Devotee (1): Vīrabhadra has a question.
Vīrabhadra: You said that, um...You said that there are many living entities in the temple and that they can hear. You said that they can hear. But...
Prabhupāda: They can eat also. Your Kṛṣṇa prasādam left, they come and eat.
Vīrabhadra: But a snake, he doesn't have ears. The snake doesn't have ears.
Prabhupāda: Who says?
Vīrabhadra: A snake.
Prabhupāda: No, they have got very nice ear. Yes. You do not know. (laughter) The snake, there is a statement...The snake, they can hear very nicely. The snakes are charmed by nice musical sound. Yes. The snake charmer in India, they sing very nicely, flute, and the snake comes and... (laughter) Like this. Immediately. I have seen. And when he comes, then they have got methods to capture the snake. And besides that, there is another example, of foolish man. The foolish men are compared like the frogs. The general example is that somebody is chanting or singing something. The example is that by such singing they are losing their duration of life. As the frog sings... Have you heard any sound of the frog? "Ka-ka-ka, ka-ka-ka." You have heard? (laughter) Have you heard? Yes? So what is the result of that sound? In rainy season the frogs they sing very nicely. So they like rainy season. "Ka-ka-ka, ka-ka-ka, ka-ka-ka," like that. The result is the snake can understand, "Here is a frog." He stealthily comes and immediately finishes "ka-ka-ka." (laughter) Similarly, anything, vibration, except this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are like "ka-ka-ka." And the result is that one day Yamarāja, the superintendent of death comes and captures. "All right. Come on. That's all. Finished. Finish your 'ka-ka-ka.' " He might have been very great lecturer, politician, but when death comes your ka-ka-ka finished. Immediately "ka-ka-ka" finished. You have seen. Your President, Mr. Kennedy, was going to lecture, or he finished some lecture, is going to another place and the "ka-ka-ka" finished immediately.
So we should be ready always that this "ka-ka-ka," this material vibration, this lecturing, this planning, at any moment can be finished. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. If you are finished, then you go to Vaikuṇṭha immediately. Don't be practicing "ka-ka-ka." Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Even if we are finished... We can be finished. Now modern life is that we are traveling in airplane. It can be crashed at any moment. But those who are "ka-ka-kas," they'll be finished. And they are chanting; they will go to Vaikuṇṭha. Finishing will be there. It is not that because we are Kṛṣṇa conscious we will not be finished. The example is that you'll be captured by the mouth of a cat but when the cat captures with its mouth its kitties, they feel very good pleasure. And when he captures a rat, oh, it finished. Similarly, everyone will be captured by the laws of nature, but a devotee will be carried with great care to Vaikuṇṭha and others will be thrown again into this material existence. But people will say, "Oh, your devotee is also dying and the nondevotee is dying," just like the foolish man. The cat is capturing in the mouth both the kitty and the rat. They are not same thing. Apparently it seems that the same thing but it is not the same thing.
Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya: (BG 4.9) "Just after finishing this body he does not come again to this material world. He goes directly to Me." So there must be death either of the devotee or of the nondevotee. But those who are devotees, constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they will be carried to Vaikuṇṭha and others will come back to accept any form of body. Therefore the method should be that we should... sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ (BG 8.6). Twenty-four hours, we shall remain in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Even death takes place, you are not loser. That's all. You are gainer here; you are gainer there, after death. Sādhu māro vā jīvo vā. Those who are sādhu, devotees, they either live or die—their benefit is there. When they live, they chant, dance, and eat Kṛṣṇa prasāda, enjoy, and when they die, they go to Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Where is the loss? There is no loss. So keep yourself sādhu. Sādhu. Sādhu means saintly.
And who is a saintly? That is also described in Bhagavad-gītā. Api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). A person who is constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is sādhu. He is saintly person. Sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). Even if you see sometimes that he is doing something which is not very good, but still, because he has kept himself tight in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is sādhu, he is saintly person. These things are...You will find in the Bhagavad-gītā.
So try to keep yourself always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you are safe in any circumstance. So we should mold our life in such a way that we cannot go out of the orbit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, that's all. Either you become a carpenter of the temple or a gardener of the temple, or a cooker of the temple, or a typewriter of the temple, or a tape recorder of the temple—anything, because it is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, therefore you are safe because you are thinking of Kṛṣṇa. That is required, sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ (BG 8.6), always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, any way, this way or that way. That is meditation; that is trance; that is everything. Yes.