At least eight million different forms of life. The list is there in Padma Purāṇa, jalajā nava-lakṣāni: "Nine lakhs forms of life within the water." There is animal in the water which is called timiṅgala. It is so big that. . . We have got experience, the whale fish is very big. That whale fish is taken up by this timiṅgala fish just like a big fish swallows a small fish. Such big, big fishes are there within the. . . They do not come visible to the. . . but there are. We get information, timiṅgala. Many very big, big animals are there within the water, deep. So there are nine lakhs, 900,000 forms of life within the water. And then jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Then. . . Sthāvarā means "stand up." We have got experience—I do not know whether you have got—in our school days, if a boy is making trouble, the teacher will ask him, "Stand up on the bench." So the stand-up punishment. . . The trees, the plants, they are stand-up punishment. (laughter) "Stand up here for five thousand years." You see? There are many trees, they are standing up for five thousand years, seven thousand years. In California I have seen one tree, they say it is seven thousand years old. So just imagine. If the teacher punishes a boy to stand up for few minutes, how much troublesome it is, and if one is ordered to stand up for seven thousand years, so just imagine what is the punishment.
So that is punishment. These trees and plants, because they committed very sinful activities, they. . . Naked, to become naked, is also another criminal activity. Therefore, by nature's law, the trees, the. . . they are standing up naked. They do not dress. Similarly, if a human being does not dress, does not cover, then what is the difference between the trees and the human being? It is the human being who requires to be properly dressed. That is the law of nature. If we violate, then the punishment is, "All right, you become tree and stand up naked for ten thousand years." This is the nature's law. You cannot violate the nature's law. And we are completely under the laws of nature. You cannot say that "I don't care for it." No. You may say, foolishly, but you are, you are. Just like nature's law is that you must die. Can you say, "No, I shall not die"? Can you say boldly, "No, no, I shall not die. I am now scientific. I have got my science. I shall not die"? The nature's law is: you must die.
So in this way you should understand how strongly you are controlled by the nature's law. But foolishly we say, "No." That is not. Just like this Mahārāja Parīkṣit, such a powerful king, he is now somehow or other cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy that "You must die within seven days." So he is preparing. He has got time, seven days. But what we have got? We haven't got even seven minutes' warning. At any moment we can die. And what we are doing? That is the foolishness. One must be ready, that "I will have to die. And 'die' means I will have to accept another body." Now, there are so many forms of body. As I was explaining aquatics, 900,000, then trees. As the water dries, the vegetation comes. You have got experience. That is the nature's process. And after vegetation, then the flies, insects, moving, up to trees and plants, not moving. Then they move—flies, grasshoppers. And they turn into birds again, very freely flying. And there are many, many big birds in the sky, eagles. Some of the eagles, you have got experience. There are monkey-eating eagles. They capture the monkey. And there are eagles elephant-eating. (laughter) We get all this information. Elephant, they will capture elephant and take it away. (laughter) Just imagine. It is no joking. This is a fact.