Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.1

Pradyumna: ...vāsudevāya, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Chants verse] [devotees repeat]

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

[03:22]

Translation: "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." [break]

Prabhupāda: So we have discussed this verse yesterday. It is very essential that this human form of body is meant for rectifying, or purifying, our existence. That they do not know, especially in the modern age, that this body is temporary, and we living entities, we are eternal, and this is our bondage. So long we are within this material body, it is our bondage. Real life is eternal life, without any birth, death, old age and disease. Where is that science? There is no such department of knowledge that how one can live eternally, without any disease, without any old age and without any death and without any birth. If there is birth, there is death. And between the two, birth and death, there is old age and disease. Where is that scientist who are trying to solve this problem?

And Kṛṣṅa put this problem before us: 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.]

This is knowledge. They are making plans for so many things, but where is that plan to stop janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha? That is not so easy. Therefore they have avoided it. They do not touch this point. They are making arrangement for temporary, so-called happiness. That attempt is done even by cats and dogs. That is not successful life. I have several times told you... This is Vedic civilization. When Viśvāmitra came to see Mahārāja Daśaratha... It is etiquette, suppose a friend comes, we ask, "How are you, my friend? How things are going on?" So similarly, when Daśaratha Mahārāja inquired Viśvāmitra, "How are you?" that "How are you" was not ordinary question. He inquired, aihiṣṭaṁ yat punar janma jayāya [Rāmayana]. The great great saintly persons, sages, they are engaged in devotional service. What is the purpose? The purpose is not for some material gain. The purpose is different. That was inquired by Dāsaratha Mahārāja: aihiṣṭaṁ yat punar janma jayāya: "You are undergoing tapasya, austerities, for conquering over rebirth."

Rebirth, that is very painful. But because we are mūḍhas, we have forgotten what is the painful condition is rebirth. We do not remember it. We do not remember. We had to pass through. We can simply imagine how it is painful to remain in the womb of the mother, packed up in an airtight bag, and hands and legs you cannot move even. So this is the tribulations of taking birth. And similarly, the tribulations of death. Sometimes one remains in coma for months and he suffers so much. Sometimes he cries. Actually tears come out. We cannot see, but within the body of the dying man is so much painful. This is called janma-mṛtyu. And old man's..., there are difficulties. And vyādhi: everyone is subjected to some kind of disease. So we do not take account. So here Ṛṣabhadeva is stressing on this point: "My dear boys, do not spoil your life living like cats and dogs." Do not. This is not meant for this life. This human form of life is meant for different purposes. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam [SB 7.6.1]. That we should always remember, that this human form of body is obtained after many, many births. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [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.]

Bahu sambhavante. Bahu sambhava. Sambhava means birth and death, birth and death. So we should not forget this. Everyone should be very serious. That is civilization. Not that to remain for sense gratification like cats and dogs fighting. This is not good.

So to achieve this highest goal of life, it requires tapasya, austerity. It is not easily obtainable. So therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taught us,

tṛṅād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṅunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc Ādi 17.31]

[One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.]

Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, paraṁ vijāyate śrī-kṛṣṅa-saṅkīrtanam. Simply by... Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended not whimsically. This is the prescription of this age: kīrtanād eva kṛṣṅasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet [SB 12.3.51].

[My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.]

If you perfectly chant this Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṅasya—not any other name but Kṛṣṅa—mukta-saṅgaḥ: you can become free from this material association, or the contamination due to material contact. That is the special advantage of this age. This age, Kali-yuga, is full of faulty things. Kaler doṣa-nidhe [SB 12.3.51] It is an ocean of faulty things. It is very, very difficult. Sarvānge gha upaidha mala[?]. A man is suffering from itches, or what is called, sores, all over the body. So where he shall give ointment? He should be dipped in the ointment. This is the position. Similarly, how much you will find out, "This is faulty, this is faulty, this is faulty..." The life in the Kali-yuga itself is faulty. Everything is faulty. So... But still, Kṛṣṅa is so kind, He has given an opportunity that by chanting His holy name one can become free from this faulty position. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṅasya mukta-saṅga paraṁ vrajet. It is possible.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, mahā-vadānyāvatara, He is patita-pāvana. He is the deliverer of all the fallen souls. He has given us this much tapasya prescription. Tapasya must be there. And that is very easy to be done by us. It is not very difficult. One has to become very humble. That is the first qualification. Tṛṅād api sunīcena. Sunīcena means lower than the grass. Just like we trample over the grass; they do not protest. Tṛṅād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣnunā. And tolerant, humbler than the grass and tolerant than the tree. A tree gives us all benefit, but in return we give the tree so much trouble. We snatch away the twigs, we snatch away the leaves. Sometimes for our fuel we cut down. But there is no protest. So these things have been taught by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Tṛṅād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣnunā amāninā mānadena. Nobody should think himself that he is very prestigious person, falsely. Nobody is prestigious. Everyone should be humble. So these three, four things we should learn, and that is tapasya. And we should avoid the sinful activities, namely, no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication. These are some of the positive and negative formulas given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And if we follow this tapasya and chant Hare Kṛṣṅa, then our life is successful.

Life is successful means, it is stated here, sattvaṁ śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam. We are, every one of us, we are after happiness, sukham. From sukham it has come saukhyam. That happiness, if we want to continue our eternal life, then we require eternal happiness. Without happiness our life is not worth. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12].

[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]

Everyone should be happy, ānandamaya. That is spiritual world. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ [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.]

There is life, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. Not jaḍānanda. This is jaḍānanda. In the material world, the material happiness is jaḍa. There is no life. But there is a place which is full of eternal happiness. So this life should be engaged for that purpose, not to fight like cats and dogs. That is not very credit. Credit means ruining one's life. If one fights like cats and dogs, he becomes cats and dogs. Nature's law is very strict. Therefore we should be very careful not to become like cats and dogs but to become very humble—humbler than the grass and tolerant than the tree. Amāninā.

Everyone wants that "I am very honorable man, prestigious man, and you should respect me." That is our material disease. "I do not want to respect you, but you should offer me respect." This is the position. Therefore our system is to call another Vaiṣṅava as prabhu: "Sir, you are prabhu, you are master." But we call prabhu, but I think, "No, you are not prabhu; I am prabhu. You are servant." This cheating process will not help us. Actually, we should believe that he is prabhu: "He is servant of Kṛṣṅa; therefore he is my prabhu." This is Vaiṣṅava mentality. Gopī-bhartur pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsa [Cc Madhya 13.80].

[I am not a brāhmaṅa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya or a śūdra. Nor am I a brahmacārī, a householder, a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the maintainer of the gopīs. He is like an ocean of nectar, and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance.’]

One who wants to become servant of the servant of the servant of the servant, he is actually prabhu. If falsely one thinks that "I am prabhu," then his life is spoiled. So this word we use amongst ourself, prabhu, means that "I am your servant; you are my master." But that should be practically exhibited. That is called tapasya, to learn all these things.

Without tapasya, we cannot get out of this conditioned state. That is not possible. Those who are thinking that "Let us do whatever nonsense I can do, and at the same time I become free from this material condition..." No. That is not possible. One has to undergo tapasya. Just like if you are diseased, you have to undergo some tapasya. Just like first of all you go to a medical man. Immediately he charges ten rupees, twenty rupees, in our country. In your country it is more; no doctor charges less than ten dollars. Ten dollars means in our exchange it is ninety rupees. So who can pay ninety rupees in this country? That is the minimum charge. Then there is medicine. So you have to pay it, because you have got disease. And you have to earn this money with hard labor. So to cure your disease you have to undergo some penances, some austerities. This is an ordinary... And according to the gravity of the disease you have to pay more, which you may not have. You have to gather, you have to borrow, you have to beg. So these tribulations are called tapasya.

So just for curing our ordinary disease we have to pay to the doctor, pay for the medicine, and then we have to starve also. We cannot take anything. So many things forbidden. So this austerity is called tapasya, denial, self-denial. So we should learn it. If we want to utilize this body sane, like a sane man, then we should learn tapasya. Tapo divyam [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.]

And this tapa, what is the purpose of tapasya? Tapasya everyone knows. Just like a man walking on the street, pulling a ṭhelā. What is the purpose? He'll get five or ten rupees, whole day working like an ass. That is also tapasya. Tapasya means labor. So he's thinking, "I'll get ten rupees by working." He cannot pull it, the load is so heavy. Still, some way or other... That is also tapasya. A scientist discovering something, he has to work very hard and make experiments, so many things. That is also tapasya. But not that kind of tapasya. That kind of tapasya is not required. Tapo divyam. You are working hard for maintaining your body and soul together. You have to work hard. But here, that hard work should be for self-realization, divine contact. That is called divyam.

Divyam is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: janma karma ca divyam me [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.]

If you simply take little trouble to understand Kṛṣṅa... That tapasya required: to read Kṛṣṅa's instruction, Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and try to understand Kṛṣṅa. Because that tapasya, if you take little painful... It is not painful; it is very pleasing. But we avoid it. We think it is painful: "Ah! Who is going to read books? We are meant for selling books, not for reading books." This is not good. We should read also. That is tapasya. Saddhaya. That is tapasya. Don't think that simply our books are meant for selling. No. It is meant for reading also. If we read regularly, at least two hours, three hours, that is tapasya. Tapo divyam. To understand spiritual position, my spiritual position, Kṛṣṅa's spiritual... [child making noise] [aside:] Stop that. So that is tapasya. These are the tapasya. To rise early in the morning, that is also tapasya. Not that every day we have to ring bell—dung, dung, dung, dung—"Get up! Get up!" "No, I am sleeping." No, you have to accept. These are the tapasya. We cannot avoid. If we actually want to avoid this body, working like cats and dogs, like animals, then we have to undergo tapasya, a very simple tapasya.

In this age, it is not possible that as big, big saintly persons they go to the forest and undergo meditation in Himalayan mountain under the snow, and so many dif... No food, no shelter, secluded place, there are so many animals. That kind of tapasya is not possible in this age. You remain. We have constructed big, big nice building. But because the building is there, you simply come here as free guest and make life very easy for eating and sleeping, that is not tapasya. That is not tapasya. You must be very careful how to keep the temple very cleansed, yourself cleansed, worshiping the Deity. That is recommended. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan mandira-mārjanādau. This is also tapasya. If you cannot read, if you cannot do any other thing, so try to keep the temple... Every corner of this temple is Kṛṣṅa. Don't think that only Kṛṣṅa is here in the temple room. No. Kṛṣṅa is everywhere, especially this temple where Kṛṣṅa lives. Every part of this temple, every part of is Kṛṣṅa. Otherwise, why it is recommended, tan-mandira-mārjanādiṣu? This is tapasya.

So you should always remain engaged doing something for Kṛṣṅa. Don't think, "This is very first class; this is last class." No. Advaya-jñāna. Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa's temple, the same thing. Don't think that "Oh, I am given this work to cleanse the temple, and that man is given this work to worship the Deity." There is no difference. Ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeṣa tanaya tad dhāma vṛndāvanam. As vrajeṣa tanaya, Kṛṣṅa is ārādhya, worshipable, similarly His dhāma, His place, this Vṛndāvana, is also worshipable, as good as Kṛṣṅa. What to speak of temple—whole Vṛndāvana. Whole Vṛndāvana. Just like Uddhava. Uddhava, when he came to take Kṛṣṅa to Mathurā, he immediately fell down on the grass of Vṛndāvana, that "These grasses are so fortunate that over this grass Kṛṣṅa and the gopīs and Kṛṣṅa's friends, they trample over." This is vaiṣṅava-vicara. Not that he's thinking grass is insignificant than Kṛṣṅa. No. Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa's name, Kṛṣṅa's fame, Kṛṣṅa's form, Kṛṣṅa's qualities, Kṛṣṅa's paraphernalia, Kṛṣṅa's associates—everything is Kṛṣṅa. And you should treat like that. That is tapasya. And following the footsteps, mahājana yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ... [Cc Madhya 17.186].

[Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.]

Sādhu mārgānugamanam [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.74]. These things we should learn. Sādhu mārgānugamanam. Just like sādhu... Akrūra is a sādhu. How he respected even grass of Vṛndāvana. So unless we read books, literature, and follow their example, then how tapasya will be there? So things should not be neglected. Divya[?].

So if we undergo this tapasya, then our existence will be purified. This is... This method, this process, is devotional service. The devotional service, from the very beginning it is transcendental. Īhā yasya harer dāsye. If you simply desire to serve Kṛṣṅa, that is the beginning of existentional purification, immediately. Īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṅā manasā vācā [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.187]. Simply if you sincerely think that "How shall I serve Kṛṣṅa?" "Kṛṣṅa" does not mean simply Kṛṣṅa. "Kṛṣṅa" means Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa's name, Kṛṣṅa's form, Kṛṣṅa's quality, Kṛṣṅa's paraphernalia, Kṛṣṅa's association—everything in connection. Nirbandhe kṛṣṅa-sambandha yukta vairāgyam ucyate [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.255]. Everything.

So in this way if we lead our life, then this life will be successful, and then the result will be yasmād brahma-saukhyam. Brahma-saukhyam. Here brahma-saukhyam may be interpreted, as Māyāvādī says, brahma-sukha, brahma-līna. This is also brahma-līna, brahma-sukha, but it is not the Māyāvādī philosophy. Māyāvādī philosophy is to kill himself; to become one with Brahman. So if..., suppose I have to eat something to enjoy. So I can eat. That is enjoyment. But if I lose my existence, I become the food, then where is the enjoyment? No. The enjoyment is: "The food is there; I am there. I shall eat and enjoy." That means dvaita. Monism is not enjoyment, and therefore they fall down: āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho [SB 10.2.32].

[[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.]

Brahma-sukha, do not think to become Brahman or to become one with Brahman... That is not sukha. That they do not know. Therefore, my Guru Mahārāja used to say, a poor fund of knowledge. By becoming one with the Brahman, Supreme Brahman, that is not actually sukha. If it is actually sukha, then why in the śāstra it is said, āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho [SB 10.2.32]? By very severe austerities they come to the Brahman platform, monism, to become one with the Supreme, but from there he falls down. Why falls down? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. Because they have no information of the shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. Unless you come to that point, then there is no possibility of eternal happiness.

Therefore it is said, tapasya, tapo divyam. That is divyam. Kṛṣṅa has explained, janma karma ca me divyam [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.]

That means activities, transcendental activities. Not that Kṛṣṅa is a zero, full stop. No. Actual activities begins when there is Kṛṣṅa consciousness. These activities, they're my activities temporarily. They will not give us real happiness. Real happiness means when we come to the platform to be engaged in Kṛṣṅa's activities, tapo divyam putrakā yena. Then we will get eternal happiness. That is recommended here. Brahma-sukha does not mean that, as ordinarily they think, that to become brahma-līna or merge into the existence of Brahman. No. That will be explained in the next verse: mahat-sevāṁ dvāram ahur vimukteḥ [SB 5.5.2]. It will be explained. We shall take up this subject tomorrow.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]