Invalid (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
" invalidate" |" invalidated" |" invalidity" |" invalids" |"invalid" |"invalidated" |"invalidity"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

A rich man or poor man, when we are old, we have to suffer so many invalidity.

Lecture on BG 4.17 -- Bombay, April 6, 1974:

It doesn't matter whether it is rich body or poor body. Everyone has to undergo the threefold miserable condition of life. When typhoid is there, it does not discriminate that "Here is a rich body. I shall give him less pain." No. When the typhoid is there, either your body is rich body or poor body, you have to suffer the same pain. When you are within the womb of your mother, you have to suffer the same pain, either you become in the queen's womb or in the cobbler's wife's womb. That packed up situation... But they do not know. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā. There are so many sufferings. In the process of birth. There are so many sufferings in the process of birth and death and old age. A rich man or poor man, when we are old, we have to suffer so many invalidity.

The ultimate problem is, of course, death. Nobody wants to die. Even one is very old man, older than me, and his body is not working, he's invalid, he cannot walk even, lying on the bed—still, he wants to live. If some suffering old man, who has so many diseases, invalid person, if you say, "My dear father, grandfather, you are so much suffering. Let me shoot you." "Oh, no, no, no. Don't shoot me." He doesn't want to die.

Lecture on BG 7.14 -- Hamburg, September 8, 1969:

The ultimate problem is, of course, death. Nobody wants to die. Even one is very old man, older than me, and his body is not working, he's invalid, he cannot walk even, lying on the bed—still, he wants to live. If some suffering old man, who has so many diseases, invalid person, if you say, "My dear father, grandfather, you are so much suffering. Let me shoot you." "Oh, no, no, no. Don't shoot me." He doesn't want to die. So death is a problem. Nobody wants to die, but death comes and captures him, just like President Kennedy, within a second: (snaps his finger) "Leave this position." Forced.

Due to ignorance, we forget the miseries of death, the miseries of invalidity, or old age. We think, "Now we are young, young man, young woman. Oh, we don't care for what is old age or what is death. Let us enjoy." We forget.

Lecture on BG 7.28-8.6 -- New York, October 23, 1966:

So the Lord says that "One who has surpassed this material nature and ignorance," te, "they can become free from this conception of duality," bhajante mām, "and becomes a perfect devotee of Myself." That means, in other words, one who becomes perfectly Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he becomes liberated from this conception of duality or illusion of duality. He becomes a perfect man—jarā-maraṇa-mokṣāya.

Now, one can question why this perfection is required. What is the necessity of perfection? Because there are still... There are... People are mostly under the spell of the modes of nature of ignorance. Therefore they do not know the value of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They can inquire that "What is the use of becoming Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa conscious, and become free from this conception of duality? What is the use?" So Lord Kṛṣṇa replies that question. Why?

jarā-maraṇa-mokṣāya

mām āśritya yatanti ye

te brahma tad viduḥ kṛtsnam

adhyātmaṁ karma cākhilam

This is necessary for you to become this Kṛṣṇa conscious, to adopt this life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Why? Because jarā-maraṇa-mokṣāya: "In order to get out of the miseries of jarā." Jarā means old age, invalidity. And jarā-maraṇa. Maraṇa means death. Due to ignorance, we forget the miseries of death, the miseries of invalidity, or old age. We think, "Now we are young, young man, young woman. Oh, we don't care for what is old age or what is death. Let us enjoy." We forget. But a man who is not in ignorance, he has always in his view that this material life is full of miseries because there is birth, there is death, there is old age and there is disease.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

So you cannot solve the problem of janma, or you cannot solve the problem of mṛtyu. You cannot solve the problem of being old, invalid, disease.

Lecture on SB 3.26.6 -- Bombay, December 18, 1974:

So you cannot solve the problem of janma, or you cannot solve the problem of mṛtyu. You cannot solve the problem of being old, invalid, disease. Then where is your solution of problems? But still, they are proud, "We are advancing." What you have advanced? The real problem are there. Nobody could solve. Try the history of the whole world. There have been so many big, big empires: the Roman Empire, the British Empire, the Mogul Empire. But where are those empires, and where are those emperors? When I go to Agra, I pass through the fort, and they show, "Here the emperor Shah Jahan lived. Here the emperor..." Where is that Shah Jahan now? The place is there. Similarly, in France, in a park there is Napoleon's statue: "Napoleon and France, the identity." And I asked them that "Your France is here, but where is your Napoleon?" (laughter)

Then cut off another twenty years due to old age, invalidity, and so many other, accident, and so many other things. So it is cutting, cutting, cutting.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Montreal, June 16, 1968:

Now, Prahlāda Mahārāja says that although you have got one hundred years to live, but because we cannot control our senses, therefore it should be taken half, fifty years. Why? Now, because out of twenty-four hours, we sleep more than twelve hours. So while we sleep, there is no activity. So immediately you cut off fifty years because you cannot work. Although you have got duration of life, one hundred years, but you cannot work one hundred years. Fifty years immediately cut off on account of ajitātmanaḥ. Ajitātmanaḥ means one who has not controlled the senses. So every one of us cannot control, most of us. Therefore half of the age is immediately cut off. Niṣphalaṁ yad asau rātryāṁ śete 'ndhaṁ prāpitas tamaḥ. Why it is cut off? "Because without any profit we sleep very soundly, and therefore it is simply wasted." Then mugdhasya bālye kaiśore krīḍato yāti viṁśatiḥ (SB 7.6.7). Then suppose there is fifty years balance, oh, sufficient balance. Then he says, bālye kaiśore. Bālye means up to five years. And from five years to eleven years, bālye kaiśore. Because children generally from five years to twelve, thirteen years they are very fond of playing. So niṣphalaṁ mugdhasya bālye kaiśore krīḍato yāti viṁśatiḥ: (SB 7.6.7) "Twenty years is wasted simply for playing." So half duration of life immediately cut off. Then again, out of that fifty years, again twenty years cut off. Then jarayā grasta-dehasya yāty akalpasya viṁśatiḥ. Then cut off another twenty years due to old age, invalidity, and so many other, accident, and so many other things. So it is cutting, cutting, cutting.

So long you do not become invalid, old, unable to work, you should try. Not try, you must—yateta—for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 7.6.5 -- Vrndavana, December 7, 1975:

Here it is recommended by Prahlāda Mahārāja, śarīraṁ pauruṣaṁ yāvan na vipadyeta puṣkalam. So long you do not become invalid, old, unable to work, you should try. Not try, you must—yateta—for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not that "When I shall become old, before death I shall try a few months Hare Kṛṣṇa." No. From the very beginning of life, from childhood, they should be taught how to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, how to attend maṅgala ārati, how to... In this way, by this practice, vidhi, vidhi-bhakti, regulated principle, tapasya... This is called tapasya. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). If you want to purify your existence, then you should begin... That is human life, tapasya.

But the best profit is, for human form of life, to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So Prahlāda Mahārāja has analyzed that; fifty years immediately minus from our life. Then, by playing in youthhood and childhood, another twenty years. Seventy years minus. Then, when old age comes, by disease, by invalidity, another twenty years minus. That means fifty plus twenty plus twenty. Out of hundred years, ninety years gone.

Lecture on SB 7.6.6-9 -- Montreal, June 23, 1968:

So there are two kinds of profit. Those who are materialists, they calculate profit by dollars, and those who are spiritualists, they calculate profit: "How much I have advanced today in spiritual or Kṛṣṇa consciousness?" Both of them are profits. So either make this profit or that profit, but don't waste your time. That is the proposal. But the best profit is, for human form of life, to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So he has analyzed that mugdhasya bālye kaiśore krīdato yāti vimśatiḥ (SB 7.6.7). So fifty years immediately minus from our life. Then, by playing in youthhood and childhood, another twenty years. Seventy years minus. Then jarayā grasta dehasya yāty akalpasya vimśatiḥ. Then, when old age comes, by disease, by invalidity, another twenty years minus. That means fifty plus twenty plus twenty. Out of hundred years, ninety years gone. Then,

durāpureṇa kāmena

mohena ca balīyasā

śeṣaṁ gṛheṣu saktasya

pramattasyāpayāti hi

(SB 7.6.8)

The balance ten years, because the whole life we have spoiled in material activities, in the balance, ten years are wasted: "What I have done, and how to pull on? Oh, this was not successful. How I have to make successful? This boy was not educated. That boy was not properly brought up. He has gone out home...," so many anxieties. That means if we do not practice from childhood, then in the advanced age it is not possible. That is the proposal of Prahlāda Mahārāja.

So fifty years out of one hundred years, fifty years wasted by sleeping. And then balance fifty years, twenty years in childhood and youthhood, sporting, playing; another twenty years in old age... Jarayā grasta. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. These are inevitable. As birth is inevitable, death is inevitable, similarly, old age is inevitable.

Lecture on SB 7.6.7 -- Vrndavana, December 9, 1975:

Harikeśa: Translation: "In tender childhood age, when everyone is bewildered, he passes ten years. Similarly, in boyhood, being engaged in sporting and playful things, another ten years. In this way twenty years are wasted. Similarly, in old age, when a person becomes invalid and he is unable to execute even material activities, he passes another twenty years wastefully."

Prabhupāda:

mugdhasya bālye kaiśore

krīḍato yāti viṁśatiḥ

jarayā grasta-dehasya

yāty akalpasya viṁśatiḥ

(SB 7.6.7)

So fifty years out of one hundred years, fifty years wasted by sleeping. And then balance fifty years, twenty years in childhood and youthhood, sporting, playing; another twenty years in old age... Jarayā grasta. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). These are inevitable. As birth is inevitable, death is inevitable, similarly, old age is inevitable. So in this way our time is wasted because we do not know how valuable this human form of life is. There is no such education. They think human life is as cheap as dog's life, but factually it is not.

So we should not waste our time, mugdhasya bālye kaiśora, and foolish old man, full with disease and invalidity. No. We should immediately begin our spiritual life, ahaṁ brahmāsmi.

Lecture on SB 7.6.7 -- Vrndavana, December 9, 1975:

So we should not waste our time, mugdhasya bālye kaiśora, and foolish old man, full with disease and invalidity. No. We should immediately begin our spiritual life, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is called brahma-bhūtaḥ. If we come to this point, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am Brahman; I am not this body," that is very fortune, good fortune. But people are... All men, whole, throughout the whole world, they are under this bodily concept of life, and they cannot find out where is the soul, "Where I, where I am." So they are all fools and rascals. So if one comes by cultivation of knowledge, spiritual knowledge, comes to understand that "I am within this body," that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ, brahma-jñāna, ahaṁ brahmāsmi.

So out of hundred years, fifty years wasted by sleeping, twenty years wasted by playing like boy and young man, and twenty years as old man, diseased, invalidated, and balance ten years.

Lecture on SB 7.6.8 -- Vrndavana, December 10, 1975:

So our lusty desires, sense gratification, cannot be satisfied even throughout the whole life. The account is being given of the whole life, hundred years. So out of hundred years, fifty years wasted by sleeping, twenty years wasted by playing like boy and young man, and twenty years as old man, diseased, invalidated, and balance ten years... Because ninety years he has been so much attached to materialistic way of life, naturally the balance ten years, śeṣam, he cannot utilize in any other way. He can simply engage himself in that lusty desire for material existence.

The calculation of life is already given account. Maximum years, hundred years. Fifty years by sleeping, minus. Then fifty years remains. Then twenty years childhood and playing. Then, remaining thirty years, and twenty years in old age, invalidity, not fulfillment of desires, what to do. In this way twenty years, and balance ten years, because all along one is directed by lusty desires, what he'll do?

Lecture on SB 7.6.8 -- New Vrindaban, June 24, 1976:

The calculation of life is already given account. Maximum years, hundred years. Fifty years by sleeping, minus. Then fifty years remains. Then twenty years childhood and playing. Then, remaining thirty years, and twenty years in old age, invalidity, not fulfillment of desires, what to do. In this way twenty years, and balance ten years, because all along one is directed by lusty desires, what he'll do? Prahlāda Mahārāja is trying to establish his submission. It is not theory, but submission that kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). From the very childhood this bhāgavata-dharma should be taught and learned. Just like here, these boys, they are very fortunate because from the very beginning of their life they are being taught in bhāgavata-dharma. They are coming, take a little flower, offering to the Deity or the spiritual master, offering obeisances, chanting, taking little prasādam—these are all taken into account. Every inch of it.

When God comes with Lakṣmī, with Sītā, with Rādhārāṇī, no, no, that is not required. We don't want to serve that God. We want to serve when God comes as poor man, as invalid with a stick, and begs. Oh I am so great. I am giving God." This is nonsense.

Lecture on SB 7.9.11 -- Mayapur, February 18, 1976:

So we should always remember this, that Kṛṣṇa does not require our service, but if we give some service to Kṛṣṇa, that is our benefit. This is the formula. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa is very much obliged. But He feels obliged. Why? Aviduṣaḥ. We are all fools and rascals. We are thinking that we are giving some service. No. We cannot give any. We are so insignificant that we cannot. He's unlimited, and we are very, very limited, tiny. But still, just the small child gives something to the father... It is father's property, but still, the father is very glad that "This child is giving me a lozenges." He thinks, "This is my big property." (laughs) So always we should remember this verse, that naivātmanaḥ prabhur ayaṁ nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ. He's always full with six opulences. There is no question of satisfying by giving something. This daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā has come under this misunderstanding that "We have to serve God, so when God comes as daridra, then we shall give. When God comes with Lakṣmī, with Sītā, with Rādhārāṇī, no, no, that is not required. We don't want to serve that God. We want to serve when God comes as poor man, as invalid with a stick, and begs. Oh I am so great. I am giving God." This is nonsense. This is not... What God cares for you? But they have conceived that, that "God, although He is great, he becomes a small beggar and begs from me." This is material conception of understanding.

General Lectures

As soon as there is a child born, milk immediately required. Old man, milk is life. Diseased person, milk is life. Invalid, milk is life. So therefore Kṛṣṇa is teaching by His practical demonstration how He loves this innocent animal, cow.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 4, 1968:

So try to make some percentage of the population actually brāhmaṇa. Go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca. And protect the cows. Actually, we are taking so much advantages. So from the cows, the milk. And from the milk we can make hundreds of vitaminous foodstuff, hundreds. They're all palatable. So such a nice animal, faithful, peaceful, and beneficial. After taking milk from it, if we kill, does it look very well? Even after the death, the cows supply the skin for your shoes. It is so beneficial. You see. Even after death. While living, he gives you nice milk. You cannot reject milk from the human society. As soon as there is a child born, milk immediately required. Old man, milk is life. Diseased person, milk is life. Invalid, milk is life. So therefore Kṛṣṇa is teaching by His practical demonstration how He loves this innocent animal, cow.

Philosophy Discussions

Then in that way, what he proposes, that is also false, because in this material world there is no truth. Everything is false. So his philosophical proposition is also false.

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Śyāmasundara: Let us say the proposition that "The sum of the angles of a triangle equals 180 degrees," that is a proposition. It can be demonstrated on paper but it cannot be verified by experiential data.

Devotee: If you're steering a ship you can make use of it, can't you?

Śyāmasundara: It can be made use of and it can be called valid or invalid.

Prabhupāda: What does he want more?

Śyāmasundara: He wants to know true and false. That this "Sum of the angles equal to 180 degrees" can be said to be valid or invalid, but it cannot be said to be true or false.

Prabhupāda: Then in that way, what he proposes, that is also false, because in this material world there is no truth. Everything is false. So his philosophical proposition is also false.

Śyāmasundara: Actually, he came to recognize that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then that's all right. Then why he is bothering about something false? That is another foolishness.

Why invalid? It is valid because all mathematicians, all scientists, they have accepted it.

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Śyāmasundara: Just like the proposition, "The sum of the angles of a triangle equals 180 degrees."

Prabhupāda: That is accepted by the scientists and mathematicians.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. That can be said to be a valid proposition or an invalid proposition. Demonstrated.

Prabhupāda: Why invalid? It is valid because all mathematicians, all scientists, they have accepted it.

It is valid. It is not invalid, it is valid. You cannot understand it. Try to understand it. It is valid. "I am the soul," that's a valid proposition. How you can say invalid?

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Śyāmasundara: We can neither say that is valid or invalid, neither we can say it is...

Prabhupāda: It is valid. It is not invalid, it is valid. You cannot understand it. Try to understand it. It is valid. "I am the soul," that's a valid proposition. How you can say invalid?

Suppose I say it is gold. What he will say? What is his proposition?

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Śyāmasundara: He says that atomic propositions, or the components of compound propositions, depend for their validity upon the reliability with which they accurately picture atomic facts. In other words, suppose there is some proposition that this ring is gold. This proposition is part of a compound proposition which tells where the ring came from, how it was originated, who wore it, so many other facts. But only you take one proposition, "this ring is gold," he said this proposition depends upon the reliability with which it accurately pictures the facts, if it is true or false. That statement, "this ring is gold," it must determine how accurately it pictures the facts before we can say if it is valid or invalid proposition.

Prabhupāda: Suppose I say it is gold. What he will say? What is his proposition?

Śyāmasundara: He'll say that first of all you must give us a list of conditions to determine why it is gold, under what conditions it is gold.

Prabhupāda: That is everything. That he is speaking also, that is another condition.

Śyāmasundara: There must be certain conditions met before...

Prabhupāda: But how he is speaking is also fact, that he is speaking under certain conditions. Everything in this material world, that is on condition. So his philosophizing is also under condition. So everything is conditioned. Why does he not understand first of all himself, instead of trying to understand what is gold? Everything is conditioned.

Anyone who has got this material body must be crazy. And therefore everyone is speaking in a different way.

Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:

Devotee: Yes, his observation is correct, but at the same time it doesn't invalidate Freud's use of psychology for supposedly normal people.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) psychology.

Śyāmasundara: He didn't analyze only crazy people; he also analyzed his friends, his mother, his wife, other people also, healthy people.

Devotee: The point is in Revatīnandana Mahārāja's argument is that we have to define, then, what is crazy and what is sane.

Prabhupāda: He is saying that he had studied only some crazy people.

Śyāmasundara: No.

Prabhupāda: But that is not the fact. He analyzed some sane people also. But one psychiatrist's opinion is that (indistinct) was a civil servant, he was called to give evidence in a case where the criminal was pleading (indistinct) became insane while he committed the murder. So the civil servant was called to test him, whether actually he was insane or (indistinct) insanity. So he gave evidence that "I have tested so many persons, so I have seen that more or less everyone is insane. More or less. They are bewildered. So in that case, if insanity is the only plea that he should be excused, he can be excused. But so far as I know, everyone is more or less insane." And that is our conclusion. We say (indistinct), anyone who is infected with this material nature is more or less insane, crazy. He is crazy, not more or less. Anyone who has got this material body must be crazy. And therefore everyone is speaking in a different way.