751204 - Lecture SB 07.06.03 - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

751204SB-VRNDAVAN - December 04, 1975 - 33:06 Minutes

Harikeśa: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (devotees repeat) Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventh Canto, Sixth Chapter, third verse. (leads chanting of verse, etc.)

sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā

deha-yogena dehinām

sarvatra labhyate daivād

yathā duḥkham ayatnataḥ

(SB 7.6.3)

(break) (01:00)

Translation: "Prahlāda Mahārāja continued to speak: My dear friends born of demon families, the happiness which is perceived with reference to the senses can be obtained in any form of life according to one's past fruitive activities. Such happiness is automatically obtained, as sometimes we obtain distresses without any endeavor."

Prabhupāda:

sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā

deha-yogena dehinām

sarvatra labhyate daivād

yathā duḥkham ayatnataḥ

(SB 7.6.3)

Now Prahlāda Mahārāja in the previous verses explained that durlabhaṁ manuṣaṁ janma: "This human form of life is durlabham, very rarely gotten." It is not so easy. There are many rascals, they say that once you come to the human form of life there is no more degradation. That is rascaldom. When Kṛṣṇa says that dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntaram-prāptir (BG 2.13), He says that "As you have changed bodies, similarly, at the end also you'll have to change the body." He never says that "You'll get again human body." Never says. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir: "Another form of life." That another form may be. . . There are 8,400,000 forms. So "another form" means any one of them. There is no guarantee. You cannot say that "Now I have got human form of. . . Again, in the next life, I also get human. . ." No. You can be. . .

The evidence is Bharata Mahārāja. He was king, emperor, very exalted position in the human form of life, but next life he got the life of a deer. This is the evidence. So how you can say that next life will be human life? No. That's not possible. According to your karma, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1), if you are acting like human being, then there is chance of getting human life. And if you are acting like a dog, then you must get the body of a dog. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa. It depends on your karma. If you simply dress like a human being and act like a dog, then you'll get a dog's body. Kṛṣṇa will give you the facility. Māyayā. . . yantrā-rūḍhena māyayā. Māyā.

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that this body is just like a machine, motorcar. Suppose you have got now a very nice motorcar, Rolls-Royce car. So somehow or other, your car is lost. The next car, is it any guarantee that you will get Rolls-Royce car? No. You'll get a car as you pay for. That's all. If you can pay for a Rolls-Royce car, then you can get. Or any dress. Suppose you have got now very costly dress. Now your dress is torn, you have to change the dress, but is there any guarantee that you'll get the same type of dress? No. You'll get a dress as you pay for it. It's a common sense. Similarly, if you act like a demigod, you will get the body of a demigod. If we act like ordinary human being, then you get the body of a human being. If you act like a dog, then you get the body of a dog. And if you act like a devotee, you go back to home, back to Godhead. This is the process.

Why we are instructing everyone to become Kṛṣṇa conscious? The result will be, if you become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, then next life you get a body in which you can live with Kṛṣṇa face to face, talk with Him, play with Him. That is the benefit. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). Kṛṣṇa gives assurance that if you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, and if you really understand Kṛṣṇa. . . Janma karma ca divyaṁ me yo jānāti tattvataḥ. If you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa in truth, not vague, "Yes, I understand Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa has no form"—this is not understanding of Kṛṣṇa. This is rascaldom. Kṛṣṇa says such persons, such rascals who says that "Kṛṣṇa has no body. He has no form. It is māyā. . ." They are called Māyāvādī. "Everything māyā. Kṛṣṇa is also māyā." That is Māyāvāda. So these Māyāvādīs have been condemned by Kṛṣṇa: na mām. . . What is that? Mānuṣīṁ tanum. . . Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā (BG 9.11). These rascals, Māyāvādīs, avajānanti, he thinks Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being, or even if He is God, He has taken a body made by māyā. This is Māyāvādī philosophy. "The spirit soul cannot appear without being dressed by māyā." But that is not the fact, that. . . A man is diseased, suffering from fever. It does not mean that without fever nobody can exist. That is nonsense. Fever is a symptom for the time being, and feverlessness is the real life. Similarly, somehow or other, iccha-dveṣa-samutthena (BG 7.27), by some desire, we have got this material body, but it does not mean that without this material body I cannot live. That is nonsense. Actual life is spiritual life. Actual life is spiritual life.

So therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says that kaumāra ācaret prajño dharmān bhāgavatān iha durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma (SB 7.6.1). This is human life. You have got the human life only for cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you are doing anything else except Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that means you are risking your life to become a cat and dog or anything else. This is the fact. So Kṛṣṇa is still prepared to give you facilities. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yānti devā vratā-devān (BG 9.25). If you are acting like a devatā. . . Devatā means devotee—not pure devotee; with some material desires. They are called devatās. Not. . . Everyone is not pure devotee. Mostly, artho arthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha (BG 7.16). Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna. Sukṛti. . . Anyone who comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is to be understood that he's a pious. But piety, to become a pious man, does not mean that he's a devotee. By piety, by acting piously, you can get good birth. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī (SB 1.8.26). You can get good birth in a very aristocratic family or a brāhmaṇa family. Generally aristocratic, rich family, by piety. Janma-aiśvarya. Nowadays they want money, and nobody wants any spiritual advancement. So they get money by pious activities. They get good birth. To born, to take birth in very rich family. . . Janmaiśvarya-śruta. He can become very learned man, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., D.H.C, so many things, title, learned man. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī, and beautiful, beautiful body. These are the results of pious activities. But that does not mean you are a devotee. Devotee is different thing. Devotee means who does not aspire of anything like this, that "Let me take birth in rich family. Let me possess very good amount of wealth. Let me become beautiful. Let me become very learned." These are material aspirations. But a devotee has no material aspiration. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11)—zero, nothing of the sort.

And what is his aspiration? That is explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu: mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitaṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye (CC Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). This is pure devotion. "I don't want money." Na dhanam. "I don't want any number of men at my order, acting." Just like big, big factory owner, they are employing four thousand, five thousand men, as master of so many servants. A devotee doesn't want this. He doesn't want any amount of money or any amount of followers. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitam. Very beautiful, attractive wife, sundarīm. This is material aspiration: "Let me have immense amount of money, a very good woman, wife or friend." This is the whole material activities. You'll see. Everyone is after money and women. This is material aspiration. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu is rejecting. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitaṁ vā jagad-īśa. Then what You want? Mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī (CC Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). "I don't mind where I get My birth. I am not aspiring to get My birth in a very aristocratic way. No." Anywhere. Mama janmani. "I may become a demigod in the heavenly planet or I may be a cat, dog or any insignificant. But I want this, that My devotion to Your lotus feet may not be forgotten." This is desirelessness. Anything beyond the. . . we desire, that is material.

So bhakti begins when you are desireless. Gato. . . The Yamunacārya's śloka, niśeṣa-mano-rathāntaram. Kadāham aikantika-nitya-kiṅkaraḥ praharṣayiṣyāmi sanātha jivitaṁ bhavantam eva caran nirantaram (Stotra-ratna 43). This is devotee, devotion. He's praying, Yamunacārya's praying to the Lord, bhavantam: "You only." Caran nirantaram. "Simply thinking of You, acting for You," caran, ācāran, "practicing such activities which will give me the opportunity of thinking Kṛṣṇa." That is wanted. Because Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto (BG 18.65), Kṛṣṇa says, "This is the process," so we have to mold our life in such a way that we get the opportunity of thinking of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Even we are eating, we can remember Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa baḍa dayā-maya, karibāre jihvā jaya, svaprasāda-anna dilā bhāi. So we want. While sleeping, if we think of Kṛṣṇa, it may be that we may dream of Kṛṣṇa also. That is possible. Eating, sleeping, mating. . . Even in sex if we can remember Kṛṣṇa. . . How? That is. . . Kṛṣṇa says, dharmāviruddha-kāmo 'smi (BG 7.11). Sex life which is given permission in the śāstra, that is Kṛṣṇa. The śāstra gives you permission for sex life only for begetting nice children. Not for enjoyment. That is illicit sex. If you make love, "phish, phish, phish," and have sex life, that is illicit sex. So that dharmāviruddha. So we can adjust our material activities: eating, sleeping, mating and fearing. It can be adjusted in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, provided we take direction from Kṛṣṇa. Even eating, sleeping, mating can be utilized as Kṛṣṇa consciousness if you follow the rules and regulation. There is facility. And as soon as you deviate, then you become subject to the control of māyā. Yajñārthe karmano 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhana (BG 3.9). If you simply act for satisfying Kṛṣṇa, then you are all right. And as soon as you do it for your own sense gratification, karma-bandhana, you become bound up by the laws of karma. We should be very careful therefore.

Therefore here it is said, sukham aindriyakam: "Happiness derived from the sources which is not related with Kṛṣṇa. . ." That is sukham aindriyakam. Actually you do that. When we enjoy sense pleasure, that is not for Kṛṣṇa. That is material sense perception. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that this kind of pleasure, happiness. . . Sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā. He is particularly addressing his friend daityā, because they are sons of daityā, demons. Just like at the present moment ninety-nine percent of the population, they are daityās, demons. What is the difference between a demon and a demigod? Daityā means the sons of the Diti. So daitya. And deva, deva means devotees, or those who accept the supremacy of the Lord. They are called deva. Viṣṇu-bhakto bhaved daiva āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ (BG 16.6). Anyone who is viṣṇu-bhakta, accepting God as the supreme controller, they are called demigods. And āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ, and just the opposite number. . . What is that opposite number? "What is God? Why shall I accept God? God is dead. There is no God. God is impersonal." They are daityās, or demons.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja was also born in a demon family, but he was not daitya. He was a devotee, although he is born. . . So it is not that a devotee has to take his birth in the devotee's family. That is not necessary. Ahaituky apratihatā. One man can become a devotee without any cause and without being checked. There is no such thing which will check to become a devotee. Anyone can devotee in any condition, provided he is fortunate enough to associate with another devotee. That is the way. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "My dear friends, because you have been taught for sense gratification—eating, sleeping, mating and defending—so this is, this kind of happiness, is material happiness, sense enjoyment." So deha-yogena dehinām, two bodies combined or in connection with this body. . . Deha-yogena dehinām. Just like sex life. Sex life, it requires two bodies, one male or female. Deha-yogena. As soon as we say yogena, that means extra something. Yogena. Yoga and viyoga. Viyoga means minus, and yoga means addition. So deha-yogena dehinām. The living entities who have accepted this material body, such kind of happiness, sarvatra labhyate, you can have anywhere, any life. Just like two bodies, male and female. It is not that in the human society two bodies, male and female, join and enjoy the pleasure. The dog also do that. The quality of happiness between a beautiful man and beautiful woman does not increase or decrease by other body. The hog also, they enjoy. It is not because they have got a nasty body therefore the enjoyment is less than human being. No. The feelings of enjoyment is the same, either of the dog or of the hog or of the human being, everyone. It is not. . . The quality does not change.

There is a story of a prostitute, Lakṣahīra. (aside:) You can sleep this way. I am asking you. Yes, you're sleeping. You can go and sleep. Don't make here. So there is a story of the prostitute, Lakṣahīra. There was a prostitute whose charges was one lakh of pieces of diamond. It doesn't matter, a big diamond or small diamond. That was her charges. So one man was suffering from leprosy and he was being assisted, she (he) was being assisted by his wife, very faithful wife. So still, he was morose. The wife asked the husband, "Why you are morose? I am giving you so much service. You are leper, you cannot move. I can take you. . . I take you on a basket and carry you. Still, you feel unhappy?" So he admitted, "Yes." "Oh, what is the cause?" "Now, I want to go to the prostitute Lakṣahīra." Just see. He is leper, a poor man, and he is aspiring to go to a prostitute who charges 100,000 of pieces of diamond. So anyway, she was a faithful wife. She wanted to satisfy her husband. Some way or other, she arranged. Then, when the leper was at the house of the prostitute, the prostitute gave him very nice dishes of food, but everything in two dishes, everything—one in the golden pot, another in iron pot. So while he was eating, so he inquired the prostitute, "Why you have given me in two pots?" "Now, because I wanted to know whether you will feel different taste in different pots." So he said, "No, I don't find any difference of taste. The soup in the golden pot and the soup in the iron pot, the taste is the same." "Then why you have come here?" This is foolishness. The whole world is going on like that, that simply trying to taste the same thing in different pot. That's all. They are not distasteful "No more, sir. I have tasted enough." That is not fact. That is called vairāgya-vidyā, no more tasting: "It is all the same, either I take in this pot or that pot."

Therefore it is said that sukham aindriyakam, the sense pleasure, it doesn't matter whether you enjoy as a dog or as a human being or a demigod or as European or American or Indian—the taste is the same. This is very important. You cannot have a better taste. Better taste is only Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). So if you do not increase your taste for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you will try to taste in this pot and that pot. That is the law. That you will be, continue business and continue disease, to taste in this pot and that pot: "It may be very tasteful in this pot, may be tasteful. . ." The whole world is going on. All these rascals, they go to different countries for tasting sex life. They go to Paris. . . (break) . . .sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā, sarvatra labhyate daivād yathā duḥkham (SB 7.6.3). Just like duḥkham. Duḥkha means unhappiness. So suppose a millionaire is suffering from typhoid and a poor man is suffering from typhoid. Does that mean that the millionaire will have less distress than the poor man? When you have got typhoid fever, either you are rich man or poor man, the sufferings of typhoid fever is the same. It does not mean that "This man is very rich man. He is not suffering from typhoid." No. As unhappiness is the same in different pot, similarly, the happiness also is the same in different pot. This is knowledge. So why should I waste my time to tasting. . . to taste happiness and distress in different pots? The different pots means these different body.

So this is not our business. Our business is to revive our original consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It doesn't matter in which pot I am at the present moment. Ahaituky apratihatā (SB 1.2.6). You can taste Kṛṣṇa consciousness without any hesitation, without any check, without any hindrance. You can have. Simply you have to see inside to our consciousness and rectify the consciousness. That is required in this human form of life. And therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja in the beginning said, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma (SB 7.6.1). This understanding, this knowledge, can be attained only in human form of life. This analysis of unhappiness and distress can be explained before a human being. If I call three dozen dogs here and ask him, "Now hear Bhāgavata," it is not possible. The dog will not be able to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but a man, however low he may be, if he has got little intelligence, he will be able to understand. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. You have got the opportunity to understand what is bhāgavata-dharma. Don't lose it like cats and dogs.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya. . . (break) (end).