Prabhupāda: So this Prahlada Mahārāja says that according to the body, the specific facilities of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending is already arranged. It is already arranged. So one hasn't got to learn. Just like for mating. There is no college or school where in the classroom dis..., that "This is way you have to mate." Everyone knows automatically. Everyone knows how to mate automatically. Nobody is taught how to laugh. Oh, when laughing comes, it, automatically one laughs. Nobody's taught how to cry. Everyone cries when there is some distress. So these things, what is wanted as the necessity of my body, so arrangement is there. But because we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa, you think that "We can do something." Therefore we take advantage of our high intelligence to defend ourselves more nicely, to have mating more nicely, or eating more nicely. And a devotee should be satisfied that whatever Kṛṣṇa arranged, that's all right. That Kṛṣṇa prasādam we will take. Whatever Kṛṣṇa has kindly sent, let me be satisfied with this. They do not want more than that.
Distress (Conversations)
Expressions researched:
"distraught"
|"distresed"
|"distress"
|"distressed"
|"distresses"
|"distressful"
|"distressing"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That's a fact.
Bob: But when one is...
Prabhupāda: Any kind of distress we suffer, it is due to our impious activities in the past.
Bob: But when one is removed from karmic influence...
Prabhupāda: Yes?
Bob: ...does he still get sick?
Prabhupāda: No. Even if he gets sick, that is very temporary. Just like this fan is moving. If you disconnect with the electric power, then the fan will move for a moment. That movement is not due to the electric current. That is force. What is called physically, this...
Śyāmasundara: Momentum.
Bob: I have a sweater here if you like.
Prabhupāda: No. So good karma means performance of the yajñas as they are prescribed in the Vedic literature. And this purpose of this yajña is to satisfy the Supreme Lord. Just like good citizen means one who satisfies the government. Law-abiding. Good citizen. Similarly, good karma means who satisfies Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord. Unfortunately, the modern civilization, they do not know what is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and what to speak of satisfying Him. They do not know. They are simply busy in material activities. Therefore, all of them are doing only bad karma, and therefore they are suffering. They are blind men and leading some other blind men. And both of them are expanding the path to hell by bad karma. Bad karma, you suffer. That is very easy to understand. If you do something criminal, you'll suffer. If you do something benevolent for the state, for the people, then you are rewarded, you are recognized, you are given title. Sometimes shot. This is good and bad karma. So... (microphone noise) ...some material happiness, and bad karma means you suffer from material distress. By good karma you get birth in good family, janma. You get riches, good money. Then you become learned scholar, you become beautiful also. Sit down. There is some trouble with your leg? What is that?
Devotee: There is an infection in this ankle.
Prabhupāda: Coat, yes. So this so-called scientific improvement, nice medicine, nice medicine or not nice medicine, what is the difference? I fall..., I become diseased. You cannot stop disease. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). You may think that "I have overcome so many distresses," but real distress is birth, death, old age and disease. What you have done for that?
Indian: That's the hardest (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: Just like your British Empire. You are British?
Ian Polsen: Yes.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Paramahaṁsa: Well, for example, even in animal society, there is more animals, there's more insects, there's more birds than human society. But there's no question... They have no starvation. They have no nuclear warfare. Because they live as they're, as Kṛṣṇa has meant them to be, as their karma dictates. But in our situation we are meant to understand Kṛṣṇa. This, the goal of human life, is to use our developed consciousness to serve God. But unfortunately, since we misuse this for selfish motives, therefore we have descended lower than animals. Therefore we have not even the simple harmony that animal life has. Therefore we have mass warfare. Therefore we have greed, economic distress and pollution. All these things are caused simply because we have not used our human life for understanding Kṛṣṇa.
Prajāpati: And there are particular scriptural verses that speak about this?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Caitanya-caritāmṛta. That is the beginning of spiritual consciousness, faith.
- śraddhā-śabde—viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya
- kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya
- (Cc. Madhya 22.62)
This is the version of Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Śraddhā means firm faith. Śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya. Firm faith. And firm faith is trust. "I trust you," means I have got firm faith in you. Is it not? So trust means firm faith. Firm faith means... Now that "So long God is my order supplier, I trust in Him, and as soon as He refuses to supply my order, I don't trust Him," that is not firm faith. "God is putting me in distress; still, I trust Him. Or God is putting me in happiness; still, I trust Him." That is called firm faith. In any circumstances, the faith is not withdrawn. That is firm faith.
Prabhupāda: If he is pious, then in his distress, he will remember God.
Guest (1): Yes, but a pious man in his prosperity sometimes forgets, as Sugrīva had the tendency to forget and he had to be reminded.
Prabhupāda: No, that is very rarely. Sugrīva forgot. Anyway, there is chance of such thing because the distressed man, although he is pious, as soon as his distress is moved, then he forgets. There is such chance. Therefore ārto arthārthī jñānī jijñāsuḥ. Four classes of men. So ārto arthārthī. They, after benefiting by the grace of God, they may forget. But those who are jñānī, they will not forget. That is the difference. So these theologicians, they are changing their opinion.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Devotee: Śrīla Prabhupāda, yesterday in the paper I saw a picture. Nixon had his sixty-first birthday, and he had a big cake made, and he offered the first bite, the first lick to his dog.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is good. That is stated in the Bhagavad... ārto 'rthārthī. He is in great distress. Now he is taking shelter of God. Ārto 'rthārthī. Then he is good at least. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna. Ārtaḥ. Ārtaḥ means very much distressed. He is very much distressed than all the Americans.
Prabhupāda: Ah! Mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahai... (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). That is... There is no question of desirelessness. We desire for Kṛṣṇa. That is desirelessness. Just like a diseased man, if he desires for healthy life, is that bad thing? To desire for further disease, that is desire. That is bad. Therefore I say, you cannot give up desire. That is not possible. You have to purify your desires. But when you desire for Kṛṣṇa, that is desirelessness. To become free from disease, that does not mean you have to stop eating. In the diseased condition, you are eating. As soon as you want to desire, that "Let me, give me this nice food," but you cannot eat on your diseased condition. It will be tasteless. You simply desire, but you cannot enjoy. But same you, man, when the disease is gone, you enjoy that same food very nicely. When you are free from disease, you just ask for rasagullā. You'll taste it. But when you are diseased, the same rasagullā will not be tasteful. That is the condition. The desire which gives you happiness, that is wanted. The desire which gives you distress, that is not wanted. Therefore Bhāgavata begins with dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra: (SB 1.1.2) "The cheating type of religion is rejected." Because in every religion there is some desire for material objective, up to mukti. Bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī. General people, karmīs, they want pleasure, material pleasure. The jñānīs, they want mukti, and the yogis, they want siddhi. They're everyone beggars. And a bhakta kicks them all out. "We don't want anything. Simply Kṛṣṇa. That's all." Therefore he's desireless.
Bali Mardana: So a devotee does not have to cogitate too much. Whatever satisfies Kṛṣṇa, that is best.
Prabhupāda: That's all. Kṛṣṇa is best. That's all. And whatever is done for Kṛṣṇa, that is best. That's all. We have got a standard; therefore we are satisfied. "Even in distressed condition, because Kṛṣṇa has given me distress, so-called distress, it is not distress. So this is all right."
Nobody can say, "I am simply happy." That is not possible. Distress is there, but nobody wants distress. But it comes. So why happiness will not come? So don't waste your time in this way, because you cannot change this. This will come, automatically. You try for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which you never tried. That is recommended. And there is a Bengali verse, janame janame sabe pitā mātā pāya: to take care of oneself by the fathers, that is available in every life. Because the ant is also taking care. That is not human society, but he's still taking care. The tiger also taking care. The small cubs, they're loitering on the, on the body of the lion, and he is feeling very nice.
Prabhupāda: Ārto and... Because they, the grhasthas, they feel distress of this material world.
Dr. Patel: That is, they are ārtas.
Prabhupāda: Ārtas. They are in need of money. But a sannyāsī is not in need of money, neither he cares for these worldly miseries.
Mr. Sar: He's jijñāsu.
Prabhupāda: Eh? Jijñāsu. He's jijñāsu. So they are better.
Dr. Patel: Jñānī, jijñāsu and jñānī, both together.
Prabhupāda: Yes. The jijñāsu and jñānī is almost the same thing. Anyway, so, so gṛhasthas are inferior because as soon as their distressed condition is over, they, they are no more interested.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Yogeśvara: That how can we say that to give people..., that the only real problem is to give knowledge. There are people who are starving; there are people who are sick; there are people who are in so much distress.
Prabhupāda: But you cannot do. You cannot do. There are so many people starving in the hospital. What can you do?
Yogeśvara: (translates)
Swiss Man (1): (French)
Yogeśvara: He says, "Probably not very much." He said, "But maybe we can do something."
Prabhupāda: Then this is simply a false pride, that "I can do something." You cannot do anything. Rather, you can do this service, that "There is God. You are servant of God. Please become servant of God." And if you make this program, "I can give food to so many," what you can do? There are millions and millions. People are starving all over the world. What can you do? It is simply false pride. You cannot do anything. Now, just like I have heard that in your country, because they have got excess milk supply there was recommendation to kill twenty thousand cows. Is it a fact?
Guru-gaurāṅga: Yes.
Paramahaṁsa: It seems amazing that such fundamental questions, they remain mute, such people like this, who are supposed to be qualified to bring other people out of their distress.
Karandhara: That's why the church now has lost everyone, because even its leaders are saying, "I don't know anything. I'm just fumbling around like everyone else. I don't really know anything definite."
Prabhupāda: Still, he is leader?
Karandhara: Yes.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Amogha: Śrīla Prabhupāda, can drugs sometimes be used to help us for spiritual realization?
Prabhupāda: No. That is nonsense. Spiritual realization means knowledge. Not to become intoxicated. The spiritual... Just like this is spiritual knowledge. So what the intoxicated person will understand? Even a sane man cannot understand. Then how he will understand in intoxication? It is foolishness. They are suffering material pangs. By taking drugs the suffering is forgotten, and he is thinking that is the solution. Spiritual means negation of material distress. So he is always suffering from material distress. By taking drug, temporarily he forgets it. Therefore he misunderstands "This is spiritual." That's not spiritual. Then committing suicide is also spiritual? One man is suffering, and the suffering is so great he cannot tolerate, therefore he sometimes commits suicide. Is that committing suicide spiritual? Spiritual means negation of material distresses, that's a fact. But that is a different thing. When you come to the spiritual platform, not by artificially forgetting your material suffering. That is not spiritual.
Prabhupāda: Then go on struggling. That is struggling. There is no question of decreasing. Proportionate. Proportionately, you increase the amenities, and proportionately the distress increases.
Paramahaṁsa: It's just like in some countries the diseased men, they suffer in the street, but here we give them a nice place to suffer.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Paramahaṁsa: They can suffer in a nice warm hospital...
Prabhupāda: So you are increasing this cancer. Very comfortable at home, but there is cancer.
Prabhupāda: Nobody is happy. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it says, śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. Now, something is happiness; the same something is distress. So what is the standard of happiness? The same something is distress for another. One man's food, another man's poison. So where is the standard of happiness? What you are thinking, "This is happiness," others are thinking, "This is distress."
Amogha: That's why we have this modern philosophy that whatever makes you feel good you should do.
Prabhupāda: No, then everyone will think they don't require philosophy.
Śrutakīrti: In this world everything is relative, so it's not expected that the same things will please everyone.
Prabhupāda: Then why do you put something as happiness standard or distress standard? So everything is everything, that's all. (laughs) Why do you try to put a standard?
Paramahaṁsa: We try to simply make the facility if a person wants to change his position.
Prabhupāda: So why you are so much busy in trying like that? Why you are waste your time? You make your own...
Jayatīrtha: When Arjuna came, he was suffering so much distress, but Kṛṣṇa did not give him any psychological test to see what was the matter with him. He immediately knew it was because he was in the bodily conception of life.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, the thing is that you say that it is life which makes matter move, but the scientists, they don't accept that.
Prabhupāda: Because they are rascals. How it is moving?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They say it's a certain combination of matter.
Prabhupāda: You make it. That means experiment. You simply observe, but you have no experiment. Therefore it is not science.
Jayādvaita: Janāḥ sukṛtino 'rjuna.
Prabhupāda: Sukṛtinaḥ arjuna. Jñānī... What is called?
Devotee (5): Ārto jijñāsur...
Prabhupāda: Ah. No, this first word, distress, ārtaḥ, ārtaḥ. Artaḥ, arthārthī, jñānī and jijñāsuḥ. So some innocent man, when he is distressed, he has belief in God. So he approaches God, "God, I am distressed. Kindly help me." He is simply on faith. That is good. And jñānī means he wants to know actually what is God. Then his enquiry is advancing.
Bahulāśva: Śrīla Prabhupāda, sometimes philosophers make a distinction between knowledge and a belief. They say you can believe in something, but that doesn't mean that you necessarily know that thing which you believe in.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that's fact. Therefore for the neophytes, less intelligent, they should believe. That is the only way, viśvāsa. So generally mass of people they are not so educated. They should believe.
Prabhupāda: ...kovida. Kovida means very intelligent person, not rascals, fools. Kovida, very expert. Kovida. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta: "He should endeavor for that thing." What is that "that thing"? Na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adaḥ: "Which is never happened to be achieved, although in different forms of life I have traveled in different planets, transmigration, but I could not get that." So in this human form of life, tasyaiva hetoḥ, which I did not get in so many lives... That means Kṛṣṇa. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adaḥ (SB 1.5.18). Uparyadaḥ. Upari means higher planetary system; adaḥ, down planetary system. "Then? Simply I shall work for that purpose? Then what about my belly?" People are always... Whole world is embarrassed how to fulfill the belly. Huh? That economic question, this question, that question, philanthropism, this "ism," that "ism." The whole thing is centered round this belly. So one may question, "Then all things should be stopped?" Yes, all things will be stopped. Kṛṣṇa said, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). "Then the problem... How shall I eat? How shall I become happy?" So śāstra says, tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ kalenā sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā. You are trying for getting happiness, satisfaction, but you do not try for distress. So why the distress comes?
Indian man: Automatically.
Prabhupāda: So if distress comes automatically, then happiness also will come automatically.
Prabhupāda: Why the thief goes to the prisonhouse? He knows that "If I go to the prisonhouse, I will be put into distress."
Cyavana: But the government is not strong enough to force him not to go, not to steal.
Prabhupāda: Why government is not strong enough?
Cyavana: The government doesn't have the power to control everyone. But Kṛṣṇa can...
Prabhupāda: No. Even if he's strong enough, you disobey. The government has made so many things that you cannot steal, the iron chest, but still, you are clever enough that you do.
Prabhupāda: That I have repeatedly said. Therefore, because they are thinking like that, therefore they are rascals. That is the proof. There is no happiness; still, he is thinking, "I am happy." That is the proof that he's a rascal. (break)
Harikeśa: Well, we can admit that we're not happy all the time, but what is the meaning of happiness without distress? If there's no distress, how can I be happy?
Prabhupāda: So that is material knowledge. In order to taste happiness, you have to suffer. That is material happiness. And happiness, pure, is spiritual happiness. Here, in order to enjoy happiness, you have to suffer; then you can taste. Therefore that is not real happiness. (break)
Harikeśa: A sandtrap. This is where the ball goes in and it's very difficult to hit it out of there.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Prabhupāda: Their function means recreation. That is not function. By that function they'll... But it is... Something is better than nothing. That is another thing. Arto 'rthārthī jijñāsur jñānī-four kinds of men, they take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, the arto 'rthārthī. Ārtaḥ means distressed, and arthārthī means those who are in need of money. So they are arto 'rthārthī, and better than the rogues and ruffians, but their Kṛṣṇa consciousness, chanting Kṛṣṇa, means they want to get some money and to get out of some distress. That is ninety-nine percent people. And some of them are jñānī. They want to learn about Kṛṣṇa very seriously, not to fulfill their material desires. They are called jñānī. Jñānī and jijñāsu, inquisitive. So in jnani, those who are after knowledge, and inquisitive, they are better than this arta and arthārthī. But devotee is transcendental to all of them. They are neither arto, not distressed, nor in need of money. They do not want to speculate for knowledge or... They know, "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, and if I am part and parcel of the Supreme, it is my duty to serve Him to My best capacity." That is real bhakti. And those who are trying to exploit Kṛṣṇa for their, some material fulfillment of desire, they are not on the platform of bhakta.
Prabhupāda: The simple method that everything belongs to God... The king is the representative of God, and he distributes the land amongst the kṣatriyas. Just like knighthood or in Mussulman times, subedat(?), and in Hindu times, the subordinate king. Just like Pāṇḍavas, they were the emperors, and under them there were many hundreds and thousands of kings, states. And everything belongs to God. So why fighting? Take it. It is God's property. We are all sons of God. But there is no culture, Aryan culture. They do not know how to live peacefully and cultivate spiritual culture. They do not know. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśāya ye bahir-artha... (SB 7.5.31). And durāśāya, bad hopes or hopes against hope, they're trying to be happy, bahir-artha, by the external energy, material, most fallen ideas, all foolish theories without any knowledge. Material, that's all. Bahir artha, external energy. Otherwise there is no cause of anxiety or distress. There is enough land. They can produce enough food and live peacefully. They are talking of peace, but they do not know how peace can be achieved. They are hankering after peace, but they do not know how to achieve peace. And that formula is given in the Bhagavad-gītā: Accept God as the proprietor; then there will be peace. Something stolen from the proprietor by some thieves, and when they sit down to take their shares, there will be fight. The property is stolen, and they are sharing. Now, one will say, "Oh, I have worked so hard. You are giving me so little share?" And others will say, "No, no, we have worked equally." Somebody, "No..." In this way there will be fight.
Prabhupāda: Hah. That is nice. That is for curing Viṣṇu's representative. When we were in danger, there was so much obstruction for constructing the temple, and we prayed to Kṛṣṇa that it should stopped. We prayed to Kṛṣṇa, "Please give your protection." That is for Viṣṇu's purpose. (break) ...Bhagavad-gītā, arto 'rthārthī jijñāsur: when one is in distress, he comes to Kṛṣṇa. So that is not pure bhakti. Pure bhakti means, "I shall not take a farthing from Kṛṣṇa; I shall give everything to Kṛṣṇa." That is pure. "I shall not take any return from Kṛṣṇa." Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "I am not a merchant, that for my service I take some return for it." No. But sometimes when, since we are not pure devotees, we have no other alternative than to beg Kṛṣṇa for some material benefit. That is also good. They have said, catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ, sukṛtinaḥ, that pious. Although they are not pure devotee, but they are pious. But the duṣkṛtinaḥ, they do not approach Him. That is the difference.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Mike Barron: Can you tell me?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Your happiness is that you do not like to die: you die. That is your distress. You do not like to become old man: you become old. So that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. This is unhappiness. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). That is intelligence, that "I do not want death. Why death comes upon me? Where is my happiness?" This knowledge will lead you to understand what is happiness. But if you remain ignorant like animal, you do not know what is happiness, and if you think, "The dog is having sex. I'll have sex. That is happiness," then where is the difference, dog mentality and your mentality?
Mike Barron: And Kṛṣṇa consciousness can help me attain this?
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He knows, "This dog's mentality of eating, sleeping, sex and defense is not my happiness. My real distress is that I do not want to die; I am being forced to die. So how to escape from this position?" That is happiness.
Guru-kṛpā: They are living day to day.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is a fact. God has given everyone; you'll get your food. Therefore śāstra says, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām... (SB 1.5.18). "Don't try for anything else. Simply try how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious." That is your only business. Other things will come. If you're destined to get something, you'll get it. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. Just like nobody asks for distress, how it comes? You are destined to get it. Similarly, whatever happiness you are destined to..., you'll get it.
Nalinīkaṇṭha: "The happiness perceived with reference to the sense objects by contact with the body can be obtained in any form of life, according to one's past fruitive activities. Such happiness is automatically obtained without endeavor, just as we obtain distress."
Prabhupāda: Thank you. So here in the material world happiness means sense gratification, that's all. So Prahlāda Mahārāja said, "The happiness of sense gratification, obtainable in any form of life..." The birds, beasts, human beings or even the demigods, cats, dogs—everyone has got the happiness of sense gratification, namely eating, sleeping, sex and defense. That is obtainable everywhere. But the spiritual happiness, that is obtainable in human form of life.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Devotee (4): Why does the demoniac mentality, that they feel happy if they see someone else in distress?
Prabhupāda: Therefore they are demons. That is demonic mentality. They are happy when others are unhappy. And when others are happy, they are unhappy. That is demon.
Devotee (5): They are thinking "I am not so happy, but these others, they are suffering more, so therefore I am okay."
Prabhupāda: No. This is general demonic feeling. If you are unhappy, then I am happy. And if you are happy, then I am unhappy.
Kulādri: The devotee is described as para-duḥkha-duḥkhi. He's only distressed in seeing the distress of others.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's song is there, para-duḥkhe sukhi. That is natural.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: There's a second part to this question also, Śrīla Prabhupāda. They ask: if it's false that actually Hinduism is not fatalistic or sanātana-dharma is not fatalistic...
Prabhupāda: No, no. Fatalistic in this sense, that the destiny cannot be changed. Just like I have given already the example, that the Mahatma Gandhi, nobody expected that he would be killed by his own countryman. Why it happened? This means destiny cannot change. This is a prominent example, that Mahatma Gandhi, he was in a big meeting. Who expected that Mahatma Gandhi could be killed, and by his own countryman? But it was done. That is destiny. You cannot check it. So our point is that... The whole Vedic civilization is that destiny, a certain amount of happiness in this material world... Nobody is enjoying uninterrupted happiness. That is not possible. A certain amount of so-called happiness and certain amount of so-called distress. There must be always. So as you cannot check your distressed condition of life, similarly you cannot check your happy condition of life. It will come automatically. So don't waste your time for these things. You better utilize your energy for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So those who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they think that "These people are wasting time."
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, you did not want; you have it—against your will. This is your experience. There is no difference. Either you say material cause or spiritual cause, but you are suffering what you did not want. That is the point. You are suffering. And you did not want it. Yathā duḥkham ayatnataḥ. Nobody wants distress, but it comes. How it comes? Yathā duḥkham ayatnataḥ, Prahlāda Mahārāja... Ayatnataḥ means without any endeavoring. Who is trying that "Let there be fire in my house"? But it takes. Nobody wants that "There may be fire in my house," but there is fire. Therefore you have to arrange for fire brigade. You are expecting always some danger. Therefore you make so many precautions, because you know that although you do not want mishappening, it will come. Nobody endeavors for mishappenings, but you know there is some superior force who'll enforce mishappening. And they are unable to counteract. Just like a scientist knows that he'll die, but he's so expert scientist that he cannot counteract. He knows that he'll die. He's talking all nonsense while living, but he does not make any arrangement that he'll not die. That he is unable. They are making arrangement, going to the Mars planet at the expense of taxpayer, so if we request these rascal scientists that "You discover something so that we will not die. Take any amount of money," will they able?
Prabhupāda: That any rascal will do. Bambharambhe laghu kriya. Aparkulasvenavargolajagundakuligondoliojalīlāvale... (gibberish) (laughter) You can talk like that—what is the meaning? That intelligence they have got, to manufacture... I know, I was in the medical business. So any petty medicine, and you inquire medical man, and he'll present it in such a scientific way that people will think that it is very important thing. I know it well. In Bose's laboratory we used to do that. Aparkulavenavargolajdgunda... This is... (gibberish) Simply soda bicarb and little this and that. So the modern world means how to befool persons, that's all. Not to enlighten, but to keep them in ignorance and befool them more and more, and they like it. Under the influence of māyā they like to be cheated. (sounds of fire engines) Now just see the whole night there is blazing fire, and they are thinking they are happy. And if we sing saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka **, "the material world is blazing fire," that is sentiment. And this is not practical. Whole day and night, simply fire, disturbing. Such a big important city, and they are disturbing always twenty four hours, gongongongongongongon. They are so expert that this ordinary fire they can control. Another side is that nobody wants this fire, and why it is coming? Yathā duḥkha... Prahlāda Mahārāja, long, long years ago: yathā duḥkham ayatnataḥ. As this fire business is coming without my endeavor, similarly, the other part, distress, this is distress, other part, happiness, also will come.
Prabhupāda: They do not know what is happiness. Bhagavad-gītā points out what is your distress. Can anyone say what is the actual distress? They do not know it. Distress they are taking as usual part of life. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). This is philosophy, to find out what is distress. This is directly said by Kṛṣṇa, that these are distresses, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi, to take birth, to die, to become old and to become diseased. But they do not know it. Not only they, everyone, all over the world, they take it as part of life. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. When a man becomes diseased, when a man becomes old, or when a man dies, they take it it is usual. They have been accustomed to these distresses so much that they do not take it as distress. So this is their ignorance. This is their ignorance. They do not know what is distress and they are struggling for moving the distress. Just like this independence. They do not know what is meaning of independence. Real independence is when you are free from these four kinds of distress. Does it mean that observing this kind of independence is real independence? It is simply fictitious.
Prabhupāda: So when Kṛṣṇa advises, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). It is the right advice, but we cannot take it. Kṛṣṇa is the right friend, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29), but we don't accept His friendship. We want to go on in our own way. (break)
Jñānagamya: There is so much envy in my heart, and when I'm chanting I'm understanding the envy causes me so much distress. Yet I can't give it up. I cannot leave off these envious feelings.
Prabhupāda: That is material world, envious. That is a disease, to become envious. The spiritual world means no enviousness. That is spiritual world. And material world, there is only envious. I'm envious of you, you are envious of me. It is a society of enviousness. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇām, Paramo nirmatsara (SB 1.1.2). One who is not at all envious, for him, Bhāgavata-dharma. (break) ...dharma is for the envious person.
Prabhupāda: That is a fact. Tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā. That is the verdict of Bhāgavata also. Tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ. Kṛpaṇā na iha tṛpyanti. One or two child, children, they are not satisfied. They want to produce more and invite distress more. Tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ. But they are practicing in a different way. And Bhāgavata recommends brahmacārī. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. You know this gentleman? (pause)
- yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ
- kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham
- tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ
- kaṇḍūtivan manasijaṁ viṣaheta dhīraḥ
- (SB 7.9.45)
Instead of begetting more and more children by sex it is better... Better means dhīraḥ. And tolerate the itching sensation. This is recommended. But the itching sensation is so strong nobody can stop.
Prabhupāda: Bhakti-mārga is enough. Bhakti-mārga means it includes everything. Without jñāna, there is no bhakti. The jñāna is called brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20); that is real jñāna. If you... Aiye. If you understand your position, then it is jñāna. If you do not understand your position, then where is jñāna? Do you follow? Therefore Bhagavān says, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). When... So long you are ajñāna, in ignorance, you cannot be happy. You cannot be happy. But when you are in jñāna, then you'll be happy. That is the symptom of becoming jñānī. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Ātmā becomes very happy. Na śocati na kāṅkṣati. He has no more any lamentation and hankering. There are two things in this material world. We are hankering after something which we do not possess, and we are lamenting for something which we possessed and we have lost. This is the disease, material disease. So when one comes to the platform of jñāna, then he has no more such disease, hankering and lamenting. Here the whole world is going on, lamenting and hankering. So brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20) means na śocati na kāṅkṣati and samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. And here, so long we are on the material platform, we are not samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. We are thinking, "You are different from me; I am different from you. My interest is first." You are thinking your interest is first and so on, so on. So not samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. But when you become actually jñānī, brahma-bhūtaḥ, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. When you are in distress, na śocati na kāṅkṣati, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, prasannātmā, then bhakti begins. Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). So bhakti is not so easy thing.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Girirāja: Actually, it seems that in your system of management, the basic principle is to depend on Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Why not? He says ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo (BG 18.66). Distress will be if I am disobedient. This is nature's law. And if I surrender to Kṛṣṇa, where is the question of distress? Sukha se saba hari bhaje duḥkha se haje. This is one Hindi poetry, that "When one is in distressed condition, he goes to God: 'Please save me. Give me this mercy.' " So duḥka se means: "In distressed condition he becomes a devotee." But if he becomes a devotee when he's happy, then where is the question of duḥkha, or distress? Sukha se saba hari bhaje. When you are happy, at that time if you worship Hari, then there is no question of duḥkha. That Vivekananda's policy, daridra-nārāyaṇa-seva. Why not seva-nārāyaṇa? Why He should become daridra? Why not engage in? That he does not know. "He becomes a daridra-nārāyaṇa, and I become his servant." Foolish rascal. A discovered philosophy. (end)
Guest (9): Initial thing is that.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is initial. A servant, big man's servant... That is natural, that "If I would have become the master." So a servant, if he wants to become the master, that is artificial. A servant remains a servant—he is happy. And as soon as he tries artificially to become the master, that is the beginning of distress. So we are eternal servant of God. As soon as we try to become God, that is the beginning of our suffering.
Prabhupāda: This is the actual... Now, apart from the scriptural injunction, if one comes to the argument, then such kind of father is there in the animal society also. Cats and dogs, they also beget children, but they cannot relieve the child from the cycle of birth and death. And Bhagavad-gītā says, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). First of all you have to see what is the actual distress in this material life. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). So in this life you are my father, and next time I become a cat or dog, so who cares for this father? I get another father. So who knows this law? Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā (BG 3.27). The laws of nature is going on, and everything is happening. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). We are getting a type of body according to karma.
Ādi-keśava: So when someone becomes angry, that anger is frustration due to the fact that he experiences so many frustrations in the material world, and therefore he calls it void. He says, "Rather than experience the difficulty inherent in the temporality of the material world," instead he calls it void and says that it does not exist. Because it is causing so much distress because he cannot become satisfied in material existence, then he says...
Prabhupāda: Whether it has got any value? Whether such statement has any value?
Harikeśa: Whether such statement has any value?
Ādi-keśava: To say that it has no existence, that it is all void.
Prabhupāda: One, you... Talk on this point. Just like a small animal, rabbit. When he's attacked, he closes the eyes. He thinks, "There is nothing." Now he is devoured. So it is like that. He cannot adjust things, and "That is zero, bas." But that's not the fact. Hm? Simply by closing your eyes you want to avoid danger?
Prabhupāda: That is inquisitive, jijñāsu. That is there, a class of men, jijñāsu. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtinaḥ. They are pious. "Actually what is the truth?" Jijñāsu. And jñānī. Two third class, fourth class, and two, first class, second class. The first class, second class, is jñānī jijñāsu, and third class, fourth class, ārto arthārthī. They approach God. The third class, fourth class, those who are in need of money or in distress and seeking the favor of Kṛṣṇa, they are third class, fourth class. And the jijñāsu and jñānī, they are first class, second class. Inquisitive, they want to know the truth. That is first class. Jijñāsu—"What is that first class?" He is second class. And ārto arthārthī, he is in need. If he gets some money, then he forgets God. That's all. His disease is cured. Then finished business. "O God, give us our bread." As soon as I get bread, then finished church.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Hm. So, what you want? Eh?
Kīrtanānanda: (crying) If Kṛṣṇa gives you the choice, don't go. We need you.
Prabhupāda: That is your trouble now, distress.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Prabhupāda.
Brahmānanda: We have all met together, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We want you to remain and lead this movement and finish the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Brahmānanda: We said you must remain at least another ten years. You've only done fifty percent work.
Prabhupāda: No. There are many good... Everyone will have. Hm. Good to hear. Hm. All right. (devotees laugh with relief)
Kīrtanānanda: Haribol.
| Page Title: | Distress (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur |
| Created: | 25 of Sep, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=52, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 52 |