They cannot understand that by serving Kṛṣṇa, we become healthy or in our normal position. This is called ignorance. Somebody is trying to forget Him, somebody is trying to become equal with Him. This business is going on. And nobody is submitting that "My Lord, I forgot my service. From this day, I become again Your servant. Please give me protection." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām... (BG 18.66). This is the teaching of all śāstra, all Vedas. But these people, the other party, they have become blind. They have become blind. Why? Lobha-upahata-cetasaḥ. They have lost their sense. Kula-kṣaya-kṛtaṁ doṣam. There is a great fault by destroying dynasty. Nowadays people are destroying from the womb, abortion, contraception, destroying. They do not know. Kula-kṣaya. Actually putra. Putra means, put means puṁ-nāma-narakam. There is a hell which is called puṁ-nāma-naraka. And tra means trāyate, deliver. So putra means puṁ-nāma-narakāt trāyate iti putra. The Sanskrit word for son, putra means that the son is expected to deliver the forefathers from the hellish condition of life. Sometimes due to our sinful activities, we become ghost. That is very hellish condition. So when śraddhā is offered by the putra..., who will offer? The putra will offer. That is the duty. Then he gets again material body. These are the subtle laws. People do not know. Neither they are eager to know.
Abortion (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Prabhupāda: No. Time is unlimited. How you can transcend?
Woman (4): How do you regard abortion? At what stage does the spirit...
Prabhupāda: Most abominable.
Woman (4): What stage does the spirit enter into the womb?
Siddha-svarūpa: What stage does the spirit enter into the womb.
Prabhupāda: Spirit, as it is, spirit—very small. It is mentioned in the śāstra. The dimension of the spirit is one ten-thousandth portion of the tip of the hair—very small particle, smaller than the atom. This atom enters into the father's semina, and the semina is injected in the mother's womb, and then the two seminas, being emulsified, it creates a small body like a pea. And because the spirit soul is there, it develops into body. This is the science.
Even from the hole of your room, there is small hole, and there are ants, hundreds and thousands will come out. So similarly, within the hole, within the earth, within the air, within the fire even, there are germs, worms in the fire. These rascals, they do not know. They simply think... Because nitya, nitya means ever-existing. So in the fire the living entities does not die. They sterilize. "Now it is sterilized." That is all nonsense. Sterilized means the body is killed, but not this... There is abortion. The body is killed. Contraception... The body is killed. But the soul, he's not killed.
Daiva-netreṇa, suppose you are destined to occupy some room, and somebody does not allow you to enter that room, is it not criminal? It is criminal, unlawful detention, unlawful... It is unlawful, even in the state. Similarly, a living entity is developing one body, and if you kill that, you become immediately criminal, punishable. And the living entity who is checked to develop the body, he's put into inconvenience, he's also sinful. He's also sinful. Therefore it may be simply he's wandering from one womb to another, one womb to another. Because he committed that sinful activity abortion. Now the man who causes his abortion, he also being punished, that "You'll never see the light of this world. You'll simply have to live one womb to another, one womb to another. Go on." So nature's punishment is like that. But these foolish people they do not know.
Just like this morning we were discussing about killing the baby's body within the womb, abortion. Because we do not know that the soul within the body of the baby... That cannot be killed. That cannot be killed. But that is also explained, that one who knows the eternity of the soul, he does not kill anyone, neither the soul is killed. But we are creating problem. Because the soul has taken shelter in this body and the so-called medical science advising to destroy that body, that means he is becoming entangled.
The plan is: yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). That is plan. But these rascal, this atheist class, they say, kim anyat kāma-haitukam: "Only lusty desires, that is the only reason. That is the only cause." The atheist class think like that, that "This birth is taking place due to our lusty desires, but we do not want to take responsibility. Then kill him. What is that?" Therefore they are making this abortion, killing of the child, as legal. The kāma... "We had some lusty desires, and we got it, but we don't want it. Kill it." That's all. This is going on. This is atheism. But it is not that. That child has come. It is a living entity. It desired a certain thing, and therefore he has given chance to take birth as human being or as cat, as dog. Kāma-haitukam.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Nowadays, modern advanced civilization, they are being killed by the mother. Not only abortion, but they are being killed. Now the Western world is very familiar with these things. So just imagine. First of all, you have to remain within the mother's womb, head down, packed-up condition. You cannot move, ten months. And that is also not secure. Even within the... Now this is the... Within the mother's womb you are not secure. At any moment the doctor may advise that "Kill the child." So these are the miserable condition of birth, but we do not remember them. We have to know it from the śāstra.
You'll find rāsa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa was dancing with so many young girls, but you won't find there was any sex relation. There was nothing like that. So that is dhīra. They were devotees, gopīs. They used to come to Kṛṣṇa. But there is no such thing written, as pregnancy and abortion. No, nothing of the sort. That is called dhīra, that in spite of presence of the cause of disturbance... The gopīs came to Kṛṣṇa because He was very beautiful young boy. Actually they were attracted by His beauty. That is stated, kāmāt. They came as a lust. But when they came to Kṛṣṇa, they became purified. That is dhīra.
Just like there the scientists are applying intelligence for abortion. What is this intelligence? To give facility for sex life, that's all. What is this intelligence? Killing the poor child within the womb. Is that very good intelligence? No. But that intelligence is for giving facility to sex life. That's all. They are so-called scientists, intelligence. What is that intelligence? Discover atomic bomb. What is the effect? To kill. But they are dying, what is the credit for you? They're already dying, naturally dying, dying out of want for food, dying in famine, in pestilence. Then what you have discovered? This is called intelligence. This intelligence is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.15). They are advertising themselves as intelligent, but real intelligence is taken away.
God is the whole family. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti. He's supplying food to the elephants. We are, we are so much advanced in civilization that because we cannot take care of a child, therefore we are killing child even within the womb of mother, abortion. We are so unfit. But God, you see, He's feeding millions of elephants in the Africa. Not only elephants, there are so many. Out of 8,400,000 species of life, there are 8,000,000 species of life nonhuman being, the majority—the birds, beasts, reptiles, trees, so many other living entities. But they have no business. They have no occupation, profession, to maintain themselves. So who is maintaining them? Who is there? Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān.
Kṛṣṇa, when brahmāstra was released by Aśvatthāmā to kill the Mahārāja Parīkṣit while he was within the womb of his mother, Kṛṣṇa personally saved him. Because... He wanted because in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, everyone died, of the Kuru dynasty. Only the son, this Abhimanyu's son, Kṛṣṇa, uh, Arjuna's grandson, was within the womb of his mother. Therefore he was not killed in the battlefield. Still, Aśvatthāmā, the son of Droṇācārya wanted to kill him, and he released brahmāstra, and it was going to kill the child. At that time his mother, Uttarā, approached Kṛṣṇa, that "I am feeling that my womb will be..., abortion there may be." So Kṛṣṇa saved. This is the history. So after his birth, because he saw Kṛṣṇa within the womb, so after his birth, as soon as he came out of the womb of his mother, he was looking here and there, "Where is that personality?" Therefore his name is Parīkṣit. Parīkṣit means he was examining, "Who is that? Who is that man?"
Because mother cannot understand that what is the pain and..., neither he can express what is the pains and pleasure. So the embarrassment was at the beginning. Otherwise why the child cries? He's feeling some pain, but mother does not know how to relieve. But he's crying. This is going on. Then childhood. I do not like to go to school. My parents force me to go to school. So embarrassment. Then all right. I became married, or I enjoyed sex life. Then children. Then embarrassment. Contraceptive. That is also embarrassment. So this embarrassment is going on. And then again death. Then again go to the womb of the mother, and be killed within the womb of the mother, abortion. So the whole life is full of embarrassment. Why? That "why" question does not arise, that "Why I am embarrassed?"
People are indulging in killing even his own son, abortion. Because people are degrading, they are killing live thing. So that will be reacted. In the womb the man, the person, will be killed. Reaction. Why so many abortions are taking place nowadays? Because the child which has come into the womb of the mother, he is sinful. He has done previous life so many killings. Now he has to be killed so many times. He has to be killed so many times. As many times he has killed other poor animals. This is the law of nature.
Nowadays, it is so much suffering that a child is born within the womb, and there is abortion, killed. "Kill him." But they do not understand the suffering, that one chance given that it will get a body and come out and maybe able to come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that opportunity... he's being killed within the womb. But these rascals, they do not know what is the suffering. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9).
So many things. Suffocated. That is one thing. But if he can live at least for ten months, the mother does not kill, abortion, then it has got a chance to come out. Otherwise, there is no chance to come out ever. He dies within the womb, again transferred to another womb, and again it is killed. So those who are too much sinful, those who are causing these abortions, they will get this sort of life. They will never see light. One womb, killed; another womb, killed; another womb, killed; another womb, killed. This is so sinful, this abortion. And the modern civilization and the priestly order, they are passing: "If the mother selects... otherwise, there is no objection, abortion." Such foolish world is going on. You see? There are so many subtle laws of nature.
It is published in now..., that therefore, the rascal class of men, they want to..., they do not want to accept that there is life after death. "Everything is finished." Therefore in Western countries there is killing even grown-up child within the womb. They are killing, abortion. They think there is no life. Unless it comes out of the womb, there is no life. It's all nonsense theory. All nonsense theory, simply committing sinful life one after another and becoming entangled. The result will be that he will have to enter again into the womb of mother and he will be killed. He will be killed not once. He will be killed again when he enters the womb of the mother; again he will be killed. For many, many years he will not be allowed to see the light of the sun.
Whole day you have to work within this darkness. And you are considered to be very expert, and you are getting good salary, but your place is in the dark mine. Why don't you...?" Similarly, his wife, she's a qualified gynecologist. So what is her business? Her business is how to kill the child within the womb—abortion. Just see. Both are experts. One expert is engaged in the hellish condition of the mine, in darkness; another expert is engaged in killing small babies within the womb. You see? Therefore the result will be that they are going to hell. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisram. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Again doing the same thing, again going to the hellish condition of life. This is called tamo-dvāram, ignorance. Tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam.
Before your coming out from the womb of your mother, you might be killed by your very mother or father. Because that movement is going on, abortion. So either you are in a womb of a very rich mother or a poor mother or in the womb of a black mother or white mother or a learned mother or foolish mother, the pains of staying within the mother is the same. It is not that because you are in the womb of a rich mother, therefore there will be no pain of living within the womb. The same pain. So janma. Then again, as soon as you accept some material body, you will have to suffer the bodily pains and pleasure. Then, at the time of death, the same painful condition.
Just like Kṛṣṇa says, dharmāviruddha-kāmo 'smi. If there is legal sex, one man and woman, married, and only for progeny they get into sex life, that is allowed in the śāstra. But illegal, illicit sex is most abominable. But either illicit or legal, there are so many sufferings. So many sufferings. Illegal—now they are giving opportunity, abortion, killing the child, and so on, go to the hospital. That is also. And behind that, the killing the child, a very sinful, he has to suffer. He does not know. Ananta-duḥkhaṁ ca na veda mūḍhaḥ. He's taking the risk of suffering life after life. Those who are killing the child within the womb, they will be punished. They will also enter within the womb of the mother, and somebody will kill, and again he will enter another mother's womb; again he'll be killed. So as many child he has killed, he has to go to the womb of the mother to another womb, another. He will never see the light of the world. He'll be killed. This is the punishment.
If you eat meat, that means you become implicated in sinful activities. You have to be killed by your enemy, and he will eat you, or you become a goat or a hog or a cow, and your other person will kill you. Just like nowadays this contraceptive, abortion, killing the child is going on, so the same man, again he is killed by the so-called father and mother. It will act. Karmaṇo 'anya... Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyātra karma-bandhana. Unless you act for satisfying Kṛṣṇa—you become bhadra—then whatever you'll do, there will be reaction. This is nature's law. You cannot escape. If you have killed an animal, then you must be killed by that animal.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
And in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also... Sex life is there in Kṛṣṇa, not exactly like this, but there is a, I mean to say, unification of embracing, kissing, everything is there, but there is no pregnancy, there is no abortion. That is the perfection. So that we cannot do here. Therefore we have to avoid. Yes. We have to avoid. The perfection... Kṛṣṇa mixed with so many girls, but there was not a single case. And Bhīṣmadeva certified that "If I had been among such beautiful young girls..." Because Bhīṣma was famous as brahmacārī. "So I think I could not protect myself, but Kṛṣṇa is so nice that He, He was always..." Kṛṣṇa is all-perfect.
Festival Lectures
If a person is unable to save his child from the clutches of birth and death, he should not become a father. This is real contraceptive method. Not that have sex like cats and dogs and when the child is there kill it and abortion. No. That is greatest sinful activity. Real contraceptive method is that if you are unable to deliver your son from the clutches of birth and death, do not become a father. That is wanted. Pitā na sa syāj jananī na sa syāt guru na sa syāt na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum.
We, just like we keep so many animals, Kṛṣṇa is also enjoying with the calves. Sometimes with other animal also. Same thing is there. It is simply imitation here. Otherwise, everything is there in the spiritual world. We are mistaking, here, karma-phala-vadya (?). But here is no inebrieties, in the spiritual world. Here it is full of inebrieties. You'll see that Kṛṣṇa is enjoying with the gopīs but there is no inebriety. There is no pregnancy, there is no abortion. That is the beauty. And the material world the love turns into lusty desires and it entails so many difficulties.
Philosophy Discussions
Karandhara: Even if you were to grant that the first life forms on this planet were simple one-celled life, that does not mean that more complex life did not begin earlier on other planets. The theory is not aborted. It may be you can discount the possibility of...
Prabhupāda: The whole thing is that Dr. Frog, famous story. He comes to this country, Dr. Frog's understanding. He has studied the three-feet-wide well, and he says he is satisfied with that. He has nothing to do with the Atlantic Ocean. But Atlantic Ocean is also a reservoir of water, and that well is also a reservoir of water. But (there is a) vast difference. So we take knowledge of who has created Atlantic Ocean. Therefore our knowledge is perfect. What do you say?
| Page Title: | Abortion (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | MadhuGopaldas, Serene |
| Created: | 08 of Feb, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=27, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 27 |