Prahlāda Mahārāja says, prīto 'pavarga-śaraṇaṁ hvayase kadā nu: "My Lord, You are apavarga-śaraṇaṁ." This is very important word, apavarga. Pavarga and apavarga. Pa means just the opposite, and pavarga, here in this material world, we are in the pavarga. Pa means pariśrama, laboring. Here you cannot get food without any labor. Just see, these laborers here, they have come. Whole day they are working. But if I say that "Why you are working so hard? Come here, live here, take little prasādam and make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness," nobody will come. Nobody will come. "No, no. I am very happy here." This is pa, pariśrama. Pariśrama. They . . . Sometimes we are accused that we're escaping labor, we are parasites, we are dependent on the society. We are not dependent on the society; we are dependent on Kṛṣṇa. Yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22). Kṛṣṇa is supplying us this nice building, nice food, nice opportunity. Not only one—we have got hundreds of buildings like that, without any labor. We are not working like these laborers. Just see: I went to your country with forty rupees, and now I have got forty crores of worth, property. So I did not work like them. (laughs) (laughter) Yes. The people are bringing money. Kṛṣṇa is sending money, daily one to five lakhs of rupees. So this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Why one should work? Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). Viḍ-bhujām, the stool-eaters, they will work hard. Human life is not meant for . . . Take Kṛṣṇa's shelter. Kṛṣṇa will supply everything. Yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22). Teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy.
So this pa means working hard, pariśrama. And pha means foam, phenam. If you work very hard . . . You have seen sometimes the horse, they are having foams in the mouth. So we have to work so hard in this material world that sometimes foam comes. Yes. We become thirsty. We require some drinking because the tongue becomes dry, the lips become dry, and sometimes the pa, pha . . . And ba—still, we are disappointed, vyarthata. And bha—we are always fearful, bhaya. And ma—after this, mṛtyu, death. After so working hard, after always being fearful, being baffled and so on, so on, still, you cannot live here; you must die. This is called pavarga. In Sanskrit grammar, there are vargas: ka-varga, ca-varga, ta-varga, pa-varga. So pa-varga means pa, pha, ba, bha, ma. So material life means these five kinds of difficulties; at last—death, ma, means mṛtyu. But if you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, then you are saved. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is described as apavarga-śaraṇaṁ. If one wants to nullify this pavarga, then he must take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva . . . Because we are working hard why? According to our sinful activities, we are put into the situation, working very hard. Without working, we cannot get our food. So Kṛṣṇa is apavarga-śaraṇaṁ. If you want apavarga, if you want to nullify these five kinds of pa, pha, ba, bha, ma, then you must take shelter of Kṛṣṇa.
So Kṛṣṇa is always kind, but when He sees that you are very eager to go to Kṛṣṇa, He calls. He calls. Just like He explained to Arjuna, "My dear Arjuna, because you are My very dear friend," sarva-guhyatamam, "I am just disclosing the most confidential part of knowledge." Sarva-dharmān parityajya māṁ ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66): "This is the most confidential part of knowledge. Don't be entangled with this pavarga. Take shelter of Me." So this is calling Arjuna. So Prahlāda Mahārāja expecting, "When the Lord will call me?" That is real mercy. You cannot call God, or Kṛṣṇa, "Please come me and save me." Kṛṣṇa is not your servant; He does not agree to be your servant. But when He's pleased, He says, He calls you, "Please come and surrender unto Me." Therefore we must expect, "When the master will call me?" Don't try to see God, but act in such a way that God will call you, "Please come here." That is wanted. That is bhakti, not that "O God, please come. I will see You." Why God will come to see you? He is very busy. What you have done that you want to see God? If you say, "O Indira Gandhi, please come here. I'll see you," she will come? Be qualified, and she will see you. Similarly, don't try . . . This is not bhakti. Nacia nacia aire gopāla.(?) No. Gopāla is not anyone's servant that He'll come dancing and dancing. You be qualified, and He'll see you. He'll call you, "Yes, come back. Come back home, back to home, back to Godhead." Be qualified. (aside:) Why you are standing? Stand. Yes.
So this is Prahlāda Mahārāja's instruction. Everyone should be anxious how Kṛṣṇa will call him back to home, back to Godhead. And that is done, that is possible, when you are engaged in service. Otherwise it is not po . . . Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234). You cannot ask God to come and He will see you. No. When you are sevonmukha, fully in service, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau . . . That service begins from jihvā, from the tongue. Tā'ra madhye jihvā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati, tā'ke jetā koṭhina saṁsāre. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, "It is very, very difficult to control the tongue." Therefore the tongue should be engaged in service of the Lord, beginning from the tongue. If you can control the tongue, then you can control your belly, then you can control your genital, and then you become jitendriya. So we have to become jitendriya. Indriya means the senses. They are given to us for material enjoyment, just like the hog is also given the tongue to taste stool. But not your tongue. Your tongue is meant for tasting prasādam, not stool. Your tongue is meant for chanting, not eating stool. So you have to control this. Then there will be possibility of getting the shelter of apavarga-śaraṇaṁ, the repetition of birth and death. Everyone should be afraid of the saṁsāra-cakra-kadanāt.