Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.1 – April 10, 1975, Hyderabad

Prabhupāda:

nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ anantam [SB 5.5.1]

[Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.]

This evening I shall recite some verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fifth Canto, Fifth Chapter, on the instruction of Ṛṣabhadeva. Ṛṣabhadeva was the father of King Bharata, after whose name this tract of land is called Bhārata-varṣa. So Ṛṣabhadeva, before retiring from family life, He had one hundred sons, and He instructed them about spiritual realization of life.

This Bhārata-varṣa, land of Bhārata-varṣa, it is meant for spiritual realization. And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, His mission is to distribute the message of Bhārata-varṣa throughout the whole world. He said—it is recorded in a Bengali stanza,

bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya janma haila yāra janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra [Cc Ādi 9.41]

[One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.]

Upakāra, you can understand—it is very common word—to do something good to others. Upakāra. And apakāra means to do something harm to others. At the present moment, throughout the whole world, the design is how to do something harmful to others. This is called envy. The material world is full of envies. I am envious of you, and you are envious of me. This is materialism, this struggle between man to man, family to family, community to community, nation to nation, species to species. Everyone is envious. This is material disease. And spiritual life means not to become envious. That is spiritual life.

Therefore in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṅāṁ [SB 1.1.2].

[Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhāgavata Purāṅa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.]

This dharma, bhāgavata-dharma… Bhāgavata-dharma means the religious principles connecting with Bhagavān. That is bhāgavata, and that is dharma. If the dharma, or the principle of religion, does not try to understand God, or to reestablish the relationship with God, that is not religion; that is cheating. Therefore Bhāgavata says. So all types of cheating religion is rejected from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We have manufactured so many religious systems: Hindu religion, Muslim religion, Christian religion and so many others. Why religion should be designated? Just like gold. Gold is gold. There cannot be any Hindu gold or Muslim gold or Christian gold. Gold is gold. Everywhere you take gold, people will accept as gold. Because one Hindu is taking gold to some Muslim country, it does not mean the Muslims will not accept because it is brought by the Hindu. Gold is gold. Therefore religion, the conception of religion, must be gold. That is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,

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.]

That is first-class religion, paraḥ. Paraḥ means transcendental, not material.

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6]

That system of religion is first class, or transcendental, which teaches the followers how to become devotee of the Lord. That is religion, and that is instructed in the Bhagavad-gītā:

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]

That is religion. Kṛṣṅa appeared. His mission was,

paritrāṅāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya yuge yuge sambhavāmi [Bg 4.8]

[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]

So He appears for reestablishing the principles of religion. Now, at the end of His instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya. He did not appear to teach Hindu religion or Muslim religion or Christian religion. He appeared for teaching what is religion. Religion cannot be two. Religion is one. Man’s religion should be one. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṅītam [SB 6.3.19].

[Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṅas.]

Dharma, religion, means the codes or the order given by God. That is religion. This is the simplest definition of religion. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṅītam. Just like law means the codes or the order given by the state. You cannot manufacture law at your home. That is not possible. That is not law. What the state says, "Keep to the left" or "Keep to the right," that is law. If you violate the law, then you will be punished. Similarly, the laws of God is the laws of material nature. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,

mayādhyakṣeṅa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg 9.10]

[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]

Just like the legislative assembly passes the law to be carried out, to be executed, by the people in general. And if they do not do it, then they are punishable. Similarly, the dharma, or the codes of Bhagavān, you have to accept. Compulsory. If you do not accept, then you will suffer. Mūḍhā janmani janmani mām aprāpyaiva [Bg 16.20]. This is the law.

So human life especially meant for understanding what is God and what is the law of God and how to follow it and achieve success in life. That is human life. Sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana. Sambandha means first of all we must understand what is our relationship with this material world or with God. So many there are. Everything is relative—this is a relative world. So what is the relativity between God and ourself? There must be God. The atheist class of men, they deny the existence of God. But that is superfluous. They cannot deny the existence of God, because they have to abide by the laws of God. How you can deny the existence of God? Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham [Bg 10.34].

[I am all-devouring death, and I am the generator of all things yet to be. Among women I am fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience.]

The atheist class of men, they do not believe in God, but they believe in death. That they will have to believe. They cannot avoid it. And Kṛṣṅa says that "Death I am. If you do not believe in God, then you will have to believe Me when I come as death and take everything from you." Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham. You may deny God, and you may do whatever you like, and you may create your own kingdom by plans. But when Kṛṣṅa will come, He will come as death, because you are atheist, and He will take away everything what you have created. Just like Hiraṅyakaśipu. Hiraṅyakaśipu was atheist number one, and he was very much persecuting his own son because he was a devotee of God. The only fault. So when it was very, very terrible, at that time Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared and killed Hiraṅyakaśipu within a second.

So unless you make a solution of the four problems, namely birth, death, old age and disease, which is compulsory, how you can deny God? That is not possible. A madman says that "I don’t care for God," but no sane man will say like that. So God is there. I may believe or not believe—that is my business. But God is there, God’s laws are going on, and we have to follow. We shall be forced to follow, this way or that way, so there is no excuse to deny the existence of God. That is foolishness. Therefore if you are sane man, then we should be sober. In cool head we should think of how we are being controlled, who is the controller, why we are being controlled, why we are not independent, why we are forced to accept something which we do not want. These things are to be considered in human life, and that is the beginning of Vedānta-sūtra, athātho brahma-jijñāsā. Now this human life is meant for inquiring about Brahman. That is the only business. That is the only business. Śāstra says that,

tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ [SB 1.5.18]

Everything is arranged according to the body I have received. How I have received this body? I have received this body by the material nature. Everyone can understand it.

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.]

kāraṅaṁ guṅa-sangaḥ asya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu [Bg 13.22]

So the prakṛti is instrument through which God’s law is working. That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. The scientists are trying to make something new, but the real problem,

janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi- duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg 13.9]

[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]

that is under the control of prakṛti, or the instrument of God. Now, how to make our life successful, that is being instructed by Ṛṣabhadeva to His sons. The first business, He says,

nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye [SB 5.5.1]

"My dear sons, this life," ayam dehaḥ... Ayam dehaḥ means this body, this human form of body. Deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. There are many other bodies. There are 8,400,00's forms of body.

jalajā nava-lakṣāṅi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ pakṣiṅāṁ daśa-lakṣaṅam [Padma Purāṅa]

Then,

paśavaḥ triṁśal-lakṣāṅi catur-lakṣāṅi mānuṣāḥ [Padma Purāṅa]

So there are so many forms of life in this material world, ayam loke. Deha-bhājāṁ. Deha-bhājāṁ means one, the spirit soul, has accepted this body—but by evolutionary process, from aquatics to plant’s life, then insect life, then reptile’s life, then bird’s life, beast life, then human form of life, then civilized form of life, then the life of human body born in Bhārata-varṣa. This is the highest, highest developed life by evolutionary process, this land of Bhārata-varṣa.

So I am especially speaking to the Indians, bhārata-varṣīs, that you have got this life in this land after many, many evolutionary process, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante. Bahu-sambhavānte, the śāstras say. Bahu-sambhavānte [SB 11.9.29].

[After many, many births and deaths one achieves the rare human form of life, which, although temporary, affords one the opportunity to attain the highest perfection. Thus a sober human being should quickly endeavor for the ultimate perfection of life as long as his body, which is always subject to death, has not fallen down and died. After all, sense gratification is available even in the most abominable species of life, whereas Kṛṣṅa consciousness is possible only for a human being.]

Unfortunately, we are forgetting this. At the present moment we are forgetting the importance of this life born in the land of Bhārata-varṣa. This is our misfortune. Don’t be misled. You have got this human form of life, bhārata-varṣī. Very easily you can take the opportunity of understanding what is God, what is your relationship with God, because in India there are so many Vedic śāstras. I am reading one, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is also Vedic literature. It is the commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, bhāṣyaṁ brahma-sūtrānām [Garuḍa Purāṅa]. So this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement means that we are spreading this knowledge of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam throughout the whole world. And as far the Indians, bhārata-varṣī, it is a special prerogative to understand these Vedic literatures and make his life successful. Do not spoil your the gift, the boon given by God—this human form of life. Do not waste it for nothing. Utilize it.

Therefore long, long ago, about some millions and millions of years ago, this knowledge was imparted by Ṛṣabhadeva to His sons: "My dear boys, you have got this human form of life, especially the body received from Me—I am king in royal family—so don’t spoil it." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. How to spoil it? Kaṣṭān kāmān, simply for sense gratification. Working very hard like an ass is not human form of life. Human form of life should be utilized to become very sober, cool-headed, and to understand what is God, what is my life. This is the necessity. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

cātur-varṅyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ 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.]

Not that everyone should be very much intelligent. It is not possible. In the… Although everyone has got this human form of body, not that everyone is very intelligent. So according to the intelligence, the divisions should be there. That is confirmed by Kṛṣṅa:

cātur-varṅyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṅa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg 4.13]

In the human society there must be four divisions—the brāhmaṅa, the kṣatriya, the vaiśya and the śūdra—according to the quality. The most intelligent class of men, they should become brāhmaṅas. Satya, śamaḥ, damaḥ, titikṣā, ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam [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 next-intelligent class of men should become the administrators, and the next-intelligent class men should be the productive class, vaiśyas.

kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṅijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam [Bg 18.44]

[Farming, cow protection and business are the qualities of work for the vaiśyas, and for the śūdras there is labor and service to others.]

Everything is there. And especially in India, this ideal life of human society should be inaugurated. We should not imitate the Western people, who are now dwindling. Their material civilization is no longer giving them happiness. That is a fact. They are seeking after athātho brahma-jijñāsā. They are now seeking after inquiring about Brahman. Therefore you find so many Europeans and Americans, they have taken to this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement because they are now inquisitive—inquisitive: "What is next?" Why…, why we are following them, how to make machine and skyscraper building? They are coming to Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

So long, long before, Ṛṣabhadeva advised, “My dear sons, this body should not be misused working whole day and night for sense gratification, because that is the business of the hogs and dogs.” Here it is clearly said, kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye. Viḍ-bhujāṁ. You have seen. In our India we see viḍ-bhujāṁ. Viḍ-bhujāṁ means stool-eater, the pigs. They are seeking after stool, whole day and night, and they are eating. And after eating stool… The stool is very substantial food. According to chemical examination, it contains all the hypophosphites, because the essence of the foodstuff we have taken, that is stool. So anyone, if one can eat; but we can see that the hogs, they become very fatty, because it contains fat. Sometimes in the wartime, I learned that the German people are taking, extracting, fat from stool. So there is enough fat. The result is they become very much sexually inclined. And they have no distinction how to enjoy sex life. Never mind it is mother or sister or daughter, it doesn't matter. That is hog’s life.

Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva is advising His sons, "Don’t be like hogs—eat very sumptuously, become fatty, and then seek after sex life and without any discrimination. Don’t be like hogs and dogs. This life is not meant for, to become like dogs and hogs." This is the first instruction. Then what it is meant for? He says, tapo divyaṁ putrakā: "My dear sons, this life is meant for tapasya." Tapasya means voluntarily accepting some miseries. Just like we ask our students for tapasya: no illicit sex. So in the Western countries it is very difficult to give up this habit. But these boys and girls, on my request, they have given up. This is called tapasya. I do not like to give up something, but for achieving some higher result, if I give up voluntarily something, which may cause some miseries, still I shall accept it. That is called tapasya. Tapaḥ.

So why tapasya? Tapasya is accepted for some higher achievement. So therefore He said, tapo divyaṁ putrakā. Divyaṁ. Divyaṁ means "transcendental." Just like Kṛṣṅa says, janma karma ca me divyaṁ. Divyaṁ: transcendental, divine. So Kṛṣṅa says that,

janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg 4.9]

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

Anyone who tries to understand Kṛṣṅa’s activities, that is divyaṁ. So tapo divyaṁ: "My dear sons, accept tapasya for that transcendental realization." Not for manufacturing atom bomb. That is also tapasya. The scientists undergo severe penances how to find out, discover some… Not that kind. That Hiraṅyakaśipu... Hiraṅyakaśipu, he also underwent great tapasya, but what was the result of that tapasya? To tease his own son, because he was devotee. Not that kind of tapasya. That is demonic. Tapo divyaṁ. Divyaṁ. You just try to undergo austerities and penances for divine, transcendental realization. That is tapasya. "Why I shall go? I am enjoying my senses very nicely like the dogs and hogs. Why shall I undergo tapasya?" Now the answer is given: tapo divyaṁ yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed. This tapasya is required if you want to purify your existence. Just like a man suffering from some disease, he is advised by the physician that "You don’t eat for some time. Fast." That is tapasya. Why? Not to be cured—to purify the body from the disease. That is tapasya.

So here tapasya is advised not for some material profit but for transcendental realization. Then what will be the result? Now, śuddhyed sattvaṁ. This existence… At the present moment my existence, this bodily existence, is not pure. If it is pure, then why shall I be subjected to birth, death and old age? Because it is not pure. The so-called scientists, philosophers, they do not know. They say death is..., it is inevitable; we cannot avoid it. No. Death is…, can be avoided. That is called tapasya. That is called purification. Just like Kṛṣṅa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti. After giving up this body, Kṛṣṅa assures; then you don’t get another material body. Where is that science? They do not know whether we are going to accept another body. That’s a fact, but they do not know it. Big, big scientist, big, big professors, they do not know it. They think that this life is the end, and after, there is nothing—zero. Śūnyavādi. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi.

But that is not the fact. Kṛṣṅa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptir, the most, I mean, authorized person, Kṛṣṅa. Who can be greater authority than Kṛṣṅa? All ācāryas accept—Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Śaṅkarācārya—the ācāryas who guide the destiny of Indian civilization, they accept kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

So how can you deny the statement of Kṛṣṅa? Kṛṣṅa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptir. As you are changing body in this life,

dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptir [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.]

so there is dehāntara-prāptir. So this dehāntara-prāptir means diseased condition. And we have accepted the so-called material happiness as happiness. But that may be happiness, but that is temporary. But real happiness, as it is stated here, that,

tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ anantam [SB 5.5.1]

If you purify your existence, that you are hankering after happiness, that happiness will be eternal. Eternal. Never interrupted. That is wanted. Ānanda-cin-maya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis [Bs 5.37].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.]

Ānanda-cin-maya-rasa. Rasa means "taste." We taste some happiness, but not this material happiness. But just like you taste sugar candy when you are suffering from jaundice, the taste will be bitter, but sugar candy is not bitter; it is sweet. But when you are cured from the jaundice disease, the same sugar candy will be tasting very sweet.

So we are hankering after tasting sugar candy in the diseased condition, and we are tasting the bitterness of it. But if you are cured, sattvaṁ śuddhyed, our existence is purified, then we shall taste brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam—unlimited, eternal happiness. That is the business of human life. Not that for temporary happiness we shall work like hogs and dogs perpetually, and getting change of another body, another body, another body. That is not very good intelligence. That will be described by Ṛṣabhadeva in the later verses:

nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṅoti na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśa-da āsa dehaḥ [SB 5.5.4]

This kind of working means I am creating another body. That we do not know; neither this science is known to the modern civilized man. They are in ignorance how we are creating another body, how there are so many different types of body. That is warned: yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśa-da āsa deha. This body is not tempo…, not permanent, but as long the..., as long the body is there, you must suffer. You must suffer threefold miseries. That is not coming to our brain. We are accepting suffering as happiness. Hah?

asatyere satya kori mani nitāi-pada pāsariyā ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā [Manaḥ-śikṣā 3, Prārthanā]

Asatyere satya kori mani: you are accepting untruth as truth. This is our modern disease. It is not new, and some thousands and thousands of years ago… Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was written five thousand years ago, and this instruction of Ṛṣabhadeva is there, so it must have had happened long, long, many, many years before this Bhāgavata was written.

So the same disease. Because the material creation is not new. The disease is there from the very beginning. Now, in the Kali-yuga, the disease is very acute. Otherwise, the same birth and death. We have not improved anything, because the same birth and death is continuing. We are eating, sleeping, mating, and everything is going on. So if we want to improve our position, if we want to enjoy life eternally, blissfully, then we must take to this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. That is our request. If you don’t take it compulsorily, then you are committing suicide. We are just trying to save the human society from this suicidal policy.

So my request is that it is a very scientific movement, authorized from..., taken from the Vedic literatures, and based on the principles of Bhagavad-gītā as it is. So our only request is, especially here in India, they should take it very seriously and try to apply the principles in their life, and spread it all over the world. That is the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra [Cc Ādi 9.41].

[One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.]

We Indians, we are not meant for exploiting others. That is not our civilization. Cheating others—no. That is not ours. Our civilization is to do good to others. This is Indian civilization. Don’t forget it. You have got a very exalted position. Take advantage of the śāstras, make your life successful and try to do good to others.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya gurudeva. Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. Haribol. [break]

Prabhupāda: It is already described in the Bhagavad-gītā that kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu [Bg 13.22]. There are different forms of life, different species of life. What is the reason of these different gradations? A dog's life and a man's life is different. How it has so become? What is the scientists' reply? I don't think the scientists can reply this. Or they can reply, "Evolutionary process."

How the evolutionary process is taking place? So that answer is also given in the Bhagavad-gītā,

mayādhyakṣeṅa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram hetunānena kaunteya jagad viparivartate [Bg 9.10]

[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]

That... The developed human life is obtained by karma. Karmaṅā daiva-netreṅa jantur dehopapattaye [SB 3.31.1].

[The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.]

We are working under the control of material nature, and we are infecting, contaminating, different modes of material nature. Just like a person who has contaminated the smallpox infection, he must suffer from smallpox. That is medical science. Similarly, kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya [Bg 13.22]. There are three material modes of nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. So if you associate with goodness, then your next body becomes manifest in the modes of goodness, just like highly intelligent class of men, or the brāhmaṅa. If you infect the modes of passion, then you become passionate; you get passionate body. And ignorance also.

ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ jaghanya-guṅa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ [Bg 14.18]

[Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.]

Every reply is there. As we are associating or contaminating different modes of material nature, we are manufacturing or giving chance to get a certain type of body, exactly if I infect the smallpox disease, I must suffer from it. This is the law of nature. So when, after associating with the modes of goodness for many, many years—or not many, many years but many, many lives—then one can become very intelligent brāhmaṅa.

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [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.]

After many, many births of this kind of contaminated diseases and births and body, when by culture of knowledge, by austerities, by penances, by brahminical culture one becomes very, very learned and wise, at that time he can understand what is God—not before that. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān [Bg 7.19]. Not the rascals and the fools can understand what is God. Only the jñānavān. So as you are trying to become jñānavān for higher status of life, similarly, if you become jñānavān to understand God, then God consciousness will come. Not so easily.

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin etti māṁ vtattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

So not only ordinary human being. What they can understand about God? Manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye. What is the perfection of life? One must know. The perfection of life is to understand that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is perfection of life, when one can understand.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām [Bg 18.54]

[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.]

So after becoming Brahman-realized soul, when he is fully liberated from material contamination—goodness, passion or ignorance—prasannātmā, na śocati na kāṅkṣati, he has no material hankering, neither he laments for any material loss, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, when he visions all living entities as spirit soul, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām, at that time he is eligible to understand what is bhakti. And bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg 18.55]:

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

if you become bhakta, if you have got the opportunity to come to that platform, then you can understand God. Otherwise, God is not so easy to understand. [break] [answering another question] What is your duty? That is the first thing. Do you know what is your duty?

Indian man (1): Duty [indistinct].

Prabhupāda: You manufacture your duty, but you do not know what is your duty. [laughter] Duty is: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]. That is your duty. Anything you manufacture duty, that is not duty; that is cheating. [applause] First of all, you learn what is your duty; then talk of duty. In your office if you go, if you say, "Anything I do, it is my duty," no. You must know the particular work you are advised to act by the superintendent or the director, not that you can manufacture your duty. If you execute that duty, then you are dutiful. Otherwise, you are simply creating trouble, just like a monkey. They create their duty, and wherever he goes, "Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!" The monkey's duty is no duty. A man must know what is duty, and he should execute. That is duty.

Indian man (1): As you have explained, Lord Kṛṣṅa [indistinct] Arjuna to do his duty.

Prabhupāda: Well, first of all you try to understand Kṛṣṅa, what He says. Then, if you are dutiful, then you can say who is the other dutiful. Kṛṣṅa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]. If you come to that stage of life, then you are dutiful. Otherwise, if you create your duties as monkey, that is not duty. [pause] Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Indian man (2): [indistinct lengthy question]

Prabhupāda: So, our endeavor should be not to be implicated by the material modes of nature, never mind what is the percentage. This material world is always mixed up—some goodness, some passion, some ignorance. Here you cannot possess the material quality in full, cent per cent purity. No. That is not possible. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. One quality is overlapping the other quality. Our business is how to become transcendental to all these qualities, not to be touched by any of the qualities of material nature. That is our business. That should be our aim. Nirguṅa. That is called nirguṅa: no more contaminated by the material qualities. That is called nirguṅa.

And that is very simple thing. Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

māṁ ca avyabhicāreṅa bhakti-yogena yah sevate sa guṅān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [Bg 14.26]

[One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.]

Māṁ ca avyabhicāreṅa bhakti-yogena yah sevate. If one accepts this bhakti-yoga process,

śravaṅaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṅoḥ smaraṅaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam [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.]

These are the different nine items of bhakti-yoga. If you take all of them or some of them or at least one of them, you become transcendental to all these material qualities. Sa guṅān samatītyaitān. All these material qualities one can transcend and remain in the Brahman platform, brahma-bhūyāya kalpate. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati [Bg 18.54].

[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.]

This is the process. It is not that we shall possess this quality certain percentage, that quality certain percentage. No. Above all qualities. That should be the aim of life. Then we shall be in the Brahman platform, or in the spiritual platform, and then our life will be successful. Otherwise, struggle for existence, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19]. We take one type of body according to the contamination of material modes of nature, we suffer or enjoy, then again we die, again we accept another body. In this way it continues, and we remain entangled in this material world.

Indian man (2): [indistinct]

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is said in the śāstra,

ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṅa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ [Cc Madhya 17.136]

[Therefore material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṅa’s holy name, form, qualities and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṅa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṅa really is.]

The Kṛṣṅa—His form, His name, His quality, His pastimes, His paraphernalia—cannot be experienced by these material senses. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṅa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ. He is beyond the indriyas. But if one is engaged in devotional service, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau... That devotional service begins from jihvā, tongue. This tongue means can be utilized in devotional service in two ways, namely by chanting the holy name of God and by tasting prasādam. If first of all one engages his jihvā, means tongue, in devotional service by chanting the holy name, Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra, and tasting only kṛṣṅa-prasādam, not anything else, then Kṛṣṅa, being pleased by his devotional service, He manifests Himself, reveals Himself. That revelation is experienced, very highly advanced devotee.

So for advanced devotee everything is possible, as described by this gentleman. But that is not for everyone. That is not a common thing. Exceptional. For the common person, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu has advised and as He has practically shown in His life, that is devotional service in separation: "Where is Kṛṣṅa?" Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṅa me [Śikṣāṣṭaka 7]:

[O Govinda! Feeling Your separation, I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence.]

"I am seeing everything vacant because I cannot see Kṛṣṅa." The same thing was followed by the Gosvāmīs. He rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ: "Where you are? O Rādhārāṅī, O Kṛṣṅa, O the gopīs, where you are?" He rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ śrī-govardhana-pādapa-tale kālindī-vane kutaḥ. Govardhana-pādapa-tale: "Either on the valley of the Govardhana Hill or on the bank of the Ganges, where you are, all?" Seeking. Ghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalau. One should be mad after seeking Kṛṣṅa—"Where You are? Where You are?" Not that "I have seen." That is not bhajana. Bhajana means how to become mad after Kṛṣṅa. One who has once heard the tinkling sound of His ankle bell, He'll be mad after Him—"Where You are? Where You are? Where You are?" Not that hearing and becoming engaged in the family affairs. No. That is not possible. One who has seen, one who has heard, he'll become mad—no more interest in this material affairs. That is the sign. We can say. Of course, if you are experienced devotee... But so far we see of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His immediate successors, Gosvāmīs, they are mad after Kṛṣṅa. They never said that "We have seen Kṛṣṅa." This is called bhajana by separation, vipralambha-sevā.

So if we become mad after Kṛṣṅa, that is perfection, not that "We have seen Kṛṣṅa." We may see, but so far the Gosvāmīs are concerned, they are simply seeking. Ghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalau. Vihvalau means mad—"Where is Kṛṣṅa? Where is Kṛṣṅa? Where is Kṛṣṅa? Where is Kṛṣṅa?" That is self-realization.

Thank you very much. Chant Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Devotees: Haribol. [end]