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One living entity is the food for another living entity. So when a person eats another living entity, it is not unnatural. This is nature's law. But when you come to the human form of living entity, you must use your discrimination

Expressions researched:
"one living entity is the food for another living entity. So when a person eats another living entity, it is not unnatural. This is nature's law. But when you come to the human form of living entity, you must use your discrimination"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Weak is the food for the strong. This is the law of nature, that one living entity is the food for another living entity. So when a person eats another living entity, it is not unnatural. This is nature's law. But when you come to the human form of living entity, you must use your discrimination. Just like one living entity is food for the another living entity.
Lecture on BG 13.1-3 -- Durban, October 13, 1975:

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. We are reading one chapter from Bhagavad-gītā, thirteenth chapter. The subject matter is nature, the enjoyer, and consciousness. In Sanskrit it is called kṣetra-kṣetra-jña. Kṣetra means the field. Just like an agriculturist. They work on the field. The worker or the agriculturist owns the land, and he works there, and according to his labor he enjoys the fruits. Similarly, we have been given this body as the field of activity. Every one of us, not only human being, but also other living entities...

There are eight million four hundred thousand forms of living entities. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. In the water there are nine hundred thousand forms of living entity. Then, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvarāḥ means the living entities who cannot move, just like the trees, plants, grass, vegetables. They are standing in one place. They are also called "having no leg." Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. This is nature's law, that the living entities which have no hands, they are eatable for the living entities who have hands. Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. And the living entities which cannot move, they are the food for the living entities which has got four legs. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra jīvo jīvasya jīvanam.

In this way the weak is the food for the strong. This is the law of nature, that one living entity is the food for another living entity. So when a person eats another living entity, it is not unnatural. This is nature's law. But when you come to the human form of living entity, you must use your discrimination. Just like one living entity is food for the another living entity. It does not mean... In the lower animals sometimes the father-mother eat the offspring, but in the history of human society it has not come into notice that the father and mother eating the offspring. But time has come when the mother is killing offspring. That has come already. This is due to Kali-yuga.

So here Arjuna's question is to understand the field and the worker on the field. He questions, arjuna uvāca, Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṇa,

prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva
kṣetraṁ kṣetra-jñam eva ca
etad veditum icchāmi
jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ ca keśava

Kṛṣṇa's another name is Keśava. So he is addressing Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Keśava, I want to know these subject matters—prakṛti, puruṣa." Prakṛti means nature, material nature, and puruṣa means the enjoyer, just like the living entities. We are trying to enjoy this material nature. Another prakṛti-puruṣa... Puruṣa means, real puruṣa means, the supreme enjoyer, God, Kṛṣṇa. And prakṛti means which is enjoyed. Another meaning—prakṛti, means woman and puruṣa means man. So this material world is going on—one party is trying to enjoy, and the other party is being enjoyed.

So Arjuna wanted to know what is the distinction, what is the integral part and parcel of this prakṛti and puruṣa. Then kṣetraṁ kṣetra-jña. Jña means one who knows, and kṣetra-jña means one who knows the field. Just like the agriculturist, the cultivator, he knows that "This is my field." He works there. Different cultivator works in his own field. So this kṣetra means this body, kṣetra, the field of activity. We have got different field of activities. So kṣetraṁ kṣetra-jñaṁ ca, kṣetram eva etad veditum icchāmi: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, I want to know from You." Why he wants to know from Kṛṣṇa? Because Kṛṣṇa is infallible. Whatever knowledge we get from the infallible, that is perfect knowledge.

Ordinary human being, they are not perfect. Ordinary human being, they are subjected to four deficiencies. We are ordinary human being; we commit mistake. That's a fact, every one of us. We are illusioned. Our senses are imperfect, and with all this paraphernalia, when we want to teach, that is not teaching; that is cheating. Because I am imperfect, how can I be teacher? That is not possible. Therefore we have to learn from a person who has no defects in his life or a liberated person. Liberated person means he does not commit mistake, he is not illusioned, he does not cheat and his senses are not imperfect. This is the four signs of liberated person.

So our process, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, means we take knowledge from Kṛṣṇa who is liberated from these four kinds of deficiencies. That knowledge is perfect. Similarly, Arjuna is also inquiring from Kṛṣṇa. Etad veditum icchāmi. Etad veditum icchāmi jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ ca keśava. What is actual knowledge and what is the subject matter of knowledge. That means six questions are presented by Arjuna before Kṛṣṇa. One pair, prakṛti-puruṣa, kṣetra-kṣetra-jña, and jñānaṁ jñeyam, what is knowledge and what is the subject matter of knowledge. Six questions. Śrī bhagavān uvāca. Now, here Kṛṣṇa is speaking, but Vyāsadeva, who recorded this dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, he is writing, "bhagavān uvāca." He does not say, "kṛṣṇaḥ uvāca." "Kṛṣṇa" may be misunderstood. But Kṛṣṇa is bhagavān. He wants to stress on this point.

Page Title:One living entity is the food for another living entity. So when a person eats another living entity, it is not unnatural. This is nature's law. But when you come to the human form of living entity, you must use your discrimination
Compiler:Krsnadas
Created:05 of Jul, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1