We cannot understand Brahman or God or Para-brahman, Supersoul, without understanding the nature of myself. This is called tattva-jijñāsā. So jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. We should work. Everyone is working, but they are working for sense gratification. Especially in the Western countries, not only Western countries—Eastern, everywhere—their aim is how to satisfy or gratify the senses more and more. This is their aim.
But that is not the li . . . aim of life. The aim of life, especially in the human form of life . . . we are coming to this human form of life through the evolutionary process, gradual evolutionary process of 8,400,000 species of life, and this is the opportunity to understand, "What I am, what is God, and what is our relationship with Him." If we miss this opportunity, then we are committing suicide. Again I . . . we're going back in the cycle of birth and death, and we do not know when again we shall come to this form of human body. So we should not misuse this human form of body. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings:
- hari hari biphale janama goṅāinu
- manuṣya-janama pāiyā
- rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā
- jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu
"Knowingly, I am drinking poison. I have heard that this life is meant for understanding the Absolute Truth, but I am spoiling my life in the business of sense gratification. So therefore I am drinking poison knowingly." Just like somebody takes poison knowingly that, "I . . . I must die." But he wants to end. So that is not our aim of life. We should properly utilize the opportunity given by nature, given by God. That is required.
So here is the opportunity. Kṛṣṇa is there. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Not that Kṛṣṇa is not present. Kṛṣṇa is present by His words. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and His words. The Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, they're the words of Kṛṣṇa. When you read Bhagavad-gītā, you should know that you are talking with Kṛṣṇa directly: kṛṣṇa-kathā. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore advises, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Kṛṣṇa-upadeśa, kṛṣṇa-kathā, this should be spread all over the world. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "I don't find any scarcity within this world except Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Exc . . .
Actually, that is the fact. There is no scarcity all over the world. In India there may be scarcity, but outside India still there are so much vacant places, especially in Africa, in America, in Australia, in New Zealand, that ten times of the population of the whole world can be fed. Still. There is so much potency of producing food grains, milk and other things. Profusely. In America, they throw away so many grains and vegetables daily. It is simply mismanagement. Otherwise, there is no question of scarcity or poverty. There is no question. It is simply propaganda. Because they cannot manage, the foolish people, they present the population has increased and the foodstuff is not properly supplied. Foodstuff is always sufficient. But when there are demons, the supply is restricted by nature.
That we get information from Pṛthu Mahārāja's history. When there was scarcity, Pṛthu Mahārāja wanted to kill the earthly god, or Pṛthvī. But she replied that, "I have restricted supply on account of demons, because they are not actually executing the purpose of life, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore I have restricted." So the more people become non–Kṛṣṇa conscious, materially conscious, the more there will be restriction of foodstuff. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the Twelfth Canto, it is stated that the end of Kali-yuga there will be no grain supply. Wheat, rice and milk and sugar will not be available. Now it is available still, because still people are little Kṛṣṇa conscious. For them only. But gradually, the things will deteriorate so much so that almost all supplies will be stopped.