Arjuna is asking Kṛṣṇa, "I do not know wherefrom it is coming, wherefrom this such high temperature is coming." It is stated here, tejaḥ parama-dāruṇam. The temperature is so high, intolerable. So we should ask the authority. Kṛṣṇa is the best authority. So Arjuna is asking from Him, kim idaṁ svit kuto veti: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, wherefrom this temperature is coming?" Kim idam. Deva-deva. Why he's asking to Kṛṣṇa? Because Kṛṣṇa is the deva-deva. Here we have got many millions of different varieties of life, 8,400,000 varieties of life. Out of them, we human form of life, and above this, the demigods in the higher planetary system, their standard of living, their duration of life is many, many times higher, superior than ours. Just like our standard of life—we are human being—it is better than the uncivilized man. And the uncivilized man's standard of life is better than the animal life. Nunam mahatāṁ tatra jīvo jīvasya jīvanam (SB 1.13.47). The uncivilized man, they cannot produce food; therefore they kill animal. In the forest they live, and they kill some animals and eat. They cannot . . . They have no such knowledge that the forest can be cleared and we can till the ground, and we can get very nice foodstuff, foodgrains, vegetable, so many things. Kṛṣi, agriculture. So the land is there, but this uncivilized man does not know how to get the necessities of life from land. They do not know. Otherwise, in the land everything is there. It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, sarva-dughā mahī. Sarva-dughā. No. Sarva-kāma-dughā mahī (SB 1.10.4). Kāma. Kāma means the necessities. We can get all the necessities of our life from the land. The land is so important. But the uncivilized man, they do not know how to utilize the land. Therefore they commit sinful activities for their existence. Instead of utilizing land for the necessities of life, unnecessarily . . . Although they are civilized—they should not have done so—they are killing animals.
The animal-killing is for the uncivilized man, one who cannot get the necessities of life by intelligence. Just like modern civilized man, they are getting, suppose, so many machines, say motorcar, a very useful vehicle. But wherefrom it is obtained? From the land. What is the motorcar ingredients? It is a combination of matter: earth, water, air, fire. You get iron, put into the fire and melt it, and then get the wheel. Similarly, so many things. Tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ. Material civilization means tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ (SB 1.1.1)—exchange of fire, water and earth—that's all. It is just like you see nice doll. What is this nice doll? Tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ. There is earth, water, fire. You mix the earth with water and make it a nice doll, and put it into the fire and then color it. It will appear just like a very, very beautiful girl. But it is not the fact. Similarly, the whole material world is nothing but an imitation of the spiritual world by intermixture of earth, water and fire—and nothing else.
But because we are not beyond this material existence; we are in the material . . . I am identifying with this body, therefore I am thinking that after the finish of this body everything is finished. This is rascaldom, atheism. No. But Kṛṣṇa gives information, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is right information. Kṛṣṇa, the supreme authority, gives you the information that "Don't think that this body is finished, therefore everything is finished. No. Not everything finished. The soul is being carried by the subtle body." The example is given just like when the air passes through the rose garden and you smell very nice fragrance. You cannot see what is that fragrance, but you experience that there is some fragrance. Wherefrom? Sometimes we inquire, "Wherefrom this fragrance coming?" You cannot see. Similarly, the soul is very, very small, a small particle of the same ingredient as Kṛṣṇa. Mamaivāṁśa. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). Jīva is very small particle of the same ingredient as Kṛṣṇa's body. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (BS 5.1). So we have got our vigraha, very small. That is also stated in the śāstra. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140): one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. We cannot even imagine what is the length and breadth of the hair, but the soul is one ten-thousandth part. So how you can see the soul? That small particle is being carried by the subtle body—mind, intelligence and ego. And it is pushed through the semina of the father into the womb of the mother, and another body is manufactured in due course of time, and it comes out and works.
This is called transmigration of the soul—from one body to another. That body is given by superior examination, Yamarāja. Yamarāja fixes up what kind of body this soul will get. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). Just like in the court, there is case, and the magistrate decides what kind of punishment this criminal should be awarded. So similarly, here in this material world, we are simply engaged in sinful activities. Here the so-called pious and impious, that is simply imagination. Really, if I am actually pious, I should not get this material body. Just like to remain in the prison house means criminal. You may be a first-class prisoner, it doesn't matter, but you are a prisoner, you are a criminal. Sometimes the big, big politicians, they are put into the jail and they're given all comforts. But that does not mean he's not a criminal. He's a criminal. Either he may be Gandhi or anyone; because he's put into the jail, he's a criminal. Similarly, anyone who is enwrapped with this material body, he's a criminal. He's a criminal. Either he may be in the heavenly planet or in this earthly planet or in the cats' and dogs' life or insect or aquatics. There are varieties of life. Every one of us, as long as we are put into this material body, it is to be understood that we are all criminal.