- āmayo yaś ca bhūtānāṁ
- jāyate yena suvrata
- tad eva hy āmayaṁ dravyaṁ
- na punāti cikitsitam
- (SB 1.5.33)
Is very important verse. Actually, this is the essence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. What is that? People become diseased by sense gratification. Everyone knows. Too much sense gratification means creating disease. For example, some nice eatable. But if you . . . because it is very nice rasagullā, therefore I shall devour one dozen, that's not very good. That will create indigestion immediately. So in this material world, people are so much enthusiastic in the matter of sense gratification. Whole world—not only now—this is the place for competition of sense gratification. Advancement of civilization means, the so-called civilization, material civ . . . means how much you are able to gratify your senses. That is civilization. How much you are given facilities to gratify your senses. This is the modern idea: hedonism. More eat, more drink—eat, drink, be merry and enjoy. Sense gratification.
This is not only new. Formerly, the Cārvāka Muni, he also advocated, ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet. In India, they want to eat very nice foodstuff prepared from ghee. So he advised that ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet: even you have no money, then beg, borrow or steal, get ghee and eat very nice. Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā, the word is . . . suppose one has no money, then how to get money? Either cheat somebody, beg . . . or beg. But begging for gṛhastha is not very good thing, but sometimes they do so, beg, borrow or, promising, "Give me now money. I shall pay you." And when credit is lost, then steal, pickpocket. This is as theory. Similarly, Cārvāka Muni, ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet, "Never mind." "No, I will have to pay." "No, that we shall see later on, never mind." "No, I will be sinful, I will have to pay next life." This is within the blood of every Indian, that if I cheat you or if I take some money from you without your benefit, without repayment, then I will have to suffer. Still in India they believe this.
There are some incidences that a man . . . his father took some loan from some gentleman and his father died, and his son came to pay the money to the creditor: "Sir, my father took so much money from you. Now my father died without payment. So I have got money. You kindly take it." He says: "Let me see my book whether your father took it." So he said: "All right, consult." So after consulting the books, he said, "I don't find any item that I gave loan to your father." "No, sir, I know. My father said at the time of death that, 'I owe so much money to that gentleman. I could not pay; you pay it.' " So the trouble was, the man says: "I don't find any debit to your father's name. How can I take your money?" And he is insisting, "Yes, my father took money from you. Kindly take." This was India. This was India. They knew that, "I cannot cheat you." Karmī, in the karma-kāṇḍa, if I cheat you, then I will have to pay you four times this life or next life. That is the law of karma.