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More machine means

Expressions researched:
"More machine means"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

More machine means more diversion of attention.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- London, March 11, 1975:

The materialistic persons are engaged whole day and night. The business is... What is their business? That at night to have very sound sleep. "Last night I had very sound sleep." That is enjoyment. "If I can sleep up to ten o'clock, twelve o'clock, oh, I have enjoyed this." The sleeping. So at night the enjoyment is sleeping and sex, vyavāyena. Vyavāyena means sex. In this way night we are wasting. And daytime? Divā ca artha iha... "Where is money? Where is money? Where is money?" And then as soon as we get money, then how to spend it for sense gratification, for kuṭumba-bharaṇa, for family maintenance, for purchasing, for shopping. In this way we are very busy. We do not know that there is another business beyond this. This is, especially at the present moment this is human civilization. They are always busy in sense gratification and getting money for that purpose. That's all. So that is not siddhi. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said that mostly, 99.9 percent, they are busy in these things: "How to get money for sense gratification? And when we get money, then spend it for sense gratification." Divā cārthehayā. That is not siddhi. That thing is going on amongst the hogs. Hogs are also busy in that way. Then where is the difference between human life and hog life?

Therefore śāstra says, nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This was the instruction given by King Ṛṣabhadeva, whose son's name was Mahārāja Bharata, under whose name this land, this planet is called Bhāratavarṣa. This planet's original name is Bhāratavarṣa. Now it has come to India, gradually cut down, cut down. So He instructed His sons, "My dear sons, don't spoil your life simply working hard for sense gratification like the hogs. Because the hog is also working day and night, but what is the aim? The aim is sense gratification. At night sleep or have sex life, and at daytime collect money and spend it for family maintenance or some sense gratification. This is not meant for human life." Now, this morning one gentleman was asking us that we are not working. We are not working. They think... He is a lawyer. He thinks that unless one works very hard for sense gratification, he is not human being or he is not doing his duty perfectly. That is his idea. But actual life is to become perfect, from the platform of animal life come to the perfection of life. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3). Everyone is thinking that "Work very hard like the hogs and dogs, and find out your means of sense enjoyment, and then enjoy it." This is called karmī life. They have no other idea. You will find everyone is working hard. From morning at six o'clock till ten o'clock at night they're working hard. What is the purpose? To get some money and utilize it for sense gratification. This is animal life; this is not human life. But they are thinking that one who does not work so hard day and night for sense gratification, he is not doing. He is escaping. This is the...

But actually, they do not see that these devotees are engaged in working twenty-four hours but not for sense gratification like the hogs, but for satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa consciousness man and ordinary man, karmī man. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that all these men, they are engaged. But the śāstra says, "No, no. You live with the minimum necessities. Don't increase your necessities unnecessarily." This is Vedic civilization. And the modern civilization is even increase your necessities—a machine for shaving your cheek. You see? Another machine, another attention diversion. More machine means more diversion of attention. I have to take care, more technician, more technologies. Simply if one razor can shave, can make my cheek very clean, where is the necessity? Formerly, at least we Indian know that go to a blacksmith and he prepares a razor, very nice razor. You pay him four annas, and it will last for your life and shave your cheek very nicely, daily or occasionally. But the modern civilization means that in everything there must be machine. That is the advancement of material... But the śāstra says, "What is the use of taking so much labor?" Kaṣṭān kāmān. Kaṣṭān means with so much labor. If you create some convenience by the so-called machine use, you create so many other inconveniences. Just like we have got now motorcar. Of course, it is convenience. But there are many inconveniences. Formerly people used to find everyone within the village. Now, because we have got big, big motorcars, we have to go thirty miles to find out a doctor. So the other inconveniences are also increased. Now we have to find out petrol and flatter the Arabians, "Give me petrol." In this way... And if I stop manufacturing, then there is unemployment.

In this way we are becoming implicated. By the so-called advancement of civilization, we are becoming implicated to these material activities and we are forgetting our real business, self-realization, what I am. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. The real business is to enquire about Brahman, about ātmā, Paramātmā, but we are forgetting that. We are simply busy for the temporary life, say, for fifty years or hundred years, utmost. But we do not know the life is continuation.

Page Title:More machine means
Compiler:Rishab
Created:17 of Mar, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1