SB 06.01.45 yena yavan yathadharmo... cited

Expressions researched:
"dharmo veha samihitah" |"sa eva tat-phalam bhunkte" |"tatha tavad amutra vai" |"yena yavan yathadharmo"

SB Canto 6

SB 6.1.45, Translation and Purport:

In proportion to the extent of one's religious or irreligious actions in this life, one must enjoy or suffer the corresponding reactions of his karma in the next.

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (14.18):

ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā

madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ

jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā

adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ

Those who act in the mode of goodness are promoted to higher planetary systems to become demigods, those who act in an ordinary way and do not commit excessively sinful acts remain within this middle planetary system, and those who perform abominable sinful actions must go down to hellish life.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 6.1.45 -- Laguna Beach, July 26, 1975:

Nitai: "In this life, any person to the proportionate degree of the varieties of work, either religious or irreligious, as they are performed in the next life also, the same person to the same degree, the same variety, the resultant action of his karma must enjoy or suffer."

Prabhupāda:

yena yāvān yathādharmo

dharmo veha samīhitaḥ

sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte

tathā tāvad amutra vai

(SB 6.1.45)

So in the previous verse we have discussed, dehavān na hy akarma-kṛt. Anyone who has got this material body, he has to work. Everyone has to work. In the spiritual body also you have to work. In the material body also you have to work. Because the working principle is the soul—soul is living force—so he is busy. Living body means there is movement. There is work. He cannot sit idly. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, "Not even for a moment one can be idle." That is the symptom of living being. So this working is going on according to the particular body. The dog is also running, and a man is also running. But a man thinks he is very much civilized because he is running on motorcar. Both of them are running, but a man has got a particular type of body by which he can prepare a vehicle or cycle, and he can run on. He is thinking that "I am running in greater speed than the dog; therefore I am civilized. This is the modern mentality. He does not know that what is the difference between running on fifty miles speed or five miles speed or five thousand miles speed or five millions miles of speed. The space is unlimited. Whatever speed you discover, it is still insufficient. Still insufficient.

Lecture on SB 6.1.45 -- Laguna Beach, July 26, 1975:

This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are teaching people that you are suffering life after life. Now the human society has come to such a position that they do not know that there is life after this life. They are so advanced. Exactly the cats and dogs, they do not know that there is life after life. That is here stated: yena yāvān yathādharmo dharmo veha samīhitaḥ. Iha, iha means "in this life." Sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte tathā tāvat amutra vai. Amutra means "next life." So we are preparing our next life in this... Yatha adharmaḥ, yathā dharmaḥ. There are two things: you can act piously or impiously. There is no third, no third path. One path is pious; one path is nonpious. So here both are mentioned. Yena yāvān yathādharmaḥ, dharmaḥ. Dharma means constitutional. Dharma does not mean, as it is stated in some of the English dictionary, "a kind of faith." Faith may be blind. That is not dharma. Dharma means original, constitutional position. That is dharma. I have several times said... Just like water. Water is liquid. That is its dharma. Water, if by circumstantially it becomes solid, ice, but still, it tries to become again liquid because that is its dharma. You put ice, and gradually it will become liquid. That means this solid condition of the water is artificial. By some chemical composition the water has become solid, but by natural course it becomes liquid.

Lecture on SB 6.1.45 -- Laguna Beach, July 26, 1975:

So the śāstra... You have to learn from the śāstra that who is the master. I have to serve. The master is Kṛṣṇa. And that is our natural position. And if we do not serve Kṛṣṇa, if we serve a big man or a demigod or any other but he is not Kṛṣṇa, that is adharma. So dharma and adharma, these two things, are there. You serve either of them. But the result—according to your service. If you are serving as high-court judge, that salary, and if you serving as ordinary, what is called, washer of dishes, that salary cannot be equal. You cannot expect, becoming a dishwasher, to draw the same salary as the high-court judge is drawing. That is not possible. Therefore it is said, sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte. You get... You can become high-court judge. There is no, I mean to say, obstacle. You could be qualified like the high-court judge. Now you are qualified like this, so you have to accept this. Therefore it is said, sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte tathā tāvat amutra vai. Amutra. So our life is continuity, eternal. Just like a boy takes education, expecting to become one day high-court judge. But one who has not taken education—he simply played in the street—how he can become a high-court judge? It is not possible. Therefore it is said, sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte tathā tāvat amutra, "in future life." But these rascals, they do not know what is future life. This is modern civilization. They are so rascal. But there is future life. So in this life, if you prepare yourself for the next life, then you are intelligent. If you remain irresponsible rascal, do not know what is going to happen next life, then you will have to suffer. That we must know. How I shall know? What I shall prepare for, and where shall I go? That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). If you act in goodness, then you will be promoted to the higher planetary system, devān, where demigods live. They have ten thousand years of life, very high standard of life. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ. And if you are attached to pitṛ-loka, you can go there. Bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni. And if you are materially attracted, then you will remain in this material... Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām: "If you My become devotee, you'll come to Me." Now it is your choice. Make your choice, what you want.

Lecture on SB 6.1.45 -- Los Angeles, June 11, 1976:

Prabhupāda:

yena yāvān yathādharmo

dharmo veha samīhitaḥ

sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte

tathā tāvad amutra vai

(SB 6.1.45)

So, one has to suffer or enjoy. There are two things. So that is according to our activities. That we can practically experience. If one is educated, naturally, he gets a good position, and if one is criminal, he gets another position. There is no difficulty to understand. So there are two things, dharma and adharma. Religiosity and irreligiosity. Religiosity means to abide by the orders of God and irreligiosity means to disobey the orders of God. That's all. Simple thing. But in this connection we must know what is the order of God, what is God, how He orders, how to execute, how we become fit for executing orders. These things—these questions are there, but God is speaking personally, "This is My order," in the Bhagavad-gītā. You'll find, very simple thing.