One who thinks of Kṛṣṇa at the time of his death goes to Kṛṣṇa. One must remember the form of Kṛṣṇa; if he quits his body thinking of this form, he surely approaches the spiritual kingdom. Mad-bhāvam refers to the supreme nature of the Supreme Being. The Supreme Being is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1)—that is, His form is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. Our present body is not sac-cid-ānanda. It is asat, not sat. It is not eternal; it is perishable. It is not cit, full of knowledge, but it is full of ignorance. We have no knowledge of the spiritual kingdom, nor do we even have perfect knowledge of this material world, where there are so many things unknown to us. The body is also nirānanda; instead of being full of bliss it is full of misery. All of the miseries we experience in the material world arise from the body, but one who leaves this body thinking of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, at once attains a sac-cid-ānanda body.
Full of miseries
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Preface and Introduction
BG Chapters 1 - 6
"People are mad after sense gratification, and they do not know that this present body, which is full of miseries, is a result of one's fruitive activities in the past. Although this body is temporary, it is always giving one trouble in many ways. Therefore, to act for sense gratification is not good. One is considered to be a failure in life as long as he makes no inquiry about his real identity. As long as he does not know his real identity, he has to work for fruitive results for sense gratification, and as long as one is engrossed in the consciousness of sense gratification one has to transmigrate from one body to another. Although the mind may be engrossed in fruitive activities and influenced by ignorance, one must develop a love for devotional service to Vāsudeva. Only then can one have the opportunity to get out of the bondage of material existence."
BG Chapters 7 - 12
After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.
Since this temporary material world is full of the miseries of birth, old age, disease and death, naturally he who achieves the highest perfection and attains the supreme planet, Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka Vṛndāvana, does not wish to return. The supreme planet is described in Vedic literature as avyakta and akṣara and paramā gati; in other words, that planet is beyond our material vision, and it is inexplicable, but it is the highest goal, the destination for the mahātmās (great souls).
In this material world there are classifications of people, but, after all, this world is not a happy place for anyone. It is clearly stated here, anityam asukhaṁ lokam: this world is temporary and full of miseries, not habitable for any sane gentleman. This world is declared by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be temporary and full of miseries. Some philosophers, especially Māyāvādī philosophers, say that this world is false, but we can understand from Bhagavad-gītā that the world is not false; it is temporary. There is a difference between temporary and false. This world is temporary, but there is another world, which is eternal. This world is miserable, but the other world is eternal and blissful.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
The Vedas prescribe two different types of occupation for the human being. One is called the pravṛtti-mārga, or the path of sense enjoyment, and the other is called the nivṛtti-mārga, or the path of renunciation. The path of enjoyment is inferior, and the path of sacrifice for the supreme cause is superior. The material existence of the living being is a diseased condition of actual life. Actual life is spiritual existence, or brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20) existence, where life is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge. Material existence is temporary, illusory and full of miseries. There is no happiness at all. There is just the futile attempt to get rid of the miseries, and temporary cessation of misery is falsely called happiness. Therefore, the path of progressive material enjoyment, which is temporary, miserable and illusory, is inferior.
The prison house of the material world is created by Brahmā under instruction of the Personality of Godhead, and at the conclusion of a kalpa the whole thing is destroyed by Śiva. But as far as maintenance of the prison house is concerned, it is done by Viṣṇu, as much as the state prison house is maintained by the state. Anyone, therefore, who wishes to get out of this prison house of material existence, which is full of miseries like repetition of birth, death, disease and old age, must please Lord Viṣṇu for such liberation. Lord Viṣṇu is worshiped by devotional service only, and if anyone has to continue prison life in the material world, he may ask for relative facilities for temporary relief from the different demigods like Śiva, Brahmā, Indra and Varuṇa. No demigod, however, can release the imprisoned living being from the conditioned life of material existence.
Śrī Nārada Muni personally experienced that the most feasible and practical way to open the path of salvation or get relief from all miseries of life is to hear submissively the transcendental activities of the Lord from the right and bona fide sources. This is the only remedial process. The entire material existence is full of miseries. Foolish people have manufactured, out of their tiny brains, many remedial measures for removing the threefold miseries pertaining to the body and mind, pertaining to the natural disturbances and in relation with other living beings. The whole world is struggling very hard to exist out of these miseries, but men do not know that without the sanction of the Lord no plan or no remedial measure can actually bring about the desired peace and tranquillity.
15: After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.
Śrī Bhīṣmadeva attained the perfection of quitting his body at will and was fortunate enough to have Lord Kṛṣṇa, the object of his attention, personally present at the time of death. He therefore fixed his open eyes upon Him. He wanted to see Śrī Kṛṣṇa for a long time out of his spontaneous love for Him. Because he was a pure devotee, he had very little to do with the detailed performance of yogic principles. Simple bhakti-yoga is enough to bring about perfection. Therefore, the ardent desire of Bhīṣmadeva was to see the person of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the most lovable object, and by the grace of the Lord, Śrī Bhīṣmadeva had this opportunity at the last stage of his breathing.
A male is searching after a mate to his liking, and the female is looking after a suitable male. That is the way of material stimulus. And as soon as a male is combined with a female, the material bondage of the living being is at once tightly interlocked by sex relation, and as a result of this, both the male's and female's attraction for sweet home, motherland, bodily offspring, society and friendship and accumulation of wealth becomes the illusory field of activities, and thus a false but indefatigable attraction for the temporary material existence, which is full of miseries, is manifest. Those who are, therefore, on the path of salvation for going back home back to Godhead, are especially advised by all scriptural instruction to become free from such paraphernalia of material attraction. And that is possible only by the association of the devotees of the Lord, who are called the mahātmās.
The purified stage of acquiring knowledge becomes the basis of devotional service to the Lord. As long as one is engaged in researching the solution of the problems of life, his knowledge is called jñāna, or purified knowledge, but on realizing the actual solution of life, one becomes situated in the devotional service of the Lord. The Bhagavad-gītā begins with the problems of life by discriminating the soul from the elements of matter and proves by all reason and argument that the soul is indestructible in all circumstances and that the outer covering of matter, the body and the mind, change for another term of material existence which is full of miseries. The Bhagavad-gītā is therefore meant for terminating all different types of miseries, and Arjuna took shelter of this great knowledge, which had been imparted to him during the Kurukṣetra battle.
SB Canto 2
In the Bhagavad-gītā (8.15) also the same is confirmed, as the Lord says, "The great mahātmās, or the bhakti-yogīs, after attaining My association, never come back to this material world, which is full of miseries and is nonpermanent." The highest perfection of life, therefore, is to attain His association, and nothing else. The bhakti-yogī, being completely engaged in the Lord's service, has no attraction for any other process of liberation like jñāna or yoga. A pure devotee is a one hundred percent devotee of the Lord and nothing more.
One should not deprecate the Supreme Lord for the creation of this miserable world, just as one should not blame the king for creating a prisonhouse in the government. The prisonhouse is a necessary institution of the governmental establishment for those who are disobedient to the laws of the government. Similarly, this material world, full of miseries, is a temporary creation of the Lord for those who have forgotten Him and are trying to lord it over the false manifestation. He, however, is always anxious to get the fallen souls back home, back to Godhead, and for this He has given so many chances to the conditioned souls via the authoritative scriptures, His representatives, and personal incarnations also. Since He has no direct attachment to this material world, He is not to be blamed for its creation.
SB Canto 3
The entire universe is full of miseries, and therefore the inhabitants of this material universe are always shedding tears out of intense grief. There is a great ocean of water made from such tears, but for one who surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ocean of tears is at once dried up. One need only see the charming smile of the Supreme Lord. In other words, the bereavement of material existence immediately subsides when one sees the charming smile of the Lord.
It is stated in this verse that the charming eyebrows of the Lord are so fascinating that they cause one to forget the charms of sense attraction. The conditioned souls are shackled to material existence because they are captivated by the charms of sense gratification, especially sex life. The sex-god is called Makara-dhvaja.
In Bhagavad-gītā the Personality of Godhead Himself certifies the material world as an impermanent place that is full of miseries. There is no question of happiness in this material world, either individually or in terms of family, society or country. If something is going on in the name of happiness, that is also illusion. Here in this material world, happiness means successful counteraction to the effects of distress. The material world is so made that unless one becomes a clever diplomat, his life will be a failure. Not to speak of human society, even the society of lower animals, the birds and bees, cleverly manages its bodily demands of eating, sleeping and mating. Human society competes nationally or individually, and in the attempt to be successful the entire human society becomes full of diplomacy.
SB Canto 4
In Bhagavad-gītā (9.33) Lord Kṛṣṇa says: anityam asukhaṁ lokam imaṁ prāpya bhajasva mām. The Lord here declares that this material world is full of miseries (asukham) and at the same time is very flickering (anityam). Therefore one's only duty is to engage himself in devotional service. This is the best end to which human life can be put. Those devotees who are constantly engaged in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord achieve not only all material benefits but also all spiritual benefits, for at the end of life they go back home, back to Godhead. Their destination is described in this verse as bhagavat-padam. The word padam means "abode," and bhagavat means "the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Thus the destination of the devotees is the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
"After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection." And what is that highest perfection? That is also explained in that verse. The highest perfection is to return home, back to Godhead, so that one will not have to return to this material world and transmigrate from one body to another in the dream of material existence. By the grace of Lord Śiva, the Pracetās actually attained perfection and returned home, back to Godhead, after enjoying material facilities to the highest extent. Maitreya will now narrate that to Vidura.
SB Canto 5
Once while touring the world, Lord Ṛṣabhadeva, the Supreme Lord, reached a place known as Brahmāvarta. There was a great conference of learned brāhmaṇas at that place, and all the King's sons attentively heard the instructions of the brāhmaṇas there. At that assembly, within the hearing of the citizens, Ṛṣabhadeva instructed His sons, although they were already very well behaved, devoted and qualified. He instructed them so that in the future they could rule the world very perfectly. Thus he spoke as follows.
The instructions of Lord Ṛṣabhadeva to His sons are very valuable if one wants to live peacefully within this world, which is full of miseries. In the next chapter, Lord Ṛṣabhadeva gives His sons these valuable instructions.
Begging, borrowing and stealing to live for sense gratification is condemned in this verse because such consciousness leads one to a dark, hellish condition. The four sinful activities are illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. These are the means by which one gets another material body that is full of miseries. In the Vedas it is said: asaṅgo hy ayaṁ puruṣaḥ. The living entity is not really connected with this material world, but due to his tendency to enjoy the material senses. he is put into the material condition. One should perfect his life by associating with devotees. He should not become further implicated in the material body.
When the living entity becomes exactly like a monkey jumping from one branch to another, he remains in the tree of household life without any profit but sex. Thus he is kicked by his wife just like the he-ass. Unable to gain release, he remains helplessly in that position. Sometimes he falls victim to an incurable disease, which is like falling into a mountain cave. He becomes afraid of death, which is like the elephant in the back of that cave, and he remains stranded, grasping at the twigs and branches of a creeper.
The precarious condition of a householder's life is described herein. A householder's life is full of misery, and the only attraction is sex with the wife who kicks him during sexual intercourse, just as the she-ass does her mate. Due to continuous sex life, he falls victim to many incurable diseases. At that time, being afraid of death, which is like an elephant, he remains hanging from the twigs and branches of the tree, just like a monkey.
From a boy, he has to change into a youth, and from youth to manhood and old age. Finally, when the body is no longer workable, he has to accept a new body in a different species. Giving up the body is called death, and accepting another body is called birth. The human form is an opportunity to take shelter of the bona fide spiritual master and, through him, the Supreme Lord. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has been started to give an opportunity to all the members of human society, who are misled by foolish leaders. No one can get out of this struggle for existence, which is full of miseries, without accepting a pure devotee of the Lord. The material attempt changes from one position to another, and no one actually gains relief from the struggle for existence. The only resort is the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master, and, through him, the lotus feet of the Lord.
There are two worlds—the spiritual and the material. The material world is false like a mirage in the desert. In the desert, animals think they see water, but actually there is none. Similarly, those who are animalistic try to find peace within the desert of material life. It is repeatedly said in different śāstras that there is no pleasure in this material world. Furthermore, even if we agree to live without pleasure, we are not allowed to do so. In Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Kṛṣṇa says that the material world is not only full of miseries (duḥkhālayam) but also temporary (aśāśvatam) (BG 8.15). Even if we want to live here amid miseries, material nature will not allow us to do so. It will oblige us to change bodies and enter another atmosphere full of miserable conditions.
The conditioned soul sometimes personally appreciates the futility of sense enjoyment in the material world, and he sometimes considers material enjoyment to be full of miseries. However, due to his strong bodily conception, his memory is destroyed, and again and again he runs after material enjoyment, just as an animal runs after a mirage in the desert.
SB Canto 6
As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti: (BG 18.55) simply by devotional service one can understand everything about the Supreme Lord. If one fortunately understands the Supreme Lord in this way, the result is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti: (BG 4.9) after giving up his material body, he no longer has to take birth in this material world. Instead, he returns home, back to Godhead. That is the ultimate perfection. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (8.15):
- mām upetya punar janma
- duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam
- nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
- saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ
"After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection."
As the Lord Himself confirms in Bhagavad-gītā (8.15), one reaches the highest perfection when he attains the fortune of realizing the Supreme Personality of Godhead:
- mām upetya punar janma
- duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam
- nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
- saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ
"After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection." Therefore the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement teaches one to follow the path toward the topmost perfection simply by performing devotional service.
Pumān naivaiti yad gatvā: he does not return to this material world, but returns home, back to Godhead, to live an eternally blissful life of knowledge. Why do people not care about this? What will be the benefit of taking birth again in this material world, sometimes as a human being, sometimes a demigod and sometimes a cat or dog? What is the benefit of wasting time in this way? Kṛṣṇa has very definitely asserted in Bhagavad-gītā (8.15):
- mām upetya punar janma
- duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam
- nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
- saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ
"After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection." One's real concern should be to free himself from the repetition of birth and death and attain the topmost perfection of life by living with the Supreme King in the spiritual world. In these verses the sons of Dakṣa repeatedly say, kim asat-karmabhir bhavet: "What is the use of impermanent fruitive activities?"
(Jīva) kṛṣṇa-dāsa, ei viśvāsa, karle ta' āra duḥkha nāi: "If the living entity tries to understand that he is an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, there will no longer be misery for him." Kṛṣṇa wants us to give up all other engagements and surrender unto Him. If we do so, where will the cause and effect of this material world be? There is nothing like cause and effect for the surrendered soul. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says in this regard that being put into this material world is like being thrown into a mine of salt. If one falls into a mine of salt, he tastes only salt wherever he goes. Similarly, this material world is full of miseries. The so-called temporary happiness of the world is also misery, but in ignorance we cannot understand this. That is the actual position. When one comes to his senses—when he becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious—he is no longer concerned with the various conditions of this material world. He is not concerned with happiness or distress, curses or favors, or heavenly or hellish planets. He sees no distinction between them.
SB Canto 8
"After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection." (BG 8.15) One has to return home, back to Godhead, for this is the highest perfection of life. To go back to Godhead means to reject this material world. Although we cannot understand the functions of this material world and whether it is good for us or bad for us, in accordance with the advice of the supreme authority we must reject it and go back home, back to Godhead.
The King said: By the grace of the Lord, those who have lost their self-knowledge since time immemorial, and who because of this ignorance are involved in a material, conditional life full of miseries, obtain the chance to meet the Lord's devotee. I accept that Supreme Personality of Godhead as the supreme spiritual master.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is actually the supreme spiritual master. The Supreme Lord knows everything about the suffering of the conditioned soul, and therefore He appears in this material world, sometimes personally, sometimes by an incarnation and sometimes by authorizing a living being to act on His behalf. In all cases, however, He is the original spiritual master who enlightens the conditioned souls who are suffering in the material world. The Lord is always busy helping the conditioned souls in many ways. Therefore He is addressed here as paramo gurur bhavān.
SB Canto 9
A mystic yogī is especially concerned with controlling the senses, but because the senses of a devotee are engaged in the service of the Lord (hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170)) there is no need for separate control of the senses. For those who are materially engaged, control of the senses is required, but a devotee's senses are all engaged in the service of the Lord, which means that they are already controlled. paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). A devotee's senses are not attracted by material enjoyment. And even though the material world is full of misery, the devotee considers this material world to be also spiritual because everything is engaged in the service of the Lord. The difference between the spiritual world and material world is the mentality of service. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. When there is no mentality of service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one's activities are material.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Preface and Introduction
The hlādinī potency is Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. All living entities have this pleasure-seeking potency, for all beings are trying to have pleasure. This is the very nature of the living entity. At present we are trying to enjoy our pleasure potency by means of the body in the material condition. By bodily contact we are attempting to derive pleasure from material sense objects. But we should not entertain the nonsensical idea that Kṛṣṇa, who is always spiritual, also tries to seek pleasure on this material plane. In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa describes the material universe as a nonpermanent place full of miseries. Why, then, would He seek pleasure in matter? He is the Supersoul, the supreme spirit, and His pleasure is beyond the material conception.
CC Adi-lila
It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1): "The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, has a spiritual body which is full of knowledge, eternity and bliss." In this material world everyone's body is just the opposite—temporary, full of ignorance and full of misery. Therefore when the Supreme Personality of Godhead is sometimes described as nirākāra, this is to indicate that He does not have a material body like us.
Māyāvādī philosophers do not know how it is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is formless. The Supreme Lord does not have a form like ours but has a spiritual form. Not knowing this, Māyāvādī philosophers simply advocate the onesided view that the Supreme Godhead, or Brahman, is formless (nirākāra). In this connection Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura offers many quotes from the Vedic literature.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa Himself. How is He stealing, and how is He fighting? It is not as a thief or an enemy but as a friend in a loving condition. He steals as a child not because He is in want but out of a natural instinct. In this material world also, small children, without enmity or bad will, sometimes go to a neighboring house and steal, and sometimes they fight. Kṛṣṇa also, like other children, did all these things in His childhood. Without the existence of the stealing propensity and fighting propensity in the spiritual world, they cannot exist here in this material world. The difference between the material and spiritual worlds is that stealing in the spiritual world is done in friendship and love, whereas fighting and stealing within this material world are executed on the basis of enmity and envy. Therefore we should understand that in the spiritual world all these activities exist, but there is no inebriety, whereas in the material world all activities are full of miserable conditions.
CC Antya-lila
"A materialistic person, madly engaged in activities for sense enjoyment, does not know that he is entangling himself in repeated birth and death and that his body, although temporary, is full of miseries." A viṣayī, a person blindly caught in a web of materialistic life, remains in the cycle of birth and death perpetually. Such a person cannot understand how to execute pure devotional service, and therefore he acts as a karmī, jñānī, yogī or something else, according to his desire, but he does not know that the activities of karma, jñāna and yoga simply bind one to the cycle of birth and death.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
This brings up the question of who Rādhārāṇī is and what Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is. Actually Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is the exchange of love. This is not ordinary love; Kṛṣṇa has immense potencies, of which three are principal: internal, external and marginal. In the internal potency there are three divisions: saṁvit, hlādinī and sandhinī. The hlādinī potency is the pleasure potency. All living entities have this pleasure-seeking potency, for all beings are trying to have pleasure. This is the very nature of the living entity. At present we are trying to enjoy our pleasure potency by means of the body in this material condition. By bodily contact we are attempting to derive pleasure from material sense objects. We should not think, however, that Kṛṣṇa, who is always spiritual, tries to seek pleasure on this material plane like us. Kṛṣṇa describes the material universe as a nonpermanent place full of miseries. Why, then, would He seek pleasure in the material form? He is the Supersoul, the supreme spirit, and His pleasure is beyond the material conception.
Nectar of Instruction
"Materialists who work hard like dogs and hogs simply for sense gratification are actually mad. They simply perform all kinds of abominable activities simply for sense gratification. Materialistic activities are not at all worthy of an intelligent man, for as a result of such activities, one gets a material body, which is full of misery." The purpose of human life is to get out of the threefold miserable conditions, which are concomitant with material existence. Unfortunately, fruitive workers are mad to earn money and acquire temporary material comforts by all means; therefore they risk being degraded to lower species of life. Materialists foolishly make many plans to become happy in this material world. They do not stop to consider that they will live only for a certain number of years, out of which they must spend the major portion acquiring money for sense gratification. Ultimately such activities end in death.
Easy Journey to Other Planets
Lord Kṛṣṇa, in the Bhagavad-gītā, also informs us that this material world is full of miseries in the shape of birth, old age, disease and death. Even in the topmost planet of the material universe, Brahmaloka, these miseries are present. Only in His own abode is there a total absence of misery. In that abode there is no need of light from sun, moon or fire. The planets are self-luminous. Life there is perpetual and full of knowledge and bliss. That is what is known as sanātana-dharma. It is therefore natural to conclude that the living entities must return home, back to Godhead, to enjoy life in the sanātana-dhāma with the sanātana-puruṣa, or the puruṣottama, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. They must not remain to rot in this miserable land of material existence.
Renunciation Through Wisdom
The karmīs, jñānīs, and yogīs, as well as the common politicians and anyone else who is working hard to make a comfortable and peaceful situation in this material world, must clearly realize that the world is transitory and full of misery. However much one may toil to make a permanent settlement in this world, at the end everyone is forced to leave. As long as one stays here, one must come to grips with the reality of suffering. Since time immemorial the soul has been coming and going. The Lord's devotees, however, not only live happily in this world, but after they leave here they enter the eternal and ever-blissful abode of the Lord.
After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.
According to the above verse, the devotees attain the highest perfection—that is, they join the elevated corps of the Lord's eternal associates. The mystic yogī's eightfold mystic perfection is not the same as the devotee's para-siddhi, or "highest perfection." While mystic yoga brings perfections that are material and temporary, devotional service to the Supreme Lord brings absolute perfection, which is transcendental and eternal. The Supreme Lord incessantly manifests His ever-fresh transcendental pastimes within this unlimited material universe, which He has created. These pastimes, known as bhauma-līlā, have been going on since time immemorial.
Light of the Bhagavata
Everything emanates as different energies from the Lord, and thus everything should be engaged for His service only. As soon as even temporary things are engaged in His service, they take on permanent values. The process of such engagement in the service of the Lord is what the sages call cikitsitam, or "well treated." If we have some kind of trouble in the stomach from drinking milk, the physician prescribes the same milk in the form of yogurt, which is nothing but treated milk. Similarly, the temporary creation of the material world is undoubtedly full of miseries, but when accepted in terms of its relation with the Supreme Lord, the whole thing becomes as well treated as the yogurt. Everything accepted in full God consciousness has its spiritual value, and by the grace of the Almighty its material effects are diminished in terms of the increasing degree of spiritual consciousness. That is the process for cultivating the human spirit.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Instead of being sat it is asat. Antavanta ime dehā (BG 2.18), Bhagavad-gītā says that this body is antavat, perishable. And... Sac-cid-ānanda. Instead of becoming sat, it is asat, just the opposite. And instead of becoming cit, full of knowledge, it is full of ignorance. We have no knowledge of the spiritual kingdom, neither we have got any perfect knowledge of this material world. So many things unknown to us, therefore this body is ignorant. Instead of becoming full of knowledge it is ignorant. The body is perishable, full of ignorance, and nirānanda. Instead of becoming full of bliss, it is full of miseries. All the miseries that we experience in this material world, it is all due to this body. The Lord says that anta-kāle ca mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram (BG 8.5). One who quits this material body, simply by remembering Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he at once gets the spiritual body of sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1).
So their conferences, their United Nation, their scientific advancement, their educational system, philosophy, and so on, so on, everything is meant for how to become happy in this material world. Gṛha-vratānām. The aim is how to become happy here. And that is not possible. These rascals they cannot understand. If you want to become happy, then you must come to Kṛṣṇa. Mām upetya tu kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvataṁ nāpnuvanti (BG 8.15). Kṛṣṇa says, "If somebody comes to Me, then he does not again get this place which is full of miseries," duḥkhālayam. This material world is explained by Kṛṣṇa as duḥkhālayam. Ālayam means place, and duḥkha means distress. Everything is distressful here, but fools being illusioned, covered by the illusory māyā, that distress he accepts as happiness. That is māyā. It is not at all happiness.
Mām upetya tu kaunteya duḥkhālayam... And this material existence is duḥkhālayam, it is a place of misery. This is māyā. We are living in this condition, conditional life of material existence, which is full of miseries, but by the spell of māyā, illusion, we are thinking, we are planning that we are happy. This is called māyā. Māyā means... I have several times explained what is meant by māyā. Māyā means "what is not." I am thinking I am making progress, I am thinking that I am happy, I am thinking I am civilized, I am advanced. But the māyā means this thinking, in the positive way, is no. No, you are not advanced. You are not civilized. You are not actually wise because you do not know what you are. You are thinking that you are this body. Therefore everything, whatever you are thinking, that is all null and void. Māyā. This is called māyā. So this māyā is very strong.
This material world is certified by the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the place of misery. Now, if this place is made for that purpose, just to give us miseries only, how you can make it a place of happiness? The place is meant for that purpose. So Lord Kṛṣṇa says that "Somebody, anybody who comes back to Me, he hasn't got to come back again to this place of miseries." Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). And again He says, mām upetya tu kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam: (BG 8.15) "This place is full of misery."
We are deluded, illusioned. We are accepting this place as permanent settlement. We are making plans, so many plans, to make a permanent settlement, but the Lord says it is not only full of misery, aśāśvatam, you cannot remain here permanently. However make your plan to live here permanently, you cannot live here. You have to give up. You can spoil your energy for making this material world very comfortable or you may live for some years very comfortably, but cruel death will come and snatch from comfortable position and put you into another position which is beyond your control.
Question: If Kṛṣṇa is all-good, why does He send us to this world full of miseries?
Prabhupāda: Just like the government is good, but why do you go to prison house? When you go to the prison house, it is not the government who puts you in the prison house. You have committed sinful activities. Therefore you are put into the prison house. It is the government's duty to manage whether a man should be put into prison house, whether a man should go to the university. But the difference of individual activities. Similarly, God does not want you to put into miserable condition. You put yourself in miserable condition, but God comes and He sends His representative, to give you relief, how to get out of that miserable condition. The conclusion is that Kṛṣṇa does put you in miserable condition, but He helps you get out from the miserable condition.
So Ṛṣabhadeva says na sādhu manye: "This is not good." Yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ. Asann api, this body is not permanent. Still, asann api, although it is not permanent, for a few years only, it (is) kleśada, simply full of miserable conditions. Because you have committed, executed vikarma, therefore you have got this body.
It doesn't matter whether it is rich body or poor body. Everyone has to undergo the threefold miserable condition of life. When typhoid is there, it does not discriminate that "Here is a rich body. I shall give him less pain." No. When the typhoid is there, either your body is rich body or poor body, you have to suffer the same pain. When you are within the womb of your mother, you have to suffer the same pain, either you become in the queen's womb or in the cobbler's wife's womb. That packed up situation... But they do not know. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā. There are so many sufferings. In the process of birth. There are so many sufferings in the process of birth and death and old age. A rich man or poor man, when we are old, we have to suffer so many invalidity.
But if you live like this.... "Live like this" means you live in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, nirmatsara, siddhāv asiddhau samaḥ. That can be possible only when you live in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then all our actions will not be binding upon us. Otherwise any little thing we do, yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9), we shall be entangled. And that is material life. If we become entangled more and more, then the process of changing body, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), it will go on. Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). Although this body is temporary, it is full of miseries. That we do not understand. We are thinking that we are very happy. Where is your happiness?
In the Fourteenth Chapter you'll see that originally the seed was given by Kṛṣṇa in the womb of this material nature and so many living entities are coming out. You cannot argue against it because actually the generation is the same process as in our practical life we see the father gives the seed in the womb of the mother and the mother, I mean to say, nourishes the child to grow body. So there is no question of void. If the seed would have been void, how this nice body has developed?
So nirvāṇa means not to accept any more material body. Don't try to make it void. That is another nonsense. Void, you are not void. Void means to make void this material body. This full of miserable conditional body. Just try to grow your spiritual body. That is possible. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). These things are there. So we have to become very intelligent to understand what is the problem of life, how we should use this valuable human form of life. Unfortunately this education is practically nil all over the world.
And who is that? Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa was present He was not controlled by anyone. He was only controller. If you study the life of Kṛṣṇa, you will find He is always controller, never controlled by anyone. Therefore the śāstra says, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And about His form? His form is sat-cit-ānanda. How it is? Now, you can distinguish. Your form, this body, is asat; it will not stay. But Kṛṣṇa's form is sat, just the opposite. And your form or my form is full of ignorance, not cit. But Kṛṣṇa's form is full of knowledge, just opposite. And ānanda. My form is so full of miserable condition of life that I have no ānanda, blissfulness. But Kṛṣṇa's form is blissfulness. You will find Kṛṣṇa's picture always smiling and playing on His flute with His cowherd boyfriends or the gopīs or His mother, Yaśodā, always jolly. Ānanda. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). That is, the Vedānta-sūtra says, "The Absolute Truth by nature is ānandamaya, always jolly."
But the real problem is that we should understand that this place is full of danger, and in the Bhagavad-gītā it is certified, this place, that duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This place is full of miseries and aśāśvatam. Even if you accept, "Oh, let it be miserable. I don't mind. I shall remain here..." People say frankly that "We don't want any other world. We don't want, don't believe in it, heaven" or "We don't believe in Vaikuṇṭha. We want to make ourself happy in this world." They say. But from authorities like Kṛṣṇa or Bhagavad-gītā, we understand that this place is meant for suffering. This is called duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Even if we agree to live in this miserable place... Because everyone, we want to live. Nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to die. Suppose we are sitting here, and if there is some death signal, oh, we shall at once flee away from this place, if there is fire, because we do not want to die. That is a fact.
If you cannot stop the course of birth and death of your children, then don't become a father. This is called religious contraceptive. Remain without children. That is called dharmika life. If you can stop the birth and death of your children... Birth and death means... Because dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). The real soul, the real life is within the body, while... And he's transmigrating. The... Transmigrating from one body to another. That is called death. And when he comes out from one, another body, that is called birth. So as soon as you get—kleśada āsa dehaḥ—this body, full of miserable condition, then you again put into miserable condition of life. Therefore if you can stop your childrens' birth and death any more, then beget children. This is the shastric injunction. And if the father does not know how to stop his own birth and death, then what is the use of producing children? The father should be so sympathetic with the children, with the sons, that he must know what is the pains and pleasure of birth and death.
Lord Kṛṣṇa says that "Four kinds of men who are pious, they come to Me." And who are they? Ārta. Ārta plus pious. Ārta means distressed, at the same time pious. A man distressed does not mean he is impious. He may be pious. A pious man, he may be in distress because this material world is meant for distress. So it is meant for pious or impious, both. Just like when there is winter, winter season, everyone suffers. It does not care for the pious, impious, rich or poor. Similarly, this place is full of miseries. So the pious, he thinks of God in his miserable condition, but the impious, he cannot think. Just like if somebody is distressed and he goes to the church and prays, "My Lord, I am distressed. Please help me," oh, he is good man. He is good man. Although he is praying for some necessities, but still, he is good man than the man who does not go at all to the church because he does not believe.
This is necessary for you to become this Kṛṣṇa conscious, to adopt this life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Why? Because jarā-maraṇa-mokṣāya: "In order to get out of the miseries of jarā." Jarā means old age, invalidity. And jarā-maraṇa. Maraṇa means death. Due to ignorance, we forget the miseries of death, the miseries of invalidity, or old age. We think, "Now we are young, young man, young woman. Oh, we don't care for what is old age or what is death. Let us enjoy." We forget. But a man who is not in ignorance, he has always in his view that this material life is full of miseries because there is birth, there is death, there is old age and there is disease.
So this body is neither blissful, neither eternal, nor full of knowledge. It is full of ignorance and full of miseries and not permanent; temporary. So God hasn't got such body. Therefore sometimes it is said in the Vedic literature: formless. Formless means the form which you can conceive at the present moment, God hasn't got that form. But when He descends like you and me, that is His mercy. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). He comes just to..., being visible to our eyes. Just like this picture. This picture is not... It is not to be taken that He's not God, He is picture. The picture of God is also God. Picture of Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. The sound, name Kṛṣṇa, that is also Kṛṣṇa. But just to give us facility to understand... You do not think that this picture of Kṛṣṇa is painted by some artist's imagination. No. It is not imagination. There is description in the scripture what is the form of Kṛṣṇa.
In every step there is danger. It is a place like that. Even if you are comfortable in a nice car, you are going, oh, there may be any moment accident. Even you are sitting here, there may be accident. So difficulties, this world is full of difficulties. One who does not understand this difficult position, he's a fool. If one thinks that "I am very comfortable," then he's a fool. This is animal life, just as animal thinks, "Oh, I am very comfortable. I am very nice." And dissatisfaction is human life. He's not happy unless he gets the greatest happiness. That is human life. And if he thinks, "Yes, I am well off. I am very happy," then he is animal. Because there is no happiness here. Full of distress. Full of miseries. How he says that "I am happy"? That means he is ignorant. So difficulties are there. You have to work out. That is the problem.
"My dear Arjuna, if anyone comes to Me," mām upetya, "by this process, by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the result is," punar janma duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, na āpnuvanti, "he does not get any more to come back into this material world full of miseries."
This material world is certified by the Supreme Lord, the creator, as duḥkhālayam. Duḥkhālayam means "the place of miseries." And how you can make it comfortable? Can you make it comfortable by your so-called advancement of science? No. It is not possible. But we do not know what is duḥkha, or what is suffering. Real duḥkha is, real suffering is, birth and death, old age and disease. But we have set aside. Because we cannot make solution of these things, we don't care for it. We are after sputnik and atomic bomb. That is our scientific advancement. Why don't you solve these important things, which is giving me always suffering? They have no power.
It is not possible. But we do not know what is duḥkha, or what is suffering. Real duḥkha is, real suffering is, birth and death, old age and disease. But we have set aside. Because we cannot make solution of these things, we don't care for it. We are after sputnik and atomic bomb. That is our scientific advancement. Why don't you solve these important things, which is giving me always suffering? They have no power. So here is the solution, that Kṛṣṇa says, mām upetya punar janma: (BG 8.15) "If anyone attains into My platform, then he does not come back again," punar janma, "rebirth again." Where? Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam: "This place, full of miseries, full of..."
Just try to understand that this place is full of miseries. There... In the modes of ignorance we cannot understand. Just like the cats and dogs and hogs, they cannot understand that what miserable condition of life they are pulling on, similarly, human... A human being is called rational animal. They are animal, but at the same time, they have got the rationality. But that rationality is being used in the purpose of animal propensities.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So suffering's there. You have to take version from realized souls, from, I mean to say, authorities that this... Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam: (BG 8.15) "This place is full of miseries." So one has to realize it. Unless we understand that this place is miserable, there is no question how to get out of it.
Student: So we have to...
Prabhupāda: Similarly, a person who does not develop this miserable condition of this world, he is not fully developed. Just like the animals. Animals, they do not understand what is misery. They do not understand. They are satisfied... (end)
And if you learn this knowledge, if you actually assimilate this knowledge—yaj jñātvā mokṣyase aśubhāt—then you become liberated from this inauspicious life, aśubham. Śubha mean auspicious, and aśubha inauspicious. So our, this material existence is inauspicious because we are full of ignorance, full of miserable condition, and this body is perfect. Our existence, body, should have been like Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa is the original father, the son's body is as good as the father's body. But when we learn from the śāstra that īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), His form is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, and when we compare our, this body, material body, it is neither eternal, neither full of knowledge, neither full of bliss.
Kṛṣṇa (is) instructing that there are two pathways. One is go back to home, back to Godhead, and other path is remain in this material world which is full of miseries, especially birth, death, old age and disease. Two paths. Actually, we living entities, we are not subjected to birth, death, old age and disease. We are eternal part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and we are part and parcel of Him, just like father is there and he may have many children. So every child is the part and parcel of the father. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, God, we all living entities, we are sons, or part and parcel of God. Qualitatively we are one. Just like a small particle of gold is also gold. It is not a different thing. But one is small particle and one is big lump. But qualitatively, both of them are gold. So we are small particle of Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is vibhu, the great, God is great, and we are small particle.
Anyone who becomes Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even partially, simply to know Kṛṣṇa, that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His activities are transcendental, simply by knowing this, you will solve your all these problems, simply by knowing this. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9). These things are stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore, in every way, if you make analytical study of Bhagavad-gītā, then you have to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Bhagavad-gītā is being preached all over the world in so many languages. But I am sorry they are not in the right way. Therefore we are very serious to preach this mission of Bhagavad-gītā all over the world so that people may become happy and people may take advantage of it. That is our mission, and we invite everyone, every gentleman, every sane man, to come and cooperate with us. This is a nice mission. We shall be glad to cooperate for the good of all people of the world. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). The Lord says that if you transfer yourself to the kingdom of God, then you will have no more to come in this world of miseries, full of miseries. What is the time? Thank you very much.
So here Kṛṣṇa says, kaunteya pratijānīhi: "Please declare in the world that anyone who has taken to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness will never be destroyed. He will never go back again to that material life of sense gratification and pull on this material existence full of miseries. He will be taken out. He will be taken out sooner or later. As he has taken to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he will be never destroyed." Our destruction is... You always remember: our destruction means material existence is the destruction of our spiritual existence. Because destroyed does not mean that as spiritual being, I will be nowhere, no. This is my position, nowhere. I do not know. Just like I am being kicked like a football. I have no place. You have seen football playing. The football has no place. As soon as comes, somebody's feet, he kicks. He goes to another body. He kicks. He's another body—kicking. His only situation is being kicked, football.
And what is the main business of material nature? Just to beat you with shoes. That is nature. Therefore we are suffering in this material world. Because we have taken shelter of the material nature. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). We have taken shelter of this material nature; therefore, we are full of anxieties and full of miserable condition of life. This is the position. So long you'll be under the control of the—you are under the control. You cannot be independent. You rascal, don't think that ever you shall be independent. Your position is to remain dependent. If you don't depend on Kṛṣṇa, then you have to depend on the material nature, that's all. You cannot become independent. That is not possible.
Then what is the advantage of becoming sura and asura? If you become a sura, then you become fit for entering into the kingdom of God, back to home, back to Godhead. But if you remain asura, then you have to remain in this material world, which is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15), full of miseries and temporary. So we don't say anyone asura and sura, but, we understand from the śāstra anyone who takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whatever he may be, he becomes a sura. Even if he is born in asura family, it doesn't matter. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. His father was a asura, but still, he became the first-class sura. Similarly, everyone can become first-class sura. They have to be trained. The asuras, they... Therefore it is said that pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca janā na vidur āsurāḥ (BG 16.7). Asuras, the fault is, asuras, they do not know how to live a very happy and clean life. They do not know. Ācāra. Na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāraḥ. They have not cleanliness and good behavior.
This is the world. It is going on. It is simply full of suffering. Simply we are after this phantasmagoria, that our running after something which is actually not fact. It is illusion. So this is the life in the material world. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to save the person from this illusory life of material existence. Let them come to Kṛṣṇa and go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa. This is our movement. The greatest beneficial movement. We don't want to keep these people in ignorance. They are in illusion, ignorance. So our business is to enlighten him. Kota nidrā jāo māyā-piśācīra: "You are sleeping. Get up, take this opportunity and be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Go back to home. Give up this nonsense place, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15), full of miseries, cheating." This is our movement. The people do not understand. But our predecessor's order is that if you can save even one man, that is fulfillment of your mission. That we are trying. That's all.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
"It doesn't matter whether he is woman or śūdra or a vaiśya. If he takes shelter of My lotus feet, according to the regulative principle, te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, they also go back to home, back to Godhead." Kiṁ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā (BG 9.33). Then what to speak of the persons who are born in brāhmaṇa family and those who are devotee? They must go, provided he takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa. Even striyaḥ śūdrās tathā vaiśyāḥ, who are considered less intelligent or born in lower degrade species of life, still, they can go. And what to speak of the persons who have taken in high family, devoted family? They must go. Anityam asukhaṁ lokam imaṁ prāpya bhajasva mām. This world is anityam. Anityam means temporary; asukham, and full of miseries. Imaṁ prāpya... If you want to get relief from this temporary world and the distresses within this world, then bhajasva mām: "Just become a devotee of Me."
And what is the benefit of going to Kṛṣṇa? Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam nāpnuvanti (BG 8.15). "If someone comes to Me, then he does not get any more this material body to come to this material world." What is the harm if I come to the material world? That duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This material world is full of miseries, and that also temporary. Even if you accept that I shall adjust my miserable condition of life, but still nature will not allow you to live there. You may think that "We are Americans, we have got enough money, vast land, resources, I shall live as American." But you can live as American, say for fifty years. You'll not be allowed to live as American or as Indian or this or that. Even as Brahmā you will be not allowed. Brahmā has got his one day millions of years. He will also not be allowed. The ant will not be allowed, a cat will not be allowed, an elephant will not be allowed, a man will not be allowed, a demigod will not be allowed—to live forever. Hiraṇyakaśipu tried to live forever.
Therefore the persons with less intelligence, they cannot understand that God's body is not matter. They think that anything has got a body is matter; but that is not the case. The real thing is that God has got body, but not material body. And it is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā that īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His body is eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. Just opposite. You have got this body which is neither eternal, nor full of bliss, nor full of knowledge. This body is full of ignorance and full of miseries and temporary. Therefore God hasn't got a body like this. When in the Vedic literature it is said that God has no body, that does not mean that He has no body. He has no body like this body, material body. Apāni-pādo javana gṛhīta. The Vedic literature says like this, that God has no leg, no hand. Therefore the impersonalists take advantage of it. "Oh, here it is stated God has no legs, no hands." But the next line is, javana gṛhīta: "He can accept everything which you offer Him in devotion."
So when I get the opportunity of this human form of life, my first business is how to protect this ātmā, soul. The soul is transmigrating from one body to another. How foolish they have become! We are enjoying this nice body, human body or American body or very beautiful body. But next moment I do not know what body I am going to get. But those who are in the knowledge how transmigration takes place, they can say what kind of body you are going to take next by your activities. We are preparing our body in our present life. Just like we have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Our attempt is to prepare for having a spiritual body. That is the whole attempt. And those who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in material consciousness, they'll have also a body, but this material body means full of miseries. Any body you take, either you take the body of king or you take the body of a dog, the body is miserable. It does not mean that when there is disease, only the dog's body suffers, not the king's body. Everyone has to suffer.
In the material world, "This is good," "This is bad"—actually, it is the same thing. As it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ: it is due to the skin that we are sometimes feeling warm and sometimes feeling cold. The material nature is the same. Similarly, our feelings of happiness and distress is just like feeling the warmth and, I mean to say, chilly cold. Due to the skin, due to this body. Actually, there is no happiness in the material world. Kṛṣṇa says, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam: (BG 8.15) "This place is full of misery, full of misery." Now, how you can make it happy? Caitanya-caritāmṛta also says that dvaite bhadrābhadra sakali samāna. In this material world it is our mental creation: "This is happiness. This is distress." Actually, it is all distress. After all, we have to die. After all, we have to finish this business. So what is happiness or distress? Bhāgavata also says that "Don't bother yourself to make yourself happy by working day and night without trying for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is simply waste of time."
So when one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious by the grace of the Supreme Personality, guru-kṛṣṇa, by the grace of guru and Kṛṣṇa, then he understands that this place, this material world, is full of miseries. Then brahma-jijñāsā. But foolishly people do not understand that it is a miserable condition. Sanātana Gosvāmī, he was minister. By contact with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu he could understand that "Although I am minister, although I am holding very high, exalted position, I am learned scholar in Sanskrit, Urdu, Parsi, but I am not happy." Therefore he approached Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Ke āmi kene āmāya jāre tāpa... He understands that "I am in the suffering." Suffering, everyone can understand. Why you are moving the fan? I am in suffering. But foolish people cannot understand. They think that I am enjoying.
If they can be delivered, then what to speak those who are brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇa means puṇya. Without having background of pious activities, nobody can take birth in rich family, in brāhmaṇa family. Nobody can become highly learned person, nobody can become beautiful. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī (SB 1.8.26). They're the action, reaction of puṇya. And just the opposite is pāpa. So everyone—there is no question of pāpī or puṇya—if anyone takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32), it doesn't matter. Everyone can be elevated to the transcendental position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
So this movement is there. Take advantage of it and elevate your life and finish the material trouble. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). It is only simply full of miseries and temporary. This business must be stopped. And yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama: (BG 15.6) simply by going back to home, back to Godhead, your all problems of life will be solved.
That was presented by Sanātana Gosvāmī when he went to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that "I was minister, quite comfortable. People called me learned scholar. That is also, some way or other, it is right. But I did not know why I am suffering in spite of becoming the minister or king or this or that. And people say that I am a learned man, but I do not know how to get out of the suffering." This should be the question. They are trying to get out of the suffering, but they do not know the ways, how to get out of it. That is ātma-tattvam. He does not know what is the nature of ātmā, what the ātmā wants, and how the ātmā will be comfortable. That he does not know. That information is given by Kṛṣṇa, by Caitanya Mahāprabhu: jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). The, every living entity is eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore unless he comes to the platform of serving Kṛṣṇa, there is no question of happiness. There is no question of happiness. And Kṛṣṇa also says the same thing: duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). "This place is simply full of miseries, and if you come to Me..." Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6).
This is going on. Nobody will be allowed to stay here in this material world. He will have to change the body, his position. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). And so long you'll remain here, you'll have to fight, struggle for existence. This is material life. And at the same time, if you make compromise, that "Never mind, it is full of miseries. I shall stay here," no, you cannot be allowed. You'll be kicked out. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This is the material world. So... And we have got very much attachment for this material world. We cannot... Therefore according to Vedic system there is compulsory renunciation. "Get out, please, immediately." Pañcāśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. "You are now past fifty years. That's all right. You have falsely fought in this material world, ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Now stop this business. Come out." This is Vedic civilization. As soon as you are fifty years, you may... Just like children, they play on the beach, making sand house and so on.
So to come to the so-called conditional happiness we have to undergo so many difficulties, and when we come to that position... Suppose after working very, very hard I get one millions dollars, so I will not be allowed to enjoy this one million dollar for all the days. Aśāśvatam. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Kṛṣṇa says that this place is full of miseries. To get that one million dollar you have to undergo so many miserable condition of life. And even if you get it... Perhaps you may not get it. Everyone is trying, but they cannot. Everyone is not getting. Who is destined to get, he will get it, not that everyone, because he, one is trying very hard, it is guaranteed that he will get one millions dollars. That is not possible. That one who is to get by destiny... This is the śāstra. Actually, this is the fact.
So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is reminding the whole human society that "Don't lose this chance of getting a human body." You must properly utilize it. And how it is to be utilized? That is stated here by Ṛṣabhadeva: tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvam śuddhyet (SB 5.5.1). Sattvam, our existence, is now polluted. Therefore we are getting this material body and changing this material body. And as soon as we get a material body, then our miserable condition begins. In this material body nobody can say that there is no miserable condition. It is full of miserable condition. There are three kinds of miserable conditions: adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. Adhyātmika means pertaining to the body and pertaining to the mind. There are so many miseries. Otherwise... The other day Swami Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa was telling that in this country there is maximum number of suicide. Is it not? So, why one commits suicide unless he feels bodily position very uncomfortable, mental condition very disturbing? So this is called adhyātmika, pertaining to the body and mind.
So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a training system, training system how to acquire, how to be transferred to that Kṛṣṇaloka, how to attain that most purified body where there is no more death, no more birth. There is another version in the Bhagavad-gītā. Here it is said, mām eti: "He comes to Me." So in another verse it is stated... If somebody inquires that "What happens by going to Kṛṣṇa?" that is also answered: mām upetya kaunteya. This very same word is there, kaunteya: "My dear Kaunteya," mām upetya, "anyone who comes to Me..." Upetya. Upetya means "approaching Me." Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvataṁ nāpnuvanti: (BG 8.15) "He does not any more regain this place, this material world, which is full of miseries and temporary."
The qualification of this material world are two. So long you live, it is always full of miseries. And if you try to make compromise—"All right, I shall live here. Never mind it is miserable"—that is also temporary. You cannot live also. You cannot... Suppose you think that "All right, I have got this American body, American country. Never mind there are some sufferings due to this body. I shall live here." Oh, you cannot live. You cannot. You'll not be allowed to live also. How long? Therefore the qualifications of this material world are two. It is full of misery and it is temporary. But our demand is full of pleasure and eternal life.
How we are happy? Supposing you are feeling happy. How long you'll be happy? Any moment you'll have to give up this place. Take example, your President Kennedy. He approached to the most happiest position, president, young man, good wife, children. Within a second, everything finished. Within a second. He was going on car very nicely, protected, thinking protection, but just in a moment—finished. So that possibility is for everyone. Even the President of America, Mr. Kennedy, he could not save himself, in spite of so much power and opulence. And what of us? We have to think, you see, very with cool head that every arrangement here in this world, however nice you may think, however you may be free, they are all temporary, all temporary, backed up by full of misery. Unless one is not conversant with this principle of life, he cannot actually seriously take up what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Mukti means the..., to get out of the clutches of the stringent material laws. That is called mukti. We are at the present moment conditioned, so many conditions. So mukti means to live without condition. That is called mukti. The mukti definition is given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: muktir sva-rūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ, muktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ. This is called mukti. We are not in the svarūpa. Svarūpa means spiritual form. That is called svarūpa. At the present moment, our material conditional body, that is not svarūpa. Last night I tried to explain, svarūpa means sac-cit-ānanda-rūpa. That is svarūpa, eternal, blissful life of knowledge. This is not svarūpa. This body is not eternal, neither it is blissful. It is full of miseries and without any knowledge. So this is not svarūpa. Svarūpa means eternal life, blissful life, and full of knowledge. That is called svarūpa.
Āpṛṇoti. Na sādhu manye, Ṛṣabhadeva says: "O My dear boys, it is not very good." Na sādhu manye. Sādhu means honest work, nice sādhu means saintly person or good. It is not good. Why it is not good? I am enjoying, enjoying. Enjoying means palate, very nice. Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). You do not know that you have got this material body. And what is this material body? Material body means full of miserable condition. That's all. Who has got a material body, they do not understand what is spiritual body. So suppose material or spiritual, anyone who has got this body, can anyone here say, "I have no trouble, I am free from all trouble"? Is there anyone? Is it possible to say? What do you think? Can anyone say that "Yes, I've got this body, but I have no miserable condition, I'm always very happy"? Is there anyone? That rascal civilization, they cannot understand.
Satya śama, controlling the senses, controlling the mind. Dama, controlling the senses, satya-sama-dama-śaucam, always clean, taking bath three times daily. Antar-bahiḥ. Outwardly, to wash with soap and other materials to clean, keep oneself clean, and inwardly, always thinking of Kṛṣṇa—that is cleanliness. So satya-sama-śaucam ārjavam, simplicity. Not to encourage artificial necessities of life. Simple life: plain living, high thinking—simplicity. And titikṣa, tolerance. Because this world is miserable. If we become disturbed with the miseries of this world, oh, you cannot live for a moment, because this life is, material life is full of miseries. So you have to become tolerant. When Kṛṣṇa was instructed about the eternity of the soul to Arjuna, Arjuna understood it. He said, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, I quite understand that soul is eternal. Even my teacher and grandfather is killed, he is bodily killed, but he is eternal. I can understand.
There is some pain. But we cannot understand what is the pain. Suppose some bug is biting. He's crying and mother is thinking that "He is hungry, so he's not stopping. So just..." Our point is: just try to study this life, how much painful it is. This is the human body and what to speak of the dog's body, cat's body? You study very minutely. You'll find, from the beginning of my life in the womb of my mother up to the death point, simply miseries. Simply miseries. Simply. Duḥkhalayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Kṛṣṇa said that this material life is duḥkhālayam, simply full of miseries. But under the spell of māyā we are thinking that we are very happy. That's not the fact. Therefore human life is a chance to get out of this miserable condition. That should be the aim of life, how to get out of this miserable condition of life. That requires knowledge how we are suffering, how it can be mitigated. The sufferings will be ended... The same thing: unless you become law-abiding to the laws given by God, you'll suffer. That is nature's way.
We are always in miseries, but if I ask you or you ask me "How are you," I will say, "Oh, it is very nice." What is very nice? We are sitting here. The heat is so extensive, everyone is feeling inconvenienced. But if you ask me, "Sir, how are you," I will say, "It is very nice." This is called māyā. We are always under some tribulation, always, either now it is very hot, it is warm, and after few months, it will be too cold. So either you are in cold or you are in heat. So these are miseries. If not heat and cold, it is all right, atmosphere, oh, there is something, mental misery. If there is no mental misery, there is some bodily misery. If there is no mental misery, bodily misery or natural misery, then somebody must... At least, there is mosquito misery, the bug misery. So if you analyze your life, it is full of miseries, full of miseries.
You don't have to take any botheration. In whatever position you are, you just try to consent in your mind to hear the sound of Hare Kṛṣṇa, best type of meditation, because it is not possible to acquire all these qualities, tapa. So śamo-damas-tapa-śaucam. Śaucam means cleanliness, hygienic principles, to take bath thrice, at least once, daily. Therefore to keep no hair is better. You wash, there is no question of moisture in the hair. And those who have got big hairs, they cannot take daily bath. But if you keep your bald-headed, there is no trouble. Śaucam. So bathing is required, taking bath daily, śaucam. And kṣānti. Kṣānti means toleration. Because this world is full of miseries, and you have to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this condition... Kṛṣṇa advised in the Bhagavad-gītā, Arjuna, that... Because the topic was on the body, so Arjuna said, "Accepting that the soul is immortal and it never dies, still, if some relative dies, we feel pain. Is it not a fact?" Kṛṣṇa said, "Yes, it is a fact." Even if I know that my son is dead, my son is not dead. The soul of my son is departed from this body to another body.
So anyone who takes up this endeavor on behalf of God to reclaim these conditioned souls back to Godhead, back to home, he is considered the most intimate devotee, dear devotee of the Lord. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, na ca tasmād manuṣyeṣu kaścid me priya-kṛttamaḥ. If you want to become very dear to Kṛṣṇa or God, then try to take up these missionary activities. What is that? Spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa will be very much pleased. If you want to live in a solitary place and perform yoga system for your personal elevation of self-realization, that is very good, undoubtedly. But if you try to convert others to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness platform, it is far better. Prahlāda Mahārāja, you'll find in his prayer, he'll say to the Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, "My dear Lord," naivodvije para duratyaya-vaitaraṇyās, "this world is full of anxieties. That I know. And it is full of miserable condition. But I am not afraid. I am not afraid." Why you are not afraid?
So Prahlāda Mahārāja was chastised by his father so many ways, but he could not forget Kṛṣṇa. The love was fixed up. Therefore Kṛṣṇa became very much pleased, prīto 'ham. Prīto 'ham. Prahlāda atyanta. So mām aprīṇata āyuṣman. Āyuṣman, blessing: "Now you can live long," or "eternally live," āyuṣman. Āyuṣ means duration of life. When one approaches Kṛṣṇa... Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, nāpnuvanti. Duḥkhālayam (BG 8.15). So long we have got this material body, material world, it is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). It is full of miserable condition, and at the same time not permanent. Even if we accept miserable condition... Everyone is trying to live. A old man does not like to die. He goes to the doctor, takes some medicine so that he can continue his life. But he will not be allowed to live. Aśāśvatam. You may be very rich man, you may take many pills, many injection to prolong your life, but that is not possible.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
We are prepared to take any risk only for sense gratification. But we do not know that we are taking great risk, great risk. Because there is another life. After death, there is life. The modern people, they do not understand it. Therefore śāstra says, na sādhu manye: "These kinds of activities are not very good." Na sādhu. It is not honest. This is not good. Yato ātmano ayam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). We have got this body. That is kleśada. Just like we are feeling warm; therefore we want this fan, because the, on account of this body, we are feeling warm. Or sometimes chilly. So if I feel chilly, then I have to stop this fan. I'll have to cover this body. So all our pains and pleasure are due to this material body. That we do not understand. Śāstra says, asann api. Although this body's temporary, but it is kleśada, it is full of miserable condition: ādhyātmika, ādhibhautika, ādhidaivika.
Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). These statements are there. If we actually take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then māyā, the laws of nature, will not act. And... Otherwise, we shall be put into the cycle of birth and death. So the best utilization of this human life is to elevate oneself to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: if we try to understand Kṛṣṇa, in truth, then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), then we'll not have to accept any more this material body, which is full of miserable conditions. Then we go back to home, back to Godhead.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva says that na sādhu manye. He was instructing His sons, "My dear boys, this kind of life, irresponsible life, to do anything and everything for sense gratification, is not very good." Why? "Now, because you are creating another body." You have already got experience of this body. It is full of miseries, adhyātmikā, adhi (?), adhibhautika, three kinds of miserable condition of life. Beyond that, there is ultimate miseries. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). But they are so rascals, they do not know how death taking place, what is after death, what is mṛtyu, what is death, what is birth, what is disease, whether they can be cured, when one can be free from all these troubles. They do not bother.
So, when he was so sorry, so Śukadeva Gosvāmī encouraged him, "Mahārāja, don't be sorry. There is very nice process in the Kali-yuga. In the midst of so many difficulties of this age, there is one boon, and that boon is one can become liberated from this material entanglement altogether simply by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma..." Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya. It was especially mentioned, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya (SB 12.3.51), simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, one can become... This is the greatest boon in this age. Although there are so many difficulties, full of miseries, increase in the greatest volume... The world is, material world is miserable. Just like cold season, this winter season, today we are feeling most inconvenienced. Similarly, this material world is always miserable. But still, in this age it is most miserable, in this age of Kali.
Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures
The material body is different from the spiritual body. That they do not know. So when the Vedas says nirākāra, "formless," that means He has no material form; He has got spiritual form. That spiritual form means full of bliss, ānanda. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Vedānta-sūtra. By nature ānandamaya. There is nothing nirānanda. That is spiritual world, always full of bliss, full of knowledge, and eternity. That is spiritual. You live eternally and full of knowledge. Here so many things we do not know. It is full of ignorance, this body, and full of miseries. Moment after moment, we are, due to this body, we are always in miserable condition, threefold miseries-adhyātmika, adhibhautika... So people do not try to understand this philosophy, but in the Vedic literature, each and every line, there is philosophy. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitā.
Festival Lectures
So you have already got this body at the present moment. And that is kleśa-daḥ, always giving misery. Everyone has got experience. So again you are committing sinful activities to get another material body. This is not good. This is not good. Na sādhu manye yata ātmāno 'yaṁ kleśa-daḥ. You, you have already got experience, by your past mischievous activities, you have got this body which is always full of miseries and painful. Still, you are committing the same sinful activities so that you'll get another body to enjoy. Kṛṣṇa will give you; so long you have a pinch of material desire, Kṛṣṇa will give you opportunity: "All right, you take another body and enjoy." But we foolish people, we do not know acceptance of material body is the source of all miserable conditions. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, "You simply try to understand." Janma karma me divyam. Simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa.
This place is for misery. So how you can say, in miserable condition, how you can say that "This is good" or "This is bad." Everything is bad. So those persons who do not know—the material, conditional life—they manufacture something, "This is good, this is bad," because they do not know everything here is bad, nothing good. One should be very much pessimistic of this material world. Then he can make advance in spiritual life. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This place is full of miseries, and if you study analytically, you'll find simply miserable condition. Therefore the whole problem is that we should give up our material conditional life, and in Kṛṣṇa consciousness we should try to elevate ourself to the spiritual platform and thereby be promoted to the kingdom of Godhead, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāmaṁ paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6), where going, nobody comes back to this miserable world. And that is the supreme abode of the Lord.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
If we can understand what is that spirit soul, then we can understand what is this spiritual movement. Otherwise, simply on material understanding, it is very difficult to understand what is spiritual life or spiritual platform. But there is. We can simply feel like that at the present moment, but there is a spiritual world, spiritual life. And what is that spiritual life? Complete freedom. Complete freedom. Eternity, blissful and full of knowledge. That is spiritual life. Completely distinct from this bodily concept of life. Spiritual life means eternity, blissful life of knowledge. And this material life means nonpermanent, ignorance and full of miseries. This body means it will not stay and it is always full of miserable condition. And there is no blissfulness. Always in the material (life) we have got some kind of unhappiness. But on account of our long association with this material life we have become so dull-headed that it is very difficult to understand what is spiritual life, what are spiritual activities, what is spiritual world, what is God, what is our relationship with Him.
Initiation Lectures
His limited knowledge, speculator, poor fund of knowledge, he thinks that "God must be like me." Therefore in some of the scriptures He's denied personality, because this rascal thinks that "God is a person like me." Therefore it is said: not person. When it is said God is not person, that means He's not a person like you. He's not a rascal like you. That is description. When it is negatively described that He's not a person, that means He's not a person like you. But He's a person, a different person. Sac-cid-ānanda vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His person is eternal. He does not die. We die. He's full of bliss. Our, this body, is not full of bliss; full of miseries. So how God can be a person like you? Therefore sometimes He is described as impersonal. Otherwise God is a person. He's a person like us, and He's the original person.
Wedding Ceremonies
"Anyone who comes back to Me," Kṛṣṇa says, "anyone who goes back to Godhead, then he does not require to come back again to this place, which is full of miseries." Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Duḥkhālayam means it is a place of misery, this material world. And aśāśvatam. Aśāśvatam means temporary. Even if I agree, "All right, it is a miserable place. Let me live here perpetually," no. That also will not be allowed. As soon as there will be order, "Please get out," you have no power to remain. Suppose... We are Indian. We are poverty-stricken or we are not very happy materially. You American people, you are very happy. But the nature of law is stringent both for the Indians and Americans equally. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is particularly to go back to Godhead, giving up this material world, which is full of miserable life. It is actually full of miseries, but those who are thinking that "I am happy," or "We are happy," they are under illusion, māyā. That is called māyā. Actually, there is no happiness, because the Supreme Personality of Godhead says it is a place of misery. How you can make it comfortable place?
General Lectures
If you think something void, there will be something light, something color, colorful, so many things we will find. But that is also form. How you can avoid form? That is not possible. Therefore why don't you concentrate your mind to the real form, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller, the supreme controller, who has got a body? How? Vigrahaḥ, vigrahaḥ means body. And what sort of body? Sac-cid-ānanda, eternal body, full of bliss, full of knowledge. That body. Not like body like this. This body is full of ignorance, full of miseries, and not eternal. Just opposite. His body is eternal; my body is not eternal. His body is full of bliss; my body is full of miseries, always something troubling me—headache, toothache, this ache, that ache. Somebody is, has given me personal trouble. So many... Adhyātmic, adhibhautic, severe heat, severe cold, so many things. This body is always under threefold miseries, this material body.
That is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā, how you can get eternal, blissful, all-knowledge body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). This body is not eternal, neither it is blissful, neither it is full of knowledge. It is full of ignorance, it is temporary, and always miserable. And if you say, "Now we are very happily living," that is māyā, that is illusion. Lord Buddha's teaching is that he was prince and there was no want in his life. He was luxuriously living. But he left home for meditation. Therefore he understood that "I am not living comfortably." This understanding, when we can understand that this life, this material life, is not at all comfortable, it is full of misery, that is called buddha life, intelligent. Buddha means intelligent. And if we are thinking that "I am living very comfortably. I am very happy," that is called māyā, illusion. Actually, we are always in miserable condition.
"Oh, I have manufactured these things so nicely, I have got this good apartment, dress, and my wife and children. How can I leave?" "Yes, you must leave. There is no time. Immediately you leave." So who is going to allow you to live even if you think that "I shall live in spite of all miseries"? Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This place is full of misery; at the same time, it is not allowed to remain here permanently. So the solution is, as Bhagavad-gītā says, mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ. Mahātmānaḥ means... Mahātmā means the person who is broad-minded. Broad-minded means he is not..., his intelligence is not teeny, that he is satisfied with this material world full of misery. He wants to go to the life of eternal. Just like the Vedas say, tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. Jyotir gamaḥ: "Don't remain in this darkness. Come out for the light." So one who wants to go out to the light, he is called mahātmā.
Kṛṣṇa says, "Simply by understanding about My appearance and My activities, janma karma..." Janma means appearance, and karma means activities. Janma karma me divyam: "They are transcendental." Yo jānāti tattvataḥ: "If anyone understands in truth," tyaktvā deham, "then such person, after giving up this body," punar janma naiti, "do not come to take birth again in this material world, but he comes to Me." Mām eti. And if you come back to Kṛṣṇa, wherefrom you generated, then you become eternally living, not to come back again in this material world full of miseries and frustration.
The same thing repeatedly we are hearing. There is no other news. But we want to hear the same thing daily, the same newspaper items. Therefore, in the śāstra it is said, punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Just like you chew something. Generally we chew that sugarcane. Now I have chewed it, I have taken out all the juice, and then I have thrown it away. If somebody comes, "Oh, let me taste it, what is there?" And another man comes. Is that very good intelligence? We have tasted this material world. Everyone has tasted. It is full of miseries. Tri-tāpa yantraṇā. Tri means three and tapa means miserable condition of life. Tri-tāpa. Adhyātmic, pertaining to this body and mind. Sometimes I am feeling some pain on my body, there is fever or some other ailment, the mind is not in order, this is called adhyātmic. Similarly, adhibhautic. Just like Pakistan is ready to attack us. If not Pakistan, then there are many other enemies. Even there are many other living entities, just like mosquito, fly, bugs. So adhibhautic: another living entity giving us trouble.
So this is the position of this material world. Tri-tāpa yantraṇā trisura. You have seen the picture of Goddess Durgā, she is piercing the trisura on the chest of the asura, and he is suffering, his struggle for existence, fighting with the lion, rajo-guṇa. So this is the position of the material world, and the certificate is given by Kṛṣṇa, the Lord Himself, that this place is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Duḥkhālayam, always full of miseries. So the human form of life is meant for understanding what is my position. In the animal life we cannot understand that we are in a very, very miserable condition of life in this material world. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says, mānuṣam, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma, tad apy adhruvam. It will not stay. You can say, "All right, there is suffering. Let me suffer for some time, I shall get next life again or I shall be finished." But Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "Why do you think like that? Why you want to die like cats and dogs? Just acquire the benefit which you can have in this human form of life, Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Mānuṣam. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma, tad apy adhruvam. Although it will not stay, but it is arthadam. Arthadam means you can achieve the highest goal of life.
The living entity never takes birth, neither dies. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: (BG 2.20) "This body being destroyed, the living entity is not destroyed." So as eternal part and parcel of the Supreme Lord... The Supreme Lord is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), eternal, full of bliss, and knowledge. But we have got this body, material body, which is full of ignorance, full of miseries and neither... It is only temporary. This is our position. Therefore tapasya should be executed, how we can also revive our original constitutional position, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. This is called śuddhyet sattva. Just like when a man becomes diseased, it is his duty to go to the physician, consult him, take some medicine to get out of the disease, similarly, human life is meant for to get out of this disease. What is that disease? Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9).
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: Our senses are imperfect. We, we admit that there is God. Now, if our senses are imperfect, how we can imagine "God is like this," "God is like that"? That actually if God explains Himself, why should we not accept that?
Hayagrīva: In his, uh... Hume appears opposed to the search for God in the ideal world. He writes, "Why not stop at the material world? How can we satisfy ourselves without going on ad infinitum, forever. If the material world rests upon a similar ideal world, this ideal world must rest upon some other and so on, without end. It were better, therefore, never to look beyond the present material world.
Prabhupāda: Material world means full of miseries. Therefore those who are advanced, they are searching after another world where there is no misery. This is the idea. And this searching after happy world, that is permanent. Everyone is searching after that. That is not unnatural. But actually there is such world, and if there is, why should you not hanker after that world?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because I am true, therefore why I am here, that is truth. The basic principle is "I am truth." Therefore "Why I am here?" This is intelligent question. So that... These questions was asked by Sanātana Gosvāmī to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The first question: "Actually what I am? I don't want miserable condition of life, but this world is full of miserable condition of life. So why this is?" This is actually human understanding, when one comes to this enquiry that "I do not want any miserable condition of life, but why this miserable condition of life is forced upon me?" Nobody wanted the Pakistan war, but somehow or other it was enforced. Similarly, there are so many difficulties. Śītoṣṇa sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, āgamāpāyino, they come and go, but they come and go, or they come, that's a fact. So we have to tolerate.
Prabhupāda: The experience is... We have got experience that this material world is full of misery. Everyone will (agree). Otherwise why he is trying to adjust? Now we have got information from Bhagavad-gītā,
- mām upetya tu kaunteya
- duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam
- nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
- saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gataḥ
- (BG 8.15)
Kṛṣṇa says, "Anyone who comes to Me, back to home, back to Godhead, he does not come again to this material world which is full of misery." Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, nāpnuvanti... (BG 8.15).
Śyāmasundara: But then what is the stimulus? Why will they...?
Prabhupāda: This is stimulus. You are (indistinct) suffering miserable condition of life, and we are offering that "You take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you go to a place where only there is blissful life and knowledge."
Purports to Songs
Prabhupāda: This verse is particularly important because it describes the significance of sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). The Lord's body is sac-cid-ānanda. His body is not like ours. Our body is acit and..., asat, acit and nirānanda, just the opposite. Asat means it will not exist, and acit means it is full of ignorance and nirānanda... Nirānanda means full of miseries. These three qualification of our body, whereas the Lord's body is sac-cid-ānanda, it is eternal and full of knowledge and full of bliss. Our body and our self... My body and my self are different. But Lord and Lord's body is Absolute. What is Lord, Lord's body is also the same. So that description is given here. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti (Bs. 5.32). The Lord is not impersonal. He has got his form. And what sort of form? We should not consider that whenever there is a question of form, the form must be just like one of us. This is foolishness.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: If this finger does not satisfy my body... Suppose I want to scratch here, a finger is doing it. If it cannot do it, that means it is diseased. So anyone who is not satisfying Kṛṣṇa, he is diseased condition. That is material life. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). Material life means full of misery. And when misery comes? When one is diseased.
Dr. Singh: Is it possible, Swamiji, that Kṛṣṇa may like to be satisfied through the material life?
Prabhupāda: Well, provided it is done for Him. Just like Arjuna, fighting. Fighting, if you take..., just like nowadays fighting is going on, that is material. But the same fighting done for Kṛṣṇa is spiritual.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes, everything requires guidance. You are working in the laboratory under guidance. Similarly, everything requires guidance. Just like these small birds. First of all, they learn with the mother. The mother goes and they go. The mother come back, they come back. So guidance. Nature's way, guidance. And when they become little habituated, then without mother, they can do their business. That guidance is there everywhere. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa... (pause—break) ...kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, nāpnuvanti (BG 8.15). "Anyone who reaches Me, he does not come back to this material world full of miseries and temporary life." That means anyone who goes back to home, back to Godhead, there is no misery, there is no temporary life. It must be the opposite.
Prabhupāda: As soon as you find there are equals, or as soon as find there is greater, then you are not God. God—the great. He must be greater than everyone. Therefore śāstra has concluded, īśvara, God; parama, the Supreme; Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And why? Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His body is sat, cit, sac-cid-ānanda. Now you test. Your body's not sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, ānanda means full of bliss. Is, is my body sac-cid-ānanda, this body? No. It is not eternal. It is full of ignorance. It is full of miseries. Then how it can be God? So God, there cannot be many Gods. Many gods, that is not many, that is one. Just like you have got millions of photographs. That does not mean you are million. You are one. But you have expanded millions. Just like the sun is found in every pot. In millions of pot, you keep. And the sun is reflected. Does it mean the sun has become million? No. The sun is one.
Prabhupāda: No... nāpnuvanti. Saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ. Saṁsiddhim. Siddhi, siddhi is ordinary. If you become transcendentalist, jñānī, yogi, that is also kind of siddhi. Yogis, they have got aṣṭa-siddhi, aṇimā-laghimādi. But that is not saṁsiddhi. Saṁsiddhi is different. Saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ. The highest perfection, saṁsiddhi is to go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa. That is saṁsiddhi. Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). That will save him from coming down again to this place which is full of miserable conditions of life. That is saṁsiddhi. That one can attain very easily. That is also described, that janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: (BG 4.9) "Anyone who understands Me in truth..." Generally, people understand Kṛṣṇa that "He appeared as a great personality, son of Vasudeva. At Mathurā, He was born. And He acted very gorgeously in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and so on, so on."
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: No, they are right officially: "We trust in God." (break) ...the whole, I think, Americans are fortunate because this saṅkīrtana movement is there. Yes. If they take it more seriously, they will be actually favored nation of the Lord.
Hari-śauri: At the present moment it seems that the Communist movement seems to be taking over more and more countries.
Prabhupāda: They will take because people are becoming godless. That is the defect. People are becoming hippies, godless. This material world is full of miseries because most people are godless. Here... Material world means avoiding God. That is the sum and substance of material world. They are trying to avoid, becoming independent of God. That is their endeavor. The scientist, the philosopher, the politician—everyone is trying that. Therefore they are suffering. Māyā is there. Just like a criminal, if he says "I don't care for government," the police will take care of. That is certain.
Prabhupāda: But beyond this material nature, there is another nature. There are also innumerable planets. They are known as Vaikuṇṭha planets or Vṛndāvana planets. That is the kingdom of God. If we transfer ourself to that eternal nature, then we won't have to come back to this material nature again. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). Anyone who goes to that eternal nature, he hasn't got to come back again to this material nature. The material nature has been explained as duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Material nature is full of miserable condition. And the most miserable condition is explained as janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi: (BG 13.9) birth, death, old age and disease. So we living entities, we are eternal, part and parcel of God. God is eternal and we are also eternal. Just like gold and little portion of gold.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) That śloka I was... Tṛpyanti neha kṛpanā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ (SB 7.9.45). To... The sex life and the aftereffects are full of miserable condition, so once they have sex life, they become, woman becomes pregnant, and the painful conditions are passed. But still, he or she is not satisfied, again takes the same thing, entailed by so many sufferings. Tṛpyanti neha kṛpana. Because he has no knowledge, he commits means the same thing again.
Jagadīśa: Chewing the chewed.
Prabhupāda: Both of them suffer. But irresponsible father avoids, then the both suffering comes on the woman. She suffers the pain, birth pain, and suffers to raise the children. And the man goes away. How they are going to solve this problem? What is their answer? They become dependent on the man during sex life and purchases the pain, birth pain, and accuses the husband. And then, when the child is born she has to take care. The father may go away.
Prabhupāda: The suffering is there. If you say adhyātmika suffering is better than adhibhautika suffering, that is foolishness. Atyantika-duḥkha-nivṛttiḥ. Spiritual life means to end all kinds of suffering. That is spiritual life. Not that I get free myself from this kind of suffering and I accept that kind of suffering. This is not good conclusion. Atyantika-duḥkha. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This place is duḥkhālayam, full of miseries. And Kṛṣṇa is canvassing, "Why you are suffering? Come to Me." This mercantile community, they are earning money for mitigating suffering, but for earning money they are accepting any means. In future he is creating field of another suffering. That he does not know. He thinks, "Now, if I get money somehow or other, my present sufferings will be mitigated." But he does not know that he is creating another field of suffering.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Everywhere materialistic. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Spiritualistic means siddhi, perfection. Who cares for perfection? Bring money and enjoy. That's all. Who cares for perfection? They do not know what is perfection. They think that you get money, you live comfortably as far as possible, and after death, everything's finished. Is it not? This is the philosophy. Who cares to know that there is life after death and better life, better planet, better world? This is not at all good, it is full of miseries. They are driving all day, car, but they do not think it is tiresome. They think it is pleasure. To have a car and drive whole day, they do not feel that is tiresome. They think "I have got a car, I'm driving, people are seeing. It is pleasure."
Prabhupāda: Then how can you stop it? Anyone who wants to stop it, he's intelligent. And that is described here, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mam eti (BG 4.9). One has to understand this fundamentally, that so long I'll get this material body, I'll have to suffer. Maybe differences of degrees, but I will have to suffer. So my endeavor should be how to become independent of this material body. That is wanted. That is intelligence. Not to make a distinction of different degrees. Different degrees—one position, one man's food, another man's poison. The same degree. If you think that it is nice, another man will suffer. So suffering will continue. That is not possible (indistinct). It is the nature of material world, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Find out this verse. Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. This material world is full of miseries. That they do not understand. Miserable condition they are accepting as pleasing. That is called ignorant.
Pradyumna:
- mām upetya punar janma
- duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam
- nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
- saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gataḥ
- (BG 8.15)
"After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection."
Prabhupāda: The material world is full of miseries. It may be of different degrees, but it is full of miseries. You cannot avoid by adjustment. That is not possible. Therefore the materialists, they are trying. Just like in this country, Iran, now the Iranians are trying to become as opulent as the Americans. They are trying to build up similar cities and industries, but do you think they will be happy then? No. Are the Americans happy by having big, big cities? No. That is not possible. Now they are trying to imitate, but that is a false attempt. That is not the life. They can see that Americans have got big, big cities, they have big, big organizations, but are they happy actually or not? From practical example.
Correspondence
1967 Correspondence
The best thing is therefore to Chant the holy Name of the Lord Constantly. I would you request you to chant always God's holy Name. We are chanting God's holy name always and instructing our students to do so. If you have any holy name for God do chant Him always and it will do you the greatest benefit. And by chanting so when you will be remembering Him always then you transfer to the Kingdom of God is guaranteed. When you return to the Kingdom of God there is no necessity to come back again to the rotten world full of miseries. We are chanting God's Name as
- Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
- Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
The Lord Has millions of holy names and you can chant any one of them and each and every Name of the Lord is full potential. We chant the abovementioned holy Name of the Lord because the name was Chanted by Lord Caitanya the father of this movement of Krishna Consciousness. We follow Lord Caitanya's footprints to achieve very quick result. I would advise you also to follow the principle. Krishna means the most attractive reservoir of Pleasure. Who does not want such pleasure? Therefore we want Krishna and nothing more.
1973 Correspondence
So Everything appears to be going well there, just go on increasing. As you write that the Swedish society has placed great stress on material happiness so you can expose how this material life is actually full of miseries and temporary, and the so-called happiness is only illusion. People in the western countries are becoming gradually fed up with materialistic propaganda so you will find good response simply by chanting, speaking from Bhagavad gita as it is, and distributing prasadam to everyone. Unless the human society takes to this process the situation is very precarious. So we have to work hard.
| Page Title: | Full of miseries |
| Compiler: | Matea |
| Created: | 09 of Aug, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=4, SB=25, CC=4, OB=6, Lec=67, Con=11, Let=2 |
| No. of Quotes: | 119 |