Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.52

Nitāi: "The foolish embodied living entity, inadept at controlling his senses and mind, although he does not desire to, he is forced to act by the different influences of the modes of material nature. He is just like the silkworm, who by the thread created from his own saliva creates a cocoon and becomes encaged in it without any possibility of getting out. The living entity has similarly engaged himself in a network of his own different fruitive activities and cannot find a way to get out of it. In that condition, he is always bewildered and repeatedly dies."

[break]

Prabhupāda:

dehy ajño 'jita-ṣaḍ-vargo necchan karmāṅi kāryate kośakāra ivātmānaṁ karmaṅācchādya muhyati [SB 6.1.52]

This is the position of all of us living entities. Because we cannot control the mind and the senses, especially karmendriya—the eyes, the ear, the tongue, the touch, the udara upastha... Pāṅi, pāda, pāyu, udara, upastha, these five karmendriya. Pāṅi means hand, pāyu means rectum and pāda means leg. Udara means belly, and upastha means genital. And these are karmendriya, and mind... So mind dictates, "Oh, let me see this beautiful thing"—immediately eyes act. "Let me hear this sweet song"—immediately ear is engaged. So of all, the jihvā, the tongue, is very strong. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, tā'ra madhye jihwā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati. Amongst all the senses, the tongue, taste, it is very strong. In your country especially, for the tongue so many advertisement: this wine, that wine, varieties of cigarettes, restaurants, roasted beef, so many things, just attracting the tongue, "Please come here. Please come here and be entangled." This advertisement. So one has to control the tongue. Tā'ra madhye jihwā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati. This is very secret science, that you have to clear out your path of liberation by controlling the tongue. Then other things will be controlled, the straight line: tongue, then belly, then genital. Therefore in our society we have restricted the tongue: "Don't eat meat. Don't take intoxication." And then, the straight line: "No free use of the genital, illicit sex." These things are required if you want to be free from this material entanglement. This is called tapasya.

Human life is meant for tapasya, not to live like cats and dogs and hogs. That is not human life. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye [SB 5.5.1].

[Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.]

This body..., all bodies are there in the darkness. Therefore it is said, dehy ajñaḥ. The lower animals, they are ajñaḥ. They cannot control. But human body is meant for controlling. Na ayaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Nṛloke means "in the human society." Na ayaṁ deha. Everyone has got body. Cats and dogs, they have got body. The trees also have body. The worms have body. All living entity, anyone who has come into this material world, under different body or different dress they are suffering in this material world. Therefore the śāstra is meant for the human being so that he can understand his awkward position.

So everywhere this is advised, ayaṁ deha: "You had many other bodies in your past lives' evolution. Now, this body," ayaṁ deha, nāyaṁ deha deho-bhājāṁ nṛloke, "one who has got this human form of body," nāyaṁ deha deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujām [SB 5.5.1], "don't engage yourself for simply for eating, sleeping, in very hard labor." Just like at the present moment huge, big, big industries, karma. It is called ugra-karma. Ugra-karma means ferocious activities. Anyone who has gone into the factories, it is ferocious activities, unnecessarily economic development. So this is kaṣṭān, so much laboring. Even the animals, they do not undergo so much laboring. And a human being is engaged in so much laboring? Kaṣṭān kāmān. And what for, laboring, working? Now, kāmān, to sense gratify, that's all. This is the highest state. Whole day and night, night shift, day shift and—who was telling? Upendra—that our next door neighbor, he wanted to sleep up to ten o'clock. So when they were, I mean to say, sweeping the floor he became disturbed because last night he had drunk and sense gratification; now, little disturbance, he cannot sleep. You are creating in this way entanglement, ajñaḥ, dehy ajñaḥ, on account of his ignorance. And this education system is keeping him more and more in ignorance. Mūḍha.

So this principle they do not know, that this human life, actually the desire is like that, that "Let me earn some money. Then I shall go in a village or in a secluded place I shall live very peacefully." And those who have got money, at the weekend they go out for peaceful living. So that is the tendency: not to work hard, but live peacefully. That can be done. Everyone can do that, provided he lives in the village, he lives in the village and produces his own food, little labor, vegetable, food grains. Anyone can produce. This is human civilization. Therefore... Not that all, everyone has to do. The third class... First-class men, they should cultivate knowledge to guide the human society, brāhmaṅa. Śama dama titikṣa... [Bg 18.42].

[Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness—these are the qualities by which the brāhmaṅas work.]

They should learn, ideal men. Under their advice... Brāhmaṅa is considered to be the guru of other sections: kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra.

So anyone can live very peacefully without any hard labor. What is this civilization? For getting foodstuff one has to go hundred miles away from home, daily passengers. And some of them are going in the foreign countries also. Recently there was news that in Africa, Uganda, that the President Amin, he asked some very respectable English gentlemen to carry his palanquin just to insult them. But the Englishmen, now they are in a precarious condition. The British Empire is now finished. Now they had to carry this man. And under protest they could not go away, because they have got business. So why one should go so far distance? Everyone can produce his foodstuff at home. Nature's arrangement is so nice. If not, little trade. So it is not meant for so much hard labor. Śāstra says, "This kind of laboring hard simply for satisfaction of senses is the business of the hog and pig. It is not the business of the human being." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye [SB 5.5.1].

So human society, they should rectify their mode of civilization by taking this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. Then they will be happy. Otherwise, if they keep themself in ignorance, ajñaḥ, dehy ajñaḥ, then ajita-ṣaḍ-varga: he will never be able to control the senses. The yoga system, haṭha-yoga system, is meant for this class of rascals, ajita. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Real meaning of yoga means controlling the senses. So because everyone is ajita-ṣaḍ-varga—ajita means not conquered—so those who are too much addicted in the bodily concept of life, for them this haṭha-yoga is prescribed. The purpose is to control the senses, not that to reduce fat or something else. No. Real purpose is yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Because unless we control the senses, we remain in ignorance, blind, and go on. Ajita-ṣaḍ-vargo necchan. Necchan. Na icchan. If we do not try, then even though I do not want to do something, even I... On the cigarette package there is that "It is not good for health." So I do not like that my health should be ruined, but necchan, I am compelled to smoke. This is our position. It is written, warning there. Government has written. What is the written there?

Satsvarūpa: "The Surgeon General has determined that smoking may be hazardous to your health."

Prabhupāda: "May be." Not assured. [laughter] Therefore they take it "may not be." But we don't say "may be." We say "No intoxication," because it is actually harmful to the health and in every respect. We see so many places in airplane, "No smoking. No smoking." But the rascal will not stop that... Nobody can smoke, but allowed, "Now you can smoke." They say also. First of all write "No smoking," then, as soon as the plane is running, they say, "Now you can smoke." So this is going on. This is education. This is education. And blind, simply blind rascals. I always say that, the strong word, "rascal," because blind, ajñaḥ, anicchan. They hear that smoking is not good—determined—but as soon as the cigarette packet is there, "Give me a cigarette." Necchan. This is called tapasya, that you have to beat your mind with shoes at least twice. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "When you get up, your first business is to beat the mind with shoes. And when you go to bed, you have to beat the mind with broomstick." [laughter] Then you will be able to control the mind.

So all catastrophes are happening on account of this rascal mind. Mind is not rascal; I am rascal. I am using my mind in a different way. So this can be stopped. You can control the mind if you place your mind always at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa. Then it is possible. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṅṭha-guṅānuvarṅane. Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he practiced it. He was very responsible emperor of the world—he had many responsible duties—but he was a great devotee. How? This is the process: sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayoḥ [SB 9.4.18],

[Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord's temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṅa or about Kṛṣṅa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa's temples and Kṛṣṅa's places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord's devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord's prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires.]

always thinking of Kṛṣṅa. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayoḥ. When the mind is controlled, if you fix up your mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, then this māyā cannot touch your mind. Yāhāṅ kṛṣṅa, nāhi tāhāṅ māyāra adhikāra. Māyā andhakāra.

kṛṣṅa sūrya-sama; māyā andhakāra, yāhāṅ kṛṣṅa, tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra [Cc Madhya 22.31]

[Kṛṣṅa is compared to sunshine, and māyā is compared to darkness. Wherever there is sunshine, there cannot be darkness. As soon as one takes to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, the darkness of illusion (the influence of the external energy) will immediately vanish.]

Kṛṣṅa sūrya-sama. Kṛṣṅa is just like sun. If you want that "In the sunshine or in the sun globe I shall inject darkness," it is not possible. It will be a failure. Sun is so bright that even a big darkness cannot enter. At night it is big darkness, but sun is so strong that as soon as there is glimpse of the sun, immediately whole darkness gone. You haven't got to drive the darkness by separate endeavor. Simply await for the sun rising—immediately finish. So māyā is darkness. So if you bring Kṛṣṅa within your heart, all māyā will be finished. No more māyā. This is the process. That is called Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Māyā can act only when there is no Kṛṣṅa. So therefore Gosvāmī, ṣaḍ-gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī, advises, yena tena prakāreṅa manaḥ kṛṣṅe niveśayet sarve vidhi-niṣedhā syur etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ. Somehow or other, you fix up your mind on Kṛṣṅa.

So when I started this movement, somehow or other I tried to fix up the mind of these boys in Kṛṣṅa. In the beginning I never said that "You have to do this. You have to do that." But somehow or other, they are very nice boys, so they fixed up their mind in Hare Kṛṣṅa chanting. Kṛṣṅa and chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa—the same thing. Therefore we... Our process is to chant, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc Ādi 17.31],

[One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.]

chant Hare Kṛṣṅa always. Then the mind becomes... Chant and hear. Yena tena prakāreṅa. Then everything will be complete. It is so... As we are fallen at the present moment in this age, the remedy is also very effective. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṅasya paraṁ vrajet [SB 12.3.51].

[My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.]

Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṅasya nitya-muktaḥ paraṁ vrajet. This is the special advantage of this Kali-yuga, because people are so fallen that it is very difficult to raise them to the standard of spiritual understanding by the prescribed method. Prescribed method means tapasā brahmacaryeṅa śamena damena niyamena tyāgena [SB 6.1.13].

[To concentrate the mind, one must observe a life of celibacy and not fall down. One must undergo the austerity of voluntarily giving up sense enjoyment. One must then control the mind and senses, give charity, be truthful, clean and nonviolent, follow the regulative principles and regularly chant the holy name of the Lord. Thus a sober and faithful person who knows the religious principles is temporarily purified of all sins performed with his body, words and mind. These sins are like the dried leaves of creepers beneath a bamboo tree, which may be burned by fire although their roots remain to grow again at the first opportunity.]

It is very difficult. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us His blessings, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc Ādi 17.31].

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalaṁ kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc Ādi 17.21]

[In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.]

That's a fact.

So if we want to come to the light... Because our qualification is, not only in this age, any living being who has accepted this material body, he is ajñaḥ; he is a rascal. He is a rascal, in ignorance, and he cannot control the senses. This is his qualification. Dehy ajño ajita-ṣaḍ-vargo. And on account of this ignorance and being unable to control the senses, then he unwillingly, he is being forced by nature to act sinful activities, unwillingly. Necchan. Necchan means unwilling. He doesn't like it. Just like even a thief: he is practiced to steal, so he knows that "I will be arrested again." He has had experience. He knows that "I will be again arrested, and I will go again to the jail and will suffer there," but he is still forced to commit stealing again. A man suffering from venereal disease, he goes to the doctor, injection, so much painful. Still, he acts the same way. Necchan. Practice. "Habit is the..." What is called? "Second nature." So practice.

So necchan karmāṅi kāryate. And as soon as you act, immediately the reaction is there. That you cannot avoid. If you have touched fire, it must burn. The action is touching fire, and the result is burning. So necchan. We do not know. We are ignorance. We are committing so many abominable things, and we are becoming entangled like that silkworm. He is making a bag without knowledge, and gradually he becomes entangled within this and dies. That is our position. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19]. We entangle ourself in a different activities and create another result, and according to the result... Because it is infection... Kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgaḥ asya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. We are getting different types of body. Why? The cause, kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya [Bg 13.22]. In ignorance... Just like we are infecting different types of disease—we have to suffer—similarly, we, under ignorance we are infecting the modes of material nature and different types of bodies. Today I am Indian or American, and tomorrow I may be a cat, a dog.

That these people, they do not know. Ajñaḥ. These rascals, they do not know. At least one should know that "I am going to die." That's a fact, inevitable. You may be very intelligent, but Kṛṣṅa says, "You don't like Me. All right, I shall come to you as death. Then you will understand. And at that time I shall take away whatever you have accumulated." Mṛtyu aham. Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "I come as death and take away everything, whatever you have earned or collected in this life." Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham [Bg 10.34].

[I am all-devouring death, and I am the generator of all things yet to be. Among women I am fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience.]

Sarva-hara: "I will take. I will take all: your bank balance, your skyscraper building, your nice family. Your everything will be finished. I will take it away." Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham. So after death I may be very proud of my intelligence and power and talking, completely under the laws of material nature. Then nature... Karmaṅā daiva-netreṅa [SB 3.31.1],

[The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.]

by superior supervision, as you have acted, jantur deha upapatti, then you will have to accept one body.

So in this way, life after life, we are changing the body. In this planet, in other planet, in this variety, in that variety we are wandering. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says,

ei rūpe brahmāṅḍa brahmite kona bhāgyavān jīva guru kṛṣṅa kṛpa pāya bhakti-latā-bīja [Cc Madhya 19.151]

[According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṅa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṅa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.]

In this way we are wandering, life after life. But somehow or other, if he becomes fortunate, fortunate... Unless one becomes fortunate, one cannot take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness. It is not possible. So we are trying to make this fallen soul fortunate. Be fortunate and take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

ei rūpe brahmāṅḍa brahmite kona bhāgyavān jīva guru kṛṣṅa kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

By Kṛṣṅa's mercy, by guru's mercy, both... Don't try to take mercy of one. Guru kṛṣṅa kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja. By guru's mercy one gets Kṛṣṅa. And kṛṣṅa sei tomāra, kṛṣṅa dite pāro. To approach a guru means just to beg from him Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa sei tomāra. Because Kṛṣṅa is devotee's Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is the master, but who can control Kṛṣṅa? His devotee. Kṛṣṅa is the supreme controller, but He is controlled by devotee. That is, Kṛṣṅa is bhakti-vatsala. Just like a big father, a high-court judge and... There is a story that the prime minister Gladstone, somebody came to see him. And the Mr. Gladstone informed that "Wait. I am busy." So he was waiting for hours, then he became inquisitive: "What this gentleman is doing?" So he wanted to see within that... He had become a horse, and taking his child on the back side. That business he was doing. You see? The prime minister, he is controlling the British Empire, but he is controlled by a child out of affection. This is called affection.

So similarly, Kṛṣṅa is the supreme controller.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṅa-kāraṅam [Bs 5.1]

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

He's the supreme controller, but He is controlled by His devotee, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṅī. He is controlled. So it is not to be easily understood what is the pastimes between... But Kṛṣṅa is willingly agreed to be controlled by His devotee. That is Kṛṣṅa's nature. Just like Mother Yaśodā. Mother Yaśodā is controlling Kṛṣṅa, binding Him: "You are very naughty? I will bind You." Mother Yaśodā has a stick, and Kṛṣṅa is crying. Kṛṣṅa is crying. These things you study. It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kuntī's prayer, how she is appreciating that "My dear Kṛṣṅa, You are the Supreme. But when under the stick of Mother Yaśodā You are crying, that scene I want to see." So Kṛṣṅa is so bhakta-vatsala that He is the supreme controller. But a devotee like Mother Yaśodā, a devotee like Rādhārāṅī, devotees like gopīs, devotees like the cowherds boy, they can control Kṛṣṅa. That is Vṛndāvana life.

So this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is trying to take you there. The foolish persons, they are being deviated. They do not know what is the value of this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. They are trying to give the human society the topmost benefit, position. They don't want to become one with God, but they are giving the right to control God. This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. What is the use of becoming one with God? Nobody can become. But Kṛṣṅa is willing to be controlled by the devotee. This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. So from this position, ajño ajita-ṣaḍ-varga, forced to work by the spell of material energy, from this rotten condition of life we are trying to raise him to the platform where he can control Kṛṣṅa.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]