760531 - Lecture SB 06.01.32 - Honolulu

Lectures by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this Lecture

760531SB-HONOLULU - May 31, 1976 - 23.14 Minutes

Pradyumna: Translation: "When the order carriers of Yamarāja, the son of the sun god, were thus forbidden, they replied, 'Who are you, sirs, that have the audacity to challenge the jurisdiction of Yamarāja?' "

Prabhupāda:

ūcur niṣedhitās tāṁs te

vaivasvata-puraḥsarāḥ

ke yūyaṁ pratiṣeddhāro

dharma-rājasya śāsanam

(SB 6.1.32)

So there is śāsanam. Śāsanam means government. Śas-dhātu I have several times explained. Śas-dhātu means ruling. Śas-dhātu. From śas-dhātu the word has come, śāsanam. There are many other words. From śas-dhātu is śāstra. And from śas-dhātu, śastra. From śas-dhātu, śāsanam. The Sanskrit words are coined from the dhātu verb. So śas-dhātu means ruling. So there is ruling. You cannot think that you are independent. There is government. If you disobey the ruling, as the government has got police department . . . And if you are still disobedient there will be military department. You cannot disobey the rulings of the government. Similarly, this government, God's government, there are so many things—government officers, departments, rulings. Don't think that there was a chunk and immediately there was . . . Nonsense. It is not chunk. (laughs) It is regular government. Just like we have here a small place. Hawaii, you have got so many government officers, rulers. And do you think such a vast cosmic manifestation there is no ruling? Just see how poor thought. There is ruling. Don't think all of a sudden that . . . Any sane man can understand that things are being carried systematically—the seasonal changes, the seasonal fruits and flowers, the sunrise, the moonrise, the birth, death, old age, disease—everything systematically going on. And they are happening by chance? Why by chance one does not live forever? There is no such chance, sir. There is ruling. You cannot say, "Now here is a chance the man has not died." Where is that chance? Why do you speak of nonsense chance? It is not chance; it is ruling. You must die. However you utopianly say, "Now we shall live." Oh, that is not . . . There is ruling.

So the Yamarāja is in charge of ruling of the sinful persons. Dharmasya śāsanam. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Dharma means the laws of God. It is not a sentiment, faith, "I believe." You believe or not believe, what does it matter? You believe or not believe in the government laws—it must carry on. Similarly, the so-called philosophers, they simply concoct ideas, "I believe. I believe." Whatever you believe, that is your business, but the ruling of the Supreme Lord must go on. You cannot check it. You cannot avoid it. You can go on with your believe or not believe. That is not the business. So Yamarāja is in charge of punishing according to the gravity of sinful activities. He's meant for punishing. That is just like superintendent of police or something like that, big officer, inspector general of the police department or the minister in charge of law and order. Everything is there imitation, yato vā imāni bhūtāni jayante (Taittirīya Upaniṣad 3.1), janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Wherefrom you get this idea? There must be a minister in charge of law and order. Where you get this idea? The idea is there from the original government. And there is the director or the minister in charge of law and order. The Yamarāja is minister in charge. They say it is mythology, it is man's creation. How it is man's creation? Things are going on. In śāstra it is said,

yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ

rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ

yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(BS 5.52)

Savitā, the sun, you, those who are initiated, so oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur vareṇyaṁ bhargo devasya dhīmahi. That savitā, the sun, take lesson from the sun. What is that? That yac-cakṣur eṣa, this is God's eyes. As soon as there is sunlight, you see everything. You cannot avoid His eyes. You think that "Nobody's here. Let me steal this." No. Immediately recorded. At night the moon is there. There are so many witnesses. And the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also witnessing within. So you cannot escape His witnessing. He's witnessing from inside, from outside. So how you'll escape your sinful activities? No. That is not possible.

So immediately things are recorded and, at the time of death, just as in the previous verse, we already studied, vikarṣato 'ntar hṛdayād (SB 6.1.31). Antar hṛdayād, in the core of the heart the individual soul and the Supersoul is there, and Yamarāja will take, his order carriers will take the . . . not the heart, but the soul. The heart of the body, that is made of this material element; that will lie down here. But the soul will be taken; there is arrangement. This is very, very subtle arrangement, and these rascals, they do not know how things are going on. They are imagining, "I think it is like this and that." There is no value of this "I believe," "I think," "I conjecture." You can do that, but things are going on. The government is very, very strong. Little deviation from the law, you will be punished. Little deviation. Nature's law, they are so systematically set up that automatically . . . Just like the same example I've given: you infect some disease, automatically you'll have to suffer from the disease. Not that somebody will come to ask you that "You have infected this disease. Now you have to suffer from this." No. The machine is so perfect that as you have infected this disease . . . This is practically we know. So all of a sudden one gets cholera. So the doctor says that there is bilious, or cholera germs. So nature's law is so perfect. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). You cannot escape. Suppose you can eat two ounce, and if you eat four ounce, then you have to starve three days. This is the law. "There's some very palatable dishes. Now eat . . . let me eat it to my satisfaction," and you'll overeat. Then nature's law is that you'll have to starve for three days. Next eating will be after three days.

So this way nature's law is acting. And what is this nature's law? Nature's law means a system, a machine. Just like in this government there is system. You cannot violate. "Keep to the right!" "Stop here, red light!" You must have to stop. "I'm governor." "Never mind, you stop." This is law. You cannot say that "I am governor," "I am Mr. Ford" or "Mr. Rockefeller," "Why shall I stop my car?" No, it is government order. You must stop. So this is practical going on. How you can violate the nature's law? It is not possible. Nature's law is so strict, a little deviation will put you into suffering. This is going on. That is Yamarāja. And if you violate more and more and more, then you suffer more and more and more. This is the law. You cannot escape. So that is fixed up. But as there is some exceptional cases . . . Just like one has committed murder, so by law he must be hanged. By law. That is the general law everywhere, all over the world: life for life. So similarly, in the God's law there is no such thing that if you kill a human being you'll be killed, and if you kill an animal you'll not be killed. That is imperfect law, man-made law. Therefore Jesus Christ said, "Thou shall not kill." No question of . . . They have modified, "This killing means murdering." But Christ does not say. Was he a fool, that he committed mistake, a mistake, instead of writing "Thou shall not commit murder," he has written, "Thou shall not kill," general? Otherwise Christ has no intelligence. He cannot use the proper word. But you are misusing the order of Lord Christ.

So you are suffering. You are maintaining so many slaughterhouse, and when it will be mature, there will be war, the wholesale murder. Finished. One atom bomb—finished. You'll have to suffer. Don't think that "Innocent animals, they cannot protest. Let us kill and eat." No. You'll be also punished. Wait for accumulation of your sinful activities, and there will be war, and the America will drop on Russia atom bomb, and Russia will be finished. Both will be finished. Go on now enjoying. It takes time. Just like even if you infect some disease, it takes time. Not that immediately you infect, and immediately the disease is there. No. It takes a week's time or so. What is called? A quarantine, quarantine . . .

Devotee: Period of incubation.

Prabhupāda: Hah? Incubation. So from Africa, if anyone goes anywhere, they require yellow fever injection. So if you haven't got yellow fever injection, then even in the airport, there is arrangement, you have to wait in the quarantine area for six days. You'll not be allowed. So this is . . . As you have got the laws and the punishment in this government, so why do you think there is no punishment and there is no God? This is utopian. Don't think like that. Utopian. There is God, there is his government, there are his agents, there are witnesses, and . . . Otherwise why there are different varieties of life? Different varieties of life. Why? Eight million, four hundred thousand species of life. Everyone is a living being. The trees are living being, the fishes are living being, the ants are living being, the mosquitoes are living being, and the human being also living being, the demigods also living being, the cats, dogs—everyone is living being. It is simply in different dresses. They're living beings. But why they are situated in different position? According to karma, punished.

So we should be very careful. This is . . . This human form of life is a chance to make your choice, whether you are to go on being punished like this in different forms of life or whether you shall go back to home, back to Godhead. Here is the chance. Manuṣyānāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Out of many millions and millions of persons, one is intelligent enough, he can inquire "Why I am suffering?" Everyone is suffering. That's a fact. Only the rascals, they think, "We're enjoying." Everyone is suffering. This is a place for suffering. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15), Kṛṣṇa says, who has created this place. It is a place of suffering. Every moment you are suffering due to the body, due to the mind, due to the suffering imposed by other living entities. The mosquito will bite, the flies will disturb you, the bugs are there, and then the dogs will bark unnecessarily. You are passing - his business is barking. Hah? "Gow! gow! gow!" (laughter) So this is also suffering. You don't like the next door the dog is barking. So in this way, if you are sober man, you don't want all this suffering, but it is imposed upon you. How do you think that you are living very happy? This is foolishness. It is not . . . This place, either ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokān punar āvartino . . . (BG 8.16). Wherever you go, you read from the śāstra, the demigods, they're supposed to be very happy in the upper planetary systems—they are also not in happiness. There is fight between the demons and the demigods and so on, so on. The same politics, same diplomacy, same, so many things. Here in the small scale, just like two birds, they fight also. You've seen them. So their fighting you neglect, "Ah, what is this nonsense?" But your fighting—there is atom bomb. And similarly there is fighting in the upper planets also.

So these things are going on, struggle for existence, survival of the fittest. This is nice theory. So here, anywhere you go . . . Just like your America is the richest country. Do you think there is happiness, there is no fighting, there is no disease, there is no death? No. Everything is there, as it is in other countries, poverty-stricken countries. So you cannot avoid. The birth . . . Kṛṣṇa says, "Birth, death, old age and disease, these are your problems." Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). Does it mean that these sufferings of birth, death and old age and disease, there is none in America or in other, moon planet? No. There is also same. Rather in greater portion, proportion. So there is stringent laws of the material nature everywhere, and there is God behind him, behind the nature. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Everything is going on under the direction of the supreme controller, and these are officers, just like Yamarāja, strictly following the regulative principles, the order of sun god.

So this Ajāmila was . . . We have already described his life—cheating, roguism and prostitute-hunter and so many things, that is his life. So he's subjected to be punishment, to be punished by the Yamarāja. So his order carriers have come to take him away. But, in the meantime, the Viṣṇudūtas came and asked them, "No. Don't touch him. Don't touch him." So they were surprised: "What is this?" Therefore they are asking, ke yūyaṁ pratiṣeddhāro dharma-rājasya śāsanam: "Who are you, interfering with government's law? Who are you?" They are surprising. "Nobody has checked us." Just like police . . . In some . . . Police comes to somebody's house, everyone knows there is some business, serious business. Who will ask the police, "Why you are entering here?" No. Nobody has right. (break) . . . his body is . . . (break) . . .that man, that soul is not annihilated. But why this punishment? Just to save him from so many other punishments. That is the law in Manu-saṁhitā, that a murderer is killed, then his all sinful activities, reaction of life, finishes by that killing, by that hanging. Otherwise next life he has to suffer so many things. So when the king orders a murderer to be killed, it is his mercy. It is his mercy. Because he saves him from so many other entanglement. Better kill him so that his sinful reaction is finished. Similarly, Yamarāja, the sinful man taken to the Yamarāja, he is put into suffering, the same principle as a prisoner. He has to suffer for a term, six months or one year, or sometimes more than that, just to atone for his sinful activities. So nobody can check. You can imagine that "There is no God, there is no Yamarāja, there is no punishment. Let me do." That is your fancy. But it is not the fact. Fact is, if we commit some sin we must suffer from it, and there is nobody in the world who can check it.

Thank you very much.

Devotee: Jaya! (end).