We are hampered on account of this material body. Encagement. So there are two ways, as I have already explained, that if you like you can become free from this bondage of material body. If you like. And if you don't like, you can continue your material way of life, changing different material body. Changing different material body is described here: mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). Mṛtyu. Because with any body, material body, either cat's body, a dog's body or human being's body or demigod's body or even Brahmā's body, you have to die. There is no escape. Therefore it is called mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. And the, another path is, that . . . Aprāpya mām. This mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani means you don't get Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says aprāpya, "not getting mām, Me." Two alternatives. Either you get Kṛṣṇa and go back to home, back to Godhead, this is one path. And the other path that you remain in this material world and repeatedly get a body and die again, get again another body. This is going on: repetition of birth, death, old age and disease.
So Kṛṣṇa is, because He is our supreme father, supreme friend . . . Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. Kṛṣṇa says,
- bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
- sarva-loka-maheśvaram
- suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
- jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati
- (BG 5.29)
For our happiness we require cooperation of some friend. That is our practical experience. But if we make Kṛṣṇa as our supreme friend . . . He is supreme friend. He's so supreme friend that . . . You'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, everything is explained. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Sarva-bhūtānām. Of all living entities, within the core of the heart Kṛṣṇa is sitting there, along with the living entity. The living entity is also within the heart, and the supreme living entity, Kṛṣṇa, is also sitting by him.
This is confirmed in the Upaniṣad, that two birds are sitting on one tree. One bird is eating the fruit and another bird is simply observing. So the observing bird is Kṛṣṇa, and the eating bird is the living entity. Two birds. In another place also Kṛṣṇa says, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata (BG 13.3). The question of the kṣetra-jña, the owner of the body, and the body, in this chapter, in the Thirteenth Chapter, it is discussed. So in that chapter Kṛṣṇa says that "I am also one of the owner of the body, but the difference of this singular individual body and Myself is this, that the individual soul knows about his own body. But so far I am concerned, I am present in everyone's body, and I know everything of everyone's body." Just like you are a spirit soul, I am a spirit soul within this body. You know the pleasure and pains of your body; I know the pleasure and pains of my body. But Kṛṣṇa, He knows the pleasure and pains of your body and pleasure and pains of my body and everyone's body. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Paramātmā. Jīvātmā and Paramātmā.
So all these facts have been very widely described and discussed. So we should be very careful to accept the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā as it is. If we do not accept, then Kṛṣṇa says aśraddadhānāḥ. One is not interested in this type of occupational duty . . . Dharma means occupational duty. So dharmasyāsya parantapa. Asya dharmasya. What is this dharma? In the end of Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is dharma. This is real dharma. And anything except this is bogus, cheating. This is real . . . Kṛṣṇa came, He said that yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). Hmm?
Devotee: Dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya.
Prabhupāda: Dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya, to reestablish the religious system. Yuge yuge sambhavāmi, "I come." He comes. So . . . or He sends His representative, His son or His devotee, His servant. In this way, Kṛṣṇa is trying to enlighten the whole human society. So we should take advantage of it. If you don't take advantage of it, aśraddadhānāḥ, no faith, no interest . . . Aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣāḥ, the human being. This is a chance of human form of life to accept the system which is offered by God Himself. That is our duty. But if one is not interested, then the result is that aprāpya mām: "He cannot get Me." Aprāpya mām. So if we don't get Kṛṣṇa, then what is the wrong there? Very, very wrong. That Kṛṣṇa says, nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3): then he remains in the cycle of birth and death. That is not very pleasing job. We are making material efforts to make nice road, nice cars, nice skyscraper building, nice other facilities of life. But why I am doing this? This is practical. If I am called by death, how we are not very happy: "Oh, I am attempting to build this and now I am dying." This is very painful. Sometimes at the time of death, they cry, that "I could not finish my business."