So this materialistic way of life is not human life. It is less than animal life. Animal also does not work so hard. You see? And the people are engaged, wherever you go, the very big highways. What is called? Freeways. Four lines of motor cars running this way and four lines of motor cars running this way at the speed of seventy miles, and everyone is busy. You see? And they take, "It is a very good civilization." And if you shortcut your hard labor, sit down and discuss what is the Absolute Truth, what is the philosophy of life, "They are nonsense." You see? And if you work day and night, hard labor, and to get that energy, inject some medicine or some tranquilizer and this and that... You see? This is the..., going on. So actually, this is not life. This is cats' and dogs' life. That is the verdict of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛ-loke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye: (SB 5.5.1) "This life, human form of life, is not meant for working so hard just like animals." Then? "This kind of engagement is for the dogs and hogs." The hogs also, they work the whole day and night and have some sex pleasure. They are happy. So is that life, simply working day and night hard and enjoy some sex pleasure some way or other, and we are thinking happy? No. This is not life. Life is to utilize the energy for perpetual happiness. They do not know that there is some perpetual happiness, there is perpetual life. They are so ignorant. Therefore they are trying: "Whatever happiness can be had here, just enjoy." But there is. You are eternal. You are blissful. Simply you are covered by this material energy.
So the demons, they do not know it, and if somebody tries for it, they do not take it very nicely, exactly. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. His philosophy was to finish all anxieties of life. His father asked him that "What finest thing you have learned, my dear boy? Can you say?" "Yes." "What is that?" "Now, these people are working hard and full of anxieties on account of their materialistic way of life. Therefore, I think to give up all this nonsense and go to the forest and surrender to Kṛṣṇa. "Oh," the father said, "what nonsense this child is learning?"
- tyaktvā ātma-ghātaṁ gṛham andha-kūpaṁ
- vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta
- tat sādhu manye 'sura-vārya dehināṁ
- sadā samudvignā (-dhīyam) asad-grahat
- (SB 7.5.5)
Sadā samudvignā-dhiyām asad-grahāt. "My dear father..." He directly addressed his father, "My dear father, the best of the demons." If I address you "best of the dogs," is that very nice thing? But if you think, "Oh, Swamijī addresses 'best.' " But best of what? "Best of the dogs." (laughs) So similarly, he addressed his father, "My dear best of the demons." Asurya-vārya, this very word means... Asura... Asura means demon, and vārya, vārya means the best. He did not like to address his father as "father." He knew that "What nonsense this father is? He is a demon." So a preacher... Prahlāda Mahārāja is not, I mean to say, against his father. Otherwise, he would not have prayed to Lord Nṛsiṁha, "My dear Lord, kindly forgive my father." Just see. Because he addressed his father as "best of the demons," that does not mean he had no love for his father. Simply by flattering, if I do some, ultimately do some harm unto you, then what is the meaning of that flattery? Here the father and son in the material world, they are addressing very nicely, but the father is sending the son to the hell, and the son is also sending the father to the hell by materialistic activities. A father is teaching, "Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy. Eat meat and drink and associate with as many girls and... That is... This is enjoyment." That means, indirectly, he is sending his son to the hell. You see? There is no love. Actually, this is no love. If I help you in the matter of for your ruination, that is not love.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja did not flatter his father. This should be the attitude of devotee. They should straightly speak everything truth.