740614 - Lecture SB 02.01.06 - Paris

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

740614SB-PARIS - June 14, 1974 - 26:01 Minutes

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (devotees repeat) (leads chanting of verse, etc.)

etāvān sāṅkhya-yogābhyāṁ

sva-dharma-pariniṣṭhayā

janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām

ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ

(SB 2.1.6)

etāvān—all these; sāṅkhya—complete knowledge of matter and spirit; yogābhyām—knowledge of mystic power; sva-dharma—particular occupational duty; pariniṣṭhayā—by full perception; janma—birth; lābhaḥ—gain; paraḥ—the supreme; puṁsām—of a person; ante—at the end; nārāyaṇa—the Personality of Godhead; smṛtiḥ—remembrance.

(break)

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

Prabhupāda: Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). At the time of death, if you can remember Nārāyaṇa—Nārāyaṇa or Kṛṣṇa, the same thing—then your life is successful, whatever you do. In Bengal there is a proverb, it is called bhajana kara sādhana kara mūrti jānle haya. Means you may be very big, stalwart spiritualist or yogīs, or there are so many big, big things, so whatever you do, that is all right, because they say that, "Everything is leading to the Supreme, this way or that way." That has been described here, sāṅkhya-yoga, karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga or dhyāna-yoga. So many things they have manufactured, that's all right. And you say that, "Whatever path we may follow, ultimately we go to the same goal." That is very nice, provided if you actually go to the same goal. Otherwise, it is misleading. That is described here, that "Never mind, You say that whatever path one may take, it leads to the same goal. We accept it." That is described here. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). Whatever you have done may be very good, but at the time of death, if you forget Nārāyaṇa, then it's all useless. All useless.

Because that is the point: at the time of death what is your mentality. At that time, if your mentality is Nārāyaṇa, then it is successful; you will be transferred to the spiritual world and be associates with the Nārāyaṇa. You get the complete perfection. But at the time of death if you think of your dog, then you go to become a dog. Finished. All your sāṅkhya-yoga and philosophy and yoga practice—all go to hell. You become a dog. That is wanted. So unless you practice . . . if that is the point, that one has to remember Nārāyaṇa at the time of death, then why not directly practice? This is practice. The Deity is there, the form of Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, is there. If you always be engaged in Lord Kṛṣṇa's service, you have got the impression of Kṛṣṇa always within your heart. And if you continue it some way or other, then your life is successful. Otherwise big, big talks, nose pressing and keeping the head down and . . . you can do that, waste your time in that way. But whether it is guaranteed that at the time of your death you shall remember Kṛṣṇa or Nārāyaṇa? That is wanted. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ, the Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, the authority says. So this Bengali proverb . . . so bhajana kara sādhana kara mūrti jānle. You are very good transcendentalist. You are practicing so many nice things. That's all right. But do you know how to die? That is the point. If you die with God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then your life is successful.

(reading purport:) So "Nārāyaṇa is the transcendental Personality of Godhead beyond the material creation." Nārāyaṇa is not a person . . . the Māyāvādīs say: "Nārāyaṇa is also person like us. So I can remember anyone. I can remember my wife, I can remember my husband or my child. Still I am going to the same goal." No, no, no. That is not possible. Therefore it is particularly said, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ. Not your other friend or other demigod or other . . . no. Nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ. So "Everything that is created, sustained and at the end annihilated is within the compass of mahat-tattva and material principle." Anything.

That . . . in another place it is said that:

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed ratiṁ yadi

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

That is also referred here, that etāvān sāṅkhya-yogābhyām. Big, big sannyāsīs, they are discussing Sāṅkhya yoga, metaphysics, or analyzing what is spirit, what is matter, neti neti: "Not this." This is called Sāṅkhya yoga. And Sāṅkhya yoga, original Sāṅkhya yoga means bhakti-yoga. Because the Sāṅkhya yoga system philosophy was spoken by Kapiladeva, the son of Devahūti. That is purely bhakti-yoga. Later on, one atheist, he also assumed the name of Kapila and discussed Sāṅkhya yoga. That is materialistic analysis. The Sāṅkhya yoga system of philosophy is very much liked in Europe and Western countries because it is a system of metaphysics, analyzing the whole cosmic manifestation. There are twenty-four tattvas. Just like these five tattvas, elements, material: earth, water, air, fire, ether. Then ten senses, five senses for acquiring knowledge and five senses for enjoying. And the five, five, ten. And five elements, fifteen. Then five principles of enjoyment. They are called talk, touching, smelling, like that. Anyway, there are twenty-four elements, and mind, intelligence, ego, and the principal, soul. In this way there are twenty-four elements. The Sāṅkhya yogīs, they very much analyze this study. They are of the opinion that besides these twenty-four elements, there is nothing more. No. There is. The twenty-four elements, one who is combining and annihilating, that is the Supreme Lord, pradhāna, Viṣṇu.

So Sāṅkhya yoga, either you take this Kapiladeva's philosophical principle or that Kapiladeva, that's all right. But after analyzing, if you do not find out Nārāyaṇa, the creator of this material atmosphere, material elements, then it is useless laboring so much hard for analyzing. Just like the chemist or physicist, they are also analyzing the material elements within the laboratory. But that does not mean they are going to be liberated at the end of life. No. Or if you want to be liberated . . . because after all, you are spirit soul. You are entangled with these twenty-four elements. Your real business is how to get out of it. That is wanted. Suppose if you are a diseased fellow, or you analyze the disease . . . just like in the, what is called, pathology. There is called pathology. The doctor examine your blood and he finds out, "This is infection, that is infection, this is this, this is this." That's all right. But simply by understanding the blood analysis, pathology, does not mean it is cured. The cure is different. Similarly, these Sāṅkhya yogī philosophers, they may analyze very critically. Even they can count the atom which is composing this whole material atmosphere. But that does not mean you have understood the original force which has created all these things. That is discussed here, etāvān sāṅkhya-yogābhyām. So you become a very big scientist, very big physicist, chemist. That is all right. But you must know how to remember Nārāyaṇa at the time of your death.

An interesting story has been described by our Satsvarūpa Mahārāja in the Back to Godhead: The learned scholar and the boatman. The boatman . . . in Bengal there are many rivers, and so people generally transport by boat service. So a learned scholar from Calcutta said—he was going home in the village on a boat, and he was very happy—so he was asking the boatman, "My dear boatman, do you know what are these stars, this astronomy, how they are working?" "No, sir, I do not know." "Oh, your life is twenty-five percent lost. You do not know anything." Then after some time, "You know the geology, how this earth, water, they are working?" He said: "No, sir, I am poor man. What can I know?" "Oh, your fifty percent of your life is lost." Then all of a sudden there was a cloud, black cloud on the sky, and there was storm. Then at that time the boatman asked: "Sir, do you know how to swim?" "No, I do not know." "Then hundred percent you are lost. (laughter) You are going to be drowned." He jumped and he drowned.

So this is the point. So you are trying to understand the whole analytical study of the material world. That is very good. But if you do not know how to remember Nārāyaṇa at the time of death, then you are going to be cats and dogs, that's all. Because you are very fond of dog. Especially in the Western countries, every gentleman, every lady has a dog. So what will you think at the time of death? Dog. So that is the nature's law. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). You will find in the Bhagavad-gītā. At the time of death, the mental condition which you have created, that will carry you to the next body. Therefore don't create your mind doggish. Make it Kṛṣṇa conscious. And that is very nice. Then at the time of death you remember Kṛṣṇa, and you will be transferred to the Kṛṣṇaloka. That is described: etāvān sāṅkhya-yogābhyām. Therefore it is advised, "Whatever you may be, it doesn't matter. Practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That will save you." Otherwise . . . janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁān. Janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām ante (SB 2.1.6).

This janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ. Janma-lābhaḥ. Janma-lābhaḥ means getting a type of birth. So there are different types of birth. The so-called scientists, physicists, they do not know why there are so many varieties of life. Why not only human being? Why there is cat, there is dog, there is rat, there is fly and there is serpent, there is tree, there is creeper, there is fish, there is so many, 8,400,000 species of life? So they are also taking their birth by father and mother. The insect or the cats and dog or human being, the process of birth is the same, father and mother, anywhere you go. Therefore one Vaiṣṇava poet has sung:

janame janame sabe pitā-mātā pāya

kṛṣṇa guru nahi mile bhaja hari ei

(Prema-vivarta)

Everywhere, either you take birth as man or cat or dog or insect, there is father, mother. Father, mother you will get in any type of birth, but not guru and Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore this birth is meant for achieving guru and Kṛṣṇa. Father, mother you will get, anyone. Even you become a serpent there is father and mother. That is the way of birth. Therefore janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. Even in human society, every man is born a śūdra. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. He requires a second birth, by saṁskāra, reforming. Just like we give second birth, initiation. The second birth, the father is the spiritual master and the mother is the Vedas. As the first birth is taken by the material father and mother, similarly, second birth, dvija, is possible by the spiritual master, the father, and Vedic knowledge, mother. This father, mother. So that is required. And that is possible in the human form of life. A cat is born by father and mother, you are also born by father . . . but the cat is not, dog is not eligible to take the second father and mother. That is not possible.

So if we do not take the privilege of accepting the second father and mother, then what is the difference between your birth and the dog's birth? That is stated: janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām. You have got this human form of body, the best body. That is the instruction of all Vedic literature, simply stressing. But what is this material civilization? Simply working like cats and dogs. The same eating, sleeping, sex intercourse and defending. There are so many buildings in your city, Paris. Where is the culture to make the human life perfect? You have got very nice building. That is intelligence. So many nice buildings. People come to see the building. But that is not all. Simply if you utilize your intelligence . . . certainly there is intelligence. But if you use your intelligence for the simply material activities, then you are not intelligent; you are a fool.

That is described here. Janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām. You must make a cultural institution where people may take education how to remember Nārāyaṇa at the time of death. That is required. Otherwise useless. What is the value? You waste your so much time to construct a very nice house, but at the time of death, you could not remember Nārāyaṇa; you remember your very nice friend, dog. Then what is the value? What is the value? They do not understand this, that there is life after death. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13): "As you are changing your body from childhood to boyhood, boyhood . . ." It is very simple philosophy. The rascal will not understand. I am changing my body. You may say growth or . . . but it is changed. I had a childhood body; that body is different from my this present body. It is changed. Therefore I have already changed my body so many ways, so many times. And I change my body after this body is no more useful. That is going on. No more useful. That is the . . . the example is given: I am putting on this sweater, but when it is torn, no more useful, I get it out. I get another, new. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti tatah 'parāṇi (BG 2.22). Everything is clearly stated. This is dress only. This body is dress. Therefore we do not give on the bodily dress; we give stress on the soul. We do not make any distinction that, "This is Hindu dress, Muslim dress, Christian dress, black dress, white dress." No, no, we have nothing to do with the dress. We have to do with the soul within the dress. He is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. He has forgotten Kṛṣṇa; therefore he is suffering. Therefore our movement is to revive his Kṛṣṇa consciousness and go back to home, back to Godhead. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ. So it is very important movement. Those who are very intelligent, they can take to it. Or you become intelligent or not intelligent, but know, at least, unless one is pious, he cannot take to this movement. But somehow or other, if you take this movement, then your this valuable life is successful. Janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām. It is not cats' and dogs' life. It is human form of . . . utilize it properly. Utilize properly means to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, not dog conscious, cat conscious or this conscious or . . . no. These will not help you. Kṛṣṇa conscious. Then you will be able to remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death, and your this valuable life is properly utilized. Janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām. You have got very nice, valuable body, but it will be properly utilized if you learn how to remember Nārāyaṇa at the time of death.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)