Eating, sleeping, mating and defending, these things are common to the animals and the human being. You eat, the animals eat. You sleep, the animals sleep. You mate, the animals mate. You are also afraid of your enemy, they are also afraid of your (their) enemy. So by discovering very palatable dishes to eat, or fashionable dresses for sex life, or atom bomb for defending . . . eating, sleeping, mating and defending, these four principles—if you advance in these four principles only, that does not mean that you are better than animals. You are as good as animals.
Then how we can utilize this human form of life? That is stated: dharmeṇa hīnāḥ paśubhiḥ samānāḥ. Dharma. Dharma means not a religious faith. According to Sanskrit, dharma means constitutional position, which you cannot change. That is dharma. Just like sugar: sugar is sweet. Similarly, whenever there is sugar, it must be sweet. If you say: "Oh, this sugar is salty," that is not sugar. So sweetness is the dharma of sugar. That is real dharma. Not that today I accept Hinduism, next day I accept Christianism or next day I accept Muhammadanism. These are not dharmas. Real dharma you cannot change. It is not possible to change.
And what is that dharma? That dharma, Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). "You give up all nonsense religion"; mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, "just surrender unto Me." To surrender unto the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is real religion, and all other things are simply ritualistic or to lead one to that point. Real religion is when you surrender unto the Supreme Lord. That is your religion, real religion. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19): after many, many births, when he is actually intelligent, he surrenders unto the Supreme Lord, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā (BG 7.19). This mahātmā.
I began the topic "Who is mahatma?" So here is mahātmā. Who is mahātmā? Who has surrendered himself fully unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is mahātmā. And what are the symptoms of mahātmā? Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ. (BG 9.13).
Those who are mahātmā, they are not under the control of this material nature. They are under the control of the spiritual nature. Daivī-prakṛtim āśritāḥ. And what is the symptom of such person, that he is under the control of spiritual nature? That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
- daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
- bhajanty ananya-manaso
- (BG 9.13)
Bhajanti. This bhajan, that is the sign of mahātmā. You cannot create a mahātmā by rubberstamp or by votes. Mahātmā's symptom is that he's fully surrendered unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead and always engaged in glorifying His activities. His activities. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). He's always very much careful about executing devotional service. Namasyantaś ca mām. He's always offering obeisances. Tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca (BG 10.9).
In this way they enjoy, tuṣyanti, and they're satisfied. These are the signs of mahātmā. So to become mahātmā and liberated . . . there are so many theories how to become liberated, how to become mahātmā, how to become religionist, how to become philosopher. There are many thoughts and theories, but real success of life is to become a mahātmā, broader, broader, broad-minded.
Mahātmā means broader-minded. They are not, I mean to say, short-minded that, "I am this," "I am that"—"I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," "I am Indian," "I am German," "I am Englishman"—no. Mahātmā is sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). He is freed from all designation. These are all our designations. When I think, "I am Englishman" or "I am Indian," this is my designation. Because as soon as I change my this body, I accept another body. Then all my philanthropy as Englishman or Indian—immediately finished. Just like President Kennedy's presidentship and philanthropy all finished.
Now we do not know where is Mr. Kennedy and what he is doing. But he has got the body. That's a fact. That I have already explained. But neither you know, neither he knows that, "I was president," or "I was this or that." Therefore this is called illusion, māyā.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, keno māyāra bośe, yāccho bhese (from Gītāvalī): "My dear friends, my dear brothers, why you are being washed away by the waves of this illusion? Don't be wasters. Don't be washed away." Just like if you are thrown into the ocean you are washed away by the waves, similarly, by the waves of this material nature, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). We are being washed away from one body to another, one body to another, one body to another, in this way. But actually we do not want this. Actually every one of us, we want a permanent body, a permanent situation, a permanent life, a blissful life, a life of knowledge. That is our hankering.