Birth, death, old age and disease (Books)

Expressions researched:
"birth, death, disease and old age" |"birth, death, disease, and old age" |"birth, death, old age and disease" |"birth, death, old age, and disease" |"death birth, disease and old age"

BG Preface and Introduction

BG Introduction:

One who can approach that spiritual sky is not required to descend again to the material sky. In the material sky, even if we approach the highest planet (Brahmaloka), what to speak of the moon, we will find the same conditions of life, namely birth, death, disease and old age. No planet in the material universe is free from these four principles of material existence.

BG Introduction:

Yet Bhagavad-gītā does not advise us to go to any of the planets in this material world, because even if we go to Brahmaloka, the highest planet, through some sort of mechanical contrivance by maybe traveling for forty thousand years (and who would live that long?), we will still find the material inconveniences of birth, death, disease and old age. But one who wants to approach the supreme planet, Kṛṣṇaloka, or any of the other planets within the spiritual sky, will not meet with these material inconveniences.

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 7.29, Purport:

Birth, death, old age and diseases affect this material body, but not the spiritual body. There is no birth, death, old age and disease for the spiritual body, so one who attains a spiritual body, becomes one of the associates of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and engages in eternal devotional service is really liberated. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: I am spirit. It is said that one should understand that he is Brahman, spirit soul. This Brahman conception of life is also in devotional service, as described in this verse. The pure devotees are transcendentally situated on the Brahman platform, and they know everything about transcendental activities.

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 13.8-12, Translation:

Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; 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; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.

BG 13.8-12, Purport:

One should try to understand the distress of accepting birth, death, old age and disease. There are descriptions in various Vedic literatures of birth. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the world of the unborn, the child's stay in the womb of the mother, its suffering, etc., are all very graphically described. It should be thoroughly understood that birth is distressful. Because we forget how much distress we have suffered within the womb of the mother, we do not make any solution to the repetition of birth and death.

BG 13.8-12, Purport:

No one wants to be diseased, and no one wants to become old, but there is no avoiding these. Unless we have a pessimistic view of this material life, considering the distresses of birth, death, old age and disease, there is no impetus for our making advancement in spiritual life.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.2.23, Purport:

The prison house of the material world is created by Brahmā under instruction of the Personality of Godhead, and at the conclusion of a kalpa the whole thing is destroyed by Śiva. But as far as maintenance of the prison house is concerned, it is done by Viṣṇu, as much as the state prison house is maintained by the state. Anyone, therefore, who wishes to get out of this prison house of material existence, which is full of miseries like repetition of birth, death, disease and old age, must please Lord Viṣṇu for such liberation.

SB 1.3.2, Purport:

One who knows these plenary features of the Personality of Godhead knows Godhead properly, and thus the knower becomes freed from the material conditions of birth, death, old age and disease, as it is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā.

SB 1.5.18, Purport:

The miseries and mixed happiness of all living beings are only of different degree and quality, but no one is free from the miseries of birth, death, old age and disease. Similarly, everyone has his destined happiness also. No one can get more or less of these things simply by personal endeavors. Even if they are obtained, they can be lost again. One should not, therefore, waste time with these flimsy things; one should only endeavor to go back to Godhead. That should be the mission of everyone's life.

SB 1.8.4, Purport:

This clearance of the misgivings of material existence at once takes place by association with the Lord's devotees, who are able to inject the transcendental sound into the depths of the bewildered heart and thus make one practically liberated from all lamentation and illusion. That is a summary of the pacifying measures for those affected by the reaction of stringent material laws, exhibited in the forms of birth, death, old age and disease, which are insoluble factors of material existence. The victims of war, namely, the family members of the Kurus, were lamenting the problems of death, and the Lord pacified them on the basis of knowledge.

SB 1.15.32, Purport:

The time limitation even of the sun is of no concern, and so what to speak of the Supreme Lord who is the creator and controller of the sun. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that anyone who factually understands the transcendental appearance and disappearance of the Lord by His inconceivable energy becomes liberated from the laws of birth and death and is placed in the eternal spiritual sky where the Vaikuṇṭha planets are. There such liberated persons can eternally live without the pangs of birth, death, old age and disease. In the spiritual sky the Lord and those who are eternally engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord are all eternally young because there is no old age and disease and there is no death.

SB 1.17.10-11, Purport:

Foolish, faithless creatures try to avoid the existence of the Lord and proclaim themselves secular at the cost of valuable human life. The human life is especially meant for knowing the science of God, but foolish creatures, especially in this age of Kali, instead of knowing God scientifically, make propaganda against religious belief as well as the existence of God, even though they are always bound by the laws of God by the symptoms of birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 1.18.10, Purport:

The systematic hearing of the transcendental activities, qualities and names of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa pushes one towards eternal life. Systematic hearing means knowing Him gradually in truth and fact, and this knowing Him in truth and fact means attaining eternal life, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Such transcendental, glorified activities of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa are the prescribed remedy for counteracting the process of birth, death, old age and disease, which are considered to be material awards for the conditioned living being. The culmination of such a perfectional stage of life is the goal of human life and the attainment of transcendental bliss.

SB 1.19.21, Purport:

There is no material contamination; everything there is spiritual, and therefore there is nothing objectively lamentable. They are full of transcendental bliss, and are without birth, death, old age and disease. And amongst all the above-mentioned Vaikuṇṭhalokas, there is one supreme loka called Goloka Vṛndāvana, which is the abode of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His specific associates.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.1.2, Purport:

In the age of Kali, all the householders are jealous of one another because they are blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth. They have many subject matters for hearing—political, scientific, social, economic and so on—but due to a poor fund of knowledge, they set aside the question of the ultimate miseries of life, namely miseries of birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 2.1.2, Purport:

Factually, the human life is meant for making an ultimate solution to birth, death, old age and disease, but the gṛhamedhīs, being illusioned by the material nature, forget everything about self-realization.

SB 2.1.2, Purport:

The ultimate solution to the problems of life is to go back home, back to Godhead, and thus, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (8.16), the miseries of material existence—birth, death, old age and disease—are removed.

SB 2.2.6, Purport:

This material body does not endure eternally, and everything in relation with this temporary body, such as the wife, children, society and country, also changes along with the change of body. This is called saṁsāra, or repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. We would like to find a solution for all these problems of life, but we do not know the way. Herein it is suggested that anyone who wants to make an end to these miseries of life, namely repetition of birth, death, disease, and old age, must take to this process of worshiping the Supreme Lord and not others, as it is also ultimately suggested in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.65).

SB 2.2.17, Purport:

Devastating time, which controls even the celestial demigods by its manifestations of past, present and future, does not act on the transcendental plane. The influence of time is exhibited by the symptoms of birth, death, old age and disease, and these four principles of material conditions are present everywhere in any part of the material cosmos up to the planet Brahmaloka, where the duration of life of the inhabitants appears to us to be fabulous.

SB 2.2.27, Purport:

Then all plans of materialistic happiness will automatically come to an end. The intelligent person therefore makes a plan to return home, back to Godhead. Such an intelligent person surpasses all the pangs of material existence, like birth, death, disease and old age. He is actually happy because he has no anxieties of material existence, but as a compassionate sympathizer he feels unhappiness for the suffering materialistic men, and thus he occasionally comes before the materialistic men to teach them the necessity of going back to Godhead.

SB 2.3.2-7, Purport:

The real problem of life in the material world is to solve the question of birth, death, old age and disease. No one wants to change his birthright, no one wants to meet death, no one wants to be old or invalid, and no one wants diseases. But these problems are solved neither by the grace of any demigod nor by the so-called advancement of material science.

SB 2.3.11, Purport:

All plans for material enjoyment, either by worship of different demigods as described in the previous verses of this chapter or by modernized advancement of scientific knowledge without the help of God or demigod, are illusory only, for despite all such plans for happiness, the conditioned living being within the compass of material creation can never solve the problems of life, namely birth, death, old age and disease. The history of the universe is full of such planmakers, and many kings and emperors come and go, leaving a planmaking story only. But the prime problems of life remain unsolved despite all endeavors by such planmakers.

SB 2.3.17, Purport:

Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī prepares one's complete life for eternity. And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence. Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being; only due to material infection is the eternal living entity subjected to the law of birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 2.5.40-41, Purport:

Beginning from Satyaloka, the topmost planet of the universe, situated just below the eternal Brahmaloka, as described above, all the planets are material. And one's situation in any of the many material planets is still subject to the laws of material nature, namely birth, death, old age and disease. But one can get complete liberation from all the above-mentioned material pangs when one enters into the eternal Brahmaloka sanātana atmosphere, the kingdom of God.

SB 2.6.18, Purport:

The Lord and His eternal servitors in the transcendental kingdom all have eternal forms which are auspicious, infallible, spiritual and eternally youthful. In other words, there is no birth, death, old age and disease. That eternal land is full of transcendental enjoyment and full of beauty and bliss.

SB 2.6.18, Purport:

In the material world there is always anxiety or fearfulness in the hearts of all living entities, but the Lord, being Himself the supreme fearless, also awards the same quality of fearlessness to His pure devotees. Mundane existence is itself a kind of fear because in all mundane bodies the effects of birth, death, old age and disease always keep a living being compact in fear. In the mundane world, there is always the influence of time, which changes things from one stage to another, and the living entity, originally being avikāra, or unchangeable, suffers a great deal on account of changes due to the influence of time.

SB 2.6.20, Purport:

The highest benefit that can be awarded to a human being is to train him to be detached from sex life, particularly because it is only due to sex indulgence that the conditioned life of material existence continues birth after birth. Human civilization in which there is no control of sex life is a fourth-class civilization because in such an atmosphere there is no liberation of the soul encaged in the material body. Birth, death, old age and disease are related to the material body, and they have nothing to do with the spirit soul. But as long as the bodily attachment for sensual enjoyment is encouraged, the individual spirit soul is forced to continue the repetition of birth and death on account of the material body, which is compared to garments subjected to the law of deterioration.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.9.12, Purport:

The Lord does not want any one of His innumerable sons (the living entities) to remain in the material world of threefold miseries to perpetually suffer the material pangs of birth, death, old age and disease. The demigods in the heavenly planets, and many devotees on this planet also, want to remain in the material world as devotees of the Lord and take advantage of material happiness. They do so at a risk of falling down to the lower status of existence, and this makes the Lord dissatisfied with them.

SB 3.15.13, Purport:

The living entities, however, are actually eternal. They want an eternal home, an eternal residence, but because of accepting a temporal abode in the material world, they are naturally full of anxiety. In the spiritual sky the planets are called Vaikuṇṭha because the residents of these planets are free from all anxieties. For them there is no question of birth, death, old age and diseases, and therefore they are not anxious. On the other hand, the residents of the material planets are always afraid of birth, death, disease and old age, and therefore they are full of anxieties.

SB 3.17.19, Purport:

Actually, it is impossible even for Lord Brahmā to give anyone the benediction of becoming immortal, but indirectly Hiraṇyakaśipu received the benediction that no one within this material world would be able to kill him. In other words, because he originally came from the abode of Vaikuṇṭha, he was not to be killed by anyone within this material world. The Lord desired to appear Himself to kill him. One may be very proud of his material advancement in knowledge, but he cannot be immune to the four principles of material existence, namely birth, death, old age and disease. It was the Lord's plan to teach people that even Hiraṇyakaśipu, who was so powerful and strongly built, could not live more than his destined duration of life.

SB 3.26.7, Purport:

The spirit soul is actually sac-cid-ānanda (Bs. 5.1)—eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. Under the clutches of māyā, however, he suffers from continued birth, death, disease and old age. One has to be serious to cure this condition of material existence and transfer himself to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for thus his long suffering may be mitigated without difficulty. In summary, the suffering of the conditioned soul is due to his attachment to material nature. This attachment should thus be transferred from matter to Kṛṣṇa.

SB 3.27.3, Purport:

To take birth in a nice place or a high family does not mean that one avoids undergoing the material tribulations, the pangs of birth, death, old age and disease. A conditioned soul under the spell of material nature cannot understand that any action he performs for sense gratification is faulty and that only his activities in devotional service to the Lord can give him release from the reaction of faulty activities.

SB 3.31.23, Purport:

In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord points out that a person who is serious about advancement in spiritual consciousness should always consider the four pangs of birth, death, disease and old age. The materialist advances in many ways, but he is unable to stop these four principles of suffering inherent in material existence.

SB 3.32.4, Purport:

In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that one can even go to the Brahmaloka, but still he will find the pangs of birth, death, disease and old age. Only by approaching the Lord's abode, the Vaikuṇṭhaloka, does one not take birth again in this material world. The gṛhamedhīs, or materialistic persons, however, do not like to use this advantage. They would prefer to transmigrate perpetually from one body to another, or from one planet to another. They do not want the eternal, blissful life in knowledge in the kingdom of God.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.12.26, Purport:

Lord Brahmā's duration of life is so long that it is difficult to estimate even the duration of one day in his life, and yet Lord Brahmā also dies, as do the residents of his planet. Bhagavad-gītā (8.16) says, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna: except for those who go to Viṣṇuloka, everyone is subjected to the four principles of material life, namely birth, death, old age and disease. The Lord says, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama: "The planet from which, once going, no one returns, is My supreme abode." (BG 15.6)

SB 4.22.30, Purport:

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has instructed that if from the very beginning we do not take care of unwanted grass in the paddy fields, the fertilizing agents or water will be used by them, and the paddy plants will dry up. The material desire for sense enjoyment is the cause of our falldown in this material world, and thus we suffer the threefold miseries and continuous birth, death, old age and disease. However, if we turn our desires toward the transcendental loving service of the Lord, our desires become purified. We cannot kill desires. We have to purify them of different designations.

SB 4.22.35, Purport:

In Bhagavad-gītā it is said that death is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who ultimately takes away everything acquired by the materialistic person. Foolishly we do not care for this. Foolishly we are not afraid of death, nor do we consider that death will take away everything acquired by the process of dharma, artha and kāma. By dharma, or pious activities, we may be elevated to the heavenly planets, but this does not mean freedom from the clutches of birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 4.22.36, Purport:

Regulated human civilization promotes dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa. In human society there must be religion. Without religion, human society is only animal society. Economic development and sense gratification must be based on religious principles. When religion, economic development and sense gratification are adjusted, liberation from this material birth, death, old age and disease is assured. In the present age of Kali, however, there is no question of religion and liberation. People have taken interest only in economic development and sense gratification. Therefore, despite sufficient economic development all over the world, dealings in human society have become almost animalistic.

SB 4.22.36, Purport:

By studying such incidents, we can understand the full meaning of īśa-vidhvaṁsitāśiṣām. The Lord does not bestow material blessings upon the devotees, for they may be entrapped again in this material world by continuous birth, death, old age and disease. Due to materialistic opulences, persons like Rāvaṇa become puffed up for sense gratification. Rāvaṇa even dared kidnap Sītā, who was both the wife of Lord Rāmacandra and the goddess of fortune, thinking that he would be able to enjoy the pleasure potency of the Lord. But actually, by such action, Rāvaṇa became vidhvaṁsita, or ruined. At the present moment human civilization is too much attached to economic development and sense gratification and is therefore nearing the path of ruination.

SB 4.25.55, Purport:

Everyone who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness must be considered to be in illusion. One's so-called feelings of happiness and satisfaction resulting from material things are also illusions. Factually neither society, friendship, love nor anything else can save one from the onslaught of the external energy, which is symptomized by birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 4.26.7, Purport:

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (3.9), yajñārthāt karmaṇaḥ: one should act only for the performance of yajña, or to satisfy Lord Viṣṇu. Anyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ: otherwise any action will produce a reaction by which the living entity will be bound. A human being is especially meant to attain liberation from the bondage of birth, death, old age and disease. He is therefore directed by the Vedic regulative principles to work in such a way that he may fulfill his desires for sense gratification and at the same time gradually become freed from material bondage. Action according to such principles is called knowledge.

SB 4.27.27, Purport:

Under illusion people think that material opulence will save them, but although there has been much advancement in material science, the problems of human society—birth, death, old age and disease—are still unsolved. Nonetheless foolish scientists are thinking that they have advanced materially.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.4.14, Translation:

Being an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Ṛṣabhadeva was fully independent because His form was spiritual, eternal and full of transcendental bliss. He eternally had nothing to do with the four principles of material misery (birth, death, old age and disease). Nor was He materially attached. He was always equipoised, and He saw everyone on the same level. He was unhappy to see others unhappy, and He was the well-wisher of all living entities. Although He was a perfect personality, the Supreme Lord and controller of all, He nonetheless acted as if He were an ordinary conditioned soul. Therefore He strictly followed the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma and acted accordingly. In due course of time, the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma had become neglected; therefore through His personal characteristics and behavior, He taught the ignorant public how to perform duties within the varṇāśrama-dharma. In this way He regulated the general populace in householder life, enabling them to develop religion and economic well-being and to attain reputations, sons and daughters, material pleasure and finally eternal life. By His instructions, He showed how people could remain householders and at the same time become perfect by following the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma.

SB 5.4.14, Purport:

The varṇāśrama-dharma is meant for imperfect, conditioned souls. It trains them to become spiritually advanced in order to return home, back to Godhead. A civilization that does not know the highest aim of life is no better than an animal society. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). A human society is meant for elevation to spiritual knowledge so that all of the people can be freed from the clutches of birth, death, old age and disease. The varṇāśrama-dharma enables human society to become perfectly fit for getting out of the clutches of māyā, and by following the regulative principles of varṇāśrama-dharma, one can become successful. In this regard, see Bhagavad-gītā (3.21-24).

SB 5.18.2, Purport:

Foolish materialistic persons do not know how they are being controlled and punished at every step by the laws of nature. They think they are very happy in the conditioned state of material life, not knowing the purpose of repeated birth, death, old age and disease. Therefore in Bhagavad-gītā (7.15) Lord Kṛṣṇa describes such materialistic persons as mūḍhas (rascals): na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ. These mūḍhas do not know that if they want to purify themselves, they must worship Lord Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa) by performing penances and austerities. This purification is the aim of human life.

SB 5.24.8, Purport:

Whether in the heavenly planets, the lower planets or the earthly planets, people are engrossed in temporary, material happiness, forgetting that in due course of time they have to change their bodies according to the material laws and suffer the repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. Not caring what will happen in the next birth, gross materialists are simply busy enjoying during the present short span of life. A Vaiṣṇava is always anxious to give all such bewildered materialists the real happiness of spiritual bliss.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.4.29, Purport:

If one can somehow or other, by the grace of the Lord, understand the transcendental position of the Lord, one becomes eternal. This is further confirmed by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9):

janma karma ca me divyam

evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma

naiti mām eti so 'rjuna

"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna." Simply by understanding the Supreme Lord, one goes beyond birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 6.5.11, Purport:

The Haryaśvas, the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa, could immediately understand the purport of Nārada's instructions. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is especially meant for such enlightenment. We are trying to enlighten humanity so that people may come to the understanding that they should work hard in tapasya for self-realization and freedom from the continuous bondage of birth, death, old age and disease in one body after another. Māyā, however, is very strong; she is expert in putting impediments in the way of this understanding. Therefore sometimes one comes to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement but again falls into the clutches of māyā, not understanding the importance of this movement.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.5.53, Translation:

The teachers Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka instructed Prahlāda Mahārāja in the three kinds of material advancement called religion, economic development and sense gratification. Prahlāda, however, being situated above such instructions, did not like them, for such instructions are based on the duality of worldly affairs, which involve one in a materialistic way of life marked by birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 7.6.5, Purport:

For one word in this verse there are two readings—bhavam āśritaḥ and bhayam āśritaḥ—but accepting the meaning of either of them will bring one to the same conclusion. Bhayam āśritaḥ indicates that the materialistic way of life is always fearful because at every step there is danger. Materialistic life is full of anxieties and fear (bhayam). Similarly, accepting the reading bhavam āśritaḥ, the word bhavam refers to unnecessary trouble and problems. For want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one is put into bhavam, being perpetually embarrassed by birth, death, old age and disease. Thus one is surely full of anxieties.

SB 7.6.9, Purport:

While in the material world we manufacture so many duties in the name of so many isms, but our actual duty is to free ourselves from the cycle of birth, death, old age and disease. For this purpose, one must first be liberated from material bondage, and especially from household life. Household life is actually a kind of license for a materially attached person by which to enjoy sense gratification under regulative principles. Otherwise there is no need of entering household life.

SB 7.6.9, Purport:

While in the material world we manufacture so many duties in the name of so many isms, but our actual duty is to free ourselves from the cycle of birth, death, old age and disease. For this purpose, one must first be liberated from material bondage, and especially from household life. Household life is actually a kind of license for a materially attached person by which to enjoy sense gratification under regulative principles. Otherwise there is no need of entering household life.

SB 7.7.39, Purport:

The history of the world has factually proved that attempts to increase economic development for bodily comfort through the advancement of material civilization have done nothing to remedy the inevitability of birth, death, old age and disease. Everyone has knowledge of huge empires throughout the history of the world—the Roman Empire, the Moghul Empire, the British Empire and so on—but all the societies engaged in such economic development (sarve 'rtha-kāmāḥ) have been frustrated by the laws of nature through periodic wars, pestilence, famine and so on.

SB 7.7.42, Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul, is present in everyone's heart, and as the living entity desires, the Lord gives him facilities with which to work according to his ambitions in different grades of bodies. The body is just like an instrument by which the living entity moves according to false desires for happiness and thus suffers the pangs of birth, death, old age and disease in different standards of life. Everyone begins his activities with some plan and ambition, but actually, from the beginning of one's plan to the end, one does not derive any happiness. On the contrary, as soon as one begins acting according to his plan, his life of distress immediately begins.

SB 7.9.19, Purport:

Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (13.9) that the real sufferings of the material world are four—janma-mṛtyu jarā-vyādhi (birth, death, old age and disease). In the history of the world, no one has been successful in conquering these miseries imposed by material nature.

SB 7.9.23, Purport:

A Vaiṣṇava can understand that nothing within this material world, not even that which is powerful, opulent or influential, can endure. At any time such things may be vanquished. And who can vanquish them? The Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore one should conclusively understand that no one is greater than the Supreme Great. Since the Supreme Great demands, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), every intelligent man must agree to this proposal. One must surrender unto the Lord to be saved from the wheel of repeated birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 7.10.2, Purport:

It is to be understood that if one really wants release from this material world, from the threefold miseries and from janma-mṛtyu jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9) (birth, death, old age and disease), one must take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for without the Supreme Personality of Godhead one cannot get release from materialistic life.

SB 7.13.28, Purport:

Because every one of us is a part of Kṛṣṇa, we have a very affectionate relationship with Him, but because we have forgotten our identities and are considering the body to be the self, we are afflicted by all the troubles of birth, death, old age and disease. This misconception in materialistic life continues unless and until one comes to understand his relationship with Kṛṣṇa. The happiness sought by the conditioned soul is certainly only illusion, as explained in the next verse.

SB 7.14.5, Purport:

When one misuses the gift of the human form by unnecessarily indulging in the animal propensities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending and does not try to get out of the clutches of māyā, which subjects one to repeated birth, death, old age and disease, one is again punished by being forced to descend to the lower species and undergo evolution according to the laws of nature.

SB 7.14.5, Purport:

One should be satisfied with whatever means of life comes automatically. The modern materialistic civilization is just the opposite of the ideal civilization. Every day the so-called leaders of modern society invent something contributing to a cumbersome way of life that implicates people more and more in the cycle of birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 7.15.41, Purport:

For a bewildered person in the materialistic way of life, the body, the mind and the senses, which are engaged in sense gratification, are the cause of bondage to repeated birth, death, old age and disease. But for one who is advanced in spiritual knowledge, the same body, senses and mind are the cause of liberation.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.3 Summary:

The Lord exists at all times. This is extremely difficult for a nondevotee to understand. Although the transcendental Supreme Personality of Godhead is perceivable by everyone, only the pure devotees perceive His presence and activities. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is completely free from material birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 8.3.30, Purport:

Although the demigods are in charge of maintaining different aspects of the universe, Gajendra thought that they were unable to rescue him. Hariṁ vinā naiva mṛtiṁ taranti: no one can rescue anyone from the dangers of birth, death, old age and disease. It is only the Supreme Personality of Godhead who can rescue one from the dangers of material existence.

SB Canto 9

SB 9.7.7, Purport:

Within this material world, or within this universe, however elevated one may be in material qualities, one must suffer the conditions of birth, death, old age and disease (janma-mṛtyu jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9)). Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that this material world is simply miserable (duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15)). The Bhāgavatam says, padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām: (SB 10.14.58) at every step here there is danger. Therefore, because the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement provides the opportunity for the human being to get out of this material world simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, this movement is the greatest benediction in human society.

SB 9.13.10, Purport:

The material body, whether in the higher or lower planetary system, is destined to die. In the lower planetary system or lower species of life one may die soon, and in the higher planets or higher species one may live for a long, long time, but death is inevitable. This fact should be understood. In the human form of life one should take the opportunity to put an end to birth, death, old age and disease by performing tapasya.

SB 9.13.10, Purport:

This is the aim of human civilization: to stop the repetition of birth and death, which is called mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). This can be done only when one is Kṛṣṇa conscious, or has achieved the service of the lotus feet of the Lord. Otherwise one must rot in this material world and accept a material body subject to birth, death, old age and disease.

SB 9.19.19, Purport:

To go to the forest and live there with the animals, meditating upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the only means by which to give up lusty desires. Unless one gives up such desires, one's mind cannot be freed from material contamination. Therefore, if one is at all interested in being freed from the bondage of repeated birth, death, old age and disease, after a certain age one must go to the forest.

SB 9.24.62, Purport:

For sense gratification practically everyone is engaged in materialistic activities, which prolong the process of janma-mṛtyu jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9)—birth, death, old age and disease—but the devotee, simply by hearing the message of Bhagavad-gītā and further relishing the narrations of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, becomes so pure that he no longer takes interest in materialistic activities.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.1.43, Purport:

As long as one is materially attached, one must accept the process of birth, death, old age and disease. One is therefore advised that an intelligent person, instead of being entangled in so-called good and bad fruitive activities, should engage his life in advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that instead of accepting another material body (tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9)), he will return home, back to Godhead.

SB 10.2.39, Purport:

The living entities come to this material world in the spirit of enjoyment, but because they want to enjoy without Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha haiyā bhoja-vāñchā kare), they suffer birth, death, old age and disease under the control of the illusory energy. When the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears, however, no such causes are involved; His descent is an act of His pleasure potency. We should always remember this distinction between the Lord and the ordinary living entity and not uselessly argue that the Lord cannot come.

SB 10.2.39, Purport:

Since Kṛṣṇa is not subject to birth, death, old age or disease, and since we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we also are not subject to birth, death, old age and disease, but we have become subject to these illusory problems because of our forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa and our position as His eternal servants (jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa' (CC Madhya 20.108)).

SB 10.3.27, Translation:

No one in this material world has become free from the four principles birth, death, old age and disease, even by fleeing to various planets. But now that You have appeared, My Lord, death is fleeing in fear of You, and the living entities, having obtained shelter at Your lotus feet by Your mercy, are sleeping in full mental peace.

SB 10.3.33, Purport:

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (13.9), janma-mṛtyu jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam: birth, death, old age and disease are certainly the primary distresses of the material world. People are trying to control birth, but they are not able to control death; and if one cannot control death, one cannot control birth either. In other words, artificially controlling birth is not any more feasible than artificially controlling death.

SB 10.4.20, Purport:

One who is engaged in the service of the Lord (yato bhaktir adhokṣaje), without impediment and without cessation, is understood to be situated in his original, spiritual status. When one is promoted to this status, one is always happy in transcendental bliss. Otherwise, as long as one is in the bodily concept of life, one must suffer material conditions. Janma-mṛtyu jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). The body is subject to its own principles of birth, death, old age and disease, but one who is situated in spiritual life (yato bhaktir adhokṣaje) has no birth, no death, no old age and no disease.

SB 10.4.20, Purport:

"A person acting in the service of Kṛṣṇa with his body, mind and words is a liberated person, even within the material world." (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.187) Therefore, one is forbidden to regard the guru as an ordinary human being (guruṣu nara-matir. .. nārakī saḥ). The spiritual master, or ācārya, is always situated in the spiritual status of life. Birth, death, old age and disease do not affect him. According to the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, therefore, after the disappearance of an ācārya, his body is never burnt to ashes, for it is a spiritual body. The spiritual body is always unaffected by material conditions.

SB 10.10.9, Purport:

When the modes of passion and ignorance increase in human society, giving rise to unnecessary economic development, the result is that people become involved with wine, women and gambling. Then, being mad, they maintain big slaughterhouses or occasionally go on pleasure excursions to kill animals. Forgetting that however one may try to maintain the body, the body is subject to birth, death, old age and disease, such foolish rascals engage in sinful activities, one after another. Being duṣkṛtīs, they completely forget the existence of the supreme controller, who is sitting within the core of everyone's heart (īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61)).

SB 10.12.37, Purport:

The word mokṣaṇam means "liberation." For the associates of Kṛṣṇa and for Kṛṣṇa Himself, there is no question about liberation; they are already liberated, being in the spiritual world. In the material world there are birth, death, old age and disease, but in the spiritual world there are no such things because everything is eternal.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 11.10.14-16, Translation:

My dear Uddhava, I have thus explained to you perfect knowledge. There are philosophers, however, who challenge My conclusion. They state that the natural position of the living entity is to engage in fruitive activities, and they see him as the enjoyer of the happiness and unhappiness that accrue from his own work. According to this materialistic philosophy, the world, time, the revealed scriptures and the self are all variegated and eternal, existing as a perpetual flow of transformations. Knowledge, moreover, cannot be one or eternal, because it arises from the different and changing forms of objects; thus knowledge itself is always subject to change. Even if you accept such a philosophy, My dear Uddhava, there will still be perpetual birth, death, old age and disease, since all living entities must accept a material body subject to the influence of time.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 1.91, Purport:

By pious fruitive work one is placed in a position where he can temporarily feel material happiness, whereas vicious activities lead him to a distressful position of material want and scarcity. However, even if one is put into the most perfect situation of material happiness, he cannot in that way become free from the pangs of birth, death, old age and disease. A materially happy person is therefore in need of the eternal relief that mundane religiosity in terms of fruitive work can never award.

CC Adi 1.91, Purport:

Mystic powers can make a yogī materially powerful and thus give temporary relief from the miseries of birth, death, old age and disease, as other material sciences can also do, but such mystic powers can never be a permanent source of relief from these miseries. Therefore, according to the Bhāgavata school, this path of religiosity is also a method of cheating its followers. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly defined that the most elevated and powerful mystic yogī is one who can constantly think of the Supreme Lord within his heart and engage in the loving service of the Lord.

CC Adi 3.98, Purport:

In the grim clutches of māyā, the first-class prisoners of this material world wrongly think themselves happy because they are rich, powerful, resourceful and so on. These foolish creatures do not know that they are nothing but play dolls in the hands of material nature and that at any moment material nature's pitiless intrigues can crush to dust all their plans for godless activities. Such foolish prisoners cannot see that however they improve their position by artificial means, the calamities of repeated birth, death, disease and old age are always beyond the jurisdiction of their control. Foolish as they are, they neglect these major problems of life and busy themselves with false things that cannot help them solve their real problems.

CC Adi 7.1, Purport:

The laws of material nature are so strong that none of our material possessions can save us from the cruel hands of death. In the Bhagavad-gītā (13.9) it is stated, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam: one who is actually advancing must always consider the four principles of miserable life, namely, birth, death, old age and disease. One cannot be saved from all these miseries unless he takes shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord.

CC Adi 9.39, Purport:

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement introduced by Lord Caitanya is extremely important because one who takes to it becomes eternal, being freed from birth, death and old age. People do not recognize that the real distresses in life are the four principles of birth, death, old age and disease. They are so foolish that they resign themselves to these four miseries, not knowing the transcendental remedy of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.

CC Adi 10.51, Purport:

The living entity is eternal, but somehow or other, when in contact with the material energy, he is subjected to the repetition of birth, death, old age and disease.

CC Adi 10.51, Purport:

There are many hospitals and medical clinics to cure bodily diseases, but there are no such hospitals to cure the material disease of the spirit soul. The centers of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are the only established hospitals that can cure man of birth, death, old age and disease.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 3.181, Purport:

Every living entity is wandering within the universe, subjected to the law of karma and transmigrating from one body to another and from one planet to another. Therefore the whole Vedic process is meant to save the wandering living entities from the clutches of māyā—birth, death, disease and old age. This means stopping the cycle of birth and death. This cycle can be stopped only if one worships Kṛṣṇa.

CC Madhya 11.151, Purport:

One's relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead may be reestablished even after one has fallen into the ocean of nescience, which is the ocean of material existence involving the repetition of birth, death, old age and disease, all arising out of the acceptance of the material body.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 22:

Another name for salvation is apavarga. Apavarga is the opposite of pavarga, or the various miserable conditions of material existence. The word pa-varga indicates the combination of five Sanskrit letters: pa, pha, ba, bha and ma. These letters are the first letters of the words for five different conditions as described below. The first letter, pa, comes from the word parābhava, which means "defeat." In this material struggle for existence, we are simply meeting defeat. Actually, we have to conquer birth, death, disease and old age, and because there is no possibility of overcoming all these miserable conditions, due to the illusion of māyā we are simply meeting with parābhava, or defeat.

Easy Journey to Other Planets

Easy Journey to Other Planets 2:

Now someone has gone to the moon, but what will human society gain from it? If, after spending so much money, so much energy and ten years of effort, one goes to the moon and simply touches it, what is the benefit of that? Can one remain there and call his friends to come? And even if one goes there and remains, what will be the benefit? As long as we are in this material world, either on this planet or other planets, the same miseries—birth, death, old age and disease—will follow us. We cannot rid ourselves of them.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 2:

In India the people are poverty-stricken and are suffering, but although the Americans are eating very nicely buttered bread and the Indians are eating without butter, they are both eating nevertheless. The fact that India is poverty-stricken has not caused the whole population to die for want of food. The four principal bodily demands—eating, sleeping, mating and defending—can be satisfied under any circumstances, whether one is born in an impious condition or in a pious condition. The problem, however, is how to become free from the four principles of birth, death, old age and disease.

This is the real problem. It is not "What shall I eat?" The birds and beasts have no such problem. In the morning they are immediately chirping, "Jee, jee, jee, jee." They know that they will have their food. No one is dying, and there is no such thing as overpopulation because everyone is provided for by God's arrangement. There are qualitative differences, but obtaining a superior quality of material enjoyment is not the end of life. The real problem is how to get free of birth, death, old age and disease. This cannot be solved by simply wasting time traveling within this universe. Even if one goes to the highest planet, this problem cannot be solved, for there is death everywhere.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 2:

Those who engage in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord, are not interested in any of the planets of this material world because they know that no matter to which planet one elevates himself, he will still find the four principles of material existence there nonetheless. On some planets the duration of life is much longer than on this earth, but death is there. Those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, however, transcend this material life of birth, death, disease and old age.

Spiritual life means release from this botheration and misery. Those who are intelligent, therefore, do not try to elevate themselves to any planet of this material world. Men are trying to reach the moon, and although it is very difficult to gain entrance to that planet, if we do gain entrance the period of our lives will be enhanced. Of course, that does not apply to life in this body. If we were to enter the moon with this body, instant death would be certain.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 3:

"All the conditioned souls are continually fleeing from one body to another and one planet to another, yet they do not get free from the onslaught of birth and death. But when one of these fearful living entities comes under the shelter of Your lotus feet, he can lie down without anxiety of being attacked by formidable death." This statement by Devakī is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā by the Lord Himself. There the Lord says that even after traveling all over the universe, from Brahmaloka to Pātālaloka, one cannot escape the attack of birth, death, disease and old age. But one who enters the kingdom of God, the Lord says, is never again obliged to come to the material world.

Krsna Book 87:

The personified Vedas continued: "The influence of time—past, present and future—and the material miseries, such as excessive heat, excessive cold, birth, death, old age and disease, are all simply the movements of Your eyebrows. Everything is working under Your direction." It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā that all material activity is going on under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. The Vedas continued: "All the conditions of material existence are opposing elements for persons who are not surrendered unto You. But for those who are surrendered souls and are in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, these things cannot be a source of fear." When Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared, Prahlāda Mahārāja was never afraid of Him, whereas his atheist father was immediately faced with death personified and was killed. Therefore, although Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva appears as death for an atheist like Hiraṇyakaśipu, He is always kind and is the reservoir of all pleasure for the devotees like Prahlāda. A pure devotee is not, therefore, afraid of birth, death, old age and disease.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.1:

Human life alone affords one the chance to attain unending happiness. In this life one should think, "Although I do not want suffering, it nevertheless comes; although I do not desire death, it forcibly snatches away my life; although I detest old age, when my youth is finished I will surely begin to age; and although I try to be free from disease and disaster, they never leave me alone." Although he sees all this suffering, a fool works hard to make his life comfortable, whereas an intelligent person calmly considers his situation and thinks of the best means to end his distress once and for all. When such thoughts become frequent and sincere, his search leads him to inquire into the Absolute Truth. Such a person takes up the path of self-realization. He may have many duties, but because of his previous pious activities such a wise person will execute these duties and at the same time confront the realities of birth, death, old age, and disease.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.12:

The facilities available to us in our material condition are many. One facility in the mode of goodness is intelligence, which gives us the ability to distinguish subtle elements and to discriminate between matter and spirit, and in this way to avoid coming under illusion. Also in the mode of goodness are tolerance, truthfulness, control of the senses, equanimity, and other such qualities. Added to the list are qualities in the mode of passion, such as strong desire, fearlessness, and unwavering determination, as well as qualities in the mode of ignorance, such as fear, madness, and distress over birth, death, old age, and disease. All these facilities are products of the Lord's external, material energy.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.2:

But to properly understand the knowledge concerning the kṣetra and the kṣetra-jña, one must first cultivate at least twenty good qualities listed in the Bhagavad-gītā (13.8-12):

Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; 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; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.4:

There is substantial proof in the Gītā that those who thoroughly grasp the truth about God will, upon leaving the material body, enter the spiritual realm and be with God. Only those who realize God as the eternal Supreme Personality can become immortal. This realization is the human being's prerogative alone, and one who attains it reaches the highest perfection. Once achieving perfection, the jīva never returns to this temporary world of birth, death, old age, and disease. Only those who discipline their lives so as to attain this objective fulfill the purpose of their human birth; others plunge into oblivion.

Māyā induces one to make plans so that this temporary life of birth, death, old age, and disease can be permanent. The greatest delusion is to plan a life of nonstop bliss in this material world. Which is the better plan: the one that leads to birth in lower animal species like hogs and dogs, or the one that transports the jīva back to Godhead?

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.5:

7) The conditioned jīva suffers from the material disease—the miseries of birth, death, old age and disease. When this suffering becomes unbearable, he looks for help. Those who are less intelligent embrace the path of impersonal liberation and undertake severe austerities to achieve their goal. More elevated than these salvationists are the devotees of the Lord, who realize that their eternal nature is to be His servants. They do not try to extinguish this nature but rather practice and preach the eternal process of devotion so they can enter the Lord's eternal spiritual abode. All living entities have a right to practice this eternal process of devotional service.

Message of Godhead

Message of Godhead 1:

Real peace and happiness can never come about through such advanced materialistic knowledge, deluded as it must be by the illusory modes of nature with a view to playing up this "unreal reality." Rather, as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, confirms in the Bhagavad-gītā, only those who cultivate transcendental knowledge in relation to the eternal spirit soul and without being disturbed by temporary happiness and distress will be able to escape the cruel hands of birth, death, old age, and disease and will be truly happy by gaining eternal, spiritual life.

Message of Godhead 1:

Being minute and thus invisible to our material eyes, the spirit soul is called inexplicable, inconceivable, and so on. The spirit soul is nonetheless understood to be eternal, because he is never subject to the ordeals of birth, death, disease, and old age or to any other physical transformations. Therefore, eternal peace and prosperity will be established only when there is vigorous propagation of this inexplicable, eternal religion of the living spirit soul. For then only shall we be relieved of physical transformations such as birth, death, disease, and old age. We should always remember, however, that this eternal religion of the soul is never bound by any physical limitation of people, place, or time.