Silkworm

Expressions researched:
"silkworm" |"silkworms"

SB Canto 6

The foolish embodied living entity, inept at controlling his senses and mind, is like a silkworm that uses its own saliva to create a cocoon and then becomes trapped in it, with no possibility of getting out.

SB 6.1.52, Translation:

The foolish embodied living entity, inept at controlling his senses and mind, is forced to act according to the influence of the modes of material nature, against his desires. He is like a silkworm that uses its own saliva to create a cocoon and then becomes trapped in it, with no possibility of getting out. The living entity traps himself in a network of his own fruitive activities and then can find no way to release himself. Thus he is always bewildered, and repeatedly he dies.

The living entity entangled in different types of fruitive activity is like a silkworm trapped in a cocoon.

SB 6.1.52, Translation:

As already explained, the influence of the modes of nature is very strong. The living entity entangled in different types of fruitive activity is like a silkworm trapped in a cocoon. Getting free is very difficult unless he is helped by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB Canto 7

The attached householder is like a silkworm, which weaves a cocoon in which it becomes imprisoned, unable to get out.

SB 7.6.11-13, Translation:

How can a person who is most affectionate to his family, the core of his heart being always filled with their pictures, give up their association? Specifically, a wife is always very kind and sympathetic and always pleases her husband in a solitary place. Who could give up the association of such a dear and affectionate wife? Small children talk in broken language, very pleasing to hear, and their affectionate father always thinks of their sweet words. How could he give up their association? One's elderly parents and one's sons and daughters are also very dear. A daughter is especially dear to her father, and while living at her husband's house she is always in his mind. Who could give up that association? Aside from this, in household affairs there are many decorated items of household furniture, and there are also animals and servants. Who could give up such comforts? The attached householder is like a silkworm, which weaves a cocoon in which it becomes imprisoned, unable to get out. Simply for the satisfaction of two important senses—the genitals and the tongue—one is bound by material conditions. How can one escape?

A living being is entrapped by his fruitive activities, exactly like a silkworm trapped in its own cocoon.

SB 7.6.16, Purport:

If one does not ask, "Who am I? What is the goal of my life?" but instead follows the same animal propensities as cats and dogs, what is the use of his education? As discussed in the previous verse, a living being is entrapped by his fruitive activities, exactly like a silkworm trapped in its own cocoon. Foolish persons are generally encaged by their fruitive actions (karma) because of a strong desire to enjoy this material world. Such attracted persons become involved in society, community and nation and waste their time, not having profited from having obtained human forms.

SB Canto 8

If we do not act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness we shall be entangled, like silkworms in cocoons.

SB 8.1.15, Purport:

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (3.9), yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ: "Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world." If we do not act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness we shall be entangled, like silkworms in cocoons. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, appears in order to teach us how to work so that we will not be entangled in this material world. Our real problem is that we are entangled in materialistic activities, and because we are conditioned, our struggle continues through punishment in material existence in one body after another in different forms of life.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

We are committing so many abominable things, and we are becoming entangled like that silkworm.

Lecture on SB 6.1.52 -- Detroit, August 5, 1975:

So necchan karmāṇi kāryate. And as soon as you act, immediately the reaction is there. That you cannot avoid. If you have touched fire, it must burn. The action is touching fire, and the result is burning. So necchan. We do not know. We are ignorance. We are committing so many abominable things, and we are becoming entangled like that silkworm. He is making a bag without knowledge, and gradually he becomes entangled within this and dies. That is our position.

The silkworm, the silkworm entangles itself in cobweb, and it cannot get out.

Lecture on SB 7.6.9-17 -- San Francisco, March 31, 1969:

Now, you know the silkworm, the silkworm entangles itself in cobweb, and it cannot get out. Perhaps most of you know. And those who are industrialists in silk industry, they collect those cobwebs of silkworms and boil in the water, and the worm dies, and then silk comes out. So similarly, we are manufacturing the cobweb of silk in this so-called society, family, and being attracted in it. It is very good example. And the attraction is aupasthya-jaihvaṁ bahu-manyamānaḥ. Aupasthya means sex, sex, the organ for progenating. That is called aupasthya. And the other important sense is this tongue. So we are attached to this paraphernalia on account of this tongue and on account of that sex genital. That's all.

Philosophy Discussions

We suffer. Just like the silkworm, he creates a cocoon and becomes entrapped and dies. He is creating this fiber, silk fiber, and becomes entrapped. That is his creation.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: Everything that you will see, they are all part and parcel of God. The other day I was saying that the wheel, the whole wheel is resting on the axle. So axle is there, the wheel is moving, so everything is part and parcel of God. Therefore the Māyāvādī's philosophy that everything is one, yes, but they do not accept the variety. The wheel is one, that's all right, but still the parts, sometimes it is called spokes, sometimes it is called the rim, sometimes it is called the hub, sometimes it is rolling, sometimes it is stopped, but everything the wheel, nothing but wheel.

Hayagrīva: He goes through a lot of, a lot of speculation to arrive at the final point. Concerning the existence of evil and suffering in the world, he writes, "God is not responsible for the miseries endured in working out his providence, but rather...

Prabhupāda: That I have already explained. The miserable condition is created by us, and we suffer.

Hayagrīva: Yes, he says, "rather, we are responsible for our acts."

Prabhupāda: We suffer. Just like the silkworm, he creates a cocoon and becomes entrapped and dies. He is creating this fiber, silk fiber, and becomes entrapped. That is his creation.