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Sometimes up and sometimes down

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 9.21, Purport:

One who is promoted to the higher planetary systems enjoys a longer duration of life and better facilities for sense enjoyment, yet one is not allowed to stay there forever. One is again sent back to this earth upon finishing the resultant fruits of pious activities. He who has not attained perfection of knowledge, as indicated in the Vedanta-sutra (janmady asya yatah), or, in other words, he who fails to understand Krsna, the cause of all causes, becomes baffled about achieving the ultimate goal of life and is thus subjected to the routine of being promoted to the higher planets and then again coming down, as if situated on a Ferris wheel which sometimes goes up and sometimes comes down. The purport is that instead of being elevated to the spiritual world, from which there is no longer any possibility of coming down, one simply revolves in the cycle of birth and death on higher and lower planetary systems. One should better take to the spiritual world to enjoy an eternal life full of bliss and knowledge and never return to this miserable material existence.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 7

SB 7.13.30, Purport:

Yajnarthat karmano 'nyatra loko 'yam karma-bandhanah: (BG 3.9)) if one does not act for the satisfaction of Krsna, who is known as Visnu or Yajna, he must be entangled in the reactions of fruitive activities. These reactions are called papa and punya -- sinful and pious. By pious activities one is elevated to the higher planetary systems, and by impious activities one is degraded to lower species of life, in which he is punished by the laws of nature. In the lower species of life there is an evolutionary process, and when the term of the living entity's imprisonment or punishment in the lower species is finished, he is again offered a human form and given a chance to decide for himself which way he should plan. If he again misses the opportunity, he is again put into the cycle of birth and death, going sometimes higher and sometimes lower, turning on the samsara-cakra, the wheel of material existence. As a wheel sometimes goes up and sometimes comes down, the stringent laws of material nature make the living entity in material existence sometimes happy and sometimes distressed. How he suffers in the cycle of happiness and distress is described in the next verse.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.10.13, Purport:

Even today, if a man who was formerly poverty-stricken gets money, he is inclined to utilize his money to perform many philanthropic activities, like opening schools for uneducated men and hospitals for the diseased. In this connection there is an instructive story called punar musiko bhava, "Again Become a Mouse." A mouse was very much harassed by a cat, and therefore the mouse approached a saintly person to request to become a cat. When the mouse became a cat, he was harassed by a dog, and then when he became a dog, he was harassed by a tiger. But when he became a tiger, he stared at the saintly person, and when the saintly person asked him, "What do you want?" the tiger said, "I want to eat you." Then the saintly person cursed him, saying, "May you again become a mouse." A similar thing is going on all over the universe. One is going up and down, sometimes becoming a mouse, sometimes a tiger, and so on. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija
(CC Madhya 19.151)

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

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.7:

By the influence of karma, one who is attached to the material body and mind has to change bodies life after life. In this way the soul roams the fourteen planetary systems within this material universe, sometimes going up and sometimes coming down. These planets are transitory -- merely theatrical stages upon which the soul enacts his mundane existence. But when the living entity is elevated to spiritual perfection and is situated in his pure, eternal identity, devoid of all mundane designations, he attains the natural habitat of the spirit soul, the supramundane realm transcending this material creation and the intermediary zone of the unmanifested Brahman effulgence.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:

Because the whole world is being conducted, the whole material nature is being conducted by the three gunas, and anyone associating with a particular type of guna, he must suffer or enjoy according to that gunas. Jaghanya-guna-vrtti-stha adho gacchanti tamasah. Tamasa, they, those who are in the tamasika-guna, they go adhah. Madhye tisthanti rajasah. And via media, those who are in touch with the rajo-guna. And urdhvam gacchanti sattva-sthah: (BG 14.18) those who are in the goodness, they go up, in the upper platform of the society or in the universe. But Krsna says, abrahma-bhuvanal lokah punar avartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). Either you go even to the Brahmaloka, one day you have come to the hellish loka. This is the way. So some, cakravat parivartante sukhani ca duhkhani ca. Just like the wheel turns round, sometimes up, sometimes down, so this is the position of this material world. There is no question of lamenting. You cannot say, "These people are suffering and that people are enjoying." The man who is enjoying, he'll also suffer next moment. This is going on, suffering and enjoying. Unless we come to Krsna consciousness, there is no way of coming out of this duality of this world. This is duality. Everything you'll find in dual. Unless there is happiness, you cannot understand what is distress. And unless there is distress, you cannot understand happiness. You cannot understand light unless there is darkness. So this is the world of darkness and light, so-called light. You have to transcend. Tyaktva deham punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). So we have to make arrangement. That facility is there to every human being, how he can get out of this world of duality and come to the transcendental platform which is called avyabhicarini-bhakti-yoga.

Lecture on BG 9.20-22 -- New York, December 6, 1966:

Prabhupāda: So those who are so materially attached, their business is that they qualify themselves to be promoted in higher planets, undoubtedly. And there... Te tam bhuktva svarga-lokam visalam. And they enjoy life for a very, very long duration of life and godly facilities. That's all right. But ksine punye martya-lokam visanti (BG 9.21). Then, when their pious, I mean to say, asset of pious activities finished, then they are again driven out from that planet; they come to here, this material, I mean say, earthly planet. And again they try here. Again they try here by sacrifices, by other means, to go there. So Lord Krsna says these materialists, they, gatagatam kama-kama labhante, sometimes up, sometimes down. This is going on, sometimes up, sometimes down. Just like... What is called, that wheel? Sometimes go up, the boys enjoy in this way. What is the name of that wheel?

Devotee: Ferris wheel.

Prabhupada: Oh. So it is something like that. Sometimes you go, sarva-ga, sarva-ga. Sarva... Jiva. Jiva means the living entities, they have got a propensity to go from here to there, there to here. That is their... Because they are living force, they cannot stay at one place. That is not their nature. Even in this life also, you Americans, you try to go to India; the Indians try to come here or some other country. This is nature.

Lecture on BG 9.22-23 -- New York, December 8, 1966:

Now Lord Krsna is speaking about His own devotees. So far He has spoken about the elevationists, materialist elevationists. Evam trayi-dharmam anuprapanna gatagatam kama-kama labhante. Repeating, repeating the same process, sometimes going up, sometimes coming down -- this is the material process. Today I am the richest man, and tomorrow I may be a poverty-stricken man in the street. This is going on. As we find in this earth, so also by our pious activities we can be promoted in better planets. Then ksine punye martya-lokam visanti (BG 9.21). And when the resultant actions of pious activities is finished, then again we are driven to this earth or down than this earth. So this is going on. Lord Caitanya said that ei rupe brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva (CC Madhya 19.151), that "This way, this cycle of different species of life, they are going on. So traveling in this way, somebody who is very fortunate, by association of devotees, he gets the seed of devotional service." Ei rupe brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva (CC Madhya 19.151). To achieve the seed of devotional service is a fortunate achievement. It is not very easy because it ceases the cycle of different transmigration of the soul. By ignorance we take this spot life as permanent settlement and we think that "We shall live here permanently and make arrangement to live here permanently and make assets for my children, for my nation." But we do not know that the cycle of transmigration is not fixed up.

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 3, 1973:

Everyone is thinking if I become greedy, I shall get more. That is not possible. You cannot get a farthing more than what you are destined. But it is ignorance. He's thinking by simply struggling hard I'll get more. The sastra says, "No, don't do it. So far your material condition is concerned, it is already destined with your body. You have got a certain type of body and according to that body you'll get certain amount of pleasure and pains, that is already destined." This is called adrsta, daiva. Your main business is if you want to make success, your life, then save time for advancing in Krsna consciousness. That is proper utilization of life. That does not depend on destiny. That you can do. That you can do. So far other things are.

Therefore sastra says tasyaiva hetoh prayeteta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah (1.5.18). You have traveled, sometimes up, sometimes down. Up means upper planetary system, down means lower planetary system. Urdhvam gacchanti sattva-sthah (BG 14.18). If you develop sattva-guna then you are promoted to the higher planetary system. Madhye tisthanti rajasah. If you remain in the passion modes of nature then you may remain within this world or few others. And jaghanya-guna-vrtti-stha adho gacchanti tamasah. If you habituate jaghanya-guna-vrtti.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 3.25.2 -- Bombay, November 2, 1974:

Tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah (SB 1.5.18). (aside:) Let them sit down. Upary adhah. Upari adhah. Upari means higher planetary system. There are seven planetary system. This is in the middle. We are in the Bhurloka. Those who are chanting gayatri-mantra, om bhur bhuvah svah tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi... So there are fourteen planetary systems within one universe. So we living entities, we are wandering in different types of forms of body and in different planets. That we are... According to our karma, sometimes down, sometimes up, in this way we are wandering. Therefore sastra says, "Just like you are wandering in this way, your business is how to become materially happy, how to satisfy your senses. But don't do that. Don't do that." Then? What shall I do? Tasyaiva hetoh. "How to understand Krsna -- for that purpose you should endeavor." Then how shall I eat? "No, that eating and sleeping, the business of the body, that is already arranged. That is already arranged. You don't have to work for it." Kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa. Tal labhyate duhkhavad anyatah sukham. Our endeavor is to achieve happiness. That is our struggle for existence.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.118-119 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

So Lord Caitanya is explaining the position of the conditioned souls. They are completely under the grip of this material nature. And just like one is seated on the car and the driver drives him -- if the driver is not under control, he drives him anywhere, to any hell -- similarly, we are sitting on this car of this body, supplied by the material nature, and she is driving anywhere, sometimes up, sometimes down. In this way we are suffering life after life, birth after birth. This is our condition. We are not independent; completely under the stringent laws of material nature.

So dandya-jane raja yena nadite cubaya. The example is very nice, that a culprit is drowned in the water, again taken for some time to take breathing. He was suffocating. Nature... He's not meant to be killed, but he is to be given suffering in that way. So material nature is giving us suffering, miseries like that. Bhayam dvitiya.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarupa Damodara: The spirit soul must necessarily have a body, either spiritual or material.

Prabhupada: He has got already spiritual body. Material body is his covering. It is unnatural. Real body is spiritual. Just like your coat, this is unnatural. But your real body is natural. Otherwise how transmigration is possible? I am accepting different unnatural bodies. Unnatural means to my constitution. My real constitutional body is servant of Krsna. So, so long I do not come to that position, I remain servant of nature and I get so many bodies. According to the nature's direction I am getting body, I am giving it up, again I am desiring something, I am getting another body. This is going on. Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah, ahankara-vimudhatma (BG 3.27). He is a rascal. He is thinking, "I am this body." Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati, bhramayan sarva-bhutani yantrarudhani mayaya (BG 18.61). This is a yantra, machine. And we are traveling many species of life, all riding on this car, given by nature. Yantrarudhani mayaya. Maya has given this vehicle, anywhere wandering, up and down, sometimes demigod, sometimes dog. This is going on. And in this wandering process, if he gets in touch with a devotee, then his real spiritual life begins. Otherwise he has to go on, rotating.

ei rupe brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-krpaya paya bhakti-lata-bija
(CC Madhya 19.151)

Svarupa Damodara: Mahaprabhu?

Prabhupada: Yes, Caitanya Mahaprabhu. By mercy of spiritual master, the mercy of Krsna, he gets the seed of devotional service, and if he cultivates, then his life becomes successful. Otherwise he has to rotate, sometimes up, sometimes down. Sometimes this grass, sometimes lion.

Paramahamsa: But ultimately if we come to Krsna, there's no return. But nevertheless, Jagai, and..., the two gatekeepers, they returned?

Prabhupada: There is return, that is voluntary. Return there is.

Room Conversation -- London, August 24, 1973 :

Prabhupada: You have to prepare yourself to go there. Not that because you have suffered so much, automatically you will go there.

Woman: Not that. Not that.

Prabhupada: No, not like that. Unless you endeavor for going to Krsna, there is no possibility. That is there in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah (SB 1.5.18). Human life is meant for trying for that thing which he has not achieved by wandering up and down. So a living entity is wandering up and down, sometimes in the higher planetary system and lower planetary system, sometimes this, sometimes rich, sometimes poor, sometimes this, sometimes a cat, sometimes dog, sometimes demigod. In this way he is suffering. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, ei rupe brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan (CC Madhya 19.151). You understand Bengali?

Morning Walk -- December 7, 1973, Los Angeles:

Dr. Wolfe: Srila Prabhupada, they would say that that is braveness. they are brave in trying again and again.

Prabhupada: Yes, they must say. That is their rascaldom. One who goes, braveness, go to the Pacific Ocean and die, and go to hell. That is their braveness. That is their braveness. They are bravely going to hell. That's all. There is a story, palavarne boi nate(?). One man is chasing another man. So the man who is chased, he's asked, "Why you are fleeing away, fleeing away?" So, "Am I afraid of you? Why shall I not flee? Why shall not go? Am I afraid of you." He's fleeing out of fear, but still, he says, "Am I afraid of you? Am I afraid of you? Why shall I not? Why shall I stop?" This is the position. "Bravely I am going to hell. Why shall I stop? I am brave." This is going on.

Hrdayananda: It's crazy.

Prabhupada: Yes, crazy. This is stated:

pisaci paile yena mati-cchanna haya
maya-grasta jivera haya se bhava udaya

"Just like when a man becomes crazy, ghostly haunted, he speaks all nonsense, similarly, anyone who is under the influence of this material energy, he's crazy." He's crazy, talks all nonsense. That's all. (break)

mayar bose jaccho bhese'
Khaccho habudubu bhai

This is Bhaktivinoda Thakura's... "Why you are being carried away by the waves of maya and you are becoming drowned and sometimes up, sometimes down? Why you are wasting your life in that way?"

jiva krsna das e biswas
korle to' ar duhkho nai

"If you simply accept Krsna as your guidance, there is no more maya." But they'll not accept. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate (BG 7.19). Therefore one who accepts and surrenders unto Krsna after many, many births of such struggle for existence, he is actually wise. He's actually wise.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 1, 1976, Fiji:

Prabhupada: ...The Lord then said, (Hindi:) ...bhagavan diya(?). This.... (break)

Pusta Krsna: Mamaivamso jiva-loke (BG 15.7). 15.7.

Guru-krpa: "The living entities in this conditional world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind."

Prabhupada: So with this instrument he's manipulating this machine, as exactly the pilot, with so many electronics, machine, he's working the flying of the plane. Where is the difficulty to understand? And this is, body is a machine. Bhramayan sarva-bhu.... Bhramayan, wandering. The aeroplane is wandering. This machine is wandering. It is also going. Urdhvam gacchanti sattva-sthah. Sometimes up, sometimes down. Huh? Find out this. (devotees look for verse) Same aeroplane, going up and down. Two wings, this hand, like this.

Guru-krpa:

urdhvam gacchanti sattva-stha
madhye tisthanti rajasah
jaghanya-guna-vrtti-stha
adho gacchanti tamasah
(BG 14.18)

"Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds."

Prabhupada: So same thing: if the pilot is not expert, then goes down to the lowest, finished. Adho gacchanti tamasah. If the pilot is third class, instead of going up, he goes down, and everything is spoiled. So everything on the pilot. The machine is not important. The machine can go up if the pilot knows how to do it. And the machine can go down. Actually, it is happening. This landing point is very dangerous. If the pilot cannot handle very nicely, immediately smashed. The crash takes place while going up and coming down, generally. That is due to mismanagement of the pilot. When in the sky it is regular speed and balance, it is going nicely. There is no crisis. All crises take place while coming down and going up. Leaving the land and coming the land. I have seen sometimes, they clap as soon as they.... (Prabhupada claps his hands. Devotees laugh) "The danger is over." So urdhvam and adhah. Madhye tisthanti rajasah. So in this way, you have to place the subject matter, that the living entity, the soul, is the important thing within this body. Because he's struggling. On account of his ignorance, he's struggling. Manah sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati (BG 15.7). This is his position.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Darsana -- May 15, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupada: Dure parjakanam(?) tirtham. If ganga-jala is pure, it is pure here and there also. So Narottama dasa Thakura says, tirtha-yatra parisrama, kevala manera bhrama: "It is simply satisfying the mind." Otherwise, wherever there is Ganges, there is Yamuna, that is sacred place. Delhi also, sacred place. There is Ganga. Anyway, so, we should take advantage of the knowledge of sadhu. And that is real progress. So catur-vidha bhajante mam sukrtinah. Four kinds of men, they come to God, Krsna. God means Krsna, not ordinary... Caitanya Mahaprabhu said,

ei rupe brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-krpaya paya bhakti-lata-bija
(CC Madhya 19.151)

Krsna also says, bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate (BG 7.19). To approach Krsna is not so easy thing. After many, many births... We are rotating... (break) ...superintendent of this egglike anda, universe. It is all Brahma's. And there are innumerable planets. That we can see. So we are wandering in all these places, sometimes down, sometimes up, sometimes in the middle, according to our karma, in different species of life, in different planets, in different position. So we are rotating. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, "Out of these innumerable living entities who are entrapped with this brahmanda and janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi... (BG 13.9)." Mrtyu-samsara-vartmani (BG 9.3). Life after life, life after life, they are... That we do not know. This is called mrtyu-samsara-vartmani. You die, accept another body, another place, another situation, another position. This is going on. Brahmanda-bhramana. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, "In this way, rotating, and in course of our rotation, if we are fortunate enough, then we come to Krsna consciousness."

Page Title:Sometimes up and sometimes down
Compiler:Visnu Murti
Created:15 of Apr, 2013
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=2, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=6, Con=5, Let=0
No. of Quotes:15