Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.8

Prabhupāda:

...puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu-yaḥ notpādayed yadi ratiṁ śrama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8]

[The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.]

Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya, discharging one's own occupational duties. Svanuṣṭhi-tasya dharmasya. According to Vedic system, there are four kinds of social orders, and each one of them have particular duties. Just like the brāhmaṅas, they have got their particular duties; kṣatriyas, they have got their particular duties; vaiśyas, they have also; and the śūdras. And those who do not follow the Vedic principles, they are called pañcamal, or sometimes, if they do not follow the rules and regulation, then they are called mlecchas and yavanas.

So, svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya. A brāhmaṅa must be truthful: satya sama dama titikṣa ārjava, jñānam vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma karma svabhāva [Bg 18.42].

[Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness—these are the qualities by which the brāhmaṅas work.]

So the brāhmaṅas, those who are actually qualified brāhmaṅas, guṅa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg 4.13].

[According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.]

Lord Kṛṣṅa said that cātur-varṅyaṁ māyā śṛṣṭaṁ guṅa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: by division of quality and activities.

So everyone, brāhmaṅa, must be qualified and must be engaged in his particular duties. Kṣatriyas also, they should be engaged in their particular duties. Vaiśyas and śūdras also. And it is the duty of the government that everyone is discharging his duties. That is king's business, rāja-daṅḍa. If one does not observe the regulative principle, then he should not declare himself as brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra.

So, just like at the present moment, the government has got inspectors to see, inspect the schools, whether the teachers are duly discharging their educational curriculum, similarly, formerly the king, he was rāja-daṅḍa-vit. So not only he was inspecting that everyone is discharging his professional or particular duties, but everyone has got employment. That was also the king's duty. No one should be unemployed. The brāhmaṅa should be employed, the kṣatriya should be employed, the vaiśya should be employed and the śūdra should be employed. If there is any difficulty, then it was the duty of the king to give them employment.

So since we have lost our responsible monarchical government, the four divisions of social order—means brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśyas and śūdra—they have deviated due to unemployment. The brāhmaṅa could not get sufficient engagement in their duties, yajana yājana paṭhana pāṭhana dāna pratigraha. People became neglectful, so they thought, "What is the use of calling a brāhmaṅa for pūjā part? There is no necessity. Stop it."

So naturally the brāhmaṅas were obliged to accept to the business or occupational duties of the kṣatriyas or the vaiśyas or even śūdras. What can be done? But in the śāstra it is said that a brāhmaṅa, if he's in difficulty, he may accept the profession of a kṣatriya or up to vaiśya, but never accept the occupation of a śūdra. These are described in the śāstras.

Besides that, the higher castes—the brāhmaṅas, kṣatriyas especially, and the vaiśyas also—they must observe the dāsa-veda saṁskāra, ten kinds of reformatory methods. The first method is garbādhāna-saṁskāra. Before giving birth to a child, there is a ceremony which is called garbādhāna-saṁskāra, and it is stated in the śāstras that if the higher castes do not perform the garbādhāna-saṁskāra and beget children like cats and dog, then he immediately comes to the position of śūdra. These are the śāstric injunction.

There are twenty kinds of dharma śāstra, so they have to be followed. That is human society. Not that to live like animal. That is human society. According to Vedic system, unless the human society comes to the institution of varṅāśrama-dharma, they are not to be accepted as human society. The system..., the whole system was to gradually educate people to be elevated to the spiritual platform for understanding Kṛṣṅa consciousness. That was the whole scheme. Viṣṅu..., tad viṣṅoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayo, to train people to become civilized, sūrayo, means that they will observe to the ultimate goal of life, viṣṅu paramaṁ padam: how to approach Lord Viṣṅu, how to approach the Vaikuṅṭha, paraṁ dhāma, by spiritual progressive life. That was there.

Every human being was given chance to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is considered as human civilization. Human civilization does not mean to improve the method of eating, sleeping, mating and defending, as it is going on now. The quality or..., the quality has been polished, but actually the human civilization has not improved, because the quality... Eating, sleeping, mating and defending, that is given special stress, but not to the point of, goal of life, reaching Viṣṅu, oṁ tad viṣṅoḥ paranaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayo [Ṛg Veda 1.22.20].

[The lotus feet of Lord Viṣṅu are the supreme objective of all the demigods. These lotus feet of the Lord are as enlightening as the sun in the sky.]

That we have neglected.

Therefore, at the present moment we are not happy. This social system, observing the varṅāśrama-dharma, was so perfectly made, and the king would see that they are actually being executed. In that way people were very, very happy, even in this material life, because everyone was confident that he was making progress to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is human civilization. But the aim was Viṣṅu.

Therefore here it is said,

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu-yaḥ notpādayed ratimyadi... [SB 1.2.8]

[The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.]

Even we execute the methods of varṅāśrama-dharma very nicely, svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya. In another place it is said by Sūta Gosvāmī,

ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṅāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṅam [SB 1.2.13]

[O best among the twice-born, it is therefore concluded that the highest perfection one can achieve by discharging the duties prescribed for one's own occupation according to caste divisions and orders of life is to please the Personality of Godhead.]

Hari-toṣaṅam. You may execute your sectional duties as a brāhmaṅa, you can execute your brahminical principles as they are laid down in the śāstras, or kṣatriya, you can do your duty, but there should be a test whether you have become successful in discharging your duty. That test is hari-toṣaṅam, whether you have satisfied the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then it is perfect. Saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṅam [SB 1.2.13]. Everyone should seek perfection of his particular duties. And that is recommended that hari-toṣaṅam.

The example is Arjuna Mahārāja. Arjuna is a kṣatriya. His duty is to fight, to give protection to the poor and to annihilate the disturbing element. That is kṣatriya's duty. So Arjuna was trained in that way—he was a soldier—but by his soldier's business, occupational duty, he satisfied Kṛṣṅa. He fought for Kṛṣṅa, not for his personal sense gratification. That is his test, saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṅam.

So here also Sūta Goswāmī says, dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitasya..., dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsaṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu-yaḥ [SB 1.2.8].

[The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.]

You can discharge your duties very nicely, but you have to see whether you are developing attachment for Kṛṣṅa. Attachment means love, whether you are trying to satisfy Kṛṣṅa. That is the test. If that is not done, simply formulas, if you execute the formula, as I explained the other day, niyamāgraha, without any satisfaction of Kṛṣṅa, then Sūta Gosvāmī says it is simply laboring and waste of time, viṣvaksena-kathāsu-yaḥ notpādayed ratiṁ yadi, śrama eva hi kevalam.

Then he says, dharmasya hy āpavargasya na artaḥ arthāya upakalpate. Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa [SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90],

[Any person who desires the fruits of the four principles religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, liberation, should engage himself in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for worship of His lotus feet yields the fulfillment of all of these.]

these are called āpavarga. Āpavarga means nullifying the pavargas. Pavargas... This material world is called pavarga. Pa, pha, ba, bha, ma. According to Sanskrit grammar, there are five vargas: ka varga, ca varga, ta varga, and pa varga. So pa varga, pa means pariśrama.

Similarly, pha means phena, and bha means bhaya, ma means mṛtyu. So this material world is pavarga, means here we have to labor very hard. Sometimes by laboring, as you have seen in animals, bulls and horses, they produce foam in the mouth. That is pha. And then we are always full of anxieties, and at last there is death. This is material life. We work very hard, struggle for..., struggle hard for existence, and that also, at the end, we die.

So people have become so much foolish that they do not see the defects of the material..., materialistic way of life. They think only that the time, the small duration of life, if you can somehow or other gratify your senses, that is perfection of life. This is called ignorance, mūḍhaḥ. That is described in the śāstras: sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13].

[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]

Go-kharaḥ means animals, like cows and asses. This is not life.

So religious life, dharmasya hy āpavargasya. One should become religious or accept religious principle to stop this pavarga, the different kinds of hard struggle for existence. To stop, that is the purpose of dharma. But generally people execute dharma to get some artha. Dharma artha. Artha means some material profit.

So Sūta Gosvāmī said that dharmasya hy āpavargasya na artaḥ arthāya upakalpate. Arthaya, for some material profit, does not mean... Of course, if you take the meaning of artha as paramārtha, that is required. But material profit, as it is stated here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by Sūta Gosvāmī, that to go to the church or to the temple or to become a religious person does not mean that it is meant for improving your material condition.

Generally, people come to us or the temple for āśīrvāda. What is that āśīrvāda? "Now I have got five hundred rupees' income. Please give me āśīrvāda it may become five thousand." So this is not the purpose of dharma. Here it is stated, dharmasya hy āpavargasya na artaḥ arthāya upakalpate.

Then we require artha. Without artha, without money, how we can live? That is also explained here, nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ. You require money, that's all right, but not for sense gratification, not for going to the cinema. Here in Bombay city, people are earning money, lots of money, but we see there are lots of cinema advertised, and people go there—there are hundreds and thousands of cinema house—and spend their money. They're standing for three hours, four hours to take a ticket for going to the cinema.

Therefore actually those who are going to be religious for getting relief from this hard struggle for existence, for them arthasya, you require some artha, money. Nārthasya dharmaikāntasya. If you are actually religious, then your artha should not be spent for sense gratification. Nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāyo hi smṛtaḥ. Kāmaḥ means sense gratification. It should be properly utilized, if you have got money, that you should be properly utilized, not for sense gratification—wine, women, and hotel and cinema. No. Then by your artha you are going to hell. Artha, everything.

Cāṅakya Paṅḍita, the great politician, he says... He was not a..., he was a religious brāhmaṅa, but he was not for salvation—he was more or less politician—still he says, san-nimitte varaṁ tyāge vināśe niyate sati. San-nimit, if you have got some money, it will be spent up. In your life or your next life, your son's life, it will be spent up. Vināśe niyate sati, that is the nature's way. Suppose you earn crores of rupees. It will not stay after one generation, after two generation. It will not stay, because in this material world, Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, is called cañcalā. She does not remain at one place. We have got experience. Today one man is very rich; next generation is no longer rich.

That is also nationwise applicable. Just like we have seen British Empire. While I was in London I was thinking that "These Britishers brought money from all parts of the world, by business or all other means." I saw in front of St. James Park Lord Clive's statue. Very, very nice buildings, but it is now difficult for them to repair. That opulence has gone. They have lost their empire. No more income, sufficient income.

This is the nature of material world. So many empires were there. There was Roman empire, there was Carthagian empire, there was Moghul empire, there was British empire, and so many empires. They are no longer existing. Sometimes when I pass by the side of the Red Fort, we see the department, the apartments of the great Moghul emperors in Red Fort, they are now lying vacant. So this is the material nature.

Therefore Cāṅakya Paṅḍita advises, san-nimitte varaṁ tyāgo vināśe niyate sati: "If you are actually religious, then don't spoil your money for sense gratification. Use it for sat karyam." Sat karya means for service of Kṛṣṅa. Oṁ tat sat paraṁ brahma. San-nimi. San-nimitte varaṁ tyāgo vināśe niyate sati. That is Vedic civilization. If money comes, you don't hate it. Welcome. But it should be used properly. That is proper use. If you use properly your money, then you make your path parapavarga, clear. And if you misuse your money, then you become again entangled in the 8,400,000's of species of life.

Therefore, recommended here, nārthasya dharmai-kāntasya. Dharmai-kāntasya: not for the irreligious demons, but those who are actually religious, dharmaikāntasya. Kāmo lābhāya... No kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ. Your money should not be free..., should not be spent unnecessarily for sense gratification.

Formerly, this was the civilization in India. We see so many big, big temple in South India, in other places also, especially South India. It is not possible—in Vṛndāvana also—it is not possible at the present moment to construct such huge, expensive temple. But actually they were done by rich kings, rich mercantile people.

That Madana-mohana temple was constructed by Sindhi merchant. He approached Sanātana Goswāmī. Sanātana Goswāmī was sitting underneath the tree, and his Madana-mohana was hanging in the tree. He had no place, no temple, no cloth. Madana-mohana was asking Sanātana Goswāmī that "Sanātana, you are giving Me dry bread, without even in salt. How can I eat?" So Sanātana Goswāmī replied, "Sir, I cannot go to ask for salt. Whatever I've got, I offer You. I cannot help." This was their talks.

So one salt merchant came, Sindhi salt merchant, he was passing from Vṛndāvana to Delhi side, and he offered his service, and Sanātana Goswāmī asked him to construct the temple of Madana-mohana. That temple is still existing, Madana-mohana's temple. So this is the proper use. If you have got some money, don't use it for constructing a big skyscraper building. Better you try to construct a very nice temple for Kṛṣṅa's situation. That is proper use.

So Sūta Gosvāmī said, nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ [SB 1.2.9]:

[All occupational engagements are certainly meant for ultimate liberation. They should never be performed for material gain. Furthermore, according to sages, one who is engaged in the ultimate occupational service should never use material gain to cultivate sense gratification.]

don't spend your hard-earned money for sense gratification. Then one may say that "After all, we have got this body, and we have to eat, we have to sleep. And because we have got senses, the senses must be a little bit satisfied." No. Kṛṣṅa says..., Sūta Gosvāmī says, it is not that you shall stop.

That is already explained. I, the other day: nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṅa-sambandhe. You eat in relationship with Kṛṣṅa. Just like here, in this temple, what we are doing? We are also cooking. Others are also cooking at house. Then what is the difference? The difference is that we are cooking for Kṛṣṅa; others, those who have no Kṛṣṅa consciousness—I don't say everyone—they are cooking for themselves. Just like the hotel. In a hotel they are cooking for the customer palatable dishes. So that is the difference.

But Rūpa Gosvāmī says that "Dovetail with Kṛṣṅa consciousness." That is yukta vairāgya. Because in this human life we require to develop jñāna and vairāgya. So if we dovetail our activities for Kṛṣṅa's service, that is yukta vairāgya. So here also it is said that nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ. We should not earn money for sense gratification.

Then kāmasya na indriya-prītiḥ lābhaḥ jīveta yāvatā [SB 1.2.10].

[Life's desires should never be directed toward sense gratification. One should desire only a healthy life, or self-preservation, since a human being is meant for inquiry about the Absolute Truth. Nothing else should be the goal of one's works.]

You must have sense gratification—eating, sleeping, mating—but as far as you can maintain your body very nicely. Not that voluntarily you shall starve. No. Just like these boys, these girls, are we..., we are not starving, but our eating kṛṣṅa-prasādam means just to live nicely for executing Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

We are not meant for going to the cinema or for other sense gratification purposes, but because we have got this body, there is no question that we shall stop eating. We eat prasādam, kṛṣṅa-prasādam, and that is very palatable. Kṛṣṅa-prasādam..., Kṛṣṅa should be offered all first-class preparation because Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Lord. But if we haven't money to supply Him nice thing, the Kṛṣṅa will be satisfied, as Kṛṣṅa says,

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati [Bg 9.26]

[If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.]

Kṛṣṅa wants that you offer Him something with devotional love, that's all.

Kṛṣṅa is not hungry. Kṛṣṅa is ātmārāma. He is self-sufficient. He does not require. He is producing food for us. That's a fact. We get so many fruits and flower. We don't manufacture it in the factory; neither it is possible. It is Kṛṣṅa's manufacture. It is Kṛṣṅa. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūrayoḥ [Bg 7.8].

[O son of Kuntī [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.]

By His action of different energies these things are produced. Why? These things are produced for whom? For Kṛṣṅa? No. For us. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, He is maintaining us.

So is it not our duty to offer Him first, "Sir, You have supplied so many nice things. You take first, then we shall..."? This is bhakti. It is just like worshiping Mother Ganges with Ganges water. You have all seen that those who are devotees of Mother Ganges, they go in the Ganges water, and after taking bath, takes little water from the Ganges River and again pour it with some mantra. Now from the river Ganges if you take, say, one pound of water, and if you pour it again, one pound, then what is the loss and gain? But you become, by using the Ganges water in that way, you become a devotee of the Mother.

Similarly, what we can offer to Kṛṣṅa? Everything belongs to Kṛṣṅa, and if in the store of Kṛṣṅa there are millions and millions of tons of fruits and flower, if you take one or two of them and offer to Kṛṣṅa, so what is Kṛṣṅa's loss? And if you offer one fruit to Kṛṣṅa, what is His gain? Kṛṣṅa is not concerned with your offering and not offering, but if you offer, it is for your interest. It is for your interest, so Kṛṣṅa will recognize, "Here is a devotee."

So this is the process. Therefore Sūta Gosvāmī said that dharmasya..., nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ, kāmasya na indriya prītiḥ. Kāmaḥ. We have to satisfy our tongue, our senses, but not for indriya prītiḥ. We should eat for living nicely, not for palatable dishes. So many animal killing, unnecessary. Why?

Kṛṣṅa has given you so many nice thing—rice, wheat, sugar, milk, fruits, flowers, vegetables, and with milk you can get ghee, and you can prepare hundreds and thousands of preparation and offer to Kṛṣṅa and take it. Why should you kill so many animals and maintain slaughterhouse for the satisfaction of the tongue?

Therefore here it is said kāmasya: we have some demand for maintaining the body, but not for sense gratification. Kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ. Na indriya prītiḥ. Indriya prītiḥ, if you cannot satisfy your tongue by so many preparation... Hundreds and thousands of preparation can be made from these ingredients—grains, vegetable, fruit, flowers and milk and sugar.

Actually we still, in Hindu family, they are preparing so many nice foodstuff. Why should we go for indriya prītiḥ? For satisfaction of the tongue we shall kill so many chickens and cows and goats, why? What is the use? There is no use. It is simply sense gratification. Therefore Sūta Goswāmī recommends that you have got some demand for keeping the health properly, not..., but not..., don't try to do it for indriya prītiḥ. Indriya prītiḥ.

We have invented so many nonsense things for simply satisfaction of the tongue. A vaiṣṅava kavi, Vaiṣṅava poet, ācārya, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he has wrote a song. That song we chant or sing during the time of taking prasādam. In that song he writes, śarīra abidyā-jāl joḍendriya tāhe kāl [Prasāda-sevāya I]:

[O Lord, this material body is a place of ignorance, and the senses are a network of paths to death. Somehow, we have fallen into this ocean of material sense enjoyment, and of all the senses the tongue is most voracious and uncontrollable; it is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world. But You, dear Kṛṣṅa, are very kind to us and have given us such nice prasāda, just to control the tongue. Now we take this prasāda to our full satisfaction and glorify You Lord-Rādhā and Kṛṣṅa-and in love call for the help of Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda.]

"This body is an emblem of ignorance." Actually we get this material body due to our ignorance. By ignorance we commit so many wrong things, and you have obliged to accept a certain type of body. Therefore it is a network of ignorance. Śarīra abidyā-jāl joḍendriya tāhe kāl. In that network of ignorance there are different senses, joḍendriya tāhe kāl, gross material senses. They are just like our death.

Sometimes these senses are described as kāla sarpa. Kāla sarpa means the black cobra. As soon as the cobra touches—immediately dead. Similarly, if we allow this kāla sarpa to act in their own way, that means we are inviting death at every moment. Therefore those who are too much bodily attached, for them this yoga system is controlling the senses, yoga indriya saṁyamaḥ. Yoga does not mean to increase the power of sense gratification. Yoga means controlling the senses.

So the Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that this network of ignorance, where the senses are like black cobra, out of all those senses the tongue is the greatest black cobra. Tā'ra madhye jihvā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati. The tongue, if you practice... Just, for example, nobody learns smoking from the birth, but when he's habituated, then they are as chain smoker, one cigarette after another, one cigarette after..., you see. This is simply by bad association. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said that tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati. Because we have indulged this tongue to increase his greediness, therefore we see so much advertisement of liquor and cigarettes and so many, teas and coffee. Simply it is practice.

So as you have practice, by practice you have increased so-called demands of your body, you can decrease it also. Just like these boys. They were practiced to all these things, but since they have taken to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, by practicing they have given up everything. So anything artificial we may be habituated, but you can give it up.

Therefore here it is said, kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ. You should not introduce sense gratification for maintaining your body. Your body can be maintained very nicely if you take simple food made of rice, wheat, vegetable, little ghee and little milk. That's all. And you can get all these things anywhere, any part of the world, and you can offer to Kṛṣṅa.

Kṛṣṅa also says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati [Bg 9.26].

[If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.]

Any part of the world, any condition of life, you can secure these things. In Africa we have been in the interior, African villages. They are supposed to be uncivilized, but I don't think. They have got enough of these things, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, anywhere. And they are being taught by this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement to offer to Kṛṣṅa and take.

Therefore, this artificial civilization for sense gratification is not very good. It is not good for us. We may gratify our senses while we are living, but when we quit this body, we are completely under the grip of material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ [Bg 3.27].

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

And when you are on the clutches of prakṛti, you cannot dictate that "Give me this kind of body." That will be decided by superior authority, daiva netreṅa, karmaṅā daiva ne.

These are the scientific knowledge. But unfortunately, there is no culture of this scientific knowledge. Superficially, simply for sense gratification, that is going on in the name of advancement of civilization. Actually it is very risky civilization. Suppose after this body, human form of body, if I get the body of an animal or a tree. There is every chance. Wherefrom the tree comes? Wherefrom the tiger comes, the cat comes, the dog comes? There are demigods also. So you can get any form of life. Dehāntaram. Kṛṣṅa says personally, tathā dehāntara. This is bogus theory that after death everything is finished. No.

There is another life, and the species of life are in your front, 8,400,000's of species, and we have to accept, according to our karma, a type of body given by the material nature.

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate [Bg 3.27]

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā. Simply by false pride I am thinking that I am kartā, I am master. You are not master; you are under the grip of material nature. So how you can avoid? Therefore we should not indulge in sense gratification. We should try to practice how to take kṛṣṅa-prasādam. That will help us.

That I was going to speak, as Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati. This tongue is sudurmati. It is very, very badly intelligent. Not at all intelligent. He wants to eat. Just like here we can see, in these big cities, they have taken their lunch at home, and as soon as goes to the office, immediately, "Bring tea." So why the unnecessarily tea? But the tongue dictates, "Bring tea," "Bring coffee," "Bring cigarette." Therefore the tongue is very formidable enemy of this human being, if you indulge.

Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati tā'ke jetā kaṭhina saṁsāre. It is very difficult to... [break] ...we can sometimes avoid the dictation of the genital, but it is very difficult to avoid the dictation of the tongue. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudur..., tā'ke jetā kaṭhina sam..., kṛṣṅa boda doyāmoy, kori bāre jihvā joy, sva-prasād-anna dilo bhāi. Now, Kṛṣṅa is so kind that He has returned so much nice foodstuff, prasādam; now we can eat, and thereby we can conquer the dictation of the tongue.

In another place it is said, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234].

[No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṅa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.]

God realization can be possible, how? If you engage your tongue in the service of the Lord. It is very wonderful. People may say, "How is that? The tongue has to be engaged in the service of the Lord?" Yes, that is the śāstric injunction. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. If you simply engage your tongue in the service of Kṛṣṅa, then Kṛṣṅa will appear you, svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. He will personally appear before you.

And what is that? You can utilize your tongue simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa and satisfy the tongue by taking prasādam. Finished. Very simple and very easy. By simply controlling your tongue, you can control all other senses. You can control belly, you can control the genital, you can control everything. Therefore, here is recommendation, "Please do not take this, do not take this. Don't take animal foodstuff. Simply take kṛṣṅa-prasādam. Don't drink, don't smoke..." There are so many don't's, and so many do's also.

So therefore we have to practice this Kṛṣṅa consciousness method. Here it is said that kāmasya nendriya-prītir jīveta yāvatā [SB 1.2.10].

[Life's desires should never be directed toward sense gratification. One should desire only a healthy life, or self-preservation, since a human being is meant for inquiry about the Absolute Truth. Nothing else should be the goal of one's works.]

Try to live decently by taking kṛṣṅa-prasāda and chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra. Jīveta. Sattam jīveta. In this way you can live hundreds of years. That is recommended in the Īśopaniṣad, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam [Īśo mantra 1].

[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]

So jīveta yāvatā, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ. And why shall you live at all? What is the use of living? The trees are also living for ten thousands of years. What is the meaning of that living? Similarly you if live for a hundred years or two hundred years, what is the meaning of your living? Of course, living in this material world is not very comfortable.

Every one of us will know it. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām [SB 10.14.58].

[For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf's hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṅṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.]

Those who are living in Bombay city, they know it very well: when you pass through the road in taxi-cab or motorcar, so much congested, and at any moment there may be some danger, padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām. In America also, the cars are running in seventy-mile speed, and if one car collides with another, immediately four, five cars—disaster.

So actually you are living in such a condition. Pādaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām. Every moment there is danger. It is not very peaceful living at the present moment. We are running, we are flying in the sky, we are... We do not say that this should be stopped, neither it can be stopped, but you do everything in Kṛṣṅa consciousness so that even danger takes place, ante nārāyaṅa-smṛtiḥ [SB 2.1.6],

[The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life.].

you can at least remember Kṛṣṅa at the time of death. Then your life is successful. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram [Bg 8.6], Kṛṣṅa says.

[Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.]

Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi. At the time of death our remembrance to a certain thing gives me next body. If I think like a dog, then I become next life a dog, and if I think like a god, then I, next life I become god. That is the test at the time of death.

So unless you practice, how you can remember Kṛṣṅa at the time of death? Therefore Saṁrāj Kulaśekhara, the great emperor devotee, he is praying to Kṛṣṅa,

kṛṣṅa tvadīya-pada-paṅkaja-pañjarāntam adyaiva viśatu me mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ prāṅa-prayāṅa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ kaṅṭhāvarodhana-vidhau smaraṅaṁ kutas te [Mukunda-mālā-stotra 33]

[My Lord Kṛṣṅa, I pray that the swan of my mind may immediately sink down to the stems of the lotus feet of Your Lordship and be locked up in their network; otherwise at the time of my final breath, when my throat is choked up with cough, how will it be possible to think of You?]

"My dear Lord Kṛṣṅa, now I am healthy. I am thinking rightly. Kindly give me immediately death, and I can be entangled with Your lotus feet tight, like the swan entangles itself with the lotus stem." You have seen, the swans take pleasure by entangling itself with the lotus stem. It goes down the water and catches the stem and binds itself. In this way, it is a sporting of the swan.

So Samraj Kulaśekhara says, mānasa. Kṛṣṅa tvadīya-pada-paṅkaja-pañjarāntam adyaiva viśatu me mānasa-rāja-hāmsaḥ: "At the present moment my mind is just like the swan. It is playing with Your lotus stem. So let me die immediately. Otherwise, if I die ordinarily," prāṅa-prayāṅa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ, "the three elements kapha, pitha, bile, they will overwhelm me, and I may not remember You at that time. I may forget You. So Kṛṣṅa, give me immediately death so that I, remembering, I may die You."

This is process. Kṛṣṅa consciousness means somehow or other try to remember Kṛṣṅa at the time of death, ante nārāyaṅa-smṛtiḥ. Then your life is successful. Just like Ajāmila. Ajāmila, he was a great sinner—we shall one day describe about Ajāmila's life—but at the time of death, out of his affection for his youngest son, whose name was Nārāyaṅa, he thrice called, "Nārāyaṅa! Nārāyaṅa!"

But the original Nārāyaṅa took notice of it: "Oh, this man is calling Nārāyaṅa." Immediately sent His personal assistant to take him back to home, back to Godhead. Ante nārāyaṅa-smṛtiḥ [SB 2.1.6].

[The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life.].

Somehow or other. He was not remembering the original Nārāyaṅa, but Nārāyaṅa was the name of his son. Therefore according to our Vedic system we keep God's name our children or family member, so that somehow or other—there are thousands of names of Kṛṣṅa—if we remember one of them, our life is successful. This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

So Sūta Gosvāmī says that kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ. We have got some demands of body—eating, sleeping, mating. That's all right. But don't use it..., don't spoil it by sense gratification. You can eat; there are so many nice thing, kṛṣṅa-prasādam. Why should you eat meat? Why should you eat, drink and all nonsense? Be little frugal. No.

Aindriya prītiḥ, kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ jīvetayāvatā. You simply taste such foodstuff, kṛṣṅa-prasāda, so that you can live very healthy life and execute your Kṛṣṅa consciousness business. It is not that you have to voluntarily starve and make yourself weak. No.

In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, yuktāhāra-vihārasya, yoga bhavati siddhi[?] hā. Artificial starving, artificial vairāgya has no meaning. You should live nicely, but not for sense gratification. That is the recommendation of the śāstra. Don't indulge in sense gratification, but live very healthy life so that you can execute Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ jīveta yāvatā-jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. The real business is jīvasya. Our..., we living entities, our real business is tattva-jijñāsā. This tattva-jijñāsā... Therefore Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is commentary on the Brahmā-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra. As Vedānta-sūtra gives the code, athāto brahma jijñāsā: this life is meant for brahma-jijñāsā, inquiry about Brahman. The same, brahma-jijñāsā and tattva jijñāsā is the same thing. Here also the same thing, as Bhāgavata begins, janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. You'll find all the codes of brahma-sūtra or Vedānta-sūtra in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, very nicely explained. It is practically the explanation of Vedanta-sutra.

Here it is athāto brahma jijñāsā. What is that brahma-jijñāsā? That is explained here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. The same thing, athāto brahma jijñāsā and jīvasya. This human form of life is especially meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth, tattva-jijñāsā. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā na artha yaś ceha karmabhiḥ. You are working so hard, simply for maintaining your body. No. It is not.

You work hard, keep yourself fit, but live for tattva-jijñāsā. That is life, tattva-jijñāsā: What I am? What is God? What is this material world? Why I have come here? Why I am put into so much trouble? These are the inquiries. Not that every day go to the share market, [Hindi?]. That is not tattva-jijñāsā. That is indriya prītiḥ, howling in the market.

So our life being spoiled without Kṛṣṅa consciousness. That is our mission, that we are trying to save men from great falldown. Uttisthatā jāgrata prāpya varān nibhodata [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.14],

[Please wake up and try to understand the boon that you now have in this human form of life. The path of spiritual realization is very difficult; it is sharp like a razor's edge. That is the opinion of learned transcendental scholars.]

this is the Vedic injunction. Don't sleep. Uttisthitā: "Just get up." Jāgrata: "Be awakened." Prāpya varān nibhodata. You have got this benediction of human form of life. Nibhodata. Try to understand the same thing, nibhodata.

This is the only business of human birth, being, to understand his constitutional position, to understand God and relationship with God. We are avoiding this. What is the solution? Here it is clearly said, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā nartho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ. You work hard, but what is your aim of life? Simply sense gratification. It is falling life. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā.

Now what is that tattva? That is explained in the next verse, vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam [SB 1.2.11]. Those who are tattva-vit, those who are knower of the Absolute Truth, they say as follows:

vadanti tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [SB 1.2.11]

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

That Absolute Truth, tattva-vastu, those who are in the knowledge of tattva-vastu, they say the Absolute Truth is one, advaya-jñāna. There is no duality. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jñānam advayam. Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān.

They are the same tattva-vastu, but according to our angle of vision, somebody is understanding the Absolute Truth as impersonal Brahman, somebody is understanding the Absolute Truth as localized Paramātmā, and somebody... That is highest realization: Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa. [end]