Now, after the death of Pāṇḍu, there was conspiracy. Dhṛtarāṣṭra wanted that "Actually, this is my kingdom. Now, somehow or other, I could not get it. Now my brother is dead. So if I do not inherit, why not my sons.?" This was the politics. Politics are always there, and enviousness, jealousy. This is the nature of this material world. You cannot avoid it. Spiritual world means just the opposite. There is no politics. There is no jealousy. There is no enviousness. That is spiritual world. And material world means politics, jealousy, diplomacy, enviousness, so many things. This is material world. So even in the heavenly planets, these things are there, politics. Even in animal kingdom, these politics are there. This is the nature. Matsaratā. Matsaratā means enviousness. One man is envious of another man. It doesn't matter, even they are brothers or family members.
This is the material world
Expressions researched:
"that is material world"
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Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 6
Durgā—the goddess Pārvatī, the wife of Lord Śiva—is extremely powerful. She can create, maintain and annihilate any number of universes by her sweet will, but she acts under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, not independently. Kṛṣṇa is impartial, but because this is the material world of duality, such relative terms as happiness and distress, curses and favors, are created by the will of the Supreme. Those who are not nārāyaṇa-para, pure devotees, must be disturbed by this duality of the material world, whereas devotees who are simply attached to the service of the Lord are not at all disturbed by it. For example, Haridāsa Ṭhākura was beaten with cane in twenty-two bazaars, but he was never disturbed; instead, he smilingly tolerated the beating. Despite the disturbing dualities of the material world, devotees are not disturbed at all. Because they fix their minds on the lotus feet of the Lord and concentrate on the holy name of the Lord, they do not feel the so-called pains and pleasures caused by the dualities of this material world.
SB Canto 7
It is learned from Caitanya literature that one big Zamindar, Subuddhi Rāya, kept a Mohammedan boy as a servant. Of course, he treated the boy as his own child, and sometimes, when the boy would steal something, the master would chastise him by striking him with a cane. There was a mark on the boy's back from this chastisement. Later, after that boy had by crooked means become Hussain Shah, Nawab of Bengal, one day his wife saw the mark on his back and inquired about it. The Nawab replied that in his childhood he had been a servant of Subuddhi Rāya, who had punished him because of some mischievous activities. Upon hearing this, the Nawab's wife immediately became agitated and requested her husband to kill Subuddhi Rāya. Nawab Hussain Shah, of course, was very grateful to Subuddhi Rāya and therefore refused to kill him, but when his wife requested him to turn Subuddhi Rāya into a Mohammedan, the Nawab agreed. Taking some water from his waterpot, he sprinkled it upon Subuddhi Rāya and declared that Subuddhi Rāya had now become a Mohammedan. The point is that this Nawab had been an ordinary menial servant of Subuddhi Rāya but was somehow or other able to occupy the supreme post of Nawab of Bengal. This is the material world. Everyone is trying to become master through various devices, although everyone is servant of his senses. Following this system, a living entity, although servant of his senses, tries to become master of the whole universe. Hiraṇyakaśipu was a typical example of this, and Brahmā was informed by the demigods of his intentions.
SB Canto 9
Once Hariścandra performed a yajña for which Viśvāmitra was the priest, but Viśvāmitra, being angry at Hariścandra, took away all his possessions, claiming them as a contribution of dakṣiṇā. Vasiṣṭha, however, did not like this, and therefore a fight arose between Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra. The fighting became so severe that each of them cursed the other. One of them said, "May you become a bird," and the other said, "May you become a duck." Thus both of them became birds and continued fighting for many years because of Hariścandra. We can see that such a great mystic yogī as Saubhari became a victim of sense gratification, and such great sages as Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra became birds. This is the material world. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). Within this material world, or within this universe, however elevated one may be in material qualities, one must suffer the conditions of birth, death, old age and disease (janma-mṛtyu jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9)). Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that this material world is simply miserable (duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15)). The Bhāgavatam says, padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām: (SB 10.14.58) at every step here there is danger. Therefore, because the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement provides the opportunity for the human being to get out of this material world simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, this movement is the greatest benediction in human society.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So apratikāram, pratikāram. There are two things. Pratikāram means counteraction. Here in this material world, for everything there is counteraction. Just like if you are diseased, so you have to take the medicine. That is pratikāram. The disease is caused by some, what is called, disarrangement within the body. So we have to arrange, we have to set up the disarrangement within the body. That is pratikāram. Medicine, counteraction. Similarly, if somebody is coming to kill you, so you also become prepared to kill him. This is pratikāram. If somebody is drowning in the sea, then you have to give him some help, send some boat or some lifeboat so that he can be saved. So we have got so many... This material world is going on. It is full of dangers. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadam (SB 10.14.58). Material world means step by step, simply danger. That is material world. So we have to find out pratikāram, counteraction, how to save yourself from danger.
In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that yas tv indra-gopam athavendra-maho sva-karma-bandhānurūpa-phala-bhājanam atanoti (Bs. 5.54). Indra-gopa. There is a, there is a insect which is called in Sanskrit language as indra-gopa. It is a microbe. You cannot see with these naked eyes. So this microbe is called indra, and there is another Indra, the King of Heaven. So the Brahma-saṁhitā says, yas tu indra-gopa. And Mahendra, the King of Heaven... Beginning from this indra-gopa, up to the King of Heaven, everyone is subjected to enjoy or suffer the resultant action of his karma. By karma, by the resultant action of karma, one has become the King of Heaven, and by karma, resultant action of karma, one has become the microbic insect. This is the material world. There are 8,400,000 types or forms of this material body, and we are wandering, sarva-gata, in different planets, in different forms. This is material world. And in the material world, whatever form we may have, we have got attachment for this body. Not only attachment, we are under the impression that "I am this body." Everyone. That is material conception of life.
Generally, a person, if he sees somebody happy, he becomes happy. Mātsaratā. That is the world situation. If I see my brother is very happy, he has improved in his material condition, then I become unhappy: "He has advanced so much, and I could not do so." This is material civilization. Envious, gṛhamedhī. Everyone is envious. Either you take person to person or neighbor to neighbor, their sympathy is lip sympathy. Actually, everyone is envious. Businessman to businessman, nation to nation. This is material world. Therefore spiritual advancement means for person who is not envious. Not envious. Paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vastavya-vastu vedyam (SB 1.1.2). In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that if you want to know the real truth, vastavya-vastu, the one must become paramo nirmatsaram.
"My dear friend, parantapa..." Parantapa means one who gives trouble to the enemies. This is the material world. A kṣatriya cannot behave like a brāhmaṇa, to excuse. Brāhmaṇa business is to excuse. Kṣamā-rūpa-tapasvinaḥ. Those who are tapasvī, they can excuse, but those who are in the governmental post, to make justice, there is no question of excuse. Life for life. "You have killed one man; you must be killed." This is justice. A brāhmaṇa, he may excuse, "All right, you have killed my man. Never mind. I excuse you." That is a brāhmaṇa's business. But a kṣatriya, the government, the ruling power, he cannot do so. It is his mercy. It is the government's mercy when a murderer is hanged. That is the injunction in the Manu-saṁhitā. "So parantapa, you are kṣatriya. Your business is to punish the unjust." Kṣudraṁ hṛdaya-daurbalyam: "For a kṣatriya this kind of poor-heartedness, that 'I shall not fight...' Give it up. Don't indulge in such thing."
In this material world the material world is problems of life. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58). Material world means in every step there is danger. That is material world. So therefore we should take guide from guru, from the teacher, from the spiritual master how to make progress, because this... That will be explained later on, that the goal of our life, at least in this human form of life, in the Aryan civilization, the goal of life is to understand our constitutional position, "What I am. What I am." If we do not understand "What I am," then I am equal to the cats and dogs. The dogs, cats, they do not know. They think that they are the body. That will be explained. So in such condition of life, when we are puzzled... Actually we are puzzled every moment. Therefore it is necessary one should approach to a proper guru.
Just like here in this material world, "I love you; you love me." Background is some motive. Ahaituky apratihatā. Ahaitukī, no motive. Anyābhīlāṣitā-śūnyam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11). All other desires making zero. Zero. That will be taught in the Bhagavad-gītā. Anyābhīlaṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). People are working... Somebody is working for knowledge and somebody is working for sense gratification. This is the material world. This is the material world. Somebody is trying to become very big scholar, knowledge, "What is this? What is this? What is this?" Not for understanding God, but for having some superfluous knowledge. So this is called jñāna. And karma means working day and night for sense gratification. So bhakti is transcendental. Anyābhīlāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11). Not tinted by all these contamination, jñāna and karma.
Just like in Sanskrit word, guṇinaḥ. Guṇinaḥ means one who has got some special attributes. (child cries, Prabhupāda chuckles, devotees laugh) He, she is understanding more than anyone else. (laughter) Yes, yes. So asmin dehe. (child cries again) Now... (laughter) You will create disturbance. Yes. So one profit, one loss. You get a child, and another side, you cannot hear. This is karma-kāṇḍīya. This is the material world. As soon as you get some profit here, another side loss. As soon as you want to construct a big skyscraper, another side, digging earth. (laughter) Otherwise, where you get? You cannot create. The stones and bricks, you cannot create. You have to dig from somewhere else and pile here. And that is advancement of civilization, to be engaged in digging and piling. (laughter) This is called advancement of civilization. The rascals, they do not think, "Why, uselessly, I am digging and piling? After all, māyā will kick me out, and there will (be) no more digging and piling." But they are very much busy. They cannot come to hear Bhagavad-gītā. They are very busy. This is called māyā.
This is material world, all fools and rascals. All materialists are fools and rascals, mūḍha. They are called mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Because they are fools and rascals, they are committing sinful life, becoming entangled in the transmigration of the soul in different types of bodies, and perpetually suffering. Because as soon as you get this body, you'll suffer, either white body or black body or yellow body. It doesn't matter. Either man's body or animal's body, as soon as you get this body, you must suffer. This is the punishment of nature. You must suffer. A king cannot say that "Because I have this queen's body, king's body, there is no suffering." This is nonsense. You have to suffer. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). At least these sufferings must be there: the sufferings of birth, sufferings of death, sufferings of disease and sufferings of old age. There must be. Either you become king or you become a dog or you become a cat, it doesn't matter, even if you become Brahmā. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). This is the philosophy.
Hṛdayānanda: (translating) Are there many universes, or only one?
Prabhupāda: Innumerable, you cannot count. This is one of the universes, with so many planets, suns, moon. That is stated in the Vedic literature. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Jagad-aṇḍa means this universe. It is ball-like, aṇḍa, egglike. Jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Koṭi means millions. So all combined together, that is material world. This is only one-fourth part of the creation of God. And the three-fourth part is the spiritual world.
A living man means spirit and matter combined. And a dead man means the matter is there; spirit is gone. So you can distinguish what is spirit and what is matter. So similarly, there is, as this is material world, there is another spiritual world. We living entities, we, by nature, we are spiritual, but because we have got the potency either to live in this material world or in the spiritual world, therefore we are called marginal. The real position is, because we are spiritual, we should live in the spiritual world. At the present moment we have lost our spiritual constitutional position; therefore we are in this material world. Just like a man is generally healthy, but sometimes he falls sick, so at the present moment our condition is sick. It is called bhava-roga. Bhava-roga. Bhava means to become, and roga means disease. What is that bhava-roga? We are appearing, taking birth in the material world.
This is our material characteristic. Material characteristic because originally I am servant. I am not master. But I have given up service of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare (Prema-vivarta). "Why shall I become servant? I shall become Kṛṣṇa." All right, you become Kṛṣṇa. You become enjoyer. That is material world. Everyone is trying to become Kṛṣṇa, enjoyer. So there is fight. Always. You are becoming, trying to becoming Kṛṣṇa. I am trying to become Kṛṣṇa. As there are so many incarnations of God nowadays—every lane, every street. So we are all imitation Kṛṣṇa. And there is fight. That is asanātana-dharma. That is not sanātana. Therefore the brāhmaṇa says, kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśāḥ. "My dear Lord, I tried to become master, but I have become servant of my senses—kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mātsarya, ityādi. Now I see that I have served so long, but my so-called masters, they are not satisfied." Everyone knows. Even up to the end of life, one tries to become master. But that is not possible because he's not master.
Those who are acting in the modes of goodness, they are being elevated to higher standard of life. Those who are acting in the modes of passion, they'll remain in the same position as they are now, and those acting in the modes of ignorance, darkness, without any knowledge, they are being degraded in lower grades of life. This is material world. But Kṛṣṇa is advising Arjuna that either goodness or passion or ignorance, after all, they are activities of this material world. You have to come above, transcend this position of goodness also. So goodness is not qualification for spiritual advancement, but it is helping. If a man is very good man, then it is helping to spiritual life. But that is not the cause. Here the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, this chanting, is directly offering spiritual life. Even one is not in goodness, even one is in the darkest part of the quality of ignorance, still, he can be immediately elevated to the spiritual platform, which is recommended by Kṛṣṇa, that you have come to the platform above the modes of goodness. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is directly offering the spiritual platform which is above the mode of goodness.
Because it is karma, karma-yoga. The material world means you work, and you enjoy or suffer the result of your work. This is material world. Everyone is given facility, but it is karmānubandhanaḥ, karmānubandhanaḥ, just a facility for the living entities who wanted to enjoy this material world. This material world is not wanted. Everyone should live in the spiritual world. There is spiritual world. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). There is no birth and death. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma (BG 15.6). Everything is there. People do not know it.
So actually we are all servants of our senses. The whole activities of the material world means everyone is acting as the servant of his senses, that's all. This is the material world. Everyone is working. Everyone is working so hard. So when one becomes intelligent, then he understands that "What I am doing? I am thinking that I am master, I am proprietor, I am the head of the family, but what I am doing actually? I am acting as servant of my senses, my son's senses, my wife's senses, my daughter's senses, my servant's senses. That's all." If you speak something wrong even to your servant, the servant will resign, and you will be in trouble. Therefore you have to serve his senses so that he may not be angry. This is our position. So we are simply serving senses, but we are thinking, "I am master." This is called illusion.
Either you take it personally, individually, your body, or this gigantic body of the universe, in whichever way you may take it, the nature is bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Here the material nature is you take your birth or appearance and again disappear and again appear. This is the instruction of spiritual life. The spirit soul is there, but it is not getting a permanent settlement. This is material world. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). As the body is changing, there are so many children, they will also become old like me. But the spirit soul is there. In the presence of mother, although the body is changing, the mother knows that "My son is there." Although from babyhood the son has grown to boyhood, the body, original body, child's body, baby's body, is not existing, the mother knows that "My boy is there."
Just like we are prescribing this formula: "No illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling." People want to do it. People want illicit sex. The whole city is full of pictures, simply how to indulge in illicit sex. Then meat-eating—big, big signboard—and intoxication, wine shops. They want it. That is the natural propensity. Loke vyavāyāmiṣa-madya-sevā nityā hi jantor na hi tatra codanā. You do not require to encourage them in these things. They have got natural tendency. That is material world—to enjoy unrestricted sex life, to eat meat, fish eggs, āmiṣa... Āmiṣa-madya-sevā. Āmiṣa means eat meat, fish, eggs. These are āmiṣa. And vegetarian means nirāmiṣa. So āmiṣa-madya-sevā. Madhya means intoxication. Either wine or cigarette, biḍi or gāñjā, bhāṅg, teas, coffees, they are all intoxication. So āmiṣa-madya-sevā and vyavāya. Vyavāya means sex life. You do not require to educate them. In the school, college, the boys and girls are not, I mean, given lesson... Of course now, I think, they are now giving lesson also. But naturally, without any lesson, they know how to do it. Similarly, without an education, one can take to intoxication. So these things are natural. But when we try to stop these material instincts, that is called tapasya, tapasya.
The superior energy and the inferior energy, this is the material world, combination of two energies. Just like this body, your body, my body, everyone's body. What is this? The combination of these two energies, the superior energy and the inferior energy. The inferior energy—bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ, the gross body, earth, water... This gross body means earth, water, air, and ether, and then the subtle body, mind intelligence and ego, these eight combination, so this is not actually I. I am soul. Therefore this is aparā, inferior. But what I am, that is superior. That is explained here, jīva-bhūta. Beyond these two gross and subtle energies there is another, superior energy. Apareyam itas tu anyām. Anyām means another. Itas tu... Apareyam itas tu anyām prakṛtim. Another prakṛti, energy, is there. Viddhi me parām. That is superior. What is that? Jīva-bhūta, that living being which is within the gross and subtle body, that living being.
Therefore in the spiritual world there is no disagreement. That God is great and we are small, there is no disagreement. That is spiritual world. And the material world means "God is great, we are small"—there is disagreement. That is material world. Try to understand the distinction between material world and spiritual world. The living entity is very minute particle of God, but in the spiritual world everyone is aware of his position. The living entities, they know "What is my position? I am a small particle of God." Therefore there is no disagreement. Everything is going on nicely.
In the material world he is going to serve somebody, ready(?), from somebody else for his bread; still, he is thinking, "I am God." Just see what kind of God he is. (laughter) This is rascal, he is thinking that he is God. If he is driven away from the office, he'll not get his bread, and he is God. This is material world. Everyone is thinking "I am God." Therefore they have been called mūḍhas, rascals. They do not surrender to God. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.15). Apahṛta-jñānāḥ. His real knowledge is taken away. He does not know that he is small, God is great, his business is to serve God. This knowledge is taken away. Māyayāpahṛta-jñānā āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ. This is the sign.
So that mad-bhāva, here it is said, yaḥ prayāti. Anyone who is passing away, who is leaving this body, thinking of Kṛṣṇa at the time of death, yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti (BG 8.5). Mad-bhāvam means spiritual nature, this spiritual world. This is also Kṛṣṇa's world, but this is not the spiritual world. This is material world. We have already discussed that He has got two energies, material and spiritual. This material world is the manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's material energy. Similarly, He has got a spiritual world also. Because He, His spiritual energy's also one of the energies. So mad-bhāvam yāti means that spiritual energy... Because Kṛṣṇa remains in that spiritual world, therefore He says mad-bhāvam, "the spiritual nature."
Just have some idea what is God. So as Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, He is sleeping within the ocean, and as soon as there is question of sleeping, there is breathing also. The bubbles, the bubbles are expanding as universe. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). So breathing means exhaling, inhaling. So when the breathing, air is coming out, innumerable universes are coming into form, and when He is inhaling, then all of them becomes annihilated. This is material world. Material world means it comes into existence at a certain date, it remains for some time, it gives so many by-products, and it expands, and then dwindles, then finish. This is material, everything. Your body is like that, my body is like that. The whole universe is like that.
Just like this temple is spiritual because here there is no forgetfulness of God. Everyone is... Every moment, twenty-four hours, they are always remembering God. Therefore it is spiritual world, nirguṇa. If you live in the temple or if you live in God's business, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you are in the spiritual world. You are not in the material world. Material world means where God is forgotten. That is material world. So God is expanded by His energies. Tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. Spiritual world means when His spiritual energy is expanded, that is spiritual world. And when His material energy is expanded.
Try to understand. You don't think that material world is out of the control of God. It is also under the control, exactly. The jail department is also under the control of the government. So that is the difference, material world and spiritual world. Material world means full of criminals, or against God, or defying the authority of God. And the spiritual world? Everyone is accepting the supremacy of God. That is material world and spiritual world.
This material world is, means we have created so many unwanted things, this is material world. Just like we are living in this part of your country, a village. So you are living very happily, undoubtedly. There is ample opportunity for living peacefully here. You grow little grains, you get some milk, some vegetable, and all your economic questions solved. But as soon as you go to the city, the whole pollution attacks you. You have to give up this simple eating process. Instead of drinking milk, in the city, you'll have to cut throat of the cow and eat the meat.
Every rascal is trying to become enjoyer. This is the material world. Everyone is after sense. Even the so-called prakṛti, woman, the propensity is to enjoy. Puruṣa. Therefore here in this material world, even though a woman is dressed like a woman, his mind is puruṣa. He wants, she wants to enjoy. Here the woman wants a man. Although superficially it is supposed that man is the enjoyer, the woman is enjoyed. but actually the woman also wants to enjoy the man. That is māyā. A prakṛti cannot enjoy, become puruṣa. So in the Bhagavad-gītā, the living entities are described as prakṛti.
My brain is working so nicely. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is also, according to our conception, Kṛṣṇa is person, individual, but He has got a very gigantic body. This is the material world, material expression. That is expressed in the next verse: kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi. I am also kṣetrajñam. As you are knower of your body, the bodily pains and pleasure you know, I know. I do not know your bodily pains and pleasures. Neither you know my bodily pains and pleasure. But Kṛṣṇa says that kṣetrajña, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi: "I am also kṣetrajñam," means "I also know the field."
There are many energies of Kṛṣṇa. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). But learned scholars, they have divided into three: the spiritual energy, the marginal energy, and the material energy. Avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā tṛtīya-śaktir iṣyate. So here this material world, either you become a tiger, either you become Lord Brahmā or you become a small ant, you have to struggle for your existence. This is material world. You cannot think that "I shall be happy without any working."
People are searching after Īśvara, "Can you show me God?" "There is no God." "God is dead." So many philosophers and theories are there, but actually there is God. Here is God, Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānandaḥ vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa. In Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that "Only īśvara is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme." Ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya (CC Adi 5.142). "All others, they are servants." Nobody is actually īśvara. And we find it practically. Everyone in this material world, he may become an īśvara is his group, but he is also controlled by somebody superior. That is the position of this relative īśvara. But Kṛṣṇa is absolute īśvara. Nobody is īśvara above Him. That is Kṛṣṇa. So, everyone is trying to be īśvara. This is the material world. Everyone is trying to be īśvara.
We are all prakṛtis. And because, being prakṛti, we are trying to become puruṣa, that is called māyā, or illusion. Just like if a woman dresses like a man and wants to act as man, as that is illusion, similarly, we are differently dressed in the material ingredient, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). Everyone's body is made of these five elements and mind, intelligence, they are also subtle material elements, and with this combination we have got this body, and I am the spirit soul. I am trying to enjoy. This is material world. We have forgotten that we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Our business is not to enjoy but to help Kṛṣṇa to enjoy. That is our business, part and parcel.
So Kṛṣṇa is bhoktā and we are bhogya. It is not our position that we become Kṛṣṇa and become bhoktā, no. That is wrong conception. You cannot become the enjoyer. You are enjoyed. But when you want to imitate Kṛṣṇa and want to become enjoyer, then you are sent in this material world. This is material world. Why we are in this material world? We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. We should remain with Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual world. But why we are put into this material world? That is explained. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān (BG 13.22). Because constitutionally a living entity is not enjoyer but enjoyed.
Just like you have seen the coconut. There is hard covering, and within the covering there is water. Similarly, within this covering... And outside the covering there are five layers, thousand times bigger than the one another: Water layer, air layer, fire layer. So you have to penetrate all these layers. Then you will get the spiritual world. All these universes, unlimited number, koṭi. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Jagad-aṇḍa means the universe. Koṭi, many millions clustered together, that is material world. And beyond that material world there is spiritual world, another sky. That is also sky. That is called paravyoma. So by your sense perception you cannot estimate even what is there in the moon planet or sun planet, this planet, within this universe. How you can understand the spiritual world by speculation? This is foolishness.
Prabhavanty ugra-karmāṇaḥ. Prabhavanty ugra-karmāṇaḥ. Karma, you have to work. You cannot maintain yourself without working. That is material world. Material world is not spiritual world. In the spiritual world you haven't got to work, neither you have to eat. Everything is complete. But in the material world means for your maintenance you have to work. But that work is very simple. Grow some food grains and keep some cows, take the milk, and just prepare nice foodstuff and eat. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam (BG 9.26). Keep Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Deity, at home, and Kṛṣṇa is pleased even you simply offer little fruit and little flower.
Just like in our country, Mahatma Gandhi, he also, he was here. He gave so much service. He gave service in India. But what was the return? The return was he was killed by his countrymen. This is the return, practical. The return was that he wanted to establish nonviolence, and his countrymen proved that nonviolence cannot go on—"You must die by violence." This is material world, that however you may render service to your family, to your country, to your friend, to anyone, you will never be satisfied. Rather, when he is dissatisfied he will kill you. This is material world. So my occupational duty is to render service to somebody, but I cannot satisfy that somebody. This is material world. You go on giving service, but you will never be able to satisfy to the person to whom you are giving service. This is material world.
So what is the defect? The defect is that my business is to render service to the Supreme Lord which is misplaced in so many ways. In so many ways I am giving service to my society, to my friend, to my community, to my nation, and so on, so on. That is misplaced. Your duty is to render service to Kṛṣṇa, or God, but that is being misplaced. Therefore you are not satisfied, neither the person to whom you are giving service, they are also not satisfied. This is the material world. Therefore Kṛṣṇa comes. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). Dharmasya again. What is that dharma? To render service. When there is discrepancy to render service, then Kṛṣṇa comes to teach you how you should render service. So we have created so many platform of service. They are not giving us satisfaction, neither to the person nor to me. So Kṛṣṇa comes to rectify it. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati. This is glāniḥ. The service is misplaced.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So this is the material world, system. As soon as you enter a particular type of body you are conditioned. Just like while walking in the St. James Park the ducks and the swans, when they saw that we are coming near, they immediately dropped into the water. Because the duck is thinking that he's safe in the water. And if somebody snatches me to put me down in the water, then I shall protest. He's also a living entity, I am also a living entity. I am afraid of being put into the water, and he is seeking shelter into the water. Water is the same. Why one is seeking shelter, and why one is afraid of? This is material world. Because I am conditioned in a separate body and the duck is conditioned in a separate body. The trees, some trees are going upwards, and some trees are going downwards. These are the conditions. Deha-yogena dehinām.
Just like light is required by a person who wants to go through the darkness but go to the light. Suppose here is light and there is tunnel, and in the tunnel you require some light, to go to the other part of the light. Similarly, this world, this material world, is full of darkness. That is the difference between material world and spiritual world. Material world means darkness wherein you cannot understand what is God, what you are. That is material world. They are very busy in this material world, but they do not know where they are going. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). Actually, they are darkness. The material world is darkness. The so-called scholars and teachers, they are also in the darkness, and they are leading other people in the darkness.
Therefore, materialism means forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, there is no other existence as material. Just like in dream. In dream, some way or other, we create an atmosphere. But actually, there is no different atmosphere. But by our brain, hallucination, we create something. So created in dream, we have got experience, everyone, "I am the worker. I am doing this. I am flying. I am going there. I am riding the path(?). I am working. I..." "I" is there. This "I" false ego is there. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). So forgetting Kṛṣṇa, when we concentrate only "I" and "mine," that is material world. That is material world. Material means separated. When I create, when we forget Kṛṣṇa, when I create "I" and "mine," that is material. Make it clear.(?) Otherwise, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1).
There is another world. That we get information from Bhagavad-gītā. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ (BG 8.20). There is another nature, which is sanātana, eternal. This world this material world, is not eternal. Just like we have got this body. This is not eternal. It is temporary. It has got some particular date of his birth and it has got some particular date of his annihilation. Similarly, this gigantic body, universe, it is created at a certain date and it will be annihilated at a certain date. This is material world. But there is another world. That information we get from Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literature. Spiritual world. This material world is only one-fourth of the whole creation. Ekāṁśena sthito jagat.
Here, in this material world, material world means it is not eternal, not blissful and not full of knowledge. This is material world. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is said: avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate. This manifestation of energy is full of ignorance. The nature of this world is called darkness, tamasi, tama. Tamasi mā jyotir gama. So sad-asad-rūpayā cāsau guṇa, guṇamaya aguṇaḥ. Kṛṣṇa, when He's called aguṇa, or nirguṇa, that means He's not affected by these material modes of nature. Above material nature. We are affected. We living entities, we are affected by the material modes of nature, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. But Kṛṣṇa is not affected. That is Kṛṣṇa..., difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourself.
This is material world. They are saying "Don't... There is no God. We don't care for God. We are, everyone, God." But māyā, the police force, is there, kicking on the face. And they are subjected to so many tribulations, miserable conditions of life. Especially birth, death, old age and disease. Now you don't care for God. So why don't you stop your death? You stop your death. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham, "To the rascals and the demons, I am death. I take away everything." Sarva-haraḥ. Sarva-haraḥ means these rascals are trying to possess so many things: cars, motorcars, skyscraper building, bank balance, big family, big friends, big empire, and so many things. But when death comes, he cannot protect himself, what to speak of protecting other things. You see? So he's under full control, the demons. And every moment, he's under control.
So this is material world means everyone is trying to become God. I am trying to become God, you are trying to become God. So there is competition between Gods. He has forgotten that he is dog, but he's trying to become God. Especially in these days, especially in our (chuckling) India, Bengal, there (are) so many Gods incarnation, rascal. You see? So many. As if God is so cheap thing that anyone can become God. So God has given us the chance, "All right. You try to become God." He's trying to become God, and more and more... This is asuric. Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu. As soon as his little child would say "Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa," he would immediately become angry: "Oh, who is this Nārāyaṇa?" "Oh, He is God." Just like this child is doing. "I am God. Who is God? You are trying to respect some other God?"
Suppose if somebody is assured that now, henceforward you haven't go to do anything, everything will come automatically, naturally one becomes prasannātmā, very jolly. I am free from the anxieties. Because this material world means full of anxieties, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām, that is material world. And when you come to the spiritual platform, there is no anxiety, no na śocati na kāṅkṣati. That is anxiety-free. So anxiety-free does not mean you haven't got to do anything. Your material life is purified, sarvopādhi vinirmuktaṁ tat paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170).
Even if you are a lion you have to work. Na hi suptasya siṁhasya praviśanti mukhe mṛgāḥ. This is... The material world is like that. Even if you are as powerful as a lion, you cannot sleep. If you think, "I am lion, I am the king of the forest. Let me sleep, and the animal will come and enter in my mouth." No, that is not possible. Even if you are animal, you have to catch up an animal. Then you'll be able to eat. Otherwise you'll have to starve. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, niyataṁ kuru karma tvaṁ karma jyāyo hy akarmaṇaḥ. "You must do your duty." Śarīra-yātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ. Don't think... The rascal says that "Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is teaching people to escape. They've become..." No, that is not Kṛṣṇa's instruction. We do not allow any lazy man. He must be engaged. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. That is Kṛṣṇa's order.
So I, as spirit soul, I am individual, existing. I shall continue to exist as individual in this material world either as human being or as an animal or as demigod, or a tree, plants, fish, aquatics—so many. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. So this is going on. This is material world. And if you go to the spiritual world, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). The difference... What is the difference between the spiritual world and the material world? The difference is that if you go to the spiritual world, then you will not return again in this material world. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Spiritual life means punar janma naiti. Punar janma means this material world. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). One janma, then death, again janma, again death. And between the death and birth or birth and death there is disease and old age. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha (BG 13.9). This is our real problem.
Kuntīdevī says, "Hṛṣīkeśa, my dear Kṛṣṇa, You are the master of the senses, and for the sense gratification, we are fallen in this material condition of life, different varieties of life." So we are suffering, and suffering to the extent, even one becomes Kṛṣṇa's mother... Because this is material world, she's also put into suffering, what to speak of others? Devakī is so advanced that she has become the mother of Kṛṣṇa, but still she's put into difficulties. And difficulties by whom? By his brother, Kaṁsa. So this world is like that. Try to understand. Even you become Kṛṣṇa's mother, and even your brother, who is very nearest relative. So you, the world is such jealous, that if one's personal interest is hampered, everyone will be ready to give you trouble. This is the world. Everyone. Even if he's brother, even he's father. What to speak of others? Khalena. Khala means jealous. This material world is jealous, envious. I am envious of you; you are envious of me. This is our business. This is our business.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for the swan class of men. Not for the crow class of men. No. But we can convert the crows into swans. That is our philosophy. One who was crow is now swimming like swan. That we can do. That is the benefit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So when the swans become crows, that is material world. That is Kṛṣṇa says: yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). The living entity is encaged in this material body and he's trying to gratify the senses, one body after another, one body after another, one body, after another. This is the position. And dharma means to gradually turn the crows into swans. That is dharma.
Now, bhave 'smin. Bhava, this bhava means this material world, cosmic manifestation. Bhave 'smin kliśyamānānām. Anyone who is within this material world must work. This is material world. Just like in the prison house, it is not possible that he will sit down and he will be honored just like son-in-law. No. In the, in our country son-in-law is very much worshiped. Worshiped means flattered. Never divorce the daughter. Therefore, nobody should expect that we may speak something humorous about son-in-law in India. Formerly... It is still the system that the daughter must get married. That is the responsibility of the father. It is called kanyā-dāna. A father may not get his son married. That is not very great responsibility. But if there is a daughter, the father must see that she is married. Formerly it was ten years, twelve years, thirteen years. Not more than that. That is the system. That was the Vedic system. Kanyā. Kanyā means before attaining puberty. Kanyā. So kanyā-dāna. She must be given in charity tosomebody.
There is something like... Our only fault is that we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa and we have come to enjoy this material world. Material enjoyment means sense gratification. That's all. That is the material world. And spiritual world means there is no sense gratification, only activities for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction. That is spiritual world. The so-called material world can be converted into spiritual world when this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there, that everything should be used for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure. That is spiritual world. Otherwise, it is material world.
Just like in ordinary dealings, one businessman is going to do business with another man. So, first of all, the relationship is established by some agreement. Then the transaction takes place. One is supplier, one is purchaser. Then the result is profit. Three things are there. In husband and wife, the same thing. First of all sambandha, the relationship, who will I marry, which girl, which boy. First of all plan... In the beginning... Formerly it was settled up by the parents. Still in India it is settled up by the parents. That is called sambandha. Then the marriage takes place. Then husband and wife relationship, they live together. Then there is the profit, a child. Similarly the human life is meant for reestablishing our relationship with God. In this material world... Material world means forgetfulness, forgetting our relationship with God. That is called material world. No Kṛṣṇa consciousness—that is material world. As soon as there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness and acting on the basis of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is no more material world; it is spiritual world.
To get body means to suffer. To get material body... Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). We are suffering the śītoṣṇa... Sometimes we feel some pleasure, sense pleasure. But actually we are suffering. Just see. We thought on the fourth floor, or third floor, such marble, I mean to say, level... And still, there is a snake. How it gone to such a high floor, and...? That is also surprising. But it has managed to go there. That's a fact. And a snake means death. Sa-sarpe ca gṛhe vāso mṛtyur eva na saṁśayaḥ.(?) So you cannot avoid danger in any condition of life. This is material world. But still, they want to remain here. Death is in every step. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58). This material world means in every step vipadām, danger. Such is the condition of material world. Still, they are trying to adjust. Mūḍha. Bahir-artha-māninaḥ.
According to one's work... Work means all sinful acts. Without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, anyone who acts, he acts sinfully. There is no doubt of it. Because he is acting for sense gratification, and sense gratification means almost 99.9% all sinful activities. Duṣkṛtinaḥ. It is very risky job. Unless you act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness... Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). This is the stringent law of the nature, that you have to act only for Yajña, for satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu. Otherwise, you will be entangled. And who is serving Kṛṣṇa? Nobody is serving Kṛṣṇa. So everyone is being entangled. This is the material world.
In this material life there is a fire always. Bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. Dāvāgni means the forest fire, the fire in the forest. Nobody goes to set fire in the forest, nobody has got any business to do that. But still, there is fire. It takes place. Everyone knows. Automatically, by the collision of dry branches of bamboo and others there is electricity and dry leaves that set fire, in this way, a big fire. So similarly, in this material world nobody wants that there may be fire and we all burn. No, nobody wants. But it happens. There is another Bengali song like that. Sukhera lāgiyā ei ghare bandhinu agune puriya gelun(?): "I constructed this house to live very happily. Unfortunately, there was set fire. Fire was set and everything finished." So this is material world. We should always know.
Because the whole world is full of enemies. This is material world. So everyone is struggling hard, "How to protect myself?" So these four principles are animal principles. So that is the difference, that such animal propensities are there amongst the cats and dog, and in the human being also, these necessities are there. But if we remain captivated only by these four principles, then we remain cats and dog. It doesn't matter, however nicely we are dressed, but we remain as cats and dog, in the category of cats and dog. The modern civilization is that he is actually a dog, a cat, but he dresses himself very nicely, to become gentleman. So śāstra says, no. We have to test whether he is human being or a cat and dog, what he is. So if we see that people are engaged only in these four business—eating, sleeping, mating and defending—he is cat and dog. Above them, they are inquiring. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. They are inquiring about the Absolute Truth.
Anything except this problem... There are problems always. This is a world of problems. So... Just like this summer season, that is also problem. The winter season, that is also problem. So many people come here in Hawaii because they cannot tolerate too much severe cold in the mainland. They come here. Again, when you come here, when it is too much hot, warm, then we require fan, we require refrigerator, we require so many. So problem is there. So Kṛṣṇa is saying, "My dear Arjuna, problems there will be." This is material world. You cannot avoid problems. But you should tackle with the main problem, not the insignificant or temporary problem. That is the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā.
So yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa means this one universe, and aṇḍa... Aṇḍa means egg. Therefore it is called jagad-aṇḍa, "egglike, round." We are within the egg. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). There are millions of eggslike clustered together. This is material world. Millions, not one. And each universe... Koṭiṣu vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam. In each universe there are millions and trillions of stars and planets. Koṭiṣu vibhūti-bhinnam. And each one of them is different from the other. Just like you are going to, trying to go to the moon planet, but you cannot stay there because the atmosphere is different. Everything is there. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣu vasudhādi (Bs. 5.40). Vasudhā means planets. This is also called vasudhā, this planet. So just imagine what insignificant this vasudhā in comparison to the whole material world. There are millions of universes, and in each and every universe there are millions and trillions of the stars and planets. This is the whole creation of material world. And taking them together, this is one-fourth creation of God. The three-fourths creation is the spiritual world, and in that spiritual world, the topmost planet is called Goloka Vṛndāvana. That is the place of Kṛṣṇa.
When a man cannot tolerate his friend or other man is rising more than him, he becomes envious. This is the material world. Even my brother becomes greater than me, I becomes envious. Either in richness or any way, competition. So... But this Bhāgavata-dharma is different thing. Paramo nirmatsarāṇām. A devotee is never envious of another devotee. If one friend or Godbrother or brother increases in devotion, the other devotee, he is not envious. He simply thanks him, "Oh, my brother," "my sister," or "my father," like that, "he has advanced in so much devotion. I could not do. So how I can follow him?" This is Vaikuṇṭha conclusion. Just like in the material world, everyone is envious. If I become richer than you, then you become envious, that "Oh, how this man has become richer? We are in the same business." So this is material. There is no appreciation.
So therefore this process, that "I shall go by my strength. I shall know by dint of my own knowledge, research work," these are all rascaldom. It is not possible. So what to speak of understanding God? You cannot understand even what is in your presence, the material world, and spiritual is beyond the sky. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ (BG 8.20). That is another sky. You have no estimation of this sky. Not only this, this sky; even in the material world, this is one universe. What sky we see, that is of one universe. But there are innumerable universes. That is material world. And beyond that, there is spiritual sky. Then the spiritual world begins. There are also planets, Vaikuṇṭha planets. And above these Vaikuṇṭha planets, there is Kṛṣṇaloka. That is Kṛṣṇa's abode. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu (Bs. 5.29).
This is the instruction in the Vedic literature, that the people in this material world, they are very, very busy. Not only men—even the animals, even the birds, beasts, insect. We see on the beach, there are so many dogs, and they are assembled there for sex. So this is the material world, indriya-prīti. Therefore śāstra says that human life should be, consider... They should think, "Whether we shall spoil our life simply by sense gratification, or there is some other business?" Yes, there is some other business. That is tapasya. That is tapasya means we should restrict sense gratification. Sense gratification, either regulated or nonregulated, is meant for animal life. Sense control is the human life. Therefore you'll find in Vedic culture big, big learned scholars, big, big kings, they dedicated their life for tapasya. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). If you want to purify your existence, then you must take to the process of tapasya. Tapo divyam.
Nobody will be allowed to stay here in this material world. He will have to change the body, his position. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). And so long you'll remain here, you'll have to fight, struggle for existence. This is material life. And at the same time, if you make compromise, that "Never mind, it is full of miseries. I shall stay here," no, you cannot be allowed. You'll be kicked out. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This is the material world. So... And we have got very much attachment for this material world. We cannot... Therefore according to Vedic system there is compulsory renunciation. "Get out, please, immediately." Pañcāśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. "You are now past fifty years. That's all right. You have falsely fought in this material world, ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Now stop this business. Come out." This is Vedic civilization. As soon as you are fifty years, you may... Just like children, they play on the beach, making sand house and so on. Now, the father, when the time is up: "Now, my dear children, stop this business. Come out. Come here, home." So we have to do that.
So out of many energies, three energies have been taken into account. One is the external energy, another the internal energy, and the other is the marginal energy. The external energy is this material world, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca. This is material world. And internal energy is the spiritual world. And marginal energy-we, the living entities. Marginal means we may remain in this material world or we may remain in the spiritual world, living entities. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā there are two kinds of living entities who are living in this material... Kṣara, they have fallen down. Fallen down in this... And attracted in this tree of saṁsāra, banyan tree.
In our country the ideal man was Mahatma Gandhi. Still, he was killed. Just see. This is material world. This is material world. He was doing harm to nobody, but he was killed. So bhavāmbudhi, in this material world, or ocean, you may be very expert in swimming, but that does not mean you'll be peaceful. That is not possible. But if you are taken away from the water even one inch, you'll find peace. Therefore the prayer is tava pāda-paṅkaja-sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśam. Just as from the water, if you are taken one inch up, then you become, you feel relieved, similarly, some way or other, if you become one of the particles of the dust of lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then you are liberated.
So the bhakti means bhaktyā pumāñ jāta-virāga aindriyāt. From indriya, this word has come, aindriya, "pertaining to indriya." Everyone in this material world is engaged in sense gratification. That is the only... The cats, dogs and so-called civilized man is simply nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4), doing all kinds of sinful activities. Why? Yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti, simply for sense gratification. Simply for sense grat... This is material world. And spiritual world means there is no question of sense gratification. Simply they want to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is spiritual world. Just like Vṛndāvana. What is the picture of Vṛndāvana? Vṛndāvana means there mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja, the Rādhārāṇī, the gopīs, the cowherds boys, Śrīdāmā, Sudāmā, the land, the water, the trees, the birds—everyone is trying to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana means nothing. When Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana for Mathurā, all of them become dead. That is Vṛndāvana. Similarly, you can live always in Vṛndāvana, always in Vaikuṇṭha, if you are mad after Kṛṣṇa. That was the teachings of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Everyone is misguided, everyone is acting in this world under the bodily concept of life. And they are very very much unhappy on account of this. Because as soon as one understands that "I am not this body," he immediately becomes Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā. Prasannātmā means, what do you mean by prasannātmā? Na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). No more material desire. That is brahma-bhūtaḥ. Everyone is trying for material sense gratification—the animals, the beasts, the birds, and the human being. That is material world. He is simply śocati and kāṅkṣati. When there is loss he is crying, and when there is no possession he is hankering. These are the two diseases of material existence.
Material world means forgetting Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is covered. Kṛṣṇa is there, Kṛṣṇa is aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu, but they have no Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Whole world, you analyze, there is no Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no (indistinct). Rather they are declining, "There is no God." "God is dead." "I am God." "You are..." Because they have no information, no information of, that is material world. That is the difference between material world and spiritual world. Spiritual world means there is full consciousness of the existence of God, and material world means to full forgetfulness of God. This is the difference between material world and the spiritual world. So if you bring, in the material world also, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it is spiritual world. How it is possible? Yes, it is possible.
Just like the heat and light. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. The light and heat. Similarly, spiritual energy and material energy. Take the spiritual energy as heat and material energy as the light. There is some idea of fire. Heat, if somewhere is very hot, you can make an idea, "There must be some fire." That is... The material world is like that. We have got some heat of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Things are going on so nicely. So we can at least imagine that there is some management. Otherwise how the sun is rising exactly in time every day, according to the calculation, almanac? The moon is rising, the ocean is flowing, and the breeze is blowing. Everything is doing its own duty. Unless there is some superior brain, arrangement... This is common sense, because in the material world we have no direct connection with the Supreme Lord. But in the spiritual world there is direct connection. That is exactly like heat.
The same example as I have already spoken several times, that a gentleman takes his dog chained, and the dog passes urine, and the gentleman also stands. He passes. He wants to go there, this and there, gives the facility—but under the control of the chain. Similarly, we, after forgetting our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, when we want to enjoy independently, the chance is given. This chance is given. That is material world. We get a material body, and we are given chance to enjoy as we like. But that is not very fruitful for our satisfaction. After all, we are part and parcel of sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means knowledge, and ānanda means bliss. So we, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, we have got also the same type or same quality of constitutional position. But because we wanted independently, therefore we are in a position or in a circumstance which is neither sat nor cit nor ānanda. Asat acit nirānanda.
So if by coming to the platform of brahminical culture, one is sure, that is not possible. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Sometimes sattva-guṇa is overpowered by rajo-guṇa or rajo-guṇa is overpowered by tamo-guṇa or sattva-guṇa is overpowered by tamo-guṇa. In this way, topsy-turvy it is going on. That is material world. But if you want to become above the material platform, then you have to take to the platform of devotional service.
So ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu na prīti-yuktāḥ. The symptom of a mahātmā, great soul, is described here. What is that? That dehambhara-vārtikeṣu. Those who are simply planning how to keep this body comfortable, that is the material world. Everyone is busy how to keep this body very comfortable, although it is not possible. There are so many disturbances, so many miserable condition, that there is no possibility of keeping this body in comfortable position. That is not. That is a fact. But still, we are trying. There they are called deha, dehambhara-vārtikeṣu.
This is material world, ahaṁ mameti, "I am this," artho 'ham, balavān aham. "I am everything," aham, "and this is mine. This is my property. This is my country. This is my society. This is my nation." Mine, mine, mine. And I, I, I. This is material world. Kṛṣṇa says, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). The Supreme Personality of Godhead declares clearly that "I am the proprietor." Śāstra says, Veda says, īśāvāsyam idam sarvam: (ISO 1) it is God's property, everything. We are claiming, our country, "This is my country," but as soon as you go on the beach of the sea, your country finishes, the land. Then whose, the water, whose water that is? But the foolish person: "No, it is in my throne(?), it is mine."
This is the description of the material world. Anyonya-vairaḥ: simply envious of one another. This is material world: I am envious of you; you are envious of me. You can extend this familywise, societywise, communitywise, nationalwise, but the basic principle is enviousness, nothing else. Therefore in the beginning of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is explained that who are fit for accepting this Bhāgavata principle. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitava atra paramo nirmatsarāṇām (SB 1.1.2). This is meant for the persons who are no more envious, for them. Those who are envious, they have no entrance in the principles of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Paramo nirmat... Because the whole world is based on the principle of enviousness. Anyonya-vairaḥ. And what is the meaning of this enviousness? Sukha-leśa-hetu, temporary happiness. Temporary happiness.
Everyone is individual, but the purpose is how to improve the condition of the politics, or the combination of men. Similarly when you agree... Here in the material world we are individual, and in spiritual world we are also individual, but what is the difference between material world and spiritual world? In the material world we are individual to serve my own senses. Therefore there is fight. Everyone is trying to satisfy his own senses. I am trying to satisfy my senses, you are trying... So there is clash. That is material world. And the spiritual world: when all of them agree to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa. There is like Vṛndāvana.
The mahā-bhāgavata knows that, that although this material world is a world of forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa... Material world means when you forget Kṛṣṇa. Here you will find cent percent people, they have forgotten Kṛṣṇa. They do not care to know Kṛṣṇa, neither they have got any relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is material world. Here the nature is how to forget Kṛṣṇa. There is a verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: īśād apetasya viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ. That is called māyā. Māyā means viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ. Everything is in relationship with God, but he, the rascal atheist, he'll say, jagad āhur anīśvaram (BG 16.8), there is no īśvaram. This is materially This is material world, forgetfulness. Viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ.
So you cannot be desireless. Desireless means kāma. You cannot be. But desire has to be purified. That is wanted. Kāma, kāma kṛṣṇa-karmātmane. Kāma should be utilized. The same desire should be utilized for Kṛṣṇa's service. Then it is bhakti. Then it is prema. We sometimes mistake the activities of gopīs, it appears just like lusty affairs, but actually that is not. Gopīs used to dress themselves very nicely, attractively, so that Kṛṣṇa may be very pleased. That was gopīs' desire. Just like in the material world the woman dresses very nicely so that a man may be attracted upon her, and then both of them will fulfill their sex desire or sense gratification. That is material world. But in the spiritual world it appears that gopīs are dressed very nicely not for the purpose of her own satisfaction. They want to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, that "If I dress nicely, Kṛṣṇa will be pleased." So that is prema. And as soon as... In the material nobody wants to please anyone. He wants to please himself, his senses. That is kāma. We should understand what is kāma and what is prema.
The dheki, that's a wooden machine for husking grain. So I do not know whether it is used in your country. It is a big... It is peddled by the legs, and the grains are taken away the skin. So if this dheki, this machine, is sent to heavenly planet, what he will do? The same business: "Dag! Dag! Dag!" That's all. So either you go to the heavenly planet or you remain here or you remain in animal kingdom, your... Even the trees, they are standing—they are giving service. They are giving you fruits, they are giving you flowers, and if you want his service, by the wood, by the body, you cut; it will not protest. "All right, you take my body." So that is the way to understand that we must render service to somebody higher. So why not go to the Supreme, the great—"God is great"—and render service? This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then we'll be happy. You can go on giving service in this material world under so many designation, but you will never be happy, and the person to whom you are giving service, he will be not happy. This is material world. Try to understand.
Just like I have given the example: Gandhi gave lifelong service according to his own. Hitler gave lifelong service. Napoleon gave lifelong service. But their ultimate end was very, very regrettable. Nobody realized his service. He was punished. This is material world. We have to understand very clearly, and we have to take lesson from this verse that we may go on serving our lusty desire, greediness, anger, and so on, so on, but we will never come to the end and become happy. When one comes to the point that "I have rendered service in so many ways. So neither I am happy nor the person to whom I have served, they are happy. Then what is the remedy?" That is discussed in the Vedānta-sūtra philosophy. Athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now inquire about your real master, Brahman, or the Supreme, the great, the Absolute Truth." That is required.
So pravṛtti-mārga, nivṛtti-mārga. Pravṛttir eṣāṁ bhūtānāṁ nivṛttes tu mahā-phalam. Pravṛtti means inclination. Here in the material world everyone is inclined to gratify the senses. This is material world. Everyone is trying. Āhāra-nidra-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca. The best type of āhāra-nidra. Even in the human form of life they are also trying for the same thing, as cats and dogs are trying. The cats and dogs, they are also trying to find out where it is, food, where sleeping comfort, where sex life, and where defense. If the human form of life is also utilized for this purpose, pravṛtti-mārga, then it is, as I was talking in the park, it is just like using sandalwood for burning fuel. There is distinction even in wood. There are so many jungle wood, we can use it for cooking. But if the sandalwood, which is so valuable, if we do not know what is the value of sandalwood, if we use it for cooking and burning... Similarly, if we use this human form of life exactly like the cats and dogs, simply for sense gratification, then we are committing suicide.
So Parīkṣit Mahārāja is trying to understand pravṛtti and nivṛtti. Pravrtti means here in this material world, anyone who has come, beginning from Lord Brahmā down to the small ant, they have come on account of pravṛtti, means for enjoying sex. This is material world. So long one will be engaged in sense enjoyment in different varieties, he will have to remain within this material world. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. We wanted to enjoy this material world; therefore He has given us full chance: "Yes, you enjoy." Kṛṣṇa does not want that you should enjoy this material world. That is not He... Sometimes the foolish men, they say that "Kṛṣṇa has given us this facility for sense enjoyment. Why we shall not take it?" Sometimes the so-called ṛṣis and yogis, they also say, "Yes, when you have got the senses, it is meant for enjoyment. Why it should be stopped?" Yes. Because... Really it has to be stopped. If you want real life of eternal enjoyment, then you have to stop. If you don't stop, then you remain here.
As soon as we are free from sinful life, then we are liberated. We are transferred to the spiritual world, and we get spiritual body. The whole process is how to cleanse ourself from the contamination of our sinful life. That is material world. So here Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that na tathā hy aghavān rājan. "My dear King"—rājan, he's the king, rājan. Aghavān, "Those who are sinful...," rājan na tathā hy aghavān rājan pūyeta. Pūyeta means becomes purified from contamination. Tapa-ādibhiḥ. Tapa-ādibhiḥ..., tapa means this austerity, beginning from austerity, tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena damena ca (SB 6.1.13). I've described. We have discussed. He says that one cannot be completely purified by executing these process of purificatory methods. Na tathā. Maybe. Just like there are many examples. There are Dhruva, Viśvāmitra Muni. He underwent all this tapasya. He was a kṣatriya. He wanted to become a brāhmaṇa. There was a quarrel between him and a ṛṣi. So he saw the extraordinary power of the ṛṣi, and he wanted to become a brāhmaṇa. So he began austerity. But he became also a victim of Menakā, the society girl of heavenly planet. And being entangled, he begot a child. In this way he became implicated, because he was not pure.
Die means in this body we are creating some situation for the next life, and in order to accept... Just like one person—especially this Ajāmila upākhyāna—his ways of life was not ordinary; most abominable. So abominable, good, or bad, in this life we are creating some situation so that we will get next life another body. Therefore there is death. That is material world. And as soon as there is death, there is birth. Death means we enter into the womb of a mother for, say, ten months. That ten months is considered as death. Not ten months, because the child within the womb of the mother returns his consciousness when the child is seven months old. This is human body. At that time he feels inconvenience within the womb of mother. Before that, he is unconscious, sleeping. Now, when the body grows within the mother womb and it is seven months, then he returns consciousness. He feels inconvenient. And he is very eager to come out. Those who are advanced, they pray to God, "My Lord, somehow or other get me release from this condition.
Just like in New York we have seen the United Nations organization. It is said they are united, but there are thousands of flags. Disunited. Because actually they do not want to unite. It is a farce that they have made a United Nations organization. Nobody wants to unite. In the material world how there can be unity? That is not possible. Material world means everyone wants to enjoy to his satisfaction sense gratification. That is material world. So you want to satisfy your senses, I want to satisfy my senses. Therefore there is struggle: "Oh, this man is enjoying so much; I am unable." Even brother to brother, envious: "Oh, my, this brother has increased so much money. He is enjoying." Envious. That is material envy, to be envious.
This is the analytical study of our material position. Very clear analysis. We, pañcabhiḥ, with five working senses, voice, vāk, pāṇi, pāyu, udāra, upastha... Voice, arms, legs, anus, and genital. There are twenty-four, the total material constituent parts are twenty-five, sometimes twenty-six they say. These seventeen and the five elements gross and three subtle elements, in this way, altogether twenty-five including the soul. The soul is pure spirit, and other twenty-four elements, they are different varieties of material covering. In this way we are entangled and we are desiring and nature is giving us facility to enjoy our desires. This is the material world.
So after seeing the woman, he was meditating always, twenty-four hours, about the subject, lusty desires. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.20). When one becomes lusty, then one becomes lost of all intelligence. The whole world is going on on the basis of these lusty desires. This is material world. And because I am lusty, you are lusty, every one of us, so as soon as my desires are not fulfilled, your desires are not fulfilled, then I become your enemy, you become my enemy. I cannot see you are making very good progress. You cannot see me making very good progress. This is material world, envious, lusty desires, kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mātsarya. This is the basis of this material world.
Even Gandhi. He was nonviolent, very moralist. Still he was killed. Just see. This is material world. He was killed by bullet. So the material world means suffering. So what is the use of making a prolonged life? Prolonged suffering. Therefore it is said, aghāyuḥ. If you live for a moment as a devotee, your life is successful. And if you live for many thousands of years without any Kṛṣṇa consciousness—aghāyuḥ, useless life, useless. Aghāyur aśucir malāt, because the desire is there, kāma and lobha, greediness and lusty desire.
Just like the sun globe. The sun globe is fiery. The moon, moon planet, it is very pleasing. There is also fire, but it is surrounded by cold atmosphere; therefore it is very pleasing. So vibhūti-bhinnam. Each every planet has got different atmosphere. And each and every planet, there are different kinds of living entities just suitable for that atmosphere. Don't think that in the sun planet there is no life. There is also life. If there is no life, how Kṛṣṇa says that imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1)? Vivasvate means... The king of sun planet is known as Vivasvān. So Kṛṣṇa spoke with him, so how you can say there is no life? This is material world, many millions of universes. In another place it is said, yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-bilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48).
So we must be interested in śreya, not preya. Preya is sense gratification. The material life, sense gratification is only required. This is material world. Yan maithunādi gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). This śreya, or this preya, very dear things, ultimately, sex life, maithunādi... (break) ...married, the same sex life. Then he gets some children. Then he again grandsons. They go on. Yan maithunādi. Here, the happiness is centered around that sex life. Kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham. And as soon as he enters into sex life, iva duḥkha-duḥkham, one after another, one after another, one after another. So this is preya. But śreya is now to approach the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. Therefore here it is said, yathā hi puruṣasyeha viṣṇoḥ padopasarpaṇam, how to be engaged in the worship of the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu. That is possible.
Just like water. Water is very pleasing to the skin if it is winter. So water is the same, my skin is the same, but due to seasonal changes, the same water is sometimes pleasing and sometimes displeasing. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. So, so long we have to remain in this material world or so long we have to continue this material body, two things will continue. You cannot stop it. It is not possible. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. And what are actually there? Agamāpāyino 'nityās: they come and go. They're all temporary. Winter season or the summer season, it does not stay. It comes and go away. So everything in this material world, so-called distress and happiness, they come and go. We should not be very mch disturbed by... Neither we shall waste our valuable time seeking after so-called... Nobody wants distress, but everyone wants happiness. So without knowledge, in ignorance, we are simply trying after happiness. This is material world.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja concludes this instruction in this way: tato yateta kuśalaḥ kṣemāya bhavam āśritaḥ. Bhavam means this material world, where we take birth and die after some time. Bhavam. Bhavam means "become, manifest." This is material world. We take birth, we exist for some time, we grow, then there are some by-products, and then we become old and then die. This is called ṣaḍ-vikāra, six kinds of changes. But the ātmā is the same. The example is given: just like a tree, any tree, say a mango tree. During season, summer season there are flowers in the tree, and then they grow a small green mango, then it becomes yellow or reddish, and then it becomes ripened. Then there is a seed within the mango. And then, when it is over-ripened, it falls down. Then finished, business finished.
So, the beginning of instruction was kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). This material world, beginning, those who are not trained up, their beginning is hankering after union for sex. And puṁsāṁ striya mithuni-bhāvam, this is the material world, attraction, and when they are united the attraction increases, we have already discussed. In this way our attraction for material wealth, ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair (SB 5.5.8). In this way material possessions, material facilities, we increase. Modern civilization is that. They are simply increasing material wants. The process is pravṛttir eṣaṁ bhūtānāṁ nivṛttes tu mahā-phalaṁ. Natural tendency is, because we have come to enjoy this material world... Conditioned soul means we wanted to enjoy this material world, not to serve anyone. Although our constitutional position is to serve, but artificially we want to give up service and we want to enjoy. That is material disease. So gradually, if we want to enjoy material world, then we require money. Money is the via media for enjoyment of material world. People are working so hard, day and night, just to get money because money is the source or the means of sense enjoyment. That is the disease, sense enjoyment.
So, vitteṣu nityābhiniviṣṭa-cetā, if we become too much attached for getting money, that is the material world. There is no satiation. Idaṁ prāpta, that Bhagavad-gītā word: "I have got so much money, now my bank balance is so much, and I shall get further money and my bank balance will be like this." This is the demonic mentality. We shall require money, yāvad artha-prayojanam, whatever is absolutely necessary, that much money I must get. That is order. That is an order. We cannot take more than what is necessary. This is actually spiritual communism. If everyone thinks that "Everything belongs to God and I am son of God, so I have got right to enjoy the property of my Father, but as much as I require, not more than that," this is spiritual communism, bhāgavata communism.
Acyutam, Kṛṣṇa is acyuta. Acyuta means who never falls down, or never withdraws his promise. That is acyuta. Just like we promise something, but sometimes we do not keep. This is material world. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Kṛṣṇa says... His name is acyuta, means never fall down. Just like Arjuna asked Kṛṣṇa, rathaṁ sthāpaya me 'cyuta. He's ordering Kṛṣṇa to drive the chariot. He knew that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is my duty to serve Him, but He has agreed to become my chariot driver, so now I have to order Him. He has agreed to become my chariot driver." Therefore he is reminding, "Kṛṣṇa, do not take it otherwise because I am ordering You. You are not to be ordered, but You order everyone. Now I am ordering You, but You are acyuta, You are never fallible. You never withdraw Your word." So Kṛṣṇa also carried his order. He's so nice friend of Arjuna that He promised, "I shall become your chariot driver." And the master is ordering. Therefore He used this word, acyuta.
So this material world, material world means so many planets you see, so many stars and planets, the sun planet, moon planet and loka, sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). This is one universe, and there are millions of universes. Altogether that is material world, and that is one part of creation. Ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). The jagat means this material world. So the whole material, ananta koṭi. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣv aśeṣa vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam (Bs. 5.40). This ananta-koṭi-brahmāṇḍa is only one-fourth manifestation of God's creation, and just imagine what is the other three-fourth, that is spiritual world. So the nitya-siddha mahā-bhāgavata, they come from the spiritual world on the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they, by example, they preach Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. This is mahā-bhāgavata.
Just like this microphone. It has got a date of creation, it will work for some time, and then it will go out of order, and we shall throw it in the street and again it will disappear in the earth, because everything has come out from the earth. This is material world. But we must find out what is the reality. We should not be bewildered by the temporary things. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to take the living entity from this temporary world to the spiritual world or to the permanent world, where there is no more annihilation. It is eternal, nitya. Nityaḥ śāśvataḥ.
Just like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings that śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-prabhu, dayā koro more: "Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, kindly give me Your mercy." Dayā koro more. "Why I shall give My mercy to you? You are so sinful. You are so fallen. My mercy is not meant for you." But Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura reminds, patita-pāvana-hetu, tava avatāra: "Sir, I am the most fallen. There is no doubt about it. But You have specially come to deliver persons like us." Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-prabhu dayā koro more, tomā vinā ke dayalu, jagata saṁsāre. Actually we are hankering after favor of some big man and small man. That is going on. That is material world. But if we seek favor from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, so that is very nice. Instead of going here and there, if we... We want favor. There is no doubt. But others cannot favor us. That is the point. They have started so many humanitarian institutes to favor the suffering humanity, but it is not possible. They cannot. They cannot do it.
So those who are after these things... That is the material world, lābha, pūjā, pratiṣṭhā. Everyone is for some material profit. That is called lābha. And pūjā. Pūjā means he wants a position so that all others will come and worship him: "Sir, you are so great. You are big minister. You are big president. You are this, that. Kindly give me this favor, that favor." That is called pūjā, "Everyone will come and worship me." And pratiṣṭhā: "And I will be so celebrated man that even after my death, there will be a statue in the maidan and people will come to worship me." After death where he is going? He is going to be a dog or cat. He doesn't mind. But his statue should be worshiped. Such rascals. He does not know where he is going after death. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). He'll have to change his body. So as soon as he changes body, he has to accept another body, but he keeps in memory of this body. A drunkard, a woman-hunter, and such a person, most sinful life in this, and what will help him by having a statue? But they are fools, vimūḍhān, rascals. Māyā-sukhāya bharam udva... (SB 7.9.43), making big, big arrangements. That is material world. Everyone is.
So if we accept this principle, that "This is my nonsense activities, that I am trying to become very big in this material world, and that will not satisfy us..." Even Brahmā has no satisfaction. He is also full of anxiety. This material world is like that. You may be very, very, very, very, very big man, but anxiety you cannot escape. That is not possible. That is material world. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). Samudvigna-dhiyām. Everyone in this material world, even this bird, a small bird, he is also always anxious that "So many people are here, and there is so many daṇḍas. They may not kill me." Therefore they're very cautious. As soon as you raise the daṇḍa, immediately they go away because anxiety is there. Or either in Brahma's life or ant's life, this is the material nature. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asat... Why? Asad-grahāt. Because you have accepted this material body, this means you have accepted anxiety.
So there is verse. I (am) just now forgetting. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). Mahat-sevā. Mahat-sevā means to serve the mahātmās or devotees. That is the way of liberation. Tamo-dvāram... Tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam. Yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam. So this material world means that yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam, to be attracted by money and woman. This is material world. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned very rigidly, hā hanta hā hanta viṣayiṇāṁ sandarśanam, paraṁ jigamiṣa... What is that? Eh? I forget that verse. The brain is not working.
Everyone in this material world is controlled by the senses. That is material world. We cannot control our senses. The tongue is dry and dictating, "Take a cigarette, take a cigarette," and immediately I begin to smoke. That means I am dictated by the tongue. Then tongue, then belly. The belly is filled up, and still, there is some nice food stuff—"All right, let me eat." Control, cannot control. And then genital. That, we know very well, we cannot control. This straight line: tongue, belly, and the genitals. Therefore one should control the tongue first. That is spiritual life, beginning, controlling the tongue. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). The controlling of the senses begins from the tongue.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
This universe is just like one mustard seed in the bag of mustard seeds." So you do not think that everyone will become Kṛṣṇa conscious. You don't be, I mean to say, agitated with this thought: "The prison house will be closed." No. It will go on. The business will go on. It is not so easy that everyone should... But if some percentage of people take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, leading men, then it will be... You, you... They'll follow. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas lokas tad anuvartate (BG 3.21). You, you do not think that the bad habits of people, non-Kṛṣṇa conscious, will stop altogether. No. That is not possible. One hasn't got to think over this. It will go on, side by side. Because this is material world. Māyā. Māyā is very strong. Daivī hi eṣā guṇamayī. But those who are taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa, for them, there is no unhappiness. Viśvaṁ pūrṇaṁ sukhāyate. For them, the whole world becomes happy. There is no question of distress.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Anything you take—this body, your body, my body—it is created a certain date, and it is maintained for a certain number of years, and again it is annihilated. This is material world. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate: (BG 8.19) "It manifests sometimes and again disappears." This is called material world, and because it is never eternally sustained, therefore it is called māyā. It is not false, as the Māyāvādī philosophers says, "It is false." It is not false. Lord Viṣṇu is taking so much care to create this material world. How you can say it is false? It is not false? It is fact, but it is temporary. This is the difference between the material world and the spiritual world. In the spiritual world there is no creation and no destruction. In the material world, there is creation and destruction.
We are simply dancing in this material world. We are trying to be master of the material world. Everyone is trying. Everyone wants to exploit the resources of the material nature. He wants to become master. That is the struggle for existence. I am trying to become master, you are trying to become master, so there is clash, there is collision. I am challenging you, "Why you should become master?" He's challenging why I should be master. This is going on. This is material world. But if we accept Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, if we accept this principle that none of us is a prabhu, everyone is a servant... Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). If we accept this principle, that we are eternal servant, we are not master—master is Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu—then our problems are solved. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he has sung a song, jīv kṛṣṇa dāsa ei viśvās korle to ār duḥkha nāi. This is the solution.
When one understands this, that "I am... My position is eternal servant," that is brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Then undoubtedly he becomes immediately jubilant, that "Now I have got my real master to serve. I am serving so many, I mean, items, in the family, in the society, in the community, in the nation. But I could not be satisfied. Neither I am..., persons to whom I have given my service, they are also not satisfied." This is wrong service. Nobody is satisfied. The so-called master is not satisfied, and the so-called servant is not satisfied. The so-called servant means that "Unless you pay me, I am not going to serve you." Strike. "I am your master. You pay me. Then I shall serve you." So nobody is servant actually. Everyone wants to become master, either collectively or individually. That is māyā. This is material world. And when one understands that he is not a master—he is servant—and the real master is Kṛṣṇa, that is liberation.
This material world means full of avidyā and karma-saṁjñā, and working hard like hogs and dogs day and night. This is material world. Material world means based on ignorance that "I am this body," and working day and night like hogs and dogs. That is material life. But human life, although we have got this material life, body, we should not be, I mean to say, bewildered. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). Ahaṅkāra, taking this body in the concept of ahaṅkāra, false ahaṅkāra, egotism—"I am Indian," "I am American," "I am this," "I am that"—this is called ahaṅkāra. Vimudhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). And the whole world is going on.
Festival Lectures
So I may inform you little about this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa, this word, means all-attractive. Kṛṣṇa is attractive to every living entities, not only human being, even the animals, birds, bees, trees, flowers, fruits, water. That is the picture of Vṛndāvana. This is material world. We have no experience of the spiritual world. But we can get an glimpse idea, what is spirit and what is matter. Just try to understand the difference between a living man and a dead body. The dead body means as soon as the living force within the body is gone, then it is dead matter, useless. And so long the living force is there, the body is very important. So as we experience in this body, there is something as dead matter and something as living force, similarly, there are two worlds: the material world and the spiritual world. We living entities, every one of us, we belong to the spiritual world. We do not belong to the material world.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Everyone is serving society, friendship, love, family, country, but none of them are satisfied. None of them sat... Even your President, he could not satisfy you. You had to drag him down. Neither he could satisfy himself. Even Gandhi could not satisfy his countrymen. Although he gave so much service, he was shot dead. So this is the material world. You cannot satisfy anyone, neither you become satisfied, materially engaged. This is called material world. We may show some artificial satisfaction, but there cannot be satisfaction in the material world. First of all, you have to take it as axiomatic truth that there is no happiness and there cannot be any satisfaction in this material world. Then you'll make, spiritually advance. If you have got little faith still that "I can be satisfied; I can be happy materially," then that is māyā's influence. That is māyā's influence. There is no possibility.
Initiation Lectures
God has got one energy. That energy is spiritual energy. And kṣetrajñākhyā tathā parā: and the same energy is manifested in another form, which is called kṣetrajña, or marginal energy, or the energy in which we living creatures are acting. Ksetrajñākhya tathā parā. And avidyā-karma-saṁjña, and tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate. And besides these energies, there is another energy, which is avidyā, ignorance. Karma-saṁjña: and it is based on fruitive activities. Anyā means besides these two energies, spiritual energy and the marginal energy, living entities, there is another energy, which is called avidyā. Avidyā means ignorance. And karma-saṁjña: and in that energy, one has to enjoy his, the fruit of his own labor. This is the material world. This material world is also energy of Kṛṣṇa, or God, but here ignorance prevails. Ignorance is prominent. Avidyā, ignorance. Therefore one has to work. Practically one hasn't got to work, but because he is, one is in avidyā, ignorance, therefore he has to work. Avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate.
So although it is little difficult, so we should practice it, especially those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and for preaching work should take sannyāsa, particularly of our Guru dāsa. Now he is Guru dāsa Swami, his name is. So his particular life is: since the beginning of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, he is my faithful disciple, and from 1965 or '6, he is with me. And he is very innocent boy, and I got him married. His wife is also great devotee, you know, Yamunā. So now Yamunā has taken a very nice path. She has also become sannyāsīnī. Although there is no sannyāsīnī for women, but she has voluntarily taken. She is doing very nice; therefore I advised her husband that "You also take sannyāsa." Because wife's affection is very, very tight knot. It is stated, puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etad tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ (SB 5.5.8). Naturally there is tendency—a man wants woman; a woman wants man. This is the material world, puṁsaṁ striyā mithunī-bhāvam, sex impetus. That is natural. But when they are united, that impact becomes very, very tight. It is very difficult. It is very difficult to give it up. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind that his wife has voluntarily has become like sannyāsīnī. So it is very good fortune. Therefore I advised him that instead of accepting another wife, you also become sannyāsī. So he is my faithful disciple. He has accepted. And all of you Vaiṣṇavas, give your good wishes that he can keep the sannyāsa order very nicely and preach Kṛṣṇa through the rest of the life. His life will become successful.
General Lectures
So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is such a thing. It is leading you to a standard where going you will forget all this nonsense. That is real life. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). As soon as you come that state, then your symptom will be that you are jolly. You are feeling everywhere. There is a... There are many instances. So when you accept this material world in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, you'll taste that love of Godhead, even in this material world. Actually, material world means completely in forgetfulness of God, or Kṛṣṇa. That is material world. Otherwise, if you are in full consciousness of Kṛṣṇa, you'll find only spiritual world, even in this material world. Consciousness—it is all consciousness. The same example. Just like the king and the bug is sitting on the same throne, but the bug knows that "My business is simply to get some blood." That's all. The king knows that "I have to rule. I am the ruler of this country." So sitting on the same place, but the consciousness is different. Similarly, if you change your consciousness to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, wherever you are, you are in Vaikuṇṭha.
So as this man is talking about sex, so this world's, material world, is enchanted by sex. That is material world. Striya, puṁsāṁ striya mithuni-bhāvam etad. This whole material world is existing on sex attraction. Not only in the human society, in animal society also, this sex impulse is there. Birds, beasts, animal, human being, even demigods, they are attracted in this material world by sex impulse. The śāstra, or the Vedic literature, there is mention about this, that we are in this material world only for this sex impulse. First of all, we think of sex. A man also thinks. A woman also thinks. And when they are united, that attraction becomes more and more complete. Then, in a gentlemanly way, when there is sex unity, then there is need of a nice apartment or house. Then there is need of land. Formerly, for living condition, everyone possessed some land to grow foodstuff. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ. So after sex unity, there is need of house, land, gṛha, kṣetra, then children, ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-suta, āpta. Then friends. Then vitta, then money. In this way, we increase our attachment for this material world. Janasya moho 'yam. Moha means illusion. In this way, he becomes illusioned.
Kalau, especially it is meant. Kalau. Kalau means this age of Kali. In another place: kalau saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ (SB 11.5.32). So these are the... As the description here is there about the symptoms of Kali-yuga, the remedy is also suggested. What is that? Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet. If you begin chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, then you become aloof from all these faulty situation of this Kali-yuga. And if you keep yourself aloof, then mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet. Then you'll, next life, you'll be promoted to the kingdom of God. Param means the spiritual world. There is another, spiritual world. This is material world. This material world, it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, you, perhaps you know, that paras tasmāt tu bhavo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātana-dhāma (BG 8.20). God is sanātana and we are sanātana. When we combine together, that is called sanātana-dharma.
Well, after all, this is material world. The miserable conditions are there. But as far as possible, try to minimize. Our only aim is how to save time for spiritual cultivation. That is our main aim. So we have to find out the opportunity according to the time, circumstances. We, we do not reject anything. Whatever is favorable, we accept.
Departure Talks
If one is very pious man, he wants to be religious, moralist, religious. And others, karmīs, they are interested how to develop economic position. And others, they are simply interested in sense gratification. This is material world. And when these materialistic persons are disgusted, then they want liberation. Their liberation means to become one, merge into the existence of the Supreme. That is not very difficult. They give the example that the water mixes with the vast mass of water, and they become one. But that is not the fact. You can make an experiment that you take a little red water and put it in the ocean. The ocean does not become red. So chemically also, the water, they are composition of molecules of water. But it is mixed with water. That is a fact, but there is another process which evaporates the water. Suppose you are mixed with the water. The Māyāvādī philosophy, that "We... Let us mix with the big water. Then I become big..." Because here in the material world he tried to become big in so many ways but he could not become big, therefore he wants to merge into the biggest, Brahman, so that he thinks that he will become... He is already Brahman. So the Brahman effulgence is combination of so many sparks of living entities.
Especially in the Western countries, they are very much busy with these places. But don't remain crow. Become swans simply by this process, chanting and hearing about Kṛṣṇa. This is the process, to remain paramahaṁsa. Dharma-projjhita-kaitava atra nirmatsarāṇām. Dharma-projjhita-kaitava atra paramo nirmatsarāṇām (SB 1.1.2). This Bhāgavata-dharma, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is meant for paramo nirmatsarāṇām. Matsara, matsarata. Matsara means envy. I am envious of you. You are envious of me. This is material world. Just like so many envious persons are there in this quarter, simply lodging complaint against us. We have got good experience of this. So the Bhāgavata-dharma is meant for paramo nirmatsarāṇām. Matsarata means one who cannot endure or can tolerate others' advancement. That is called matsarata. That is the nature of everyone. Everyone is trying to advance more. The neighbor is envious: "Oh, this man is going ahead. I could not." This is... Even if he is brother, even if he is son, this is the nature of the... So therefore this Bhāgavata-dharma is not meant for such persons, who are envious. It is meant for the paramo nirmatsarāṇām, who has given up this envy or envious attitude ultimately.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: So my tendency is to (consider) everything as my own, but by the taking of the state I am forced to avoid(?). So how long will this work? By force how you can change one's mind? It is not possible. Therefore we say these things are only nonsense proposition. It will never happen because anyone who is in this material world, he has the prime tendency that I shall become the Lord. (indistinct) pratiṣṭhā. The material world means everyone is seeking after some profit, everyone is seeking after some adoration, and everyone is seeking, I mean to say, some position. This is the material world. So, if everyone, seeks profit, adoration and position, so how you can make equal by force?
Śyāmasundara: The communists have played upon this tendency and so the worker who produces more, he gets glorified by the state. He produces more units at his factory than the others, then he gets a small bonus.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1970 Conversations and Morning Walks
Guest (9): No, believe Him as a you are a servant and serve Him. Or you believe that you are mother to Him.
Prabhupāda: No, that is second. First of all surrender. Then what way you shall surrender, that is different thing, another stage, more confidential. First of all there is surrender. First of all you enter this house or this room. Then you ask, "How can I serve you?" That is different. First of all there is no surrender, or without surrender, full surrender, there is no entrance in Kṛṣṇa. No entry. Because those who revolted against Kṛṣṇa, those who wanted to become Kṛṣṇa by imitating Him, they are here in this material world. Icchā-dveṣa-samutthena sarge yānti parantapa (BG 7.27). (Hindi) Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19), creation, that all the living entities who have come into this created world, they have revolted. They wanted to become Kṛṣṇa, to imitate Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they have given the chance, "All right, you become Kṛṣṇa. You do whatever you like. I will give you facilities. You want to become Brahmā? All right, you become Brahmā. And you want to become the worm of stool? I will give you the facility." So these living entities are rotating. Sometimes he is becoming Brahmā, sometimes becoming the worm of stool, sometimes this, sometimes that. In this way he is changing body. This is material world. Or when he comes back again, back to Godhead, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). Then you'll haven't got to come back. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). So we have to prepare for that position, how to go back to home, how to go back to Kṛṣṇa and engage ourself in His service. Then the question of either as mother or friend or... That will be considered later on. First of all let us try how to enter kingdom of God.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Now, this spirit is eternal. That is the first understanding. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). This spirit is occupying a material body at the present moment. And the next, when this... Just like I am in this apartment. If I find some inconvenience, I go to another apartment. Or the lease is expired, I have to leave it. Some way or other, I change. Similarly, the... You can change your coat. So these are explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Ex..., very nicely exemplified. So we are changing this apartment or dress and accepting another. This is going on. This is the material world. But I, the spirit soul, eternal. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Find out this verse. Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit. Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit. Second Chapter. Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. If you can introduce, study some Bhagavad-gītā among the students, oh, it will, it will be a great service.
Prajāpati: Actually permeate all the media with Kṛṣṇa consciousness propaganda, not simply just writing but actually all aspects of...
Prabhupāda: Yes, you can take advantage of all this media. That we are doing. Just like we are taking advantage of this microphone. We are not rejecting, "Oh, it is material. Why should we take?" Nothing material. Anything used for Kṛṣṇa is spiritual. Material means what is not used for Kṛṣṇa. That is material. You are materialistic when you are not used for Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as you are utilized for Kṛṣṇa, you are spiritualistic. That is the difference. Here we say, "This is material world." This is material world because everyone has forgotten Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is material world. So if they come into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it is spiritual. (break) ...conscious people now challenge this rascal that "We are searching after Kṛṣṇa. We are not searching... We are devotee of Kṛṣṇa, and you are posing yourself as Kṛṣṇa. So show us some Kṛṣṇa's power. We immediately come to you."
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They will say that proprietor stage is relative.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is relative. Relative means you are servant. You must satisfy by your service to the proprietor and get your nice salary and be happy. Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā. Whatever He gives, you accept and be happy. That is Īśopaniṣad. You don't try to encroach upon others. You receive from the proprietor your emolution (emolument?) or your reward and be happy. That is Īśopaniṣad. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everything is God's property. You take your share. You have got right. Just like a father and the son. There are ten sons. Everyone has got the right to share the property of the father, but as the father gives, not that I take away the whole property and others, brothers, may starve. That is not allowed. That is criminal. Here in the material world everyone has come to get the best profit, without considering profit for others. Others may go to hell. "Others, let them go to the slaughterhouse. I must satisfy my tongue." That is material world. "No, why you are slaughtering other living entities?" "I don't care. I want to eat. That's all." So you have to pay for that. You cannot put others into difficulty because God is equally merciful to everyone. But you don't care for God. Therefore you do whimsically whatever you like. So you are putting yourself in difficulty. This is the position. (break) ...mahad-guṇāḥ. Therefore without God consciousness, nobody is qualified. Nobody is qualified. Everyone is damned, condemned. (break) ...asato dhāvato bahiḥ. By mental speculation he will simply prolong his material existence, that's all. And that is troublesome. Material existence means just this. The dog is material existence. It is a standard of suffering. But he does not know.
Prabhupāda: Yes. No... Then the next question is that "If there is a positive philosophy to mitigate the suffering, why don't you accept it?" Just like when one body is suffering, I say, "Take this blanket. Cover." If he says, "No, I am not going to take it," is that sane man?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Then he will continue suffering if he doesn't accept.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Our proposition that everyone is suffering and struggling, how to stop the suffering. This is material world. Everyone is suffering. And the struggle is called progress. So we are offering something also: "Here is something, you accept it, and your sufferings will be mitigated." Nobody can say, "No, we are not suffering." That is insanity. Everyone is suffering.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Patel: I think this has become very wild after the Second World War.
Prabhupāda: No, no. It is always there. It is always there. That is material world. Material world means that, sex life. That's all. And if you increase it, then you increase your material life more and more. Therefore the process is tapasā brahmacaryena (SB 6.1.13). The brahmācārya is so much stressed. Tapasā brahmacaryena. Samena damena vā, tyāgena śaucena yamena niyamena vā. This is the process of human life. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kāṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This human body is not meant for working hard like pigs for sense gratification. So they have been taught to become pigs. No discrimination of sex. The pig has no discrimination. So they have been taught. Not... When it is in śāstra, that means it is from the very beginning. A class of men are like pigs and hogs there are, always. So therefore Rsabhādeva is forbidding his sons that "This human form of life is not to waste like the pigs and hogs." Then what? Tapasā. Tapo divyaṁ putrakāḥ...
Dr. Patel: Ṛṣabhadeva's hundred sons.
Prabhupāda: Eh? Yes. Tapo divyaṁ putrakāḥ (SB 5.5.1).
Satsvarūpa: Ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ: (BG 8.16) "From the highest planet down to the lowest, all are places of suffering where birth and death take place."
Prabhupāda: Yes. (aside:) Just from distance, not so near. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Duḥkha. Duḥkha means suffering. Ālayam. Ālayam means place. So the creator of this universe, the Supreme Lord, He is saying, "This is a place for suffering." And it is called Mṛtyu-loka, "For death, the planets for dying." That means death is unnatural to the eternal soul. But anywhere you live within this material world, you will die. That is material world. Either you live as a Brahmā or live as a small insect, ant, you must die. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate: (BG 8.19) death and again take birth, death and again take birth. But these rascals, they do not know: "This is natural, that's all." That one can stop this death and birth, they have no knowledge. And still, they are big, big scholars. They do not know that this movement is for stopping birth and death. Do they understand this?
Haṁsadūta: No.
Prabhupāda: They cannot believe it. They have no so brain.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Viṣṇujana: Prabhupāda? But they argue that if God wanted us to wear clothes He would have made us with clothes. But He made us without clothes, so...
Prabhupāda: The thing is that here material world means that whatever you want, you have to work for it. That is material world. Things are there, but you have to work for it. In the spiritual world there is no need of working. You get all necessities. That is the difference.
Viṣṇujana: Yeah, we could say, "If God wanted you to have food, then He would have made you with food too."
Prabhupāda: There is no law; it is all lusty desire. All law or no law, these are all nonsense. The śāstra has... It is lusty desire, that's all. Everyone wants to fulfill a lusty desires. So unless one is not in the modes of goodness or transcendental, everyone will like. That is the material world, rajas-tamaḥ. Rajas-tamo-bhāvaḥ kāma-lobhadayaś ca ye (SB 1.2.19). It is all discussed in the śāstra. Just like I am hungry man. There is foodstuff. I want to eat it. So if I take by force, that is illegal, and if I pay for it, then it is legal. But I am the hungry man, I want it. This is going on. Everyone is lusty. Therefore they say "legalized prostitution." They want it. So marriage is something legalized, that's all. The passion and the desire is the same, either married or not married. So this Vedic law says, "Better married. Then you will be controlled." Married life... So he will not be so lusty as without married life. So the gṛhastha life is a concession-same lusty desire under rules and regulation. That's all. That is our higher... (?) Without married life he will commit rapes in so many ways, so better let him be satisfied with one, both the man and woman, and make progress in spiritual life. That is concession. Everyone in this material world has come with these lusty desires and greediness. Even demigods like Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā... The Lord Brahmā became lusty after his daughter. And Lord Śiva became so mad after Mohinī-murti. So what to speak of us insignificant creatures. So lusty desire is there. That is material world. Unless one is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, this lusty desire cannot be checked. It is not possible.
Gaṇeśa: What have the scientists got to gain by bluffing?
Prabhupāda: Position. Material world means they want some material gain, some adoration, and some fame. That's all. This is material world. So if by bluffing you I get some material profit and adoration and fame, why shall I not do it? Everyone is doing that.
Amogha: That's the cheating propensity.
Prabhupāda: Yes. In material world they have come to imitate God—adoration, fame, material profit. Just like this man. He has come to this country. He is getting money, he is getting woman, and becoming God amongst the fools. He is satisfied. That's all. This is not gain? If I get woman, money, and adoration, is it not gain for me?
Prabhupāda: Very nice gardens. Hardly there is such nice botanical gardens in the world. I have seen many botanical... Very nice. (break) This swan is black and the crow is black, but crow's place is different, their place is different, although they are birds. The crows will enjoy a filthy place where all refuses are thrown. I don't think in your country there is many crows. In India, you've seen, all nasty place, that is visited by the crows. It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, na yad vacaś citra-padaṁ harer yaśo jagat-pavitraṁ pragṛṇīta karhicit, tad vāyasaṁ tīrtham (SB 1.5.10). The literature which does not describe Kṛṣṇa, that is the place for the crows. There is sex literature, they're enjoyed by the crows, and this Bhāgavatam is enjoyed by the swans. That is the difference. Crow's literature and swan's literature, paramahaṁsa. Paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vāstavaṁ vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2). Everyone in this material world, they're envious. Their business is to become envious. I am envious of you, you are envious of me. This is material world. And the paramahaṁsas, Vaiṣṇava, they're kind, they're merciful. "Ah, this fallen soul is suffering for want of Kṛṣṇa. Let us preach." That is the difference. The envious and the nonenvious. That is paramahaṁsa. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ (SB 3.25.21). They are not only not envious, but they're merciful. They'll suffer so many troubles for their preaching work, still they'll do that. Titikṣava. A preacher has to suffer so many inconvenience. You had to suffer in here?
Prabhupāda: No, more than them, there are personalists. They are in Vaikuṇṭhaloka.
Devotee 3: (break) ...in the material world.
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Devotee 3: Is there any real happiness?
Prabhupāda: That is material world, no happiness.
Devotee 4: Śrīla Prabhupāda, what is the advantage of going to India, to Vṛndāvana?
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Devotee 4: What is the advantage of going...
Prabhupāda: To get impetus to go back to home, back to Godhead. To come to Australia we get impetus to go to hell. (laughter) (break) Hell means anywhere where material happiness is given more importance. Mahat-sevāṁ dvā r a m āhur vimuktes tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi... In the western countries and..., they are simply busy in sense gratification. So that is the way of hell.
Prof. Hopkins: So you would see the Bhagavad-gītā then as accessible to a wide range of people, at an elementary level or beginning level, whereas Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would be for more advanced, more advanced people.
Prabhupāda: Not only advanced, completely advanced. Because so long one will be, stay on the material platform, he will be envious of others only, animal propensity, dog. Dog does not like another dog is coming. So unless one is spiritually realized, the dog mentality will remain there. It is said nāsau munir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam, even amongst the topmost thinkers, if he does not refute other thinkers, he is not a good thinker. That enviousness. He will not be established a good thinker if he cannot... If a scientist, if he cannot refute the previous scientist, he is not a scientist. This is material world. Everyone is envious of the other. So Bhāgavata meant for who is no more envious. Simply loving.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: It remains a mystery to great thinkers that though the soul is pure by nature and transcendental, but somehow it is trapped in the subtle and gross body and...
Prabhupāda: Because he desired. Kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañchā kare. When he wants to enjoy this material world... In the spiritual world there is only one enjoyer. And in the material world everyone is a enjoyer. He is planning in his own way how to enjoy. That is material world. In the spiritual world the enj..., is Kṛṣṇa, and all others is helping in His enjoyment. But in material world everyone is thinking, "I am enjoyer," and he is planning in his own way.
Prabhupāda: Nature's arrangement... In this material world you cannot eat without working. Even if you are lion-lion is considered to be the most powerful animal—he has to capture one animal. He cannot think that "Let me sleep, and the animal will come automatically in my mouth." It is not possible. You have to work; this is the material world. So that work is simple work. If you have got land... Everyone has got land. You just work little, and it will produce your food grains. And the food grains will give food to the animal and man. The animal, cow, he will eat the grass, and you will take the grains. Why should you kill the animal? You haven't got to arrange for his food. You produce paddy. The plant, when it is dried, it is good for animals, and you take the grains. Why should you kill him? And he will deliver you. If you protect his life, he will give you nice milk. So you keep animal, cows, and grow food grain; then your food problem is solved. So if your food problem is solved and your cloth problems is solved, then where is your economic necessity? Then you save time and cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So real business will be how to cultivate, how to become advanced in God consciousness. That the animal cannot do. You are claiming more intelligence than the animals, so use your intelligence in this way. Don't spoil day and night for your economic development. So-called economic development means as soon as you become stout and strong, then sense gratification. Then you cultivate the culture of nudism. That Los Angeles beach, "Beach for nudies." Is not written there?
Jayatīrtha: Yes. One morning one nude man was running. While we were walking one morning, one nude man was running on the beach.
Prabhupāda: Let people be engaged. Machine means one man or two man working... That will mean unemployment. Machine means unemployment. The principle should be that everyone is employed. Either brāhmaṇa, either kṣatriya, either vaiśya or śūdra. Nobody should become idle and gossiping, and sleeping, then utilize... This should be principle. Everyone should be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then life is successful. And self-sufficient. If we have got spoiling living program, these are necessities. Growing, cultivating, producing, there will be not possibility of, and we don't want more than the necessity. If by God's grace we get more then you can make sale, we are not going to work for selling purpose. Then money will be there. How to get money, how to get money? And as soon as you get money, more than necessity, then sense gratification, then this, that, this, that, then you become implicated. Ato gṛha kṣetra sutāpta... ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). As soon as you become implicated with material want, gṛha, kṣetra, vittair, ato gṛha kṣetra sutāpta, children, wife, friendship, then the false ego, "I am this body and this is my property," will increase. For that is material world. People do not know the end of life, or the aim of life. They are misguided, hence the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to give them an ideal way of life.
Ādi-keśava: In this country, when they had the slavery, the masters were not qualified either.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the defect. That is the defect. Either the master is defective or the servant is defective or the system is defective. That is material world. Doṣa-catuḥsthānī, four faults: mistake, illusion, cheating, and imperfectness. (break) ...the struggle for existence—one mistake after one mistake, one illusion after one, one imperfectness after another. Like that, it is going on.
Prabhupāda: Somebody is exploiting. Rudra-yajña. (break) ...any mention of Rudra-yajña? In the Bhagavad-gītā the word is yajña. Yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra. Where is Rudra-yajña? (Hindi)
Harikeśa: How does one stop cheating in a world of cheats?
Prabhupāda: This material world is meant for cheating. You cheat, and others will cheat you. That's all. This is material world. It is not "how?" If you inquire, "How it is cold?"... The season is cold. There is no question of how. The place is for cheating and cheaters. So there is no question, "How it is cheating?"
Harikeśa: So you can't stop the cold.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Their food is there, he is simply searching out, that's all.
Harikeśa: So if we economically develop, we don't even have to search out...
Prabhupāda: No, no, you are opening factories. They are not opening factories. Nature's food is already there. And "Be satisfied, take this." That's all. That much endeavour is required. That is material world.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Devotee (1): (break) They couldn't see the Lord face to face?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Dhruva Mahārāja saw face to face.
Sudama: (break) ...factured this in Hawaii.
Prabhupāda: (break) So then the chance is lost. Repeatedly Kṛṣṇa is saying, "You give up all this habit. Just become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Sarva-dharmān..." Nobody will hear. "Why shall I not?" There is a Bengali song, cakṣe yadi lāge bhālo keno dekhbo nā: "If it is gratifying to my eyes, why shall I not see a beautiful woman? Why you are forbidding me?" Cakṣe yadi lāge bhālo: "It is pleasing to my eyes. Why you are forbidding me? This is going on. Cakṣe yadi lāge bhālo. If there is little happiness, don't mind it is flickering. It will go on. The Carvaka Muni: ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet: "Some way or other prepare foodstuff with ghee." "I have no money." Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā: "Just take. Beg, borrow, steal, bring ghee and prepare nice foodstuff and eat and enjoy life." This is the material world. But śāstra says, "No, no, no. Don't do this. This is the hog's business. Tapo. Just try to go, follow austerity." Even those who are so-called advanced in knowledge, karmī, jñānī, yogī, they are also after sense gratification. Karmī is openly after sense gratification and jñānī is subtly. "No, no. This kind of..." Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. "Now I shall enjoy Brahman. I shall become God." This is another side, the same sense enjoyment.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Irrigation means digging a hole beside where the vegetables or grains are growing. Or will the rain just fall from the sky naturally?
Prabhupāda: You have to work. Otherwise.... This is material world. Without working, you cannot get anything. (break) ...between material world and spiritual world. In the material world you have to work to get your necessities. In the spiritual world there is no need of working.
Rādhāvallabha: (break) ...talking about the spiritual world is pie in the sky. They say that we should just talk about how to take care of things here.
Prabhupāda: You cannot take care. There are so many problems. You cannot take. You are simply crying, "The problems are there. Problems are there."
Devotee (3): Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have called the politicians representative of Hiraṇyakaśipu, they are trying to become immortal. Just like devotees, but without...
Prabhupāda: Yes, this... There are two kinds of men already described, daiva asura eva ca. These two kinds of activities will go on. This is material world. You cannot find out cent percent perfect man. That is not possible. There are a class of men, imperfect, will be there. But it is being described who is imperfect and who is perfect. That you have to select. You cannot clear this material world of imperfect persons. That is not possible. There will be remain, but you must know who is perfect and who is imperfect. And make your choice, whether you want to remain imperfect or want to make progress to become perfect. That is up to you.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Next question. Question number 18. "As the world is coming to be divided into just two classes, atheist and theist, is it not advisable for all religions to come together, and what positive steps can be taken in this direction?"
Prabhupāda: That is already taken, already explained. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. The atheist class and theist class, they will exist always. This is material world. Even at home the father is atheist, Hiraṇyakaśipu, and the son is theist. So even at home the father and the son different. So that atheist class and theist class men will always exist in family, in community, in nation, in the... as you go on. But the theist class should take to the proposition of the Bhagavad-gītā and take shelter at his lotus feet, giving up so-called religious principles. That is oneness. Religion without conception of God, conception of God is humbug, bogus. Religion means to accept the order of God. So if you have no conception of God, if you do not know who is God, so there is no question of accepting His order. It is stated in the Vedic literature dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Find out this verse in the Sixth Canto. (break) ...Yamarāja's instruction.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda wants to know how did he actually try to kidnap you by telling you, or by his philosophy.
Rāmeśvara: He was trying to convince me that the goal of life is sex life.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes. That is the material world.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's one of our buses, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Hmm? Oh.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's the bus that will take you to the farm.
Prabhupāda: Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). That is already mentioned. Unless one understands that there is another life, sex life is the only pleasure. That will keep him perpetually conditioned.
Yogeśvara: Can the older boys be trained in a particular kind of devotional service? For example, press work?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, everything is devotional. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23), there are varieties. We are not Māyāvādī, impersonalists, finished, all business. It is not like that. So whatever business is going on in our movement, everything should be taught according to the capacity, boys or girls, it doesn't matter. Some department is suitable for the boys, some department are suitable for the girls. In this way, they should be trained up. But everyone should be trained up to give service. That is Gurukula. And brahmacārī, this sex impulse should be controlled. That ruins the whole character. Our big, big sannyāsīs are becoming victimized. So that is the danger. Woman is good, man is good; when they combine together, bad. This is the material world. Both of them are good, but when they combine together, they are bad. This is material world. In the spiritual world, there is no such combination of sense gratification. Therefore it is always good. Everyone is part and parcel of God. So they are good. In the spiritual world, they combine together, it becomes bad, in the material world. In the spiritual world there is no such combination of sense gratification. Therefore they are always good. So you have to train like that. In the spiritual world there are very, very beautiful women, thousand, thousands times. Here, in the heavenly planets, they are calculated the best perfectional body of the woman. But in the spiritual world, still further. But there is no attraction of sex. They are working together, serving together, everything. But the sex attraction, there is no. They are elevated so much in the service of the Lord.... Sex attraction is a kind of pleasure. So there are different types of pleasure.
Jñānagamya: There is so much envy in my heart, and when I'm chanting I'm understanding the envy causes me so much distress. Yet I can't give it up. I cannot leave off these envious feelings.
Prabhupāda: That is material world, envious. That is a disease, to become envious. The spiritual world means no enviousness. That is spiritual world. And material world, there is only envious. I'm envious of you, you are envious of me. It is a society of enviousness. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇām, Paramo nirmatsara (SB 1.1.2). One who is not at all envious, for him, Bhāgavata-dharma. (break) ...dharma is for the envious person.
Hari-śauri: But sometimes things happen people don't want to happen.
Prabhupāda: That is their business. They want or they don't want, that's all. Two business. Because their mind is not fixed up, they have got two businesses—"don't do it," "do it." That's all. There is no third business. Two things—"do it," "don't do it." That's all. Sometimes accepting—"Do it"—and again rejecting, "No, no, don't do it." This is material world. "Do it" and "don't do it." And things are becoming implicated. Saṅkalpa-vikalpa. So he has to fix up his mind. "I have done so much 'don't do it' and 'do it.' Now I shall decide to do only what Kṛṣṇa says." Then his life is perfect. "I shall give up this business, 'don't do it' and 'do it.' But I'll simply do what Kṛṣṇa says." Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73). "Yes, now I'll do it. What You say, I'll do it." Then his life is perfect. Otherwise he'll continue, "don't do it," "do it," "don't do it," "do it," that's all. And Kṛṣṇa will give him sanction—"do it" and "don't do it." Unless he comes to the original consciousness, Kṛṣṇa has to give him sanction, "Yes, do it." "Yes, do not do it." What can be done? But He says, "Give up this business, 'don't do it' and 'do it.' Simply do what I say. Then you'll be happy." Unless we agree to that point, we have to continue this material life, life after life, and suffer. Material body means suffering. Either you get human body or animal body or tree body or any body, suffers.
Prabhupāda: If you have got water filled up in that tank, we can water so many lands. We shall spend for that. We shall... Pipe line, pumping. Here is so much land we can produce gur (?). But you have no brain. Produce gur, get money and spend it for Kṛṣṇa. This is wanted. Not simply planning and talking. The world is suffering for want of right planning. Otherwise, there is no question of suffering. Pūrṇam idam, complete it is, everything complete. That is the Vedic verse. Why (indistinct) ...incomplete means he's rascals. That supply (break) and still all right. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Kṛṣṇa does not want to see that we are starving for want of food. That He does not want to see. But because you have come to the material world, you have to work hard. Then you'll get your food. That is the material world. Śarīra-yātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ, Kṛṣṇa says. Very... If you do not work, then you cannot get food. Simply work together. Sarva-kāma-dughā mahī. And you get from the land. You have got land. You get anything from the land. The land must be moist. Then you get everything. That we want to show. Hm, what do you say? Land is...
Mahāṁśa: Oh yes.
Prabhupāda: Eh? You are intelligent, you... Eh?
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: I represent as it is, and it is being accepted. (Indians talking at once)
Guest (1): Swamiji, what is the way out now? We have understood the present position, and you have also realized. You have seen the... And I don't want to take... I know that this ten-minutes' talk will not bring any satisfaction on either side. Now that has put me into a new thinking, that she's presently more worried about...
Prabhupāda: That is a politics. You must be worried. You must be worried. That is material world. So so long you are in the material platform, you must be worried. There is no exception. And I have seen in that time, how much worried she was at that time. Yes. So it does not mean because she is Prime Minister, there is no worry. It is not possible.
Guest (1): She's very worried.
Prabhupāda: Everyone is very worried.
Prabhupāda: Many houses. I was not sleeping at night, and there was some sound, "gongongongon," in my ear. So long the body will be there, there will be so many troubles. And Kṛṣṇa has advised that "They will come and go. Don't care for them. That's all." Āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata.
- mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
- śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
- āgamāpāyino 'nityās
- tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
- (BG 2.14)
So bodily, mental, by enemies, so many impediments will come. What can be done? We have to tolerate. That is material world. We cannot expect smooth, very happy. That is not possible. Kṛṣṇa advising Arjuna, what to speak of us. What we are in comparison to Arjuna. He's His personal friend, talking with Him. He said, tāṁs titikṣasva. Kṛṣṇa never said, "I have made some magic. You'll have no failure," like that. Tāṁs titikṣasva. "You just try to tolerate." That's all. He never gave him any tablet. (chuckling) He taught that... So we have to do that. As the modern gurus says that "I'll give you some ash. There will be no trouble," Kṛṣṇa did He so? He said, "No, tolerate." That's all. He could have said, "I'll give you some ash." "You are ass; I'll give you some ash." (laughter) Neither Arjuna asked also, that "Why You are asking me to fight? Give me some ash. I'll throw." He was not such a fool that he asked some magic from Kṛṣṇa and kill his enemies. Actually he fought. This is Bhagavad-gītā. So face things as they are and depend on Kṛṣṇa. That is our duty. We must go on with our duty. Don't expect any ash, miracle, magic.
Prabhupāda: Gave the idea.
Brahmānanda: Yes. But he's our good friend and supporter. He will help us in Mombassa very much.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Farm project is very nice. Kṛṣṇa gives. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). This is economic problem solved. And brāhmaṇa, brain problem solved, and kṣatriya, protection problem solved, and śūdra, labor problem solved. Four things combined together, live peacefully, happily. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Introduce this farm project. In America there is enough scope. So much land is lying vacant. And if there are jungles, cut the jungles; use the wood. Just like our Virginia. Big, big jungles. You cut the woods, you get ground, open field, and utilize the logs for house-making. Food, shelter, everything there. In Africa, everywhere, the nature's way. Pūrṇam idam (Īśopaniṣad, Invocation). Everything, complete arrangement by Kṛṣṇa. We have to little work. Śarīra-yātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ. If you sit idly, then you'll starve. Otherwise everything is there. You work little and get your all necessities. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That one person, God, He's supplying everyone whatever necessities. You have to simply work little. That is material world. In the material world you have to work. And in the spiritual world there is no question, work. Whatever you require, you desire, everything is there. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa (Bs. 5.29). You get everything as soon as you desire it. You haven't got to work. That is spiritual world. In material world, to get your necessities you have to work. You get this flower, little working. You grow the seeds, put little water, and it will be... And in spiritual world, as soon as you desire, "I want this flower," it is ready. There also māyā is working. Māyā means energy, Kṛṣṇa's energy. Here also energy is working. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). Kṛṣṇa is preparing the seed. You have to work little. You cannot prepare the seed. That is in Kṛṣṇa's hand. You cannot prepare the seed in your so-called rascals' laboratory. That is not. Is it possible.? Hm? Why now they are so much proud with their scientific knowledge? Our Svarūpa Dāmodara is convinced this so-called scientific knowledge is bogus.
Prabhupāda: See how they are satisfied. (break) ...so small fly, and they can come so far only for that light.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What do they see in that light? Their death.
Prabhupāda: That is material world.
| Page Title: | This is the material world |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 19 of Jul, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=3, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=118, Con=36, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 157 |