Bhagavad-gītā 2.30

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

[aside; asks Prabhupāda which text]

Prabhupāda: Dehī nityam avadhyo 'yaṁ.

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

dehī nityam avadhyo 'yaṁ dehe sarvasya bhārata tasmāt sarvāṅi bhūtāni na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi [Bg 2.30]

[break]

[01:25]

Translation: "O descendant of Bharata, he who dwells in the body is eternal and can never be slain. Therefore you need not grieve for any creature."

Prabhupāda: Dehī nityam avadhyo 'yaṁ dehe sarvasya bhārata. Dehe, dehe means body, within the body. This topic began, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā [Bg 2.13].

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

Deha, dehī. Dehī means one who possesses the body. Just like guṅī. Āsthate in-prata.[?] The grammatical. Guṅa, in, deha, in, in-prata.[?] Dehin śabda. So the nominative case of dehin śabda is dehī. Dehī nityam, eternal. In so many ways Kṛṣṅa has explained: nityam, eternal. Indestructible, immutable. It does not take birth, it does not die, it is always, constantly, the same. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20]. In this way, again he says nityam, eternal. Avadhya: nobody can kill. In the body, he is there. But dehe sarvasya bhārata.

This is very important. Not that simply in human body the soul is there and not in other bodies. That is rascaldom. Sarvasya. In every body. Even within the ant, even within the elephant, even within the gigantic banyan tree or within the microbe, sarvasya, the soul is there. But some rascals, they say the animals have no soul. This is wrong. How you can say the animal has no soul? Everyone. Here the authoritative statement by Kṛṣṅa: sarvasya. And in other place, Kṛṣṅa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ [Bg 14.4]:

[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]

In all species of life, as many forms are there, 8,400,000 different forms of life, tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma. Mahad yonir. Their source of body is of this material nature. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā: "I am the seed-giving father." As without father and mother there is no offspring, so the father is Kṛṣṅa and the mother is material nature. Or spiritual nature.

There are two natures. That is explained in the seventh verse. The material nature and the spiritual nature. Or the superior nature or inferior nature. Just like in our body there are inferior parts and superior parts. Body is the same. But still, there are different parts of the body. Some of them are considered as inferior and some of them are considered superior. Even two hands. According to Vedic civilization, right hand is the superior hand, and left hand is the inferior hand. When you want to give somebody something, you must give it with the right hand. If you give it by the left hand, it is insult. Two hand are required. Why this hand is superior, this hand...? So we have to accept the Vedic injunction. So although both the nature, the spiritual nature and material nature, is coming from the same source, Absolute Truth... Janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. Everything is emanating from Him. Still, there is inferior nature and superior nature.

What is the difference between inferior and superior? In the inferior nature, or in the material nature, God consciousness is almost nil. Those who are in the modes of goodness, they have little God consciousness. And those who are in the modes of passion, they have got less degree; and those who are in the modes of ignorance, there is no God consciousness. Completely absent. Degrees. Therefore this body, although this is material, coming from the same source, still it is inferior. So when the dehī, or the spirit soul, although by nature it is superior than the material nature, but still, because he's encaged within the material nature, he's forgetful of Kṛṣṅa. This is the process.

But, as it is stated here, that dehe sarvasya, sarvasya dehe, the same spirit is there. Therefore, those who are not rascals, those who are intelligent and in complete knowledge, they do not find any distinction between a human being or an animal. Paṅḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. Because he's paṅḍita, he's learned, he knows that the spirit soul is there. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṅe [Bg 5.18].

[The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṅa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste]]

Within the first-class learned brāhmaṅa, there is the soul, the same quality soul. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṅe gavi, in the cow; hastini, in the elephant; śuni ca—śuni ca means the dog; caṅḍāla, the lowest kind of human being, everywhere the soul is there. It is not that simply in human being there is soul, or in higher demigods there is soul, and poor animals have no soul. No. Everyone has got... Dehe sarvasya bhārata.

So whom we shall accept? The statement of Kṛṣṅa or some rascal philosopher or some so-called religionist? Whom we shall accept? We shall have to accept Kṛṣṅa, the supreme authority, the Supreme Being. He says sarvasya. Many places, Kṛṣṅa says. Therefore those who are learned, they do not make such distinction, that it has no soul. Everyone has got soul. Tasmāt sarvāṅi bhūtāni. Again He says, sarvāṅi bhūtāni. Na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi. It is your duty. Kṛṣṅa is simply stressing on the point that the soul is eternal; it cannot be killed. In so many ways, the body is perishable. "So it is your duty now to fight. The body may be killed, body may be destroyed, but na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20]. But even after the destruction of this body, the soul exists. He gets another body, that's all." Deha, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg 2.13].

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

Dehāntara-prāptiḥ. You must get another body. And this will be explained in the next verse also.

For a kṣatriya who are engaged in fighting, in religious fight... Fight must be religious fight. The cause must be right. Then the fighting is all right. So kṣatriya, killing in the religious fight, he's not responsible; he's not sinful. That is stated. Just like brāhmaṅa. He sacri... He puts in sacrifice some animal. That does not mean he's killing. Similarly, kṣatriya, when he's engaged in killing, he's not sinful. This will be explained in the next verse. "So it your duty. Don't be worried that you are killing your kinsmen or your grandfather. Take it from Me, assurance, that the dehī, avadhya, you cannot kill; he's eternal."

Now, dehe sarvasya bhārata, this important point, you should note it, that every living entity, the body has grown on the platform of the spirit soul. The body may be very gigantic or very small, it doesn't matter. But... Therefore matter is produced or grows on the platform of spirit. Not that a spirit comes into existence, or living force come into existence, by the combination of matter. This is scientific point. Matter is dependent on spirit. Therefore it is called inferior. Yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat. Dhāryate: it bears. The spirit is there; therefore the gigantic universe is resting on the spirit. Either the supreme spirit, Kṛṣṅa, or the small spirit. There are two kinds of spirit: ātmā and paramātmā, īśvara and parameśvara.

So the matter is explained by Kṛṣṅa, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parāṁ yayedaṁ dhāryate, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat [Bg 7.5].

[Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.]

So spirit is bearing. Everything is explained in Bhagavad-gītā. The gigantic big, big planets, why it is floating weightless in the air? That is also explained. Gām āviśya aham ojasā dhārayāmi [Bg 15.13]. That, just try to understand. A big 747 airplane taking five hundred, six hundred passengers is floating, flying in the sky without any difficulty. Why? Because the pilot is there, not the machine. Don't think that it is gigantic machine; therefore it is flying. No. The pilot is there. Machine is there also, but the floating is depending not on the mechanical arrangement, but on the pilot. Is there any disagreement? If the pilot is not there, the whole machine immediately will fall down. Immediately. Similarly, the statement in the Bhagavad-gītā, gām āviśya aham ojasā. Kṛṣṅa enters into the gigantic planet. He is within the... Aṅḍāntara-stha-paramāṅu-cayāntara-stham.

It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā,

eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṅḍa-kotiṁ yac chaktir asti jagad-aṅḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ aṅḍāntara-stha-paramāṅu-cayāntara-sthaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.35]

[He is an undifferentiated entity as there is no distinction between potency and the possessor thereof. In His work of creation of millions of worlds, His potency remains inseparable. All the universes exist in Him and He is present in His fullness in every one of the atoms that are scattered throughout the universe, at one and the same time. Such is the primeval Lord whom I adore.]

Without Kṛṣṅa's entering into the matter, nothing can work. Aṅḍāntara-stha. Within this universe, He is there as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṅu. Therefore the universe exists. Aṅḍāntara-stha. And within the universe there are so many material, I mean to say, identities, entities. Even this atom. The śāstra says even within the atom, He, as Paramātmā, He is within the body of everyone. Not only within the body of living entities, but He is within the paramāṅu, the atom. They are studying now atomic energy. Still they are finding difficulty, dividing, dividing, dividing. Because they cannot find out that there is God, there is Kṛṣṅa.

So without Kṛṣṅa's, I mean to say, presence, nothing can exist. Therefore, one who is advanced Kṛṣṅa conscious, he sees only Kṛṣṅa, not the outward covering. Because without Kṛṣṅa nothing can exist. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said, sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe. There are two kinds of entities: moving and not moving. Moving means sthāvara, and...

Moving means jaṅgama. Sthāvara-jaṅgama. And sthāvara means not moving. So there are two kinds of entities. So you can see these two kinds of entities: some of them are moving, some of them are not moving. But a mahā-bhāgavata sees both the entities, moving and not moving, but he does not see the moving or not moving; he sees Kṛṣṅa. Because he knows that the moving means living force. So living force, that is also Kṛṣṅa's energy. And the nonmoving is material. That is also Kṛṣṅa's energy. So in everything he sees only Kṛṣṅa. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti [Bs 5.38].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṅa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.]

Sadaiva. They sometimes inquire, "Have you seen God?" Those who are actually devotees, advanced devotee, he's simply seeing Kṛṣṅa, nothing else. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu . Sadaiva means always. Hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. Yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṅa-svarūpaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

So this is... More you advance in Kṛṣṅa consciousness, you'll simply see Kṛṣṅa. And if you become practiced to see Kṛṣṅa always, sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ... Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram [Bg 8.6].

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

Yad yad bhāvam. So if you always think of Kṛṣṅa... That is Kṛṣṅa's instruction also. Manmanā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 18.65]:

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

"Always think of Me." That is the first-class yogī, who thinks of Kṛṣṅa always.

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā ...bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ [Bg 6.47]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

He is first-class yogī. And devotee is.... We already... Otherwise, why he should think of Kṛṣṅa? Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī. One..., only bhaktas can think of Kṛṣṅa always. Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ: "Because you are My bhakta your duty is to think of Me always."

Is it very difficult task? You are seeing Kṛṣṅa in the temple. The more you see Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa, twenty-four hours' engagement in Kṛṣṅa consciousness, means you'll be practiced to see Kṛṣṅa always. This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. You cannot forget Kṛṣṅa even for a moment. And that is the instruction. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 18.65].

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

These four things. When there is Deity in the temple, you see and you get the impression. When out of the temple also you can see within your heart, if you have developed love for Kṛṣṅa. Otherwise, officially, you come to the temple and as soon as... "Botheration. Let me forget it." That is another thing. But the whole process is meant for developing love for Kṛṣṅa. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6].

[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]

Bhaktir adhokṣaje. That is first-class religious system. This is first-class religious system.

This Kṛṣṅa consciousness is the first-class, topmost religious system. Why? It is educating people to think of Kṛṣṅa, the Supreme Lord, always. Loving. Not only thinking. We cannot think of anyone unless we love. If you love somebody, then you can think of him always. Just like both lover and beloved, say one boy, another girl. So they are in love. So both of them think of both of them, always, "When we shall meet again? When we shall meet again?" So similarly, man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. You can become a devotee of Kṛṣṅa, you can think of Kṛṣṅa always, provided you have developed love for Kṛṣṅa. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena [Bs 5.38].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṅa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.]

By bhakti, you can develop your love for Kṛṣṅa. That is required.

So in the lower stage of animal life, Kṛṣṅa is there. As He says, dehe sarvasya bhārata. In another place, Kṛṣṅa says this dehī, or kṣetra-jña, the owner of the body is there, and there is another kṣetra-jña, another owner. That is Kṛṣṅa. Kṣetra-jñaṁ ca api māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata [Bg 13.3]. As the individual soul is there within the body, similarly, the Supersoul, Kṛṣṅa, is also there. Both of them there. Both of them there. So He is the owner of all bodies. All bodies. Sometimes Kṛṣṅa is accused by the rascals that "Why He danced with others' wife?" But actually He is the proprietor. Dehe sarvasya bhārata. I am not proprietor; He is the proprietor. So if the proprietor dances with His, I mean to say, maidservants, or devotees, what is the wrong there? What is the wrong? He is their proprietor. You are not proprietor. Dehe sarvasya bhārata. He is... The individual soul is in every body, and the Supersoul, Supersoul is the real proprietor.

Kṛṣṅa says that bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29].

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

Maheśvaram. He's the supreme proprietor. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. He is actual friend. If I have got some lover, I am friend... I am not friend. Actual friend is Kṛṣṅa. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. As it is said, tasmād sarvāṅi bhūtāni. Kṛṣṅa is the real friend. So if the gopīs dance with the real friend, what is the wrong there? What is the wrong there? But those who are rascals, who do not know Kṛṣṅa, they think it is immoral. It is not immoral. That is the right thing. Right thing. Kṛṣṅa is the real husband. Therefore He married 16,108 wives. Why 16,000? If He married sixteen trillion, billions wives, what is the wrong there? Because He is the real husband. Sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29].

So one who does not know Kṛṣṅa, rascal, they accuse Kṛṣṅa as immoral or woman-hunter, like that. And they take pleasure in this. Therefore, they paint pictures of Kṛṣṅa, His affairs with the gopīs. But they do not paint pictures how He is killing Kaṁsa, how He is killing the demons. They do not like this. This is sahajiyā. They, for their debauchery, for their business of debauchery, they like to be supported by Kṛṣṅa. "Kṛṣṅa has done this." "Kṛṣṅa has become immoral. So therefore we are also immoral. We are great devotee of Kṛṣṅa, because we are immoral." This is going on.

Therefore, to understand Kṛṣṅa, it requires a little better intelligence. Better intelligence. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān [Bg 7.19].

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

Jñānavān means the first-class intelligent, wise. Māṁ prapadyate: he understands what is Kṛṣṅa. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. Such kind of intelligent mahātmā... You can find out rascal mahātmā, simply by changing dress, without Kṛṣṅa consciousness, declaring himself as God, or Kṛṣṅa. Kick on their face. Kṛṣṅa is different from all these rascals. But if you understand Kṛṣṅa, if you are so fortunate—ei rūpe brahmāṅḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva [Cc Madhya 19.151].

[According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṅa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṅa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.]

Only the most fortunate person can understand Kṛṣṅa, what is Kṛṣṅa. Ei rūpe.

There are many, many millions and trillions of living entities within this universe. And they are rotating in different species of life, 8,400,000—in this way, unfortunate. Simply repetition, birth and death, birth and death in different... Out of them, if one is the greatest fortunate, he is given the chance, guru-kṛṣṅa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja. By the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṅa, he gets the seed of devotional service. And if he's intelligent... Unless he is intelligent, otherwise how he gets the seed? That is initiation. And if he waters... Just like if you get a nice seed, you have to sow it and pour little, little water. Then it will grow. Similarly, anyone who by great fortune has come into Kṛṣṅa consciousness, the seed of devotional service, he should water it.

And what is the water? Śravaṅa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana [Cc Madhya 19.152].

[When a person receives the seed of devotional service, he should take care of it by becoming a gardener and sowing the seed in his heart. If he waters the seed gradually by the process of śravaṅa and kīrtana [hearing and chanting], the seed will begin to sprout.]

This is watering. This hearing and chanting about Kṛṣṅa, this is watering. Don't be absent from the class. This hearing and chanting is watering the seed of devotional service. If you make it official and be absent from hearing... This is most important thing. Śravaṅaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṅoḥ [SB 7.5.23].

[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṅu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṅa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.]

This is most important thing, to hear. Śravaṅaṁ kīrtanam does not mean hearing and chanting of any other entity. No. Viṣṅu. Śravaṅaṁ kīrtanam. The rascals, they have manufactured "kālī-kīrtana." Where is there in śāstra there is kālī-kīrtana, śiva-kīrtana? No. Kīrtana means glorifying the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṅa. That is kīrtana. Not any other kīrtana. But they have manu..., competition, kālī-kīrtana.

Where is in the śāstra kālī-kīrtana, durgā-kīrtana? These are all nonsense. Simply Kṛṣṅa. Śravaṅaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṅoḥ smaraṅaṁ pāda-sevanam [SB 7.5.23]. Kṛṣṅa should be worshiped, Kṛṣṅa should be heard, Kṛṣṅa should be chanted, Kṛṣṅa should be remembered. In this way, you'll advance Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]