Cārvāka Muni, he used to say, "Enjoy life, senses. Gratify your senses some way or other." "No, I have no sufficient money." Ṛṇam kṛtvā: "Take. Beg, borrow, steal. Bring money." There are three methods of getting money. If one hasn't got money, then beg. Just like we are beginning, professional beggar, sannyāsī. They beg, borrow. And those who are not beggar, they borrow from friend, or steal, by hook and crook. So that is Cārvāka theory. "Bring money some way or other. Beg, borrow or steal." Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā. Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā, the very word is used. "If you have no money, then take loan from your friends." Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet yāvaj jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet. "Now, I have to pay back. How can I take loan? If I don't pay, then I shall remain debtor, and I will have to pay in my next life." "No, no, don't bother about next life." Bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar āgamano bhavet: "When your body, when it is finished, it will be burnt into ashes. Then the ashes will be lost. No more you are coming."
Burn (Lectures, SB)
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
You believe or not believe, it doesn't matter. Law is law.
Suppose there is fire. I believe that "I'll touch the fire; it will not burn." That is not law. It must burn. Even a child catches the fire, it will burn. There is no excuse. Similarly, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). (aside:) (Hindi) Let him come and sit down. No, no... (Hindi) So you cannot violate the laws of God. Any one of us, we know. Just like we, we eat... (Hindi) Eating is the law of God. Everyone should eat. But if you eat more, if you violate the law... You can eat whatever you require, little. But if you eat more, if you violate this law, then you'll be diseased, immediately. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). As soon as you violate the laws of God, you'll be punished.
So, so long we shall be attached to this viṣaya, simply, there cannot be any peace. There cannot be any peace. It is impossible. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that viṣaya-viṣānale. Anala means fire. There are different types of fire also. Vi..., viṣānala, the burning sensation by drinking poison. Viṣaya-viṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale. "Whole day and night, twenty-four hours, my heart is burning." Viṣaya-viṣānale, juṛāite nā koinu... "I did not try, how to get out of this blazing fire." Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nama-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmila kene tāy. "The only, only relief is this kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana."
Now, those who follow the Buddha philosophy, they say that "There is no soul. There is no God." But there are thousands and thousands of temples of Lord Buddha, and they worship. Especially in the countries like Japan and China and Burma there are thousands of temples, and they exactly worship in the same way as we are worshiping Jagannātha. The lamp is given, the candle is burned, they offer very respectfully, and there are brahmacārīs, sannyāsīs. The whole principles is there. But officially, there is no question of God. So this is mentioned in the Bhāgavata.
Well, that... Just like a child when he's crawling, he touches a fire and he's burned. He forgets. But when he's grown-up, if he inquires from the parents, "Why this scar is in my hand?" The father reminds, "My dear child, you did like this." So because you have forgotten, that does not mean it did not take place. You have forgotten, you do not know, what you were doing at this time yesterday. You are so forgetful. So your remembering or forgetful doesn't matter. The law of nature must work severely. It doesn't matter whether you forget or you do not know the law. Forgetfulness of law is no excuse. You must suffer. Just like the child when he touches the fire, the fire does not consider, "Oh here is an innocent child, why should I burn him?" He must be burned. That is law of karma.
The benefit is, because Kṛṣṇa is the supreme pure, you become purified. Just like if you remain with the fire, you become warm, warmer, warmer, warmer. Just like in the fire you put one iron rod. It becomes warmer, warmer. At the end the iron rod becomes red-hot. And when it is red-hot, it is no more iron rod; it is fire. You touch everywhere; it will burn. The same process. If you remain with Kṛṣṇa always, you get Kṛṣṇa's quality. You have got the quality because you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa is gold, you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa; therefore you are also gold. But at the present moment, as the gold is covered by dirt, at the present moment we are spirit soul, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, as good as Kṛṣṇa, but we have been covered by this material body. Therefore we have to take out ourself from this material body. That is called siddhi, that is called perfection.
"Why you are thinking of next birth? When this body is burnt into ashes, everything is finished." That is Cārvāka theory, atheistic. That is going on still. The Cārvāka class of men are always there.
So I have talked with so many big professors in Russia, and their theory is that "After finishing this body, everything is finished." But (if) everything is finished, then why you are working so hard, if everything will be finished? They... Their, their theory is different. That is asuric theory, asuric theory. They do not believe in the self, they do not believe in God, they do not believe in the next birth, although these are facts. Simply a sober brain with cool head, one can understand. But these are facts. They're taking risk only. Now, by ordinary common sense knowledge, if I say, "There is no next birth," that is not authoritative.
In India, according to Vedic system, the body is burned after death. They are not so foolish to stock and occupy millions of square yards. No. "Body is finished; just burn it," finish. Why stock it in a tomb and occupy so much space? Practical, you see. So bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya. Bhasmī-bhūtasya means the body being burned, it becomes ashes. So, actually the ultimate form or format of this body are three: either you become stool, or you become ash, or you become earth. Those who are burying underground, after few years the body will become earth. And those who are throwing on the street or on the water, so that body will become stool. Because if you throw on land, some jackals and some animals, some vultures, they will come and eat, and by, after eating, it will be stool. So either ashes or stool or earth. This is the last stage of this body. And we are taking of this stool, ash and earth so much without caring for the real vital force which moving the body. We are very much careful for ash, stool, and earth, not careful of the living force which is moving this body, beautiful body.
If you want, nature will give you facility. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Prakṛti means nature. He's giving, by nature. Just like, if you infect, if you become infected with some disease, so you'll get that disease. It is nature's way. If you touch fire, your finger will be burned. Not that nature has to make a particular arrangement. By nature it is there. Similarly, if you remain like cats and dogs, then by nature you'll get the body of cats and dogs. There is no necessity of making separate attempt, "How shall I become a dog? How shall I become cat?" Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni. Prakṛti, nature, will give you. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ. How nature is helping? Nature, this material nature is matter. How it is being done, how matter is working? That is, answer is given in the Bhagavad-gītā, that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: (BG 9.10) "He's acting under My direction." God is giving direction.
That is advancement. Because so long we do not come to the platform of understanding that "I am spirit soul, I am part and parcel of the Supreme Spirit," we are in the ignorance—in different forms. The example is given very nicely. Just like raw wood, just from the trees, you cut the trees, it is raw, it is not immediately fit for burning. But when it is little dried you can ignite fire, and, igniting fire, immediately there is no flame, there is smoke. Then, after the smoke, there is flame. And that flame is required.
So this gradual process of evolution means one must come to the platform of understanding Brahman. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am..., I am spirit soul, and I am part and parcel of the Supreme Soul." This understanding one must come. So for that understanding one has to come to the platform of goodness, sattva-guṇa. If one remains in the rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, as we have explained, then we shall be entangled in this material world.
That we should be very much careful. Although it is nirdahati, it is reduced, why should we accept even that reduced punishment? That should be our principle. But we do not know. We commit ignorance. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī has described: sinful activities are done due to ignorance, ajñāna. Just like a child touches the fire. Everyone knows if you touch fire, it will burn, but the child, out of ignorance, touches. Therefore the child is under the protection of the parents so that the child may not do something wrong and suffer.
So nāneva bhāti viśvātmā bhūteṣu ca tathā pumān. These varieties of living entities, it is due to the variety of desires of the living entity. Otherwise Viśvātmā, He's one. He's one. And the living entity is also one, because he's the manifestation of marginal potency of the Supreme. Therefore, as marginal potency, the living entity is one. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18).
Abide by Me. Then I shall give you all protection. But if you want to do according to your own whims, and if you do not hear Me, what can I do? You do that and enjoy the result."
Suppose a foolish boy is trying to touch fire. Father says, "Don't do it." In spite of that, if the foolish boy does it, his hand is burned. So father is not responsible. He says, "Don't do it." But the child does it out of ignorance and suffers. Similarly the sanction of God is there as we persist on it. "I want this. I want this." As a child sometimes cries and the mother is obliged to sanction, similarly, God is very kind. If we persist on doing something, He gives us sanction. But the result you have to suffer or enjoy. Go on.
So here it is explained that people are very much fond of this universal form. They cannot imagine that a person—Kṛṣṇa is a person—He can work so wonderfully. Because he cannot do it. How he can do? He is very small. They do not understand that a small fire and big fire. Just like spark. Spark is also fire, so spark can also burn, but it can burn very small portion. Suppose a spark falls on your cloth. It will burn immediately. It will make immediately black. But it is very small. Similarly, the difference between Kṛṣṇa and me is that He is great, God is great, and I am small. Although qualitatively we are one. The same: big fire and small fire. Similarly, we have got also the same qualities, approximately, but very small quantity. We can play very wonderful by discovering some machine, say, the machine, what is called, which goes to the moon planet? Capsule.
So if we hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā, even if we do not understand it, the action will be there. The action will be there. Just like if you touch fire, either you understand it or not understand it, that fire is fire. It will burn your finger. Just like if a child, he does not understand what is fire, but if he touches fire, his fingers or hand will be burned immediately. There is no mercy: "Oh, here is an innocent child. He does not know." No. the law of nature will act. Similarly, kṛṣṇa-kathā, puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana, it is so pious and it is so spiritual that anyone who will hear it, either by understanding or without understanding, the action will be there like fire. So varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ (SB 2.1.1).
That is perfection. In both ways you'll have to come to the...
Because the fact is fact. Either... Suppose somebody says, "Don't touch fire. It will burn your hand." If you accept it, your father's advice or your teacher's advice, "Don't touch fire," it is as good. And if you want to make research, "No, why shall I believe my father, my teacher. Let me experiment, touch," the result will be the same. Result will be the same. But if you want to make experiment, do it. But come to this conclusion, that Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of everything. Then your life is perfect.
There is a verse of Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, na hi harate jyotsnaṁ candraś caṇḍāla-veśmani. Caṇḍāla. Caṇḍāla means the low caste, lower than the śūdras. The meat-eaters. Meat-eaters, in India they are called caṇḍāla. So especially pig, pig-eater. Still you'll find in villages, the sweeper class, they capture one pig. They maintain the pigs. They sell as well as they eat. So the living pig they burn into fire. Still, publicly. And it cries like anything, but they are allowed. Publicly they do that. So caṇḍāla-veśmani. That is very polluted, sinful place, but that does not mean that the moonlight is refused there. Moonlight is not refused. Because it is the house of a caṇḍāla, therefore moon does not consider that he should be refused, or sunlight is refused there. No. Sunlight is equally distributed. Na hi harate jyotsnaṁ candraś caṇḍāla-veśmani. Candra means the moon. Similarly, all devotees, or Kṛṣṇa, He's not reluctant.
We can be purified, but because we are very small particle, mamaivāṁśa... Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, that we living entities, we are small particles. Just like the fire and the spark. The spark is also fire, but very small particle. Similarly, we are, although fire, when as good as God in quality, just like the spark and the big fire, but the spark is very small. It can burn a small portion. Suppose a spark falls on your floor, a spot can burn. But big fire can burn. That is the distinction between God and ourselves. We are also God, but we are not pūrṇam God. That is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).
And if you do not know—in ignorance—then go liquor shop, hotel, restaurant. So after all, we are part and parcel of God. God is fully independent, and we are minute part. The same example, that the spark is minute portion of the fire. It has got the burning capacity—not exactly like God, but it has got the godly power. There are so many examples. This morning I was discussing that you are living entity, part and parcel of God. You have created one aeroplane, 747, with five hundred passengers and many tons of loads of things, it is flying. So that is your creation. And God's creation is this planet. This is also running one thousand miles per hour, and so many big, big ocean, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and so many big, big mountains, it is also carrying. It is also floating in the air, and the 747 is also floating. That is your creation and this is God's creation. That is the difference. (break) ...quality but not full, not pūrṇa.
You can create a teeny 747, that's all. Therefore your power is there, the similarly, but very, very small quantity. So we have to take care of our teeny power. Just like the spark. The spark, put, put... But if it somehow or other falls down from the fire it is extinguished. It is extinguished. Similarly, we are part and parcel of God, the spark. If we remain with the fire, it is beautiful. And if, by chance, we fall down, then you are extinguished. Your brilliancy, the fiery quality, becomes extinguished. So our present position is like that. We have forgotten or fallen from God, so our that little burning power, that is also extinguished. Now we have to revive it, back to home, back to Godhead. Then you'll become happy.
Pradyumna:
- tadā śucas te pramṛjāmi bhadre
- yad brahma-bandhoḥ śira ātatāyinaḥ
- gāṇḍīva-muktair viśikhair upāhare
- tvākramya yat snāsyasi dagdha-putrā
- (SB 1.7.16)
"O gentle lady, when I present you with the head of that brāhmaṇa, after beheading him with arrows from my Gāṇḍīva bow, I shall then wipe the tears from your eyes and pacify you. Then, after burning your sons' bodies, you can take your bath standing on his head."
Prabhupāda:
- tadā śucas te pramṛjāmi bhadre
- yad brahma-bandhoḥ śira ātatāyinaḥ
- gāṇḍīva-muktair viśikhair upāhare
- tvākramya yat snāsyasi dagdha-putrā
- (SB 1.7.16)
So yad brahma-bandhoḥ. Brahma-bandhu, or kṣatra-bandhu, a person born in the family of a brāhmaṇa but has no brāhmaṇa qualifications, he is called brahma-bandhu, "friend of a brāhmaṇa." Bandhu means friend. A person, a man, his father is high-court judge. So there is no harm that he belongs to the family of such and such high-court judge—but that does not mean he is high-court judge. This should be noted.
So one who is not complete, he's jīva. Aṇu and vibhu. Vibhu, there are many examples. Just like fire, blazing fire, you have got experience. And there are sparks. The sparks fall down sometimes and become extinguished, without any illumination, without any burning power. When..., so long the spark is within the fire, it has got the same quality, illumination and burning quality. But as soon as falls down-extinguished, no more illumination, no more burning power. So our position is like that. Although we are part and parcel of God, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7), because we have cyuta, fallen down from our spiritual atmosphere... Just like spiritual atmosphere, Kṛṣṇa's friends, cowherd boys, they're playing with Kṛṣṇa. That is also playing. And here in this material world the boys they also play football play. But these two plays are different. One is spiritual and another is material. The same example: the spark, when it is with the fire, it is illuminating and burning, but when the sparks fall down, they may fall down on the ground.
And my intelligence and my mind, you cannot see. Neither I can see. Therefore how the mind, intelligence, and personal identity or egotism carries the soul to other body, they do not see it. They cannot see it. They see the gross body is stopped, everything is stopped. The gross body is burned into ashes. Therefore they think everything is finished. Bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar āgamano bhaved The atheist class, they'll think like that. With poor fund of knowledge, they think that "I see the body is now burnt into ashes. Then where is the soul?" So "There is no soul, there is no God, it is all imagination." But that is not the fact, not that is the fact. The fact is that the gross body is finished, but the subtle body is there. Mano buddhir ahaṅkāraḥ. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca (BG 7.4). Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām.
And everything will be ablaze. This fire will take place on account of the heat increase of the sun. It is said that the present temperature of the sun will be increased twelve times, so naturally there will be fire. As we know, sometimes there is forest fire. Similarly, the fire will take place, and everything will be burned into ashes. Then there will be rain. After heat... You have got experience when the atmosphere is too hot, then the rain falls. Same process. When everything will be burned into ashes there will be rain, torrents of rain, and it is said just like the trunk of the elephant, the rainfall will be like that. So everything will be covered with water. That is annihilation. Pralaya-payodhi-jale dhṛtavān asi vedam **. Then there will be pralaya, and by the grace of the Lord the Vedas will be saved. Keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare.
Just like in the sun globe, the fire is prominent. Fire is also one of the five elements: pṛthvī-ap-tejas. That does not mean there is no life. There must be. Otherwise, how Kṛṣṇa talked with the sun-god, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1)? And the living entity, nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. The living entity is not burned by the fire. It is not dried up, it is not moistened. This is stated. So why there will be no life in the sun globe? There must be. Because nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ, fire cannot burn the living being. So there are germs in the fire also, agni-pa(?).
So we are being misled by the so-called scientists and the math... That is not perfect knowledge. The perfect knowledge is in the Vedas. Therefore it is advised, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). You should go to a guru who has complete knowledge from the śruti. Śruti means Vedas. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. Veda means you have to approach ācārya.
So you have to go to the ānandamaya. Yad gatvā na nivartante (BG 15.6). Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). We have to approach in that way. Otherwise, if we remain in the material world, this will be the result-dahyamānāḥ prajāḥ sarvāḥ. One after another, one after another, dahyamānāḥ. You'll simply burn into ashes. So therefore the Vedas say, asato mā sad gama. Don't remain here. Go to Kṛṣṇa and enjoy with Him life.
He's not a brāhmaṇa. He's brahma-bandhu. Everyone can say, "I am the son of a brāhmaṇa." That is brahma-bandhu. Or a friend of a brāhmaṇa. That does not mean he is a brāhmaṇa. This is the idea. Brāhmaṇa is not the body. Brāhmaṇa is the quality. If the brāhmaṇa is body, then when a brāhmaṇa is dead the sons take the dead body to the crematorium place and burn the body. Then if the body is brāhmaṇa, then the sons are committing sins by brahma-hatyā. No. That is not brahma-hatyā. Brāhmaṇa is the quality. That quality is gone. With the departure of the soul, that quality is gone. Now this body is simply a lump of matter, so there is no shame when the body is burnt into ashes.
Pradyumna: "Furthermore, I have personally heard you promise Draupadī that you would bring forth the head of the killer of her sons. This man is an assassin and murderer of your own family members. Not only that, but he has also dissatisfied his master. He is but the burnt remnants of his family. Kill him immediately."
Prabhupāda:
- pratiśrutaṁ ca bhavatā
- pāñcālyai śṛṇvato mama
- āhariṣye śiras tasya
- yas te mānini putra-hā
- (SB 1.7.38)
- tad asau vadhyatāṁ pāpa
- ātatāyy ātma-bandhu-hā
- bhartuś ca vipriyaṁ vīra
- kṛtavān kula-pāṁsanaḥ
- (SB 1.7.39)
So Kṛṣṇa is encouraging Arjuna to kill Aśvatthāmā on so many grounds. First of all, he has killed the boys who were sleeping at night. And another very important point is that ātatāyī. Ātatāyī means the enemy aggressor. Unnecessarily one who attacks, he is called ātatāyī. One who sets fire in your house, one who kidnaps your wife or somebody in the family, and one who gives poison, and they are so many, a list of ascertaining an ātatāyī.
Then, when he was returning, I forget the name of the Purāṇa... Kūrma Purāṇa. He got evidences that Sītā-devī, when she was supposed to be kidnapped by Rāvaṇa, her a false form was kidnapped, and when Sītā-devī was tested, putting her into the fire, she entered into the fire and the māyā Sītā was burned and the original Sītā came out. So it was not possible for Rāvaṇa to touch even the lotus feet of mother Sītā. But apparently it is externally manifested that Sītā was taken away just to teach us that even Sītā-devī...
Sītā-devī is the origin of all potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Cit-śakti. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). The Supreme Personality of Godhead has got many potencies, multipotencies, and one of the potency is hlādinī-śakti, pleasure potency. That pleasure potency is Sītā, Rādhārāṇī, Lakṣmī-devī.
Pradyumna: "My lord, do not make the wife of Droṇācārya cry like me. I am aggrieved for the death of my sons. She need not cry constantly like me.
If the kingly administrative order, being unrestricted in sense control, offends the brāhmaṇa order and enrages them, then the fire of that rage burns up the whole body of the royal family and brings grief upon all."
Prabhupāda:
- mā rodīd asya jananī
- gautamī pati-devatā
- yathāhaṁ mṛta-vatsārtā
- rodimy aśru-mukhī muhuḥ
- (SB 1.7.47)
- yaiḥ kopitaṁ brahma-kulaṁ
- rājanyair ajitātmabhiḥ
- tat kulaṁ pradahaty āśu
- sānubandhaṁ śucārpitam
- (SB 1.7.48)
So, in these two verses the important point is that Draupadī is sympathetic. That is Vaiṣṇava. She is Vaiṣṇavī. This is the attitude of the Vaiṣṇava. Para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. Vaiṣṇava is para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. That is Vaiṣṇava's qualification. He doesn't care for his own personal distresses. But he, a Vaiṣṇava becomes aggrieved, distressed, when other is suffering.
Yaśodāmāyi. (S)He has accepted, (s)he is worshiping God as child, so that she is always engaged that Kṛṣṇa may not be in any inconvenience, about His body, about His comforts. Always Mother Yaśodā is anxious that "Kṛṣṇa is now very naughty. He may not capture some monkey, He may not fall down on the water, He may not be burnt in the fire." Always anxious. Because this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. She is always anxious to give protection to Kṛṣṇa. The best service. Kṛṣṇa does not require anyone's service. He is complete, pūrṇam. But for pleasing His devotee, He becomes dependent. He is bothering mother, "I am hungry. Why don't you give Me food. I will steal butter, your stock."
So this philosophy, Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava philosophy, is very sublime, to accept God as subordinate. Kṛṣṇa says in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, you will find, that "Everyone worships Me with awe and veneration. But if anyone worships Me without any awe, veneration, and treats Me as insignificant, I like that. (laughter) I like that."
Therefore His name is Acyuta. Rathaṁ sthāpaya, sthāpaya me acyuta. Acyuta means "one who does not fall."
The... We fall down, we, because we are very small, spiritual sparks, and Kṛṣṇa is the whole fire. And the fire and the spiritual, fire, sparks from the fire, their quality—the same. They can burn. As the big fire can burn, similarly, the small spark, if it falls down on your cloth, that portion, it will immediately burn. It will become back, black. So the quality is the same. But when it falls down, it's burning quality becomes extinguished. We have got practical experience. Burning quality becomes extinguished. So when we fall down from the spiritual world, we come to the material world, our spiritual quality becomes extinguished. That we have to revive. That we have to revive.
That is back to home. This is the process. It is not very difficult because Kṛṣṇa says, bahavaḥ: "many." "Many" means it is not difficult. Not that... Because we, by nature, we are spiritual, simply extinguished... Just like a lamp is extinguished. You can burn it immediately with a real matches, not false. You can burn it. The capacity is there. Similarly, our spiritual qualities are there already. It is permanent. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That Brahman quality is already there. It is not to be attained. Simply this non-Brahman covering has to be removed.
That is sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). That covering is designation. We are thinking, "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am śūdra," "I am this," "I am that." These are coverings. Actually I am ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Kṛṣṇa is also Para-brahman.
So Dhṛtarāṣṭra constructed a house of lac. Lac means as soon as you touch one match stick, immediately takes fire. So he asked his nephews and sister-in-law, Kuntī, that "For sometimes you go. I have constructed a very nice house. You can go and live there." Vidura informed that "This is the policy: Dhṛtarāṣṭra wants you to burn into ashes by going that house." Duryodhana could understand that Vidura had already informed. Therefore he was very angry. These are politics. So although they knew that "This is the plan of my uncle to send into that house and set fire," but they agreed, "Yes," not disobedient to the order of the superior. In this way the house was set into fire, but they digged a subway within that house, and they escaped.
He is called na kiñcana. Or one who is fully convinced that "Nothing belongs to me," he is akiñcana. Here, in the material world, it is just the opposite. Everyone is thinking that "I have got something." I have seen long, long ago, maybe fifty years ago in Howrah station. I was going somewhere. So one man, his luggage was the half-burned some fuel wood and some rejected things. He was carrying as luggage half-burned fuel wood. He thought that "This is my possession. I have saved this." So he was taking to his home. That means everyone, even though it is very insignificant, still, everyone thinks that "I have got something." This is the material disease.
That is stated by Kṛṣṇa Himself to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja: yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad dhanaṁ śanaiḥ (SB 10.88.8).
Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja indirectly inquired from Kṛṣṇa that: "We are completely dependent on you, and still we are suffering materially so much, that our kingdom is taken away, our wife is insulted, we were attempted to be burned in a house." So Kṛṣṇa said: "Yes that is My first business." Yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad dhanaṁ śanaiḥ. "If I specially favor anybody, then I take away all his sources of income." Very dangerous. Yes. I have got my practical experience in this connection. Yes. That is Kṛṣṇa's special favor. I do not wish to narrate, but it is a fact. It is a fact. My Guru Mahārāja ordered me when I was twenty-five years old that: "You go and preach." But I thought: "First of all, I shall become a rich man, and I shall use that money for preaching work."
That dying means he's changing body, not dying. Therefore... Because Kṛṣṇa says the living entity is aja, everyone can question that "If he's aja, he does not take birth, then why he's taking birth? Why he's dying?" The answer is immediately there: na hanyate: "Don't think that he's dying." Na hanyate. "No, I see his body's being burned." No, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). That body is being burned. That...
Suppose if your cloth is burned... In my childhood, when I was three, four years old, I was saved. My all cloth burned, and there is a scar. You have seen. I would have died that day, but fortunately I was saved. The cloth was burning. That, what is that called, matches color? So I was trying to burn, and it caught my cloth. So the cloth burned, but I did not burn. Similarly, this body also burns, but the soul... Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi na dahati pāvakaḥ. The soul is never cut into pieces by any weapon, neither it is burned by the fire, soul.
The soul is never cut into pieces by any weapon, neither it is burned by the fire, soul. That is eternity. Anything material, it will burn, it will be cut into pieces, it can be dried up, it can be moistened. Because we cannot see the soul, so Kṛṣṇa has explained in a negative definition what is the characteristic of the soul. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ, na śoṣayati mārutaḥ (BG 2.23). Like that.
So aja... We are also aja because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. And nitya. Nityaḥ śāśva... Ajo nityaḥ. Nitya... The Māyāvāda philosophy is that we are aja, and Supreme Brahman is aja. So when we are uncovered by this material body, we mix with the aja. That is their theory, monist. We merge into the existence of aja. But that is not fact. You merge. That is like merging a green bird into a green tree.
"Therefore You descend to kill all these rascals who claim Your position, rebellious." That is natural. Just like all subordinate kings. There is one emperor, and there are subordinate kings. Sometimes the subordinate kings claim, "Now we shall not give tax." In India it so happened. Everywhere it so happens. The subordinate kings, zamindars, landholders, sometimes they think, "Oh, why shall I give tax?" Then it is rebellious.
So Kṛṣṇa's one business is to kill these rebellious persons who deny the supremacy of God, who declare himself as God. Therefore it is said: avani-dhruk. In the, on the surface of the globe, those who are rebellious, rājanya-vaṁśa-dahana, so He kills. He burns them. Apavarga-vīrya, anapa, anapavarga-vīrya. Anapa. Apavarga means... It is said anapavarga?
There are three stages, three different kinds of transformation of this body after death: stool, ashes and worms, uh, earth or dirt. According to the Vedic civilization, the body is burnt into ashes. So the body becomes ashes. And somebody throws the body to be eaten up by some animal. The Parsee community in India, they throw the body to be eaten by the vultures. That is their system. So after eating, the vultures, they pass stool; so body becomes stool. Is there any scientist to take the stool of vulture and make again a body? The body has turned to be stool, the body has turned to be ashes. Why not take little ashes and turn it to again body? Scientific method. Is it possible?
This body is, after all, meant for others. While there is life in the body, it is meant for the service of the others, and (when) it is dead it is meant to be eaten up by the dogs and jackals." Even it is dead body, that is also meant for others. If you throw it on the street, then it will be eaten by the animals and the vultures. So body is meant for others. Or if you don't throw, if you burn it, then—it is right of the sons to burn it—then it belongs to them. So either living or dead, logically the body belongs to others. And another logic is: Who is interested to maintain a body which belongs to others? This is logic. And other point is that everyone is maintaining this body with so many sinful activities, although the body does not belong to him.
So real sanity is to understand that this body belongs to Kṛṣṇa. We are misunderstanding that this body belongs to my father, mother, or my master or to the cats and dogs or the vultures, in so many ways.
When everything was finished... Kṛṣṇa knows how to kill the demons, setting fire. Just like you... Some way or other, if there is fire in the forest, automatically, so many trees, so many animals, so many other things, they become devastated, burned into ashes. So Kṛṣṇa, by the policy of Kṛṣṇa, all the demons were brought together in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and set them... The fire was set, fighting, and they died. When Arjuna was hesitating to fight, Arjuna was at last informed that "Why you are hesitating? It is all My plan. You fight or don't fight, it doesn't matter. These people are not going back home. They will die here." Nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savyasācin: "You just become only a nimitta, an immediate cause. Everything is arranged. But if you fight, you get the credit. I want to see My devotee gets the credit. Everything I am doing." Everything actually.
Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī inquired, "Why these three kinds of miseries inflict pains upon me?" Ke āmi kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya. Tāpa-traya. Tāpa means painful condition, tāpa. Just like if you touch fire, it creates a painful condition by burning the part, similarly, this world is also a blazing fire, saṁsāra-dāvānala. The rascals, they do not know. They are always out of the three kinds of miserable condition. Everyone is in some way or other under these conditions. These conditions means it is... These kleśāḥ, painful conditions, they are created by three causes. What are those causes? Daiva-bhūtātma-hetavaḥ. Daiva means created by the demigods. Daiva. Devatā. Just like this rain department, water department, is under the control of Indra. So Indra can supply water just to your requirement, or sometimes he does not supply, or sometimes he supplies over, over requirement.
Everything... Yasyājñayā bhramati kāla-cakraḥ. Yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Now, this sun, the sun, unlimited heat, aśeṣa-tejāḥ, heat. But it is also limited. It cannot expand so much heat so that we may burn into ashes. The sun can do that. As the big ocean can overpower all your cities and towns in a second, similarly, the sun also can burn the whole universe within a second. It has got so much potency, temperature. But yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ. No. The kāla-cakra... I think the scientists also say that the sun from the orbit, if it comes this side one inch or that side one inch, one side coming this side, the whole universe will be frozen, and the other side, whole universe will be burned. I do not know whether there is any scientists who say. But it cannot go this side or that side. Sambhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ.
"Here you see, in the Purāṇa it is said that when Rāvaṇa came to kidnap Sītā, immediately a false Sītā was given to him, and the real Sītā disappeared. Then again, when Lord Rāmacandra, after killing Rāvaṇa, He was accepting Sītā back to home, He tested with fire, that 'Sītā, you should enter the fire, and if you are not burned, then you are chaste. Otherwise you are not chaste.' Yes. So the false Sītā which was taken by Rāvaṇa, she entered the fire, and the real Sītā came out." This is the statement in the śāstra.
So things take place like that. The queens of Kṛṣṇa, they could not be touched. But it is a play only. Similarly, Yadu dynasty, the descendants of Kṛṣṇa, they also could not be killed. But... Just like Kṛṣṇa was killed by the arrow of a hunter. How Kṛṣṇa can be killed? But it is for the persons, for the demons, to demonstrate like that, who thinks Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being. So for them it is a jugglery. They will still know that "Here your Kṛṣṇa is killed." Yes. They will say like that.
Pradyumna: Translation: "Now I am attracted to those instructions imparted to me by the Personality of Godhead (Govinda) because they are impregnated with instructions for relieving the burning heart in all circumstances of time and space." (SB 1.15.27)
Prabhupāda: Go on reading the purport.
Pradyumna: "Herein Arjuna refers to the instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā, which was imparted to him by the Lord in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. The Lord left behind Him the instructions of the Bhagavad-gītā not only for the benefit of Arjuna alone, but also for all times in all lands. The Bhagavad-gītā, being spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the essence of all Vedic wisdom. It is nicely presented by the Lord Himself for all who have very little time to go through the vast Vedic literatures, like the Upaniṣads, Purāṇas and Vedānta-sūtras. It is put within the study of the great historical epic Mahābhārata, which was especially prepared for the less intelligent class, namely the women, the laborers, and those who are worthless descendants of the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and the higher sections of the vaiśyas. The problem which arose in the heart of Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra was solved by the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā.
"If there is no petrol available, then what will happen?" So this is material existence. Viṣaya viṣānale, divā-niśi... Anxiety. That anxiety is suffering, "What will happen? What will happen?" That is material existence. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyā. Always full of anxiety. This is material life. So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that viṣaya viṣānale, divā-niśi hiyā jvale: "The heart is burning on account of this material existence." Juṛāite nā kainu upāya. "But I did not try to find out the means by which I can get out of this." Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmila kena tāya. The medicine is this Hari, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's teachings, Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's glorification. That is the real medicine. But we have no attraction for these things. We are simply trying to counteract the suffering, and we are accepting this counteraction as enjoying. Bhagavad-gītā: haranti smarataś cittam.
Nitāi: "Now I am attracted to those instructions imparted to me by the Personality of Godhead, Govinda, because they are impregnated with instructions for relieving the burning heart in all circumstances of time and space."
Prabhupāda:
- deśa-kālārtha-yuktāni
- hṛt-tāpopaśamāni ca
- haranti smarataś cittaṁ
- govindābhihitāni me
- (SB 1.15.27)
So this word hṛt-tāpa upaśamāni... Hṛt means heart, and tāpa means miseries or burning, heat. Tāpa means burning heat. If there is fire and there is heat, sometimes it is intolerable. So hṛt-tāpa means the burning fire blazing within the heart. So that is always. Anyone who is in this material world, he has got this disease, burning fire within the heart, anyone. That means severe anxiety, everyone. Even a small bird, he is also full of anxiety. You give him some grains. It will come. It will eat. At the same time, it will look this way, that way, this way, full of anxiety. Although there is food, he is eating, still, there is anxiety, "Somebody may come, kill me." So everyone is full of anxiety.
"Sometimes we have got anxiety, and sometimes we are very nice." So even accepting that, Arjuna says, deśa-kāla-artha-yuktāni. Deśa, kāla, the time and space within this material world, and artha means purpose, everything, any time... Arjuna does not say that "sometimes." At any time, if we are materially attached, then this hṛt-tāpa must be. Hṛt-tāpa means burning fire, blazing fire within the heart. It will continue.
Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that viṣaya-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jwale. This means anyone who is engaged in these material affairs, Viṣaya... Viṣaya means material necessities. Everyone has got material necessities: āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna, how to eat, how to sleep, where to sleep, where to get apartment, where to secure money to get food, and how to secure sex pleasure, where it is available, man or woman, and how to defend. "I have got so much bank balance. It may not be taken away.
It may not be taken away. I have got this property." In this way everyone is suffering. That's a fact. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, viṣaya-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jwale: "The heart is burning." The same word. It is in simple Bengali, and this is in Sanskrit. Viṣaya-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jwale, juṛāite nā koinu upāy. So if a man simply goes on suffering like this, then he is not a human being. Human being means if there is suffering, he must try to alleviate it, to mitigate the suffering. That is human being.
That is... Nature gives us this human form of body, intelligence, that if there is danger, if there is anxiety, he tries to get out of it. The animals also do, but they cannot do very nicely. Just like animals are slaughtered.
Nobody goes to set fire in the forest, nobody has got any business to do that. But still, there is fire. It takes place. Everyone knows. Automatically, by the collision of dry branches of bamboo and others there is electricity and dry leaves that set fire, in this way, a big fire. So similarly, in this material world nobody wants that there may be fire and we all burn. No, nobody wants. But it happens. There is another Bengali song like that. Sukhera lāgiyā ei ghare bandhinu agune puriya gelun(?): "I constructed this house to live very happily. Unfortunately, there was set fire. Fire was set and everything finished." So this is material world. We should always know.
So Arjuna says that "When I remember the teachings of Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, then it relieves me. Then it relieves me." Hṛt-tāpa upaśamāni. Hṛt-tāpa, that blazing fire within the heart, immediately becomes relieved.
We do not take it seriously. That is the difficulty. Actually, as Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, that viṣaya-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jwale, juṛāite nā koinu upāy, "My heart is always burning on account of this material condition of life, and I did not make any means to get out of this entanglement"... So everyone should be intelligent. Intelligent person will admit that his heart is always burning. That's a fact. Now, if we want to get out of it, then, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu advises, all the ācāryas advises, and here Arjuna also... Arjuna directly listened to Kṛṣṇa, and he says, "This is my practical experience, that when I..." He was a politician, a fighter. He had so many anxieties. So he used to remember the instruction given by Kṛṣṇa directly to him.
So they should use their intelligence properly. But because every human being has got little independence, because he is part and parcel of God... God has got full independence, so he has also little independence. Just like big fire and small fire, a spark. The spark is also fire. When the sparks fall on your body, it immediately burns your clothes, because it is fire. Similarly, in quality, we are as good as God. We are spirit soul, and Kṛṣṇa is the supreme spirit soul, Paramātmā. So qualitatively, there is no difference. But quantitatively, there is difference. His intelligence, His power, and my power, my intelligence, is not the same.
You can manufacture a toy sputnik to fly in the sky, to float in the sky, by so many mechanical arrangements. As soon as the machine is gone out, immediately falls down. But just see what machine is there, millions and trillions of airplanes, big, big planet with big, big mountains, oceans, they are floating.
A small child, you let him be free—he will catch up sometimes this, catch up sometimes that. He does not know what is his real interest. But because he is child, he is catching this, catching that, catching that. Sometimes he catches fire and burns his hand. Sometimes he falls down in the water. Sometimes he catches snake. These are all dangerous things, but he does not know.
So similarly, we are in the modes of material nature. There are three modes of material nature: sattva-rajas-tamaḥ. Those who are in darkness, tamaḥ, completely in darkness, do not know anything. Exactly like the child does not know what is his actual interest. Know to..., not. Generally, everyone who is in this material world, he does not know what is actually, what thing he should capture. He does not know. That is the difficulty. Mūḍha. They are therefore mūḍha.
So this is the problem. But that is not the problem for Kṛṣṇa. But that is problem for us. Because we are very minute spark of Kṛṣṇa, as the spark has the chance of being extinguished out of the fire, similarly, being separated from Kṛṣṇa, being entangled in this material energy, we have forgotten. Our spiritual quality, burning quality, just like fire, that is now extinguished. It is not exactly extinguished: almost extinguished. We have forgotten. But it can be again brought into the original position by fanning. Just like there is small fire in the charcoal. You fan it, and it will gradually become a big fire. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is fanning that spiritual spark to come into full consciousness. Go on fanning like that. That is the rules and regulation, attending this class, hearing this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā. Twenty-four hours be engaged. That is real business. Dhyāyan, always, constantly, hṛdi brahma paraṁ dhyāyan. Dhyāyan means medi... This is meditation.
I think Dr. Benard Shaw, he wrote one book, You Are What You Eat. If you eat stool, then you are stool. Because after all, this body will be stool. Because after death, the result is either the body becomes stool or ash or earth. Those who are burying on the ground, in due course the body will turn into earth. That's all. And those who are burning, like in India, Hindus do, this will turn into ash. And those who are throwing for being eaten by the animals and birds... Just like Parsees do in India... They throw, and vultures come, and they eat it, within a second. So after eating, it will be stool of the vulture. That's all. So this beautiful body will be resulted in three things: either stool, earth or ash. And we are taking so much care—for stool, earth, and ashes. And the occupier of the body? Forgotten. And we are advanced scientists. This is our position.
You know of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is within your heart. So if you think of Kṛṣṇa, then gradually you become Kṛṣṇized. Just like you put the iron rod in the fire. Gradually it becomes fire. Warm, warmer, warmer, then red-hot. When it is red-hot it is fire. Whenever you touch, it will burn immediately. Similarly, if you think of Kṛṣṇa, the same example... Touching fire. So Kṛṣṇa will purify you. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Just like you are being purified by hearing about Kṛṣṇa daily. Otherwise why you are coming here? We have no money to bribe you to come here. You are feeling, becoming Kṛṣṇized; therefore you are coming.
So this is the process, simple process. You simply be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you become Kṛṣṇized, purified. And as soon as you become purified, you understand Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam (Brs. 1.2.234).
So if we can see by our practical experience, there are living entities in the water, so why not living entities in the fire? And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that living entity, this spiritual spark, is not affected by material influence. In the Vedas also it is..., asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. It has nothing to do with this material condition. Adāhya. This special word is used that it cannot burned by the fire. Aśoṣya, it cannot be dried up by air. Acchedya, it cannot be cut into pieces. These things are there. So we are firmly convinced that in the sun planet there is also living entity, and the king or the president there is called Vivasvān, his name is Vivasvān. And our gāyatrī-mantra is worshiping the sun planet. Oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur vareṇyaṁ bhargo devasya dhīmahi. So this is the Vedic conception. Every planet there is king, and the king's duty is to see that everyone is executing his professional occupational duty.
Everyone knows as soon as the force is withdrawn or gone away that this body has no more movement, it has no value. That everyone knows. But they will explain in different way. But according to our Vedic knowledge, that which is moving this body, that is eternal. That is not finished. "After the end of this body, the body is burnt into ashes or into, buried into the earth, and still?" Yes. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20).
In this way, every step, Svayaṁ Bhagavān is personally..., Kṛṣṇa is instructing us, and we are so fool, we cannot understand. We cannot understand. Big, big politicians, they read Bhagavad-gītā, in our country. But by their action it is seen they did not understand even a word of Bhagavad-gītā. Even a word of Bhagavad-gītā. Big, big politician. They became very big, big mahātmās or great men, but they tried for this body, which is to be finished. Antavanta ime dehāḥ. Nobody tried for that thing which will never be finished, that is eternal.
We are under illusion. Just you analyze yourself. Why we love this body? It is very easy to understand. Because the soul is there. Does anybody love a dead body? Is there any instance, a dead body is loved and embraced and taken into the room and kept it? Nobody cares. Throw it. Or burn it. So the body is not a lovable object. But because the soul is there within the body, therefore we love this body. This house, if it is vacant, nobody will come. But because there is Kṛṣṇa or because there are devotees of Kṛṣṇa, so many people come. Not that this house is lovable. Similarly, you analyze. You love this body. You work so hard day and night to keep this body fit. Why? Because the proprietor of the body, soul, is there. Then the love transfers from body to the soul. Then why do you love the soul? Because it is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we love the soul. So ultimately, the love goes to Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa is paraṁ pavitram. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). So to go to Kṛṣṇa, one requires to be perfectly purified. Just like without becoming fire, you cannot enter into fire. If your body is not fire, as soon as you enter fire, you will be burned. But you take another fire and push into the fire, there is no reaction. There is no reaction. Just like to live within the water, you must have a particular type of body so that living within the water, you will not be infected. Just like a human being, if he artificially enters into the water, for few hours he can remain. That is also with great difficulty. He will feel bodily pain. But the fishes within the water, they are living very peacefully, happily, for hundreds of years. So this is real fact. You cannot enter into an atmosphere without being fit for living in that atmosphere. Is it very difficult to understand? Because they are going to the moon planet, why they are coming back?
Therefore advanced Kṛṣṇa conscious person is considered to have a spiritual body. The same example, as I have given several times: just like iron rod. You put into the fire, it becomes warmer, warmer. The more it is connected with fire, it becomes warm, warm, warm. And at last it becomes red hot, so that at that time, if that iron is touched to any other thing, it burns. It does not act as iron; it acts as fire. Similarly, by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, continuous chanting, you will make your body spiritualized. At that time, wherever you go, wherever you touch, he'll be spiritualized. Similarly, the iron... Without being spiritualized, without being red hot, if you touch, it will not act.
So every one of us, those who have come to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, expected to preach in the future and to become a spiritual master also in the future. But first of all you must spiritualize yourself; otherwise it is useless. So kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe. Without... Just like without being red hot, you cannot burn any other thing. Similarly, without being fully spiritualized, you cannot make others spiritualized.
That's all. If he does not care to know what he is, what is his position... But he cannot know it because he has already accepted "I am this body." The body will be finished. Either it will be burned or buried in the ground, or some animal will eat me. That's all. So with that, everything will be finished. So therefore, with this understanding, whatever he is doing, it is simply failure. Because the basic principle of understanding is wrong. He does not know that "I am creating my next field of work." That he does not know. So, Bhagavad-gītā informs us, idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya (BG 13.2). What is called? The field. This body is called field. What is that śloka? Can you remember? Idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate Kṣetra (BG 13.2). Kṣetra means field. Field. Just like you work, you play, on the field. So the... You are not the field. You are not the field.
And when they do not find any solution, they become frustrated, they become confused, they take to intoxication to forget the blazing condition of life. So actually everyone in this material world is burning in the blazing fire of material consciousness. That's a fact. Somebody is trying to solve by forgetting it through the influence of intoxication or something else artificially. That is not the solution. The real solution is to come to the original consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Actually, what is the real fact of our existence? Real fact of our existence is this consciousness. Either an animal or a man or a superman or an aquatic or a tree or a plant—any living entity—what is the ultimate stand? The ultimate stand is consciousness. The animal body is animal body so long there is consciousness. The human body is human body so long there is consciousness.
This real self, the real person, goes to Kṛṣṇa to live forever. So those who are devotees, those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are giving up this infected body and they are getting their new... Not new. The old, original body, spiritual body. Therefore, as soon as you get the spiritual body, the sun has no power to take it away. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "The fire cannot burn it, the weapon cannot kill it, the water cannot moist it..." In so many way, indirect way, are described. The spirit cannot be destroyed by anything material. Matter... Just like this body is matter. This body can be cut into pieces, but the spirit soul cannot be. The body can be burnt into ashes, but the spirit soul cannot be.
Pāvakaḥ. Dahati pāvakaḥ. So the modern scientists, they say that there is no life in the sun planet, sun globe. But that is not a fact. What is sun globe? It is a fiery planet, that's all.
Pradyumna: "The word satīm is very significant. This means "existing" and "chaste," and both imports are perfectly applicable in the case of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. The whole Vedic adventure is to draw one's attention entirely unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa without any diversion, as it is instructed in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15). Fortunately Mahārāja Parīkṣit had already been attracted to the Lord from the very beginning of his body, in the womb of his mother. In the womb of his mother, he was struck by the brahmāstra atomic bomb released by Aśvatthāmā, but by the grace of the Lord he was saved from being burnt by the fiery weapon, and since then the King continually concentrated his mind upon Lord Kṛṣṇa, which made him perfectly chaste in devotional service. So by natural sequence he was a chaste devotee of the Lord, and when he further heard..."
Prabhupāda: Here, one important matter is there, that Parīkṣit Mahārāja, while he was in the womb of his mother, there was brahmāstr a targeted on him by Aśvatthāmā. And he was to be killed. Practically he was killed. His mother felt a miscarriage and immediately approached Kṛṣṇa, that "I am feeling like this.
Even in their country the priests are surprised. But what is the reason they are advanced? Because they have taken the right thing, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). That they have taken. Either you say blindly... Blindly or knowingly, if you touch fire, it will act. Fire is fire. It is not that because a child takes fire, it will not burn. It will burn. So why these Western young men, they are taking this movement seriously? Because it is acting as fire. It is acting as fire. They have taken fire, and it is acting as fire.
So there is information in the śāstra, accepted by the ācāryas. Just like kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam, that is accepted by the ācāryas. Ācāryopāsanam. The Śaṅkarācārya even, although he is impersonalist, he has accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and what to speak of others?
Don't think that "Only the culprit is President Nixon, and we are, I am very safe." There is a Bengali proverb: ghuṇṭe pore gobar hase.(?) Gobar means cow dung, and ghuṇṭe means... What is called in English? The dried cow dung. So dried cow dung is used for fuel. So when the dry cow dung is being burned into the oven, the safe oven is laughing, "Oh, you are being burned. I am in safe side." (laughter) He does not know that when he'll be dry, he'll be put into the fire also. So we are laughing that "President Nixon is in trouble. I am very safe. I have got so much bank balance." No, nobody's safe. They... As like the same, cow dung soft. When it will be dried up, it will be put into the fire. And that dryness will come to everyone. That is a fact. What is that? Death. You may be safe at the present, for a few years, but you cannot avoid death. "As sure as death." And what is the result of death? The same.
This material life is just like blazing fire of poison. Viṣaya-viṣānale. Viṣaya means material. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna. Eating, sleeping and sex life and defense—these are the material activities. So we are engaged with these things. So viṣaya-viṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale. And if we become engaged with these four things, viṣaya, it is like poison. Then our heart will be always burning. Gastric ulcer. So it has to be cured. How it can be cured? Now, golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmilo kene tāy: "My dear Lord, You have given the medicine, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, but I have no attraction for this." So this is the realization of the Vaiṣṇava. Brajendra-nandana jei, śaci-suta hailo sei: "Vrajendra-nandana, Kṛṣṇa, He has now come as Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śacī-suta, the son of mother Śacī." Balarāma hailo nitāi: "And Balarāma has become Nitāi." So what is their business now?
"I am as great as the Supreme God." No. We should understand this, aṇimānam. Svayaṁ-jyo... Etad jyotiḥ, I am as effulgent... Just like spark. Spark is jyoti, but not as brilliant, effulgent, as the original fire. The original fire—phat! phat!—there are some sparks. You have got experience. The spark is also jyoti. If a spark falls on your cloth, it will immediately burn. The burning capacity is there. But it is not as good as the original fire. Svayaṁ-jyotiḥ. Here it is said, nirantaram. So nirantaram means there is, so far jyoti is concerned, there is no difference, but the small, very small. Aṇimānam akhaṇḍitam. This is self-realization. Don't falsely claim that "Because I am qualitatively one with God, therefore I am God." No. You may be god. God means controller. But you are not the Supreme God. The Supreme God is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ. Parama means Supreme. We are īśvara, we may be īśvara. I may be īśvara for few persons, another may be for a big nation, another may be for the... You can go on increasing. But you cannot reach the, I mean to say, position of God.
Not only he—even a small child. There is another small child, only five years old. He goes to preach, "You know what is Kṛṣṇa?" And somebody says, "No, I do not know." "The Supreme Personality of Godhead." Anyway she has learned, that is jñāna. But that is a fact. I may not know to analyze what is fire, but my father has said, "This is fire. Don't touch it. It will burn." So that's all right. He may be child, but he has got the real knowledge. Similarly, by hearing process, śruta-paramparā... Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). If you go through the process of disciplic succession, hearing from the authorities, you may be fool, I may be fool, but because I am hearing from the authority, my knowledge is perfect. My knowledge is perfect. Just like I may be imperfect. I don't say that I am perfect. But I am speaking to the whole world, "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead." The same thing. As the child says, as the boys says, I am also saying the same thing. But it is becoming effective because this is the fact.
Therefore it is said that tapanti vividhās tāpā na etān mad-gata-cetasaḥ. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. So how much suffering he had to undergo, the five-years-old boy, and his father was putting in dangers, sometimes under the feet, leg of the elephant, sometimes throwing from the mountain, sometimes on burning oil, sometimes amongst the snakes, so many ways. But he was silent. Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was a Muhammadan by birth. So he became a very good devotee and always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. That was his fault. So the Muslim Kazi called him, that "You are Muhammadan. You born in a such great family, Muhammadan family, and you are chanting Hindu's Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra? What is this?" So he mildly replied, "My dear sir, there are many Hindus, they also have become Muhammadan. So suppose I have become Hindu.
That's all. Otherwise everything is there. Where is the difficulty? Kṛṣṇa says that there is the owner of the body within the body and He has explained in so many ways, acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam, distinguishing the quality that the soul is never to be cut into pieces, acchedyo 'yam. It cannot be burned into the fire. It cannot be moistened by water. That means everything matter, there is interruption. Any matter will be interrupted by another matter, but the soul is not anything of this material world. In the material world, any hard thing, the iron, the stone, can be cut into pieces if you have got the instrument. But Kṛṣṇa says the soul is acchedyo 'yam, it cannot be cut into pieces. So it is above all material action and reaction. Adāhyo 'yam, in material, even iron can be melted, even a stone can be melted, but adāhyo 'yam, aśoṣyaḥ 'yam, in so many ways. That means it is different from this material thing, the soul.
Of course, a devotee is not under material condition. As soon as he becomes servant of Kṛṣṇa and gives pure devotional service with love and faith, immediately he becomes spiritually situated. Therefore it is said, jarayaty āśu yā kośaṁ nigīrṇam analo yathā. Just like if you put something in the fire, immediately it is burned and turned into ashes, similarly, as soon as you put yourself in the devotional service without any material desire, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), immediately your subtle body and gross body become dissolved; you remain only spirit soul, immediately. The same example is given here. Immediately. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66), as "you surrender." Then what...? Immediately you become purified. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyaḥ. We are contaminated by sinful activities.
Nitāi: "(It is because of My supremacy that the wind blows, out of fear of Me; the sun shines out of fear of Me, and the lord of the) clouds, Indra, sends forth showers out of fear of Me. The fire burns out of fear of Me, and death goes about taking its toll out of fear of Me."
Prabhupāda:
- mad-bhayād vāti vāto 'yaṁ
- sūryas tapati mad-bhayāt
- varṣatīndro dahaty agnir
- mṛtyuś carati mad-bhayāt
- (SB 3.25.42)
The ultimate, mṛtyuś carati mad-bhayāt . So bhaya, bhaya means fearfulness. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt. In the previous verse the Lord Kapiladeva said that "If anyone wants to get out of this fearful situation..." Bhayaṁ tīvraṁ nivartate. Ātmanaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ bhayaṁ tīvraṁ nivartate. We are always fearful. Material life is not very happy life because we are always fearful. That's a fact. Nobody can say, "No, I am not afraid of anything." That is false. Everyone is afraid of something, everyone—bird, beast, human being, everyone, bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt—because we have got absorption in the second category of life. Second category means this bodily conception of life, dvitīya abhiniveśa.
Gradually, the water is drying up, and the land is coming. Then we are calculating, "This is Asia. This is America. This is Europe." Land is coming out. And gradually land, land, land, land—there will be only land, no water. That means destruction. When there will be no water and scorching heat, the whole earthly planet will be ablaze and everything will be burned into ashes. Then again there will be rainfall, and everything will be mixed up, and then again there will destruction. This is going on. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). And similarly, our position with this body. This will be also dissolved again. This nice form you have got, I have got, but when it will be finished, this is finished forever. We are not going to get any more. You will get different body, not exactly this body. It is bubble. One bubble lost, that is lost forever. That is lost forever. But we are so foolish, we are thinking, "This is permanent settlement, permanent settlement."
This is the difference between material world and the spiritual world. So if you bring, in the material world also, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it is spiritual world. How it is possible? Yes, it is possible. Just like you put one iron rod in the fire. It will become gradually warm, warmer, warmer, then the iron rod will be red hot and if that redness you will touch anywhere, it will burn you. It is no more iron rod, it is fire. So you keep yourself always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then even if you possess this material body, you will be in the spiritual world. This is called jñānam. Jñānam ātma-darśanam, jñānaṁ niḥśreyasāya.
So we have to come to this platform, spiritual platform. We are suffering on account of being on the material platform. So by keeping yourself always in the fire of Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you are transferred to the spiritual world. Very nice example, this iron rod, red hot. You cannot use it for any other purpose. It is simply for burning. Similarly you can become Kṛṣṇized.
So the aṇu, vibhinnāṁśa jīva, when he comes within this material world, he becomes entrapped or his that jyoti... In the previous verse you have studied jyoti. Vibhinnāṁśa living entity, we are also jyoti. Just like spark. The original fire is also fire, and the spark fire, that is also fire. Quality, the same, but a spark, when falls down on your cloth, it can burn a little portion. Similarly, if the whole fire comes, then you become burned into pieces. The same example again: the sun and the sunshine. Sunshine is combination small particle of shining molecules. Similarly, we are also the same spark. Dīpārcir eva hi daśāntaram abhyupetya dīpāyate (Bs. 5.46). So Kṛṣṇa and His expansion, They are all the same. And we, vibhinnāṁśa jīva, we are very small. Therefore our condition is different from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not infected by the material qualities but, we become infected. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14), it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā.
By surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, by becoming a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, you become free from the clutches of māyā. Mām eva ye prapadyante. Simply by surrendering. Māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). So never think that Kṛṣṇa... The Māyāvādī thinks like that, that "We are one, Kṛṣṇa and we. We are one." Yes, we are one—in quality. The same thing: just like the fire and the spark, one in burning capacity. Even a small spark of the fire, it can burn. So we are one in the spiritual quality, but in quantity, we are different. Same example: vibhu and aṇu. This is very nice verse in the Bhagavad-gītā, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14).
We are under the grip of laws of nature. You cannot violate. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). If you have touched fire, it doesn't matter whether you are elderly person or a child, innocent or knowingly or unknowingly, the fire must burn. There is no excuse. Similarly, we are contaminating different types of modes of nature. There are three modes of material nature—sattva-guṇa, raja-guṇa and tamo-guṇa. Now mix it up, three into three equal to nine, nine into nine it becomes eighty-one. Again eighty-one... It increases. Those who are expert in mixing color, they know how to make different colors by mixing the original three colors: blue, yellow and red. Similarly, we are in this material world under the clutches of the modes of material nature, and according to different circumstances we are mixing with different modes of nature. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-yoni-yoniṣu (BG 13.22).
Similarly, we, as spirit soul, we have immense power. And God is the supreme spirit soul, so we cannot imagine how much power God has got. But even we, who are a simply minute particle... Just like... Comparison is just like the fire and the sparks. The fire and the sparks, both of them are fire. The spark even, wherever the spark will fall, immediately it will burn. Similarly, we have got all the qualities in minute quantity of God. God has the creative force; therefore we are also creating so many things. The scientists are creating so many wonderful things. That is wonderful for persons like us, because we do not know how much wonderful one can play. That we do not know. We simply...
Just like we are giving very much credit to the person who is going to the moon planet by some machine: "Oh, wonderful." But we do not see that who has created these planets, and they are floating in the air.
It is the same thing. Similarly, we are also pavitram, pure, but that small can fall down sometimes and becomes apavitra. So we are just like sparks of fire, so so long we are in the fire, this quality of the spark is also fire. It is also illuminating. It is also has got the quality of burning power, small quantity. But when the spark falls down from the fire it becomes extinguished, the fiery quality. That is our position. We have fallen down from the quality, and we have to revive it. Just like a person becomes diseased. Diseased is not his permanent position. That is a temporary infection. But it can be cured. If one likes, he can cure his disease and again he can become healthy. Similarly, we are fallen somehow or other. "Somehow or other" means the reason is as soon as we become independent, we deny to serve Kṛṣṇa, but we deny to serve Kṛṣṇa—we want to become independent. Then immediately we are forced by the illusory energy to come under her and work under her direction.
Therefore one who sticks to this body only, gross body, atheist class... Just like in our country the Carvaka, he says, bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar-āgamano bhavet: "Why you are thinking of next birth? It is not possible. We see this gross body is burnt into ashes. And where is the soul? Who is coming back again? Don't care for all these things. Live happily. Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy." Yāvaj jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet. This philosophy is going on: "There is no mind, there is no intelligence, there is no soul, only this gross body, and so long we possess this gross body, let us enjoy the senses." But this is called, it is described, mahā-vimoha. This is the greatest bewilderment, mahā-vimoha. So because people have no education how we are existing in this material world, vimohana, vimūḍha, prakṛti, how nature is working Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā (BG 3.27). Vimūḍhātmā. Mahā-vimoha.
This is the example. Āpani ācari prabhu jīveri śikhāya. By imitation, it is not possible. We'll learn more and more about His body, how it was completely spiritual. Na jāyate na mriyate va. In other place the spiritual body is nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. The... No weapon can cut it, no fire can burn it. These descriptions are there.
So what is that thing? It is definition by negation. We cannot understand in our present state what is that spirit soul. Although we can perceive that there is something—in the absence of that something, this body is nothing but a lump of matter. That we get experience every day. But we cannot see what is that. Therefore atheist class or the persons with poor fund of knowledge, they deny the existence. They cannot see. But they cannot answer that why the body is no more working, what is that thing which is absent?
Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.) "Translation: King Parīkṣit asked Śukadeva Gosvāmī: My dear Lord, for those who are completely pure in heart, knowledge is attained by the practice of bhakti-yoga, and attachment for fruitive activity is completely burned to ashes. For such people, the powers of mystic yoga automatically arise. They do not cause distress. Why, then, did Ṛṣabhadeva neglect them?"
Prabhupāda:
na nūnaṁ bhagava ātmārāmāṇāṁ yoga-samīrita-jñānāvabharjita-karma-bījānām aiśvaryāṇi punaḥ kleśadāni bhavitum arhanti yadṛc-chayopagatāni
- (SB 5.6.1)
So ātmārāmāṇām, ātmārāmāṇām, self-satisfied. There are two kinds of men: ātmārāma and apaśyatām atmā-tattvam (SB 2.1.2)—one who does not know what is the soul and what is the business of the soul. Apaśyatām atmā-tattvam (SB 2.1.2). Ātma-tattvam... First of all, one has to understand that "I am not this body. I am ātmā, soul. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi." Then we fix up our business. If I do not know what I am... Sanātana Gosvāmī approached Caitanya Mahāprabhu: grāmya-vyavahāre paṇḍita, satya kari māni āpanāra hitāhita kichui nā jāni. This is going on. So-called learned philosophers, scientist, educationist—people call them learned scholars. But Sanātana Gosvāmī refused to accept. He said, grāmya-vyavahāre kahaye paṇḍita satya kari māni. That is our nature. Just like a beggar comes, he gives his blessing, "Sir, you become king.
Pradyumna: "While He was wandering about, a wild forest fire began. This fire was caused by the friction of bamboos, which were being blown by the wind. In that fire, the entire forest near Kuṭakācala and the body of Lord Ṛṣabhādeva were burned to ashes."
Prabhupāda:
- atha samīra-vega-vidhūta-veṇu-vikarṣaṇa-jāta dāvānalas tad
- vanam ālelihānaḥ saha tena dadāha
- (SB 5.6.8)
So dāvānala. We have got some description of dāvānala in our daily prayer, saṁsāra dāvānala-līḍha-loka **. The dāvānala is explained here, what is that dāvānala. Nobody goes to set anala, fire, in the forest. I saw dāvānala first in my experience at Nainital Station. Very high hill, and there was fire, blazing fire upon the hill. Nobody went there to set fire, but there was fire. So how that fire takes place, that is explained here, samīra-vega-vidhūta-veṇu-vikarṣaṇam. In the big jungles there are bamboo trees, and they are very densely situated. When there is wind, very forceful, the friction causes fire. So similarly, this material world is compared with this dāvānala. Saṁsāra dāvānala-līḍha-loka **. Nobody wants that there will be trouble. In your country there is another kind of fire that is not dāvānala.
They are so ignorant, especially in this age, they do not believe in these things at all. Very awkward position. So they deride at Vedic principles, nāstik. According to them, bhasmī bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar āgamano bhavet. The body, which is burned down into ashes, what is the meaning of talking about this body, that again it comes and takes birth in a different form of life? Nobody believes these things. And now everything, very precarious condition of this age. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10).
So therefore the process of reviving their Kṛṣṇa consciousness is Kṛṣṇa's. No other process will help. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He was Kṛṣṇa Himself. He advised, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). The only hope is if you go through the śāstras, Vedic literature, that is the way to understand. But at the present moment people are so engrossed with material affairs that they are not interested even to hear or to talk about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is not a very good sign. It is the feverish condition of durbhikṣa.
Prabhupāda: The gross body is finished. Gross body becomes ash, stool, or earth. Those who are burying the gross body, it becomes after sometimes earth. And those who are giving this body to be eaten by other animals, it becomes stool. And those who are burning this body, the body becomes ash. So gross body there are three ultimate goal: either to become ash, or stool, or earth.
Madhudvīṣa: His question was "Is there a time when the subtle body ceases to exist?"
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is liberation. When... So long you are encircled by the subtle body, there is no question of liberation because the subtle body will take you to another gross body. When we are free from the subtle body, then we are liberated. We go back to home, back to Godhead. Yes?
The best type of āhāra-nidra. Even in the human form of life they are also trying for the same thing, as cats and dogs are trying. The cats and dogs, they are also trying to find out where it is, food, where sleeping comfort, where sex life, and where defense. If the human form of life is also utilized for this purpose, pravṛtti-mārga, then it is, as I was talking in the park, it is just like using sandalwood for burning fuel. There is distinction even in wood. There are so many jungle wood, we can use it for cooking. But if the sandalwood, which is so valuable, if we do not know what is the value of sandalwood, if we use it for cooking and burning... Similarly, if we use this human form of life exactly like the cats and dogs, simply for sense gratification, then we are committing suicide.
The whole Vedic civilization means how to utilize this human form of life for better purposes. Even modern scientific point of view. Not scientific, but they say.
This is pravṛtti-mārga. But in the human form of life if we come to senses that "Why I shall accept repetition of birth, death, old age, disease, and so many miserable conditions?" so that is called sense. That is intelligence. That intelligence can be developed in human form of life, and if we do not do, then the same example: just you use the sandalwood for burning purpose.
I may be allowed by the nature's law to stay in that building, but if by my activities I become a rat or cat in that building, then what is the profit? We are under the nature's law. You cannot say that you are independent. Nature's law is very strict. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Nature's law... Just like fire. If you touch fire, it will burn. And even a child who is innocent, if the child touches the fire, it will burn. There is no excuse. You cannot say that "The child is innocent. It does not know the effect of touching fire, so he should be excused." No. Ignorance is no excuse. Especially... That is the state laws. You cannot say... Suppose you have committed some criminal act. If you plead, "My lord, I did not know that the, after doing this act, I had to suffer imprisonment. So you excuse me," no, that will be no excuse. You know or not know the law, if you have acted like that, you must suffer. This is going on.
By law of gravitation, such a big mountain, it cannot stay in one man's finger. That is our calculation. But He did it. That means He counteracted the law of gravitation. That is God. So if you believe this, then you know God immediately. There is no difficulty. Just like if the child is warned, "My dear child, do not touch fire. It will burn you." So if the child accepts, then he gets the perfect knowledge immediately. If the child does not accept, he wants to make experiment, then he will burn his finger.
So our process of knowledge—you should take from the supreme authority. Then we save time for research work. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We take perfect knowledge from Kṛṣṇa. I may be imperfect. Just like child is imperfect, so I may be imperfect, you may be imperfect, but if you take the perfect knowledge from the supreme perfect, then your knowledge is perfect. That is the process. This is called avaroha-panthā, knowledge coming, deductive knowledge.
"My lord, I did not know this law, that committing something criminal like this I would have been punished." So that is no excuse. Ignorance of law is no excuse. Nature's law is so strict. Just like a small child, if a child puts his finger on the fire, the fire will not excuse the child: "Oh, he is an innocent child. He does not know." No. It must burn, never mind it is child. So there is description of different types of punishment in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for different kinds of sinful activities. Therefore, after hearing the description... Parīkṣit Mahārāja is a Vaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava is very sympathetic. If actually there is any welfare worker, that is Vaiṣṇava. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is going on. The Vaiṣṇavas are taking so much, I mean to say, trouble. Just like in Melbourne our, these preachers are being punished regularly. They are taken to the jail, and still they are doing their duty. Still they are going for saṅkīrtana. Just like one side they are violating the so-called laws of the state, they are being punished.
That's all. (laughter) So ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet yāvaj jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet. Live very happily. And then if you say that "I have no money. If I borrow from friends ghee, then I'll have to pay...," because these are the injunctions in the śāstras. But he is atheistic. He says, bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar āgamano bhavet. According to Vedic culture, the body is burned into ashes. So when the body is burned to ashes, who is coming again and paying him back? (laughter) "Don't think about it. Everything is finished." So this is the atheistic nonsense. But actually it is not. If you take real knowledge from Bhagavad-gītā, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), that is real knowledge. After destruction of this body, don't think that you are finished. You live, tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). This is the first instruction. If you want to enter into spiritual life, you must know that you, spirit soul, you are eternal. You don't die; you are not finished. That after the destruction of this body, you accept another body, tathā dehāntara prāptir.
You'll be punishable. It doesn't matter whether you know or not know. Just like fire. This child, if he touches the fire, the fire will not excuse. There is no consideration, "Sir, here is a little child. He does not know this fire is burning." But as soon as he touches, it will burn. This is nature's law. You infect some disease knowingly or unknowingly, it doesn't matter, but the disease will be manifest. Suppose you have infected smallpox infection, contamination. Then it will be manifest.
So this education is lacking now. They are... Everyone is thinking that he's independent, he can do whatever he likes. That is not possible. Then you'll be punished. Nature's law is so strict, stringent. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). You cannot escape the stringent laws of nature. Little discrepancy... Suppose you can eat eight ounce.
So by other processes temporarily it can be ceased, but actually from the root of the cause it is not possible to get it out.
In the previous verse Śukadeva Gosvāmī gave the example that "The dried leaves of creepers beneath a bamboo tree may be completely burned to ashes by a fire, although the creepers may sprout again because the root is still in the ground." You have seen practically. On the field the grass is dried up, and sometimes fire is set and it becomes all burned into ashes. But as soon as there is rainy season, again they sprout and become green. The idea is that you may perform the religious, ritualistic ceremonies, but if your heart is not cleansed, simply by performing these ritualistic ceremonies you'll not be purified. So we have got two desires: pious desire or impious desires. So either you become desirous of doing pious thing or you desirous of doing impious things, the sufferings of this material world will continue.
Just like there is a jungle—so many unwanted creepers—so you set fire. Everything will be burned into ashes and the field will be cleared, cleansed. So it is said: deha-vāg-buddhijaṁ dhīrā dharmajñāḥ śraddhayānvitāḥ. Those who are dhīra... Dhīra and adhīra. Dhīra means sober and adhīra means extravagant. There are two classes of men, dhīra and adhīra. Here Śukadeva Gosvāmī's speaking of the dhīra. Who is dhīra? Dhīra means in spite of provocation, in spite of something present which agitates the mind, one remains, I mean to say, in his position, steady. He's called dhīra.
The dhīra example is given by Kālidāsa Paṇḍita, a great poet in India, Sanskrit poet, long, long ago. He has written one book: Kumāra-sambhava. Kumāra-sambhava. In our college we read that book in Sanskrit class. Kumāra-sambhava.
So because our life is continuously committing sinful activities, from time immemorial... You do not know when it began. Evolution, many births. Therefore this life is meant for rectifying all mistakes that we had committed in our previous life or in this life. How? By this process. Kṣipanty agham. Agham means the resultant action of sinful life. Mahad api. Although it is very great, mahad api, how? Veṇu-gulmam, veṇu-gulmam ivānalaḥ. Just like if you set fire to unwanted grass and creepers in the field. You set fire, and they will be all burned. Similarly, by this process, tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13), you can liquidate all of your sinful activities of life and you become purified.
So the next process, another alternative process is being suggested by Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
Otherwise it is useless. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). It is simply laboring for nothing. So this is the recommended, that treatment. That is also not sufficient. In the last, Śukadeva gives an hint that "This kind of purification, by tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13), is like veṇu-gulmam ivānalaḥ." Veṇu-gulma, veṇu-gulma means the dried creepers and grass. You can set fire. In India or here also—I have seen in London—they set fire, and all the dried creepers and grass become... But what is the purpose of saying veṇu-gulman ivānalaḥ? Veṇu-gulmam ivānalaḥ means that superficially we see that now it is burnt into ashes, but the root remains there. As soon as there will be rain, waterfall, they will come out again. So the whole process is how to become detached from this material world. So this, even if you practice this tapasya, it is not completely able to finish these attachments. Therefore it is said, veṇu-gulmam ivānalaḥ.
So persons who observe the principles of tapasya, austerities; brahmācārya, celibacy; controlling the mind; controlling the senses—these are practiced—this is called yoga system. Then, mahad api agham. Even he is subjected to the resultant action of great sinful life, he can vanquish it. The example is given just like to set fire in the field and all the dry plants and grasses immediately become burned. So by austerity, tapasya, brahmācārya, celibacy, these regulative principles can burn out the sinful reaction, not by the root. The example is given the dry vegetables or plants, they are burned from outside, but the root remains. The root is not burned. And the root remaining within the earth, as soon as there is favorable condition, there is some rain—again they come out. In other words, by tapasya, by austerity, by celibacy one can superficially get out of the sinful reaction, but because it is not rooted out, as soon as there is some opportunity, favorable conditions, again they come out.
You take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness sincerely, seriously, then all the past reaction of your sinful activities will be vanquished. Now there are two kinds of vanquishing: one by setting fire on the dry plants, and the rising of the sun and fog, the fog disappearing. Again in the presence of sun there is no possibility of appearance of fog. That is not possible. But the dry plants burnt out, as soon as there is rainfall, it again comes out.
So by bhakti, by devotional service, one can completely root out the causes of sinful life. Not by otherwise. It is not possible.
A series of practice. Then the brain will be clear. So this process also—not very safe. The example has been given that kṣipanty aghaṁ mahad api veṇu-gulmam ivānalaḥ. It is something like burning, setting fire into the dry grass. And superficially it appears that all the grasses are now burned into ashes; there is no possibility of coming out. No. Therefore this very word is there, iva analaḥ. Although superficially, outside, it appears that everything is burned, but the root remains there. The root remains there, and as soon as there will be facility or there will be rainy season, the same grasses and twigs and other things will come out again, new growth. That is... Even after so much tapasya... There are many instances. Just like Viśvāmitra Muni. Viśvāmitra Muni was a king. He wanted to become a brāhmaṇa, and he practiced mystic yoga for many years. Still, he became a victim of a woman, Menakā.
Nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa. Kṛṣṇa says personally that "I shall protect you." People suffer on account of sinful reaction, ignorance. Out of ignorance, they commit sinful action, and sinful action reacts. Just like a child, ignorant, he touches blazing fire, and it burns the hand, and he suffers. You cannot say that "Child is innocent, and the fire has burned." No. This is nature's law. Ignorance. So sinful activities are done out of ignorance. Therefore one should be in knowledge. Ignorance of law is no excuse. If you go to the court and if you plead, "Sir, I did not know that I have to suffer, I have to go to imprisonment for six months because I have stolen. This was unknown to me..." No. Known or unknown, you must go to the jail.
Therefore the greatest contribution to the human society is knowledge. To keep them in ignorance, in darkness, that is not human society, that is cats' and dogs'... Because they are in ignorance, nobody can give them knowledge, neither they can take. Therefore in the human society there is institution for giving knowledge. That is the greatest contribution. And that knowledge, the supreme knowledge, is there in the Vedas. Vedaiś ca sarvaiḥ.
Well behaved. It is the first word, suśīla. Śīla means character, very nice character. A devotee cannot be bad character. Because Kṛṣṇa is paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitram (BG 10.12)—pavitra means pure—so impure cannot approach Him. That is not possible. If you want to enter fire, you must be fire. And if you are not fire, then you will burn. So first of all we have to revive, because Kṛṣṇa... The example is given that Kṛṣṇa is the big fire and we are sparks of fire. We are also fire, very small. The sparks of fire can play, can remain within fire, and it is beautiful: "Phat! Phat!" There is spark. You have seen while fire is going on. It is very beautiful. And as soon as this "Phat! Phat!" falls down, separate from the..., it is extinguished. No more fire. It is black charcoal, that's all. So if we want happiness, then we have to dance with Kṛṣṇa. But you cannot dance Kṛṣṇa if I am not pure. Kṛṣṇa is pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān. Pavitra means the supreme pure. If you want to take pleasure in the company of Kṛṣṇa and dance rasa dance, then you have to become pure, purified.
A drug, there is some active principle. So similarly, in this body, my body, your body, or any body, what is the active principle? The active principle is that living soul. As soon as the active principle is gone, then it is useless. "Dust thou art, dust thou be-est." Then this body is made of this earth, and it again becomes earth. Either as stool or as earth or as ashes. These are the our experience. Just like Hindus, they burn this body. So this body become ashes. And there are communities, they throw out the body for being eaten up by birds and beasts. So it becomes stool. Because after eating they will pass stool. So the aftereffects of this beautiful body will be stool or ashes. We are now soaping so nicely, dressing so nicely this body, but the (laughs) aftereffects will be stool or ashes. Or earth. In your country you bury the body. So after few days it will be moth-eaten, and it will be turned into earth.
In the temple generally ordinary man, woman, they come to see the Deities, hear the chanting, and sometimes play some instrument. All these help him progressing toward devotional service. Niveśitaṁ tad-guṇa-rāgī yair iha. Śrīdhara Svami says, bhaktiḥ svalpāpi punāti: "Bhakti, devotional service, is so nice that even it is done very little, still it purifies." Just like fire. Even a small fire can burn wherever it is placed. Tasya guṇeṣu rāga-mātram asti na tu janānām. Śrīdhāra Svāmī says, "Simply a little attraction for Kṛṣṇa, not full knowledge even, simply a little attraction, can purify one from all sinful reaction."
Nature's law is so perfect that the law you... Just like infection. I have several times explained. You infect some disease, the disease will come out. Not that somebody will come to award you the disease. By nature's way, it will come out. If you say that "Somebody will come," no. The nature's law is so perfect. Just like if you touch fire, immediately it will burn, not that you have to wait. Similarly, nature's law. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). As you are associating with different modes of material nature, you are creating your future.
So there is future life. You should take it. You should try to understand it. It is not very difficult, but by the modern education we have become so dull-headed, we cannot understand the simple truth that we have to change this body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). So this is a fact. You take it. So we must have the next life at least without any danger. Not to go to the hellish planet. At least remain in this planet.
What the other planets have done? It is made of the same ingredient, five elements, earth, water, air, fire, and we find innumerable living entities within this planet, and why other planets made of the same ingredient and there is vacant? Why? This is not scientific knowledge. The other planets are also filled up with living entities. Even in the sun planet. We cannot think... The sun planet is made of fire. How living entities can live there? Yes. Why not? You have to little consider about your rascal senses. What is the fault in the sun planet that there shall be no life? The five elements means earth, water, fire, air, ether. So fire is as good as the earth, one of the elements. Earth, water, fire, air, ether or sky. So we are experiencing that on earth, on the land, there are so many lives. And in the water there are so many lives. In the air there are so many lives. And why not in the fire? What is the reason? You have got some concocted ideas that in fire, nobody can live there. But Bhagavad-gītā says, "No, you can live there." There is a verse—I now forget—that "Fire cannot burn it." Can anyone recite that verse?
Adāhyo 'yam. Adāhyo 'yam. This is the nature of the soul, adāhya. Aśoṣyo 'yam, aśoṣyo 'yam. The, that is the distinction between the soul and the matter. Matter, any matter you take, earth, earthly matter, even the hardest matter, namely the iron, it can be melted, it can be burned. But the soul is distinct from this matter. Therefore it is described, adāhyo 'yam. Any material thing can be dried up by the air. But soul, aśoṣyo 'yam: "It is not dried up." Any material thing can be moistened. So the soul cannot be. In this way every particular there is. So in the fire the soul cannot be adāhyo 'yam, it cannot be burned. And we get information, as there are worms in everything, earth, water, fire... In the fire there are worms. They are called agni-po(?). Where is the scientist? But we get this information from the śāstra. Agni-po(?), worms within the fire. And Kṛṣṇa says, above all—this is also Kṛṣṇa's statement—imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). There is kingdom. There is city. There is population.
One transformation is ash. Another transformation is stool. Another transformation is earth. There are three different types of transformations. Just like Christian people, they bury the body. So, in due course of time you'll find, say, after ten years, twenty, your body's finished. It is now earth. The body has become earth. And Hindus, they burn it, so the body becomes ash. And the Parsees, they throw the body to be eaten by the vultures. It becomes stool. That is the last, how would you say, transformation of this body. And we are so much busy about this ash, stool, and earth. Just see how foolish we are.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca. Just like motorcar, with driver or no driver, what is it? It is dead matter. That's all. Why one should be busy about this motorcar? One should be busy about the driver, whether he's (indistinct) nicely, whether he's eating nicely, he'll drive. If you don't take care of the driver, simply you wash the car, what is the use? The car will not be moving without driver.
Material means when the consciousness is not Kṛṣṇa. That is material. The same example, that iron rod, if kept to the fire, gradually it becomes warm, warmer, and at last it becomes red. When it is red, it is no longer iron; it is fire. Similarly, by spiritual association, your body gradually becomes spiritualized. And at the perfection stage, there is no more material activities, simply the activities of the fire. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- māṁ cāvyabhicāriṇi-
- bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate
- sa guṇān samatītyaitān
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- (BG 14.26)
The whole body becomes supplemented with Brahman effulgence. It is not for everyone, and those who are very, very much spiritually advanced, their body becomes like that. Therefore a Vaiṣṇava ācārya's body is never burned. It is entombed. They worship the body. But that is spiritual body.
Prabhupāda: That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- māṁ cāvyabhicāriṇi-
- bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate
- sa guṇān samatītyaitān
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- (BG 14.26)
The whole body becomes supplemented with Brahman effulgence. It is not for everyone, and those who are very, very much spiritually advanced, their body becomes like that. Therefore a Vaiṣṇava ācārya's body is never burned. It is entombed. They worship the body. But that is spiritual body.
Devotee (2): It is never burned?
Prabhupāda: No. (end)
Everyone commits sin or criminal activities simply by ignorance. Ignorance. Just like by ignorance a child touches a fire. The fire will not excuse. Because it is a child, he does not know, therefore the fire excuses? It does not burn his hand? No. Even it is child, the fire must act. It burns. Similarly, ignorance is no excuse of law. If you commit some sin and go to the law court and if you plead, "Sir, I did not know this law," that is no excuse. You have committed this criminal activity; even though you did not know the law, that does not mean you will be excused.
Therefore all sinful activities are done in ignorance or in mixed-up passion and ignorance. Therefore one has to raise himself to the quality of goodness. He must be good, very good man. And if you want to become very good man, then you have to follow these regulative principles: no illicit sex life, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. These are the four pillars of sinful life.
So you engage yourself in the routine devotional service of Kṛṣṇa. Either understanding or not understanding, your life will be successful. Just like if you touch fire, understanding or not understanding, it will burn. Similarly, take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is nothing blindly accepting. Everything is explained in the śāstra, preliminary knowledge in Bhagavad-gītā, further explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So utilize your human life in understanding Kṛṣṇa, and then your life will be successful.
If the screw remains with the machine, then it has got value. And if the screw remains without the machine, it has no value. Who cares for a small screw? But when that screw is wanting in a machine, you go to purchase—they will charge five dollars. Why? When it is fixed up with the machine, it has got value. There are so many example. Just like sparks of the fire. When the fire is burning, you will find small particle of spark, "Fut! Fut!" with this. It is very beautiful. It is very beautiful because it is with the fire. And as soon as the spark falls down out of the fire, then it has no value. Nobody cares for that. It is finished. Similarly, so long we are with Kṛṣṇa, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we have got value. And as soon as we are out of Kṛṣṇa touch, then we have no value. We should understand that.
So necchan karmāṇi kāryate. And as soon as you act, immediately the reaction is there. That you cannot avoid. If you have touched fire, it must burn. The action is touching fire, and the result is burning. So necchan. We do not know. We are ignorance. We are committing so many abominable things, and we are becoming entangled like that silkworm. He is making a bag without knowledge, and gradually he becomes entangled within this and dies. That is our position. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). We entangle ourself in a different activities and create another result, and according to the result... Because it is infection... Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. We are getting different types of body. Why? The cause, kāraṇaṁ, guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22).
So here the example is that Ajāmila, although he had forgotten Nārāyaṇa, but on account of his chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa, although he meant his son, it was effective. We have to understand like this. Somehow or other, if you chant the holy name of the Lord, knowingly or unknowingly, it will have its effect. Just like you touch fire knowingly or unknowingly, it will burn; similarly, if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra knowingly or unknowingly, it will be effective on your life. Therefore we see it practically that in the Western countries, although they did not know who is Nārāyaṇa or Kṛṣṇa... It is dictionary, the English dictionary, there is statement, "Kṛṣṇa is the name of Hindu god." So, but nobody is consulting dictionary for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. But the śāstra says that somehow or other, if you chant the holy name of God, then you gradually become purified.
What is that test? Patita. When you fall down from a high place... Suppose from the roof you may fall down, patitaṁ. Skhalita: you may slip and fall down. Bhagnaḥ: by falling down you may break your bones. Then sandaṣṭaḥ: you may be bitten by some animal—cats, dogs, a snake. There are so many, domestic. Then tapta: you may be burned. And āhataḥ: you may be injured from others. Then during this time you can test, practical. What is that test? Harir ity avaśena aha. Try to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Pumān. If anyone does so, na arhati yātanāḥ. You'll immediately feel that from the injuries you are not feeling pain. This is practical seen. Even a snake bite... You may be saved. The author says, never says, that you may be saved from death, but the suggestion is that you may not feel much pain. This is practical.
Just like killing of some animal is sinful activities. But even if we do not willingly kill some animal, when we are walking on the street, we are killing so many animals. When we are drinking water, in the, below the waterpot there are so many ants and microbes, they are being killed. When we ignite fire, there are so many small microbes, they also become burned into the fire. When you rub the pestle and mortar for rubbing spices, so many small microbes are killed. So we are responsible for that. Therefore, willingly or unwillingly, we are becoming entangled in so many sinful activities. Therefore the Bhagavad-gītā says, yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. If you take the remnants of foodstuff of yajña, after offering yajña, then you become free from all contamination. Otherwise, bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt: (BG 3.13) "One who is cooking for eating personally without offering to Kṛṣṇa, he is simply all sinful resultant action." This is our position.
Prabhupāda: No. We have got information—even in the fire there are living entities. Why? Because, in the Bhagavad-gītā you will find. The constitutional position of the living entity is that it does not become burned. So how you can say that in the fire? What is the verse? No, no. In the second chapter there is the description of the living entity, you find. The living entity... Find out.
Harikeśa: Acchedyo?
Prabhupāda: Huh? Acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam. Find it.
Harikeśa:
- acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam
- akledyo 'śoṣya eva ca
- nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur
- acalo'yam sanātanaḥ
"This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluable and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same."
Prabhupāda: So if he is all-pervading and if he is unburnable, then how it is possible that in the fire he does not exist? It cannot be burned, and it is everywhere. Sarva-ga. And we find also when we go on the sea beach—within the sand there is life. Now it is up to you to accept the authority of Bhagavad-gītā or authority of the Americans. That is your... We follow the authorities of Bhagavad-gītā. Adāhyo 'yam: "It cannot be burned." And from reason also, there is... In the water there are living entities; in the air there are living entities; in the earth there are living entities. So the material elements are five: earth, water, fire, air and sky. So if everywhere there is living entities, fire is also one of the material elements. Why not in the fire? What is the reason? And Bhagavad-gītā says, adāhyo 'yam: "It is never burned." So why do you think like that, that in the fire there is no living entity?
The same example, that the iron rod put into the fire, it becomes red hot, so it is no longer iron; it is fire. Similarly, if we constantly keep ourself in touch with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the body is no longer material; it is spiritual. Therefore a spiritual body is not burned. They are kept, samādhi. Just like in Western countries they give samādhi to any, everyone, tomb, entombing. In India the tomb is offered to a very advanced spiritually person. You'll find many tombs in Vṛndāvana because their body is spiritual. No, no... This is the idea.
So there are so many things to be done for cultivating spiritual life in the human form of life. So Prahlāda Mahārāja is giving account that "Fifty years in sleeping and twenty years in playing and twenty years in old age and ten years, simply being absorbed, 'What to do?'—then life is spoiled." Don't do this. Don't do this. You have got the... There is a Bengali song, pāyecha manava janma, emona janam āra pabe na(?):
These two, very dangerous position, nirviśeṣa. The Buddhists, they say there is no God, śūnyavādi. "Everything, at the end, everything is zero. You have got this body. When this body is finished, then everything becomes zero." Because they do not believe in the soul, not in God. There are many nāstik. Vasu bhūta sa dehasya kuta pūrna... bhavet: "The body, I see it is burnt into ashes. Where is life? There is no life. There is no soul." So this is bauddhya-vāda, śūnyavāda—everything becomes zero. And the vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda, the Māyāvādīs, they do not say there is no God, because in the Vedas there is God. So they do not say directly, but they say, "Yes, there is God, but He has no head, no leg, no hand. He cannot talk, He cannot eat." Then what remains? He is making zero, God, zero, by negative definition—"He has no head, He has no... And he has no leg." So both of them are zero, advocate of zero. But one directly says, "No, there is no God. Everything is zero." And these Māyāvādīs, nirviśeṣa-vādi, they say the same thing—zero—but in a different way.
So I have seen in my own eyes there was fighting between the Hindus and Muslims for at least one week in Calcutta, and heaps of dead bodies there were. So the fighting was between Hindu and Muslim, but when they died the body is piled up and it was taken for burning or to throw away. So the land remained there and these people fighting between themselves, that "This is mine, this is mine," they finished their life. The land remained where it was there.
So this is called illusion. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8), "It is mine, it is yours." Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Why they should think like that? Bhagavān, in the Bhagavad-gītā He says that sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ: (BG 14.4) "All the forms of different grades of life," sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yaḥ tāsāṁ mahad yonir, "the material world is the mother and I am the father."
As such they think that in other planets, where the atmosphere is different, they think there is no life, because they do not know that life means presence of the ātmā, and the ātmā, the soul, can live in any condition of material existence, any condition. Even in fire the ātmā can live because according to the information we receive from Bhagavad-gītā, the ātmā is never burned even in the fire. It is never moistened in the water. It cannot be cut into pieces. These things are there. This material body can be cut into pieces, it can be burned, it can be wetted in water, but ātmā, spirit soul, is different from this body.
The material scientists, they have no information of ātmā. Therefore they think that in the moon planet there is no life, in the sun planet there is no life. Simply... This is kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Dr. Frog PhD., he's thinking in his own way. Dr. Frog thinks that this three feet dimension of the well is all in all, there cannot be anything.
Why? The seed is there. Sometimes in India they set fire because it is very hot climate, so when there is no rainy season and by..., the sun is always bright there, so all these small plants, except big trees, they become dried up, and the cultivators, they set fire, and it becomes manure. But what is the fire? In the fire the outer portion is burned, but the seed is there. The next rainy season, again they awaken. Again there is, again green, again dry, again set fire, again green. Why? Now, seed is there. Seed is there. What is that seed? Bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ. You are trying to practice yoga, but you do not know how to crush the seed of material life. That is... This is bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The more you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, that seed, that material... What is that material seed? The material seed that "I want to lord it over everything, all resources." This is struggle. Everyone is trying. What is economic development or, what is called, the exact technical word? In a country... Undeveloped. Undeveloped country, and to develop.
So if you have to approach the supreme pure, you have to become pure. Otherwise there is no possibility. Without being fire, you cannot enter into the fire. Then you'll be burned. Similarly, although you are also Brahman... Part of Para-brahman is also Brahman. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. This is our identification. But what kind of Brahman? But minute particle of Brahman, small particle. Just like spark and the whole fire. Both of them are fire, but spark is spark, and the big fire is big fire. So the spark cannot become big fire. If he wants to become so, then he falls down. Then whatever little light was there, fire, it becomes extinguished. If the spark out of impudency wants to try to become the big fire, then he falls down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Āruhya kṛcchreṇa, by severe austerities and penances you can rise up to the impersonal Brahman, but you'll fall down again. That is the fact.
They have no information. Big, big professor, they say that this body finished... "Body finished" means pañcatva (?) prāpta. They do not know that there is another body, subtle body—mind, intelligence, ego. They do not know. They are thinking this earth, water, air, fire, ether, that much..., "This is finished, I see, either you burn the body or bury the body, finished, everything finished. And where is other thing?" So they have no knowledge. So they have no knowledge even of the subtle body, earth, water, which carries the soul, and what they'll know about the soul?
So Kṛṣṇa gives information in the Bhagavad-gītā, apareyam: "These elements, even up to mind, intelligence, ego, bhinnā, they are My separated energy, separated energy. And," apareyam, "this is inferior. And there is another, superior nature." Apareyam itas tv viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā. Parā means superior. Now, they may be asking, "What is that?
"My dear Lord, I think a śvapacam, śvapacaṁ variṣṭham..." Śvapaca means... Śvapacaṁ variṣṭham. Śvapaca. Śva means dog, and pacati, one who cooks dog. That means for eating purpose. They are called caṇḍālas, dog-eaters. In India still, in the Assam side, there are still dog-eaters. They enjoy kukurrpita. Kukurrpita. They make a kind of cake by burning a dog. So they are called śvapaca. Śvapaca means dog-eaters. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, viprād dvi-ṣaḍ-guṇa-yutāt. Viprād dvi-ṣaḍ-guṇa-yutād aravinda-nābha pādāravinda-vimukhāt. A brāhmaṇa who has got full qualification, twelve qualification, satya-śamo-damas-titikṣa ārjavaṁ kṣanti, jñāna-vijñānam āstikyam... Brāhmaṇa means very qualified, a first-class man, all qualified. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that "If a brāhmaṇa, even though he is qualified with all the twelve qualities, but if he is not a devotee, then I think a caṇḍāla who is born of a family of dog-eaters, if he is devotee, he is variṣṭham. He is glorious.
Dama. Dama means controlling the senses. Śamo damas tapaḥ, austerity. Tapa means... Tapa means from tapa, heat. Just like this heat is not tolerable. I require the fan. So tapa means to accept voluntarily some physical trouble. That is called tapa. There are many sages who, in, during summer, they will burn fire all sides and meditate. There is already high temperature, 112 degrees in India. Sometimes 180 degree, and still they have fire all sides, all sides. Yes. And they are meditating, not disturbed. So this is called voluntarily tapa. And in winter season, when the temperature is forty degrees, fifty degrees, is of course, not below zero, anyway, he goes to the water and dip into the water simply keeping the mouth up and meditating. So there are some severe processes for tapasya. So this is one of the good qualities.
And one day he prepared sweet rice and offered Kṛṣṇa, and he wanted to see whether rice is..., because sweet rice, very hot, is not good. Sweet rice, the more it is cooler, then it is tasteful. But milk, if you take cool, that is not tasteful. Milk you have to take hot, but not the sweet rice. So he wanted to test whether it is too hot. So his finger burned, and then his meditation broke. He saw there is no rice but finger is burned. In this way the brāhmaṇa was immediately taken to Vaikuṇṭha.
So Kṛṣṇa can be offered in any circumstances. Kṛṣṇa can be pleased, provided you want to please Kṛṣṇa, provided you want to serve Kṛṣṇa. There is no question of... That is already explained, that dana jana, riches or learning or respectability, all these things cannot satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa wants only your heart—"Kṛṣṇa, You are my eternal master. I am Your eternal servant. Please engage me in Your service."
Dayānanda: "O the great Supreme, in every type of body, either in the heavenly planet or in the hellish planet, there are pleasing and not pleasing circumstances on account of combination and separation. But both of them are very, very regrettable position, as if burning in the fire. Although there are many remedial measures to get out of the miserable condition of life, but in the material world any such counteraction is more miserable than the miserable condition itself. The only remedial measure, I think, therefore, is to be engaged in Your service. Kindly instruct me in that way."
Prabhupāda:
- yasmāt priya apriya-viyoga-saṁyoga-janma-
- śokāgninā sakala-yoniṣu dahyamānaḥ
- duḥkhauṣadhaṁ tad api duḥkham atad-dhiyāhaṁ
- bhūman bhramāmi vada me tava dāsya-yogam
- (SB 7.9.16)
Prahlāda Mahārāja, previous verse, he said, "I am very much afraid of this material existential condition, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Now he's describing what is the different phases of such suffering yasmāt, on account of this material existence. When we come to this material world there are connection with so many persons. Bhūtāpta-pitṛṇām, nṛṇām. As soon as we come down from the womb of the mother, there are so many relatives, friends, bhūta-āpta, pitṛ, bhūtāpta bhūtāpta, ṛṣi, pitṛṇām nṛṇām. We become connected. But some of them are dear and some of them are not very friendly—enemies.
So God is one, and His energy is also one, and there is no separation of energy from the energetic. Just like fire and heat. Heat cannot be separated from fire. But still, heat is not fire. I may be heated by high temperature, but if there is fire, then I will be burned—different action—although both of them are the same, heat and fire. Therefore the conclusion should be sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat parasya brahmaṇaḥ śakti. Parasya. Parasya means "of the Supreme Brahman." Supreme Brahman is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And Arjuna also accepts Kṛṣṇa as Para-brahman. So everything is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā: (BG 9.4) "I am spread all over the creation.' Avyakta-mūrtinā. But you cannot see Kṛṣṇa. Here we know there is air, there is ether, there is light, there is heat—everything is here. We can see it, experience it, but avyakta-mūrtinā—Kṛṣṇa is invisible, imperson. That is the difference between person and imperson.
That is not all gold, but there is gold, covered. So in two meanings, the mayāt-pratyaya is there. So similarly, cinmaya. Cinmaya means if you cultivate spiritual knowledge in large quantity, then your body is no more material. It is spiritualized. Cinmaya. Therefore great saintly person's body, after demise it is not burned; it is buried, samādhi, because it is cinmaya. So adikārthe mayāt-pratyaya and vikārārthe... So a Vaiṣṇava, his body is cinmaya, is cinmaya body.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that "My body is in large quantity this rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So it is not possible for me to approach You, My Lord. Because You are śuddha-sattva and I am in the material contamination, how it is possible that You shall touch my head? It is simply Your causeless mercy." This is appreciation. "Otherwise how it is possible? You cannot touch this nasty quality of rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. My body is made by my father and mother. They belong to the nasty rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa quality.
Therefore the three principal deities—Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara—are there, guṇa-avatāra. He is not within the guṇa; therefore He expands Himself as guṇāvatāra: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. But He's turya of the guṇas. Just like if we enter into the fire, we'll be burned, but sometimes the fire brigade men, they enter into the fire... They have got suit and contradictory dress that they can enter into the fire. Similarly, māyā... Māyā is very strong, but Kṛṣṇa, the Lord, when He comes within this material world—yuge yuge sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6)—He comes in His own original turya status. He does not become affected. Guṇāṁś ca yuṅkṣe. He's not affected. This is the position of Kṛṣṇa. He's always transcendental. Na me karma-phale spṛhā. Na māṁ limpanti karma... Karmāṇi. Yes. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). This is position.
So here if we do something against the moral principles, we are liable to be punished. But Kṛṣṇa, about Kṛṣṇa it is stated in the Īśopaniṣad, apāpa-viddham. You know this. Apāpa-viddham. (aside:) Who is that? He does not become affected by any pāpa, apāpa-viddham. That is His nature. Etad īśanam īśasya. Just like we go into the fire—we become burned into ashes. But there are some others, not... We cannot see, but if Kṛṣṇa enters... Yes, there are many. Just like in the forest fire all the Vṛndāvana inhabitants they became very much afraid of the forest fire, Vṛndāvana, the cows and the cowherd boys and inhabitants. But they had no other means how to stop. They began to pray to Kṛṣṇa, "Kṛṣṇa, save us." So Kṛṣṇa swallowed up the fire. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourself. So this difference of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's greatness we can see when we have purified ourself, tīvra-tapasā pariśuddha-bhāvaḥ. Then it is possible. That is... The whole bhakti system means tīvra-tapasā pariśuddha-bhāvaḥ.
So unfortunately, we are forgetting our Vedic culture and we are very much puffed up as if we are advancing. This is not advancement. We learn many industrial houses, commercial houses, they have contributed enough lumps of money to the war fund, defense fund. What for? To burn the money in gunpowder, that's all. But they are not prepared to burn the money in sacrifice. So you have to meet all these calamities more and more. This is the fact. You cannot avoid. The law of nature, the law of God is there. You may deny the existence of God, but the God's agency, Durgā-devi, Candi, is there. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). Durgā, the Goddess Durgā, the material energy, she is working under the direction of Kṛṣṇa.
| Page Title: | Burn (Lectures, SB) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 03 of Aug, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=136, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 136 |