Persons who are very much influenced by this materialistic way of thought, āsuri-bhāvam āśritāḥ, such persons are always engaged in misdeeds, duṣkṛtina. Misdeeds. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. Why they are engaged in misdeeds? Because mūḍha. They do not know what is the responsibility of this human form of life. They are simply wasting their life in animal propensities, mūḍha.
Mūḍha is the symbol of an ass. He does not know. The ass does not know why he is working so hard for the washerman. He carries a very heavy load, but he does not know, "Why I am carrying so much heavy load?" That is the symbol of an ass. If you work so hard, you must know what benefit you are deriving out of it. But the ass does not know.
Similarly, the karmīs, they are very busy, very busy accumulating wealth. But he does not know what for he is doing so, why he is so laboring hard. Ṛṣabhadeva says that this life, human form of life, is not meant for so much hard working.
- nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke
- kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye
- (SB 5.5.1)
Why people are taught to work so hard? Simply for morsel of bread and little sense gratification. So Ṛṣabhadeva says that that is done by the hogs and dogs. Daily they are whole day and night working, "Where is some food? Where is some stool?"
But that human form of life is meant for that purpose, working hard, so hard like hogs and dogs simply for fulfilling the belly and having a sex life? No. So they should be taught for tapasya.
- nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke
- kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye
- tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet
- (SB 5.5.1)
Ṛṣabhadeva was advising, instructing His sons, "My dear boys, this life is meant for tapo-divyam, for spiritual realization, austerity. That should be taught."
So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is teaching that tapa. Tapa means you have to accept voluntarily some difficulties. Actually, it is not difficulty, because . . . just like somebody smoking, and we are advising, "Don't smoke." The smoker may feel some inconvenience. But if he voluntarily suffers that inconvenience, that is called tapasya.
Actually he will not die, but because he is practiced to so many nonsense habits, he feels difficulty to give it up. From the birth he is not a drunkard, from birth he is not a smoker, but by bad association, so-called civilized association, he becomes a drunkard, he becomes a smoker, he becomes a woman hunter, he becomes a gambler—sinful life.
So to advance in spiritual life one has to give up all these sinful activities; otherwise it is not possible. Some rascal says that, "You can do whatever you like. It has nothing to do with your religiousness." This is nonsense. Religious life means to approach God, and God is pure. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). Pavitra.
Kṛṣṇa is addressed by Arjuna, pavitram. In the Upaniṣad it is said, Īśopaniṣad, apāpa-viddham (ISO 8). God cannot be infected by sinful activities. That is God's . . . just like we are infected by sinful activities, God is not like that. There is Absolute. So He is always pure. So we have to make ourselves purified before we can approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead.