Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.5

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse and synonyms]

parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam yāvat kriyās tāvad idaṁ mano vai karmātmakaṁ yena śarīra-bandhaḥ [SB 5.5.5]

[02:14]

Translation: "As long as one does not inquire about the spiritual values of life, one is defeated and subjected to miseries arising from ignorance. Be it sinful or pious, karma has its resultant actions. If a person is engaged in any kind of karma, his mind is called karmātmaka, colored with fruitive activity. As long as the mind is impure, consciousness is unclear, and as long as one is absorbed in fruitive activity, he has to accept a material body." [break]

Prabhupāda:

parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam yāvat kriyās tāvad idaṁ mano vai karmātmakaṁ yena śarīra-bandhaḥ [SB 5.5.5]

It is very quite natural, whatever you do, your mind will be absorbed in that business. Karmātmakam. Therefore our mind should be engaged always in Kṛṣṅa: sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṅa-padaravindayor [SB 9.4.18].

[Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord's temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṅa or about Kṛṣṅa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa's temples and Kṛṣṅa's places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord's devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord's prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires.]

Then we can be relieved from this śarīra-bandhaḥ. Unfortunately, there is no education that it is a great hamper, impediment, to our progress of life, this material body. And in the Vedic civilization, this material body is condemned everywhere—material. Śarīra-bandhaḥ, they do not understand.

So in the bondage state, whatever you are doing in so-called material progress, it is not progress. It is parābhavas, defeat. People are so busily engaged throughout day and night; they are making material progress. But it is not progress. It is regress. But they do not know it. Why? Abodha-jātaḥ, born rascal. Born rascal. If we say that "You are all born rascals," they'll fight. But actually that is the fact. Born rascals: abodha-jātaḥ. Yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam. That ātma-tattvam, brahma-jijñāsa, where is that inquiry? Nobody inquires, because they have no information. The cats and dogs, big, big professors, they are thinking so long this body is there, by chance, by accident, we have got this body, and as soon as the body is finished, everything is finished. That means they do not know ātma-tattvam. On this misconception of life they are inventing so many "isms."

Just now in the morning we were talking that inventing some means for curing the leprosy. That is good, but why there should be leprosy? That they do not know. Why one man is suffering from leprosy, another man is not suffering? Is there no arrangement? Who is making this arrangement, that one man is suffering from leprosy, another is not suffering, he's quite in good health? So unless there is some arrangement, how it is happening? They do not question. Jijñāsu. That inquisitiveness is absent, dull. Just like trees: they cannot inquire even that "Why you are cutting the tree? Why you are doing harm to..." No inquiry. Just like stone and trees. [indistinct] This is the modern human civilization. Therefore whatever plans they are making, it is becoming baffled, useless after some time, parābhavaḥ. Because they do not know what plan they should make. Just like children, they are thinking that "If I play like this, it will be very nice," so becomes engaged in one type of playing. And then again changing, another type of playing, because they do not know what kind of plan should be made so that... Children. Abodha-jātaḥ. Children's another name is abodha.

So from abodha, one has to be brought to the platform of bodha. Bodhayantaṁ parasparam. This word is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. That is mahātmā. Bodhayantaṁ parasparam. Not the abodhayantam. The other rascals, they are abodha, those who are bodhayantaṁ parasparam. What is that verse? Mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṅā bodhayantaḥ parasparam [Bg 10.9].

[The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are surrendered to Me, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about Me.]

This is called sat-saṅga. Sat-saṅga. People should be engaged always inquiring about progress of spiritual life. That is advancement. Bodhayantaḥ parasparam. There should be constantly discussion. Everything is there in the books. Just like this word abodha-jātaḥ. We can discuss on this point, abodha-jātaḥ.

So this is jijñāsu. And to dissipate this ignorance, get out of this ignorance, one has to approach a person who is not abodha but bodha, budhā. Budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ: one who has known what is the destination of life. That budhā... What is that? Bhajante ananya manaso budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ [Bg 10.8].

[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]

So one has to approach a budhā. Therefore Lord Buddha's name is Buddha, from this bodha. He has understood everything. He was prince, and he never came out of the palace, and when he came out he saw one old man with a stick, with great difficulty walking. So inquired his servants, "What is this?" "This is old man. Everyone has to become like this." That was the inspiration of understanding. "Why he should be like that? Why one should become old man? Why he should walk on sticks?" So these inquiries made him Buddha, Lord Buddha, by meditation. That is his pastime. That means one should understand by nature study, why this man is diseased, why this man is old, why this man is suffering. Then bodhayantaḥ parasparam, then the inquisitiveness can lead him to the proper knowledge. And where to get that proper knowledge? That is guru. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12].

[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]

But if there is no inquiry, if one is dull like stone and tree, then how there will be inquiry?

So our education at the present moment is given just dull like stone and trees. Trees standing, cutting. No inquiry, no..., "Why you are cutting?" He cannot. So dull. But this inquisitiveness should be enthused. People should be enthused to inquire: ādau gurvāśrayaṁ sad-dharma pṛcchāt. Sad-dharma pṛcchāt. That inquisitive must be... Guru means... To accept guru means the disciple should be very very eager to know. Sad-dharma pṛcchāt. Ādau gurvāśrayam. Why you accept a guru? "It is a fashion." Fashion. Nowadays they accept a guru, fashion. "Everyone has guru. Everyone has a dog. Well, let me keep a dog." Like that. A pet dog. So similarly, to keep a pet guru, that is not... One should be very inquisitive: sad-dharma pṛcchāt. And everywhere the same thing. Paripraśna. Tad viddhi praṅipātena paripraśnena sevayā [Bg 4.34].

[Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.]

But don't make inquiries cheap: "Ah, here is my guru, and he's meant for answering all my questions. Let me go on questioning, questioning, questioning." No. Sevayā: you must serve him. You must be ready to serve him. Then you have got right to make question. Otherwise not. Two things. First of all, you must find out a person where you can fully surrender, praṅipātena. And then you can inquire, and the inquiry should be compensated by seva. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasāda. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ [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.]

The more you are inclined to render seva, the more the truth becomes revealed.

yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante ... [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23]

[Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed.]

It is a different science. The more you are inclined to render service, the more spiritual truth becomes revealed. And two things: if you are not inquisitive, don't bother yourself to have a guru. Useless. There is no need. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta [SB 11.3.21].

[Therefore any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.]

Tasmād, "therefore." What is that? Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. If you are inquisitive about transcendental science, śreya uttamam... Śreya and preya—two things are there. Śreya means ultimate good, and preya means immediate sense gratification, it is preya. And śreya means ultimate good. So if one is inquisitive to know what is the ultimate goal of life, for him, a guru is required. But if he wants immediate some sense gratification, he doesn't require a guru. For sense gratification there is no need of guru. Even these birds and beasts, they know how to gratify senses. There is no need of university or teacher. Say for sex life, nobody requires to go to the university. They know. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca [Hitopadeśa 25].

[Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But the special property of the humans is that they are able to engage in spiritual life. Therefore without spiritual life, humans are on the level of animals.]

These four things, there is no need of university education. But at the present moment to go to university means how to gratify the senses very scientifically. Scientifically. How to steal scientifically. Does it require any scientific knowledge how to cut throat and how to steal? No. They require education for spiritual understanding, tad-vijñānārtham, not this vijñānārtham, this material knowledge. It doesn't require. It is simply a waste of time. This modern university education is simply a waste of time.

There was no education for even the vaiśyas. There are four divisions: brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. But vaiśya and śūdra, there is no need of education. The brāhmaṅas, because they will guide the society, they require education. And the kṣatriya, they will give protection to the society; therefore there was education guided by the brāhmaṅa. And for the vaiśyas, kṛṣi-gorakṣya-vāṅijyaṁ vaiśya-karma... [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.]

Where is the education? He can see, learn from his father how the field is to be cultivated with a plow. He doesn't require. He can see. And fifty years ago we have seen that those who were in the lower status of life, they never sent their children to school. I have seen it. Never sent. "Oh, what is the use of wasting time? Better admit him in some working shop or in some business." The Marwaris still do that: "Please keep my son in your firm." And small children, by seeing... Just like our children, they are seeing this Deity worship, this kīrtana—they will learn. Similarly, those who have to work to earn their livelihood, mechanical or some, they can go to the... What is the use of wasting time to the..., going to the university? Scientific education for hammering? Hammering you can see. You take a hammer and go on. [laughs] What is the use of... Technical nonsense. They have invented technical... Does it require any education? No. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12]:

[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]

education required if you require to understand the value of life, tattva-jijñāsaḥ. Tattva-jijñāsu śreya uttamam. Jijñāsu tattva-jijñāsaḥ. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsaḥ. This is recommended in the śā... Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsaḥ na yaś ceha karmabhīḥ. Tattva-jijñāsa. Brahma-jijñāsa. This is life. Otherwise abodha-jātaḥ. Abodha-jātaḥ.

So this abodha-jātaḥ, this rascal civilization, whatever they are planning, whatever they are doing, that is simply defeat. He does not know what is the aim of life. They are being defeated. So this time, this life I have become prime minister, and making so many plans and so many things and so many things. Next life I become a dog. That you cannot check. Karmaṅā daiva-netreṅa [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.]

The God's law, nature's law, will not take account of your premiership, prime ministership. What you are actually—that is nature's law. Kṛṣṅa is there within your heart. Outwardly you become a very big man—minister, president and so on—and God is seeing within what you are. Within. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg 18.61].

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

Within you are a dog, and outside if you are a president, that will not help you. That will not help you. Abodha-jātaḥ.

Therefore whatever plan they are making, that's all defeat. Plan-making is already there. Kṛṣṅa has given plan gradually. The last plan is sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]. This is real plan. This is Kṛṣṅa has given so many plans: karma-yogī, dhyāna-yogī, this yogī, that. But everywhere He has concluded that the real plan is how to become Kṛṣṅa conscious. That is real plan. Yoginām api sarveṣām mad-gatenāntarātmānā śraddhāvān... [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.]

You are trying to be yogī, that's all right. This is haṭha-yoga. Go to a secluded place, sit down in this way, looking, not sleeping. Eyes half-open; see to the point of your nose, so on, so on. Complete celibacy. These things. Kṛṣṅa has said everything, how to become a yogī, how to become a jñānī, how to become a karmī. But everywhere He has concluded about Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Jñānī? All right: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyante [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.]

"They're coming to Me." Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā [Bg 6.47]. Yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi kuruṣva tat mad arpaṅam [Bg 9.27].

[O son of Kuntī, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me.]

The ultimate is Kṛṣṅa. That is real plan. And if you do not know this plan, śrama eva hi kevalam—simply waste of time.

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvakṣena-kathāsu yaḥ notpādayed ratiṁ yadi 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.]

If you do not know ultimately that Kṛṣṅa is required, then all your jñāna, karma, yoga, tapasya, everything is simply waste of time. Simply waste of time.

Therefore it is said parābhava. Whatever you are doing, simply defeat, because you do not know ātma-tattva. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām [SB 2.1.2].

[Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor.]

Very dangerous position. If we do not take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, then we are defeated in every sphere of life. And then, after death, karmaṅā daiva netreṅa yantra dehopapattaye [SB 3.31.1].

Tathā dehāntara-prāptir. You have to change your body. And that will be selected not by you, not by your government, not by your father, not by your so-called guru. It will be decided by the laws of nature. That you cannot avoid. You should always remember that Kṛṣṅa is the ultimate goal. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṅum [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

These rascals, they do not know that his self-interest, ultimate goal of self-interest, is Viṣṅu. Duraśayā ye bahir-artha māninaḥ. Simply by the false hope, hope against hope, they are trying to adjust things materially or so-called spiritually, by this or that. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ [SB 7.5.31]. These rascals, they are tied with the laws of material nature, hand and legs, and they are thinking they are free to do anything and everything without any consultation of śāstra.

yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ na siddhiṁ sa avāpnoti parāṁ gatim [Bg 16.23]

[But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.]

The same thing. No siddhi. If you do not get success, then what is the use of your working so hard? Na siddhiṁ sa avāpnoti. Na sukhaṁ na parām.

So without consulting śāstra, without consulting guru, without consulting Kṛṣṅa... Kṛṣṅa is so kind, He has given. He has come to help you, because you are being misled by the so-called leaders. Kṛṣṅa says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati [Bg 4.7]. These rascals, these leaders, they will simply mislead you. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās [SB 7.5.31].

They are blind. They do not know how to live. They do not know. Therefore Kṛṣṅa personally comes: "All right, I shall lead you. Take My advice, take My instruction, and ultimately surrender unto Me. Then I'll lead you back to home, back to Godhead."

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]