So long you will have a pinch of attraction with this material world, there is no possibility of being transferred to the spiritual world. This is the position. Therefore by training, by education, we have to become detached. Detached, this society, friendship and love. We have to understand the falsity of this so-called society, friendship and love. It is just like... because we are being carried away by the waves of māyā. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, māyār bośe, jāccho bhese, Khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi. Just like we see sometimes in rainy season, so many plants and creepers and vegetables and so many other things are floating in the river, going. Similarly, we also, all floating in the waves of māyā. Māyār bośe, jāccho bhese, khāccho hābuḍubu. Sometimes drowned, sometimes on the surface, sometimes on the other shore, sometimes on this shore. This is going on. So long we are in this material world, we are being tossed by different currents, and sometimes I am here as the master of some kingdom, and sometimes I am dog of somebody else. This is my position. The same thing. Very good example, that we are being carried away by the waves of māyā. Sometimes we are gathering together. So many straws and vegetables, they gather together. And sometimes the same vegetables and straws are thrown asunder. One is there, one is here. So here also, we assemble here as society, friendship and love exactly like that. In the waves of māyā. Then nobody is your father, nobody is your mother, nobody is your sister, nobody. It is simply māyic, illusory combination. Illusory combination, temporary combination. And we are so much attached to this combination that we are refusing to go back to home, back to Godhead. This is our position.
Plants (Lectures, BG)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Only for one woman. He could create so many. No. Because ātatāyinaḥ, aggressed over. Just to teach people that anyone, if he is aggressor, he must be killed. This is the position.
But Arjuna is considering whether it will be pious or impious. This is devatā. In every action, they will consider, "What I am going to do, whether it is pious or impious." That is devatā. "If it is pious, then it will elevate me. And if it is impious, then it will degrade me." Nobody wants degradation. The human life should be especially meant for elevation, not for degradation. You have come to this human form of life from the lower status of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthavarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Through so many status of life: the aquatics, the trees, the plants, the insects, the reptiles, the birds, the beasts. In this way... Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante. Bahūnāṁ sambhavante (BG 7.19). This human form of life is gotten, we have received, after many, many births. These people, they do not know. It is very rare. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings, manuṣya janama pāiya, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā suniyā viṣa khāinu. Hari hari viphale janama goiṅu. He is lamenting, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, I am so unfortunate. I got this human form of life. It was meant for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But I have wasted my time otherwise. So how it is so? Jāniyā suniyā viṣa khāinu. Knowingly I have taken poison. Knowingly." Labdhvā sudurlabhaṁ idam bahu-sambhavante, manuṣyam artha-dam (SB 11.9.29). These people, they do not know. Because they are asuras, they do not know what to do in this human form of life and what not to do. They are killing animals without any hesitation. They do not know these rascals. And still they are spiritual leaders. How horrible condition is this, in this Kali-yuga. Just imagine. Without any restriction, without any hindrance, they are committing sinful life. They do not know, next life, all this boastfulness, pride, will be finished. He will have to accept another body, which will be offered by the material nature. You cannot say that "I will not accept this body; I want this body." No. Nature is not under your dictation. You have to abide by the dictation of nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni. This verse of Bhagavad-gītā is very important.
Because a living entity, spirit soul, he is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Mamaivāṁśo jīvaḥ (BG 15.7). Kṛṣṇa says all this. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). "They have come to this material world. I am the seed-giving father. They wanted to enjoy. So I have given them chance. But actually I am the father. The material nature is the mother." Just like we have got experience, the father injects the living entity in the womb of the mother. And the mother, by her blood, develops the body of the child. Similarly, all these living entities, 8,400,000 species, the... Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). The father is Kṛṣṇa. He has given the seed in the womb of this material nature. And the material nature has given the body. Somebody has got the body of fish, somebody has got the body of tree, plant, somebody has got insect, reptile, somebody bird, sometimes beasts, somebody human being, somebody demigod. But all these materials have been supplied by the mother. It is very easy to understand. Just like the child grows, the mother supplies the bodily ingredients. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore... This is very scientific. When He took sannyāsa and the mother came... Advaita Prabhu arranged to see for the last time her son. Because a sannyāsī is no more coming home. So at that time, mother became overwhelmed: "Such beautiful body. He has nice hair. Now it is shaven." So she became very much overwhelmed and was crying. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately fell down on her lotus feet and He said, "My dear mother, this body is yours. My dear mother, this body is yours. This body should have been engaged for your service, but some way or other, I mistake, I have taken this sannyāsī. Kindly excuse Me." Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "This body belongs to you. This is your body." Every son should think like that. This is Vedic culture. Actually, the body supplied, mother. From the very beginning, after sex... These are all described in the Bhāgavata. The two secretions become emulsified, and a body is formed just like a pea, and gradually develops. The ingredients, the energy is supplied by the mother. So the same thing. The whole creation, the body is supplied by material nature, mother.
So a devotee knows, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person knows when to kill and when not to kill. But it is not that because we accept not killing, therefore in every case, killing should be stopped. No. If there is necessity, killing should be accepted. Therefore Arjuna decided not to kill, not to fight. And Kṛṣṇa says that "This is anārya-juṣṭam. this kind of decision is made by the uncivilized rascal." Anārya-juṣṭam asvargyam akīrti-karam (BG 2.2). So many things, He says. Asvargyam. Because the aim of human life should be to make progress. That is called ārya, progressive march.
Now we have got this human form of body, progressing from the lowest species of life in aquatics, then trees, plants, insects, birds, beasts, 8,400,000... Now I have got this civilized form of body. Then, the, my endeavor should be how to make further progress. The further progress is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, that you can go to the higher planetary system. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). Ūrdhvam, higher planetary system. Madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasaḥ. Madhye, in the middle planetary system, those who are contaminated with the passion quality, they remain. And jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasaḥ. And those who are miscreants, jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthāḥ, most hatefully accustomed, these hatefully accustomed, illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling, intoxication... These are habits of hateful nature. So jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthāḥ adho gacchanti tāmasaḥ, they go down. Either become animals or... There are seven kinds of lower planetary systems: tala, atala, nitala, pātala, talātala, rasātala, like that. So ārya means must make progress.
So Kṛṣṇa is replying that "You are afraid of fighting with your kinsmen, but you are mistaken. You are mistaken." Every one of us is mistaken because there are four defects in our conditional life. This is our conditional life. So long we are within this body, material body, that is our conditional life. We live under certain conditions. But actually, we are spirit soul, we are part and parcel of God. As soon as we are free from this conditional life, that is our real, actual life. That is called liberated life. The human form of life is meant for getting this liberation. So long one does not get this human form of life by the evolutionary process... There is evolution, from aquatic to birds and beast and then... Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. First aquatic life, then plant life, tree life, then insect life, then bird's life, then beast life, then human life, then civilized human life. So this is the process of evolution. Now, we are supposed to be civilized human being. This life is especially meant for how to get out of this evolutionary process, how to get out of this evolutionary process. The evolutionary process means transmigration of the soul from one body to another. We do not wish to die, but we have to accept death. This is our conditional stage of life. I do not wish to take birth; still, I am forced to go into the womb of my mother by the laws of nature. After giving up one body I enter another body. And there is no security what kind of body I shall get next. It may be human body, it may be animal, it may be trees or it may be better than human being, because there are three divisions. One division is called demigod, and one division is called the human being. The other division is called lower than the human being. Nṛ-tiryag-deva. Deva means who are very highly advanced in knowledge. They are called devas, and God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious, such men. There are different planets also for different kinds of living entities.
Woman (1): Well, certainly I disagree with transmigration. I mean, if you're going to come back a plant or a bee, there's not much point in trying to agree to such a thing.
Madhudviṣa: She says she does not agree with transmigration of the soul.
Prabhupāda: You may not agree. What you are?
Devotee: This lady fluctuates in her mind too much and there are many other people here who would like to ask questions too. Are there any other questions?
Woman (2): How do you regard suicide, and would there be any exceptional circumstances that might justify it?
Prabhupāda: Suicide is not justified. Suicide is not justified. It is violation of nature's law. Nature gives you a certain type of body to live in it for certain days, and suicide means you go against the laws of nature, you untimely stop the duration of life. Therefore he becomes a criminal. Suicide is criminal even in ordinary state laws. One cannot make suicide.
Woman (3): I understand that Hare Kṛṣṇa is a scientific movement. Do you think that there is a scientific explanation for the way in which personal enlightenment by simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa?
So Haridāsa Ṭhākura, when it became morning, the prostitute, "Sir, now it is morning." "Yes, next night I shall... Come next night. Today I could not finish my chanting." That was a plea. In this way three days passed. Then the prostitute became converted, fell down on his..., "Sir, I came to pollute you. Now save me, I am so fallen." So Haridāsa Ṭhākura said "Yes, I know that. I could have leaved this place immediately when you came, but I wanted that you have come to me, you may be converted to this Vaisnavism." So the prostitute became a great devotee by the mercy of... Haridāsa Ṭhākura said that "You sit down in this place. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa before this tulasī plant. Now I am leaving this place."
So Kṛṣṇa-bhakti is like that. Full control over the senses. As Kṛṣṇa has got full control over the senses, similarly, those who are actually Kṛṣṇa devotees, they have got full control over the senses. Hṛṣīkeśa. Just like Yamunacārya. He is praying, he is speaking, yad-avadhi mama cittaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde nava-nava-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt: "Since I have begun to feel transcendental bliss being taken shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa," yad-avadhi mama cittaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde, kṛṣṇa-padāravinde, the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. "Since my citta, my heart, has been attracted by the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa," tad-avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame, "since then, as soon as I think of sex life," bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ, "I hate, I spit on it." This is Kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti is like that. Bhakti-pareśānubhava-viraktir anyatra syāt. This most attractive feature in this material world is sex. That is the foundation of material life. All these people are working so hard day and night only for that sex enjoyment. Yan maithunādi-gṛha... They are taking so much risk. They are working, karmis, they are working so hard. What is their pleasure of life? The pleasure of life is sex. Yan maitunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham.
Because in the beginning the whole planet was covered in water. The water is drying up and gradually land is coming out. So therefore in the beginning the aquatics, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. So the aquatic animals, they are 900,000 species. Jalajā nava..., sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Then trees and plants and herbs and grasses and so many, they are 2,000,000 forms. Then kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Then insect life, reptile life, 1,100,000. Then pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam, then birds, varieties of birds, 1,000,000. Then paśu, four-legged animals, 3,000,000 types. Then mānuṣāḥ catur-lakṣāṇi. Then human form of life, uncivilized and civilized, that human form of life 400,000. So in comparison to the lower species of life, we are very small quantity. Together there are 8,400,000 species of life, living entities. The evolution process is from one body to another, another, another. In this way, when you come to the human form of life, it should be utilized for full knowledge about our eternal life. That is the opportunity. And if we don't take this opportunity, if we live like other animals—eating, sleeping, sex, and fearfulness, āhāra-nidrā-bhayam—but we do not care to understand what we are, what is God, what is our relationship with God, then we are missing the point.
Asaṅkhya means without any counting capacity. Millions and trillions. Then what is the difference between this singular number and the plural number? The plural number is dependent on the singular number. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. The singular number eternal is giving all the necessities of life to the plural number, we living entities. That's a fact, we can examine by our intelligence. Out of 8,400,000 different forms of life, we civilized human beings are very few. But others, their number is very great. Just like in the water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. There are 900,000 species of life within the water. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati; and 2,000,000 different forms of life in the vegetable kingdom, plants and trees. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyayaḥ. And the insects, they are 110,000 different species of form. Kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyayaḥ pakṣīṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam. And birds, they are 1,000,000 species of forms. Then beasts, paśavas triṁśa-lakṣāṇi, 3,000,000 types of animals, four-legged. And catur-lakṣāṇi mānuṣaḥ, and the human being the forms are 400,000. Out of them, most of them are uncivilized.
So here it is stated by the supreme authority, Kṛṣṇa, that as these bodies are changing in this duration of life... It is changing. The old body, the child's body, boy's body of me, they are no longer existing, but I am existing. I know that I had a small body like this. I had a boy's body, youthful body. I can remember. Therefore I am eternal. The bodies are temporary.
So this is evolution. This evolution theory... It is not theory; it is fact, stated in the Vedic literature, Padma Purāṇa, how we have passed through so many bodies, and ultimately we have got this civilized, human form of body. We have to pass through 900,000 forms of aquatic bodies within the water. Then, gradually, we come to the form of trees and plants. There are 2,000,000 varieties. Then we get the bodies of the insect. There are 900,000 forms of body. Then we enter into the species of birds, 1,000,000 forms of body. Then, after bird's body, there are 3,000,000 different varieties of beast body. Then, after this period, we become human body, but there are 400,000 species of human body. And thus we get this nice human form of body with good brain and good consciousness. So it should be utilized properly. That... By the laws of nature, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). This is the law of nature. Gradually we develop different types of body and different types of consciousness. So when we come finally to God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is the perfection of life.
So you are so advanced in scientific knowledge, but neither you can say that it is not fact. Neither you can estimate. Just like in the Padma Purāṇa, the varieties of living entities are expressed: jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. The aquatic animals or living entities are nine hundred thousand. So you cannot say, "No, it is not nine hundred thousand. It is less or more." It is not possible for you to see within the water how many varieties of. You might have, the biologists, they might have experimented, but it is not possible to see nine hundred thousand forms. That is not possible. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati.
So the trees and plants, (they're) two million varieties. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyayaḥ. And the insects, they are eleven hundred thousand. So it is a puzzling thing, that how Vedic literature places everything very correctly. Nine hundred thousand, eleven hundred thousand, two million, as they are. This is called realization. So we take it for granted. Our facility is, because we accept the Vedas as authority, therefore the knowledge is there, ready. If somebody asks me or you, "Can you say how many forms of living entities are there within the water?" it is very difficult. Even the biologists cannot say. Although they are very expert. I cannot say. But our facilities, we can immediately say, there are nine hundred thousand. Although I have never experimented, neither seen personally, but because it is explained in the Vedic literature, I can say you correctly. Therefore in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said that you want to see or perceive directly anything... Just like so many rascals come, they challenge, "Can you show me God?"
Neither... Acchedyo 'yam adāhyaḥ. Neither you can burn with fire, neither you can moisten it with water, neither you can dry. In every respect Kṛṣṇa explains how soul is immutable. Another significance is nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ. Sarva-gataḥ means all-pervading, everywhere the soul is there. Even within the stone, even within the sands, there are. So how these people can say there is no existence of living entity in the moon planet? Sarva-gataḥ. We have seen sometimes that from the stone, I have marked it. There is one juma mastika(?) in Agra. On the top of the stone dome a plant has come out, on the top. Now who has gone to place that seed that a banyan tree, banyan plant has come out and it has cracked the stone? So nobody has gone there, but this means the soul is everywhere. As soon as it gets the opportunity, it accepts a material body immediately. As soon as there is opportunity. That is explained in the Seventh Chapter very nicely. (break)
...planetary system, say moon planet or other planet. They also again come down on this earthly planet. Kṣīṇe... (break) ... Just like you get visa for going to a foreign country. As soon as the visa period is over, the visa department immediately reminds you: "Sir, your visa is finished. Now you must go. You must go out." So the whole, the puṇya-loka, the higher planetary system, svarga-loka, you can go there by your pious activities, by performing big, big yajñas, puṇya, pious activities, go there. But kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti (BG 9.21). When your puṇya, it is also limited thing, when it is finished, you have to come back. It is said that when they come back on this planet they come through the water, showers, and they fall down on this earth. Again they begin their life as grass and something like that, evolution.
"Oh, stool is so nice." This is going on. Similarly, human form of body also. They're eating so many nonsense things in the restaurant, in the hotel, and they're relishing: "Oh, it is so nice." This is māyā. This is going on. So our business is to serve, but because we have taken this attitude, that "I don't like to serve Kṛṣṇa" or, "I am Kṛṣṇa," then we are under the clutches of māyā. Immediately. And under the illusion of māyā... Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi... (BG 3.27). Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. Because we are associating with the different modes of material nature, therefore we have to take birth, sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. One is becoming hog, one is becoming dog, one is becoming human being, one is becoming demigod, one is becoming tree, one is becoming plant. So many... Eight million, four hundred thousands of species and form of life. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4). Kṛṣṇa says, "All these forms, whatever they may be, I am the bīja-pradaḥ pitā. I am the father." So if Kṛṣṇa is the original father of every living entity, how one has become brāhmaṇa, one has become śūdra, one has become tree, one has become tiger, one has become hog, one has become Indra, one has become Brahmā? How is that?
When they're high up, oh, they'll take photograph. "Oh, this planet is so, this earthly planet is so green or so small. I am going round day and night and seeing in one hour three times day and night." All right, very good. Please come down again. (laughs) That's all. māyā is so strong, she will say, "Yes, very good. You are very advanced in your scientific knowledge, but please come down. Come here. Otherwise you are going to be put into the Atlantic Ocean." That's all. And they'll still be puffed up, "Oh, we are making progress. Within next ten years, you can purchase ticket or land in the moon." You know, in Russia they sold land, and they advertised that "There is Sea of Moscow. We have planted our flag on the sea in the..." So these are propaganda. They cannot go even into the nearest planet, what to speak of the spiritual sky. If you actually serious of going to the spiritual sky and Vaikuṇṭhaloka, then take this simple method, Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all.
Prabhupāda: Nature's law. That is... A tiger is made by nature's law in that way; therefore he can do that. You cannot do it. Your nature is different. You have got discrimination, you have got conscience, you are claiming civilized, human being. So you should utilize these things. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, perfect consciousness. So human life is meant for raising oneself to the perfection of consciousness, and that is Kṛṣṇa conscious. We cannot remain in tiger consciousness. That is not humanity. Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Have we fallen from higher to lower or do we come from the very bottom of plant then to animal?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Naturally fallen from higher to lower. Then you make progress, again come to this human being. This is a via media with good consciousness. If you utilize your good consciousness then you go still higher, you go to God. But if you don't use your higher consciousness then again go to down. This is going on, cycle of birth and death. This human form of life is meant for self-realization, God realization. If you don't use properly our this life for God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness and go back to the kingdom of God, then we have to suffer again in the 8,400,000 species of life cycle, one after another. That is our choice.
Similarly, if you have to love, you have to love through God. Otherwise, love is not possible. That is all artificial love. Just like supplying foodstuff through the rectum is most artificial and troublesome thing, similarly, without loving God, if I want to love anybody, that is a false manifestation.
There are so many other examples. Just like watering the plant. Now, our Paul or Paul... They supply water, pour water. Why? So that the tree or the plant may grow nicely. Where the water is poured? In the root, not on the leaves. You see? So the scriptures directs, Vedic scriptures. Yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ (SB 4.31.14). Just like pouring water unto the root of the tree, all the branches of the tree and leaves and flowers, they automatically nice... You haven't got to pour water. Now, it is a small plant. Suppose if you have got a big tree and there are thousands and millions of leaves, you are not supposed to supply water in millions of leaves. You are supposed to water, pour water, on the root. That will be distributed.
Pulling by force to the darkest region of hell. They do not know although the hellish condition of life is in the front. There are so many varieties of life. They do not question, "Wherefrom these lives come?"
The Padma Purāṇa says, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayor rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. There are, nava-lakṣāṇi, 900,000 species of life within the water. We begin our aquatic life. Because the whole world was in the beginning, full of water, so we had to live within the water. So there are 900,000 species of life within the water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And when the water dries up, as soon as the land comes out, the trees and plants begin to grow, two million types of trees and plants. In this way there are 8,400,000 species of life.
What do they know, the botanists and the biologists? So it is very serious. People should take it very seriously, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is not a humbug thing. It is based on authorized scriptures, Vedic literatures. Unfortunately, we have no customer for this knowledge. Yes?
Therefore mukta means one who is liberated from these defects. Those who are infected with these defects, they cannot give you perfect knowledge. That is not possible. Imperfectness of senses—how he can gather perfect knowledge? They can simply say, "Perhaps," "It may be," "Most probably." That's all. Theories. Nobody can say, "It is like this." Just like in the Vedas it is said how many different varieties of lives are there. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Exact number, that so many varieties of lives are there. Nine hundred thousand species life in the water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Two million varieties of trees, plants, like that. Kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Eleven lakhs varieties of insects. Pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam. There are ten, one million types of birds. Similarly, three million types of animals, and four hundred thousand different types of humankind. Everything is exactly calculated. That is called Vedic knowledge. Because it is... How the perfection of knowledge comes? Here it is said, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham (BG 4.1). Kṛṣṇa says. Aham avyayam. The knowledge is perfect. Avyayam. Avyayam means "that cannot be diverse or deviated." Perfect. Avyayam. Without any deviation. Therefore if you want to know perfect knowledge, then you have to hear from Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he has not forgotten. Just like a, my child. I say, "My dear child, twenty-five years ago you fell down and you were hurt in this way." Although the child has forgotten, but the incident is fact. The father knows. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, the supreme father, He knows everything, and Arjuna might have forgotten. Because one has forgotten, one cannot give details. Just like we had many, many births before this form of body, but we have forgotten that. That does not mean that it did not take place. We had to pass through millions and millions of births. The other day I was explaining. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Simply we had to live in the water to pass through 900,000 species of life. Two millions species of life, plant and trees. In this way we have passed through. So we might have forgotten, but that does not mean it did not take place. Go on.
Madhudviṣa: Purport: "In the Brahma-saṁhitā we have information of many, many incarnations of the Lord. It is stated there, 'I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, who is the original person, absolute, infallible, without beginning, although expanded into unlimited forms, still the same original, the oldest, and the person always appearing as a fresh youth. Such eternal, blissful, all-knowing forms of the Lord are usually understood by the best Vedic scholars, but they are always manifest to pure, unalloyed devotees.'
The Kṛṣṇa impregnates the material nature, and we come out in different forms. Sveda-ja, pādapa-ja and jarāyu-ja, and aṇḍa-ja. Sveda-ja means by perspiration, through perspiration. Just like bed bugs. Bed bug... Because if you keep your bed nasty, do not keep it very clean, then by your perspiration, there is generation of these bed bugs. They are called sveda-ja, by perspiration. And aṇḍa-ja, through the eggs. Just like the birds, the living entity is coming through the eggs. That is called aṇḍa-ja. Sveda-ja, aṇḍa-ja, jarāyu-ja. Embryo. Just like we are coming from the embryo. Aṇḍa-ja, then jarāyu-ja. And pādapa-ja, coming from the seeds, the trees, plants. So within these four groups, all different living entities are coming.
So the..., by gradual evolution, we are coming to the human form of life. So in the human form of life, here there is a prerogative, there is a chance to know what is God and what is my relationship with Him. That is called sambandha-jñāna. Sambandha, abhidheya. Then execution of the duty. Just like sambandha. We can understand. An unmarried girl and unmarried boy, there is first of all sambandha: the father, mother makes the relationship. Then there is function between husband and wife. That is called abhidheya. And why? Because there is a necessity. What is that? To get children. Sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana. Prayojana. Every sambandha, every relationship is made, every action is done with an aim, the goal, the prayojana. So Vedic literature means sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana. That is to be studied in the human form of life. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). To study Vedas means to understand what is my relation, what is Kṛṣṇa, what I am, and what is my relationship, and how to act in that relationship, and what is the aim of life.
Kṛṣṇa gives us all facilities. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). If we want to enjoy this material world, Kṛṣṇa will give us all the opportunities. You can become the topmost living entity like Lord Brahmā, and you can become an insignificant ant. According to your karma. Anumantā upadraṣṭā. So this is going on.
Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). In this way, we are wandering all over the universe as some body. Sometimes human being, sometimes demigods, sometimes cats, sometimes dogs, sometimes tree, sometimes plant, sometimes insect, sometimes Brahmā, sometimes ant, sometimes pig. Anything. There are 8,400,000 species of life. So this is our circulation. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that tava cārjuna. "As Paramātmā, I am with you always. And you are changing so many bodies."
Of course, Arjuna did not change because he's devotee. He is accompanying Kṛṣṇa always. Sakhā ceti, bhakto 'si sakhā ceti. So he's friend. He takes his birth as human being whenever Kṛṣṇa wants. Kṛṣṇa has His associates. When He comes on this planet in this universe, He comes with His associates. So the Pāṇḍavas, they are Kṛṣṇa's eternal associates. Although associate, still, Arjuna forgets about his previous birth because he's human being, whereas Kṛṣṇa remembers.
So Kṛṣṇa also takes birth, very many incarnations.
Śakti-śakti-mator abhinnā. Kṛṣṇa's energy is also controller, Durgā. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni vibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). Durgā is the śakti, external energy. She has got also immense power. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana. The material nature is very strong, creating, maintaining and destroying. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-śaktiḥ chāyeva. But she's acting under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).
Material energy is very strong, very powerful. You can know that. If there is a strong, a strong storm immediately, so many houses, so many trees and plants can be immediately uprooted. Material nature. If there is big storm in the ocean, it can inundate many cities, many towns. Material energy is very, very strong. That is stated, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). So we are under the control of the material nature.
Here is a scientist. He knows how much we are controlled by the material nature. So material nature is also Kṛṣṇa. Material nature... Because material nature is the energy of Kṛṣṇa... Just like this light. This light is distributing illumination. So this illumination is also light. The illumination is coming from the light. Therefore, so far illumination is concerned, there is in the lamp as well as in the illumination. So energy is not different from the energetic.
But if you want to be controlled by the energy, Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes, you be controlled." And if you want to be controlled by Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes." Therefore He says, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante. It is up to you. But you'll be controlled. There is no independence, sir. There is no independence. You'll be controlled. That is your nature. You cannot be controller. That is not possible. "Either you be controlled by Me, personally, or you be controlled..."
So you should not take Kṛṣṇa that because He appeared in India therefore He is Indian or Indian god. That is a mistake. Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. Do not consider that Kṛṣṇa belongs to the Hindu community or Kṛṣṇa belong to the India or any way, kṣatriya, no. He does not belong to any material designation. He is above.
And you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, Fourteenth Chapter, He claims sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ (BG 14.4). There are eight million four-hundred-thousands of forms of living entities including human being. And Kṛṣṇa says ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā, "I am their seed-giving father." So He claims to be father not only of the human society but of the animal society, beast society, bird society, insect society, aquatic society, plant society, tree society—all living entities. God cannot belong to any particular community or class. That is misconception. God must belong to everyone.
So when we speak of Kṛṣṇa consciousness do not take it as a sectarian view. Try to understand the philosophy. He belongs to every living entity. He is the supreme living entity. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That is the Vedic version. He is the leader of all living entities. By our different result of our work we have assumed different dresses but as living entity we are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness in that way. Go on.
This is the idea of spiritual communism. In Bhāgavata these things are stated, how to feel spiritual communism. In the spiritual communism... The present communists, they are thinking of the human being only. And the animals are being sent to the slaughterhouse. Although the human being and the animal is born in the same land... Actually, they are also nationals. National means one who's born in that particular land. So why not these animals, nationals? But because they have no Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they cannot think so broadly. They think nationalism means it is limited to the human being, not to the animals, not to the trees.
But when you become Kṛṣṇa conscious you understand that the trees, the plants the reptiles, the aquatics, the human beings, the beasts, everyone, each and everyone, part and parcel of God. According to their karma, they have got different bodies, the color, as I explained. According to kāraṇam guṇa-sango 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). These things are described in the Bhagavad-gītā. One has got a different type of body according to his karma. Karmaṇā daiva netreṇa jantor deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). By karma we create next body.
Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). Everyone is rotating in this way. Out of that, one who is very, very fortunate, then guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja, by the grace of guru and Kṛṣṇa he gets the seed of devotional service. Then, if he waters it.... mālī hañā kare sei bīja āropaṇa. Just like if you get a seed of nice flower, if you sow it and water it, it will grow, similarly, the seed, śraddhā, that "Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very nice," this is seed, but if you pour water.... What is that watering? Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana (CC Madhya 19.152). If you simply hear and you chant also, that is the watering of the seed. Then it will grow. And one day it will grow, a big tree or big plant, and it will reach Kṛṣṇa's.... This is described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. You will find.
So do not take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement very lightly. Take it seriously and try to understand, and your life will be successful. Thank you very much. (end)
So here, śucau deśe, perfectly sanctified place. Śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya. He must be situated in a very sanctified place. Sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ. And the āsanam, and the sitting place should not be changed. The same āsana. He should perform yoga, meditation, on the same place and the same sitting place. Ātmanaḥ. And how that place, the sitting place, should be selected? Na ati ucchritam. Not too much raised, nor too much low. Nāty-ucchritam. And cailājina-kuśottaram. Caila. Caila means cotton something, cotton sitting place. Then skin. Deerskin means... You know yogis, they sit on the skin of tiger and skin of deer? Why? Because they are in a secluded place. This has got some chemical effect. If you sit on tiger skin and deer skin, then the reptiles, the snakes, they won't disturb you. It has got some, I mean to say, physical effect. There are so many medical effect in so many things. We do not know. But God has created everything for our use. We do not know. Every plant, every herb is a medicine. It is meant for some particular disease, for some particular protection. We do not know that. So cailājina. It is not a fashion. It is... Because they sit down in a secluded place in a jungle, so you are meditating, so some snake may come. There are so many snakes, so many reptiles. So therefore, cailājina-kuśottaram. And straw. The three things: straw, and the skin, and some cotton āsana. These things are required.
Then what is the next process?
Prabhupāda: Yes. So cessation of material existence does not mean void. Because I am not void. I am spirit soul. If I was void, how my development of this body has taken place? I am not void. I am the seed. Just like you sow a seed on the ground, it grows into large tree or plant. Similarly the seed is given by the father in the womb of the mother and it grows like a tree. And this body is that. Where is voidness? Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). 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.
Devotee: "There is no void anywhere in the creation of the Lord. Rather the cessation of material existence enables one to enter into the spiritual sky, the abode of the Lord. The abode of the Lord is also clearly described in the Bhagavad-gītā as that place where there is no need of sun or moon nor electricity."
So therefore our process is how one can think of Kṛṣṇa always. We have so many departments. The idea is how to think of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. That is the yoga. Even in taking prasādam, you are thinking of Kṛṣṇa, "Oh, it is very nice. Kṛṣṇa has tasted. It is very nice." That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is yoga. Is there any yoga system in the world that you can become a yogi simply by eating? Is there any yoga system? Just try to understand. Is there any yoga system simply by digging earth for gardening one can become a yogi? Is there any yoga system? Here the boys, when they dig earth for planting rose flower for Kṛṣṇa, he is thinking, "Oh, the flower will be nice. It will be offered to Kṛṣṇa." There is immediately yoga. Just try to understand how nice it is. Whatever you do, if it is done for Kṛṣṇa, then you are in the highest perfectional stage of yoga. And anyone can do it. If Mr. Darwin or Chandramukhi is asked, "All right, you also dig," oh, she will imitate and become yogi immediately. Immediately yogi. Just try to understand. Is there any process of yoga system which can teach even a small child to practice and become yogi? No. If you ask a child or even the father does, "You sit down like me. Meditate. Press your nose," or this, that, oh, she'll be not, cannot do. Unable. Is there any... If I say a child, "Oh, my dear girl, my dear boy, please do like this. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa," he immediately does. You see?
So this simple method and the highest method... Not that we are advertising our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Here the authority, the supreme authority, Kṛṣṇa, says, "Practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me." But if you make your own manufactured meaning of these words and cheat public, that is your business. Our business is not to cheat. We have to say frankly, "This is the fact," that's all. But you can cheat: "Oh, it is not Kṛṣṇa. It is this and that, so many things. This 'me' means I. 'I' means you are also I. I am also I." They explain in that way. "The 'me,' the word is me. So 'me' is coming from 'I.' So you are 'I,' I am 'I.'
To understand Kṛṣṇa is not very easy task. Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu: "Out of millions and millions persons, kaścid, someone may try to make his life successful, human life." kaścid yatati siddhaye.
This human form of life is especially meant for God realization, not for any other business. But people do not try for it. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛ-loke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1), that we should not, especially this human form of body... There are 8,400,000 forms of body—cats, dogs, trees, plants, insects—so many. So this form of life, human form of life, it is worth that, nāyaṁ dehaḥ, nṛ-loke, which means you are born in the human society. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛ-loke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). Kaṣṭān means we have to satisfy the necessities of our body. That is a fact. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca—these are the necessities of the body. So we have to satisfy them, that is a fact, but not with great difficulty, kaṣṭān kāmān. Kaṣṭān kāmān means... Kāmān means the demands of the body. But we should not take up a civilization which teaches to fulfill the necessities of our life with great labor, kaṣṭān kāmān, because that kind of civilization is existing amongst the hogs and dogs. They are working whole day and night. So perfection of human life is not (to) increase our industrial enterprise or economic development or so many things we are now planning. The perfection of human life is to understand Kṛṣṇa, to understand God. If you have got any objection to speak "Kṛṣṇa" as the name of God—you may have—but actually, if there can be any name of God, that is "Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. All-attractive. That is defined in the śāstra.
Not always, but in human society, everywhere in civilized human society there is some conception of religion, and the purpose of executing religious faith means to understand God. There is no other purpose of any religion. If in any religion the understanding of God is lacking, that is not first-class religion. So we are preaching not any particular type of religion. Religion is described in the English dictionary as "a kind of faith." Actually, religion does not mean. The Sanskrit word dharma, that dharma means characteristic. It is not a kind of faith—characteristic, or occupational duty. Generally it means characteristic. The characteristic is that every living being, whether it is animal or human being or tree or plants or insect... (loud noise from speaker system) (aside:) What is it? Every living being has a particular characteristic that is visible in all kinds of forms of living being. That is service. Everyone is rendering service. Here we have so many ladies and gentlemen present, but every one of us is rendering some service to the superior. That is our position. The animals also, the inferior animals, they are rendering service to the superior animal. The superior animal is eating the inferior animal, jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. Big snake is eating small snake. There is a verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, apadāni catuṣ-padām. Those who are two-legged, they are eating the four-legged. And the four-legged animals, they are eating who cannot walk. Apadāni catuṣ-padām. Those who cannot move, just like grass, plants, tree, they cannot move, they are being eaten up by the four-legged animals. And the four-legged animals are being eaten by the two-legged animals, human beings. Just try to understand how the weaker section is serving the stronger section. That is the law of nature. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. One living entity is the food or living means for another living entity, by nature's law. So the conclusion is that we must render service to the strong. This is nature's law.
Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu. There are living entities, 8,400,000 species or forms. And nine... Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi, 900,00 forms in the water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Two million forms of the trees and plants. In this way there are, altogether, different forms of life, 8,400,000. Don't think that the plants and trees, they have no life. They are also living entities. We do not accept this theory that the animals have no soul. No. Everyone has got soul. Even the plants, trees, everyone has got soul. They have got different bodies only. It is not that only human being has got the soul, not others. No. Actually if we make analysis what is the symptoms of possessing soul, you will find everywhere. Even in plants' life you will find. Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, one of the greatest scientist of the world, he has proved by machine that when you cut the trees or the leaves, they feel sensation, pain, and that is recorded by machine. So everyone has got soul.
Kṛṣṇa has given birth to the aquatics, to the trees, to the plants, to the birds, to the beast, to the human beings, to the demigods, everyone. Sarva-yoniṣu, including everyone. So how Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be sectarian? Just like our men went to consult about taxation. They're considering that "This is sectarian, Kṛṣṇa." This is not sectarian. Where is sectarian? Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu. Not only international, universal. So how we can be sectarian? For everyone. Otherwise, how everyone outside India, they're accepting this Kṛṣṇa consciousness if it is sectarian? It is not sectarian. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa Himself says that "I am the father of all forms of life." How Kṛṣṇa can be sectarian? There is no reason to say that it is sectarian. Therefore it is said that somebody's thinking that Kṛṣṇa is Hindu god, somebody's thinking that "Kṛṣṇa was born in India; therefore He's Indian." "Kṛṣṇa took birth in the family of Yadu dynasty; therefore He's kṣatriya." "Kṛṣṇa played as a cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana; therefore He's a vaiśya." In so many ways they are thinking. But Kṛṣṇa says this is all rascaldom. Therefore He says, kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ: "Actually what I am, that is known to very, very few men, only to the devotees, not to the common man."
It is not stated here jīvanam, the living entities. There are, we have several times explained, many types of living entities. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. The aquatics, they are also living entities. There are 900,000 forms of body within the water. They are also living entities. And... Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvarāḥ means living entities who cannot move—trees, plants, herbs, grass. They cannot move. So they are two millions. So in this way you come to the human being. They are also living entities. There are 400,000 different forms. We can see here. We are human being, but we have got different forms, different color.
So this is the variety of creation. So out of all these living entities, the human form of living entity is very important. So that is the life wherein we can understand what is God. Therefore in the human society there is some process of understanding God which is called religion. Religion means a process by which we can understand what is God, what is our relationship with Him, and what is our duty towards Him. So therefore it is said, these human beings who are actually trying to fulfill the mission of human life... To fulfill the mission of human life means that we living being, spirit soul, we are now entangled within this material body. This is our problem. Really the... To understand the position of the living being is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā does not begin with some utopian ideas of humanitarian work. No. Śrī Kṛṣṇa wanted Arjuna to understand in the beginning that "First of all, you understand your constitutional position, what you are."
They have got evolution by nature's process. They have got evolution by nature's way. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. First of all aquatic. Because the whole world was filled with water, so there was animals, aquatics. So as the land became visible, then jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvarāḥ means the living entities which cannot move. That means trees and plants, vegetables. So from aquatics to vegetable life, then worm, reptiles, then birds, and then beast, then human being, then civilized men. There is chance of becoming perfect. So nature brings you up to the point of human form of life. Now you make your choice. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. And if you misuse like cats and dogs, then again go. Again go to the aquatics or cats and dogs according to your karma. That they do not know. Therefore they are called mūḍhas. They are very much advanced in knowledge and science and money-making, but what they are going to take the body next life, they do not know. Mūḍho nābhijānāti. This is their advancement. Therefore they refuse to believe that there is next life. That is one solace: "Oh, there is no next..." Bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar āgamano bhavet: "Oh, this body will be burned into ashes, and who is coming back again?" They don't believe. Because if they believe the śāstra, then it will be horrible affair for them. But therefore they do not believe. But you believe or not believe, things are going to happen. That's all. That is laws of nature. If you don't believe that you are going to die, it doesn't matter. You have to die. If you don't believe, that "I am not going to become an old man," no, you believe or not believe, you must become old man. This is nature's law. So you believe or not believe in the next life, you have to accept it. Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). So your believe or not believe doesn't matter. Nature's work will go on.
You do not require to repeat this. Etad yonīni, the different forms of life... Just like here we are, human being, the cows, the dogs, the ants, the trees, the plants, so many different forms of life. Every one of us, we are living being. But according to our karma we have got different bodies. Just like we have got different dresses. We are all human being, but we have got different dresses. Similarly, sarvāṇi bhūtāni, all living entities, they are all Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel, but they have refused to cooperate with Kṛṣṇa. They wanted to enjoy material life independently.
Therefore different forms of bodies are there, but Kṛṣṇa is the cause. Kṛṣṇa... Just like father. Father is the cause of the sons, but the sons may be different. Not exactly all the sons are on the equal pattern. Similarly, we are originally all part and parcel or sons of God. Therefore God's qualities are there in us, very minute quantity, because we are very small. So the quality is there. Just like drop of water from the ocean. The taste is there. The taste of the ocean, salty, is there in the drop of ocean water. There is no difference. Only the difference is quantity... In quality they one one. Quality, that salty taste, quality, that is one. Any drop of the ocean, you can take the salty taste, but the drops may be of different quantity and the ocean is very, very big. This is called acintya-bhedābheda, simultaneously one and different. One in quality.
So qualitatively we are one. God is good, so in quality we are good; we are not bad. But why you have become bad?
Name may be another thing. You may say, "Oh, this person, this man is very intelligent, very moralist." That means he is a brāhmaṇa. Or "This man is very good administrator." That means he is kṣatriya. "Oh, this man is very good industrialist, merchant." That means he is vaiśya. "This man cannot do anything." He is śūdra.
So Lord Kṛṣṇa says that tribhir guṇamayair bhāvaiḥ: "By these three qualities, everywhere, all over the universe..." You must know whenever Kṛṣṇa says something, it is nothing limited. Universally true, He says. When He says sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4), He claims to be father of all living entities. Even the animals, even the aquatics, even the trees, plants, worms, birds, beasts, this human being, that human being—all He claims. He's the father of everyone. So similarly, tribhir guṇamayair bhāvaiḥ, mohitaṁ sarva-jagat: "The whole world is," I mean to say, "illusioned or covered by these reactions of these three qualities." And we are under the spell of that illusion; therefore we cannot understand what is God, what is God. Tribhir guṇamayair bhāvair ebhiḥ sarvam idaṁ jagat, mohitaṁ nābhijānāti: "Because they are now illusioned, under the spell of the intermixture of these three qualities, they cannot understand Me, Kṛṣṇa." Mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam: "I am the supreme eternal being. Oh, they cannot understand."
That is the difference. Here is an animal. Just like cows, goats, lambs. They are animals. And dogs. There are dog-eaters also. There is the word, śva-pacaḥ. Śva-pacaḥ means dog-eaters. Yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyam, aho bato śva-paco 'to garīyān yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyam. Even a person coming from the family of dog-eaters... There are dog-eaters still. So if he chants Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, he becomes glorious. Aho bato śva-paco 'to garīyān yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyam. Caṇḍāla... They are called caṇḍālas. Caṇḍālo 'pi dvija-śreṣṭho hari-bhakti-parāyaṇaḥ. Even if a caṇḍāla... Caṇḍāla means the dog-eaters. So these animal-eaters, they are also animal, describing, animal with two hands. Ahastānāṁ sahastā... Ahastāni sahastānām. Apadāni catuṣ-padām. Apadāni means those who have no legs, like plants, trees, the grass. They have no legs. They are standing. They have got legs, but they have no moving power. They are called pāda-pa. Pāda-pa means they have got legs for eating. We are eating with mouth; they are eating with legs.
So everything, analytical study is there in the śāstras very minute, senses and power, who has got. The fish, they have got very good sensation power. Means two miles away, they get sensation there is enemy, "Somebody's coming to eat me." These are all described in the Bhāgavatam. The frogs, they can become in samādhi, situated in samādhi, for many, many years. So these things are not very great things, to have samādhi, to have yogic principles. Even in the animals you will find. I read long, long ago that in the coal mine, while they were digging coals, one frog came out from the coal and jumped over and died. That means the frog was buried within the lump of coal for many, many thousands of years, and he was keeping samādhi. Kumbhaka, kumbhaka-yoga they know. So these are not very extraordinary things. Because after all, living entity is eternal, does not die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). If, by some process, he lives for some time more, that is not very wonderful thing. The wonderful thing is how to stop this birth and death. That is wonderful thing. Not that I am living, say, for fifty years or hundred years, another man is living for three hundred years. That is not very wonderful thing.
Prabhupāda: You have forgotten? (chuckles) Mādhavī-latā. Why don't you like it? Mādhavī-latā.
Jadurāṇī: She asked what it means, Swamiji. She asked what it means.
Prabhupāda: Mādhavī-latā. Oh, Mādhavī-latā is a plant which was very much liked by Kṛṣṇa, Mādhavī-latā. It is a flower plant, Mādhavī-latā, and Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā used to take pleasure underneath that plant. So anything related with Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. Any other question?
Devotee or Guest: I have a question about the, taking a body of Kṛṣṇa after death if you're thinking of Kṛṣṇa at the time of death, or taking the body of a dog or a deer if you're thinking about that sort of thing when you die. There must be different kinds of taking of a body, because there are different kinds of bodies. The bodies of dogs and deers and things are not the same as the body of Kṛṣṇa. Now, how do you take on this form of Kṛṣṇa?
Prabhupāda: By thinking of Kṛṣṇa.
Guest: No, what I mean is how does the soul assume this form? How does it become...
Prabhupāda: Not become Kṛṣṇa. Just like you are spirit soul. When you take the body of a certain type of body, you act according to the body. Just like the dog is acting differently from human body because he has got a different body. Hog is acting differently because he has got a different body. So there are 8,400,000's of different bodies. So mad-bhāva, mad-bhāva means the nature, Kṛṣṇa's nature. You keep your individuality, but you get
Your form, my form, this is changing. We are not existing in the same form.
Just like we have got this form, human form of life. It is not permanently I shall be able to enjoy. Just like you have got a particular dress now. It is not permanent. You can change your dress any moment. Similarly, this body, material body, is considered... Actual fact... It will not endure. We'll have to change. Therefore it is not sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. But Kṛṣṇa's form is sac-cid-ānanda. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha means form. So everyone has got form. There are 8,400,000 forms of living entity. In the water there are 900,000 forms. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Amongst the trees, plants, there are two million forms. So there are hundred and thousands of forms in the material world. But in the spiritual world the form is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Every form is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. That is the difference between material world and spiritual world. Material world means... Although the varieties are there in the spiritual world... There are also trees, as we have got here trees. But there the forms are spiritual form, and here they are material form. Material form and spiritual form, what is the difference?
The difference is that just like a living being. I can ask any of my disciple to do something. He'll do it. But this microphone, it has also a form, but if I want microphone, "Please do this," he cannot, it cannot do because it is material. It can mechanical, give some mechanical service, one only, but it cannot do any other thing. A man can speak or he can dance or he can become a thief, he can become so many—because he's living. That is the difference between material form and spiritual form.
Lord Caitanya has discussed a very analytical study of the living entity. He has analyzed that the living entities... There are innumerable living entities all over the universe. If you dig earth, you'll find many living entities. If you make a study of the air, you'll find many living entities. If you go deep into the water, you'll find living entities. So all over the universe there are full of different types of living entities. And He has divided all these living entities into two classes. Some are moving and some are not moving. Just like trees, plants, grass, they cannot move. Stone. Stone has also life, but it is not developed conscious. It is too much covered, stone life. Similarly, a person, even in human body, if he does not understand his position, he's almost stonelike. So these are stones, trees, grass and so many others. They are "not-moving" living entities. And there are moving entities just like aquatics, beasts, birds, reptiles, human being, demigods, oh, celestial angels, so many. There are moving. So out of the moving entities, very small number are human beings. There are 8,400,000's of species of life. Out of that, only 400,000 species of life are this human body.
So Lord Caitanya says, "Out of these 400,000 species of life, some of them are civilized. And out of many civilized persons, they are actually devoted to the scriptures, not all." Some of them, they agree that "I belong to Christian religion," "I belong to Hindu religion," or "I belong to Muhammadan religion," but at the present age, mostly they simply claim that "I belong to this religion" but do not believe in the scripture, mostly. So those who are believing in the scriptures, they are mostly attracted by pious, philanthropic activities.
You'll find. It is psychology, even for a child. The child captures with the finger some nice sweetmeats and immediately puts in... Why? The child could smash it and taste this rasagullā. That is not possible. Study nature. You take the very nice sweet, but you cannot. The fingers cannot spoil it. The process is that by nature the child knows that "If I put into the mouth, it goes to the stomach, and if it is digested, these fingers will be healthy, the eyes will be healthy, the leg will be healthy, hands will be healthy, every—all parts of the body will be healthy." This is natural.
Just like another example is given. Yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ (SB 4.31.14). Just like tree. If you... Tree, plant, anything. You pour water in the root; it goes, transferred to the branches, to the twigs, to the leaves, to the flower and everyone, if you put water. Yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ, prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇām. And by giving food to the stomach, then all the different parts of the body, limbs and senses, they become healthy. Similarly, sarvārhaṇam acyutejyā. If you worship Kṛṣṇa, Acyuta, then the whole world will be satisfied because He is the root.
"Again he goes back." Instead of going back to home, back to Godhead, he goes back to where? Now, mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani: (BG 9.3) "Again in the cycle of birth and death." Again cycle of birth and death. Suppose in this human form of life you can make your life so perfect that immediately after death, after giving up this body, you go back to home, back to Godhead. You regain your eternal life. But if you misuse this human form of life, do not endeavor for going back to home, back to Godhead, then again go back to the cycle of birth and death. This is nature's law. You are not independent. Nature is working like that.
- prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
- guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
- ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
- kartāham iti manyate
- (BG 3.27)
You are thinking foolishly, as a rascal that you are independent. You are not independent. You are completely under the control of material nature. Now, in this human form of life, there are two ways: you go back to home, back to Godhead, or go back to again to become a pig, hog, and tree, and plant. This is the plan of Bhagavad-gītā. Thank you very much. (break)
That is transmigration of the soul. We are desiring different types of desires and we are getting a body. This is nature's law. Just like you infect some type of contagious disease. You suffer from that disease. Nature's way. It will be automatically manufactured. That is the disease. Similarly, the body will be automatically manufactured. This is the nature's law. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). You are under the control of the material nature and if you are manufacturing different ideas, nature will give you the facility to have such body. That is called transmigration of the soul. Therefore we find so many varieties of forms of life within the water, on the land, so many plants, so many varieties of trees, so many varieties of insect, so many varieties of birds, beast, and then human life, then civilized life.
So in this way, by the process of evolution, we come to this point of human form of life. And if you are actually civilized, then take advantage of the instruction of Kṛṣṇa and make your choice, whether you are going back to home, back to Godhead, or again in the cycle of birth and death. This is the point. So if we accept the instruction given by Kṛṣṇa with faith, then our life are successful. And why you should not take? It is not very difficult. And if we take Kṛṣṇa's instruction... He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is speaking everything which is correct. If you take instruction from others... Others means those have no connection with God, or Kṛṣṇa. They cannot give you correct information because they are conditioned under the laws of nature. The defect is, ordinary person will commit mistake, will be illusioned, his senses are imperfect, and he has the tendency to cheat.
The internal energy is permanent. The spiritual world is permanent, and we are also permanent, jīva-bhūta. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20).
So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to transfer oneself from this external energy to the internal energy. That is the purpose of all Vedic literature. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). To understand God and go back to home, back to Godhead, that is perfection of life. So here we are in the God's energy. There is no doubt. Mayā tatam, mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni (BG 9.4). Everything. Bhūtāni means all living entities, anything which has grown. The trees, the plants, the hills, the ocean, the sky—everything is resting in God's energy. Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ. But it is not that... The pantheists, they think that "If God has expanded in everything, then whatever I worship, that is God's worship." No. That is the... Kṛṣṇa said, "No, that you cannot take."
The same example: The sunshine is not different from the sun, and because the sunshine has entered within your room it does not mean the sun has entered in your room. If you try to understand, then you'll understand that God is everywhere; still, He is not everywhere. This is His inconceivable power. Therefore, if we want to worship God, then we have to worship His form, His name, name, form, quality, pastime. Then we shall realize that God is person, Supreme Being, and He has got all the propensities as we have got. Because we are part and parcel of God, we can study God's personality from our personality, just like we can study the father by the symptoms of the son—this is crude example—similarly, whatever propensities we have got, wherefrom the propensity is coming? It is coming from God.
We do not accept this theory that life is the cause of matter." Because they are atheistic persons. As soon as they accept that life is the cause of matter, they have to accept God. Immediately. Immediately they have to accept God.
So these atheistic persons, in order to avoid Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in order to avoid Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person, they push forward this theory that life is caused by matter. But that is not the fact. There are many instances. We can give many instances that life produces matter. Life... I can give you one small example. Just take, for example, one lemon tree. Lemon tree, it is also a living entity. Because there are eight million four hundred thousand species of living entities. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvarāḥ means these trees, plants, creepers. They are two millions of varieties. So this ordinary lemon tree is producing so many lemons. And the lemon means citric acid. So if you take all these lemons, and take their juice, so one ordinary lemon tree produces tons of citric acid. It is a small living entity.
So similarly we are also producing, with our perspiration, water. And the water is salty also. We have got, everyone, experience. Now it is the question of limited and unlimited. We are limited. We are producing a little quantity of water by perspiration which contains salt, salty water. If I am able to produce unlimited quantity of water, salty, that is sea and ocean. That is sea and ocean. What is the (this) sea and ocean? That is perspiration of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He has got such potency, unlimited. Unlimited potency. So where is the difficulty to understand that when Kṛṣṇa says: ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8), "I produce everything..." The chemists, the scientists, they're beginning from chemical, but wherefrom the chemical came? That came from Kṛṣṇa. If some chemicals come, come from an insignificant lemon tree, how much chemicals can come from Kṛṣṇa?
Why you are killing half? It is great sin.' " Then it stuck to his brain. "Sin? What is this sin?" Then he described the effects of sin. Then he said, "I have been taught by my father to do this business. So if I do not do this business how shall I live?" So Nārada Muni said, "If I guarantee your living, would you give up this business, this profession?" "Why not? If I get my living means, then I can give up." So it was agreed that he will give up his business of hunting. And Nārada Muni said that "I will give you all the necessities of your life. Come on." So it is a long story. I am making short cut.
So Nārada Muni asked him that "You sit down on this bank of Ganges and here is the tulasī plant. You worship it, and I will send your food. Don't be worried." So next morning it was declared in the village, "That heinous hunter has become a Vaiṣṇava." So people, generally, they are inquisitive. They came to see. It is the custom when you go to see a saintly person, you take some fruits or flowers or some rice or some āṭā. So huge stack of rice and āṭā and fruits and flowers also. They were surprised: "Why Nārada Muni is sending so much? We are simply husband and wife." In this way they become Vaiṣṇava. And after some time Nārada Muni with his friend Parvata Muni, he wanted to see his devotee. So he asked Parvata Muni that "My dear friend, will you come with me. I shall show my devotee who was formerly a hunter." So Parvata Muni knew that "You can play wonderful. So let me see this devotee." So when Nārada Muni was coming, this devotee was going to receive the spiritual master. This is the custom, to receive the spiritual master from distant place with all honor by bowing down. But he was jumping. He was jumping. So when he came near, the Parvata Muni first of all asked him, "My dear son, you are great devotee, but while coming here why you are jumping?" He said that "On the ground there are so many ants, sir. So I do not want to kill these ants."
It is very nice ship. And su-labhaṁ su-labhaṁ su-durlabham. Su-labham means this kind of ship you cannot get always. It is an opportunity.
This is an opportunity because we do not know what is going to happen in my next life. There is no guarantee that in next life you are going to take your birth in America or in human form of life. There is no guarantee. Therefore, so long you have got this opportunity, you must fully utilize it. Nṛ-deham ādyam su-labhaṁ su-durlabham. Su-labham, by opportunity, by fortune we have got this, su-labham. And su-durlabham. Su-durlabham means it is very difficult to get this body, because... Just imagine. By gradual evolutionary process from the aquatic to the plant life, then from plant life to worm life, then from worm life to bird's life, then from bird's life to beast life, from beast life to human life—this is the gradual process of evolution. So therefore this human form of life is very difficult to get. By some fortune you have got now. So therefore it is said, su-labhaṁ su-durlabham.
And you have got this nice ship. And guru-karṇa-dhāram. And if you have got a nice spiritual master who is captain, good captain, who can help you to ply your ship on the same. So nṛ-deham ādyam su-labhaṁ su-durlabham. And atmosphere is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, created by the Supreme Lord by delivering you the message of Bhagavad-gītā. So you have got very good atmosphere. Just you compare in the same way: If in Atlantic Ocean there is no wind, there is no hurricane, and you have got a very good ship and very good captain, now take this opportunity of crossing. If you don't cross, then you are committing suicide. Oh, very nice.
Some of them migrated to India. Some of them migrated to Europe. And from Europe you have come. So we belong to the Aryan family, but we have lost our knowledge. So we have become non-Aryan practically. Because we do not give importance to the spiritual side of life. The Aryan means one who gives importance to the spiritual side of life.
And what is that importance? The spiritual side importance-giving means one has to see how much important this human life is. Because in the human form of life the spirit soul, although it is conditioned by material, I mean to say, encagement, it has developed its consciousness by gradual evolution. This evolution theory is there in the Padma-Purāṇa. There is actually evolution from lower status of life beginning from the aquatics, small, then plant life, then germs' life, then birds' life, then beast life, then human form of life, then civilized human form of life.
So fortunately we have got now civilized form of life. The Aryan family means they are civilized form of life. But we are utilizing in the matter of maintaining this body. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca. We are utilizing this material, this developed body. The spirit soul has got the chance now to liberate himself. There is a process. By nature's way, the evolution is to give chance the spirit to get out of this material entanglement. So people are not giving importance.
Therefore sometimes we find there is overpopulation. Overpopulation. What is this overpopulation? Overpopulation means that just like from lower class a student is promoted, and when he comes to the final class, if he does not pass, then the class is overcrowded. Suppose from one, two, three, four, one comes to the tenth class. Tenth class is meant for final examination and go to the college. So if in the tenth class the students fail, then the tenth class becomes overpopulated. Similarly, the present civilization we sometimes find that there is overpopulation. Overpopulation means we are not being promoted to higher life. We are being blocked, and therefore nature's course is: there must be some pestilence; there must be some war to finish it.
Guest: Because to love the child only, I have to exclude other things, meaning the cow.
Prabhupāda: But personal, child is the person. How can you avoid person?
Guest: How can what?
Prabhupāda: How can you avoid person? When you love, how can you avoid a person? What do you mean by love? Whenever you love universally... In the universe there are so many men, animals, and plants, and beasts, and birds, and so many things. So we have to love everyone. That is universal. You cannot discriminate, "Oh, this is not universal. This is universal." Universal means all-including. So how you can avoid this person or imperson? You have to love everyone. That is universal.
Guest: If I don't do that, then I have a love with limitations, and this is false. This would be...
Prabhupāda: No. Not limitation. The point is: if you love the root, then you love everything. Just like if you pour water on the root of the tree, then the branches, the flowers, the leaves, the fruits, and everything is nourished. So you have to know the technique, how to love the whole. If somebody is loving the tree—he is putting water in each every leaf, every branch, every flower—he is spoiling his time. Another intelligent man goes and he pours one bucketful of water on the root. Oh, it is distributed. This is foolishness, that without knowledge of the root, you want to love the branches. Your body. You love your body. Why do you supply your food in the stomach? Why not to the eyes, to the ears, to the nose? Why not individually, every finger, every hand, every part, every hair? No. As soon as you put the foodstuff to the stomach, the energy is at once distributed everywhere. Similarly, universal love means to love God.
This is also enviousness. "Why foreigners will come here?" This is enviousness. Why not? Who is foreigner and who is national? Everyone is son of God. Why should you distinguish? But because there is no Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this discrimination between man to man, animal to man, and so many discrimination... Even taking from the national point of view, national means anyone who is born in that country. But because one happens to be animal, although it is national, still, it is sent to the slaughterhouse, because there is no Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
If there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the government or the leaders would be equally favorable to the man, to the animals, to the trees, to the plants, to the insects, to the... Everyone. That is called kṛṣṇa-bhakti or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ maitraḥ. Treat them just like your friend, maitraḥ. A devotee is friend to everyone. He does not want to kill even an ant or a mosquito. That is devotee, maitraḥ, to everyone friendly. Maitraḥ karuṇaḥ. Karuṇaḥ means kind. A devotee is kind to everyone.
It is not that Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be spread in India or amongst the brāhmaṇas or amongst the Hindus. No. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person will preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, as far as possible. That is called karuṇaḥ. Adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca, nirmamaḥ. Nirmama means without claiming any personal proprietorship or any nepotism. Nirmama. Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. That is the fact. Kṛṣṇa says bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He is the proprietor. God is actually proprietor of everything. Why shall I shall claim "This is mine"? Nothing belongs to me. Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ (BG 12.13). Nirahaṅkāra means this false egotism: "I am this body," "I am Indian," "American," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim." No. Nirahaṅkāra means "I am Kṛṣṇa's servant." That is nirahaṅkāra.
Because unless you are perfect, how you can give perfect knowledge? So every one of us is imperfect. Because we have got imperfect senses. So with imperfect knowledge...
Just like the so-called scientists, philosophers, they propose their theories; "I think," "It may be like this," "Perhaps..." These are not knowledge. These are all nonsense. You must speak definitely if you know. Just like the śāstra says: jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. Definitely. Nine hundred thousand species of life within the water. Why? You could say: "About nine lakhs." No. Nine lakhs. Not about. More or less. No. Not like that. That is knowledge. That is perfect... Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And the trees, plants, they are two millions. Never says: "approximately." "Maybe," "perhaps." No. This is all nonsense. We don't accept such knowledge. So... But the, in the material world, these things are going on. Any rascal will give some theory. That will be accepted and he'll be offered Nobel Prize.
So that is condemned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: śva-viḍ-varāha-uṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ. So according to Bhāgavata direction, these Nobel Prize winners are exactly like dogs, camels, hogs, śva-viḍ-varāha-uṣṭra and asses. And they are praised by similar animals. That's all. The Nobel Prize winner and the Nobel Prize giver. Both of them are like dogs hogs animal and asses. That's all. This is a fact. They... If, if a person has written some theory, evolution of chemicals, and all rubbish things, it is very nice thing for the so-called dogs and camels, but those who have got eyes to see, one who has heard from Kṛṣṇa, he'll understand this is nonsense. How, from chemical, you can produce life? When he's asked: "Well, sir, if I give you these chemicals, can you produce life?" Immediately he says: "That I cannot say." Why?
I am a human being. Because I have got this body, I am acting in a different way than the cats and dogs, because he has got a different type of body. His field of activities is different; my field of activity is different. So according to the body we are acting. Idaṁ śarīraṁ kṣetram. And there are eight million four hundred thousand types of bodies. Jalajā nava lakṣāṇi sthavarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakaḥ. Not one type of body. Nine hundred thousand forms of body in the water, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi.
The botanists or the expert scientists, they cannot say how many forms of lives are there in the water. Sthavarā lakṣa-viṁśati. The botanists there are, but they do not know how many forms of vegetable, trees, and plants are there. But in the śāstra it is said, sthavarā lakṣa-viṁśati: "Two million types of bodies, trees, plants, grass, two millions." Everything is specifically mentioned. In this way, there are insects also, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakaḥ. There are birds, pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam, one million types of birds.
Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. So Kṛṣṇa has given us this body through the agency of material nature. So this is a body. This body is just like yantra. So we are seated in this yantra and we are traveling. Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā, under the influence of māyā, seated on this car, this yantra, bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni (BG 18.61), we are wandering throughout the whole creation.
Sometimes we are getting this body of human form, sometimes we are getting the body of a demigod's, sometimes we are getting the body of a rich man, sometimes we are getting the body of a poor man, sometimes we are getting the body of a cat, sometimes of a dog, sometimes so many things, trees, plants, aquatics. There are eight million four hundred... This is our position. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). As we are changing our body every moment, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youth-hood, similarly, by changing this body we get another body. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ. But we do not know what kind of body we are going to get next life. We are blind. This is called ignorance.
Generally, they are thinking this body is all in all there is no rebirth. No. The example is given here in the Bhagavad-gītā. Just like a child has his future, another body, boyhood body. The boy has got his future, another body, young man's body. The young man has got another future, old man's body. Similarly the old man has got another body after death. Tatha dehāntara-praptiḥ.
These things are to be understood very clearly. How Kṛṣṇa is related. He is not related to the human society, He's related with the animal society, dog society, cat society, demigod society, aquatic society, tree society, plant society, insect society. Everywhere Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-dese 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). That is... Kṛṣṇa is claiming here that "I am also one of the participators in this body." Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi, kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ yat taj jñānaṁ matam. If only one tries to understand what is the relationship between this body and the soul, the body and the Supersoul, Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa, when He says that "I am also kṣetrajnam," He's the Supersoul, Paramātmā. He can know everyone's pains and pleasure. I am the occupier of this body, I know the pains and pleasure of my body, but I do not know the pains and pleasure of your body. Neither you know that the pains and pleasure of my body.
Therefore you are individual, localized, but Kṛṣṇa is all pervading. Kṛṣṇa knows the pains and pleasure of your body. Kṛṣṇa knows the pains and pleasure of my body. Kṛṣṇa knows the pains and pleasure of dog's body, cat's body, everyone's body. That is Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. Sarva-kṣetreṣu. He knows everything. That is Paramātmā feature. Paramātmā feature means He is even within the atom. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-shtaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **.
They work on the field. The worker or the agriculturist owns the land, and he works there, and according to his labor he enjoys the fruits. Similarly, we have been given this body as the field of activity. Every one of us, not only human being, but also other living entities...
There are eight million four hundred thousand forms of living entities. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. In the water there are nine hundred thousand forms of living entity. Then, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvarāḥ means the living entities who cannot move, just like the trees, plants, grass, vegetables. They are standing in one place. They are also called "having no leg." Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. This is nature's law, that the living entities which have no hands, they are eatable for the living entities who have hands. Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. And the living entities which cannot move, they are the food for the living entities which has got four legs. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra jīvo jīvasya jīvanam.
In this way the weak is the food for the strong. This is the law of nature, that one living entity is the food for another living entity. So when a person eats another living entity, it is not unnatural. This is nature's law. But when you come to the human form of living entity, you must use your discrimination. Just like one living entity is food for the another living entity. It does not mean... In the lower animals sometimes the father-mother eat the offspring, but in the history of human society it has not come into notice that the father and mother eating the offspring. But time has come when the mother is killing offspring. That has come already. This is due to Kali-yuga.
"The aquatics, the living entities within the water, there are nine hundred thousands 900,000's of forms." We have got information from Vedic literature. There is a fish which is called timiṅgila. Timiṅgila. Timi means... Timi is also another fish. That is Sanskrit name. The English name is whale fish. It is very very big, just like one small house. And there is another fish which is called timiṅgila. These timiṅgila fish swallow up these whale fish like, like this. (laughter) Such a big fish. These informations are there. Therefore try to understand how much perfect knowledge is there in the Vedas. So similarly, right information is there.
Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvarāḥ means the living entities who cannot move. That means trees, plants, like that. They cannot move. Here by the side of wall, this house, there is a tree. It has grown. Just see that tree is not even within the jungle. In a small space it has grown all sides surrounded by house, and it is alone. Just see how much condemned life. Other trees, they are at least in the jungle in the society of trees. (laughter) But this tree is alone. We have to consider this, how this tree has been so much condemned. Tree is condemned life because... You are human beings. You are sitting here. If you like, you can move immediately. But the tree cannot move. "Stand up there." By whose order? By whose order? By God's order. "You must stand up." Don't take it, I mean to say, neglectfully. It is very serious. According to Vedic calculation, this tree which is grown here, that living entity was sometimes owner or occupier of this house, and it had so much attachment that it cannot go out of this house. Therefore he has been given this body, tree. "All right, you live here and stand up."
The so-called scientists, they cannot explain why there are different types of bodies. There are eight million four hundred thousand different types of bodies. And the human race, they are four hundred thousand. These four hundred thousand are distributed all over the universe. On this planet, may be some thousands, not four hundred thousand, not all of them are here. Yet here also in the human forms we find so many differences. The Europeans, the Americans, the Africans, the Indians, the Chinese, different forms. That also can be counted, maybe hundred, two hundred different types of forms of human beings. But there are four hundred thousands. Four hundred thousand. That is the human race.
And eight millions other forms. Eight millions. The aquatics, the trees, these plants, the grass and the insects. We have experience how many different types of insects are there in Māyāpur. During night, so many different types of insects come to the fire, to the light. This is another illusion. These insects, they are coming, being attracted by the beauty of the light. The electric light, it is not open. Otherwise, these insects come in the burning fire and die. Beauty. Captivated by the beauty of the fire. So actually it is going on. We are attracted by the beauty of māyā and exactly we are falling to the fire and dying.
We have explained several times. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi: "In the water there are nine hundred thousand different forms of body." How many do we know? We do not know all the details. We know there are different types of fishes, and say, a hundred thousand we have seen or experimented, the zoologist. But from the Vedic literature we understand that there are nine hundred thousand forms of body within the water.
So this is called Vedic knowledge. Perfect information is given there. Doesn't say nine hundred one or nine hundred fifty. Exactly, nine hundred thousand. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. Then next, sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Then, after aquatic, when the water dries, the vegetation comes out, and that vegetation grow gradually into plants, trees, herbs and so many, big, big trees. Here we have got big, big trees. So from aquatic life they have come to this vegetable life. And one tree standing for thousands of years. They cannot move an inch. This is also life. There is life.
The natural law is that ahastāni sahastānām: "The animals which has no hands"—that means four-legged animals; they have got legs, no hand—"so they are food for animals with two legs and two hands." That means human being. Human being is also animal, more powerful, more intelligent than the lower animals. So the śāstra says, ahastāni, "The animals who hasn't got hands, they are food for the animals with two hands." Ahastāni sahastānām and apadāni catuṣ-padām: "And the animals or the living entities which cannot move, apadāni..." Pada means legs.
Just like the trees, plants, grass. They cannot move. They have no leg. They have got leg, but they cannot move. They are eating through the legs. Therefore they are called pada-pa, means "collecting waters through the leg." Just these trees. They are drinking water from within the earth with their legs. Therefore they push their roots very deep to find out where is water. And if you put little water on the root of the tree, they live. They drink water. They are standing on the river side drinking water and becoming very flourished. But although they are drinking the same water, still, they are differently constituted with different fruits, different flowers. This is God's creation, we have to understand that.
So apadāni sapadānām, apadāni catuṣ-padām. Apadāni means those who cannot move, these trees, plants, grass, they are eatables for the four-legged animals, catuṣ-padām. Catuḥ means four. Similarly, phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra. Those who are weak, they are food for the strong. That is going on. "Might is right." In the human society also. Just like you Europeans, Americans... Europeans they have come. You come this land of America. Because you are strong, you have eaten up all the original inhabitants. (laughs) So this is going on. This is called struggle for existence.
The original color is blue, yellow and red. Now, you mix up these colors. You can... Hundreds and thousands of colors you can make. It requires expert handling. Similarly, originally these three qualities, goodness, passion and ignorance. Now, three into three equal to nine, and nine into nine equal to eighty-one. So we get immediately account for eighty-one varieties, and each variety is thousand and millions. Therefore eight million four hundred thousand, that is calculated.
And we have got so many varieties of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ, means the aquatics, there are nine hundred thousand, and the trees and plants, two millions, and eleven hundred thousand, these flies and insects. Kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. And then birds, one million types of birds. Then three million types of beasts. Then four hundred thousand of human being, civilized, uncivilized, white, red, black, so many varieties. In this way, the whole calculation is eight million four hundred thousand different types of body.
Now Kṛṣṇa will explain that tat kṣetraṁ yac ca yādṛk, why there are so many varieties. The living entity is the same, a spiritual spark, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, or God, but why they have assumed these different types of body calculated to be eight million and four hundred thousand forms. But each form is part and parcel of God. Not each form, or you can say form also, each living entity.
"This meaning is this, this meaning that." What authority you have got to make like that? Try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Then you'll be benefited.
So one has to understand the Supreme Absolute Truth both outside and inside. Antar bahiś ca bhūtānām acaraṁ caram eva. There are two things. Some of them are moving, or with life, and some of them are not moving. Even living beings... Here it is called bhūtānām. Bhūtānām means living entities. So there are some living entities which are moving, just like we. Cats, dogs, human beings, and flies, and so many living beings, they are moving. And other living beings, just like trees, plants, they are standing one place. Sthāvara-jaṅgama. Sthāvara means one place. Caram acaram. Sūkṣmatvāt, in every living being there is the Supreme Lord. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). Even within the atom. Sūkṣmatvāt avijñeyam. Because it is so small, minute... That minute means that Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel. Kṛṣṇa is the gigantic virāṭ or vibhu, and we living entities, we are aṇu. Sūkṣmatvāt. So... (aside:) Don't talk.
Sūkṣmatvāt tad avijñeyam. Because we have got... We have already explained this, that our eyes, they cannot see the subtle things, minute things. We require some instrument, just like microscope. But even with microscope, our so-called microscope cannot see what is that soul. It is very very minute. Ten-thousandth part of the upper portion of the hair. Jīva-bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya. Keśāgra (CC Madhya 19.140), the tip of the hair, you...Śata-bhāgasya. You divide into hundred, and then take one part, again divide into hundred. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). That ten, one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair, it is so minute. But there is the thing, very minute.
There are three modes of material nature: goodness, sattva, rajas, tamas. So goodness, passion, and ignorance. So either of them, we have to accept either of them. So on account of accepting the association of a particular type of modes of material nature, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu (BG 13.22).
Why there are different varieties of living entities? Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. There are nine hundred thousand species forms of life within the water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. There are two million forms of plants, trees, like that. Creepers. And kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. And insects, eleven lakhs species. In this way there are eight million four hundred thousand forms of life. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ (BG 14.4). In all the forms of life, as many living entities are there, tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. "I am the seed-giving father of all of them." So every living entity is the son of God. But according to karma they have accepted different forms of life. Some of them are in the water, some of them are the plants and trees, some of them are insects, some of them are birds, beasts.
Therefore it is common sense, one who is smaller or weak, he is enjoyed by the stronger. That is the nature. You will find. In our daily dealings, what we are doing? That... Ahastāni sahastānām. Ahastāni. There are animals who have no hands. They have got legs. So ahastāni sahastānām. Both of we are animal. The great, the cows and there are many others. They are animals. We are also animals or living entity.
But those who have got hands, they eat the animals who have no hands. Ahastāni sahastānām, apadāni catuṣ-padām. And the living entities which cannot move or who have no legs to move, just like trees, planets... They have also got legs, but that leg is meant for eating. Therefore the trees and plants are called pāda-pa. We pour water on the leg of the tree because they eat water through their legs. But that legs cannot move. Apadāni.
So apadāni, those living entities which cannot move, they are food for the catuṣ-padām, those who have got four legs. Just like cows, goats and others. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra. Those who are weak, they are foodstuff for the strong. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. In this way, one living entity is food for the another.
Then these animal killers, they may not be encouraged, "So then we are doing nice, because one living entity is food for another. So we are eating every, anything. Any moving animals we can eat. Bird, beast, goats, cows, horse, ass, whatever is available." Yes, you can eat. But that is the natural law for the animals and uncivilized man, not for the civilized man. Because one living entity is food for another living entity, you cannot eat your father, mother or children. Why? Because you are human being, you have got discrimination.
To possess different types of the modes of material nature. Full freedom.
Therefore when one is advanced in consciousness, he doesn't want to enjoy anything of this material world, any way. He doesn't desire either to become the king or Lord Brahmā or the stool, or, I mean to say, the worms of the stool.
These are the different varieties. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. According to our desire we get body. In the water, nine hundred thousand forms. Similarly, in the botanical garden, they have given signboard, "This is this, this is this." But there are two millions types of trees and plants. How many they know? Two million. If you search out through the whole botanical garden, hardly you will find two thousand, three thousand species. Or even find ten thousand. Still what it is? There are two millions. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. This is knowledge.
So if we read the Vedic literature, and you get full knowledge, and the essence of Vedic literature is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And the Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. ABCD. This Bhagavad-gītā is the ABCD of knowledge. This is entrance examination, matriculation examination, school-leaving examination. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is graduate. When you become graduate in spiritual knowledge, then you can understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And when you have passed your Bachelor degree, when you are post-graduate, that study is Śrī-Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
The same thing, this house. This house is a house. The next door is a karmī's house, and this house is a temple. What is the difference? The difference is: in this house everyone is engaged to fulfill Kṛṣṇa's desire, and the other house, everyone is engaged in fulfilling his own desire. Therefore it is temple, and that is house. Otherwise, from the external feature, where is the difference? The same stone, the same wood, the same plants, the same land, the same kitchen—everything is same, and the business is the same. But here the business is to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, and the other houses, the business is to satisfy one's own senses. That is the difference between kāma and prema. When you try to fulfill the desires of Kṛṣṇa, that is prema. And when you want to fulfill your own desires, that is called kāma. There is no other.
Just like the gopīs. The gopīs are going to Kṛṣṇa, being captivated by the beauty of Kṛṣṇa, just like a young girl becomes captivated by seeing a very nice boy, or a nice boy is captivated to see the beauty of a girl. These are sense gratification. There is no prema; that is kāma. But the gopīs, they are going to Kṛṣṇa, superficially the same thing, like the young girls are going to a young boy, but they are going for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction, not for their own satisfaction. That is the sublime. Therefore gopīs are so held in estimation even by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Ramya kecid upāsanā vraja-vadhu-vargabhir ya kalpita: "There is no better type of upāsanā, worship, than it was conceived by the gopīs." Caitanya Mahāprabhu admitted that the topmost method of worshiping Kṛṣṇa is the type of worship offered by the gopīs. Topmost.
Kṛṣṇa is not monopolized by a certain class of men. Don't think like that, that "Kṛṣṇa is Indian, Kṛṣṇa is Hindu," or like that, or "kṣatriya. Therefore He is meant for others." No. Because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is everyone's property. He is not... Don't think in that way, just like it is stated in the English dictionary: "Kṛṣṇa, one of the Hindu gods." But Kṛṣṇa does not say that "I am the Hindu god." They have made in the dictionary, "Kṛṣṇa, one of the Hindu gods." They have no knowledge about Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya: (BG 14.4) "In all species of life." There are 8,400,000 species of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Nine lakh species in the water, and trees and plants, there are two million species. Similarly, insects, sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyayaḥ. Eleven lakhs species, 1,100,000 species of insects, serpents, snakes, like that, gradually developing from water, fish, to... As the water dries up, then they come out as grass, as vegetables. Then grow, different types of trees, plants, creepers. Then gradually develops to become insects, flies. Then develops to serpents.
In this way, this is evolution. The Darwin's theory, he does not know. He has caught up some words from this Padma Purāṇa and tried to give his own invention. The evolution is already there. But this is the evolution. From aquatics to plants, trees, then insect, then bird, then beast, then human being, civilized and not civilized. Then demigods, then others. That is the evolutionary process. So Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ: (BG 14.4)
Just like father gives the seed, impregnates the mother, and the mother supplies the body. The body belongs to the mother, and the spirit soul belongs to... Not be... To the supreme father. But it comes through the material father. Actually the supreme father is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. So Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. Kṛṣṇa is not monopolized. This is a wrong theory, "He is a Hindu god." No. He is for everyone. Otherwise how you Americans, Europeans and others outside India, how you are accepting? Because originally Kṛṣṇa is your father, everyone's father. Mamaivāṁśo jīva (BG 15.7), all living... Not only you, but the animals, the trees, the plants, the insects, the serpent, the aquatics, the fish—everyone the son of Kṛṣṇa. This is daivī sampat.
Therefore when you come to the daivī sampat, then you understand that we all are brothers, universal brotherhood. Not that "The American is my brother, and the American cows are not my brother. Let them go to the slaughterhouse." This is all defective understanding. The real understanding is that "God, or Kṛṣṇa, is the supreme father, and we are all sons of God." This is real under... Paṇḍitaḥ. That is real knowledge. Therefore those who are in real knowledge, sama-darśinaḥ, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ.
Paṇḍita, one paṇḍita, one who is learned... Paṇḍita means learned, and he knows that "These Americans, these Europeans, these Africans or these Indians or these cows, these dogs and the elephant, trees, the plants, the fish—they have got different dress only, but the soul is the same. The living force within the body, that is the same particle, spiritual particle, part and parcel of the supreme spirit, Kṛṣṇa." This is daivī sampat.
So when we come to this platform of knowledge, that daivī sampad vimokṣāya (BG 16.5), then you become liberated immediately. Liberation means who comes to the platform of real knowledge. That is called liberation. That is the definition given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, what is liberation, mukti. It is said, muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6). Hitvā means giving up. Mukti means hitvā, giving up, hitvā anyathā rūpam, something otherwise. I am spirit soul. I am thinking, "I am American." I am thinking, "I am Indian." This is anyathā rūpam. That is not the real conception of life. Real conception of life is ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am the spirit soul, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa." That is realization. That is called self-realization.
In the human form of life there are two classes of men. First of all living being. Amongst the living being there are some living being which can move or can walk from one place to another. And there are certain other living beings which cannot move, just like the trees, plants. They are also living being, but they are standing in one place for many thousands of years. They have no independence to move. Now, in the moving living beings there are so many. The flies, the insects, the reptiles, the birds, the beast. In this way, by evolutionary process, one after another, one comes to the form of human being. This human being is therefore very, very rare. After going through 8,400,000 species of life, one comes to this human form of life.
So here is the chance of getting freedom from this evolutionary process. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). After many, many births, we have got. Why? Now, to become civilized. What is civilization? Civilization... The Aryans are called civilized. Why? Aryan means going forward. And what is the destination of going forward? The destination is to understand the original cause of creation, God. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). That is the Vedānta philosophy. Janmādy asya yataḥ. The original cause from where everything is coming into being, by whose management everything is maintained, and after annihilation everything will enter into Him—that is the original person. So human form of life is meant for understanding the original cause of all causes. That is human form of life. Inquisitiveness. And others, less than human being, just like lower animals, cats and dogs, not to speak of the trees and plants... They are standing in one place, and other living beings, even the insects, birds, beasts, they haven't got sufficient intelligence. (aside:) No, this water, drinking. Sufficient intelligence to understand "What I am? Why I am suffering?" Everyone is suffering. That's a fact. The whole struggle for existence is going on.
Just like just now two big directors of this Dai Nippon Company came to see me. We have got business with them. So they are meeting so many problems for printing work. They are maintaining about 200,000 people to carry on their business, huge establishment, huge responsibility. But there are problems also. So this material world is full of problem. One who understands, he is called sura, or civilized man. And one who does not understand, he is called asura. Asura, not sura. Aryan, non-Aryan. So amongst the suras, those who can understand the problems of life, there is a system which is called religion. And what is the purpose of religion? Religion is to understand what is God. That is religion. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19).
Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Therefore this foolish class of men who are simply studying, they want time to find out, but actually if he is wise, if he is searching out regularly by wise conclusion, then, at some time, he will come to the conclusion, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante: after many births of research work, he will come to this conclusion that there is God, Vāsudeva. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). Then he is the first-class mahātmā. But that is very rare. Everyone is durātmā, anīśvaram: "There is no īśvara. This is a false manifestation." That is not false. You study everything. You study even one plant. You can see so many arrangement, so many fibers. Fine fibers are coming out, and from one fiber to another. Even a small herb and vegetable, you will find there is craftsmanship. You cannot say it is chance. You cannot do it. So there is brain. That is right conclusion, "There is brain behind it," and that is theism. And that brain, what is the brain behind this, who has this brain behind this, behind this, behind this, behind this, if you come... Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19), after searching out for many, many births, then one comes to the conclusion that vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). You come to the conclusion, "Kṛṣṇa is the cause of everything." That is already concluded. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1): "Īśvaraḥ, the supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa." Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ... There are so many controllers. Just like this city is being controlled by the police commissioner or somebody else. So above him, above him, above him, there is controller. And the... Above all, the supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa. That is the conclusion.
So Kṛṣṇa says that these three modes of material nature is current all over the universe. Even in the topmost planet down to the lowest planet. Therefore he says: na tad asti pṛthivyāṁ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ. Pṛthivyām means on this earth. Or in the other higher planetary system or even the heavenly planets. Everywhere. Sattvaṁ prakṛti-jair muktam. Nowhere, anyone is freed from the influence of these modes of material nature. Sattvam means existence. Sattvaṁ prakṛti-jaiḥ. Prakṛti-jaiḥ means by the material nature, guṇaiḥ, means the modes, this goodness, passion, and ignorance. Yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ. Everything, everywhere, even amongst the plants life, beast life, there these three guṇas are working.
Just like some trees, they're useless. Neither produce any nice fruit nor flower. That is third-class, in ignorance. In animals also. Just like cows, they are first-class animal, in the modes of goodness, supplying so valuable nutritious food, milk. But the cats and dogs, they are third-class animals. This is the calculation of the three modes of material nature. Either human being or animals or trees, birds, everywhere Kṛṣṇa says, or in the higher planetary system, everywhere, these three modes of material nature is working. Therefore, in the human society, because there are three modes of material nature, the classification should be made scientifically according to these three modes of material nature. And that is explained by Bhagavān, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in the Bhagavad-gītā, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam: (BG 4.13) four classes of men. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra. Brāhmaṇa means the most intelligent class of men who can understand even up to the knowledge of Brahman, brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇa. And the second class are the kṣatriyas or the administrative class of men, and the third-class are the mercantile class of men, industrialists, traders, agriculturalists. Everything will be explained. And the fourth-class men means workers. They have no intelligence, but they find out some good master and get some money. That's all. So there are four classes.
Na śocati na kāṅkṣati. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu (BG 18.54). Equal to all living entities. Our philosophy is not like that, that we give protection to the human being and send the cows to the slaughterhouse. No, that is not our philosophy. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. We think on this subject matter, that if a man is killed, as he's put into so difficult position for being killed, the animal also. They also feel. It is nonsense to think that animal has no soul, no. Everyone has got soul. There are 8,400,000 species or forms of life. Everyone has got soul. Even the ant has got soul, or the elephant has got soul, what to speak of other animals. Everyone, even the trees, birds, beasts, plants, everyone has got soul. And in the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says
- sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
- mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
- tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
- ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā
- (BG 14.4)
The part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa or God, the soul, is there everywhere. Don't think that simply human being has got soul. This is not very good philosophy, that the animals have no soul. They have got soul. You can practically examine. What is the symptom of possessing soul? First of all try to understand.
| Page Title: | Plants (Lectures, BG) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 19 of Nov, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=73, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 73 |