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Laws of nature (BG and SB)

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Preface and Introduction

BG Introduction:

In this world men are not meant for quarreling like cats and dogs. Men must be intelligent to realize the importance of human life and refuse to act like ordinary animals. A human being should realize the aim of his life, and this direction is given in all Vedic literatures, and the essence is given in Bhagavad-gītā. Vedic literature is meant for human beings, not for animals. Animals can kill other living animals, and there is no question of sin on their part, but if a man kills an animal for the satisfaction of his uncontrolled taste, he must be responsible for breaking the laws of nature. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly explained that there are three kinds of activities according to the different modes of nature: the activities of goodness, of passion and of ignorance. Similarly, there are three kinds of eatables also: eatables in goodness, passion and ignorance. All of this is clearly described, and if we properly utilize the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā, then our whole life will become purified, and ultimately we will be able to reach the destination which is beyond this material sky. (BG 15.6)

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 3.14, Purport:

The field production is due to sufficient rain from the sky, and such rains are controlled by demigods like Indra, sun, moon, etc., and they are all servants of the Lord. The Lord can be satisfied by sacrifices; therefore, one who cannot perform them will find himself in scarcity—that is the law of nature. Yajña, specifically the saṅkīrtana-yajña prescribed for this age, must therefore be performed to save us at least from scarcity of food supply.

BG 3.16, Purport:

The mammonist philosophy of "work very hard and enjoy sense gratification" is condemned herein by the Lord. Therefore, for those who want to enjoy this material world, the above-mentioned cycle of performing yajñas is absolutely necessary. One who does not follow such regulations is living a very risky life, being condemned more and more. By nature's law, this human form of life is specifically meant for self-realization, in either of the three ways—namely karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, or bhakti-yoga.

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 11.32, Purport:

Death could not be checked, even if he did not fight. In fact, they were already dead. Time is destruction, and all manifestations are to be vanquished by the desire of the Supreme Lord. That is the law of nature.

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 13.21, Purport:

Once placed in some particular kind of body, he comes under the control of nature because the body, being matter, acts according to the laws of nature. At that time, the living entity has no power to change that law. Suppose an entity is put into the body of a dog. As soon as he is put into the body of a dog, he must act like a dog. He cannot act otherwise.

BG 13.21, Purport:

Similarly, if the living entity is put into the body of a demigod, he must act according to his body. This is the law of nature. But in all circumstances, the Supersoul is with the individual soul. That is explained in the Vedas (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.1.1) as follows: dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyaḥ. The Supreme Lord is so kind upon the living entity that He always accompanies the individual soul and in all circumstances is present as the Supersoul, or Paramātmā.

BG 14.16, Purport:

The animal killers do not know that in the future the animal will have a body suitable to kill them. That is the law of nature. In human society, if one kills a man he has to be hanged. That is the law of the state. Because of ignorance, people do not perceive that there is a complete state controlled by the Supreme Lord. Every living creature is a son of the Supreme Lord, and He does not tolerate even an ant's being killed.

BG 16.11-12, Purport:

We have personal experience of a person of such demoniac mentality who, even at the point of death, was requesting the physician to prolong his life for four years more because his plans were not yet complete. Such foolish people do not know that a physician cannot prolong life even for a moment. When the notice is there, there is no consideration of the man's desire. The laws of nature do not allow a second beyond what one is destined to enjoy.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 1

SB 1.1.1, Purport:

In the śruti-mantra, it is also stated that the absolute whole or Brahman is the ultimate source of everything. Everything emanates from Him, and everything is maintained by Him. And at the end, everything enters into Him. That is the law of nature. In the smṛti-mantra, the same is confirmed. It is said that the source from which everything emanates at the beginning of Brahmā's millennium and the reservoir to which everything ultimately enters, is the Absolute Truth or Brahman.

SB 1.2.31, Purport:

The fruit-eater (living entity) has forgotten his real identity and is overwhelmed in the fruitive activities of the material conditions, but the Lord (Paramātmā) is always full in transcendental knowledge. That is the difference between the Supersoul and the conditioned soul. The conditioned soul, the living entity, is controlled by the laws of nature, while the Paramātmā, or the Supersoul, is the controller of the material energy.

SB 1.3.8, Purport:

The conditioned souls are mostly attracted by fruitive work because they want to enjoy life by the sweat of their own brows. The whole universe is full of fruitive workers in all species of life. The fruitive works include all kinds of economic development plans. But the law of nature provides that every action has its resultant reaction, and the performer of the work is bound up by such reactions, good or bad.

SB 1.6.11, Purport:

Man's activities in agriculture, mining, farming, industries, gardening, etc., were all on the same scale as they are now, even previous to the present creation, and the same activities will remain as they are, even in the next creation. After many hundreds of millions of years, one creation is started by the law of nature, and the history of the universe repeats itself practically in the same way.

SB 1.6.37, Purport:

Every living being is anxious for full freedom because that is his transcendental nature. And this freedom is obtained only through the transcendental service of the Lord. Illusioned by the external energy, everyone thinks that he is free, but actually he is bound up by the laws of nature. A conditioned soul cannot freely move from one place to another even on this earth, and what to speak of one planet to another.

SB 1.7.32, Purport:

The theory that the modern atomic bomb explosions can annihilate the world is childish imagination. First of all, the atomic energy is not powerful enough to destroy the world. And secondly, ultimately it all rests on the supreme will of the Supreme Lord because without His will or sanction nothing can be built up or destroyed. It is foolish also to think that natural laws are ultimately powerful. Material nature's law works under the direction of the Lord, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā.

SB 1.7.37, Purport:

He who gives permission, he who kills the animal, he who sells the slaughtered animal, he who cooks the animal, he who administers distribution of the foodstuff, and at last he who eats such cooked animal food are all murderers, and all of them are liable to be punished by the laws of nature. No one can create a living being despite all advancement of material science, and therefore no one has the right to kill a living being by one's independent whims.

SB 1.8.4, Purport:

The stringent laws of nature, under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, cannot be altered by any living entity. The living entities are eternally under the subjugation of the almighty Lord. The Lord makes all the laws and orders, and these laws and orders are generally called dharma or religion. No one can create any religious formula. Bona fide religion is to abide by the orders of the Lord.

SB 1.8.35, Purport:

This desire is called avidyā, or nescience. And out of such desire the living being makes different plans for material enjoyment centered about a perverted sex life. He therefore becomes entangled in the chain of birth and death by transmigrating into different bodies on different planets under the direction of the Supreme Lord. Unless, therefore, one is beyond the boundary of this nescience, one cannot get free from the threefold miseries of material life. That is the law of nature.

SB 1.8.37, Purport:

The material disease is due to thinking of becoming independent of everything. But the cruel material nature does not allow us to become independent. The false attempt to become independent of the stringent laws of nature is known as material advancement of experimental knowledge.

SB 1.8.37, Purport:

The whole material world is moving on this false attempt of becoming independent of the laws of nature. Beginning from Rāvaṇa, who wanted to prepare a direct staircase to the planets of heaven, down to the present age, they are trying to overcome the laws of nature. They are trying now to approach distant planetary systems by electronic mechanical power. But the highest goal of human civilization is to work hard under the guidance of the Lord and become completely dependent on Him.

SB 1.9.24, Purport:

A Vaiṣṇava is not puffed up, although the Lord guarantees His pure devotee entrance into His abode. Here Bhīṣmadeva says, "as long as I do not quit this body." This means that the great General would quit the body by his own will; he was not being forced by the laws of nature. He was so powerful that he could stay in his body as long as he desired. He got this benediction from his father.

SB 1.9.43, Purport:

They are sound incarnations of the Lord, and one can fully utilize them to be entitled to attain the stage of Śrī Bhīṣmadeva, who was one of the eight Vasus. Every man or animal must die at a certain stage of life, but one who dies like Bhīṣmadeva attains perfection, and one who dies forced by the laws of nature dies like an animal. That is the difference between a man and an animal. The human form of life is especially meant for dying like Bhīṣmadeva.

SB 1.9.47, Purport:

Due to unalloyed love and devotion for the Lord, the devotees always see Him within themselves, and the Lord also, although He has nothing to do and nothing to aspire to, is always busy in attending to the welfare of His devotees. For the ordinary living beings the law of nature is there for all actions and reactions, but He is always anxious to put His devotees on the right path.

SB 1.10.3, Purport:

An imperfect human being cannot create an ideology acceptable to everyone. Only the perfect and the infallible can create a program which is applicable at every place and can be followed by all in the world. It is the person who rules, and not the impersonal government. If the person is perfect, the government is perfect. If the person is a fool, the government is a fool's paradise. That is the law of nature. There are so many stories of imperfect kings or executive heads.

SB 1.11.25, Purport:

The word infallible is significant here, because although the Lord has mercifully descended on earth, He is still infallible. The living entities are fallible because when they come in contact with the material world they lack their spiritual identity, and thus the body materially obtained becomes subjected to birth, growth, transformation, situation, deterioration and annihilation under the laws of nature. The Lord's body is not like that. He descends as He is and is never under the laws of the material modes. His body is the source of everything that be, the reservoir of all beauties beyond our experience.

SB 1.12.12, Purport:

Astronomical calculations of stellar influences upon a living being are not suppositions, but are factual, as confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Every living being is controlled by the laws of nature at every minute, just as a citizen is controlled by the influence of the state. The state laws are grossly observed, but the laws of material nature, being subtle to our gross understanding, cannot be experienced grossly.

SB 1.12.12, Purport:

Our actions are judged by the higher authorities, the agents of the Lord, and thus we are awarded bodies according to our activities. The law of nature is so subtle that every part of our body is influenced by the respective stars, and a living being obtains his working body to fulfill his terms of imprisonment by the manipulation of such astronomical influence.

SB 1.12.28, Purport:

Everyone in the material life, in all species and varieties of life, is full of anxieties, either by breaking or without breaking the laws of nature. Liberation, or mukti, means getting relief from these constant anxieties. This is possible only when the anxiety is changed to the devotional service of the Lord. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives us the chance to change the quality of anxiety from matter to spirit.

SB 1.13.13, Purport:

According to Nīti-śāstra (civic laws) one should not speak an unpalatable truth to cause distress to others. Distress comes upon us in its own way by the laws of nature, so one should not aggravate it by propaganda. For a compassionate soul like Vidura, especially in his dealings with the beloved Pāṇḍavas, it was almost impossible to disclose an unpalatable piece of news like the annihilation of the Yadu dynasty. Therefore he purposely refrained from it.

SB 1.15.24, Purport:

According to the anthropologists, there is nature's law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest. But they do not know that behind the law of nature is the supreme direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is confirmed that the law of nature is executed under the direction of the Lord. Whenever, therefore, there is peace in the world, it must be known that it is due to the good will of the Lord.

SB 1.15.32, Purport:

The mission of the Lord's appearance and disappearance in the mortal universe is completely dependent on His supreme will. He is not forced to appear or disappear by any superior energy, as the living beings appear and disappear, being forced by the laws of nature. Whenever the Lord likes, He can appear Himself from anywhere and everywhere without disturbing His appearance and disappearance in any other place. He is like the sun.

SB 1.16.9, Purport:

Sense enjoyment is also allowed to the lower animals by the law of nature, and thus a human being is also destined to a certain amount of sense enjoyment according to his past or present life. But one should definitely try to understand that sense enjoyment is not the ultimate goal of human life. Herein it is said that during the daytime one works "for nothing" because the aim is nothing but sense enjoyment.

SB 1.17.3, Purport:

Despite all endeavors for peace and prosperity, they must try to see the cows and the bulls happy in all respects. Foolish people do not know how one earns happiness by making the cows and bulls happy, but it is a fact by the law of nature. Let us take it from the authority of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and adopt the principles for the total happiness of humanity.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.1.15, Purport:

Death is nothing but sleeping for a few months in order to develop another term of bodily encagement, which we are awarded by the law of nature according to our aspiration. Therefore, one has only to change the aspiration during the course of this present body, and for this there is need of training in the current duration of human life.

SB 2.1.15, Purport:

One is therefore required to give up the attachment to family or social or political life just at the age of fifty years, if not earlier, and the training in the vānaprastha and sannyāsa-āśramas is given for preparation of the next life. Foolish materialists, in the garb of leaders of the people in general, stick to family affairs without attempting to cut off relations with them, and thus they become victims of nature's law and get gross bodies again, according to their work.

SB 2.8.15, Purport:

Even in human society the inhabitants of the jungles or the deserts are different from those of the cities and villages. They are so made according to different qualities of the modes of nature. Such adjustment by the laws of nature is not blind. There is a great plan behind the arrangement. Mahārāja Parīkṣit requests the great sage Śukadeva Gosvāmī to explain all these authoritatively, in accordance with proper understanding.

SB 2.10.10, Purport:

"The material nature full of physical laws is one of My different energies; therefore it is neither independent nor blind. Because I am transcendentally all-powerful, simply by My glancing over material nature, the physical laws of nature work so wonderfully. The actions and reactions of the physical laws work on that account, and thus the material world is created, maintained and annihilated again and again."

SB 2.10.12, Purport:

In the material world the spirit of enjoyment of the living entities by dint of their own actions (karma) gradually fades by the laws of nature, and thus the illusory energy dictates in the ears of the conditioned souls that they should become one with the Lord. This is the last snare of the illusory energy. When the last illusion is also cleared off by the mercy of the Lord, the living entity again becomes reinstated in his original position and thus becomes actually liberated.

SB 2.10.22, Purport:

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, by advancement of knowledge one should try to know about the Supreme Lord, the summum bonum of everything. Knowledge does not mean knowledge only of the laws of nature or physical knowledge, which are working by the direction of the Lord. The scientists are eager to hear about the physical laws working in material nature.

SB 2.10.26, Purport:

So one should always remember that the genitals, sexual pleasure, the woman and the offspring are all related in the service of the Lord, and one who forgets this relationship in the service of the Supreme Lord becomes subjected to the threefold miseries of material existence by the laws of nature. Perception of sexual pleasure is there even in the body of the dog, but there is no sense of God consciousness. The human form of life is distinct from that of the dog by the perception of God consciousness.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.3.15, Purport:

The Lord and His associates appear and disappear by the will of the Lord. They are not subjected to the laws of material nature. No one was able to kill the family of the Lord, nor was there any possibility of their natural death by the laws of nature. The only means, therefore, for their disappearance was the make-show of a fight amongst themselves, as if brawling in intoxication due to drinking.

SB 3.3.18, Purport:

The whole system of the material world is arranged with that program and plan. Anyone who violates the plan is punished by the law of nature, which is acting by the direction of the Supreme Lord. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was installed on the throne of the earth as a representative of the Lord.

SB 3.5.2, Purport:

There is a nice song in this connection: "Because of a great desire to have all happiness in life, I built this house. But unfortunately the whole scheme has turned to ashes because the house was unexpectedly set on fire." The law of nature is like that. Everyone tries to become happy by planning in the material world, but the law of nature is so cruel that it sets fire to one's schemes; the fruitive worker is not happy in his schemes, nor is there any satiation of his continuous hankering for happiness.

SB 3.17.15, Purport:

According to Bhagavad-gītā, Seventh Chapter, the laws of nature are so stringent that it is impossible for the living entity to surpass their enforcement. It is also explained that only those who are fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be saved. We can learn from the description of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that it is because of the birth of two great demons that there were so many natural disturbances.

SB 3.18.8, Purport:

The materialists can explain that the planets are floating by the law of gravitation, but the law of gravitation works under the control or direction of the Supreme Lord. That is the version of Bhagavad-gītā, which confirms, by the Lord's statement, that behind the material laws or nature's laws and behind the growth, maintenance, production and evolution of all the planetary systems—behind everything—is the Lord's direction.

SB 3.18.10, Purport:

Demons and atheistic persons can go on insulting the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they forget that they are subjected to the laws of birth and death. They think that simply by decrying the existence of the Supreme Lord or defying His stringent laws of nature, one can be freed from the clutches of birth and death. In Bhagavad-gītā it is said that simply by understanding the transcendental nature of God one can go back home, back to Godhead.

SB 3.18.15, Purport:

The example is given herein that the perfect yogī can overcome a deathblow although it is offered by the laws of nature. It is useless for a demon to beat the transcendental body of the Lord with a powerful mace, for no one can surpass His prowess. Those who are advanced transcendentalists are freed from the laws of nature, and even a deathblow cannot act on them.

SB 3.20.12, Purport:

The workings of that energy are difficult to comprehend, but it is understood from Vedic literature that the conditioned soul creates his own destiny and is offered a particular body by the laws of nature under the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who always accompanies him as Paramātmā.

SB 3.21.16, Purport:

The Lord gives us the opportunity to enjoy material life as we want, and at the same time He gives directions for the modes and processes of abiding by the Vedas so that gradually one may be elevated to liberation from material bondage. The conditioned souls who have come to the material world to fulfill their desires to lord it over material nature are bound by the laws of nature. The best course is to abide by the Vedic rules; that will help one to be gradually elevated to liberation.

SB 3.23.41, Purport:

In the modern age, man is trying to go to other planets, but so far he has been unsuccessful. It is not possible to travel to any other planets because by the laws of nature even the demigods cannot move from one planet to another. But Kardama Muni, by his yogic power, could surpass the strength of the demigods and travel in space in all directions. The comparison here is very suitable.

SB 3.23.43, Purport:

In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.40) it is similarly stated, vibhūti-bhinnam: on each and every planet there are different opulences. It cannot be expected that one planet is exactly like another. By God's grace, by nature's law, each and every planet is made differently and has different wonderful features. All such wonders were personally experienced by Kardama Muni while he traveled with his wife, yet he could return again to his humble hermitage. He showed his princess-wife that although he was living in the hermitage, he had the power to go everywhere and do anything by mystic yoga. That is the perfection of yoga.

SB 3.24.44, Purport:

The ocean is filled by many thousands of rivers, and millions of tons of its water evaporates into clouds, yet the ocean is the same unagitated ocean. The laws of nature may work, but if one is fixed in devotional service at the lotus feet of the Lord, he is not agitated, for he is introspective. He does not look outside to material nature, but he looks in to the spiritual nature of his existence; with a sober mind, he simply engages in the service of the Lord.

SB 3.25.22, Purport:

As soon as he takes his birth in the world, a person has so many responsibilities and obligations—to the public, to the demigods, to the great sages, to the general living beings, to his parents, to the family forefathers and to many others. When he gives up all such obligations for the sake of the service of the Supreme Lord, he is not punished for such renunciation of obligation. But if for sense gratification a person renounces all such obligations, he is punished by the law of nature.

SB 3.28.4, Purport:

The word asteyam is also very important for a yogī. Asteyam means "to refrain from theft." In the broader sense, everyone who accumulates more than he needs is a thief. According to spiritual communism, one cannot possess more than he needs for his personal maintenance. That is the law of nature. Anyone who accumulates more money or more possessions than he needs is called a thief, and one who simply accumulates wealth without spending for sacrifice or for worship of the Personality of Godhead is a great thief.

SB 3.29.15, Purport:

Nondevotees are killing cows, goats and so many other animals for eating purposes, and a devotee, who is vegetarian, is also killing. But here, significantly, it is stated that every living entity has to live by killing another entity; that is the law of nature. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam: one living entity is the life for another living entity. But for a human being, that violence should be committed only as much as necessary.

SB 3.29.42, Purport:

The material scientist explains that all these different planets are floating because of the law of gravity or some other law; but the actual lawmaker is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When we speak of law, we must understand that there must be a lawmaker. The material scientists can discover laws of nature, but they are unable to recognize the lawmaker. From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā we can know who the lawmaker is: the lawmaker is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB 3.31.25, Purport:

Within the abdomen of the mother, the nourishment of the child was being carried on by nature's own arrangement. The atmosphere within the abdomen was not at all pleasing, but as far as the child's feeding was concerned, it was being properly done by the laws of nature. But upon coming out of the abdomen the child falls into a different atmosphere. He wants to eat one thing, but something else is given to him because no one knows his actual demand, and he cannot refuse the undesirables given to him.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.2.27, Purport:

The word duratyaya is particularly used in reference to a brahmadaṇḍa, or curse by a brāhmaṇa. A curse by a brāhmaṇa is very strong; therefore it is called duratyaya, or insurmountable. As the Lord states in Bhagavad-gītā, the stringent laws of nature are insurmountable; similarly, if a curse is uttered by a brāhmaṇa, that curse is also insurmountable. But Bhagavad-gītā also says that the curses or benedictions of the material world are, after all, material creations.

SB 4.8.57, Purport:

Māyāvādī philosophers take the incarnation of the Lord to be in the same category as the ordinary living entity. This is a great mistake. The incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not forced to act by the material laws of nature. The word svecchā is used here to indicate that He appears out of His supreme will. The conditioned soul is forced to accept a particular type of body according to his karma given by the laws of material nature under the direction of the Supreme Lord.

SB 4.8.57, Purport:

In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ: (Bs. 5.37) one should not mistake the appearance of the Lord as a human being or a beast to be the same as the birth of an ordinary conditioned soul, who is forced to appear by the laws of nature, whether as an animal, as a human being or as a demigod. This kind of thinking is offensive.

SB 4.11.7, Purport:

According to the law of Manu, such warfare is a most sinful activity. Furthermore, at the present moment civilized nations are unnecessarily maintaining many slaughterhouses for killing innocent animals. When a nation is attacked by its enemies, the wholesale slaughter of the citizens should be taken as a reaction to their own sinful activities. That is nature's law.

SB 4.12.3, Purport:

When the master of the treasury addressed him as sinless, Dhruva Mahārāja, considering himself responsible for killing so many Yakṣas, might have thought himself otherwise. Kuvera, however, assured him that factually he had not killed any of the Yakṣas; therefore, he was not at all sinful. He did his duty as a king, as it is ordered by the laws of nature. "Nor should you think that your brother was killed by the Yakṣas," said Kuvera. "He died or was killed in due course of time by the laws of nature. Eternal time, one of the features of the Lord, is ultimately responsible for annihilation and generation. You are not responsible for such actions."

SB 4.14.19, Purport:

At the present moment neither the king nor the governing body is interested in seeing that the people are engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rather, they are more interested in advancing the machinery of sense gratification. Consequently they are becoming more and more implicated in the complex machinery of the stringent laws of nature.

SB 4.19.8, Purport:

People should therefore learn how to satisfy the yajña-puruṣa, Lord Viṣṇu. Indeed, the living entity's prime business is to satisfy the Lord because the living entity is part and parcel of the Lord. Thus the whole system is so arranged that the living entity must do his duty as he is constitutionally made. Without doing so, all living entities must suffer. That is the law of nature.

SB 4.20.14, Purport:

This same principle can be applied to parents and spiritual masters as well. If parents simply give birth to children like cats and dogs but cannot save their children from imminent death, they become responsible for the activities of their animalistic children. Lately, such children are turning into hippies. Similarly, if a spiritual master cannot direct his disciples to become free of sinful activities, he becomes responsible for their sinful acts. These subtle laws of nature are unknown to the present leaders of society. Since the leaders of society have a poor fund of knowledge and the citizens in general are rogues and thieves, there cannot be an auspicious situation for human society.

SB 4.20.21, Purport:

This kind of government cannot check the resultant actions of sinful life, namely war, pestilence, famine, earthquakes and similar other disturbances. Nature's law is that as soon as there are discrepancies in regard to the law of God (which are described in Bhagavad-gītā as dharmasya glāniḥ, or disobedience to the laws of nature or God), at once there will be heavy punishment in the form of sudden outbreaks of war. We have recently experienced a war between India and Pakistan.

SB 4.21.23, Purport:

Everyone desires to achieve the ultimate goal of life, but in modern civilization the great scientists think that man's life has no plan. This gross ignorance is very dangerous and makes civilization very risky. People do not know the laws of nature, which are the rulings of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because they are atheists of the first order, they have no faith in the existence of God and His rulings and therefore do not know how nature is working.

SB 4.21.24, Purport:

If a king neglects to give such instructions and is simply satisfied with levying taxes, then those who share in the collection—namely, all the government servants and the head of the state—are liable to share in the impious activities of the general masses. The laws of nature are very subtle. For example, if one eats in a place which is very sinful, he shares in the resultant reaction of the sinful activities performed there. (It is a Vedic system, therefore, for a householder to call brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas to eat at ceremonial performances in his house because the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas can immunize him from sinful activities.

SB 4.22.33, Purport:

Philosophers who support stopping all activities are called śūnyavādī. By nature's own way, our activities are to be gradually diverted to devotional service. But there are philosophers who, instead of purifying their activities, try to make everything zero, or void of all activities. This lack of activity is represented by the trees and the hills. This is a kind of punishment inflicted by the laws of nature. If we do not properly execute our mission of life in self-realization, nature's punishment will render us inactive by putting us in the form of trees and hills.

SB 4.22.35, Translation:

Out of the four principles—namely religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation—liberation has to be taken very seriously. The other three are subject to destruction by the stringent law of nature—death.

SB 4.22.46, Purport:

The kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras should eat only kṛṣṇa-prasāda, which is afforded them by the mercy of the brāhmaṇas. They cannot open slaughterhouses and eat meat, fish or eggs or drink liquor, or earn money for this purpose without authorization. In the present age, because society is not guided by brahminical instruction, the whole population is only absorbed in sinful activities. Consequently, everyone is deservedly being punished by the laws of nature. This is the situation in this age of Kali.

SB 4.24.52, Purport:

The beauty of the lotus feet of the Lord is compared to the petals of a lotus flower which grows in the autumn season. By nature's law, in autumn the dirty or muddy waters of rivers and lakes become very clean. At that time the lotus flowers growing in the lakes appear very bright and beautiful. The lotus flower itself is compared to the lotus feet of the Lord, and the petals are compared to the nails of the feet of the Lord.

SB 4.24.65, Purport:

The process of destruction is going on according to the law of nature. Nothing within this material world can be permanent, although scientists, philosophers, workers and everyone else are trying to make things permanent. One foolish scientist recently declared that eventually life will be made permanent through science. Some so-called scientists are also trying to manufacture living entities within the laboratory.

SB 4.24.66, Purport:

Everything is enacted by the laws of nature, and these laws are under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The atheists, or unintelligent men, do not know this. They are busy making their own plans, and big nations are busy expanding their empires. And yet we know that in due course of time many empires have come into existence and been destroyed.

SB 4.24.66, Purport:

Due to their unauthorized plans for economic development, the price of commodities is rising daily all over the world, so much so that is has become difficult for the poorer classes, and they are suffering the consequences. And due to lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, people are being fooled by so-called leaders and planmakers. Consequently, the sufferings of the people are increasing. According to the laws of nature, which are backed by the Lord, nothing can be permanent within this material world; therefore everyone should be allowed to take shelter of the Absolute in order to be saved.

SB 4.24.73, Purport:

All the bodily forms are already there. It is the spiritual entity, or spiritual spark within the body, that is being promoted by the laws of nature under the supervision of superior authority. We can understand from this verse that from the very beginning of creation different varieties of living entities were existing. It is not that some of them have become extinct. Everything is there; it is due to our lack of knowledge that we cannot see things in their proper perspective.

SB 4.25.5, Purport:

Although at the present moment the younger generation in Western countries has sufficient education, beauty and wealth, and although there is enough food, clothing, and facilities for sense gratification, they are in distress. Indeed, they are so distressed that they become hippies, and the laws of nature force them to accept a wretched life. Thus they go about unclean and without shelter or food, and they are forced to sleep in the street. It can be concluded that one cannot become happy by simply performing pious activities. It is not a fact that those who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth are free from the material miseries of birth, old age, disease and death.

SB 4.25.10, Purport:

Consequently he is described as avijñāta-sakhā, meaning "one who has an unknown friend." The word avijñāta-ceṣṭitaḥ is also significant because a living entity works hard under the direction of the Paramātmā and is carried away by the laws of nature. Nonetheless, he thinks himself independent of God and independent of the stringent laws of material nature.

SB 4.26.5, Purport:

Sometimes during war, soldiers keep their enemies in concentration camps and kill them in very cruel ways. These are reactions brought about by unrestricted animal-killing in the slaughterhouse and by hunters in the forest. Proud, demoniac persons do not know the laws of nature, or the laws of God. Consequently, they unrestrictedly kill poor animals, not caring for them at all. In the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, animal-killing is completely prohibited.

SB 4.26.6, Purport:

If a king is allowed to hunt in a forest, it is not for his sense gratification. We cannot simply experiment in the art of killing. If a king, being afraid to meet rogues and thieves, kills poor animals and eats their flesh comfortably at home, he must lose his position. Because in this age kings have such demoniac propensities, monarchy is abolished by the laws of nature in every country.

SB 4.26.8, Translation:

Otherwise, a person who acts whimsically falls down due to false prestige. Thus he becomes involved in the laws of nature, which are composed of the three qualities (goodness, passion and ignorance). In this way a living entity becomes devoid of his real intelligence and becomes perpetually lost in the cycle of birth and death. Thus he goes up and down from a microbe in stool to a high position in the Brahmaloka planet.

SB 4.26.10, Purport:

A person in the mode of ignorance commits many sinful activities. In the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī explains that a man becomes sinful out of ignorance only. The resultant effect of sinful life is suffering. Those who are not in knowledge, who commit violations of the standard laws, are subject to be punished under criminal laws. Similarly, the laws of nature are very stringent.

SB 4.26.10, Purport:

If a child touches fire without knowing the effect, he must be burned, even though he is only a child. If a child violates the law of nature, there is no compassion. Only through ignorance does a person violate the laws of nature, and when he comes to knowledge he does not commit any more sinful acts.

SB 4.26.10, Purport:

The King became tired after killing so many animals. When a man comes in contact with a saintly person, he becomes aware of the stringent laws of nature and thus becomes a religious person. Irreligious persons are like animals, but in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement such persons can come to a sense of understanding things as they are and abandon the four principles of prohibited activities—namely illicit sex life, meat-eating, gambling and intoxication. This is the beginning of religious life.

SB 4.26.21, Purport:

Thus King Purañjana took his punishment dealt by his wife, the Queen, as mercy upon him. He considered himself the most obedient servant of the Queen. She was angry at him for his sinful activities—namely, hunting in the forest and leaving her at home. King Purañjana accepted the punishment as actual love and affection from his wife. In the same way, when a person is punished by the laws of nature, by the will of God, he should not be disturbed.

SB 4.26.24, Purport:

In other words, upon breaking the laws of the state, everyone can be punished by the government except the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas. Brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas never transgress the laws of the state or the laws of nature because they know perfectly well the resultant reactions caused by such law-breaking. Even though they may sometimes appear to violate the laws, they are not to be punished by the king. This instruction was given to King Prācīnabarhiṣat by Nārada Muni.

SB 4.27.5, Purport:

Kāma-kaśmala-cetasaḥ also indicates that unrestricted sense enjoyment is not allowed in the human form of life by the laws of nature. If one enjoys his senses unrestrictedly, he leads a sinful life. The animals do not violate the laws of nature. For example, the sex impulse in animals is very strong during certain months of the year. The lion is very powerful. He is a flesh-eater and is very strong, but he enjoys sex only once in a year. Similarly, according to religious injunctions a man is restricted to enjoy sex only once in a month, after the menstrual period of the wife, and if the wife is pregnant, he is not allowed sex life at all. That is the law for human beings.

SB 4.28.10, Purport:

The living entity wishes to enjoy the material world in different ways, and therefore by nature's law he is allowed to transmigrate from one body to another, exactly as a person transmigrates from the body of an infant to a child to a boy to a youth to a man. This process is constantly going on. At the last stage, when the gross body becomes old and invalid, the living entity is reluctant to give it up, despite the fact that it is no longer usable.

SB 4.29.32, Translation:

The living entities are trying to counteract different miserable conditions pertaining to providence, other living entities or the body and mind. Still, they must remain conditioned by the laws of nature, despite all attempts to counter these laws.

SB 4.29.76-77, Purport:

Political leaders do not like to leave their political posts, and they either have to be shot by an enemy or obliged to leave by the arrival of death. By superior arrangement a living entity is offered another body, but because of his attraction to the present body, he does not like to transfer himself to another body. Thus he is forced to accept another body by the laws of nature.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.1.12, Purport:

An ordinary human being or animal who has accepted a material body cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's control. A material body includes senses. However, the sense activities of so-called scientists who try to be free from God's law or the laws of nature are useless. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (7.14). Mama māyā duratyayā: it is impossible to surpass the control of material nature, for the Supreme Personality of Godhead is working behind it.

SB 5.1.16, Purport:

The difference between a liberated and conditioned soul is that the conditioned soul is under the concept of bodily life, whereas a liberated person knows that he is not the body but a spirit, different from the body. Priyavrata might have thought that although a conditioned soul is forced to act according to the laws of nature, why should he, who was far advanced in spiritual understanding, accept the same kind of bondage and impediments to spiritual advancement?

SB 5.8.7, Purport:

The laws of nature work in subtle ways unknown to us. Mahārāja Bharata was a great king very advanced in devotional service. He had almost reached the point of loving service to the Supreme Lord, but even from that platform he could fall down onto the material platform. In Bhagavad-gītā we are therefore warned:

yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete
puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha
sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ
so 'mṛtatvāya kalpate

"O best among men (Arjuna), the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation." (BG 2.15)

SB 5.12.15, Purport:

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (8.6): yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram. At the time of death, by nature's law the mind is absorbed in a certain type of thinking. This may lead one to animal life, yet for a devotee there is no loss. Even though Bharata Mahārāja received the body of a deer, he didn't forget his position. Consequently, in the body of a deer he was very careful to remember the cause of his downfall. As a result, he was given a chance to be born in a family of very pure brāhmaṇas. Thus his service to the Lord never went in vain.

SB 5.13.1, Purport:

In this life one may think that he is very happy being an American, Indian, Englishman or German, but in the next life one has to accept another body among 8,400,000 species. The next body has to be immediately accepted according to karma. One will be forced to accept a certain type of body, and protesting will not help. That is the stringent law of nature. Due to the living entity's ignorance of his eternal blissful life, he becomes attracted to material activities under the spell of māyā. In this world, he can never experience happiness, yet he works very hard to do so. This is called māyā.

SB 5.13.6, Purport:

Thus people are trying to become happy within the material world, but this is like trying to be happy in a forest fire. No one need go to a forest to set it ablaze: fire takes place automatically. Similarly, no one wants to be unhappy in family life or worldly life, but by the laws of nature unhappiness and distress are forced upon everyone. To become dependent on another's maintenance is very degrading; therefore, according to the Vedic system, everyone should live independently.

SB 5.13.7, Purport:

In the material forest, the conditioned soul sometimes contemplates great castles and skyscrapers, and he wastes his energy for such things, hoping to live in them very peacefully with his family forever. However, the laws of nature do not allow this. When he enters such castles, he temporarily thinks that he is very happy, even though his happiness is impermanent. His happiness may last for a few years, but because the owner of the castle has to leave the castle at the time of death, everything is eventually lost. This is the way of worldly transactions.

SB 5.13.8, Purport:

Especially in this age of Kali, family life is being reduced. Everyone is becoming self-centered because that is the law of nature. Even if one has sufficient money to maintain a family, the situation is such that no one is happy in family life. Consequently according to the varṇāśrama institution, one has to retire from family life in middle age: pañcāśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. One should voluntarily retire from family life at the age of fifty and go to Vṛndāvana or a forest.

SB 5.14.24, Purport:

We collect money from various sources, but that money does not belong to anyone but Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa (Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa). If money is utilized in the service of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, the devotee automatically lives in an opulent way. However, if one wants to enjoy Lakṣmī the way Rāvaṇa did, he will be vanquished by the laws of nature, and whatever few possessions he has will be taken away. Finally death will take everything away, and death is the representative of Kṛṣṇa.

SB 5.18.2, Purport:

Foolish materialistic persons do not know how they are being controlled and punished at every step by the laws of nature. They think they are very happy in the conditioned state of material life, not knowing the purpose of repeated birth, death, old age and disease. Therefore in Bhagavad-gītā (7.15) Lord Kṛṣṇa describes such materialistic persons as mūḍhas (rascals): na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ. These mūḍhas do not know that if they want to purify themselves, they must worship Lord Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa) by performing penances and austerities.

SB 5.18.33, Purport:

Philosophers and scientists have been trying to study the entire cosmic situation and have been theorizing and calculating in different ways for millions and millions of years. However, the speculative research work of a so-called scientist or philosopher is always interrupted when he dies, and the laws of nature go on without regard for his work.

SB 5.18.33, Purport:

As Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (9.10):

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
sūyate sa-carācaram
hetunānena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate

"This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again."

Now the material creation is manifest, eventually it will be annihilated and remain for many millions of years in a dormant state, and finally it will again be created. This is the law of nature.

SB 5.26 Summary:

The foolish person thinks he is independent of any law. He thinks there is no God or regulative principle and that he can do whatever he likes. Thus he engages in different sinful activities, and as a result, he is put into different hellish conditions life after life, to be punished by the laws of nature. The basic principle of his suffering is that he foolishly thinks himself independent, although he is strictly under the control of the laws of material nature.

SB 5.26.17, Purport:

From this very instructive verse we learn that lower animals, created by the laws of nature to disturb the human being, are not subjected to punishment. Because the human being has developed consciousness, however, he cannot do anything against the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma without being condemned. Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (4.13), cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: "According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me."

SB 5.26.21, Purport:

The sexual urge is so strong that sometimes a man indulges in sexual relations with a cow, or a woman indulges in sexual relations with a dog. Such men and women are put into the hell known as Vajrakaṇṭaka-śālmalī. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement forbids illicit sex. From the description of these verses, we can understand what an extremely sinful act illicit sex is. Sometimes people disbelieve these descriptions of hell, but whether one believes or not, everything must be carried out by the laws of nature, which no one can avoid.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.1.54, Purport:

According to the Ṛg Veda, if at the time of sex the secretions of the mother are more profuse than those of the father, the child will receive a female body, and if the secretions of the father are more profuse than those of the mother, the child will receive a male body. These are the subtle laws of nature, which act according to the desire of the living entity.

SB 6.3.5, Purport:

According to our experience in the material world, a person punished in one court may appeal to another. Thus the same man may be either punished or rewarded according to different judgments. However, in the law of nature or the court of the Supreme Personality of Godhead there cannot be such contradictory judgments. The judges and their judgments must be perfect and free from contradictions.

SB 6.3.13, Purport:

In this material world, everyone is conditioned, regardless of who he is. One may be a human being, a demigod or an animal, tree or plant, but everything is controlled by the laws of nature, and behind this natural control is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed by Bhagavad-gītā (9.10), wherein Kṛṣṇa says, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: "The material nature is working under My direction and producing all moving and nonmoving beings." Thus Kṛṣṇa is behind the natural machine, which works under His control.

SB 6.4.9, Purport:

By nature's law, or the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one kind of living entity is eatable by other living entities. As mentioned herein, dvi-padāṁ ca catuṣ-padaḥ: the four-legged animals (catuṣ-padaḥ), as well as food grains, are eatables for human beings (dvi-padām). These four-legged animals are those such as deer and goats, not cows, which are meant to be protected. Generally the men of the higher classes of society—the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas—do not eat meat.

SB 6.4.44, Purport:

All the living entities within this material world have revolted against the service of the Lord, and therefore they remain within this material world as ever conditioned, nitya-baddha, taking birth again and again. There is a chance, of course, of their being liberated, but nevertheless the conditioned souls, not taking advantage of this opportunity, continue in a life of sense enjoyment, and thus they are punished by birth and death again and again. This is the law of nature.

SB 6.7.12, Purport:

According to the laws of nature, when one is extremely opulent one becomes degraded, and this is true both individually and collectively. The demigods are situated in the mode of goodness, but sometimes even one who is situated in such an exalted position as King Indra, the king of all the demigods, falls down because of material opulence.

SB 6.14.54, Purport:

Following the creative laws, a father should die first and then his son. If the creative laws are changed according to the whims of providence, then providence certainly should not be considered merciful, but must be considered inimical to the created being. Actually it is not the creator, but the conditioned soul who is inexperienced. He does not know how the subtle laws of fruitive activity work, and without knowledge of these laws of nature, he ignorantly criticizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB 6.16.4, Purport:

This time the living entity was supposed to have been the son of Mahārāja Citraketu and Queen Kṛtadyuti because according to the laws of nature he had entered a body made by the King and Queen. Actually, however, he was not their son. The living entity is the son of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and because he wants to enjoy this material world, the Supreme Lord gives him a chance to enter various bodies.

SB 6.16.6, Purport:

The living entity is a completely separate identity from the so-called father and mother. By the laws of nature, the living entity is forced to enter the semen of a father and be injected into the womb of the mother. He is not in control of selecting what kind of father he will accept. prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni: (BG 3.27) the laws of nature force him to go to different fathers and mothers, just like a consumer commodity that is purchased and sold.

SB 6.16.6, Purport:

Harassed life after life by the laws of nature, the living entity wanders throughout the entire universe in different planets and different species of life. Somehow or other, if he is fortunate enough, he comes in touch with a devotee who reforms his entire life. Then the living entity goes back home, back to Godhead.

SB 6.16.42, Purport:

A killer of any animal must be killed in his next life by the same animal. This is the law of nature. One must follow the instructions of the Supreme Lord: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). If one follows any other system of religion, he is subject to punishment by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in many different ways. Therefore if one follows a concocted system of religion, he is envious not only of others but also of himself. Consequently his system of religion is useless.

SB 6.17.18, Purport:

"The bewildered soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by nature." Actually a conditioned soul is completely under the control of material nature. Wandering here and there—always and everywhere—he is subjected to the results of his past deeds. This is carried out by the laws of nature, but one foolishly thinks himself the doer, which in fact he is not. To get free from the karma-cakra, the wheel of the results of one's karma, one should take to bhakti-mārga—devotional service, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the only remedy.

SB 6.17.24, Purport:

Being fully aware of how the results of one's karma accrue by the laws of nature, Citraketu did not want to be released from Pārvatī's curse. Nonetheless, he wanted to satisfy her because although his verdict was natural, she was displeased with him. As a matter of course, Mahārāja Citraketu begged pardon from Pārvatī.

SB 6.18.56, Translation:

O King, who are respectful to everyone, Indra understood Diti's purpose, and thus he contrived to fulfill his own interests. Following the logic that self-preservation is the first law of nature, he wanted to break Diti's promise. Thus he engaged himself in the service of Diti, his aunt, who was residing in an āśrama.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.2 Summary:

After finishing the ritualistic funeral ceremonies of his brother, Hiraṇyakaśipu began speaking to his nephews, quoting from the śāstras about the truth of life. To pacify them, he spoke as follows: "My dear nephews, for heroes to die before the enemy is glorious. According to their different fruitive activities, living entities come together within this material world and are again separated by the laws of nature. We should always know, however, that the spirit soul, which is different from the body, is eternal, unadjustable, pure, all-pervading and aware of everything.

SB 7.2.41, Purport:

Here it is very plainly explained that God is not responsible for the living entity's accepting different types of bodies. One has to accept a body according to the laws of nature and one's own karma. Therefore the Vedic injunction is that a person engaged in material activities should be given directions by which he can intelligently apply his activities to the service of the Lord to become free from the material bondage of repeated birth and death (sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ (BG 18.46)).

SB 7.2.60, Purport:

In this material world, the conception of self-preservation is the first law of nature. According to this conception, one should be interested in his personal safety and should then consider society, friendship, love, nationality, community and so on, which have all developed because of the bodily conception of life and a lack of knowledge of the spirit soul. This is called ajñāna.

SB 7.5.12, Purport:

As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: the Lord is situated in everyone's heart, giving dictation according to the attitude of the servant. However, the Lord gives different dictation to the nondevotees and devotees. The nondevotees challenge the authority of the Supreme Lord, and therefore the Lord dictates in such a way that the nondevotees forget the Lord's service, life after life, and are punished by the laws of nature. But when a devotee very sincerely wants to render service to the Lord, the Lord dictates in a different way.

SB 7.5.32, Purport:

Becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious brings about anartha-apagamaḥ, the disappearance of all anarthas, the miserable conditions we have unnecessarily accepted. The material body is the basic principle of these unwanted miserable conditions. The entire Vedic civilization is meant to relieve one from these unwanted miseries, but persons bound by the laws of nature do not know the destination of life. As described in the previous verse, īśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ: they are conditioned by the three strong modes of material nature.

SB 7.7.39, Purport:

This verse describes how the advocates of economic development are frustrated by the laws of nature. As the previous verse asks, kiṁ viṣayopapādanaiḥ: what is the actual benefit of so-called economic development? The history of the world has factually proved that attempts to increase economic development for bodily comfort through the advancement of material civilization have done nothing to remedy the inevitability of birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 7.7.39, Purport:

Everyone has knowledge of huge empires throughout the history of the world—the Roman Empire, the Moghul Empire, the British Empire and so on—but all the societies engaged in such economic development (sarve 'rtha-kāmāḥ) have been frustrated by the laws of nature through periodic wars, pestilence, famine and so on. Thus all their attempts have been flickering and temporary. In this verse, therefore, it is said, kurvanti martyasya kiyat priyaṁ calāḥ: one may be very proud of possessing a vast empire, but such empires are impermanent; after one hundred or two hundred years, everything is finished.

SB 7.7.41, Purport:

So many nationalists, economists and other ambitious persons have tried for happiness, individually or collectively, but history proves that they have all been frustrated. In recent history we have seen many political leaders work hard for individual and collective economic development, but they have all failed. This is the law of nature, as clearly explained in the next verse.

SB 7.7.47, Purport:

The living entity's evolution through different types of bodies is conducted automatically by the laws of nature in bodies other than those of human beings. In other words, by the laws of nature (prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27)) the living entity evolves from lower grades of life to the human form. Because of his developed consciousness, however, the human being must understand the constitutional position of the living entity and understand why he must accept a material body.

SB 7.8.3-4, Purport:

When one is impudent toward a highly authorized devotee, one is punished by the laws of nature. The duration of his life is diminished, and he loses the blessings of superior persons and the results of pious activities. Hiraṇyakaśipu, for example, had achieved such great power in the material world that he could subdue practically all the planetary systems in the universe, including the heavenly planets (Svargaloka). Yet now, because of his mistreatment of such a Vaiṣṇava as Prahlāda Mahārāja, all the results of his tapasya diminished.

SB 7.8.27, Purport:

When a sinful man enjoys material facilities, foolish people sometimes think, "How is it that this sinful man is enjoying whereas a pious man is suffering?" By the will of the Supreme, a sinful man is sometimes given the chance to enjoy the material world as if he were not under the clutches of material nature, just so that he may be fooled. A sinful man who acts against the laws of nature must be punished, but sometimes he is given a chance to play, exactly like Hiraṇyakaśipu when he was released from the hands of Nṛsiṁhadeva.

SB 7.9.43, Purport:

There is a plan for material nature, personally known as Durgā, to punish the demons. Although the asuras, the godless demons, struggle for existence, they are directly attacked by the goddess Durgā, who is well equipped with ten hands with different types of weapons to punish them. She is carried by her lion carrier, or the modes of passion and ignorance. Everyone struggles very hard to fight through the modes of passion and ignorance and conquer material nature, but at the end everyone is vanquished by nature's laws.

SB 7.13.24, Translation:

Because of insatiable material desires, I was being carried away by the waves of material nature's laws, and thus I was engaging in different activities, struggling for existence in various forms of life.

SB 7.13.25, Purport:

All living entities within this material world are undergoing the cycle of birth and death according to the laws of nature. This struggle of birth and death in different species may be called the evolutionary process, but in the Western world it has been wrongly explained. Darwin's theory of evolution from animal to man is incomplete because the theory does not present the reverse condition, namely evolution from man to animal.

SB 7.13.25, Purport:

Modern civilization does not know that because of varied association in material nature, the living entity, although eternal, is placed in different diseased conditions known as the many species of life. Modern civilization is unaware of the laws of nature.

SB 7.13.25, Purport:

A foolish civilization is extremely risky, and therefore the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to make people aware of their fully dependent condition under the stringent laws of nature and is trying to save them from being victimized by strong māyā, which is Kṛṣṇa's external energy.

SB 7.13.26, Purport:

The Vedic plan for eating recommends that one take yajña-śiṣṭa, or prasāda, food offered to Kṛṣṇa. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ: "The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food that is offered first for sacrifice." (BG 3.13) In material life, one commits sinful activities, especially in eating, and because of sinful activities one is condemned by nature's laws to accept another body, which is imposed as punishment. Sex and eating are essential, and therefore they are offered to human society under Vedic restrictions so that according to the Vedic injunctions people may eat, sleep, enjoy sex, be protected from fearful life and gradually be elevated and liberated from the punishment of material existence.

SB 7.13.30, Purport:

By pious activities one is elevated to the higher planetary systems, and by impious activities one is degraded to lower species of life, in which he is punished by the laws of nature. In the lower species of life there is an evolutionary process, and when the term of the living entity's imprisonment or punishment in the lower species is finished, he is again offered a human form and given a chance to decide for himself which way he should plan.

SB 7.14 Summary:

One should not be eager to earn more money simply for sensual pleasure. A gṛhastha should always remember that one who is endeavoring to accumulate more money than necessary is to be considered a thief and is punishable by the laws of nature.

SB 7.14.5, Purport:

When one misuses the gift of the human form by unnecessarily indulging in the animal propensities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending and does not try to get out of the clutches of māyā, which subjects one to repeated birth, death, old age and disease, one is again punished by being forced to descend to the lower species and undergo evolution according to the laws of nature. prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Being completely under the grip of material nature, the living entity must evolve again from the lower species to the higher species until he at last returns to human life and gets the chance to be freed from the material clutches.

SB 7.14.8, Translation:

One may claim proprietorship to as much wealth as required to maintain body and soul together, but one who desires proprietorship over more than that must be considered a thief, and he deserves to be punished by the laws of nature.

SB 7.14.8, Purport:

This verse is very important. As stated here, one who accumulates more money than needed is a thief, and by the laws of nature he will be punished. One who acquires more money than necessary becomes desirous of enjoying material comforts more and more. Materialists are inventing so many artificial necessities, and those who have money, being allured by such artificial necessities, try to accumulate money to possess more and more.

SB 7.14.8, Purport:

In this cycle of activities, everyone is engaged in getting more and more money, and therefore the ideal goal of human life is being lost. Concisely, it may be said that everyone is a thief and is liable to be punished. Punishment by the laws of nature takes place in the cycle of birth and death.

SB 7.14.8, Purport:

No one dies fully satisfied by the fulfillment of material desires, for that is not possible. Therefore at the time of one's death one is very sorry, being unable to fulfill his desires. By the laws of nature one is then offered another body to fulfill his unsatisfied desires, and upon taking birth again, accepting another material body, one voluntarily accepts the threefold miseries of life.

SB 7.15.58, Purport:

Everything is an emanation from Kṛṣṇa, but it is not that everything must therefore be worshiped. Speculative knowledge cannot give us reality as it is, but will continue to be nefariously imperfect. So-called scientists try to prove that there is no God and that everything is happening because of the laws of nature, but this is imperfect knowledge because nothing can work unless directed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.1.7, Purport:

As soon as kings became degraded, spending money for sense gratification, they were lost. Similarly, at the present moment, monarchy having been lost, the people have created democracy, which is also failing. Now, by the laws of nature, the time is coming when dictatorship will put the citizens into more and more difficulty. If the king or dictator individually, or the members of the government collectively, cannot maintain the state or kingdom according to the rules of Manu-saṁhitā, certainly their government will not endure.

SB 8.1.10, Purport:

"One may claim proprietorship to as much wealth as required to maintain body and soul together, but one who desires proprietorship over more than that must be considered a thief, and he deserves to be punished by the laws of nature." (SB 7.14.8) Of course, we need to be maintained in eating, sleeping, mating and defending (āhāra-nidra-bhaya-maithuna), but since the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, has provided these necessities of life for the birds and bees, why not for mankind? There is no need for economic development; everything is provided.

SB 8.1.10, Purport:

No devotee should claim that any money or property belongs to him. If one thinks that any portion of property of this huge universe belongs to anyone, he is to be considered a thief and is punishable by the laws of nature. Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā: (BG 7.14) no one can surpass the vigilance of material nature or hide his intentions from material nature. If human society unlawfully claims that the property of the universe, either partially or wholly, belongs to mankind, all of human society will be cursed as a society of thieves and will be punished by the laws of nature.

SB 8.7.44, Purport:

There are different kinds of welfare activities in this material world, but the supreme welfare activity is the spreading of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Other welfare activities cannot be effective, for the laws of nature and the results of karma cannot be checked. It is by destiny, or the laws of karma, that one must suffer or enjoy. For instance, if one is given a court order, he must accept it, whether it brings suffering or profit. Similarly, everyone is under obligations to karma and it reactions. No one can change this.

SB 8.11.7, Purport:

If one is victorious on the battlefield, he becomes famous; and if one is not victorious but is defeated, he may die. Both victory and defeat are possible, whether on such a battlefield as this or on the battlefield of the struggle for existence. Everything takes place according to the laws of nature (prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27)).

SB 8.11.8, Purport:

In this material world, everything happens under the influence of time. Consequently, for a learned person who sees how things are taking place, there is no question of being sorry or happy because of the waves of material nature. After all, since we are being carried away by these waves, what is the meaning of being jubilant or morose? One who is fully conversant with the laws of nature is never jubilant or morose because of nature's activities.

SB 8.22.9, Purport:

Even though we want to keep the body fit and helpful to our activities, the body cannot continue eternally. Although I am the soul, which is eternal, after using the body for some time I have to accept another body (tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13)), according to the laws of nature, unless I render some service with the body for advancement in devotional service. One should not use the body for any other purpose. One must know that if he uses the body for any other purpose he is simply wasting time, for as soon as the time is ripe, the soul will automatically leave the body.

SB 8.24.6, Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the master of the material nature (mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sacarācaram (BG 9.10)). Therefore, being the supreme controller of the laws of nature, the Lord cannot be under their influence. An example given in this regard is that although the wind blows through many places, the air is not affected by the qualities of these places.

SB 8.24.38, Purport:

Everyone naturally surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, either directly or indirectly. The conditioned soul surrenders to the laws of nature in material existence, but when one fully surrenders to the Lord, material nature does not act upon him. Such a fully surrendered soul is favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14).

SB Canto 9

SB 9.4.70, Purport:

Durvāsā Muni was a very learned brāhmaṇa equipped with mystic power, but because he was not a gentleman, he did not know how to use his power. He was therefore extremely dangerous. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is never inclined toward a dangerous person who uses his mystic power for some personal design. By the laws of nature, therefore, such misuse of power is ultimately dangerous not for society but for the person who misuses it.

SB 9.10.23, Purport:

Rāvaṇa or those like him may be very powerful and opulent in this material world, but theirs is not a secure position, because, after all, they are bound by the results of their karma (karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1)). We should not forget that we are completely dependent on the laws of nature.

SB 9.10.23, Purport:

"The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by nature." (BG 3.27) One should not be proud of one's exalted position and act like Rāvaṇa, thinking oneself independent of material nature's laws.

SB 9.10.28, Purport:

Although lamenting for the death of her husband, she knew what would happen to his body and soul, for although one cannot see directly with one's material eyes, one can see with eyes of knowledge (paśyanti jñāna-cakṣuṣaḥ). In Vedic history there are many instances of how one becomes godless and is condemned by the laws of nature.

SB 9.16.18-19, Purport:

Brahminical culture is enjoined in the śāstra, especially in Bhagavad-gītā (cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13)). According to the laws of nature, whether at the time of Paraśurāma or at the present, if the government becomes irresponsible and sinful, not caring for brahminical culture, there will certainly be an incarnation of God like Paraśurāma to create a devastation by fire, famine, pestilence or some other calamity.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.1.39, Purport:

Even in the present life, the body changes from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to youth, and from youth to old age; similarly, when the body is too old to continue, the living being gives up this body and, by the laws of nature, automatically gets another body according to his fruitive activities, desires and ambitions.

SB 10.1.39, Purport:

The laws of nature control this sequence, and therefore as long as the living entity is under the control of the external, material energy, the process of bodily change takes place automatically, according to one's fruitive activities. Vasudeva therefore wanted to impress upon Kaṁsa that if he committed this sinful act of killing a woman, in his next life he would certainly get a material body still more conditioned to the sufferings of material existence. Thus Vasudeva advised Kaṁsa not to commit sinful activities.

SB 10.1.39, Purport:

There are hundreds and thousands of different species of life. Why are there higher and lower bodies? One receives these bodies according to the contaminations of material nature. If in this life one is contaminated by the mode of ignorance and sinful activities (duṣkṛtī), in the next life, by the laws of nature, one will certainly get a body full of suffering.

SB 10.1.39, Purport:

The laws of nature are not subservient to the whimsical desires of the conditioned soul. Our endeavor, therefore, should be to associate always with sattva-guṇa and not indulge in rajo-guṇa or tamo-guṇa (rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ (SB 1.2.19)). Lusty desires and greed keep the living entity perpetually in ignorance and prevent him from being elevated to the platform of sattva-guṇa or śuddha-sattva-guṇa. One is advised to be situated in śuddha-sattva-guṇa, devotional service, for thus one is immune to the reactions of the three modes of material nature.

SB 10.2.22, Purport:

One who is in a bodily concept of life has no control over sense gratification. Such a person can do anything sinful to eat, drink, be merry and enjoy a life of sense gratification, not knowing of the soul's transmigration from one body to another. Such a person does whatever he likes, whatever he imagines, and therefore, being subject to the laws of nature, he suffers miserably again and again in different material bodies.

SB 10.4.3, Purport:

When Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṇa in His universal form, "Who are You?" the Lord presented Himself as kāla, death personified to kill. By nature's law, when there is an unwanted increase in population, kāla appears, and by some arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, people are killed wholesale in different ways, by war, pestilence, famine and so on.

SB 10.4.3, Purport:

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to teach them that although for a few years one may act as a great protector or great watchman, with the appearance of kāla, death, one must take another body by the laws of nature. Not knowing this, they unnecessarily waste their time in their occupation as watchdogs and do not try to get the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As it is clearly said, aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani: (BG 9.3) without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one is condemned to continue wandering in birth and death, not knowing what will happen in one's next birth.

SB 10.4.18, Purport:

Asuras are very devoted to the goddess Durgā, Kālī and so forth. Kaṁsa, therefore, truly astonished, appreciated the exalted position of his sister and brother-in-law. Durgā is certainly not under the laws of nature, because she herself is the controller of the laws of nature. Ordinary living beings, however, are controlled by these laws (prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27)). Consequently, none of us are allowed to live together for any long period. By speaking in this way, Kaṁsa tried to pacify his sister and brother-in-law.

SB 10.4.26, Purport:

Everything is done automatically by the laws of nature, which work under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no question of doing anything independently, for one who has put himself in this material atmosphere is fully under the control of nature's laws. Our main business, therefore, should be to get out of this conditioned life and again become situated in spiritual existence.

SB 10.4.43, Purport:

Śrīla Locana dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, āpana karama, bhuñjāye śamana, kahaye locana dāsa. Instead of taking good instructions from the sages and the śāstras, godless nondevotees act whimsically, according to their own plans. Actually, however, no one has his own plans because everyone is bound by the laws of nature and must act according to his tendency in material, conditional life.

SB 10.4.43, Purport:

Therefore one must change one's own decision and follow the decision of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's devotees. Then one is rescued from punishment by Yamarāja. Kaṁsa was not uneducated. It appears from his talks with Vasudeva and Devakī that he knew all about the laws of nature. But because of his association with bad ministers, he could not make a clear decision about his welfare. Therefore the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (CC Madhya 22.54) says:

'sādhu-saṅga,' 'sādhu-saṅga'—sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saśge sarva-siddhi haya

If one desires his real welfare, he must associate with devotees and saintly persons and in this way rectify the material condition of his life.

SB 10.7.31, Translation:

It is most astonishing that although this innocent child was taken away by the Rākṣasa to be eaten, He has returned without having been killed or even injured. Because this demon was envious, cruel and sinful, he has been killed for his own sinful activities. This is the law of nature. An innocent devotee is always protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and a sinful person is always vanquished for his sinful life.

SB 10.8.5, Purport:

"As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change." (BG 2.13) Kṛṣṇa, the greatest authority, says that the body will change. And as soon as the body changes, one's whole program of work changes also. Today I am a human being or a great personality, but with a little deviation from nature's law, I shall have to accept a different type of body. Today I am a human being, but tomorrow I may become a dog, and then whatever activities I have performed in this life will be a failure.

SB 10.10.13, Purport:

The living entities are promoted and degraded by the laws of nature, but if one is very, very fortunate, by association with saintly persons he gets the seed of devotional service, and his life becomes successful. Nārada Muni wanted to bring Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva to the platform of devotional service through poverty, and thus he cursed them. Such is the mercy of a Vaiṣṇava. Unless one is brought to the Vaiṣṇava platform, one cannot be a good man. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ (SB 5.18.12). An avaiṣṇava never becomes a good man, however severely he is punished.

SB 10.10.14, Purport:

There is a saying, "The happiness of wealth is enjoyable by a person who has tasted the distress of poverty." There is also another common saying, vandhyā ki bujhibe prasava-vedanā: "A woman who has not given birth to a child cannot understand the pain of childbirth." Unless one comes to the platform of actual experience, one cannot realize what is pain and what is happiness in this material world. The laws of nature act accordingly. If one has killed an animal, one must himself be killed by that same animal. This is called māṁsa. Mām means "me," and sa means "he." As I am eating an animal, that animal will have the opportunity to eat me. In every state, therefore, it is ordinarily the custom that if a person commits murder he is hanged.

SB 10.13.51, Purport:

One receives a form according to the way one worships the Lord. In the material world, the body one receives is guided by the demigods. This is sometimes referred to as the influence of the stars. As indicated in Bhagavad-gītā (3.27) by the words prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni, according to the laws of nature one is controlled by the demigods.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 11.20.17, Translation:

The human body, which can award all benefit in life, is automatically obtained by the laws of nature, although it is a very rare achievement. This human body can be compared to a perfectly constructed boat having the spiritual master as the captain and the instructions of the Personality of Godhead as favorable winds impelling it on its course. Considering all these advantages, a human being who does not utilize his human life to cross the ocean of material existence must be considered the killer of his own soul.

Page Title:Laws of nature (BG and SB)
Compiler:Labangalatika, Alakananda
Created:28 of Dec, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=8, SB=166, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:174