Now, there is a story in the Rāmāyaṇa. In the Rāmāyaṇa there is a story. When Mahārāja Daśaratha . . . Daśaratha was the father of Lord Rāma. When Rāma was a boy, say about ten years, twelve years old, or about fifteen or sixteen years old . . . he was simply a boy. Now, one sage, his name is . . . he's very famous sage. He came to Mahārāja Daśaratha, asking the help of Rāmacandra for killing one demon in the forest. Because the sages used to remain in forest, they were . . . that demon was creating some disturbance, so he approached the king. King is the lord of both the city and the forest. So he prayed that, "Please send your son and help me."
Now, at that time this king inquired from that sage, aihisthaṁ yat taṁ punar-janma-jayāya (Rāmayana). Now, just like in our worldly affairs we, for gentleman's etiquette, we ask, "How are you? How things are going on?" now, here the king was asking the sage, aihisthaṁ yat taṁ punar-janma-jayāya: "You are . . . you have . . . you have become mendicant. You have become sage just to conquer over death." Conquer over death. Aihisthaṁ yat taṁ punar-janma-jayāya. So that is this highest knowledge. Highest knowledge is to conquer over the death.
This sort of idea . . . of course, now it has become a story, but to conquer over the death, that was the main problem in . . . at least in the former Vedic civilization days. Everyone, any highest, I mean to say, highly situated person in knowledge, his main business was how to conquer death. Now, at the present moment that question has become subordinate thing, how to conquer death. "Let death there be. So long death does not come, let me enjoy and have sense gratification." That has become the standard of civilization at the present moment. But real problem is how to conquer death.
They think . . . the scientists say: "Oh, death is . . . death cannot be conquered. Set aside. Set aside. Now let us prepare something, atomic bomb, so that death can be accelerated." This is scientific advancement. Death is there, and the problem . . . formerly, people used to think of how conquering death, but at the present moment they are thinking accelerating death, and they call it advancement of knowledge, advancement of science. So this is going on.
So practically, this is ignorance. Real solution . . . there is no real solution, but whatever they are doing, they are thinking they are making too much advancement. But Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says that ihaiva tair jitaḥ sargaḥ. Sarga means repetition of birth. Icchā-dveṣa-samutthena sarge yānti parantapa (BG 7.27).
The sarga, the repetition of birth, is due to our strong desire for material enjoyment. So long we do not discard this desire of material enjoyment, we have to take our birth repeatedly, either in the human form or in the form of a demigod or in the form of a tiger or in the form of a dog or cat. There are so many forms. They are all different forms in different categories of sense gratification. So one who has developed this transcendental knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he conquers death even in this life.