761225 - Lecture SB 05.05.01 - Bombay

Lectures by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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761225SB-BOMBAY - December 25, 1976 - 32:30 Minutes

Prabhupāda:

nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke

kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye

tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ

śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam

(SB 5.5.1)

This verse we were discussing yesterday. Portion of the verse was explained, and portion of the verse we shall try to explain this night.

Tapo divyam. Ṛṣabhadeva says, "My dear sons, this body, human body, nāyaṁ deha, this body is not for wasting like dogs and hogs." They are not wasting. They are in the gradual evolution process. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati (Padma Purāṇa). They are coming to the human form of body gradually, by nature's law. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). So long we are in the lower species of life, we are conducted by complete laws of nature, prakṛteḥ kriya . . . guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, according to the different guṇas.

There are three guṇas; therefore the material nature is called guṇa-mayī. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Kṛṣṇa says that this material energy . . . there are three different energies of the Supreme Lord. He has got multi-energies, parasya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (CC Madhya 13.65, purport). We can see His activities are going on, different varieties of activities in this world, but they have been summarized into three divisions: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa . . . the animals, they are in the tamo-guṇa. Then gradually they are elevated by the evolutionary process to the rajo-guṇa, and then we are elevated to the sattva-guṇa. That is the brahminical qualification. And we have to surpass the sattva-guṇa also. Not that coming to the platform of sattva-guṇa we become perfect. No. There is chance of falling down from the sattva-guṇa. We have got practical experience in this age, Kali-yuga, many persons have fallen down from the platform of brahminical qualification. The brahminical qualification is the platform of sattva-guṇa: śamo damo titikṣava ārjavaṁ jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). This is the brahminical culture.

So if by coming to the platform of brahminical culture one is sure . . . that is not possible. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Sometimes sattva-guṇa is overpowered by rajo-guṇa or rajo-guṇa is overpowered by tamo-guṇa or sattva-guṇa is overpowered by tamo-guṇa. In this way, topsy-turvy it is going on. That is material world. But if you want to become above the material platform, then you have to take to the platform of devotional service. That is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā:

māṁ ca avyabhicārena

bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

(BG 14.26)

If you take to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we can overcome the jurisdiction of the three guṇas. That is also advised by Lord Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna: traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna (BG 2.45). This whole world is being conducted by the three guṇas, and if you want to go above the three guṇas, then you have to take to this platform, nistraiguṇya. Nirguṇa, which is called nirguṇa. Nirguṇa does not mean that no quality. No. Nirguṇa means nirastaḥ yatra, these material qualities. Do not think, as some philosophers think like that, that after being brahma-bhūtaḥ, as it is stated, brahma-bhūyāya kalpate, then business is finished. No. Business is not finished.

That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā:

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā

na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu

mad-bhaktiṁ labhate param

(BG 18.54)

When you come to this platform of transcendence, brahma-bhūtaḥ . . . because we are going on under the wrong impression that "I am this body." This is the most fallen condition of the present human society. They are taking this body . . . of course, this bodily conception of life there was even five thousand years ago, when the Battle of Kurukṣetra took place. Arjuna was very much disturbed on the platform of this bodily conception of life, because he thought that he belonged to a particular family, and in that battle he was to fight with his family members. So he declined to fight. But Kṛṣṇa, to raise him from that platform, He chastised him, that aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase: "My dear Arjuna, you are lamenting for a subject matter, and at the same time you are talking just like a very learned man."

aśocyān anvaśocas tvam

prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase

gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca

nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ

(BG 2.11)

That means indirectly He accused Arjuna that "You are not paṇḍita. You're a fool, because you are lamenting on the subject matter on which no paṇḍita laments." So what is that? This bodily conception, agatāsūṁś . . . gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca. This body, dead or alive, is not the subject matter of study by learned scholars—this is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā—dead or alive.

So actually we are concerned at the present moment with the body. Either "Indian," "American," "Hindu," "Muslim," "brāhmaṇa," "kṣatriya," they are all bodily conception of life. But śāstra says that those who are on the bodily conception of life, they are no better than the animals.

yasyātmā buddhiḥ kuṇape tridhātuke

sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ

yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij

janeṣv abhijneṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ

(SB 10.84.13)

If on the bodily conception of life we take leadership, then the position is sa eva go-kharaḥ. Go means cows, animal, and kharaḥ means ass. So he is no better than the animals, go and kharaḥ. So how he can take leadership? This is the difficulty at the present moment, that we take leadership of the society although we remain on the bodily conception of life. They cannot take leadership.

So another place it is condemned: śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19). These are śāstric injunction, that when we elect some leader without any spiritual knowledge, then what is the position? The position is that the elected person is also one of us. And what is our position? Our position is without spiritual knowledge, without being beyond the bodily conscious of life, we are no better than śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-khara. Śva means dog, and viḍ-varāha means the stool-eater hogs, and uṣṭra means camel and ass. Ass means gadhā, khara. Khara means ass. So this is a long definition. The summary is that without spiritual knowledge, with bodily conception of life, we are no better than the dogs, camels and these hogs and asses. So we should not become like that. Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva advises that tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed (SB 5.5.1).

Now in the bodily conception of life we are so much contaminated that our existence is now polluted. Actually it is polluted, because Kṛṣṇa says, na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācin na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is our position. Our position is we never take birth. We are not subjected to take birth because we are part and parcel of God, spirit soul. And na jāyate na mriyate vā: we do not die. How we are seeing . . . every day we are dying. My father dies, my brother dies, my neighbor dies. How is that? Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. This is our position. We do not die, even the body is destroyed. So where is that knowledge throughout the whole world? There is no such . . . (indistinct) . . . there is no university, no school, no college to impart this knowledge, that na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), this simple word. This is fact.

And who is speaking? The Supreme Personality of Godhead. He accepted. Arjuna accepted. Arjuna listened to Kṛṣṇa about Bhagavad-gītā, and he understood that "Here is the Supreme Person." Not only that; he admitted that "Not that I am Your friend." Just like it has become a fashion if I like somebody, I make him God. Kṛṣṇa is not that type of God, by meditation or by votes. He is God. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Just like when He was only three months old on the lap of His mother, the Pūtanā came to kill Him. But He killed that Pūtanā rākṣasī. He was that time also God, when three months old. And He had not to go . . . undergo the austerities of meditation. He had no time. So from the very beginning up to the time of His departure from this world, He is God. That is God. God is not manufactured. God is always God. Neither God falls down. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is addressed in the Bhagavad-gītā as Acyuta. Cyuta means falling down, and Kṛṣṇa is Acyuta.

So we are parts and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa admits, mamaivāṁśo jīva bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7), ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). We are sons of God, Kṛṣṇa. Not that by imagination. God Himself says. And all śāstra says that jīva is equal in quality with God. That's a fact. Then why we are subjected to this birth and death, old age and disease? That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). We are trying to solve all problems of life, but real problem is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. Where is that scientist, where is that education to conquer over birth, death, old age and disease? They are trying to control: birth control, over-population. But that is not a problem. Birth control cannot be. That cannot be. The birth is increasing. That is not possible. And why birth control? That is also a long subject matter. There is no need of birth control, because Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4): "I am the father." And Kṛṣṇa is not only ordinary father but He is the controller of nature:

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ

sūyate sa-carācaram

hetunānena kaunteya

jagad viparivartate

(BG 9.10)

So nature is producing our foodstuff, and He is the controller. And He is the father. So how there can be a scarcity of food? This is a bogus propaganda, that because the population is big, therefore we cannot . . . this is our incapability. We cannot manage—we accuse that "overpopulation." But actually if you study śāstra, if you accept Kṛṣṇa as the father, the Supreme Lord, He is not a poor man. He knows. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni (BG 7.26). He knows past, present and future. So it is not that because there is overpopulation there is scarcity of food. No. That is not the cause. The cause is that as soon as people will become godless, the supply will be stopped. That time is coming. That time is coming. It is predicted in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that anāvṛṣṭi, durbhikṣa and kara-pīḍitāḥ. People, gradually being godless, they will be suffering from these three principles. There will be no more rainfall. Therefore last time when I was in Europe—I do not know what has happened now—there was scarcity of rain, and England was making plan to import water. So this is scientists' program. There is enough water in the sea, but they cannot use it. So there is hand of God. Unless God helps, Kṛṣṇa helps, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram . . . (BG 9.10). The vast ocean, although the water is there, you cannot use one drop. You are so controlled.

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni

guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ

ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā

kartāham iti manyate

(BG 3.27)

Ahaṅkāra, our false egotism, we are suffering by the punishment offered by nature.

So the cause is godlessness. If we become godless, the prakṛti will restrict supply—so much so there will be durbhikṣa, anāvṛṣṭi. How we can control? Because you may be very great scientist, you may deny the existence of God, but when there is anāvṛṣṭi you are looking up on the sky, "When there will be cloud? When there will be rain?" Then, and taking this plea, our government will tax for relief fund. That is all mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Anāvṛṣṭi durbhikṣa, karo-pīḍita. People will be so much harassed. And durbhikṣa, ācchina-dāra-draviṇā giri-kānanam (SB 2.2.8). They will be so much harassed by these three principles—no rainfall, scarcity of grains, and taxed heavily by the government . . . they will be so much harassed that ācchinna-dāra-draviṇā yāsyanti giri-kānanam, they will be forced to leave home, that "Now it is hopeless. I cannot manage. Let me go to the forest." And there will be . . . now we are getting rice or wheat or sugar. But these things will be completely stopped. Now we are getting milk powder, but there will be no milk. It is not my imagination. They are described in the symptoms of Kali-yuga, that the end of Kali-yuga these things will happen. That means more and more suffering. More and more you become godless, more and more suffering will be inflicted by the laws of nature.

Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva says here that tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed. This human life is not meant for, I mean to say, spoiling by working hard like the animals, as we have said that kaṣṭān kāmān. Kaṣṭān kāmān. We require something, some certainly, because we have got this body. The very easy solution is given by Lord Kṛṣṇa: annād bhavanti bhūtāni (BG 3.14). You produce food grains. Why you are going to produce tools and implements and . . . of course, we do not condemn. But at the sacrifice of producing food grain, we simply open big, big tire factory. When I go to Delhi I see, from Vṛndāvana, hundreds and thousands persons are coming from the village on cycle to go to the tire factory, Goodyear tire factory. So now eat tire instead of getting food grains. So this is misdirected civilization. Kṛṣṇa does not say that you produce tire tube. Kṛṣṇa says, annād bhavanti bhūtāni: "You produce anna." This is practical solution. We have therefore started in Europe and America farming. And they are very happy. In our latest Back to Godhead the description is published about our farm in France. We have got a very palatial building. We have named it New Māyāpur. What is the place?

Hari-śauri: Chateau d'Oublaise.

Prabhupāda: I cannot pronounce this French word. (laughter) So anyway, our men, there are about three hundred men living there, last time, four months, five months before, I was there. It is very, very nice place. We are getting our own fruits, own vegetable fresh, and we are getting fresh wheat and milk. It is so happy life. You see?

So government is also advertising, "Go to the village." Actually that is life. Go to the village. Mahatma Gandhi also wanted to organize this life, but unfortunately you have changed. Now we have got place in Hyderabad about six hundred acres of land. We are also trying here. We have already done in Māyāpur. We are producing our own food, our own cloth, own milk, and we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is the simplest life. This life is meant for not working like hogs and dogs. That is the instruction. Nayaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This is the business of the stool-eater hogs. But what is meant for human life? Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed. Just rectify your existence. You are not to die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Why don't you take this formula seriously, that "I am not subject to die. I am not subjected to death. Why I am forced to take birth and die?" This one question, that is human life. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Now this life is meant for . . . "I am Brahman. Now I must inquire about my identity, about my constitutional position, how I can become happy, why I am put into this tribulation." Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Kṛṣṇa says; I am not saying. This place, Kṛṣṇa says, this is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. But we are trying to mitigate our distresses by material adjustment. But Kṛṣṇa says no, that is not possible. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Whatever plan you make, the nature will break it. You have to suffer here. Because you have preferred to come into this material world and want to become happy—you do not know what is the way of happiness—you must suffer. Kṛṣṇa does not like, because you are His son, but it is a punishment under the control of the material nature.

So if we want to avoid this punishment, duḥkhālayam . . . janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-dosānudarśanam (BG 13.9), this polluted condition . . . this is polluted condition. I am eternal, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So our question should be . . . (break) The human life is meant for inquiring about our permanent life. He requires a guru. Not a guru who can give me some so-called happiness by manufacturing some material things. No. The guru means, as it is described by Viśvanātha Cakravartī,

saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-

trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam

prāptasya kalyana-guṇārnavasya

vande guroḥ śrī caraṇāravindam

(Gurv-astaka 1)

Guru means one who can deliver me from this duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Māyā . . . we are in the duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, but under the influence of māyā we are thinking we are living very, very happily, or we are not trying to solve the question. No. This kind of solution will not help you, because you have to die. Whatever you make solution, Kṛṣṇa says, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). If you don't agree to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, "All right, make your arrangement. But at the time of death I shall come and take away everything, whatever you have got." Mrtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham. Then your bank balance, your skyscraper building, your country, your family, your good name—everything will be taken away. And you have to accept another body, tathā dehāntara-prāptir (BG 2.13). Now whatever assessment we're given in this life, everything will be taken away, and we'll be forced to accept one body which you cannot deny.

Karmanā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). According to your karma you have to accept another body, because you are under the laws of material nature.

puruṣaḥ prakṛti 'stho hi

bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān

kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya

sad-asad-janma-yonisu

(BG 13.22)

Puruṣa. This living entity, he's puruṣa. Factually he's not a puruṣa, he's a prakṛti. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

apareyam itas tu viddhi

me prakṛtiṁ parām

jīva-bhutāṁ mahā-baho

yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat

(BG 7.5)

This material world is matter, bhūmir āpo 'nalo-vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). They are described as prakṛti, prakṛti me bhinnā aṣṭadhā. And again He says that apareyam, "These are inferior prakṛti." But there is a superior prakṛti. Apareyam itas tv viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. Who is that? Jīva-bhūtam, the jīvas, living entities.

So we are prakṛti. We are trying to become puruṣa. Puruṣa means enjoyer. So our, I mean to say, endeavor to become puruṣa . . . everyone is trying to be puruṣa, enjoyer. And at last he wants to become the supreme puruṣa: "I want to become God." When everything is baffled, then he wants to become God. So this puruṣa, when he's struggling, manaḥ ṣaṣṭānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7), hard struggle for existence to become puruṣa, but he cannot become puruṣa. He's prakṛti. He's enjoyed. He's predominated, and the predominator is Kṛṣṇa. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He is the enjoyer; we are enjoyed. We are not enjoyer. So that is mistake. That is our māyā. We are not enjoyer.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu gives us the direction, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa-dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108-109). Don't try to become puruṣa or enjoyer, artificially. Better instead of serving your senses, you become servant of the Supreme Lord. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are trying to convince people that "Don't try to become master artificially. You'll never be successful. Just agree to become servant of Kṛṣṇa." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ (BG 18.66). That is your perfection.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. (end)