Prabhupāda: You have to refer to the government regulative principles, and expert government officers, they are selected. Formally it was ICS, now it is IAS. That means reference to the authorities. Similarly, there are authorities which are called śāstra. Śās-dhātu means to rule. From Śās-dhātu, śāstra and śastra. Śastra means weapon. If you do not act according to the śāstra then there is śastra. Śastra means weapon, government. If you violate the rules of the government then there is police department, there is military department which will force you to accept the government regulation. And from the same śās-dhātu is śiṣya, one who voluntarily accepts the discipline.
- yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya
- vartate kāma-kārataḥ
- na sa siddhim avāpnoti
- na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim
- (BG 16.23)
The aim of human life is parāṁ gatim. Parāṁ gatim means the supreme perfection. Gatim means progress, and parām means the supreme. Our life is progressive. By evolution we have come to this human form of life through many forms of life.
- jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi
- sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati
- kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyayaḥ
- pakṣīṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam
Like that. In the beginning there was water, so the living entities were aquatics. Then, as the land came out, sthāvara, then plants, creepers, trees. So we have to pass through nine lakhs species of life in the water. Then trees, plants, two millions, twenty lakhs. In this way there are 8,400,000 species of life, and when you come to the human form of life, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19), we get this form of life. Now we have to select parāṁ gatim or adho gatim. We are given the chance of human form of life for further advancement. And that is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: