṇa. You spoil your energy by the same purchase of cement, bricks, and other things for sense gratification—a theater hall, a dancing hall. The same energy spent for dancing for Kṛṣṇa, the same hall, you become liberated. By one dancing hall you go to hell, and by another dancing hall you become liberated. This is the secret.
So people have got the tendency for sense gratification. That is the material disease. So instead of satisfying your senses, try to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa. Then you become liberated. This is called cikitsitam. There is sense gratification. Here when you chant and dance, this is not your sense gratification; this is Kṛṣṇa's sense gratification: "Oh, these devotees, they are glorifying Me, they are dancing. Blessed they are." Immediately you draw attention of Kṛṣṇa, because it is bhakti.
Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). Simply by your so-called activities you will be entangled in the law of karma. And according to your karma, you will get a different type of body and you will live for some time, again you will die, again you will get body, again you will... And you do not know what kind of body you are going to get. This is the entanglement. Yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). So if we want to be free from the entanglement of this karma, then we must work for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Yajña, Yajñabhuja, Viṣṇu. Yajñārthāt karmaṇaḥ. This is the cikitsitam. The material activities you are becoming entangled, and you are becoming more and more diseased. So you should be treated. How? The same thing. Milk is... Rabri is also milk preparation and dahi is also milk preparation. So you are becoming diseased by this process. Now you take this process, you will be cured. Then you will be happy. Therefore it is said, tad eva hy āmayaṁ dravyaṁ na punāti cikitsitam. Cikitsitam. We should handle everything material properly treated, properly treated. Not to work for anyone. As Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us lesson that you are jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Every living entity is eternally the servant of Kṛṣṇa. So instead of becoming servant of your senses, just try to become the servant of Kṛṣṇa, then your life will be successful.
They rise early in the morning regularly. You have seen. As soon as there is little light, immediately they will rise up and they will talk amongst themselves and go, one tree to another, and he will eat one or two fruits, little fruits, ample fruit. They have no scarcity of food. And live very pleasantly. For eating, sleeping, sex life, they have no problem. These are primary necessities of life. Why there should be problem for these things? But in the human society there is problem. That is called the effect of Kali-yuga. Effect of Kali-yuga means the so-called advancement of material civilization means to become godless, immoral, and they must suffer. That is going on.
So we are increasing our anarthas, anarthas, and we are becoming entangled in the cycle of birth and death. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Once we take a certain type of body, we enjoy or suffer for some time; then again we have to give up this body, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), and there is no guarantee what sort of body you are going to get. But it is certain that you are going to get a body. And that may be offered to you by the laws of nature. It may be an important, more important body than what we have got just now, or it may be less important. It may be cats and dog or hog, and it may be the body of demigod. That is according to karma. So in this way we are passing our life eternally. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). We get one type of body, and again we give it up. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ. This is called anartha, anartha. Anartha upaśamam. What is that anartha? This is anartha. Why shall I get a new type of body? I am eternal. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Why I am getting this temporary body?
This is the conclusion of the śāstra, that "You have got this human form of life. Your only business is how to advance in spiritual consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is your only business."
But because we are surrounded by so many unwanted things, anartha, we are becoming entangled in the cycle of birth and death and old age and disease in different forms. So we do not know it. Most people, they do not know it. Therefore Vyāsadeva, lokasya ajānataḥ. Because these fools and rascals, they do not know it, therefore he has compiled the sātvata-saṁhitā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And the next, it is recommended,
- yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyāṁ
- kṛṣṇe parama-pūruṣe
- bhaktir utpadyate puṁsaḥ
- śoka-moha-bhayāpahā
- (SB 1.7.7)
The bhakti-yoga means to become free from these anarthas, unwanted things we have created. Now, how it will be, how we shall become free from the anarthas, that is recommended, yasyāṁ vai śrū... "That sātvata-saṁhitā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, if we hear regularly..." Yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyām (SB 1.7.7). Simply by hearing. You don't require to understand even; the hearing is so powerful. That is stated in other place, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Kṛṣṇa-kathā is puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ.
So "Arjuna, who is guided by the infallible Lord as friend and driver." Kṛṣṇa's name is Acyuta. Cyuta means fallen, and acyuta means never fallen. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they foolishly say that when God becomes entangled by māyā, He becomes a living entity-jīva-bhūta. Jīva means when He forgets that He is God, then he becomes a jīva, living entity. This is Māyāvādī philosophy. But how God can degrade to become a man or an animal? He is Acyuta; He never falls. Otherwise how He is God? If God also falls... Just like we fall down... Aśvatthāmā, he is son of a brāhmaṇa, but he is fallen to become a butcher because he's a living being, he's different from God. In another place we find Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna that both Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa was present when the Bhagavad-gītā instruction was given to sun-god millions of years ago. Kṛṣṇa said that "You have forgotten. I did not." So this is Acyuta. He never falls down from any standard. He is always perfect, complete.
So one who is not complete, he's jīva. Aṇu and vibhu. Vibhu, there are many examples. Just like fire, blazing fire, you have got experience. And there are sparks. The sparks fall down sometimes and become extinguished, without any illumination, without any burning power. When..., so long the spark is within the fire, it has got the same quality, illumination and burning quality. But as soon as falls down-extinguished, no more illumination, no more burning power. So our position is like that. Although we are part and parcel of God, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7), because we have cyuta, fallen down from our spiritual atmosphere... Just like spiritual atmosphere, Kṛṣṇa's friends, cowherd boys, they're playing with Kṛṣṇa. That is also playing. And here in this material world the boys they also play football play. But these two plays are different. One is spiritual and another is material. The same example: the spark, when it is with the fire, it is illuminating and burning, but when the sparks fall down, they may fall down on the ground. There are three chances.
Everyone is thinking that "I have got something." I have seen long, long ago, maybe fifty years ago in Howrah station. I was going somewhere. So one man, his luggage was the half-burned some fuel wood and some rejected things. He was carrying as luggage half-burned fuel wood. He thought that "This is my possession. I have saved this." So he was taking to his home. That means everyone, even though it is very insignificant, still, everyone thinks that "I have got something." This is the material disease.
So this is the illusion. Therefore śāstra says, ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). How a man becomes entangled in this material world, everything is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam. This material world means sex attraction, mithunī-bhāva. The man is searching after woman; woman is searching after man. This is material life, in human life, in bird's, beast's... Just these sparrows—they are trying to make some nest on this chandelier to enjoy sex and lay eggs. Therefore they require some place. The basic principle is sex. First of all sex life, then other necessities. First of all, seeing, man and woman. Then, when they unite, puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etaṁ tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ (SB 5.5.8). When they unite and they get children, then the hard knot of heart—"She, my wife. She's (He's) my husband. We cannot separated..." Hard knot. Hṛdaya-granthi. Already there is attraction. Now this attraction becomes more and more tight, after unity. Then we require a place to live together, "Home, sweet home." Yes, very sweet. The whole day and night, work. And this is moha. He is working hard day and night. There is not a single moment leisure, and still, he's: "Sweet home." This is illusion.
He has given dharma-śāstra. In this way, there are so many Vedic literatures, and we take advantage of it. Therefore we must be indebted. Deva, ṛṣi, and bhūta. We are taking milk from the cows. Bhūta, āpta. Āpta, friends, relatives. We are taking advantage in the family from the father, from the mother, from the elderly brother, from the servant.
So in this way, you are all indebted. You cannot take any service from anyone without being indebted. You cannot take. You must be... So we are becoming entangled, complicated with indebtedness. That is called karma. If you don't pay bill, then you have to suffer. Then you have to suffer because you are taking simply. These rascals, they do not know. They are so much ungrateful. They are taking milk from the cows, and when the milk is no more supplied, "All right, send it to the slaughterhouse." Once he has taken milk, he's indebted; again, it is being killed by him. So how much he has become entangled in his karma he does not know. Mūḍha. Duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ.
In every religion, it is accepted. Just like in Christian religion also it is said: "Oh God, give us our daily bread." Bread, we cannot manufacture. It must come from God. That is Vedic version also nityo nityānāṁ cetanaṣ cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). God, or Kṛṣṇa, He gives everything, necessities of life, as you like, but if you accept your enjoyable things as you like, then you'll become entangled. But if you accept things to be enjoyed by you, tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā (ISO 1), as Kṛṣṇa offers you, then you'll become happy. If you make, just like a diseased patient, if he wants to enjoy life in his own whimsical way, he'll continue his disease. But if he accepts the modes of life according to the directions of the physician, then he becomes free from So there are two methods, pravṛtti and nivṛtti. Pravṛtti means "I have got inclination to eat this or to enjoy this. Why not? I shall do it. I have got my freedom." "But you have no freedom sir, you are simply..." That is māyā. You have no freedom. We get experience, suppose there is very nice palatable food. If I think, let me eat as much as possible, then next day I'll have to starve. Immediately dysentery or indigestion.
This is called karma-bandhana. You will be entangled more and more. Yāvan mano vai karmaṇe saktaṁ tāvat na muñcante deha-bandhāt(?). So long we will be, I mean to say, sense-gratifying minded... Because everyone's mind is absorbed in the thought of gratifying his own senses. So so long we shall be absorbed in this type of thoughts, then we have to accept a body, either human body or other body. There are 8,400,000 different types of forms and body. So we have got different types of desires also, because we are prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). We are under the modes of material nature, and the material nature has got the modes, different modes: goodness, passion and ignorance. You mix up these three; three into three, it becomes nine. Nine into nine, it becomes eighty-one. Eighty-one into eight..., it increases. It increases. Therefore we see so many varieties of life, according to the mentality.
So if we work on our, according to the dictation of the mind, then we become entangled. And if we work under the dictation of Kṛṣṇa, then we become free. This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Pradyumna: Translation: "Because of his possessing spiritual assets, the doubts of duality were completely cut off. Thus he was freed from the three modes of material nature and placed in transcendence. There was no longer any chance of his becoming entangled in birth and death, for he was freed from material form." (SB 1.15.31)
Prabhupāda: Viśokaḥ, without any bereavement. Brahma-sampattyā, by achieving spiritual assets. This is the sign how one is advanced in spiritual life. That will be tested by this word viśokaḥ, without any bereavement. That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā the same thing: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). Prasannātmā means there is no more lamentation and no more hankering. That is prasannātmā. We are subjected to two things. Aḥ... If our possessed... If our possession is lost, then we lament, and if we don't possess, then we hanker. So here, viśokaḥ sampattyā. When one is fully identified with Brahman... Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So when you fully surrender and you become freed from other desires: only surrender to Kṛṣṇa. That is our only business. No more any other business. That is brahma-sampattyā. Sanātha-jīvitam.
Just like the child is sitting on the lap of the father. So the child is confident that "I'm secure." So it has no more any second desire. In the material world, because we have not surrendered to Kṛṣṇa we are always wandering helpless. Everyone here feeling helpless. Even though one is millionaire, even though one is president, but he's feeling helpless. This is the position, material conditional life.
Sinful life will not... (break) ...that is practical, everyone knows. And we see so many varieties of people, men, in the society, and what is the difference of variety? One has got good brain, another has got dull brain. That is dis... That is the variety. So if you want good brain... Good brain means how to get relief from all the troubles of material existence. That is good brain. And bad brain means to become implicated more and more. They do not know... Because they have got bad brain, they do not know how spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another, how he is becoming entangled. Today I have got very nice body, American body, but what is the guarantee next life? But they do not believe in the next life because they have no good brain. So in order to understand things as they are, you require good brain, and for good brain, you require milk preparation. In this way, as they've suggested a routine in the śāstra also, and guided by sādhu-guru-śāstra, if we accept, then we shall become very happy in this life and next life also. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Upon this mind, intelligence and ego, one develops a gross body of five elements: earth, water, air, fire. This is the two kinds of body, a condition. And when he's actually Kṛṣṇa conscious, he's transcendental to this gross and subtle body. He attains a spiritual body which is never to be finished, eternal, blissful life. So sometimes, when Kṛṣṇa, He's especially kind to a person who thinks that "By... I shall execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness; at the same time, I shall enjoy this material life," this is foolishness. This is foolishness. If you want Kṛṣṇa, go to home, back to home, back to Godhead, then you have to finish your material desires. Because Kṛṣṇa is so kind that even if you have a pinch of material desire to enjoy in this material world, He will give you a chance, "All right, you do it." That means we become entangled. Therefore, those who are executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they should try to become free from all material desires. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11).
Avidyaṁ jīvanaṁ śūnyaṁ diśaḥ śūnyā abāndhavāḥ. And if you go to some foreign country, if there is no deva, temple, God's temple, or friend, that is also useless. And putra-hīnaṁ gṛhaṁ śūnyam. And if you have no children, the so-called married life is also void. And sarva-śūnyā daridratā. And if you are poor, in poverty, then everything is zero. Even if you have got a wife, or even if you have got education, even you have got friend, everything is... That is Cāṇakya Paṇḍita's advice.
So this family life is attraction. Gṛha-kṣetra, then suta, children. Then āpta, relatives. In this way, janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8), he becomes entangled in this material life. But that is moha. That is not fact. It is moha in this sense because we have to change this body. In this body I have created something, gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ, and at the time of death, as Kṛṣṇa says, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham. Kṛṣṇa takes away everything as death. Your gṛha, your house, your land, your wife, your children, your friend, your reputation—everything is taken away. And then you have to begin another life. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You are not dead. You are living eternally. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This body is finished, you have to accept another body. And that you do not know what kind of body you'll get. There are so many bodies. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati: 8,400,000 forms of body. So you have to enter some of the, some of them, one of them. So in this way our life is going on. But temporarily, if we are situated in a position, "This is my wife, this is my children, this is my house, this is my country, this is my nation, this is my, mine..." Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). This illusion. You'll not be allowed to stay in these circumstances of ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). That's a fact. Everything will be taken away, but we are attached to this. This is material life.
Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the proprietor." So if you don't acknowledge that, if you use this world for your sense gratification, then you are criminal. Therefore it is said that you offer yajña, offer to Kṛṣṇa. Then you take it. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. You bring things... You have to eat. That's a fact. Kṛṣṇa is giving you opportunity of eating nice things: food grains, fruits, flowers, milk, so many things. So you prepare, offer to Kṛṣṇa. That is called yajña. Yajña means satisfaction of the Supreme Person. That is called yajña. So yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). If you do not work for performing yajña, then you are becoming entangled. Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ. And if you perform yajña and then you enjoy... Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ (ISO 1). We require our, I mean to say, maintenance of life and soul. That is, that is a fact. But tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ. You enjoy everything which is given to you as prasādam, as remnants, as mercy. This is Vaiṣṇava life. Vaiṣṇava life means they do not... What is this temple? The temple is they are being trained up how to accept the remnants of foodstuff of Kṛṣṇa. We don't cook for ourself. If we cook for ourself, then, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt, bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpāḥ (BG 3.13). They are simply eating sinful things.
Consciousness, when it is muddy or contaminated on account of intermingling with these modes of nature, we become more and more entangled. There is a verse in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta spoken by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu:
- sādhu-saṅga sādhu-saṅga sarva-śāstre kaya
- lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
- (CC Madhya 22.54)
Sādhu-saṅga. Here it is also recommended: sa eva sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ. Association, prasaṅga... Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. In the... (pause, sound of baby continuing) No... Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. As you associate with... Man is social animal, it is said. So according to your association, you can mold your character. If you associate with businessmen, then... They actually form so many associations to develop their business capacity. Practical. There is stock exchange association, this market association, that market association. There is club, association of the drunkards. So there are many association, and this association, different types of association, is the cause of bondage in that particular thing. Everyone knows it. Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. Similarly, if you transfer the association to the sādhu, then mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam, the door for liberation is open. If you associate with materialistic persons, then your bondage becomes more and more tightened, and if you associate with sādhu, or sp
So everything can be attained very nicely and easily simply by this sādhu-saṅga. Sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83). Therefore we repeatedly say that we are trying to create some sādhu so that in different parts of the world they will preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and people will be able to associate with them, and they will become purified. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that sādhu-saṅga. It is very essential. People are suffering on account of being contaminated by the tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa, becoming entangled simply by lusty desires always, just like cats and dogs. So they are becoming more and more entangled. Unfortunately, they do not know that there is life after death, but they do not know what kind of life is going to happen next after death. They are blind, andha. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). The leaders are also blind. And they are leading them. They are also blind. Especially in this age, the human society is in great danger. They do not care what is next. But there is next life. We get it, information, from Kṛṣṇa: tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Dehāntara-prāptiḥ there is. How you can deny it? The authority says. And we have got experience also. We are having dehāntara from boyhood to childhood, from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to youthhood. In this way, we have changed so many bodies, dehāntara. This is called dehāntara. Similarly, after death, there will be dehāntara. It is very reasonable, but people do not believe it.
In the Bhagavad-gītā: prakṛteḥ. You have been put under the clutches of māyā. He's giving you as you are desiring because you are desiring, bhoga vāñchā kare. Sometimes I used to enjoy like this, enjoy like... Everyone is trying to enjoy. But enjoy means we are becoming entangled. Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). If you want to enjoy with Kṛṣṇa, that is your natural propensity, and if you en..., want to enjoy life without Kṛṣṇa, that is māyā. That is māyā.
So we are trying to enjoy. Enjoyment is our business. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Ānanda, Kṛṣṇa is ānandamaya, and we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. We are also ānandamaya. But we are seeking ānanda in different atmosphere. Just like any man can become very honest citizen, do business honestly, earn money and live very honorably. But no, somebody has learned how to steal. The government does not say that you becomes thief and go to the prison house. The government does not say. But you have selected to become a thief. That is it because we have got little independence, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is fully independent; therefore we have got the quality of independence. But because we are very small, minute particle we have got minute particle of independence. Minute... Just like you take a drop of water from the sea. That is also salt, but very minute particle. The salt is there because it is part and parcel of the big sea. It must be salty. Similarly, Brahman, Para-brahman, Kṛṣṇa, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramam... (BG 10.12). So here we have got all the qualities. We are Brahman, we are pure. But Kṛṣṇa's paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramam (BG 10.12). He's the supreme, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He's the chief, chief pavitra, chief brahma. We are also brahma, but small brahma. We are also pure.
Still you have to go. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). After realizing samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, this principle, then you will have to enter into the devotional service, parā-bhakti. Parā-bhakti means transcendental. Bhakti means parā. Bhakti does not mean material. Material, it looks like material activities, but it is not material activities. Just like the example can be given just like a man, a boy is flying kite. He is, what is called, the reel? So sometimes he brings down the kite and sometimes he allows the kite to go. There are two kind of playing. So similarly, the one kind of activity means you are becoming free from the resultant action of activities, and one kind of activity is you are becoming entangled.
So that is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, yajñārthe karmaṇaḥ anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. If you work for Yajña, for Kṛṣṇa, then you are becoming relieved from the resultant action of karma. But if you work for your sense gratification, then you are becoming entangled with the resultant action of your karma. Therefore sometimes this bhakti-yoga is misunderstood as karma. Māyāvādīs, they cannot understand. They think that bhakti-yoga is also karma. "These people are less intelligent, so they are in the... Because jñāna-yoga means vikarma or akarma, akarma. There is no resultant action." That is the view of the jñānīs, Māyāvādī philosophers. But because they see that the bhaktas they are working also just like ordinary man, therefore it is māyā, that is Māyāvāda. They think bhakti activities as māyā. Therefore we call them Māyāvāda. But actually bhakti-yoga, if you act according to the shastric principles, if you act according to the order of your spiritual master in bhakti-yoga, that is not karma. That is bhakti-yoga, beyond this karma-yoga. But they cannot understand.
Tīvraṁ bhayam. What you are accepting, spelled by māyā, as very position, good position... I have told you many times. It is published in now..., that therefore, the rascal class of men, they want to..., they do not want to accept that there is life after death. "Everything is finished." Therefore in Western countries there is killing even grown-up child within the womb. They are killing, abortion. They think there is no life. Unless it comes out of the womb, there is no life. It's all nonsense theory. All nonsense theory, simply committing sinful life one after another and becoming entangled. The result will be that he will have to enter again into the womb of mother and he will be killed. He will be killed not once. He will be killed again when he enters the womb of the mother; again he will be killed. For many, many years he will not be allowed to see the light of the sun.
Therefore na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). People are becoming so narādhama, so sinful and mūḍha, that there is no rescue unless one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is no rescue. The whole world is going just like the flies. When there is fire, open fire, they come from long distance, and "Fut! Fut! Fut! Fut! Fut!" being captivated by the beauty of the fire. Similarly, this whole civilization, this so-called civilization, human civilization, is falling in the fire of illusory māyā, "Fut! Fut! Fut! Fut! Fut!" and again and again. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Once takes birth, one again dies, again suffers. But we have no brain, mūḍha. Therefore is called mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is so kind and His devotees are so kind that they... Kṛṣṇa comes. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjā... (BG 4.7). He comes. He is very unhappy by seeing our unhappiness in this material world because we are sons of Kṛṣṇa. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7).
Therefore there is anāvṛṣṭi, anāvṛṣṭi. The Kali-yuga people will forget performing yajña. They will be busy in ghora-rūpa activities, horrible and fierceful activities, not yajña. They will neglect yajña. So then how your these bolts and nuts and rubber tires will help you? Therefore there is scarcity of anna. That will increase more and more. It will so increase that now you are getting anna by paying high price, but time will come when even if you are prepared to pay price, there will be no more anna. That time is coming. Naturally, what people will eat? They will eat māṁsa and roots and seeds. No milk. No sugar. No wheat. These things will be stopped. As we are becoming entangled in ghora-rūpa activities or mūḍha activities, then the more we shall be entangled with sufferings of material existence. They do not know what is the actually interest. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31).
So therefore this planning, real planning, is this varṇāśrama-dharma. Varṇāśrama means a regulative, regulative life. So we have come to this world. There will be no difficulty for our maintenance. Peacefully let us live and save time for spiritual consciousness, for advancement of. Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). We have to rectify, purify our existence. This present existence is not purified. Otherwise, why we are accepting death? Because the existence is not purified. But we don't care for it. We are so dull, mūḍha. Mūḍhatvam. Mūḍhatvam. There are so many big, big scholars of Bhagavad-gītā, but they do not know the first lessons of Bhagavad-gītā, first lessons of Bhagavad-gītā. First lesson of Bhagavad-gītā is there. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. Who is thinking of this, that na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), if after the destruction of this body, I am not annihilated—that is a fact—but who is making research about it? And still, they are big, big scholars of Bhagavad-gītā, and they do not know even the ABCD of Bhagavad-gītā.
The rose flower, you are smelling so nicely, but where it has got this smell? From the earth. The earth is there. Rūpa, rasa, gandha, śabda, and sparśa. Then, in the water, one thing is minus. And then, in the fire, two things are minus. And from the air, three things are minus. And from the sound, four things are minus. Only sound is there. The sound is the original cause of this creation where we are materially bound up.
Because I am spirit soul, I have nothing to do with this material atmosphere. Asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ: "This spirit soul has nothing to do." But on account of his material association by different processes, we have grown this body, material body, and we are now... That is entangled. Just like a fish becomes entangled within the network, similarly, we are, we living entities, we are entangled with the network of this fabrication of this material elements. So very difficult position. Just like the fish caught up in the net of the fisherman, or māyā, similarly, we are now caught up within the network created by the material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarva... (BG 3.27). Because we associated the particular type of material modes of nature, then we are now entangled. Like the fish is entangled, similarly, we are also entangled. This material world is supposed to be like a big ocean, bhavārṇava. Arṇava means ocean, and bhava means the situation where repetition of birth and death takes place. This is called bhavārṇava. Anādi karama-phale, paḍi' bhavārṇava-jale. Anādi karma-phale: "Before creation I had my resultant action of my activities, and somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean of bhavārṇava, repetition of birth and death." So as the fish, being entangled, he struggles for existence, how to get out of the net... He's not peaceful. You will find. As soon as caught he's up in the net, "Fut! Fut! Fut! Fut! Fut!" He wants to get out. So that is our struggle for existence, how to get out. We do not know.
"I am the father of this body"; "I am the brother of this body." Or "I belong to this nation"; "I belong to this species." This is called twelfth conception. It is different consciousness according to different body. And then "It is mine." With all these eleven senses, I form an idea of "I" and then my possession, "mine." Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Janasya moho 'yam. This is called illusion, māyā.
So mind, it is expansion of the mind, different way. Mānasa-vṛtti. This is called the characteristic of the mind. Then subtle action of mind: thinking, feeling, willing. And the mind is expanding in hundreds, thousands, millions of ideas. In this way I am becoming entangled. So when this mind is controlled... The yoga system is for that purpose. Those who are too much bodily concept of life, bodily consciousness, they should practice this yoga, haṭha-yoga, aṣṭāṅga-yoga, so that the mind can be purified. As soon as the mind is purified, then all this expansion into thousands and millions of ideas will be controlled, and the only idea will be Kṛṣṇa. This is called yoga system, concentrating. Dhyānāvasthita yogena paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ. Dhyānāvasthita-manasā: "The mind is controlled, and the focus of the mind is on Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu." Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). Then we can see the effulgence, and the localized, and then the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So any system of yoga, either haṭha-yoga, jñāna-yoga, or... Karma-yoga is in the lowest standard. And above all, bhakti-yoga. Then, when you come to the bhakti-yoga, that is the perfection of life. Bhakti-yogena manasi samyak praṇihite amale (SB 1.7.4). Bhakti-yogena amala: "The mind becomes cleansed." Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). That is the effect of..., direct effect of bhakti-yoga, because the mind is now contaminated, and under the creation of senses and sense activities, we are making millions and trillions of ideas and become entangled in that idea. We have to accept millions and trillions of body and then go on in the cycle of birth, death, old age and disease. This is implication. So purify the mind. That is the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam. When our mind is cleansed... This is mahā-dāvāgni. This expansion of mental ideas, thousands and millions, that is mahā..., bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. Bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. So it is the duty of guru to get out his disciple from the bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam **. Kāruṇya, kāruṇya.
So what is the guru? Guru has received the kāruṇya. Kāruṇya means just like the cloud has received water from the sea, similarly, a guru, spiritual master, receives the cloud of mercy from the ocean of kindness of Kṛṣṇa. Ghanāghanatvam. And it is only the cloud that can extinguish the forest fire, saṁsāra. No other watering system will be helpful. If there is fire in the forest, your fire brigade or buckets of water will not help. It is impossible. Neither you can go there; neither you can render any service by your fire brigade and bucket. Then how the fire can be extinguished? Now, ghanāghanatvam. If there is cloud in the sky and if there is rainfall, then the expansive forest fire can immediately be extinguished. So that cloud is supposed to be the spiritual master. He pours water. He pours water.
There is no doubt about it. But what about your death? Why you shall accept death? You are eternal." Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). "You do not die after the destruction of this body." Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). These informations are there, but you are not considering that. We are going on to establish ourself very tightly in this material world, but Kṛṣṇa says that you will not be allowed to live. These things are to be considered. Therefore they have been described as pramattaḥ. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). They are acting sinfully or they are committing so many sinful activities, and they are becoming entangled for another's body, who is the resultant action of our sinful activities. Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva says that na sādhu manye: "This is not good that you are wasting your time simply for sense gratification and you do not know that you have got a next life."
So the instruction is very long, so (to) make it shorter I beg to inform you that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to save person from going to the way of darkness. (break) ...go farther and farther on the path of darkness we become more and more entangled. More entanglement means: there are 8,400,000 forms of body. So after death we have to accept another body. (break) ...in the Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13), as we are passing from one body to another in this life... I was a child, you were a child, everyone, but that child body is no more existing. I am existing in a different body, and I have to pass through many different bodies. So this is also dehāntara-prāptiḥ, changing the body. So similarly after death we shall change the body. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ means to accept another body. Now as I have already said, there are 8,400,000 forms of bodies. So we have to accept one of them at the time of death on the basis of our mental condition. So if we are accustomed to the beastly mentality like dogs and hog, then naturally we are going to get such body. But if we practice during this life, human form of life, while we are intelligent enough, godly life, then you are going back to home, back to Godhead. It is up to us to decide whether we are going to the dogly life or Godly life, that is our choice. According to the instruction of Ṛṣabhadeva, he says that this human form of life is a chance to practice Godly life and go back to home, back to Godhead. (aside:) What is the time now?
Jyotirmayī: ...to know, that to explain exactly what is materialistic life, and how is it possible to be in the world of matter and the same time not be entangled by it?
Yogeśvara: What is material life and how can we live in this material...
Prabhupāda: Material life means no knowledge of God, no service of God. That is material life.
Yogeśvara: He wants to know how can we live in this material world without becoming entangled.
Prabhupāda: That he cannot know, God, by living here. You are trying to know so many things, why don't you try to know God? Material life means one who does not know God, one who does not serve God. These are the two things. So if you know God and if you serve God, that is not material life. So if you try to know God, and if you serve God, that is not material life. (break)
Guest: ...to know the will of God.
Prabhupāda: You want to know? That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), you give up all other occupation, simply surrender unto Him. That's all. This is the way. (end)
Therefore one should be anxious to give some service to the saintly persons. Mahat-sevā dvāram. If you engage yourself how to serve a saintly person, then your door for going back to Godhead will gradually become open. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes. This human body is a junction. You can go this way or you can go that way. This way means mahat-sevā, liberation. But people do not understand what is liberation. They are so dull. They have been... Their education system is so rubbish that they do not know what is liberation. Just like cats and dogs, they do not know what is liberation. Liberation means to get out of this false conditional life. I'm thinking I'm this body, which I'm not, and therefore I'm acting on the bodily concept of life and becoming entangled more and more so that I have to accept another body, another body, another body. This is my conditional state of life, and there is so much risk to accept another body. As it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptir. You have to accept another body. And what kind of body I'm going to get, that I do not know. Now suppose if I get another body in the plant life, a tree. A tree can stand for thousands of years. And if we get that sort of life, how much risky it is to accept another body. It is also possible. Those who are performing big, big yajñas, charity, they can expect to be transferred to the heavenly planet. But those who are not doing anything, living like cats and dogs, oh, their life is very risky. Very risky. But they do not know. There is no such education. But here it is recommended, that, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur. If you associate with saintly persons then there is possibility of your door being opened for liberation. Dvāram āhur vimuktes.
Without restraining our business of sense gratification, it is not possible to make ourselves liberated. That is not possible. This is entanglement. Sat-saṅga chāḍi' kainu asate vilās. If people give up the association of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness society and they simply indulge in the sense gratificatory process, then more and more they'll be entangled. Sat-saṅga chāḍi' kainu asate vilās, te-kāraṇe lāgila ye karma-bandha-phāṅs. People are now entangled in hard working. Actually, human life should be very easy, very easy. No hard work. Living very simple life and eating very healthy food, living in open space, no quarrel, no antagonism, everyone is happy, everyone is free. That is human civilization. Not to become entangled. But at the present moment we have become entangled. So Ṛṣabhadeva says that mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). If we actually want liberation from this entanglement, then we should associate with mahātmās, great souls. And who is a great soul? That is being described.
We have discussed some of the symptoms of great soul. The great soul is sama-citta, equal to everyone. Great soul is never angry; they are friend to everyone. And sādhava. Sādhava means sadācāra, clean habits. A mahātmā cannot be implicated with those four principles of sinful life. That is the first test. No illicit sex life, no gambling, no meat-eating, and no intoxication. This is called sadācāra, clean habit. Anything beyond this: unclean habit. Here it is stated, sādhava. Sādhava means sadācāra, clean habit. Then it is said, ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthāḥ. Now this mahātmā is specifically indicated for a sannyāsa, a perfect sannyāsī, renounced order. Their characteristics is that. And another mahātmā... Suppose one is in household life. Question may be whether a mahātmā can be in the household life or not. That is being described: Yes. In household life also there can be mahātmā. Just like Advaita Mahāprabhu.
That is our misfortune. (applause) That is our misfortune.
So don't be misfortunate. Be fortunate. Everything is there. Try to understand Bhagavad-gītā. And here, in the Fifth Chapter, Fifth Canto, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the same thing is recommended by Ṛṣabhadeva to his sons. The first paragraph we have discussed last night. The second paragraph, the Ṛṣabhadeva says, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). If you want to be liberated from this entanglement of bodily concept of life and mental concept of life and become more and more entangled in the process of transmigration of the soul from one body to another... That is entanglement. And to come out of this entanglement is called mukti. That is mukti: no more material body, no more material mind—everything is spiritual. That is called mukti. So Ṛṣabhadeva recommends that if you want mukti, if you want to come out of the entanglement of bodily concept of life and mental concept of life, then mahat-sevā: associate with mahātmās. Mahat. Mahat means who are not crippled, who are broad-minded. Mahat-sevā. You have to serve him. In the... One Vaiṣṇava ācārya, he says, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā. If you do not agree to serve mahat... That is the Vedic injunction. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). This is the injunction. So mahat-sevā, the same thing. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram. Dvāram means the way, the gate, the gateway. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). If you want to be free from this entanglement...
We have to work under some energy. This is our position. We are also energy. Just like two energies, the negative and positive, works on electricity, similarly... There are varieties of energies. We are also one of the energies of God. So our position is marginal energy. We can work under spiritual energy, we can work under material energy. We have to take shelter of another energy. Therefore our position is marginal. We can take shelter of the material energy or the spiritual energy, as we like. If we take the shelter of material energy, then we become entangled. Therefore it is called daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Without knowledge, without identification, if we take the shelter of material energy, then we become in darkness. Tṛtīya karma-saṅga anya śaktir iṣyate. This third energy, material, I mean to say, human being, or living entity... Therefore at the present moment... There are different atmosphere. Just like here, in this house, in this temple, the spiritual energy is acting. Outside this house the material energy's acting. What is the difference between this house and the next house? Here the material energy is not working. The spiritual energy is working. The other house, the same pattern, no difference between this house and that house. The only difference is the other house, they are interested in material energy, and here, in this house, the inhabitants interested in spiritual energy. So that is explained here, that if we work under material energy, then there will be problems of life. And if we work under spiritual energy there will be no... All problems will be solved. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. What is the purport? Go on.
So where shall I grow my food grains? Not on the roof, but I must have some land, ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra, land is wanted, ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra. Then putra-hīnaṁ gṛhaṁ śūnyam, family life, married life, but there is no son. That is another troublesome There are so many married life, they haven't got son, children—they are very unhappy. They spend so much money to get a children. They go to the saintly persons and beg blessing, "Give us one children, one child." There was one great big man long ago, he had no child, so he came to my Guru Mahārāja and he offered, "Guru Mahārāja, if I get a child, I can give you the whole estate." So these are natural demands. First of all husband and wife and child, then apartment, then land, then friends, then money, in this way we become entangled more, ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). So instead of sukhera lagiya ei ghara bandhun, I became a householder for happiness, agune puriya gela, now there is blazing fire. Sukhera lagiya ei ghara bandhun agune puriya gela. And there is another, ravana hoila ithe gatila janja: "I wanted to be happy in this way, but it has become an embarassment." So this is going on.
So we should not be entangled as far as possible. It is not possible, very, very difficult, but if it is possible we can..., there is brahmacārī. This is tapasya. Because we have begun these verses, tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed sattvam (SB 5.5.1). Tapasya. That tapasya begins, tapasā brahmacāryeṇa, brahmacārī (SB 6.1.13). That is tapasya. So if possible we should try to remain. But Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice if we accept Kṛṣṇa very seriously, with Kṛṣṇa anyone, either man or woman, we can remain very happy with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa can become my friend, Kṛṣṇa can become my husband, Kṛṣṇa can become my son—whatever you want. So in this way, if we advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we can save ourselves, janasya moho 'yam. In this illusory galaxy of illusory, this material world, we may be saved, and that is wanted that we have to give up the attraction for this material world. Then there is possibility of spiritual advancement. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is canvassing personally that "You give up all these plans, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). That will save you from this precarious position of material world, threefold miseries, suffering after suffering after suffering."
So this is the way, ato gṛha-kṣetra-suta-āpta, friends. Arjuna was lamenting, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, You are asking me to fight with my relatives. Then suppose I become victorious and they're killed. Then whom I shall show the kingdom?" That was his objection. (laughter) "If everyone is killed on the other side, my friends and relatives, and suppose I become victorious, then whom I shall show my prosperity?" So āpta, suta, ato gṛha-kṣetra-suta-āpta and vitta and money. It is one after another. First wife, then apartment, then field for agriculture, then friends, then children, then money, bank balance. In this way he does not know he's becoming entangled more and more. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-suta-āpta-vittaiḥ, janasya moho 'yam. He's thinking that "Now everything is settled up; I am very happy." And next day death comes and kicks him out: "Get out!" That he does not understand. That he does not understand, that "Any moment death can come and kick me out of all this arrangement." That is ignorance. That is foolishness.
So here, bhojayan pāyayan mūḍho na veda āgatam antakam. He was eighty-eight years old. So he was busy in maintaining the family, children, everything. But he never thought that "Death will come all of a sudden without waiting for my settle everything." That is the eighth wonder. This question was asked by Dharmarāja to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja: "What are the wonders, the most wonderful wonders? What is that?" So he said, "This is the most wonderful thing." "What is that?" Ahany ahani gacchanti lokāni yama-mandiram. Every moment we see that someone is going to the court of Yamaraja—that means death. That is our experience, everything. Ahany ahani lokāni gacchanti yama-mandiraṁ śeṣāḥ sthitam icchanti. Śeṣāḥ, who is not yet dead, he's still alive, he thinks, "I will never die. My dear friend is dying. That's all right. But I'll... Your father is dead. No, still I will be..." Śeṣāḥ sthitam icchanti kim aścaryam ataḥ param. This is the most wonderful thing that we have experience, that "My father is dead, my father's father is dead, so I shall also be die, my sons will die." Well, who will stay? Well, what is the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest? He never thinks of it. This is the eighth wonder.
Avaiṣṇavo gurur na syāt. In spite of having all these qualities, if he is impersonalist and voidist, he cannot become spiritual master. Avaiṣṇavo gurur na syād vaiṣṇavaḥ śvapaco guruḥ: "On the other hand, if a person is Vaiṣṇava, devotee of the Lord, even if he is born in the family of caṇḍāla, less than the śūdra, he can become the spiritual master." These are the injunctions of the śāstra.
So guṇa-nāma-kriyā-rūpair vibhāvyante yathā-tatham. Sūryaḥ agniḥ. Now, the creation, the God's creation, is going on, and we are acting under the influence of the material qualities. As such, when we act in tamo-guṇa, we become entangled with so many sinful activities. Tamo-guṇa. Tamo-guṇa means ignorance. We have to act because in the material world sometimes we are under the influence of goodness, sometimes we are under the influence of passion, sometimes we are under the influence of ignorance. So when we are in ignorance... Everyone commits sin or criminal activities simply by ignorance. Ignorance. Just like by ignorance a child touches a fire. The fire will not excuse. Because it is a child, he does not know, therefore the fire excuses? It does not burn his hand? No. Even it is child, the fire must act. It burns. Similarly, ignorance is no excuse of law. If you commit some sin and go to the law court and if you plead, "Sir, I did not know this law," that is no excuse. You have committed this criminal activity; even though you did not know the law, that does not mean you will be excused.
Bodily necessities means temporary. If I am child, my body is of a child's body, then my necessities are different from my father's necessities. So everyone is engaged in bodily necessities. Therefore it is said, dehavān na hy akarma-kṛt. And kāriṇāṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sti. Infection. We have got this practical understanding. If your body infects some disease, then you have to suffer. And if your body remains uninfected, unaffected by any poisonous..., then you remain healthy. Therefore it is said, sambhavanti hi bhadrāṇi viparītāni cānaghaḥ. Viparītāni. Viparī means just opposite. Sambhavanti bhadrāṇi. One is acting in auspicity, and one is acting viparītāni, just the opposite, inauspicity. In this way we are becoming entangled, life after life. Karinam guṇa-sango 'sti. In other place it is said, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa: (SB 3.31.1) "As we are acting auspicious or inauspicious, by higher supervision, higher consideration, judgment, we are getting different body." Otherwise why there are so many varieties of body? This is the cause. One is getting auspicious body, one is getting inauspicious body, but there is one opportunity that... If you want to change materially your auspicious or inauspicious position, that cannot be done. It is fixed up. It cannot be done otherwise. Suppose a man has got a nice body; a dog has got inferior body. You cannot change the... Bodily, you cannot make a man dog or a dog man. That is not possible. But spiritually, you can make. Spiritually, a bad man or bad dog even can be elevated to the highest perfection.
So necchan karmāṇi kāryate. And as soon as you act, immediately the reaction is there. That you cannot avoid. If you have touched fire, it must burn. The action is touching fire, and the result is burning. So necchan. We do not know. We are ignorance. We are committing so many abominable things, and we are becoming entangled like that silkworm. He is making a bag without knowledge, and gradually he becomes entangled within this and dies. That is our position. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). We entangle ourself in a different activities and create another result, and according to the result... Because it is infection... Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. We are getting different types of body. Why? The cause, kāraṇaṁ, guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). In ignorance... Just like we are infecting different types of disease—we have to suffer—similarly, we, under ignorance we are infecting the modes of material nature and different types of bodies. Today I am Indian or American, and tomorrow I may be a cat, a dog. That these people, they do not know. Ajñaḥ. These rascals, they do not know. At least one should know that "I am going to die." That's a fact, inevitable. You may be very intelligent, but Kṛṣṇa says, "You don't like Me. All right, I shall come to you as death. Then you will understand. And at that time I shall take away whatever you have accumulated." Mṛtyu aham. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "I come as death and take away everything, whatever you have earned or collected in this life." Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). Sarva-hara: "I will take. I will take all: your bank balance, your skyscraper building, your nice family. Your everything will be finished. I will take it away." Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham. So after death I may be very proud of my intelligence and power and talking, completely under the laws of material nature.
"His only business was how to please her." Now they require money. So he was not earning money, but pitṛyeṇa, whatever money he inherited from the father's earning... The son generally inherits father's property. He was the only son. So he was squandering the father's money in that way just to please that śūdrāṇī-tām eva toṣayām āsa pitṛyenārthena yāvatā—as much as possible. If he could get more money, then he would have spent them only for that women. Grāmyaiḥ. Grāmyair manoramaiḥ. This word grāmya is very significant. Grāmya means external, material. Grāmyair manoramaiḥ. By the sense gratification, whatever we find very pleasing, that is called grāmya manorama. Actually that is not pleasing. That is entangling. But he became entangled. So grāmyair manoramaiḥ kāmaiḥ. The basic principle is lust. Kāmaiḥ prasīdeta yaḥ. Wanted to satisfy the woman here and there as soon as meets. We can see these examples very often. Then next step was,
- viprāṁ sva-bhāryām aprauḍhāṁ
- kule mahati lambhitāṁ
- visasarjācirāt pāpaḥ
- svairiṇyāpāṅga-viddha-dhīḥ
- (SB 6.1.65)
There are three kinds of women: kāmiṇī, svairiṇi, and puṁścalī. Puṁścalī. Svairiṇi means free, freedom. Nobody is controller. That is called svairiṇi. And kāmiṇī means to attract, very much attract. And another, puṁścalī—living with woman, er, man for some time; giving up; again another; again another. That is exemplified by the lightning. You have seen the lightning—immediately, within a second, from this cloud to that cloud, that cloud to that cloud. So they are called svairiṇi. So three divisions. Similarly, there are divisions of men also.
The law is so nice. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi (BG 3.27). Automatically it is recorded, automatically, and you have to suffer.
So then what to do? If the situation is like that, how to save? Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, yajñārthe karmaṇānyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. If you dedicate your life for yajña... Yajña means for Viṣṇu. Yajñārthe karma means Yajña-puruṣa is Viṣṇu. If you work for Viṣṇu, then you are safe. Otherwise you are becoming complicated. Yajñārthe. Kṛṣṇa says yajñārthe karma anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. If you are going to office to earn your bread, very hurriedly to attend the office, and you are killing so many ants, you are becoming entangled. You think, "I am going to office to do my duty very hurriedly," but you are becoming implicated. But if you go out for receiving some help for worshiping Viṣṇu, then you are free. Then you are free. Exactly like that: soldier who is fighting in the battlefield and killing so many men and he is given gold medal, "Oh, you have killed so many. So many lives you have killed of the opposite party, enemy. You take this Victoria Cross." He becomes recognized by the government. The same man, when he comes home, if he kills somebody for his sense gratification, he will be hanged. The same man. The same soldier, when he is fighting for king's service, government service, government is supplying him food, everything—"So fight very chivalrously"—and offering him gold medal. And the same men, when he comes home, for his sense gratification if he kills a man, he will be hanged. He may say in the court, "Sir, I have killed so many men in the battlefield and I was never hanged. I was given gold medal. And now I have killed only one man and I am going to be killed? Why? What is this?"
Whatever we do here within this material world, there is some sort of sinful activity. We do not know, imperceptibly. Just like killing of some animal is sinful activities. But even if we do not willingly kill some animal, when we are walking on the street, we are killing so many animals. When we are drinking water, in the, below the waterpot there are so many ants and microbes, they are being killed. When we ignite fire, there are so many small microbes, they also become burned into the fire. When you rub the pestle and mortar for rubbing spices, so many small microbes are killed. So we are responsible for that. Therefore, willingly or unwillingly, we are becoming entangled in so many sinful activities. Therefore the Bhagavad-gītā says, yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. If you take the remnants of foodstuff of yajña, after offering yajña, then you become free from all contamination. Otherwise, bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt: (BG 3.13) "One who is cooking for eating personally without offering to Kṛṣṇa, he is simply all sinful resultant action." This is our position.
That is the position. Therefore his self-interest is to seek out the Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrender unto Him. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). That will make you happy. Otherwise, if you simply try to adjust material things and become happy, that is not possible. This is the explanation of Prahlāda Mahārāja.
Now, next verse Prahlāda Mahārāja gives hint how one can seek out the path of Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is also given hint by Prahlāda Mahārāja. He says, naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ (SB 7.5.32). Anartha. We have created so many unnecessary things and become entangled. So in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated, anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje (SB 1.7.6). If you want to get out of these anarthas, unnecessary trouble and problems which you have created, anarthopaśamam, if you want to cut down these unnecessary problems... This morning I was seeing one picture of Berlin sent by one of my disciples. So I had been in Moscow also. This city I have seen, very nice city. Berlin is very nice city. London is very nice city. But why they engaged in fighting and bombed each, other's city? Why this happenned? Because they have lost their interest in Viṣṇu, in God. Therefore I am thinking, "You are my enemy; I am your enemy," and we fight like cats and dogs. But as soon as we come to the Viṣṇu understanding, Kṛṣṇa understanding, these cities, these nice cities, this nice civilization, can be maintained very nicely. You be happy. Yajña-śiṣṭāśino santaḥ. You eat nicely, dance nicely, live nicely, and go back to home, back to Godhead. Enjoy this life and next life. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice. Everyone should take seriously, try to understand it seriously. It is authorized on the Vedic principles. It is nothing something manufactured, unauthorized. So that is our request. So we are opening centers in different parts of the world to give opportunity to the people to understand his real interest: Viṣṇu, his real interest. That is our mission. So kindly help us and join us.
That calculation is there. Out of four hundred crores of years, Kṛṣṇa appears in one universe. In this universe, when He comes, He appears in this land of Vṛndāvana. Therefore Vṛndāvana is so valuable. This is Kṛṣṇa's place. When He comes here. Just like when the governor goes to a city he has got his own resting house, similarly, when Kṛṣṇa comes to teach us dharma... Dharmasya glānir bhava... Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). So what is that dharma? This Bhāgavata-dharma. When the rascals forget what is the relationship with Kṛṣṇa, what is the relationship with God, he becomes entangled in this material affair, māyā. He is harassed, harassed in this way, that he has to take birth one after another, beginning from Brahmā down to the small ant. There are so many varieties of life. So according to karma, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1), by superior arrangement one has to accept a type of body. That we are forgetting. We are thinking that we shall remain free like this. That is not possible. Your every inch of activity is being recorded and at the end of life these things will be taken into account, karmaṇā. And by the superior arrangement you have to accept one type of body. Today you may become a prime minister but your activities will be recorded and tomorrow after your death you may have to accept the body of a dog. That is the law of nature.
Now, Prahlāda Mahārāja is describing how Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be practiced. His proposition is to his friends, young friends, that Kṛṣṇa conscious should be practiced from very childhood. And he has explained very nicely that as we grow, most of our time is wasted in so many ways. First of all he has analyzed that although we may have one hundred years of age duration of life, fifty years immediately gone because we sleep at night. And twenty years for playing, and twenty years for disease and other things. So twenty, twenty, plus fifty so out of hundred years, ninety years gone, wasted. Ten years. That ten years means great attachment. The more we become entangled in this materialistic attraction...
The materialistic attraction means, the first attraction is sex. This whole world, not only human society, in animal society also... There are 8,400,000's of different kinds of societies according to different kinds of species of life. "Birds of the same feather flock together." As it is said, that a species, a particular type of species of life... Not only that, we human beings, we have flocked together. Birds of the same feather. This is not very important thing. If you combine together as American or Indian or Chinese or many other names, oh, same thing in there in the lower animals also. Therefore this saying is very nice, that "Birds of the same feather flock together." So this propensity of combination of society, community, amongst the human being, is not very important improvement. So in this way, our attachment increases. So when we are old enough, Prahlāda Mahārāja says that ko gṛheṣu pumān saktam. The older we are, our attachment for home—home, society, society, friendship, love—increases.
Kuṭumba-poṣāya viyan nijāyur na budhyate 'rthaṁ vihataṁ pramattaḥ. In this way, for maintaining the family members—kuṭumba, kuṭumba means family members—he is in madness. Pramattaḥ. The very word is used here, pramattaḥ. In madness, he is forgetting his real business and he's simply wasting time in this way for maintaining family or society and friendship.
Now, that does not mean that Prahlāda Mahārāja is recommending to neglect the, this family life or society and... No. He was family man. Prahlāda Mahārāja was a great king. He was ruling over. So it is not the question of neglect. But we must know that if we become more and more entangled in these affairs, then our real business will be lost. Our real business is how to get out of this entanglement, not to be more and more, I mean to say, implicated in this entanglement. That should be the point of view: to make the best use of a bad bargain. That should be the philosophy of life. We are put into this material existential condition, and we have to get out. But at the same time, so far, so long this material body is there, we have to maintain it also. Just like... The example is very nice. We can cite that you have to go to some place, and you have got a car. You have to take care of the car so far it can carry you to your destination, not that you simply take care of your car and you forget your destination and your own body. This is not your business. Similarly, we have to carry on our business. We have to... Because with this body...
Suppose we are cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness... So this body has to be maintained. Suppose my body is sick. I must go to the doctor, take help, and keep it very nicely. And I must take foodstuff so that the body is maintained nicely. That care should be taken. But not that we forget our real business. The same example: If we forget that I have to use this car and go to such and such destination and simply take care of the car, that is our foolishness. So society, friendship, love, and everything should be so adjusted that it may not disturb our real purpose of life. Not that we forget our real purpose of life and we become more and more entangled in the so-called society, friendship and love. That is the instruction of Prahlāda Mahārāja.
Kuṭumba-poṣāya viyan nijāyur na budhyate 'rthaṁ vihataṁ pramattaḥ. Pramattaḥ. The so-called materialistic advanced people, they are described herein as pramattaḥ, crazy. Sometimes we are designated by them that "These people, Kṛṣṇa conscious people, they are crazy." And we think that they are crazy. So we do not know who is crazy. Therefore we have written a small pamphlet, "Who is Crazy?" Actually, one who has forgotten his real destination of life, he is crazy. He is wasting his life. He is spoiling his life. This is the only opportunity. But due to ignorance, they do not care for it. They think that "Life is going on like this. We are enjoying life." No. We should be very responsible and cautious. Otherwise, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, na budhyate arthaṁ vihatam. Artham. They cannot understand, they are sacrificing their greatest wealth. Greatest wealth. This human form of life is the only opportunity to get out of the cycle of birth and death. If we again put into the cycle of lower animals, oh, it will take millions of years again to come again to this human form of life.
And in this way they are becoming more and more entangled in this materialistic life. So he is concluding, he is asking his friends, tato vidūrāt parihṛtya daityā: "So therefore before you become entangled in this materialistic way of life, my dear friends born of demonic families..." Daityeṣu saṅgaṁ viṣayātmakeṣu: "Please give up the company of the demons." This is very essential, to have good society. A man may be very innocent, and if he is given chance for good society, he becomes a godly man. And if he's given inferior society, then he becomes a demon. So first thing is proposed by Prahlāda amongst his friends, that daityeṣu saṅgaṁ viṣayātmakeṣu: "Please give up the company of the demons." What demons? Now, viṣayātmakeṣu. Those who are too much attached for sense gratification. They are called demons. They have no other idea. Simply they are concerned with sense gratification and they do not know what is life, what is God, what is next life. They have no information. They are called demons.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: (leads chanting, etc.)
- kathaṁ priyāyā anukampitāyāḥ
- saṅgaṁ rahasyaṁ rucirāṁś ca mantrān
- suhrtsu tat-sneha-sitaḥ sisunam
- kalakśaraṇaṁ anurakta-cittaḥ
- putrān smaraṁs tā duhitṟr hṛdayyā
- bhrātṟn svasṟr vā pitarau ca dīnau
- gṛhān manojñoru-paricchadāṁś ca
- vṛttīś ca kulyāḥ paśu-bhṛtya-vargān
- tyajeta kośas-kṛd ivehamānaḥ
- karmāṇi lobhād avitṛpta-kāmaḥ
- aupasthya-jaihvaṁ bahu-manyamānaḥ
- kathaṁ virajyeta duranta-mohaḥ
- (SB 7.6.11-13)
"Translation: How can a person who is most affectionate to his family, the core of his heart being always filled with their pictures, give up their association? Specifically, a wife is always very kind and sympathetic and always pleases her husband in a solitary place. Who could give up the association of such a dear and affectionate wife? Small children talk in broken language, very pleasing to hear, and their affectionate father always thinks of their sweet words. How could he give up their association? One's elderly parents and one's sons and daughters are also very dear. A daughter is especially dear to her father, and while living at her husband's house she is always in his mind. Who could give up that association? Aside from this, in household affairs there are many decorated items of household furniture, and there are also animals and servants. Who could give up such comforts? The attached householder is like a silkworm, which weaves a cocoon in which it becomes imprisoned, unable to get out. Simply for the satisfaction of two important senses—the genitals and the tongue—one is bound by material conditions. How can one escape?" Purport: In household affairs the first attraction is the beautiful and pleasing wife, who increases household attraction more and more. One enjoys his wife with two prominent sense organs, namely the tongue and the genitals. The wife speaks very sweetly. This is certainly an attraction. Then she prepares very palatable foods to satisfy the tongue, and when the tongue is satisfied one gains strength in the other sense organs, especially the genitals. Thus the wife gives pleasure in sexual intercourse. Household life means sex life (yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45)). This is encouraged by the tongue. Then there are children. A baby gives pleasure by speaking sweet words in broken language, and when the sons and daughters are grown up one becomes involved in their education and marriage. Then there are one's own father and mother to be taken care of, and one also becomes concerned with the social atmosphere and with pleasing his brothers and sisters. A man becomes increasingly entangled in household affairs, so much so that leaving them becomes almost impossible. Thus the household becomes gṛham andha-kūpam, a dark well into which the man has fallen. For such a man to get out is extremely difficult unless he is helped by a strong person, the spiritual master, who helps the fallen person with the strong rope of spiritual instructions. A fallen person should take advantage of this rope, and then the spiritual master, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, will take him out of the dark well.
Prabhupāda: So two ways—one way is this entanglement, this kind of happy life, household life. People, 99.9%, they are after this happiness. It is described very nicely in this verse, ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). The idea is that this material world, we are entangled with this body and anything belonging to the body. We are misconceiving that "This body I am, and anything in relation with the body is mine." That is going on in different name—family, society, community, nation, so on, so on, country. The basic principle is that "I am this body," and anything in relationship with this body, we are concerned with these two things. There are thousands and thousands of women, but one woman or one man with whom I have got bodily relationship, I think "She is my wife," "He is my husband." This is due to bodily relationship. And the attachment increases the more...
We have no experience. Kalpa-vṛkṣa, there is in the higher planetary system and especially in the Vaikuṇṭha world. There are, trees are kalpa-vṛkṣa, because everything is spiritual; nothing is dead. Here you can take some fruits or flower from a particular tree, but there, if you like, you ask kachori and samosa from a tree—you get. But we have no idea what is surataroḥ, what is kalpa-vṛkṣa. Whatever you desire, you'll get it. Surabhīh, surabhīr abhipāl... The cows are surabhī. Here you have got limitation. You can milk morning and evening to a certain extent, but there the cows are surabhī. Surabhī means you can milk as many times as you like, and as much milk as you want, you can take it. But these things are there. But we have no information. We are struggling here. Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). Because we are fools and rascals, we are trying to make some adjustment here. That is not possible. It is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This is māyā. We are trying to be happy in this material... It will never be possible. But these fools and rascals, they do not know. They are making big, big plans how to become happy, how to become, "In our country, in our home, in our society, in our family," and so on, so on, so on. This means we are simply becoming entangled. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam, ahaṁ moha (SB 5.5.8), illusion. It will never be possible. Therefore, the conclusion is, we should fully surrender, cent percent to Kṛṣṇa, and then we become happy. Saṁsevayā surataror iva te prasādaḥ.
Parāṁ gatim. Parāṁ gatim means to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is our real home, the spiritual world. And live there eternally, blissfully, with full knowledge. That is our real position. So here we have come in this material world for material enjoyment. And the more we are making plan for material enjoyment, the more we are becoming entangled. That we do not know. They are thinking that material sense enjoyment is the aim of life. No, that is not the aim of life. That is the way to become more and more entangled. For sense enjoyment I have got this now body, Indian body, you have got this Australian or American or European body. But you have to change this body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). We are eternal. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. The soul does not take birth; neither it dies. We simply change body.
Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Just like we are changing our body. In mother's womb we had a small body. It grows, and we come out. Again it grows. Grows... It is not actually growing, it is changing. The child is changing his body to baby, the baby is changing his body to boy, and the boy is changing his body to youthhood. Then... in this way you are changing body. That you have got experience. You had a child's body—you remember. Or you had a boy's body—you remember. But the body is no longer existing. But you are existing. Therefore the conclusion is that when this body will be no more fit for existing we shall have to accept another body. This is called tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. So we have to change. That is nature's law. The soul is immortal. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The soul is not finished, simply a particular type of body being finished, no.
| Page Title: | Become entangled (Lectures, SB) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 25 of Dec, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=56, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 56 |