Everyone is taking defense. Even tiger is also afraid. Do you know that? Tiger is also. Tiger has become very powerful animal. Everyone is afraid of. He can catch anyone and kill him and eat him. Unfortunately, he does not get the opportunity of catching anyone. The tiger cannot eat every day very nicely. He gets once in a week a chance or once in a fortnight a chance to capture an animal. Therefore he kills and keeps it for eating daily. It is not that . . . just like you are getting daily bhagavat-prasādam, nice dish. Nobody is supplying to tiger. Nobody is going to tiger's front: "Sir, kindly kill me and eat me." No. Nobody's going. Everyone has got to struggle. Na hi suptasya siṁhasya praviśanti mukhe mṛgaḥ (Hitopadeśa). This is the statement. This material world is so made that even the lion, if he keeps himself sleeping . . . because lion is considered to be the king of the forest. So if he thinks that, "I am the king of the forest. So why shall I work? Let me sleep, and my eating animals will come and enter into my mouth . . ." No. You have to struggle. You have to struggle. You have to find out.
Therefore this energy is called karma-saṁjñānyā. This . . . there are many energies of Kṛṣṇa. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, CC. Madhya 13.65, purport). But learned scholars, they have divided into three: the spiritual energy, the marginal energy and the material energy. Tṛtīya-karma-saṁjñānyā tṛtīya-śaktir iṣyate (CC Madhya 6.154). So here this material world, either you become a tiger, either you become Lord Brahmā or you become a small ant, you have to struggle for your existence. This is material world. You cannot think that "I shall be happy without any working."
People are trying to do that, that . . . when a man gets some money, bank balance, he no more works. But that is the tendency, that "Without working, I shall maintain myself happily." That is our tendency. Ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), Vedānta-sūtra says. Because our tendency is to enjoy life, but we do not know where to enjoy, how to enjoy. And that is called illusion. We are trying to enjoy life in this material world, where there is no enjoyment. There is no enjoyment. Repeatedly śāstra says. Kṛṣṇa says, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15): "This place is simply for miserable condition of life." Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. "And still, it is temporary." Even if you think, "All right, there are so many miserable condition. Never mind. Let me adjust and live here permanently," oh, no, that will also not be allowed. Temporary. You may decorate your Paris city. Napoleon tried and other tried. But you cannot live here, sir. You have to go out.
But these rascals, they do not understand. They are decorating, decorating. "Tax. Give more tax. Give more tax. Let us decorate." But how you'll . . . how long you shall live in this decorated city? Even if you live, if you are so much lover, great nationalist of the country, suppose next life you get the . . . because when one has very much attraction for a certain land, then he again takes birth in that land. So if you take your birth not as human being or as a cat and dog or a cow, then you'll be sent to the slaughterhouse. Then what is the use of your becoming nationalist? Your men, for whom you have worked so hard, next life if you take your birth as a cow, the same men will send you to the slaughterhouse. But these rascals, they do not know what is the mystery.
Therefore to make solution of this problem, athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now inquire what is the Absolute Truth." That is intelligence. Therefore Kṛṣṇa, although He is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is giving reference to the Brahma-sūtra. Whatever He speaks, it is all right. He doesn't require to refer any authoritative book. But He is also giving. You have seen Caitanya Mahāprabhu. That is the way. But these rascals are trying to avoid authoritative scriptures. Even Kṛṣṇa is giving reference to the authoritative scripture, and these rascal, they have so degraded, they say, "Oh, why these books? Now I can manufacture own knowledge." And other rascals, they are accepting: "Yes, it is right."
So this is called Kali-yuga. People are so degraded, less than animal, less than animal. Therefore to revive them, the Vedānta-sūtra says, athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now you inquire about the Absolute Truth." Hetumadbhir viniścitaṁ. Now, hetumadbhiḥ. Hetumadbhiḥ means "with reason." Reason. What is that reason? Now, if I want to inquire about the Absolute Truth, so how I shall understand? Now . . . there are three ways, namely pratyakṣa . . . pratyakṣa, aitihya and śruti, śruti-pramāṇa. Śruti-pramāṇa, pratyakṣa-pramāṇa, direct perception. Now, Brahman, the Absolute Truth, how we can understand the Absolute Truth? Absolute Truth means the Supreme. Now we have got experience that everything is created by somebody—everything, whatever we see, this pillow, this seat, or this book, or this microphone, whatever we are seeing. Even my body is created by my father and mother. Everyone can understand. So why they should deny the creation of this material world?
We see, everything material, that has got a beginning, date of birth and date of death. And there are, in the middle, between the birth and death, there is disease and old age, deterioration. Old age means deterioration. Just like this body. When I was young man, child, I was also jumping. Now I have to go with a stick. The deterioration . . . this is called de . . . deterioration. Deterioration means now it is coming to be finished.
There are six changes: first of all birth, then living for some time, then producing some by-product, then deterioration, then finish. Janma-sthiti . . . there are six kinds of changes. So anything material you study, these six kinds of changes are there. So this material world . . . how this rascal says that "It was existing"? (break) "It was existing." Nothing was existing. Otherwise, why the Brahma-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), that "The Absolute Truth is that from whom, or from which, everything is taking birth." This is Brahma-sūtra.
So "everything is taking birth" means this material world also has taken birth from that Absolute Truth. That is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā: ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the origin of all births, everything." So the material world was not existing. This is insufficient. How you can say it is existing? Anything you see, material, it has got a date of birth. Who can deny it? Can you present anything material which was . . . which has no beginning? Everything has got beginning. So how you can say this material world has no beginning? This is nonsense.
Therefore hetumadbhir viniścitaiḥ. Hetu means "with reason," not like dogmatic obstinacy. You must have a beginning. Then, as soon as you . . . we accept that this material world has had a beginning . . . the śāstra says it has beginning. Just like Brahma-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Why it says janmādy asya? Everything has beginning. And we see from the śāstra how this material world has begun. There was first of all Mahāviṣṇu. From Mahāviṣṇu, these universes came out.
- yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya
- jīvanti loma-bilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ
- viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.48)
Before this universal creation, Kṛṣṇa took the form of Mahāviṣṇu, and Mahāviṣṇu's breathing period is the creation and annihilation. So long the breathing goes on, exhaling, that is the creation period; inhaling, the destruction, annihilation. So the whole cosmic manifestation is being maintained within the breathing period of Mahāviṣṇu. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-bilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). Jagad-aṇḍa . . . Brahmā. Brahmā is the supreme living being within this universe. But it is plural number, jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ. So there are innumerable universes.
So if we discuss all these things from the śāstra, then we get really knowledge, and then we can actually act what is the perfection of life. Therefore Kṛṣṇa suggests, brahma-sūtra-padaiś caiva hetumadbhir viniścitaṁ. Try to understand Brahma-sūtra, Vedānta philosophy. Vedānta philosophy is explained—Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That is the real commentary of Vedānta-sūtra. You cannot understand Vedānta-sūtra as it is, because it is mentioned in codes. Just like we have got business, Bentley's code. One small word, but they take that it has got a big sentence. Just like in business they write, Bentley's, CIF. So CIF means it is the . . .
Just like we say ISKCON. ISKCON means . . . "I" means international, S means society, and K means Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and so . . . Kṛṣṇa, and CON means consciousness. As we have simplified, similarly there are many things, codes. So in the Vedānta-sūtra means they are codes, but in each code there is ample meaning. So that is commentary.