There is the story of the bed bug

Expressions researched:
"There is the story of the" |"bed bug"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

The bed bug, they, during the winter season, you'll find just like a simple skin only, nothing. There is nothing. But as soon as the summer season comes, oh, they bite the bodies and become red, fatty, immediately.

Lecture on SB 7.7.25-28 -- San Francisco, March 13, 1967:

What is economic development or, what is called, the exact technical word? In a country... Undeveloped. Undeveloped country, and to develop. So what is this development? Development means to lord it over these material resources. That is the seed. That is the seed. Everyone is thinking that "I am the monarch of all I survey. Whatever I am seeing, I shall be the monarch. I shall be a Rockefeller. I shall be a Ford. I shall be this. I shall be that." But what is this "I shall be"? For few years I shall be like this, and then, according to my karma, according to my work, I'll leave this body here. I take another body, the "I shall be" finished.

So therefore we are simply wasting our time, simply wasting, asat, simply wasting our time. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that "It is your duty, my dear boys." Bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ pravāhoparamo dhiyaḥ: "So you just kill, destroy the seed and..., so that no more it will become green after getting some water." There are another example. They are called in India moya carpaka(?). Carpaka means bed bug. And I do not know what is the condition here. In India, the bed bug, they, during the winter season, you'll find just like a simple skin only, nothing. There is nothing. But as soon as the summer season comes, oh, they bite the bodies and become red, fatty, immediately. So similarly, sometimes we may become just like a skin, and as soon as there is a drop of water and a little impetus for material enjoyment, oh, we become immediately... So this is seed. So seed should be destroyed. What is that seed? How it can be destroyed? Now, I am thinking that "I am master." I have to think that "I am servant." That's all. I am thinking, "I am master of this material world." I have to think that "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa." That's all; nothing more.

1973 Correspondence

There is the story of the bed bug. In the winter season the bed bug appears to be only skin, but in summer season as soon as it gets the opportunity of biting and sucking blood, it becomes fatty.

Letter to Karandhara -- Bombay 19 October, 1973:

There is the story of the bed bug. In the winter season the bed bug appears to be only skin, but in summer season as soon as it gets the opportunity of biting and sucking blood, it becomes fatty. Sometimes we may artificially renounce the world, but as soon as the opportunity of sucking blood is there, we turn again into a bed bug. Therefore it is said in the Bhagavad gita:

daivi hy esa gunamayi

mama maya duratyaya

mam eva ye prapadyante

mayam etam taranti te

(BG 7.14)

"This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But, those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it."

Unless everyone of us sticks to the regulative principles of chanting, there is no other alternative than fall-down. That is a fact. I repeatedly say this, so if people do not follow, what can I do?

1975 Correspondence

The King and the bed bug.

Letter to Tikandas J. Batra -- New Delhi 30 November, 1975:

Regarding your question about Vaikuntha; the example is The King and the bed bug, both of them are sitting on the same throne, but the business of the King is to rule and the bed bug's business is to bite. The place is the same, but the consciousness is different. It is said the Lord is situated in everyone's heart, so that means Krishna is also in the heart of a hog, and he is also in the heart of a demigod, but that does not mean that God has become a hog, or a demigod, God is always in Vaikuntha. Similarly, those who are God conscious, Pure devotees of the Lord, they are always in Vaikuntha, there is nothing like material for them.