Nalinīkaṇṭha: Next one?
Prabhupāda: No, no, this verse.
Nalinīkaṇṭha:
- sukham aindriyakam daityā
- deha-yogena dehinām
- sarvatra labhyate daivād
- yataḥ duḥkham ayatnataḥ
Prabhupāda: Hmm. Now translation and purport, read.
Nalinīkaṇṭha: We just read that. Read again?
Prabhupāda: The purport you have read?
Nalinīkaṇṭha: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Oh, then next verse.
Nalinīkaṇṭha: No, I haven't read the purport.
Prabhupāda: Oh, purport read.
Nalinīkaṇṭha: "In the material world in any form of life there is some so-called happiness and so-called distress. No one invites distress in order to suffer, but still it comes. Similarly, even if we do not endeavor to obtain the advantages of material happiness, we shall obtain them automatically. This happiness and distress are obtainable in any form of life without endeavor. Thus there is no need to waste time and energy fighting against distress or working very hard for happiness. Our only business in the human form of life should be to revive our relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus become qualified to return home, back to Godhead. Material happiness and distress come as soon as we accept a material body, regardless of what form. We cannot avoid such happiness and distress under any circumstances. The best use of human form of life, therefore, lies in reviving our relationship with the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu."
Prabhupāda: So, is there any question about this statement?
Arnold Weiss: Yes. What originally caused us to lose our relationship with Lord Kṛṣṇa? I understand it is due to our desires, but how is this desire manifest?
Prabhupāda: Relationship is not lost. Just like you... Either you are in the prison house or you are in the kingdom of the state, your relationship with government is there. It does not mean that when you are put into the prison house to suffer, it does not mean you have lost relationship, is it that?
Arnold Weiss: Yes, but why are we in the prison house?
Prabhupāda: This is the cause: because you are criminal, you are put into the prison house, but the relationship continues.
Arnold Weiss: What have we done to make ourselves criminals?
Prabhupāda: What you have done, you are put into prison?
Arnold Weiss: No, but what have we done to make ourselves criminals? What criminal acts have we performed?
Prabhupāda: That you might have forgotten. Because your nature is to forget, you cannot immediately remember what you are doing exactly this time yesterday. That is your... You have forgotten, but suppose you, without any knowledge, you do something criminal. So you must be punished. You may not know. You cannot say in the court that "I did not know by committing this act I'll be punished." So you know or not know. You have done it; you must be punished. You may not know what you have done, but that does not mean you can avoid punishment.
Arnold Weiss: I understand that. It sounds reasonable to me. When we do this act for which we are punished, is it done in this life or done in some prior life?
Prabhupāda: This life or prior life, because you are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). You are eternal.
Arnold Weiss: Would the prior life have to be an animal life?
Prabhupāda: Yes, might be.
Arnold Weiss: Or could the prior life also be human life?
Prabhupāda: No, not necessarily. There are 8,400,000 different forms of life, and you are one of them now, as you, as soul, you are the same; the body is changed. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said in the Second Chapter that "Arjuna, you, Me and all these persons who are assembled here, they existed in their previous lives, they are now existing, and they'll continue to exist." So our life is eternal. That is the first instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This living entity, soul, is never born, neither he dies. It is simply change of body. Just like you just took this sweater. That means you are there, and you may give up the sweater again. So your body is changing like dress, but you are the same. So your... In previous... Just like now we are elderly gentleman, but we were a child. That's a fact. At that time the body was different. You are a young man; the body was different. And again you'll become old man like me, your body will be different. So in this life also we are experiencing going through different types of body. Similarly, after giving up this body, I'll have another body. Where is the difficulty to understand? Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati.