SB 01.16.07 ksudrayusam nrnam anga... cited

Expressions researched:
"ihopahuto bhagavan" |"ksudrayusam nrnam anga" |"martyanam rtam icchatam" |"mrtyuh samitra-karmani"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.16.7, Translation and Purport:

O Sūta Gosvāmī, there are those amongst men who desire freedom from death and get eternal life. They escape the slaughtering process by calling the controller of death, Yamarāja.

The living entity, as he develops from lower animal life to a higher human being and gradually to higher intelligence, becomes anxious to get free from the clutches of death. Modern scientists try to avoid death by physiochemical advancement of knowledge, but alas, the controller of death, Yamarāja, is so cruel that he does not spare even the very life of the scientist himself. The scientist, who puts forward the theory of stopping death by advancement of scientific knowledge, becomes himself a victim of death when he is called by Yamarāja. What to speak of stopping death, no one can enhance the short period of life even by a fraction of a moment. The only hope of suspending the cruel slaughtering process of Yamarāja is to call him to hear and chant the holy name of the Lord. Yamarāja is a great devotee of the Lord, and he likes to be invited to kīrtanas and sacrifices by the pure devotees, who are constantly engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. Thus the great sages, headed by Śaunaka and others, invited Yamarāja to attend the sacrifice performed at Naimiṣāraṇya. This was good for those who did not want to die.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.16.7 -- Los Angeles, January 4, 1974:

Pradyumna: Translation: "O Sūta Gosvāmī, there are those amongst men who desire freedom from death and get eternal life. They escape the slaughtering process by calling the controller of death, Yamarāja." (SB 1.16.7)

Prabhupāda: Kṣudrāyuṣāṁ nṛṇām. Kṣudra, means very small, āyuṣām, duration of life. As we can compare that an ant's life or a germ's life... They are also living entities. Their duration of life is very small. There are many flies, they take their birth at night, in the evening, and the whole night they are busy, the same way: eating, sleeping, begetting children and being afraid of. All the qualities are there. In India we have got experience. They are called diwali germs or insects. In the evening before the light—one, two, three—in this way, by midnight, it increases to thousands and millions. And in the morning, at the end of the night, you will find heaps of insects or dead body. Heaps. Millions.

So there are different grades of life. It is called mṛtyu-loka. This material world is called mṛtyu-loka: "where everyone dies." But there are grades of duration of life. One living entity has got four minutes life, another, ten minutes, another, hundred minutes. Then days. One day, hundred days. Then year. One year, or four year, or five year, or utmost, hundred years, on this planet. So the human being can live up to utmost hundred years, but in other planets there are other living entities, demigods. And the highest, the topmost planet is Brahmaloka. And you have learned from Bhagavad-gītā, in the Brahmaloka, the duration of life, to our calculation, is very, very long. Sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). In the Brahmaloka, the duration of twelve hours, our twelve hours, morning to evening, that is many millions of years to our calculation. So even if you go to that planet Brahmaloka, as you are trying to go to the moon planet... From śāstra we understand in the moon planet, they live up to ten thousands of years according to heavenly calculation. In each planet, in each society, the calculation is different. So it is calculated that in the moon planet you can live for ten thousands of years, and that calculation is compared: our six months equal to one day in that planet. So just imagine how many years of our calculation they can live.

Lecture on SB 1.16.7 -- Los Angeles, January 4, 1974:

So here it is said, kṣudrāyuṣām: "those who have got small duration of life." Although this small duration of life, human life, in comparison to the duration of life of other planets, it is very, very small, so but they do not know how to fulfill the mission of living condition during this life. In the animal life, the consciousness is not developed, but in the human form of life, although it is perishable, adhruvam... Prahlāda Mahārāja said, adhruvam. Dhruva. Dhruva means certain. So he advised,

kaumāra ācaret prājño

dharmān bhāgavatān iha

durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma

tad apy adhruvam arthadam

(SB 7.6.1)

That is his advice, Prahlāda Mahārāja. He was talking with his classfriend, five years old. So he was teaching them that "Just become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Nārada taught him. He listened from Nārada. So he was convinced that this is the only business, how to make advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.

So he was Hiraṇyakaśipu's son. He did not appoint any teacher to teach him about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But when he was in the womb of his mother, Nārada Muni advised the mother about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. She had to live for some time at the care of Nārada Muni when her husband was out being defeated by the demigods, the Hiraṇyakaśipu. So the woman's anxiety was when her husband will come back. And at that time the child was within the womb, and she begged a benediction from Nārada, "Sir, kindly arrange in that way, that as long as my husband does not come back, I may not give birth to this child." Nārada Muni said, "All right, it will be." So Nārada Muni was giving her advice about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But her mind was absent, but the child within the womb, he was hearing. He was hearing. This is stated in the Bhāgavatam. You will find that when Prahlāda Mahārāja was asked this question by his friend, "My dear Prahlāda, we are also being taught by the same teacher. You are also being taught by the same teacher. You are a prince. You cannot go out. Wherefrom you have learned all this nice instruction?" So he replied that "This instruction was given by Nārada. So it was given to my mother, but as woman she has forgotten, and I remember."

So that is the difference between a child in the womb and a grown-up woman. You see? That is by nature. They forget. Strī-śūdra-dvijabandhūnāṁ trayī na śruti-gocarā (SB 1.4.25). Therefore Mahābhārata was created by Vyāsadeva, Vedic instruction through history, to battle of Kurukṣetra. Because strī, śūdra, woman, śūdra and dvija-bandhu... Men born in high-class family, but behavior is different, they are called dvija-bandhu. So they cannot understand the Vedic lessons directly. It is not possible. They have no such intelligence. Strī, śūdra and dvija-bandhu. So Vedānta-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś cārtheṣu (SB 1.1.1). They cannot understand. Therefore through Mahābhārata they are instructed. History. History they can hear. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "It is the duty of a human being, even from childhood, kaumāra..." Kaumāra means from the age of fifth year up to tenth year. This is called kaumāra. So people should be educated about this, that the problem is how to stop janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). This education. This is called Bhāgavata instruction. You are noting. We are talking on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The subject matter is how one shall transfer himself from this material world to the spiritual world and thereby stop birth, death, old age and disease. This is the whole subject matter.

So martyānām ṛtam icchatām. Martyānām. They should be conscious that "I do not wish to die. Why death is forced upon me?" This is intelligent question. This is the most intelligent man's question. "I do not want death." Just like if there is immediately some natural disturbance... I have got experience. Sometimes there was little trembling in the front house. People were crying, especially ladies, screaming. And that I have seen many times. As soon as there is a big trembling, everyone becomes afraid, "Now we are going to die. We have to die." So everyone is afraid of death, but nobody thinks how to make a solution of this problem. But there is solution. Therefore here it is said, martyānām. Martyānām means those who are destined to die. Ṛtam icchatām. If they are willing to live, if they want to stop calling the Yamarāja... Yamarāja means he will take you or take me, every one of us, after this body is finished, according to our karma. Yamarāja is there when we are sinful. Yamarāja is not for the devotees.

That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Ajāmila upākhyāna, Ajāmila. Ajāmila was a great sinful man. So at the time of death, somehow or other, he remembered Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa. So he was very fond of his youngest child, and the Yamarāja, not directly, by sending his men, Yamadūta... So they are very fierceful. So at the time of death this Ajāmila saw fierceful creatures, very odd-looking. So he was very much afraid, "Who are they?" So he thought, because he was very much affectionate to his youngest child... So his name was Nārāyaṇa. He called him, "Nārāyaṇa, please come here. I am very much afraid." But just see the power of chanting the name of Nārāyaṇa. He immediately become eligible to go to Vaikuṇṭha. He did not mean Nārāyaṇa also isn't said. But Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, he gives his commentation that he remembered real Nārāyaṇa after reference to the context. When he called for his child Nārāyaṇa, he remembered real Nārāyaṇa. Because in his boyhood, when he was... Up to his youthhood, he was very sincere devotee of Nārāyaṇa, a son of a brāhmaṇa. But he fell under the clutches of a prostitute. Therefore, after mixing with the prostitute, his all spiritual activities stopped. That is natural. So he became too much inclined to the prostitute, and he became a drunkard, he became a thief, he became a gambler, meat-eater, and debauch. All these qualifications he acquired, by the association of one prostitute. And in this age our only business is to mix with prostitute. Just see our position. How much fallen they should be. There is open market for prostitution. This is modern civilization. By the association of one prostitute... Ajāmila was a brāhmaṇa's son, very regulated, following all the rules and regulation. But as soon as he associated with a prostitute, he became fallen down. So this man remembered Nārāyaṇa. According to Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, he supports that simply calling the name of his son was not sufficient. He remembered Nārāyaṇa. But according to śāstra, that Nārāyaṇa, the holy name of the Lord, if one chants even neglectfully, he also gets the chance of being liberated. That's a fact.