Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.1

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]

[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 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 life, dogs and hogs." They are not wasting. They are in the gradual evolution process. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṅi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati [Padma Purāṅa]. They are coming to the human form of body gradually, by nature's law. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ [Bg 3.27].

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

So long we are in the lower species of life, we are conducted by complete laws of nature, prakṛteḥ kriya..., guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ, according to the different guṅas.

There are three guṅas; therefore the material nature is called guṅa-mayī. Daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

Kṛṣṅa 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-guṅa, rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa. So sattva-guṅa, rajo-guṅa... The animals, they are in the tamo-guṅa. Then gradually they are elevated by the evolutionary process to the rajo-guṅa, and then we are elevated to the sattva-guṅa. That is the brahminical qualification. And we have to surpass the sattva-guṅa also. Not that coming to the platform of sattva-guṅa we become perfect. No. There is chance of falling down from the sattva-guṅa. 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-guṅa: śamo damo titikṣava ārjavaṁ jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma karma svabhāva-jam [Bg 18.42].

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

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-guṅa is overpowered by rajo-guṅa or rajo-guṅa is overpowered by tamo-guṅa or sattva-guṅa is overpowered by tamo-guṅa. 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 guṅān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [Bg 14.26]

[One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.]

If you take to the platform of Kṛṣṅa consciousness, then we can overcome the jurisdiction of the three guṅas. That is also advised by Lord Kṛṣṅa to Arjuna: traiguṅya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṅyo bhavārjuna [Bg 2.45].

[The Vedas mainly deal with the subject of the three modes of material nature. Rise above these modes, O Arjuna. Be transcendental to all of them. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the Self.]

This whole world is being conducted by the three guṅas, and if you want to go above the three guṅas, then you have to take to this platform, nistraiguṅya. Nirguṅa. Is called nirguṅa. Nirguṅa does not mean that no quality. No. Nirguṅa 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]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

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 Kṛṣṅa, 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 paṅḍitāḥ [Bg 2.11]

That means indirectly He accused Arjuna that "You are not paṅḍita. You're a fool, because you are lamenting on the subject matter on which no paṅḍita 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," "brāhmaṅa," "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 kuṅape tridhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij janeṣv abhijneṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13]

[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]

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 gadā, 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 Kṛṣṅa 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 die, my brother die, my neighbor die. 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 Kṛṣṅa 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. Kṛṣṅa is not that type of God, by meditation or by votes. He is God. Kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

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 Kṛṣṅa is addressed in the Bhagavad-gītā as Acyuta. Cyuta means falling down, and Kṛṣṅa is acyuta.

So we are parts and parcel of Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa admits, mamaivāṁśo jīva bhūtaḥ [Bg 15.7], ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg 14.4].

[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]

We are sons of God, Kṛṣṅa. 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].

[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]

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 Kṛṣṅa says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg 14.4]:

[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]

"I am the father." And Kṛṣṅa is not only ordinary father but He is the controller of nature:

mayādhyakṣeṅa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram hetunānena kaunteya jagad viparivartate [Bg 9.10]

[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]

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 Kṛṣṅa 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 that is hand of God. Unless God helps, Kṛṣṅa helps, mayādhyakṣeṅa 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 kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate [Bg 3.27]

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

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-draviṅā 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-draviṅā 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 Kṛṣṅa: annād bhavanti bhūtāni [Bg 3.14].

[All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rain. Rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice], and yajña is born of prescribed duties.]

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. Kṛṣṅa does not say that you produce tire tube. Kṛṣṅa 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 Kṛṣṅa. 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].

[After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.]

Kṛṣṅa says; I am not saying. This place, Kṛṣṅa says, this is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. But we are trying to mitigate our distresses by material adjustment. But Kṛṣṅa says no, that is not possible. Daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

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. Kṛṣṅa 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- trāṅāya kāruṅya-ghanāghanatvam prāptasya kalyana-guṅārnavasya vande guroḥ śrī caraṅāravindam

Guru means one who can deliver me from this duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam [Bg 8.15].

[After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.]

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, Kṛṣṅa says, 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.]

If you don't agree to surrender to Kṛṣṅa, "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. 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-netreṅa jantur dehopapattaye [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.]

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 guṅān kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yonisu [Bg 13.22]

Puruṣaḥ. This living entity, he's puruṣaḥ. Factually he's not a puruṣaḥ, he's a prakṛti. Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām jīva-bhutāṁ mahā-baho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat [Bg 7.5]

[Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.]

This material world is matter, bhūmir āpo 'nalo-vāyuḥ [Bg 7.4].

[Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies.]

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 puruṣaḥ. Puruṣaḥ means enjoyer. So our, I mean to say, endeavor to become puruṣaḥ... Everyone is trying to be puruṣaḥ, enjoyer. And at last he wants to become the supreme puruṣaḥ: "I want to become God." When everything is baffled, then he wants to become God. So this puruṣaḥ, when he's struggling, manaḥ ṣaṣṭānīndriyāṅi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati [Bg 15.7], hard struggle for existence to become puruṣaḥ, but he cannot become puruṣaḥ. He's prakṛti. He's enjoyed. He's predominated, and the predominator is Kṛṣṅa. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29].

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

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 kṛṣṅa-dāsa [Cc Madhya 20.108-109]. Don't try to become puruṣaḥ, enjoyer, artificially. Better instead of serving your senses, you become servant of the Supreme Lord. This is Kṛṣṅa 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 Kṛṣṅa." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ [Bg 18.66]. That is your perfection.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]