Just like amongst the birds and beasts there is no economic problem. The birds rise in the morning, and they chirp between themselves, and after a few hours or minutes they go away, and they get their food. Similarly, the animals also, they also go. Even in the jungle, they get their food. The birds and beasts, they have got their home. The bird lives on the top of the tree very comfortably at night without any disturbance. Similarly, the beast... Even in the jungle there are elephants, there are tigers, there are so many others. They have got their some place to rest. So far sex is concerned, that is also guaranteed. The birds, when they are in the eggs, there are two eggs, one male, one female. And you will find these birds, beasts, they are in pair. Just about two months before, when I was in Māyāpura, the two snakes, not very big, small, were found in the lavatory, and they were also two, in pair. That means this pair in birds and beasts, in animals, in snakes, they are found. The tiger, the elephant, there are two. So there is no scarcity of sex also. And so far defense is concerned, everyone is provided with nails, jaws, and wings, and everything. According to their capacity, they can defend also. So in this way, so far our four necessities of life required, it is already arranged by the laws of nature. So we, means the living entity, or the soul, we are wandering throughout the whole universe in different types of bodies. And because we are part and parcel of God, our four necessities of life, namely the food, shelter, sex and defense, that is already provided. So for these four things we need not work very hard. Because they are available even in the animal life, birds life, beasts life, lower form of life, and why not in human life?
Elephant (SB Lectures)
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So God supplies immense bread or eatable things without any asking. In a African jungle there are hundreds, thousands of elephants. They eat, at a time, huge quantity of food. But still, they are supplied by God. Actually, even from practical point of view—I have traveled all over the world—there are immense place. We can produce foodstuff for supplying food, ten times of the whole world population. So therefore there is no need of approaching God with a motive for material supplies or material satisfaction.
In the Vedic literature we get information, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām, eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). God, the description of God, is given there that "He is also living entity like us. He is also eternal like us." Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. But what is the difference between Him and us? That is described, eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān: "That one God is supplying all the necessities of these many." So we should not approach God for economic satisfaction or for bread or for wood or for anything necessary for our life. God has arranged food for everyone, the aquatics, the birds, the beasts, the trees, the elephants or the other, four-legged animals, and why not for human being?
Janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1). All this material world, they are undergoing the same process. Janma, sustenance, and end. Everything. This universe also is like that, everything, even the ant's body or my body, your body, elephant's body, or there are many demigod's body. Just like we have learned from Bhagavad-gītā, Brahmā's body, it keeps for millions and millions of years. One day we cannot calculate.
So there are different types of bodies within this material world. We can compare.
So you have got a particular type of body. You have been given the chance of particular standard of living. Similarly, in India or in Africa or in other country, the living entity has got a particular type of body and his particular type of standard of living is also there. A tiger has got a particular type of body, it has got his own standard of living. Elephant has got a particular type of body, and it has got its standard of living. Similarly, there are higher beings also, in the higher planetary system. They are called Svargaloka, Janaloka, Maharloka, Tapoloka, Brahmaloka. In the Brahmaloka the duration of life is so long that you cannot imagine even calculating twelve hours' time there.
According to the Vedic culture, a learned brāhmaṇa, very gentle, sober, learned brāhmaṇa... Whoever is learned, he must be gentle and sober. Vidyā dadāti namratā. That is the test of education. Demonic life is not education. A learned man means he must be sama-darśinaḥ. There are different types of living entities, and the learned brāhmaṇa is considered to be the topmost. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi (BG 5.18), a cow, hasti, an elephant, śuni, the dog, śva-pāka, caṇḍāla, dog-eater. There are different varieties of living entities, but one who is paṇḍita, learned, he sees everyone on the same level.
Out of them, mostly seventy-five percent are uncivilized, maybe twenty-five percent civilized. So except these so-called civilized twenty-five percent human being, other living entities have no problem for eating, sleeping, mating. We have created. Because we are so-called civilized, we have created the problems for eating, sleeping, mating. Otherwise there is already arrangement for everyone by God. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. In Africa there are thousands of thousands of elephants. They are eating at a time fifty kilos of foodstuff. But they are eating; God is supplying. They are also living. They have got sleeping accommodation. They have got mating arrangements.
You must first of all know what you are, what is God, what is your relationship with God. And when it is perfectly understood, then there is the possibility of samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18).
- vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
- brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
- śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
- paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
- (BG 5.18)
Paṇḍitāḥ, one who is actually learned, he sees everyone on the equal level. Who are they? Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe. A brāhmaṇa who is very learned and very gentle, vidyā-vinaya. Education means one is very gentle and learned. Vidyā-vinaya sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi, a cow; hastini, an elephant; śunice, a dog; śva-pāke, a dog-eater, caṇḍāla.
Now this life, this human form of life is especially meant for enquiring about the absolute truth. In animal life we cannot do. There are big, big animals, tigers and lions and elephants and big, big trees also, they are also living entities. Big, big whale fish within the ocean, very gigantic. Big, big mountains, mountains, they have got also life. But they cannot enquire about God, that is not possible. You can enquire about God in this human form of life, that's all.
We flatter somebody here, having a say, a few millions of dollars, we flatter, and who is the richest of all, we should not love Him? Why? What is the reason? And actually He is supplying everything, eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He is supplying all necessities of life to all living entities, beginning from the ant to the elephant. So why not to us? We have dedicated our whole life for the service of God, so God is giving food to the ant, to the elephant, why not to us? So don't think that you will starve in God consciousness. You will never starve. You go on with your duty, loving God and preaching love of God. You will always be opulent, be sure.
So the scientist, they are finding out so many miracles within the atom, but here Vedic information is that within the atom there is God. Find out God. Without God, without the spirit, nothing material can develop. Just like we have got experience, just like father and mother, they unite, there is secretion in the womb. But if there is the spiritual spark... (break) ...becomes pregnant. If the spiritual spark is not there, you can have sex life hundreds and thousands of, but... Therefore the theory, the fact not theory, that unless a spiritual spark enters into the matter, the matter cannot develop. At least we can experience that as soon as the spiritual spark is out of the lump of matter, big elephant, it is dead, finished.
So actually, there is no scarcity of food. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. God is so kind. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He is feeding many, many millions and trillions of living entities. In Africa there are millions of elephants. Who is feeding them? Kṛṣṇa is feeding them. So these economic questions, overpopulation question, these are not actually problems. Problem is scarcity of God consciousness. This is the problem. Therefore we are suffering.
You may think that "We are Americans, we have got enough money, vast land, resources, I shall live as American." But you can live as American, say for fifty years. You'll not be allowed to live as American or as Indian or this or that. Even as Brahmā you will be not allowed. Brahmā has got his one day millions of years. He will also not be allowed. The ant will not be allowed, a cat will not be allowed, an elephant will not be allowed, a man will not be allowed, a demigod will not be allowed—to live forever. Hiraṇyakaśipu tried to live forever. He underwent severe penances to become immortal. It was not possible. That is not. Of course, the lunatic scientist says that "By scientific advancement we shall become immortal." They are lunatic. It is not possible. Because in the past there is no such incident, so in the present there is no such incident, how you can expect in the future such incident? That is not possible.
This is ignorance. It is a very good example of foolishness. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa has provided everything. Kṛṣṇa is giving food to the elephant. In Africa, there are millions of elephants, and each elephant is eating at least eighty-two pounds at a time. But who is supplying the food? They have no economic problem. They have no bank balance. How they are eating? This is to be studied. This is called nature's study. So why you are so much busy for fulfilling the belly with a little two cāpāṭis? If the elephant can get so much food at a time, can I not get two, two cāpāṭis or four cāpāṭis? I can get also. But there is no confidence. He's thinking that "Unless I work very, very hard, I cannot live." The more a man is civilized, he's thinking like that. They accuse us, these Kṛṣṇa conscious people, that "They are escaping.
I was giving the example while coming. Who was there? That this ass... Ass, one ass was going. So the ass, he can eat grass anywhere. There are so many grasses. But he's thinking that "Unless I work very hard, the washerman will not give me grass." You see? This is ass intelligence. Everything is there. Why ass? There are elephants. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They're eating at the, at one time, at least eighty-two pounds, but they are supplied food.
So those who are anxious to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of imperfect knowledge, this is right conclusion. If your senses are imperfect, whatever your knowledge may be, that is imperfect, because you are gathering knowledge from..., by imperfect senses. You know the story of studying..., blind man studying an elephant. So blind man is going, somebody is catching the leg. So they, "Oh, elephant is just like a pillar, a column." And somebody is studying the tail, somebody is studying the trunk. So different knowledge, because they have no eyes. And one who sees the elephant as it is, he can understand that elephant is neither column, nor a trunk, nor this; he is a complete body. Similarly, those who are trying to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of blind knowledge, they come to the understanding of impersonal Brahman, brahmeti. That is also truth, just like you touch the elephant, a blind man touching the elephant, but because he hasn't got eyes he is concluding that elephant is like, just like a column.
This is being supplied by nature. The birds and beasts, they are getting their food, they are getting their mates, they are being protected in their own way, they have got a sleeping nest, apartment. So even an animal, even a small ant... We sit down in the garden, we see, even the small ant it has got family, it has got home, it has got eating. Everything is there. From ant to the elephant. Who is supplying? They have no business. They do not do any business. They have no profession. But they are getting their necessities of life.
I have several times explained in this class that nobody has got any food problem. Simply the so-called civilized, advanced in science, these people have got problems of foodgrains. Otherwise, there are millions of elephants, they are eating very nicely. There are ants, there are elephants, there are tigers, there are monkeys, there are trees... So many, 8,400,000 forms of body. How they are eating? Unless they are eating... We kill animals, but the animals do not come to the..., to us, that "We are starving. Give us food." Never. By nature, there is arrangement, foodstuff. The cows, the other animals, they are eating grass. There is profuse growth of grass. So they are not eating your nice foodstuff, sandeśa, rasagullā. You are making sandeśa, rasagullā from the milk which they deliver. They are eating grass and delivering you nice foodstuff, milk. And from the milk, you can make hundreds and thousands of nice, nutritious, full of vitamin foodstuff. But no. We are so fool that instead of utilizing the milk, we are utilizing the blood. You see?
He can introduce any new law. And nobody has got experience that stone thrown on the water floating. No one has got... Naturally, it goes down. But this is God, that He nullifies the general law, as He desires. Sarva-śakti-sampannaḥ. That is all-powerful. That is greatness. Not that if you have got a small body and the elephant has got a very big body, therefore he is great. No. That is not greatness. The elephant, in spite of having such a big body and thousand times stronger than the human being, he is controlled by a small human being. That means intelligence is strength, not this bodily.
So persons who are trying to commit sinful activities on the strength of some spiritual activity, they're the greatest sinners. Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. That is not allowed. You can neutralize your sinful activities by some spiritual a... But that does not mean... This is called hasti-snāna. That is also explained. Hasti-snāna. Hasti-snāna means bathing of the elephant. The elephant goes into the reservoir of water, takes bath very nicely, and, as soon as come on the land, again takes some dust and throws over the body. Immediately. You see? So, that sort of purification is not required. Once purified, don't commit again. The harer nāma (CC Adi 17.21), Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra has got power to purify, but that does not mean that we shall commit again and purify it. That process is not this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.
He advised them, "My dear Duryodhana, I know you are a great fighter. You have got strength. You have learned, you know the art of fighting. But you are not so strong as Bhīma." And He advised Bhīma, "My dear Bhīma, you have got the strength of ten thousand elephants. Naturally you are superiorally stronger. So he knows the art better than you, and you are bodily stronger than him. So there will be no decision. The fighting will go on. Can you not stop? Because there will not be decision. The fighting will go on. Unless one is dead, the fighting will go on. So what is the use? Nobody will be victorious. The fighting will go on. Better stop."
There is no fearfulness. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca. These things are problems of this material world. A Vaiṣṇava has no problem. He knows that "If Kṛṣṇa can give food to the elephant down to the ant, so Kṛṣṇa will give me food. So why shall I endeavor for? When Kṛṣṇa gives, I shall eat. That's all. If He does not give, I shall starve. What is the wrong there?" This is Vaiṣṇava. He's not afraid. He has no problem of āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca. No. So far maithuna is concerned, it is completely rejected. Bhaktiṁ parāṁ bhagavati pratilabhya apahinoti kāmam. This is Vaiṣṇava.
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.
In so many places, there are so many śāstras you will find this word mūḍha. Here it is said, na lakṣyase mūḍha. Mūḍha-dṛśa, whose sense perception is just like blind man. A blind man is given a elephant, an elephant. Now, "Mr. Blind Man, just understand what is this." So, he is blind, he simply, I mean to say, moves his hand over the leg. "Sir, it is a column. It is a big column." So blind man, he cannot see; he thought that elephant is big column. So anyone who is speculating about God, he is the blind man studying the elephant, like that. Or the frog in the well studying Atlantic Ocean. What he will understand? Suppose a frog is informed "Mr. Frog, Dr. Frog, (laughter) I have seen a big, vast mass of water." "What is that?" "Atlantic Ocean." "How big is it?" "Very, very big." Maybe, he is in the three-feet well. "Four feet?" "No, no, very, very big." "Five feet?" "No, very big." "Six feet?" (laughter) How he will understand the Atlantic Ocean? He can simply imagine, maybe three-feet, four-feet, five-feet well. But beyond all feet, that he cannot understand. Because of mūḍha-dṛśa, the direct perception, and he is a rascal.
Of course, Kṛṣṇa has got immense potencies to supply. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He can supply everyone as much he wants. He's supplying food to the elephant. He's supplying food to the ant. Why not to the human being? But these rascals, they do not know. They're working day and night like ass to find out bread. And if he goes to church, there also: "Give me bread." They are only bread problem. That's all. Although the living entity is the son of the richest opulent person, but he has created his bread problem. This is called ignorance. He thinks that "If I do not solve my bread problem, if I do not drive my trucks day and night..."Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. whoosh. Such a nonsense civilization. You see. Bread problem. Where is bread problem? Kṛṣṇa can supply. If He can supply food to the elephant in Africa... There are millions and millions of African elephants, you know, and they are supplied food.
Just like this body, your body, my body, even elephant's body... It has grown. It has grown because the spirit soul is there. As soon as the spirit soul is not there, there will be no more growth, no more growth and the body will be heavy. Due to the spirit soul within the body, the body is light. You can make an experiment. You just have a weight of a dead body and of a living body. You will find difference. What is the difference. Where is our scientist?
So why it is floating? Because a very small particle of Kṛṣṇa's spiritual potency is there. That is living entity. Big, big... An elephant, he can also float in the water, and the horses, elephant, and what to speak of man? This is practical. Because a small particle of the Supreme is there within this body... Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Very small particle. How much small? One ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair, so small. It has got so power that it can hold the whole body floating in the air. Air... There are very, very big, big birds. They are floating in the air, very, very big eagle. They fly from one planet to another. Their resting place is... They start from one planet, and they go and rest in other planet. And they lay their eggs while flying. That eggs also become a bird simply by air cohesion. That's all.
They are increasing their population without any contraceptive. But are they in need of food? Have you seen any bird that is dying for want of food? Never. Any animal? It may be, animal in the city, they may be dying for want of food. That is also not very seen. But in the jungle you go, you see all the animals, big, big animals like elephant, they are very stout and strong. Who is supplying them food? The tiger, the lions, everyone—everyone is living. Some of them are vegetarians, some of them are nonvegetarian, but nobody is in want of food.
So the capital of the world empire is called Hastināpura or Gajasāhvaya. Gaja and hasti means elephant. Maybe there were many elephants, because formerly the kings, they used to keep many, many horses, elephants. Still, in New Delhi they have taken, kept some token elephants in the rājyapal bhavan(?), or the President's house. So formerly there was one king, and the capital was Hastināpura. The king of Hastināpura was ruling all over the world. There was one flag. These are mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. There were not many states, and the world was under one culture, Vedic culture.
So, so long we are nonsense, we have to go, struggle for existence. Struggle for existence in this life. Suppose I am struggling, I am thinking, "If I could have possessed the strength of an elephant or a tiger, I would have been successful." Then next life he gets the body of lion, tiger, or elephant. Nature will give. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). Kṛṣṇa is very kind. Whatever you want, He will give you, up to mukti. The Māyāvādī philosophers... Mukti means to merge into the existence of Brahman. Kṛṣṇa will give you very easily.
Regiment or something like..., composing. Just like in your country you have got. The Seventh Fleet or something like that was sent to India. They have got a group, so many ships, so many soldiers, so many... But formerly there was no ship, no aeroplane. They used to fight with horses, soldiers, elephants. So the estimation is there. You read the estimation.
Prabhupāda: So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja is repentant that pārakyasyaiva dehasya bahvyo me 'kṣauhiṇīr hatāḥ: "Many hundreds and thousands of soldiers, horses, elephants, men we have killed." Akṣauhiṇī, there is a calculation 64,000 elephants, 64,000 horses and 64,000, like that. Exactly I cannot, but some of the items are 64,000. Chariots. One... Nowadays it is called exactly? A group of soldiers? What is called?
Devotee: Phalanx.
Prabhupāda: Phalanx, and another name is there.
Brahmānanda: Division.
Prabhupāda: Division. One division. One division of army consisting of so many horses, so many elephants and chariot... There are different types of fighter. Somebody would fight from the back, riding on the back of the elephant, somebody on horses. That is also nowadays current, cavalry. And somebody on chariot, somebody standing, infantry... So, one akṣauhiṇī means 64,000 elephants, horses, chariots and so many thousand infantry. That makes one division. So Kṛṣṇa Himself gave so many divisions to Duryodhana. Altogether there were eighteen divisions or more than that. They were all killed.
So actually, a sane man is thinking that "After all, the idea was that I should be enthroned on this chair, on this throne of the kingdom, and for me so many animals and men were killed." Here it is mentioned, yes (reading), "A solid phalanx of 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 109,650 infantry and 65,600 calvary is called an akṣauhiṇī." Such eighteen divisions of soldiers were there on one side.
So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja is not only thinking of the human being who were killed in the battlefield of Kurukṣetra. He is thinking of all the horses, elephants, because they are also living entities. They are also prajā, national. "National," this word, we don't find in the Vedic literature, "national." It is modern invention. So if we feel nationally, then we feel for every living entity (who) is born in that land.
So one very important word is here: sadaśvaiḥ svarṇa-bhūṣitaiḥ. Formerly the horses were used in military division. Horses, chariot, elephants and then infantry. So not one or two, but one division of military phalanx required sixty thousand horses. Akṣauhiṇī. So many horses, so many elephants, so many chariot, and so many infantry soldiers—that will compose one division of soldiers. So "so many" means the, I exactly remember now, sixty thousand horses. So all the horses, when they are required for procession or for going to the fight, were well-decorated with golden ornaments, svarṇa-bhūṣitaiḥ. So just imagine the, all the saddles of the horse, if they are golden ornamented, how many ounces you will require to decorate the horse. And what is the price of gold now?
So kāmaṁ parjanyaḥ, kāmaṁ vavarṣa parjanyaḥ (SB 1.10.4). Whatever you get, all the necessities of your life will be available if there is sufficient rain. Because after all, the earth produces... This is the system. There is rainfall, proper rainfall, and the earth produces. Not only food grains. Also jewels also, produced. Those who are astronomers, they know. Under certain constellation of the star, if the rain falls on the head of a snake, there is jewel. If the rain falls on the head of an elephant, there is jewel. Then in the sea also, the pearls, they are produced. It is all due to rains. So kāmaṁ vavarṣa. Kāmaṁ vavarṣa. We require so many things. Kṛṣṇa is prepared also to supply. Nature is there. But even Kṛṣṇa wants to supply, if you do not become devotee, nature will restrict, "No." That is the proof.
Nowadays there are scarcity of foodgrains. Even the human being cannot eat sufficiently. But formerly the kings, they used to maintain elephants. They were supplied very nice cāpāṭis. Do you know that? Still there are kings, they have elephants. Therefore elephant can be maintained by very rich man. If suppose, if somebody comes, he says, "Take this elephant, I give you free," will you take? Will you accept? You know that elephant will devour you, your all your means or income and all family income, because you cannot maintain elephant. (laughs)
Therefore in India sometimes, when, a hundred years ago, some students would come in England, especially London, and make a European, English wife... In old days they are doing that. So people would say that "This man is maintaining one white elephant." Because a European wife means very much expenditure. So one Mr. P. R. Das, he was high-court judge. So he was taking bribe on account of maintaining white elephant. He married one European wife.
You cannot maintain even your family, what to speak of maintain everyone. But God maintains everyone. Eko yo bahūnām, bahūnām. Bahūnām means many, unlimited. Unlimited number of living entities are there. There are millions of elephants in Africa; He is maintaining. At a time the elephant eats about forty kilograms. And who is supplying food? He is eating. The small fish in the ocean, he is also eating. A small ant within the hole of your room, you are not supplying any food, but they are... They have got their family, their friends and everything. Sometimes they come out in hundreds. (laughter) Who is maintaining? Therefore eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti: Kṛṣṇa is maintaining, God maintaining.
Therefore it is said, abhyaṣiñcat, Gajāhvaye. Gajāhvaye means Hastināpura. Hasti means elephant. So because it is Hastināpura, therefore the name... And gaja means also elephant. It is named after elephant. There were many elephants. Just like Gokula. Kṛṣṇa's planet is known as Gokula. There are many cows, surabhī cows. Go means cow. Similarly, this capital of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, Hastināpura, may be taken that there were many elephants. Formerly the kings used to maintain. Otherwise who will maintain elephants? Suppose I bring one elephant, I present to you, will you accept? You will be finished. (laughs) You can keep one dog, "Gow! Gow! Gow!" but if I say, I present you one elephant, "Please keep it," "No, sir. No, sir, it is not possible." So who will maintain?
There... In India, there is a place near Patna where up to ten years before, it was a market, yearly market, for selling cows, horses, elephants, camels, like that. Now there is no customer. At the present moment, that fair of selling big, big horses and... Nobody can purchase horse. They have got this tin car. That also not everyone. So people have become poor. Nobody can maintain now horses or elephants or number of cows. No. That is not possible. So they are condemned now. Formerly they were maintaining. Instead of keeping a big car, they used to keep two, three elephants, number of horses, number of cows. This is domestic animals. They are domestic animals. They used to be maintained. But nowadays they cannot. But during Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira's time or before that, the city was so full of elephants that it is named after elephant, Hastināpura: "Many elephants." Still in India, in big procession, marriage ceremony, they bring some elephants. But that is in procession, elephants, horses, are demonstrated. And especially royal family. But those things have now gone. Now, instead of Hastināpura, it is now "Motorcarpura." (laughter) Just see.
So this bee is losing his life on account of this nostril, very powerful, wants to smell. Similarly, the fish is losing its life on account of this tongue. Similarly, the elephant. Elephant loses... Such a big powerful animal. But he loses his independence for sex life. You know how the elephant is captured? A female elephant is induced to attract the male elephant, and for sex, the male follows the female elephant, and the female elephant is trained up. He puts him in a ditch. He falls down. Then he cannot move. You see. That means in spite of his becoming such a giant animal, powerful animal, simply for sex life he becomes captivated. You see?
There are many instances, He is playing like ordinary man, but at times showing, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just like in Jagannātha Purī, Ratha-yātrā festival, sometimes the ratha, chariot, will be stuck up, will not move. People draw it, but does not move. Even King Pratāparudra engaged some elephants, and the ratha is not moving. And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would say, "All right, let Me try." So He would go back side of the car and with His head push it, and very easily it will go. This is extraordinary. Even the elephants, big, big elephants, could not draw. But by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's pushing by head, even there was no need of drawing it or catching the rope... Similarly, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was performing kīrtana, He used to form four parties. And each party will see that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is present there.
So this culture, that Yamarāja, is asking an animal, mother... Without any soul? No. Everyone has soul. The rascals, they do not know it. One has to become paṇḍita. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18), in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said. So those who are actually learned, they know. They know that one may be a living entity, one may be a tree, one may be an animal, one may be a cow, one may be an elephant, one may be a learned brāhmaṇa scholar, one may be a caṇḍāla, untouchable.
But God is the whole family. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti. He's supplying food to the elephants. We are, we are so much advanced in civilization that because we cannot take care of a child, therefore we are killing child even within the womb of mother, abortion. We are so unfit. But God, you see, He's feeding millions of elephants in the Africa. Not only elephants, there are so many. Out of 8,400,000 species of life, there are 8,000,000 species of life nonhuman being, the majority—the birds, beasts, reptiles, trees, so many other living entities. But they have no business.
So Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He, although He is all-pervading, universal, He has agreed to accept your service just to give you liberation from this misunderstanding, no ātma-tattvam. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that Kṛṣṇa, God, is great. How great He is, you cannot imagine. But still, He has agreed to accept your service, becoming small. That is greatness. In the material world, if something is big, very big, he cannot become, or it cannot become small. Just like, say, for... Elephant is very big animal. You ask the elephant, "Please become like an ant." "Oh, that is not possible, sir. That is not possible." But God is so great that although He's universal, He can enter into the atom.
This outward dress is different. Somebody has become ant and somebody has become elephant or bigger than that, whole fish. Another fish there is timiṅgila. That perhaps we have not seen. Whale fish, some of them have seen. It is just like as big as a big house. And still, whale fish, just like you swallow up some small nut, they are called timiṅgila. So there are so many varieties of life. We do not know. But we know from the śāstras. In the śāstra we can know. Therefore we should consult Vedic literature to have full knowledge. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi: "In the water there are 900,000 species of life." Now, who can deny it? If you deny, then I shall tell you that "Go and count." (laughs) But we can get the full knowledge from the śāstra.
So superficially, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, king, the emperor of the world, he was cursed to death. A brāhmaṇa boy cursed him that "You will die within seven days." And as a result of this, he left his home, his kingdom, and here, next verse, it is said, ātma-jāyā. Jāyā means his one wife. He was young man. Suta, children; āgāra, āgāra means residence, house. Ātma-jāyā-sutāgāra. Paśu, animals. He was king. So he had many animals: horses, elephants, cows, bulls. These are household animals, domestic animals. And draviṇa. Draviṇa means wealth, riches. And bandhu, bandhuṣu, friendship. So our... These are our material assets: wife, children, nice house, nice bank balance, and some paśus, animals. Here of course, you keep only one animals, dog. "The best friend." But in India they keep many animals. Those who are rich, they keep elephants, horses, bulls, cows.
Anyone can understand that. Any form Today we have got a form. Take a photograph of it, and few hours after, the form has changed. So that is not permanent form. It is changing. Just like you see in the cloud. From airplane you can experience. The cloud You are running. You are seeing one form. After few minutes, that form is changing to different form. Therefore it is called ivābhāti. You immediately see a cloud just like big elephant, but after a few minutes you see the cloud, the same cloud, is changed into just like a big hill, another, a big tree. So this is going on. Today I am Indian, you are American, but next birth or after few years, although American, the body is changing. Body is changing. Therefore it is written there, ivābhāti: "as if it has got a body." As if. Ivābhāti: "It appears." But māyā is so strong Bahu-rūpa ivābhāti... What is the next word? Māyayā?
Oh, there are enough fruits. Little eating, finish their business. Or take the elephants also. They are eating so much. They have got also food. Therefore śāstra says that "Food is already there." So many people say, "Oh, so many people are dying, starving." And where is the man? Show me who is dying for starvation. These are all pleas. They won't take any tapasya for understanding, but they will work hard like asses, like hogs and dogs, for two meals. But we should consider that we are taking so much penances for simply filling our this hungry belly, appetite. Why not little tapasya for Kṛṣṇa, chanting sixteen rounds? But will... That is also very difficult. Then? Tapasya, penance in pure bhakti-yoga.
This is the Vedic information. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. Just like we maintain our family. One man is earning, and he is maintaining his family, wife, children, servants, dependents, workers, so many. Similarly, that one, Bhagavān, is maintaining all the living entities. You do not know how many there are. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They are also eating forty kg's at one time. So that, they are also being maintained. And the small ant, that is also being maintained. There are 8,400,000 forms of different bodies. Who is maintaining them? Maintaining, Bhagavān, that ekaḥ. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. That is a fact. So why He'll not maintain us? Especially those who are devotees, who have taken shelter at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, leaving aside everything simply for His service.
That small particle is there within the ant, the microbic germ, and he, that part is within the elephant. q. That is the dimension. So self-realization... Self-realization means one must know his identity. That identity, that small particle is there, within me, within you. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehī is within the idea. But because it is so small, with our material eyes it is not possible to see. There is no such instrument that you can find out. Therefore on account of our inability to find it out, we say, "It is nirākāra," because we cannot calculate what is the ākāra, or what is the dimension. But the ākāra is there. The living entity has got full ākāra. If you have studied the small microbes... Sometimes I see at night when I work a small insect just like a full stop. It is walking. That means the whole physiological combination, anatomy, physiology, is there. But you cannot... You see just a like a full stop. So within that there is the soul. And within the elephant or big animal there is also the soul. The soul is there. Asmin dehe, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). That is there.
So when we actually realize what we are, brahmānubhūti, then our life is successful. Now we are identifying with this body. So long we are identifying with this body, we are no better than the cats and dogs. Whatever knowledge you may have scientific knowledge, if you do not know yourself, then you are nothing but the animal. The animal does not know. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). If somebody considers that "This body, I am self," identifies... "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am man," "I am woman," "I am elephant," and so on.
We are not professional men. We are not going to the market for what is bao.(?) Ke bao haya?(?) So are you not eating? We are eating. Not only eating, we have got hundred and two branches, and every branch there are at least one hundred men. They're all eating. Why? Because we know, "Kṛṣṇa will give us. Kṛṣṇa giving food to the ants, to the elephant. Why not to His servant? We have no..." If you have got this confidence, then... The śāstra says, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. You should simply try for perfection of life, brahma-jijñāsā. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). This is the only... Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. This is the only business. "What I am?" The answer is ahaṁ brahmāsmi, so 'ham, "I am same, Brahman." "So then, what is my relation with the Para-brahman?" Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam.
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.
Both of them approached. Duryodhana approached and Arjuna also approached, "Kṛṣṇa, You become my side." So Kṛṣṇa said that "I have got eighteen akṣauhiṇī, division of soldiers. That is one side. And I personally, one side." So Arjuna (Duryodhana) thought that "What shall I do simply by taking Kṛṣṇa? And He says that 'I'll not fight. If I go to any side, I'll not fight.' " So Arjuna (Duryodhana) thought it wise that "Let me take His soldiers, eighteen divisions, many thousands of elephants, horses, chariot." There is estimate, very big number of elephants, horses. I don't remember exactly. But... So Duryodhana decided to take the soldiers of Kṛṣṇa. (aside:) That child may be... But Arjuna thought that "If I get Kṛṣṇa in my side, that is sufficient. I don't want His soldiers."
So by our desire we get a particular type of form. It may be human being, it may be demigod, it may be elephant, it may be cat, it may be dog, it may be tree—in this way, in different forms, 8,400,000 different forms, we are trying to enjoy this material world. This is called material conditional life. Because we are failing to understand ātma-darśana. Because the purpose is ātma-darśana. Jñānaṁ niḥśreyasārthāya puruṣasya ātma-darśanam. Ātmā, one should see his real identification: "What I am?" That is the inquiry of a human being. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. That when I understand that "I am not this body; I am Brahman," then we should go on inquiring about further about Brahman: "What is the form of Brahman? What is Para-brahman? What is the relationship between Para-brahman and the Brahman? Why Brahman has come to this material world and he has got this material body? This material body is finishable, temporary, and Brahman is eternal. Why this conjunction?" These are brahma-jijñāsā. This is Vedānta-sūtra, brahma-jijñāsā.
The past, present, and future, the kāla, is eternal. Time is eternal, but we are creating our past and present and future according to our existence. The past, present, future of an ant is not the past, present of an elephant. The past present of our is not the past present of Brahmā. It is relative. This kāla is working relatively. Therefore this is called relative world. So this prime factor of relativity is kāla. That is the twenty-fifth element. And beyond that, there is the soul, there is the Supersoul, and above everything, Puruṣottama, the Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa.
We have accepted the asat, these twenty-four elements as described before, as identification with me. Asat: they are not permanent: temporary situation, changing one after another. So asad-grahāt, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām, always full of anxiety, "What will happen next? What will happen next?" You will see even a small insect, birds, beasts, human being, animal, even elephants, tiger, lions—everyone is fearful. There cannot be any fearlessness in this material existence. Even big nation, American nation, they are also fearful of the Russian. And the Russians are fearful of the Americans. You can see. The whole political field... Our Indians are fearful of Pakistan. Pakistan is fearful... This is material existence. You cannot avoid it unless you take shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.
You will get it. If you go to God and ask Him, "God, give me my daily bread," so it is not very difficult for God to give you bread. He is giving bread to everyone. Why not to you? He is giving bread to the elephants, He is giving bread to the ants, and what you can eat? That is not very difficult thing. But you should go to God not for begging something but for giving something. That is Vāsudeva stage. Then you will get śānti, when you will go to God not for begging material happiness or material liberation, mukti, bhukti-mukti, and not for any jugglery, magic things, just like yogis show some magic.
So if you want all these things, then you will never get happiness. You will be troubled. Therefore a devotee... Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's standard of devotion: nothing to possess. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye. Nothing to possess.
This is the beginning of meditation, sañcintayet. It is not nirviśeṣa, nirakara meditation. What is that meditation? Here it is, direction, sañcintayet. Sañcintayet means meditation. What about, meditation? Sañcintayed bhagavataś caraṇāravindam. First of all meditate on the lotus feet, caraṇāravindam, lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. And if you minutely see, then you will find the symptoms are there. Our feet and Kṛṣṇa's feet, there is difference. Why difference? Because on the sole these marks are there. What is that? Vajra aṅkuśa, dhvaja, saroruha. Four things are there: thunderbolt, mark of thunderbolt; and kuśa, the mark of... What is that instrument which controls the elephant?
So there are 8,400,000 different forms of life, and God is the creator of them, and He is supplying all the necessities of them. We human being, we have got different enterprises, but what the enterprises have got the elephant in Africa? There are millions of elephants. Who is feeding them? And the ant also. There are trillions and millions of ant in your room. Who is feeding them? So we do not believe in God. That is our defect. Otherwise, if God is providing food for the lower animals, why not for us if we become God conscious?
No, there is no contradiction. I am speaking that God is feeding even the animals, even the elephants, even the serpents, and why God will not feed the human kind. This is a wrong impression. Everyone has food fixed by God. Even if he is not serving God, God is supplying all the necessities, to the animals why not to the human being? This is wrong impression.
You know the elephant is captured for sense gratification. You know that? Elephant is captured. A big elephant, to capture, it is very difficult. But a female elephant goes there, and he comes for sex, and the female elephant goes forward. Then she brings in a place where there is a big pit and he falls down, the male elephant. Then he becomes captured. Yes. These are the nature's example, how for... And not only sex. Just like the bees. They enter into the lotus flower for eating honey, and they are enjoying. In the meantime, the lotus flower petals becomes closed.
They can be used for transport. Or the asses, they can be used for transport. But... And the camels can be used for transport. There are so many animals. So advancement, and big, big kings, royal families, they have got their transport service by keeping elephants and horses. They can get on the back of the horses and get yourself there. So nature's arrangement, God's arrangement is there. Transport is required in the human society, but you can utilize so many animals for your purpose.
"The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater or outcaste." (Bg 5.18) This sama-darśinaḥ, equal vision, should not be mistaken to mean that the individual is the same as the Supreme Lord. They are always distinct. Every individual person is different from the Supreme Lord. It is a mistake to equate the individual living entity with the Supreme Lord on the plea of vivikta-dṛk, sama-dṛk. The Lord is always in an exalted position, even though He agrees to live everywhere. Śrīla Madhvācārya, quoting Padma Purāṇa, states, vivikta-dṛṣṭi-jīvānāṁ dhiṣṇyatayā parameśvarasya bheda-dṛṣṭiḥ: "One who has clear vision and who is devoid of envy can see that the Supreme Lord is separate from all living entities, although He is sitauted in every living entity."
He said, "Durvāsā Muni, unless you beg pardon from Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, there is no question of excusing you. The sudarśana-cakra will not excuse." Therefore Vaiṣṇava aparādha is very, very offensive. You should be very careful. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned vaiṣṇava aparādha, hātī mata. Vaiṣṇava aparādha, offense at the feet of Vaiṣṇava, is exactly like mad elephant. If a mad elephant enters your garden, then he spoils everything. This has been given. Vaiṣṇava aparādha means hātī mātā. Mātā means mad, and hātī means elephant. So we should be very, very careful not to commit any offense at the feet of Vaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava does not take any offense. He does not care who is offender, but Kṛṣṇa takes care. Kṛṣṇa will never tolerate if a person is Vaiṣṇava aparādha. Mind that. Just like a big man. You can offend him, he doesn't mind. But if he does something harmful to his child, so he becomes very angry.
As the water dries, the vegetation comes. You have got experience. That is the nature's process. And after vegetation, then the flies, insects, moving, up to trees and plants, not moving. Then they move—flies, grasshoppers. And they turn into birds again, very freely flying. And there are many, many big birds in the sky, eagles. Some of the eagles, you have got experience. There are monkey-eating eagles. They capture the monkey. And there are eagles elephant-eating. (laughter) We get all this information. Elephant, they will capture elephant and take it away. (laughter) Just imagine. It is no joking. This is a fact.
Just like this alcoholic treatment. They go to the psychiatrist and so experienced... After all, if you do not give up this bad habit, then where is the question of treatment? Where is the question of treatment? That is called... That is explained in the śāstra, hasti-snāna. The example is very right. Hasti-snāna. Hasti, hasti means elephant. Elephant, they go into the water, in the lake, in the pond, and very nicely cleanse their body. Body very nicely cleansed, and after taking bath, as soon as it comes to the bank on the ground, he takes some dust and throw over the body. So atonement... Sometimes we make atonement. I have committed some sin. I go to church or go to temple. I make some atonement. Then after finishing that business, again I do that business. So this kind of habit will not help you. You must try to stop the bad habit. That you can do when you are in the association of devotees. Otherwise it is not possible.
So Parīkṣit Mahārāja is comparing it, kuñjara-śaucavat. It is just like the elephant's taking bath. The elephant... This is natural, one can see. The elephant takes bath very thoroughly, he washes the body in the water, in the tank, very thoroughly for long time, becomes very cleansed. And as soon as it comes on the shore it takes some dust and throws it. (laughter) That is nature, we have seen. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja... This is just like cleaning the body of an elephant like. The elephant cleanses the body very nicely, but as soon as he comes to the land, he takes dust and throws over it. So what is the use of such atonement if I have to commit again? I do it again and again. Again I commit sinful activities and again I atone. So what is the benefit of this atonement? This is a strong criticism of so-called confession and atonement.
Then because, as Śukadeva Goswāmī is the most intelligent instructor of Bhāgavata principles, the audience, Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he is also very important, very intelligent audience, and he has put this, "What is the use of this atonement? I don't find any benefit. If I have to commit the same sinful activities, what is the use of such atonement? It is just like the bath taken by the elephant, kuñjara-śaucavat."
Therefore intelligent devotee they do not ask like the unintelligent devotee go to the church and pray to God, "Give us our daily bread." He's God's servant, and He will not get your bread? You have to ask from God? No. God is giving bread to the eight million other living entities. Birds, beast, tigers, elephants, they are not going to the church for asking bread. But they are getting it.
He gave very good example, that "This prāyaścitta or legal punishment is like kuñjara-śaucavat." Kuñjara means elephant, and śauca, taking bath. So kuñjara, the elephant, dips itself into the water and takes bath very thoroughly, and as soon as it comes on the land, it takes some dust and throws over his body. The purpose is that unless one is fully convinced that "Sinful activities are very, very abominable for me," he cannot give it up. Therefore one has to cleanse his heart. That is real prāyaścitta. Otherwise, even being imprisoned or giving fine or suffering one cannot cease from sinful activity. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is thoroughly wholesale process of cleansing the mind.
This is warned very... Amongst the ten kinds of offenses, one offense is very grievous offense—nāmnād balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ—if one thinks that "I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa; therefore whatever sinful acts I am doing, it is becoming counteracted." If you keep yourself on the platform of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and do not commit willfully again sinful life, then you are liberated. So not only mukti-mārga, if you keep yourself always pure, do not commit any sinful activity and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then your life is successful. Don't commit the mistake of the elephant that take bath thoroughly and again come and throw dust on your body. I think I shall end tonight this here.
He's giving very nice example—kuñjara-śaucavat. Kuñjara means elephant. In your country you don't see elephant. We are... In India, we have seen. Not nowadays. Still, there are some, but fifty years before there were many elephants. Especially the zamindars, the landlords and the native princes, they used to keep so many elephants. They used to spend for it... To keep elephant means it is very expensive job. So elephant, there is a particular type of lake where elephants are allowed to take their bath. So if anyone has not seen it, the elephant will take bath very nicely, wash the body very nicely. And as soon as he come over the land, he takes some dust from the land and throws over the body again. Immediately. In that wet body he will cover the whole body with dust. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja is giving very nice example, kuñjara-śaucavat: just like cleansing the body of an elephant. It cleanses very nicely, that's all right, but as soon as come out of the water... We have to study all these things from nature. The elephant is so big, and it is supposed to be the biggest animal. And he has got great strength, but how fool he is, just see. Just after taking bath it will cover the whole body with dust.
Just like here it is said, dṛṣṭa. Dṛṣṭa means by direct experience. Direct experience everyone has seen, that a thief, he is arrested. This is our direct experience. He has committed theft, and therefore he is arrested by the police. It is our direct experience. And śrutābhyām, by hearing from the lawbook or scripture, whatever you take... "O my dear lion, O king..." Lion is considered as the king of the animals, paśu rāja. Actually, he is the king in the jungle. Everyone is afraid of him, he is so powerful. Even the elephant is afraid of the lion. So if the lion is praised by some small animals, does it mean the lion is not animal? Has it any value like the human being? No. Still he is animal. Even though the small animals are praising, giving votes, "You become president," (laughter) but who is these voters? Another animal. This is democracy. The small animals are voting the big animal. So how you can expect peace? That much I have already explained. So this is not civilization, that the small animals giving vote to the big animals to occupy the government. That is going on. This will not help.
"Mahārāja Parīkṣit said: Sometimes one who is very alert so as not to commit sinful acts is victimized by sinful life again. I therefore consider this process of repeated sinning and atoning to be useless. It is like the bathing of an elephant, for an elephant cleanses itself by taking a full bath but then throws dust over its head and body as soon as it returns to the land."
So Parīkṣit Mahārāja says, "This kind of committing sin and again become relieved by atone, atonement, repetition, it is just like kuñjara-śaucavat." He's giving very nice example. Kvacin nivartate abhadrāt kvacic carati tat punaḥ, prāyaścittam atho 'pārtham (SB 6.1.10). "Therefore this atonement, to me, is nothing but waste of time." How it is waste of...? Kuñjara-śaucavat. The example, kuñjara means elephant. The elephant cleanses the body very nicely in the water, in the lake, or some water, reservoir, but as soon as comes on the shore takes some dust and overthrows. Those who have seen, that have got experience—immediately the whole body becomes dirty. Immediately taking... Just like we, human beings, we go to the bathroom and cleanse ourself with soap and water, and then we feel comfortable. We do not again take some dirty things and throw over it. But the elephant, animal, does it. These are our examples. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja said that "You may become cleansed by the atonement process, or you may be relieved from the disease by taking some medicine, but if again you commit, then what is the use of this treatment or use of this atonement?"
From nature we can study so many things, very instructive. Kṛṣṇa has made the nature in such a way that any intelligent man, if he studies simply the nature, without going into school or college he becomes a very learned man, if he has got the capacity to study nature. So such nature, a natural instance, example, is cited: kuñjara-śaucavat. Kuñjara means elephant. Elephant is a very big animal, and it takes bath in the lake, very nicely washes the body. Then, as soon as he comes on the bank, he immediately takes some dust and throw it over the body. Those who have seen the elephants... This is their nature.
Kuñjara means elephant. Elephants taking bath. Perhaps you have not seen. In India we had some opportunity. They wash the body very nicely, repeatedly throwing water with the trunk, and as soon as come on the shore of the tank, again take some dust and throws over the body. We have to study from nature that how is that. This rascal washed so nicely his body, and immediately, coming out of the tank, he throws dust. Śaucye manye kuñjara-śaucavat. Very appropriate. It is that hasti-snāna. In Sanskrit it is called hasti-snāna. Snāna means bathing and hasti means elephant.
All right. (devotees repeat)
- śrī-bādarāyaṇir uvāca
- karmaṇā karma-nirhāro
- na hy ātyantika iṣyate
- avidvad-adhikāritvāt
- prāyaścittaṁ vimarśanam
- (SB 6.1.11)
(break)...and I have several times said that what is the use of? That is the same, hasti-snāna. If he does not know how to keep the elephant, how to keep neat and clean, if he has no this knowledge, so repeatedly he'll take bath and throw dust.
This is knowledge. "Why I shall steal? There is enough food." But because I haven't got this knowledge that "God is the proprietor. I am His part and parcel, son. So if He has provided food for the elephant, who eats at a time forty kilos, he can eat, and I eat only, say, half a pound, I cannot eat?" This is knowledge. "Why shall I steal? I shall depend on God." This is knowledge. So this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. I am God's part... Why shall I starve? There are so many... Out of 8,400,000 forms of life, eight million forms of life are less than the human being. Human being, only 400,000. Out of that, civilized men very few. Out of that, Americans are very few, Indians are very few. So "If so many, 8,300,000 forms of life, they can get without stealing, why shall I steal?" This is knowledge. Prāyaścitta vimarśanam. As soon as he becomes in quite perfect knowledge, then whole problem solved.
So this cure of material disease have been described—we are discussing—first by atonement. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja did not like it very much because he saw, the atonement is like bathing of the elephant. By atonement we may be free from the infection, but again we do it. Karmaṇā. Then again... That is called karma-kāṇḍa, fruitive activities. Because the bīja, the seed of my sinful desires, that is not cured. For the time being... Just like go to the doctor. You are suffering from a severe disease, and he gives some medicine, takes his fees.
This is the basic principle of spiritual progress. Otherwise we shall learn, bandy-akṣaiḥ kaitavaiś cauryair garhitāṁ vṛttim āsthitaḥ, bibhrat kuṭumbam aśucir... Aśuci, aśuci. Aśuci means unclean. Spiritual life means purification. So if you purify and again become unclean, that we have discussed hasti-snāna, the elephant. Elephant takes bath very nicely, and as soon as come on the shore, take some dust and throw on... Kuñjara śaucavat. Parīkṣit Mahārāja said that "What is this cleaning?"
If he can maintain a wife I have no objection." That means to maintain a wife is a very big job in your country. I've seen it. (laughter) Of course, when we talk we must talk freely. (laughter) That is a fact. (laughter) But formerly, in our father's age, they used to come to foreign countries and they thought it, it is a great laugh to possess one white wife. Yes, they are thinking like that. So all the students who used to come to England for higher studies, naturally he'd carry one white elephant. (laughter) They used to say—it is not my coined words—they used to say, "Oh, to maintain European wife, it is like maintaining white elephant." So anyway, you have got so many white elephants. (laughter)
They are certain that "Somewhere we have got our shelter and there is somewhere my food." Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. Kṛṣṇa, the supreme patron, He is supplying food to everyone. He is supplying food to the elephant, who eats one time one hundred pounds, and He is supplying a grain of sugar to the ant also. So why should bother about my food? That is śaraṇāgati. When a man becomes śaraṇāgata, he knows perfectly well that "Somehow or other there is my food." A sannyāsī... sannyāsī means sat nyāsa, to fully surrender to Kṛṣṇa.
Even an ant, it has got machine, because according to his desire, he has been given a body. That is also machine. An elephant has got a machine. I am also. I have got also machine. Every one of us, we are spirit soul, and relatively we have got different machine. So that machine is required for going from here. But we should not waste our time simply studying the machine, forgetting our destination. This is human intelligence. God has already given you a type of machine. Now utilize it to go to the destination.
You cannot go against the current of the sea or the water of the river, but a small fish takes pleasure going against the current. Tulasī dāsa has said that to go against the current is very difficult. Even an elephant is washed away. But a small fish, because he has taken shelter of the ocean, he can go against the current. This is the... So if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, then even the current is against, we can go because... The same example: the fish has taken shelter of the ocean. Although very small animal, he can go against the.
Therefore we must be very cautious and, I mean to say, with sense we must act, and if we act according to the direction of the śāstra, then our position is safe. Otherwise, we are risking life. Risking life means this human life, human life. The dog has got ear; we have got also ear. But a dog cannot understand śāstra; that is not possible. Or the elephant has got ear, very big ear. (laughter) Does it mean that he can hear more? No. This is rascaldom. One must be quite able to hear to understand śāstra. Therefore śāstra is meant for the human society. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta you will find, the Sanātana Gosvāmī's teachings, you will find, anadi bahirmukha jīva kṛṣṇa bhuli gela, ataeva kṛṣṇa veda purāṇa karila. Why these Vedas and Purāṇas are there? Just to remind us.
So garuḍa, these birds, they start their flying from one planet and sits in another planet. Just try to understand what is their flying. Not only that, they also lay eggs while flying, and the eggs, while falling down, it becomes another bird. And these birds can pick up elephants for eating. So this is God's creation. So if you want to become such a big bird, you can become. (laughter) Yes. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). God is so kind. Whatever you desire, you will get. Therefore it is depending upon our discretion, that "What kind of desire I shall maintain?" That desire is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you will be happy.
The Supreme Lord is quite competent to provide, to supply the necessities of life to millions and millions of living entities. There is no question of scarcity of supply. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. In the forest there are millions of elephants. Who is supplying them food? Kṛṣṇa is supplying. So there is no question of overpopulation. Overpopulation, there is no question of. If Kṛṣṇa has overpopulation, He is competent to supply them food. But it is the nature's restriction.
They are not concerned how to eat, how to sleep. They know, by nature's arrangement there is already arrangement. Just like the birds in the morning. They rise up early in the morning. They are not concerned where they will eat. They know there is already arrangement for eating. The elephants in Africa, they know that God has already arranged for their eating forty kilos at a time. The ants within the room, they know there is already arrangement.
We have forgotten that. Just like the master and the servant, the crude example, the dog: The dog loves the master because he knows, "The master gives me to eat." He feels obliged. The master takes care of the dog, and the dog is very much anxious to serve the master. Similarly, eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Why our relationship...? Because Kṛṣṇa is supplying all the needs of life. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti. We require so many things but who is supplying? Supplying, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is supplying food to the small ant, and Kṛṣṇa is supplying food to the big elephant. Unless Kṛṣṇa supplies there is no food. If Kṛṣṇa does not supply, if there is no production for your subsistence, then how you will live?
The tiger wanted a certain type of enjoyment, so he, it has got a certain type of body. Similarly, every one of us, in the 8,400,000's of species of life, we have got different bodies. But the soul is there. The soul, the individual soul, is within the elephant, and the individual soul is within the bacteria. Bacteria you cannot find with your open eyes. You have to see with a microscope. It has got the same soul. As the elephant has got the same soul, similarly, the bacteria has also got the same soul. Atraiva mṛgyaḥ puruṣo neti neti. Now you have to analyze. You have to analyze what is soul and what is not soul. That requires intelligence. Just like the other day I explained to you that if you think yourself, meditate on your self, that "Am I this hand? Am I this leg? Am I these eyes? Am I this ear?" oh, you'll say, "No, no, I am not this hand. I am not this leg." You'll understand. If you meditate, you'll understand. But when you come to the point of consciousness, you'll say, "Yes, I am this." This is meditation. This is meditation, analytical study of yourself.
In the Bhagavad-gītā you have read that a learned person, who is actually learned, he sees everyone on the equal level, sama-darśinaḥ. How? Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne. A person who is very highly learned, very gentle, civilized, vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe, and a brāhmaṇa, still higher, intellectual personality, gavi, a cow, hasti, means an elephant, śuni, the dog, śva-pāke ca, and the dog-eaters, śuni caiva śva-pāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama, all these—there are different varieties of living condition—but still, one who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he sees everyone on the same level.
There was a devotee of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. His name was Murāri Gupta. He was physician to the then Nawab, Muslim Nawab. Now, they were sitting. The Nawab was going some hunting excursion or something like that, but he was Nawab's physician. He was to accompany him. So they were sitting on the back of the elephant. In the meantime that Murāri Gupta saw one peacock, and as soon as he saw the peacock, the feather, he at once remembered Kṛṣṇa and at once fainted and fall down. This is called ālambana. This is called ālambana. Ālambana means anything to the context, immediately he remembers his Lord and becomes ecstatic. This is the first-class stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So there are many instances. Caitanya Mahāprabhu showed this manifestation in His life. We shall discuss. We are discussing now in the morning class.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that what is the use by expanding your attachment to this material world by children? Apatya-dāra. Dārāgāra. Dāra means wife, and āgāra means house. Dārāgāra-dhanadayaḥ. Dhanādayaḥ means riches. These are our expanding processes. And rājya, kingdom. Rājya. Kośa. Kośa means treasury. These are concerned with government. Government wants to expand. Rājya, kośa, and gaja. Gaja means elephant. The royal orders, they keep elephants. Especially in India, those who are princely order, they must keep at least dozens of elephants, and many thousands of horses. That is royal opulence. So rājya-kośa-gajāmātya. Amātya means minister, and bhṛtya, bhṛtya means servants, and āptā mean friends. That means, in other words, Prahlāda Mahārāja says that there is no necessity of expanding these material opulences.
They surrender to the saintly person for some material benefit. "Give me aṣibha (?) benediction." "What benediction?" "I have got ten thousand rupees, make it one lakh by your benediction." So these kind of devotees have been described by Prahlāda Mahārāja as vaṇik, vaṇīya, mercantile. Therefore merchant people, they want to invest two rupees and make, want to make profit ten rupees. So offering Kṛṣṇa little flower and fruit, they want to get some horses and elephant, you see, or very big estate. This is not devotion.
That I explained yesterday. It is very... Vaiṣṇava aparādha is the greatest dangerous offense. Therefore, Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His teaching to Sri Rūpa Goswāmī, He has especially, vaiṣṇava-aparādha hātī mātā, you are doing everything. He has compared Vaiṣṇava aparādha as mad elephant. He has very nicely metaphorically explained this. Just like you have a nice garden, very good garden, you are watering, you are giving protection, giving manure, everything. But if in that garden a mad elephant enters, then it will destroy everything, all your labor will go to hell immediately.
So there are these snakelike persons. They are envious about our movement, and they are opposing. That is the nature. Prahlāda Mahārāja also was opposed by his father, what to speak of others. These things will happen, but we should not be disappointed, as Prahlāda Mahārāja never became disappointed although he was teased in so many ways. He was also served with poison, he was thrown amongst the serpents and he was thrown from the hill, he was put under the feet of elephant. In so many ways put... Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has instructed us that "Do not be disappointed.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says the same thing: bhaktyā tutoṣa bhagavān gaja-yūtha-pāya. These material acquisitions, wealth, education, beauty, and so many other things which is very much evaluated in the material world, they are not qualifications for satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but bhakti. Bhaktyā tutoṣa. The example is that there was an elephant who was in danger. He was being dragged by an alligator in the water, and he prayed to Lord Viṣṇu, and he was saved. The example is that the elephant was not even human being. He was animal, but still, because he prayed to the Lord with devotion, so Lord immediately came to save him. This is the recommendation of all the Vedic scriptures.
So bhaktyā tutoṣa bhagavān gaja-yūtha pāya. Yathā kevala-bhaktyaiva gajendrāya tuṣṭuyavaḥ (?). The example is Gajendra, the elephant. It was not even a human being. Now, how he satisfied? You have seen that picture of, that... Here I don't find that picture in my apartment, that a calf is by the side of Kṛṣṇa, and it is trying to lick up the body of Kṛṣṇa like this, and Kṛṣṇa is embracing immediately.
So gaja-yūtha-pāya. Here it is. Even the elephant, he also become a great devotee. Even a monkey, Hanumānjī, he became a great devotee. He's not even human. So therefore bhakti is apratihatā. It cannot be checked in any condition. In any condition you become bhakta simply if you learn from the authorities how to do it. That greatest authority is Kṛṣṇa. He says, "I'll give you intelligence." Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam. "I'll give you." How? Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). If one is working under the direction of the spiritual master with love and faith, then Kṛṣṇa, from within, as caitya-guru, the guru within the heart, He'll help you, and he'll send you bona fide guru to help you externally. So both ways, you'll be helped, and you'll become Prahlāda Mahārāja.
The example is gaja-yūtha-pāya. The elephant, the king of the elephants, he satisfied. He's an animal. He's not a brāhmaṇa. He's not a Vedantist. Maybe very big, fatty animal, but after all, he's animal. Hanuman was animal. There are many such things. Jaṭāyu was a bird. So how they satisfied? The Jaṭāyu fought with Rāvaṇa. Yesterday you saw. Rāvaṇa was kidnapping Sītā devi, and Jaṭāyu, the bird, he was going, flying. Rāvaṇa knew how to fly without machine. He was very, very materially powerful.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja thought it that, although he was born in a family, asura family, ugra, ugra-jātam, still, if he decides to serve Kṛṣṇa, Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva, with bhakti, following the footprints of gaja-yūtha pāya, the king of elephant... He was animal. You know the story, that he was attacked by a crocodile in the water. So there was struggle for existence between the two, and after all, the crocodile is the animal in the water. He had great strength. And the elephant, although he's also very big, powerful animal, but he was not a animal of the water. So he was very helpless. So at last, he began to chant the holy name of the Lord and prayed, so he was saved. He was saved, and because the crocodile caught up the leg of the elephant, he was also saved because he was Vaiṣṇava. And this animal, crocodile, he was under the feet of a Vaiṣṇava, so he was also saved. (laughter) This is the story, you know. So therefore, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava sevā. He indirectly gave service to the Vaiṣṇava, and he also became delivered.
Prahlāda Mahārāja is submitting that "I do not require to be highly elevated to offer my prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Nobody requires any material acquisition to approach God. We have been discussing this point for the last few days. Simply bhaktyā tutoṣa gaja-yūtha-pāya. Even an elephant or any other animal can also satisfy the Lord. How? Bhaktyā, simply by feelings of love, that's all.
This equal vision is possible for a learned man who sees a learned brāhmaṇa, a dog, an elephant, a cow, on the same basis. What is that basis? Spiritual understanding. So unless you are in the spiritual platform, the so-called knowledge has no value. That is not knowledge. That is ignorance.
Just like a fish, it is an animal of the water. It has nothing to enjoy on the land. So if, by mistake, a fish thinks that "I shall become an elephant and enjoy in the land," that is not possible. Similarly, we spirit soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, we are all Brahman, and we have nothing to do with this material world. But because we are Brahman... Brahman means ānandamaya. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. The Supreme Brahman is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And we are part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman. Therefore we are also sac-cid-ānanda, eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge. But somehow or other, icchā-dveṣa-samutthena... (BG 7.27).
I am getting different opportunities, different bodies, to fulfill my material desires. This is going on. This is called saṁsāra-cakra-kadanāt. Prahlāda Mahārāja, a devotee, is afraid, very, very afraid. He is not afraid of the lion or the elephant or the tiger or the snake. No. He's not afraid of these. But he's afraid of this repetition of birth and death. That is called saṁsāra-cakra. Is it not botheration? Any sane man will understand how much botheration it is. Just like I am now old man. There are so many inconveniences. And in this way every old man will die, and if he's fortunate enough, if he has done something, he may be promoted to the higher planetary system, or if he has tried for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he may go back to home, back to Godhead.
Due to the strong inclination of eating, he loses his life. As soon as he's caught up, that... Similarly, other animal... Just like the deer is very fond of hearing nice music. The hunters play very nice music, and they come to hear, and he kills. So one is losing the life for strong tongue dictation, one is losing life for ear, and the elephant is captured by sex. You cannot capture elephant; it is very strong animal. But there is trained she-elephant. She allures the male elephant, and for sex the male elephant follows, and tactfully the elephant is put into a hole. He falls down. Then he is captured. Then for life he becomes a slave. Such a big animal, so strong, but by the trick of human being he becomes slave. So similarly, there is analysis.
| Page Title: | Elephant (SB Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, Mayapur |
| Created: | 31 of Dec, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=104, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 104 |