721226 - Lecture SB 01.02.08 - Bombay

Lectures by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

721226SB-BOMBAY - December 26, 1972 - 61:24 Minutes

Prabhupāda:

. . . puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu-yaḥ

notpādayed yadi ratiṁ

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya, discharging one's own occupational duties. Svanuṣṭhi-tasya dharmasya. According to Vedic system, there are four kinds of social orders, and each one of them have particular duties. Just like the brahmins, they have got their particular duties; kṣatriyas, they have got their particular duties; vaiśyas, they have also; and the śūdras. And those who do not follow the Vedic principles, they are called pañcamal, or sometimes, if they do not follow the rules and regulation, then they are called mlecchas and yavanas.

So, svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya. A brahmin must be truthful: satya sama dama titikṣa ārjava, jñānam vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma karma svabhāva (BG 18.42). So the brahmins, those who are actually qualified brahmins, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Lord Kṛṣṇa said that cātur-varṇyaṁ māyā śṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: by division of quality and activities.

So everyone, brahmin, must be qualified and must be engaged in his particular duties. Kṣatriyas also, they should be engaged in their particular duties. Vaiśyas and śūdras also. And it is the duty of the government that everyone is discharging his duties. That is king's business, rāja-daṇḍa. If one does not observe the regulative principle, then he should not declare himself as brahmin, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra.

So, just like at the present moment, the government has got inspectors to see . . . inspect the schools, whether the teachers are duly discharging their educational curriculum, similarly, formerly the king, he was rāja-daṇḍa-vit. So not only he was inspecting that everyone is discharging his professional or particular duties, but everyone has got employment. That was also the king's duty. No one should be unemployed. The brahmin should be employed, the kṣatriya should be employed, the vaiśya should be employed and the śūdra should be employed. If there is any difficulty, then it was the duty of the king to give them employment.

So since we have lost our responsible monarchical government, the four divisions of social order—means brahmin, kṣatriya, vaiśyas and śūdra—they have deviated due to unemployment. The brahmin could not get sufficient engagement in their duties, yajana yājana paṭhana pāṭhana dāna pratigraha. People became neglectful, so they thought, "What is the use of calling a brahmin for pūjā part? There is no necessity. Stop it."

So naturally the brahmins were obliged to accept to the business or the occupational duties of the kṣatriyas or the vaiśyas or even śūdras. What can be done? But in the śāstra it is said that a brahmin, if he's in difficulty, he may accept the profession of a kṣatriya or up to vaiśya, but never accept the occupation of a śūdra. These are described in the śāstras.

Besides that, the higher castes—the brahmins, kṣatriyas especially, and the vaiśyas also—they must observe the dāsa-veda saṁskāra, ten kinds of reformatory methods. The first method is garbādhāna-saṁskāra. Before giving birth to a child, there is a ceremony which is called garbādhāna-saṁskāra, and it is stated in the śāstras that if the higher castes do not perform the garbādhāna-saṁskāra and beget children like cats and dog, then he immediately comes to the position of śūdra. These are the śāstric injunction.

There are twenty kinds of dharma śāstra, so they have to be followed. That is human society. Not that to live like animal. That is human society. According to Vedic system, unless the human society comes to the institution of varṇāśrama-dharma, they are not to be accepted as human society. The system . . . the whole system was to gradually educate people to be elevated to the spiritual platform for understanding Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That was the whole scheme. Viṣṇu . . . tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayo, to train people to become civilized, sūrayo, means that they will observe to the ultimate goal of life, viṣṇu paramaṁ padam: how to approach Lord Viṣṇu, how to approach the Vaikuṇṭha, paraṁ dhāma, by spiritual progressive life. That was there.

Every human being was given chance to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is considered as human civilization. Human civilization does not mean to improve the method of eating, sleeping, mating and defending, as it is going on now. The quality or . . . the quality has been polished, but actually the human civilization has not improved, because the quality . . . eating, sleeping, mating and defending, that is given special stress, but not to the point of, goal of life, reaching Viṣṇu, oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paranaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayo (Ṛg Veda 1.22.20). That we have neglected.

Therefore, at the present moment we are not happy. This social system, observing the varṇāśrama-dharma, was so perfectly made, and the king would see that they are actually being executed. In that way people were very, very happy, even in this material life, because everyone was confident that he was making progress to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is human civilization. But the aim was Viṣṇu. Therefore here it is said:

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu-yaḥ

notpādayed ratimyadi . . .

(SB 1.2.8)

Even we execute the methods of varṇāśrama-dharma very nicely, svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya. In another place it is said by Sūta Gosvāmī:

ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā

varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ

svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya

saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam

(SB 1.2.13)

Hari-toṣaṇam. You may execute your sectional duties as a brāhmin, you can execute your brahminical principles as they are laid down in the śāstras, or kṣatriya, you can do your duty, but there should be a test whether you have become successful in discharging your duty. That test is hari-toṣaṇam, whether you have satisfied the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then it is perfect. Saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (SB 1.2.13). Everyone should seek perfection of his particular duties. And that is recommended that hari-toṣaṇam.

The example is Arjuna Mahārāja. Arjuna is a kṣatriya. His duty is to fight, to give protection to the poor and to annihilate the disturbing element. That is kṣatriya's duty. So Arjuna was trained in that way—he was a soldier—but by his soldier's business, occupational duty, he satisfied Kṛṣṇa. He fought for Kṛṣṇa, not for his personal sense gratification. That is his test, saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam.

So here also Sūta Goswāmī says, dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitasya . . . dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsaṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu-yaḥ (SB 1.2.8). You can discharge your duties very nicely, but you have to see whether you are developing attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Attachment means love, whether you are trying to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is the test. If that is not done, simply formulas, if you execute the formula, as I explained the other day, niyamāgraha, without any satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, then Sūta Gosvāmī says it is simply laboring and waste of time, viṣvaksena-kathāsu-yaḥ notpādayed ratiṁ yadi, śrama eva hi kevalam.

Then he says, dharmasya hy āpavargasya na artaḥ arthāya upakalpate. Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, CC Adi 1.90), these are called āpavarga. Āpavarga means nullifying the pavargas. Pavargas . . . this material world is called pavarga. Pa, pha, ba, bha, ma. According to Sanskrit grammar, there are five vargas: ka varga, ca varga, ta varga, and pa varga. So pa varga, pa means pariśrama.

Similarly, pha means phena, and bha means bhaya, ma means mṛtyu. So this material world is pavarga, means here we have to labor very hard. Sometimes by laboring, as you have seen in animals, bulls and horses, they produce foam in the mouth. That is pha. And then we are always full of anxieties, and at last there is death. This is material life. We work very hard, struggle for . . . struggle hard for existence, and that also, at the end, we die.

So people have become so much foolish that they do not see the defects of the material . . . materialistic way of life. They think only that the time, the small duration of life, if you can somehow or other gratify our senses, that is perfection of life. This is called ignorance, mūḍhaḥ. That is described in the śāstras: sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Go-kharaḥ means animals, like cows and asses. This is not life.

So religious life, dharmasya hy āpavargasya. One should become religious or accept religious principle to stop this pavarga, the different kinds of hard struggle for existence. To stop, that is the purpose of dharma. But generally people execute dharma to get some artha. Dharma artha. Artha means some material profit.

So Sūta Gosvāmī said that dharmasya hy āpavargasya na artaḥ arthāya upakalpate. Arthaya, for some material profit, does not mean . . . of course, if you take the meaning of artha as paramārtha, that is required. But material profit, as it is stated here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by Sūta Gosvāmī, that to go to the church or to the temple or to become a religious person does not mean that it is meant for improving your material condition.

Generally, people come to us or the temple for āśīrvāda. What is that āśīrvāda? "Now I have got five hundred rupees' income. Please give me āśīrvāda it may become five thousand." So this is not the purpose of dharma. Here it is stated, dharmasya hy āpavargasya na artaḥ arthāya upakalpate.

Then we require artha. Without artha, without money, how we can live? That is also explained here, nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ. You require money, that's all right, but not for sense gratification, not for going to the cinema. Here in Bombay city, people are earning money, lots of money, but we see there are lots of cinema advertised, and people go there—there are hundreds and thousands of cinema house—and spend their money. They're standing for three hours, four hours to take a ticket for going to the cinema.

Therefore actually those who are going to be religious for getting relief from this hard struggle for existence, for them arthasya, you require some artha, money. Nārthasya dharmaikāntasya. If you are actually religious, then your artha should not be spent for sense gratification. Nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāyo hi smṛtaḥ. Kāmaḥ means sense gratification. It should be properly utilized, if you have got money, that you should be properly utilized, not for sense gratification—wine, women, and hotel and cinema. No. Then by your artha you are going to hell. Artha, everything.

Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, the great politician, he says . . . he was not a . . . he was a religious brahmin, but he was not for salvation—he was more or less politician—still he says, san-nimitte varaṁ tyāge vināśe niyate sati. San-nimit, if you have got some money, it will be spent up. In your life or your next life, your son's life, it will be spent up. Vināśe niyate sati, that is the nature's way. Suppose you earn crores of rupees. It will not stay after one generation, after two generation. It will not stay, because in this material world, Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, is called cañcalā. She does not remain at one place. We have got experience. Today one man is very rich, next generation is no longer rich.

That is also nationwise applicable. Just like we have seen British Empire. While I was in London I was thinking that, "These Britishers brought money from all parts of the world, by business or all other means." I saw in front of St. James Park Lord Clive's statue. Very, very nice buildings, but it is now difficult for them to repair. That opulence has gone. They have lost their empire. No more income, sufficient income.

This is the nature of material world. So many empires were there. There was Roman empire, there was Carthagian empire, there was Moghul empire, there was British empire, and so many empires. They are no longer existing. Sometimes when I pass by the side of the Red Fort, we see the department, the apartments of the great Moghul emperors in Red Fort, they are now lying vacant. So this is the material nature.

Therefore Cāṇakya Paṇḍita advises, san-nimitte varaṁ tyāgo vināśe niyate sati: "If you are actually religious, then don't spoil your money for sense gratification. Use it for sat karyam." Sat karya means for service of Kṛṣṇa. Oṁ tat sat paraṁ brahma. San-nimi. San-nimitte varaṁ tyāgo vināśe niyate sati. That is Vedic civilization. If money comes, you don't hate it. Welcome. But it should be used properly. That is proper use. If you use properly your money, then you make your path parapavarga, clear. And if you misuse your money, then you become again entangled in the 8,400,000's of species of life.

Therefore, recommended here, nārthasya dharmai-kāntasya. Dharmai-kāntasya: not for the irreligious demons, but those who are actually religious, dharmaikāntasya. Kāmo lābhāya . . . no kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ. Your money should not be free . . . should not be spent unnecessarily for sense gratification.

Formerly, this was the civilization in India. We see so many big, big temple in South India, in other places also, especially South India. It is not possible—in Vṛndāvana also—it is not possible at the present moment to construct such huge, expensive temple. But actually they were done by rich kings, rich mercantile people.

That Madana-mohana temple was constructed by Sindhi merchant. He approached Sanātana Goswāmī. Sanātana Goswāmī was sitting underneath the tree, and his Madana-mohana was hanging in the tree. He had no place, no temple, no cloth. Madana-mohana was asking Sanātana Goswāmī that "Sanātana, you are giving Me dry bread, without even in salt. How can I eat?" So Sanātana Goswāmī replied: "Sir, I cannot go to ask for salt. Whatever I've got, I offer You. I cannot help." This was their talks.

So one salt merchant came, Sindhi salt merchant, he was passing from Vṛndāvana to Delhi side, and he offered his service, and Sanātana Goswāmī asked him to construct the temple of Madana-mohana. That temple is still existing, Madana-mohana's temple. So this is the proper use. If you have got some money, don't use it for constructing a big skyscraper building. Better you try to construct a very nice temple for Kṛṣṇa's situation. That is proper use.

So Sūta Gosvāmī said, nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ, don't spend your hard-earned money for sense gratification. Then one may say that, "After all, we have got this body, and we have to eat, we have to sleep. And because we have got senses, the senses must be a little bit satisfied." No. Kṛṣṇa says . . . Sūta Gosvāmī says, it is not that you shall stop.

That is already explained. I, the other day: nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe. You eat in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Just like here, in this temple, what we are doing? We are also cooking. Others are also cooking at house. Then what is the difference? The difference is that we are cooking for Kṛṣṇa—others, those who have no Kṛṣṇa consciousness—I don't say everyone—they are cooking for themselves. Just like the hotel. In a hotel they are cooking for the customer palatable dishes. So that is the difference.

But Rūpa Gosvāmī says that, "Dovetail with Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That is yukta vairāgya. Because in this human life we require to develop jñāna and vairāgya. So if we dovetail our activities for Kṛṣṇa's service, that is yukta vairāgya. So here also it is said that nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ. We should not earn money for sense gratification.

Then kāmasya na indriya-prītiḥ lābhaḥ jīveta yāvatā. You must have sense gratification—eating, sleeping, mating—but as far as you can maintain your body very nicely. Not that voluntarily you shall starve. No. Just like these boys, these girls, are we . . . we are not starving, but our eating kṛṣṇa-prasādam means just to live nicely for executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

We are not meant for going to the cinema or for other sense gratification purposes, but because we have got this body, there is no question that we shall stop eating. We eat prasādam, kṛṣṇa-prasādam, and that is very palatable. Kṛṣṇa-prasādam . . . Kṛṣṇa should be offered all first-class preparation because Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. But if we haven't money to supply Him nice thing, the Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied, as Kṛṣṇa says:

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ

yo me bhaktyā prayacchati

(BG 9.26)

Kṛṣṇa wants that you offer Him something with devotional love, that's all.

Kṛṣṇa is not hungry. Kṛṣṇa is ātmārāma. He is self-sufficient. He does not require. He is producing food for us. That's a fact. We get so many fruits and flower. We don't manufacture it in the factory, neither it is possible. It is Kṛṣṇa's manufacture. It is Kṛṣṇa. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūrayoḥ (BG 7.8). By His action of different energies these things are produced. Why? These things are produced for whom? For Kṛṣṇa? No. For us. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, He is maintaining us.

So is it not our duty to offer Him first, "Sir, You have supplied so many nice things. You take first, then we shall . . ."? This is bhakti. It is just like worshiping Mother Ganges with Ganges water. You have all seen that those who are devotees of Mother Ganges, they go in the Ganges water, and after taking bath, takes little water from the Ganges River and again pour it with some mantra. Now from the river Ganges if you take, say, one pound of water, and if you pour it again, one pound, then what is the loss and gain? But you become, by using the Ganges water in that way, you become a devotee of the Mother.

Similarly, what we can offer to Kṛṣṇa? Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, and if in the store of Kṛṣṇa there are millions and millions of tons of fruits and flower, if you take one or two of them and offer to Kṛṣṇa, so what is Kṛṣṇa's loss? And if you offer one fruit to Kṛṣṇa, what is His gain? Kṛṣṇa is not concerned with your offering and not offering, but if you offer, it is for your interest. It is for your interest, so Kṛṣṇa will recognize, "Here is a devotee."

So this is the process. Therefore Sūta Gosvāmī said that dharmasya . . . nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ, kāmasya na indriya prītiḥ. Kāmaḥ. We have to satisfy our tongue, our senses, but not for indriya prītiḥ. We should eat for living nicely, not for palatable dishes. So many animal killing, unnecessary. Why?

Kṛṣṇa has given you so many nice thing—rice, wheat, sugar, milk, fruits, flowers, vegetables, and with milk you can get ghee, and you can prepare hundreds and thousands of preparation and offer to Kṛṣṇa and take it. Why should you kill so many animals and maintain slaughterhouse for the satisfaction of the tongue?

Therefore here it is said kāmasya: we have some demand for maintaining the body, but not for sense gratification. Kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ. Na indriya prītiḥ. Indriya prītiḥ, if you cannot satisfy your tongue by so many preparation . . . hundreds and thousands of preparation can be made from these ingredients—grains, vegetable, fruit, flowers and milk and sugar.

Actually we still, in Hindu family, they are preparing so many nice foodstuff. Why should we go for indriya prītiḥ? For satisfaction of the tongue we shall kill so many chickens and cows and goats, why? What is the use? There is no use. It is simply sense gratification. Therefore Sūta Goswāmī recommends that you have got some demand for keeping the health properly, not . . . but not . . . don't try to do it for indriya prītiḥ. Indriya prītiḥ.

We have invented so many nonsense things for simply satisfaction of the tongue. A vaiṣṇava kavi, Vaiṣṇava poet, ācārya, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he has wrote a song. That song we chant or sing during the time of taking prasādam. In that song he writes, śarīra abidyā-jāl joḍendriya tāhe kāl (Prasāda-sevāya I): "This body is an emblem of ignorance." Actually we get this material body due to our ignorance. By ignorance we commit so many wrong things, and you have obliged to accept a certain type of body. Therefore it is a network of ignorance. Śarīra abidyā-jāl joḍendriya tāhe kāl. In that network of ignorance there are different senses, joḍendriya tāhe kāl, gross material senses. They are just like our death.

Sometimes these senses are described as kāla sarpa. Kāla sarpa means the black cobra. As soon as the cobra touches—immediately dead. Similarly, if we allow this kāla sarpa to act in their own way, that means we are inviting death at every moment. Therefore those who are too much bodily attached, for them this yoga system is controlling the senses, yoga indriya saṁyamaḥ. Yoga does not mean to increase the power of sense gratification. Yoga means controlling the senses.

So the Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that this network of ignorance, where the senses are like black cobra, out of all those senses the tongue is the greatest black cobra. Tā'ra madhye jihvā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati. The tongue, if you practice . . . just, for example, nobody learns smoking from the birth, but when he's habituated, then they are as chain smoker, one cigarette after another, one cigarette after . . . you see. This is simply by bad association. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said that tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati. Because we have indulged this tongue to increase his greediness, therefore we see so much advertisement of liquor and cigarettes and so many, teas and coffee. Simply it is practice.

So as you have practice, by practice you have increased so-called demands of your body, you can decrease it also. Just like these boys. They were practiced to all these things, but since they have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, by practicing they have given up everything. So anything artificial we may be habituated, but you can give it up.

Therefore here it is said, kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ. You should not introduce sense gratification for maintaining your body. Your body can be maintained very nicely if you take simple food made of rice, wheat, vegetable, little ghee and little milk. That's all. And you can get all these things anywhere, any part of the world, and you can offer to Kṛṣṇa.

Kṛṣṇa also says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Any part of the world, any condition of life, you can secure these things. In Africa we have been in the interior, African villages. They are supposed to be uncivilized, but I don't think. They have got enough of these things, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, anywhere. And they are being taught by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to offer to Kṛṣṇa and take.

Therefore, this artificial civilization for sense gratification is not very good. It is not good for us. We may gratify our senses while we are living, but when we quit this body, we are completely under the grip of material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). And when you are on the clutches of prakṛti, you cannot dictate that, "Give me this kind of body." That will be decided by superior authority, daiva netreṇa, karmaṇā daiva ne.

These are the scientific knowledge. But unfortunately, there is no culture of this scientific knowledge. Superficially, simply for sense gratification, that is going on in the name of advancement of civilization. Actually it is very risky civilization. Suppose after this body, human form of body, if I get the body of an animal or a tree. There is every chance. Wherefrom the tree comes? Wherefrom the tiger comes, the cat comes, the dog comes? There are demigods also. So you can get any form of life. Dehāntaram. Kṛṣṇa says personally, tathā dehāntara. This is bogus theory that after death everything is finished. No.

There is another life, and the species of life are in your front, 8,400,000's of species, and we have to accept, according to our karma, a type of body given by the material nature.

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni

guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ

ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā

kartāham iti manyate

(BG 3.27)

Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā. Simply by false pride I am thinking that I am kartā, I am master. You are not master—you are under the grip of material nature. So how you can avoid? Therefore we should not indulge in sense gratification. We should try to practice how to take kṛṣṇa-prasādam. That will help us.

That I was going to speak, as Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati. This tongue is sudurmati. It is very, very badly intelligent. Not at all intelligent. He wants to eat. Just like here we can see, in these big cities, they have taken their lunch at home, and as soon as goes to the office, immediately, "Bring tea." So why unnecessarily tea? But the tongue dictates, "Bring tea," "Bring coffee," "Bring cigarette." Therefore the tongue is very formidable enemy of this human being, if you indulge.

Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati tā'ke jetā kaṭhina saṁsāre. It is very diff . . . (break) . . . we can sometimes avoid the dictation of the genital, but it is very difficult to avoid the dictation of the tongue. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudur . . . tā'ke jetā kaṭhina sam . . . kṛṣṇa boda doyāmoy, kori bāre jihvā joy, sva-prasād-anna dilo bhāi. Now, Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He has returned so much nice foodstuff, prasādam—now we can eat, and thereby we can conquer the dictation of the tongue.

In another place it is said, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). God realization can be possible, how? If you engage your tongue in the service of the Lord. It is very wonderful. People may say, "How is that? The tongue has to be engaged in the service of the Lord?" Yes, that is the śāstric injunction. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. If you simply engage your tongue in the service of Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will appear you, svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. He will personally appear before you.

And what is that? You can utilize your tongue simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and satisfy the tongue by taking prasādam. Finished. Very simple and very easy. By simply controlling your tongue, you can control all other senses. You can control belly, you can control the genital, you can control everything. Therefore, here is recommendation, "Please do not take this, do not take this. Don't take animal foodstuff. Simply take kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Don't drink, don't smoke . . ." There are so many don't's, and so many do's also.

So therefore we have to practice this Kṛṣṇa consciousness method. Here it is said that kāmasya nendriya-prītir jīveta yāvatā (SB 1.2.10). Try to live decently by taking kṛṣṇa-prasāda and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Jīveta. Sattam jīveta. In this way you can live hundreds of years. That is recommended in the Īśopaniṣad, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1).

So jīveta yāvatā, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ. And why shall you live at all? What is the use of living? The trees are also living for ten thousands of years. What is the meaning of that living? Similarly you if live for a hundred years or two hundred years, what is the meaning of your living? Of course, living in this material world is not very comfortable.

Every one of us will know it. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58). Those who are living in Bombay city, they know it very well: when you pass through the road in taxi-cab or motorcar, so much congested, and at any moment there may be some danger, padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām. In America also, the cars are running in seventy-mile speed, and if one car collides with another, immediately four, five cars—disaster.

So actually you are living in such a condition. Pādaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām. Every moment there is danger. It is not very peaceful living at the present moment. We are running, we are flying in the sky, we are . . . we do not say that this should be stopped, neither it can be stopped, but you do everything in Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that even danger takes place, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6), you can at least remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death.

Then your life is successful. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6), Kṛṣṇa says. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi. At the time of death our remembrance to a certain thing gives me next body. If I think like a dog, then I become next life a dog, and if I think like a god, then I, next life I become god. That is the test at the time of death.

So unless you practice, how you can remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death? Therefore Saṁrāj Kulaśekhara, the great emperor devotee, he is praying to Kṛṣṇa:

kṛṣṇa tvadīya-pada-paṅkaja-pañjarāntam

adyaiva viśatu me mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ

prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ

kaṇṭhāvarodhana-vidhau smaraṇaṁ kutas te

(MM 33)

"My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, now I am healthy. I am thinking rightly. Kindly give me immediately death, and I can be entangled with Your lotus feet tight, like the swan entangles itself with the lotus stem." You have seen, the swans take pleasure by entangling itself with the lotus stem. It goes down the water and catches the stem and binds itself. In this way, it is a sporting of the swan.

"So Samraj Kulaśekhara says, mānasa. Kṛṣṇa tvadīya-pada-paṅkaja-pañjarāntam adyaiva viśatu me mānasa-rāja-hāmsaḥ: "At the present moment my mind is just like the swan. It is playing with Your lotus stem. So let me die immediately. Otherwise, if I die ordinarily," prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ, "The three elements kapha, pitha, bile, they will overwhelm me, and I may not remember You at that time. I may forget You. So Kṛṣṇa, give me immediately death so that I, remembering, I may die You."

This is process. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means somehow or other try to remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ. Then your life is successful. Just like Ajāmila. Ajāmila, he was a great sinner—we shall one day describe about Ajāmila's life—but at the time of death, out of his affection for his youngest son, whose name was Nārāyaṇa, he thrice called, "Nārāyaṇa! Nārāyaṇa!"

But the original Nārāyaṇa took notice of it: "Oh, this man is calling Nārāyaṇa." Immediately sent His personal assistant to take him back to home, back to Godhead. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). Somehow or other. He was not remembering the original Nārāyaṇa, but Nārāyaṇa was the name of his son. Therefore according to our Vedic system we keep God's name our children or family member, so that somehow or other—there are thousands of names of Kṛṣṇa—if we remember one of them, our life is successful. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So Sūta Gosvāmī says that kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ. We have got some demands of body—eating, sleeping, mating. That's all right. But don't use it . . . don't spoil it by sense gratification. You can eat; there are so many nice thing, kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Why should you eat meat? Why should you eat, drink and all nonsense? Be little frugal. No. Aindriya prītiḥ, kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ jīvetayāvatā. You simply taste such foodstuff, kṛṣṇa-prasāda, so that you can live very healthy life and execute your Kṛṣṇa consciousness business. It is not that you have to voluntarily starve and make yourself weak. No.

In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, yuktāhāra-vihārasya, yoga bhavati siddhi hā. Artificial starving, artificial vairāgya has no meaning. You should live nicely, but not for sense gratification. That is the recommendation of the śāstra. Don't indulge in sense gratification, but live very healthy life so that you can execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ jīveta yāvatā-jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. The real business is jīvasya. Our . . . we living entities, our real business is tattva-jijñāsā. This tattva-jijñāsā . . . therefore Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is commentary on the Brahmā-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra. As Vedānta-sūtra gives the code, athāto brahma jijñāsā: this life is meant for brahma-jijñāsā, inquiry about Brahman. The same, brahma-jijñāsā and tattva jijñāsā is the same thing. Here also the same thing, as Bhāgavata begins, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). You'll find all the codes of brahma-sūtra or Vedānta-sūtra in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, very nicely explained. It is practically the explanation of Vedanta-sutra.

Here it is athāto brahma jijñāsā. What is that brahma-jijñāsā? That is explained here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. The same thing, athāto brahma jijñāsā and jīvasya. This human form of life is especially meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth, tattva-jijñāsā. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā na artha yaś ceha karmabhiḥ. You are working so hard, simply for maintaining your body. No. It is not.

You work hard, keep yourself fit, but live for tattva-jijñāsā. That is life, tattva-jijñāsā: What I am? What is God? What is this material world? Why I have come here? Why I am put into so much trouble? These are the inquiries. Not that every day go to the share market. Kya bhav, kya bhav? (What is the price, what is the price?) That is not tattva-jijñāsā. That is indriya prītiḥ, howling in the market.

So our life being spoiled without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is our mission, that we are trying to save men from great falldown. Uttisthatā jāgrata prāpya varān nibhodata (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.14), this is the Vedic injunction. Don't sleep. Uttisthitā: "Just get up." Jāgrata: "Be awakened." Prāpya varān nibhodata. You have got this benediction of human form of life. Nibhodata. Try to understand the same thing, nibhodata.

This is the only business of human birth, being, to understand his constitutional position, to understand God and relationship with God. We are avoiding this. What is the solution? Here it is clearly said, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā nartho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ. You work hard, but what is your aim of life? Simply sense gratification. It is falling life. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā.

Now what is that tattva? That is explained in the next verse, vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). Those who are tattva-vit, those who are knower of the Absolute Truth, they say as follows:

vadanti tattva-vidas

tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam

brahmeti paramātmeti

bhagavān iti śabdyate

(SB 1.2.11)

That Absolute Truth, tattva-vastu, those who are in the knowledge of tattva-vastu, they say the Absolute Truth is one, advaya-jñāna. There is no duality. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jñānam advayam. Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān.

They are the same tattva-vastu, but according to our angle of vision, somebody is understanding the Absolute Truth as impersonal Brahman, somebody is understanding the Absolute Truth as localized Paramātmā, and somebody . . . that is highest realization: Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: All glories . . . (break) (end)