731020 - Lecture BG 13.22 - Bombay

Lectures by Date, 1973

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

731020BG-BOMBAY - October 20, 1973 - 18:40 Minutes

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

puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi

bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān

kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya

sad-asad-yoni-janmasu

(BG 13.22)

puruṣaḥ—the living entities; prakṛti-sthaḥ—being situated in the material world; hi—certainly; bhuṅkte—enjoys; prakṛti-jān—produced by the material nature; guṇān—modes of material nature; kāraṇam—cause; guṇa-saṅgaḥ—association with the modes of material nature; asya—of the living entity; sat-asat—good and bad; yoni—species of life; janmasu—birth.

"The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil amongst various species of life."

Puruṣa. Puruṣa means enjoyer, the living entity.

Oh. Aiye, aiye. (Oh, please come, come.) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Apko chair dega na aise hi baith jayenge. Nahi, apko baithne me taklif nahi. (Should we give you a chair or will you just sit here. So you don't have difficulty in sitting.)

So that day I have already explained, puruṣa. Puruṣa means the enjoyer, and prakṛti means enjoyed. So puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ. The living entity, although . . .

Prakṛti-sthaḥ means this material world. The living entity, although part and parcel of God, spiritual entity, but he has come to this material world to enjoy. Anyone who is in this material world, his original cause of coming down from the spiritual platform to this material platform means he wanted to enjoy.

In the spiritual world the only enjoyer is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All others are enjoyed. But here in this material world everyone is trying to become the Supreme, and others, to be enjoyed. Everyone is trying to become God, and the last snare of māyā is that one is claiming that, "I am God." When he tries to become big businessman, big zamindar, big minister, big president, or in the society big rich man—big, big always . . . and when he fails to become all kinds of "bigs," he wants to become one with God. By mixing, by merging into God, he will be the biggest. That is the philosophy. So basic principle is how to become big. Otherwise . . . because unless I become very big, I cannot enjoy.

So what is the field of these enjoying activities? This body. That we have discussed. Kṣetra-kṣetra-jña. Idaṁ śarīraṁ kṣetram ity abhidhīyate (BG 13.2): "This body is the field of activities." So puruṣa, the living entities, has been entrapped by this material energy. That is called puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ. He is not required to stay in this material world, but he has decided to enjoy this material world. Therefore he is here.

But he can give up. That is called liberty. That is called salvation. He can give up. Mukti. Mukti means . . . that is also described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: hitvā anyathā-rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6). That is called mukti. Muktir hitvā anyathā-rūpam. Here, every living entity is situated anyathā-rūpam. Anyathā-rūpam means "otherwise," which is not his nature. His nature is to serve, but he is staying here not as servant but as master.

Nahi, nahi jao tum, wo baccha. (No, no—you please go, that child.)

So puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte (BG 13.22). Bhuṅkte means enjoys. Prakṛti-jān guṇān. Prakṛti . . . he has come here to enjoy, but he is enjoying not the prakṛti, but prakṛti-jān guṇān, means the qualities of the prakṛti. There are three qualities of the prakṛti: goodness, passion and ignorance. Prakṛti-jān guṇān. These, these are products of material world. It is therefore described in another place, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī . . . guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). This illusory energy is . . . there are three qualities, qualitative. Some of them . . . therefore we find different types of species of life.

Every living entity has association . . . has associated with a particular type of guṇa. There are three guṇas, namely, goodness, passion and ignorance, and if you mix them up, then it becomes nine. Three into three equal to nine. And again if you mix up, nine into nine, then it becomes eighty-one. Therefore there are 8,400,000 species of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati (Padma Purāna). Nine hundred thousand species in the water. Similarly, birds, beasts, trees, insect, animals. Then we come to the human form of life. These different types of bodies are meant for enjoying in a different spirit. Everyone is trying to enjoy, but he is enjoying . . . he is not enjoying the prakṛti, but he is enjoying the association of the guṇa. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22).

So every living entity is suffering or enjoying. There is no enjoyment. Everyone is suffering, but he . . . that is called māyā. He is suffering, but he takes it as enjoying. Even the hog, the pig, he is eating stool, but he is thinking that he is enjoying. He is enjoying. He enjoys a certain type of food according to his quality. Nowadays, because people are becoming more and more in the modes of darkness, they are eating so many abominable things. And prakṛti also, I mean to say, minimizing the supply of sāttvika food. Just like nowadays it has become scarcity of grains, of milk, of sugar. It is practical experience. Because people are becoming more and more in the modes of ignorance, therefore the foodstuff . . .

These foodstuff are in the modes of goodness. Just like Kṛṣṇa wants patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Kṛṣṇa does not say: "Give me meat and drinking wine." Kṛṣṇa can eat everything. He is omnipotent. But He does not say that, "You give me anything and everything." No. He specifically mentions, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. These things are the foodstuff in goodness: rice, ḍāl, wheat—that means grains—then sugar, fruits, vegetables, milk products. These foods are in the goodness. Similarly there are foods, very chili, very hot, these are in the passion. And similarly in ignorance also there are many foods, stale food, meat—these are in the ignorance.

So our business is, this human form of life, to get out of this cycle of birth and death and wandering in different species of life. This is the mission of human life. Human life, advanced consciousness, it is meant for getting out of the cycle of birth and death and wandering in different species of life. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says:

ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva

guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

(CC Madhya 19.151)

In this way the living entities, puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ, within this material world, he is wandering in different species of life, in different planets.

But the disease is birth and death. Even if you take birth in the Brahmaloka, Kṛṣṇa says, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). Even if you (are) promoted to the Brahmaloka, the highest planet, there is also death. You cannot avoid.

Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). That is real knowledge, that "I don't want to die, but I am forced to die. I don't want to become old man, but I am forced to become old man. I don't want any disease, but disease is forced upon me." So these are the real problems.

So Kṛṣṇa says that ābrahma lo . . . if . . . you may get very long duration of life, very comfortable life, in higher planetary system. Just like people are engaged in doing, I mean to . . . pious activities. The result of pious activities is that you get your birth in a very good family, in a rich family; you get beauty, you become educated, janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhiḥ (SB 1.8.26). Janma means birth, high-class birth, and aiśvarya means opulence, riches, and śruta means education, and śrī means beauty.

So by pious activities you can get all these things. And impious activities, the opposite number: in a family, abominable, pāpa-yoni, lower-grade family, not very beautiful, not educated, suffering in so many ways. So either you get this life or that life, the janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi is there. It is not that because you have got very beautiful body and born in very high-class family and highly educated, you will avoid janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. That is not possible. The real problem is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi.

So kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad . . . sad-yoni (BG 13.22), high-class life, and asad-yoni, pāpa-yoni . . . so why one is born in lower grade family, why one is born in high-grade family? Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. The cause is as he has associated with different types of qualities. So unfortunately, this science, that there is birth after death, and there is . . . actually, we are experience—we are seeing. But they do not inquire. They think that one can improve. That is not possible. Unless he changes the quality, he cannot improve. That is not possible. They do not know it. They are falsely trying to improve the position. Nobody is trying to become poor. Everyone is trying to become rich. But it is not possible, because he has got a particular type of body, and that body is already destined, and he has to achieve happiness or suffer distresses according to the body.

Therefore śāstra says, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18): "You should try for that thing which you did not receive in your past lives." Past life, by our pious activities or impious activities, we have got a different type of body, here or in higher planetary system. That's all right. But that is not solution of my problem. The real problem is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). So we should try, we should save time and utilize it, how to get out of this janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. That is the whole Vedic civilization.

Therefore it is said, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. If you are intelligent, then you should try, you should engage your life, how to get out of this cycle of birth and death. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). We have to purify our existence so that we can revive our original position of eternal life, blissful life, full of knowledge. That is our requirement.

So modern civilization, they have no such information. Everyone is trying to improve his condition according to the quality. But that is not improvement. Real improvement is how to get out of this cycle of birth and death. That is real improvement. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9).

Thank you very much.

(aside) So I will have to go with Mr. Ganatra. You can have your ārati. (end)