So our present situation is that the whole civilization is going on under the wrong impression that everyone is the body. That is not a fact. Therefore, this Kṛṣṇa kīrtana, this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, it has got a special effect. It is... Don't think this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is ordinary sound vibration. It is spiritual vibration. It is called mahā-mantra. Mahā-mantra. Just like... I do not know in your country whether there's snake chanters. In India still, there are many snake chanters, enchanters, I am sorry. So they chant some mantra, and a man, snake-bitten, can be revived to his consciousness. Anyone Indian present here, they know. Still. Especially I have seen in Punjab, there are many snake enchanters who know the how to chant the mantras. So if it is physically possible that a dead man... Of course, when a man is bitten by a snake he's not dead. He becomes unconscious. He's not dead. But by this chanting of mantra, he comes to his consciousness. Therefore, it is the system in India, if a man is bitten by a snake, he's not burned, or he's not taken as dead body. He's floated in some lifeboat and given to the water. If he gets chance he may come out again to consciousness. So similarly, we are, at the present moment, due to our ignorance, we are sleeping. We are sleeping. Therefore, to awaken us, this mantra, mahā-mantra, is required to awaken.
Snake (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Prabhupāda: Now, "pervades the body," that is consciousness. The soul is very small, but... Just like you take one grain of, what is called, poison? Snake poison? Arsenic? Poison called? What is called? Yes, venom poison.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Arsenic is poison.
Now I am forbidden, "Not to smoke." So I am feeling difficulty. So therefore Kṛṣṇa said, "Although it is not difficulty, but although one feels difficulty—still he sticks to the principle—then he becomes fit for going back to home, back to Godhead." So indriyāṇi pramāthīni, in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find. Our senses are very strong, like mad snakes. There is some statement in Vedic literature, indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī. Indriya, the senses, are just like dreadful snakes. But there is a means to subdue the snake. It is said, indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate, means the snake may be very dangerous, but somehow or other, if you take out its poison teeth, then it is no more dangerous." The snake is dangerous on account of the poison teeth. So if, somehow or other, the poison teeth extricated, then the snake is no more dangerous. So our strong senses, snakelike senses, can be bereft of the poison teeth by accepting Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
"Don't be associated with the result of the work. Let the result come, whatever it may be, but you have to do your duty nicely and for the sake of God." Saṅgaṁ tyaktvā. Kartṛtvā abhiniveṣam ca tyaktvā yoga-sthas taṁ karmāṇi kuru yuddhadi.(?) Kartṛtvā. Kartṛtvā means that you are the doer. "Forget this. You are not the doer. You are being ordered to do it." Just like there is an example that you take a rod and kill a snake. Now, the rod is practically killing the snake, but actually the rod is not responsible because the man who has taken the rod, who is killing the snake, he is responsible for killing the snake, not the rod. So we have to become the rod in the hand of the Supreme. Then all the reaction of our work will be... I will not be responsible for the reaction. The Lord will be responsible for that. That is the system. Yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya.
And the next imperfection is to accept something in place of something. Just like we are accepting this body as myself, which I am not. Under this illusion... Everyone is under this illusion, nobody excepted. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). When you ask me, "Swamiji, what you are?", oh, I'll say, "I am Indian." What sort of Indian I am? Because my this body is Indian, made in India or got in India. But I am not this body. I am not this body. So this, this is illusion. So second imperfection. First imperfection, that we must commit mistake. The second imperfection is accepting something which is not real. This is called illusion. The example of illusion is given generally: Just like in darkness, if you find some curling rope, you are afraid, "Oh, here is a snake!" Actually, that is not a snake. That means accepting the curling rope as a snake. This is the example of illusion.
The time is very powerful. It changes. That is the... Time means it changes, kills the original position. You have got experience. You purchase one anything. It is very fresh, new. But time will kill it. It will become shabby. It will be useless at a time, in due course of time. So time is fighting. This material time, it is called kāla. Kāla means death. Or kāla means the black snake. So black snake destroys. As soon as touches anything, it is destroyed. Similarly, kāla... This kāla is also another form of Kṛṣṇa. So kālena mahatā. Therefore it is called mahatā. It is very powerful. It is not ordinary thing. Mahatā. Its business is to destroy.
Just like the example is given... I have several times..., that the impersonalists, they describe this world as false, as false. But simply describing this world as false is not sufficient. What is the reality we must know. The... Generally the example is cited that in the darkness when you see a curling rope, you misunderstand it that it is a snake. But actually it is not the snake. Now, this conception of a snake comes wherefrom? Unless there is a real snake, how you can see that it is a snake? That rope is false. That's all right. That rope is not snake, but there is real snake. Otherwise, how you get the conception of the snake? Just try to follow it. Without having the real snake, you cannot get this conception of snake.
Just like a cow eating grass. So grass cannot move. It has life, but it cannot move. So and... phalgūni tatra mahatām. Phalgūni, "those who are weak, they are being eaten by the..." Just like we find lizards. In your country you don't find lizards. In India we have got many lizards in the walls. They are eating small ants. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra. And in the snake, snake kingdom, you will find the small snakes are being by the big snake. Similarly, in sea water also, you will find small fishes are being eaten by the big fishes.
And the same law is applicable in human society. A big nation is trying to swallow up a small nation. You see? This is going on. This is nature's law. Nature's law. You cannot avoid it. But there are those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious. They... It is said that śārīraṁ kevalaṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam: "Those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are not entangled in these sinful acts." How? They are also maintaining their body. So when they are maintaining their body, they have to commit sins. They have to eat other animals or vegetables. Never mind. So how they are not committing sins? These are very intelligent questions. There is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
There is another verse written by Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. He said, kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tridaśa-pūr ākāśa-puṣpāyate durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. Protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. Just like dentist, when there some pain in the teeth, they extract. That is called protkhāta, extracted. So the indriyas have been compared with kāla-sarpa, kāla-sarpa, means a venomous snake. As soon as the kāla-sarpa or snake touches in any part of your body, because the venomous teeth is there, death is there immediately. Therefore they're called kāla-sarpa. Kāla means death. Kāla-sarpa. Therefore we are so much afraid of a snake. So but if the kāla-sarpa's poison teeth is taken away, then it is no more, I mean, fearful. It is no more dangerous. Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that "By the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, our indriyas, the senses, which are compared with the kāla-sarpa, may be kāla-sarpa, but the poison teeth is extracted."
So this controlling the senses... The simple method is that artificially if you want to practice yoga like Viśvāmitra Muni or Durvāsā Muni, very great... There are many big, big stories about these munis who were big, big yogis. This Durvāsā Muni traveled all over the universe and he went beyond the universe in the spiritual world. He saw Lord Viṣṇu personally. Still, he was defeated. There are many stories. Ambarīṣa Mahārāja. So these indriyas cannot be controlled. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī. But these indriyas cannot do any harm to you if you take the poison teeth of this deadly snake, poison teeth.
For all living entities. You can open a hospital for the human being but where is your hospital for the tiger? Can any man open a hospital for the tigers, for the snakes? And why not? You are compassionate with living entities. Are they not living entities? This is the frailty of imperfect knowledge. They are giving protection, the state is giving protection, to the national, but the cows are not national. They should be killed. But the definition of national is that one who is born in that land is called national. The cows are not born in this land? Why for them killing, and only for the human being protection? This is imperfect, imperfect knowledge.
Prabhupāda: They can eat also. Your Kṛṣṇa prasādam left, they come and eat.
Vīrabhadra: But a snake, he doesn't have ears. The snake doesn't have ears.
Prabhupāda: Who says?
Vīrabhadra: A snake.
Prabhupāda: No, they have got very nice ear. Yes. You do not know. (laughter) The snake, there is a statement...The snake, they can hear very nicely. The snakes are charmed by nice musical sound. Yes. The snake charmer in India, they sing very nicely, flute, and the snake comes and... (laughter) Like this. Immediately. I have seen. And when he comes, then they have got methods to capture the snake. And besides that, there is another example, of foolish man. The foolish men are compared like the frogs. The general example is that somebody is chanting or singing something. The example is that by such singing they are losing their duration of life. As the frog sings... Have you heard any sound of the frog? "Ka-ka-ka, ka-ka-ka." You have heard? (laughter) Have you heard? Yes? So what is the result of that sound? In rainy season the frogs they sing very nicely. So they like rainy season. "Ka-ka-ka, ka-ka-ka, ka-ka-ka," like that. The result is the snake can understand, "Here is a frog." He stealthily comes and immediately finishes "ka-ka-ka." (laughter) Similarly, anything, vibration, except this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are like "ka-ka-ka." And the result is that one day Yamarāja, the superintendent of death comes and captures. "All right. Come on. That's all.
You know yogis, they sit on the skin of tiger and skin of deer? Why? Because they are in a secluded place. This has got some chemical effect. If you sit on tiger skin and deer skin, then the reptiles, the snakes, they won't disturb you. It has got some, I mean to say, physical effect. There are so many medical effect in so many things. We do not know. But God has created everything for our use. We do not know. Every plant, every herb is a medicine. It is meant for some particular disease, for some particular protection. We do not know that. So cailājina. It is not a fashion. It is... Because they sit down in a secluded place in a jungle, so you are meditating, so some snake may come. There are so many snakes, so many reptiles. So therefore, cailājina-kuśottaram. And straw. The three things: straw, and the skin, and some cotton āsana. These things are required.
Yes. Because you have to, generally the yogis they used to practice in jungle and if he's thinking of, "Some tiger is coming or not, what is that?" (laughter) Or some snake is coming. Because you have to sit down alone in a jungle. You see. There are so many animals. Tigers and deers and snake. So therefore it is specially stated, "devoid of fear." The skin of deer is specially used in yoga-āsana because it has got some medical effect that snakes do not come. If you sit down on that particular skin, the snakes and reptiles will not come there. That is the purpose. You'll not be disturbed. Devoid of fear, completely free from sex life. You see. If you indulge in sex life, you cannot fix up your mind in anything. That is the effect of brahmacārī life. If you remain brahmacārī without sex life, then you can be determined.
Just like commit mistake, that is not to be very difficult to understand. Every one of us know how we commit mistake, blunder. Even great men, they also commit blunder, you see. Just like there are so many instances amongst the politicians, a little mistake or a blunder, great blunder... So mistake, "To err is human," mistake is there. Similarly, accepting something as fact which is not fact. How it is? Just like everyone in the conditioned life, they think that "This body is my self." But I'm not this. I'm not this body. So this is called illusion, pramāda. The best example is to accept a rope as a snake. Suppose in the darkness there is a rope like this, and you are..., "Oh, here is a snake." This is the best example of illusion. Accepting something which is not that.
That is service. Everyone is rendering service. Here we have so many ladies and gentlemen present, but every one of us is rendering some service to the superior. That is our position. The animals also, the inferior animals, they are rendering service to the superior animal. The superior animal is eating the inferior animal, jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. Big snake is eating small snake. There is a verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, apadāni catuṣ-padām. Those who are two-legged, they are eating the four-legged. And the four-legged animals, they are eating who cannot walk. Apadāni catuṣ-padām. Those who cannot move, just like grass, plants, tree, they cannot move, they are being eaten up by the four-legged animals. And the four-legged animals are being eaten by the two-legged animals, human beings. Just try to understand how the weaker section is serving the stronger section. That is the law of nature. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. One living entity is the food or living means for another living entity, by nature's law. So the conclusion is that we must render service to the strong. This is nature's law.
There are three qualities of the material nature. One who is associating with the modes of goodness, they're being promoted to the higher planetary system. Those who are associating with the modes of passion, they will remain within this middle planetary system. And jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthāḥ, those who are most abominable, acting most abominably, jaghanya-guṇa, adho gacchanti. This is confirmation. Adho gacchanti: "Goes down," to the animal kingdom, to the beast, birds, reptiles, snakes so many things. There are eight millions forms. It is daivena, daiva-netreṇa. Netreṇa means "by supervision." Background of the supervision is Kṛṣṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate ca-carācaram (BG 9.10). They are absolute.
Simply by changing body, we are not mukta. Mukta means we change this body not to accept any more material body, but we remain in our own spiritual body. Just like if you are diseased, you are suffering from fever, so when there is no more fever, but you remain in your original healthy body, that is called mukti. It is not that mukti means to become formless. No. The same example: You are suffering from fever. To become free from fever does not mean that you become formless. Why I shall become formless? My form is there, but my form is no more disturbed by the fever, feverish condition. That is called mukti. Roga-mukta, free from disease. Therefore it is called muktvā kalevaram. Just like the snake. They sometimes give up the outer covering of the body.
But he remains in the body. He remains in the body. But the extra covering which had, he had grown, that is also gone once he gives up. Everything, every education, is there in the nature's study. We can see the, the snake give up the covering, but he remains in his form. Similarly, we... Muktvā kalevaram means this extra... Just like this dress, this is covering. I can give it up, but I remain in my original body. Similarly, mukti means I have got my original body already. It is covered by this material coating. So when there is no more material coating, that is called mukti. That can be achieved when you go to Kṛṣṇa, back to home, back to Godhead. At that time, you do not become formless. Form remains. As I am individual form, similarly, when I go to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa has also His individual form, I have also my individual form... Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He's the chief of all living entities. So that is called mukti.
Kṛṣṇa says, dehāntara-prāptiḥ: another..., transfer to another body. But what kind of body, that is not mentioned there. That will depend on your work. You may get the body of a demigod, you may get the body of a dog, you may get the body of a tree, you may get the body of a snake—according to your karma. So here it is said, aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā (BG 9.3). Those who are not interested in this rāja-vidyā, devotional service, aśraddhadhānāḥ: no faith. Aśraddhadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasya... This is dharma, real dharma. Devotional service is real dharma, because dharma means dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Bhagavān says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Bhagavān says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). This is dharma.
Just like a snake. The snake characteristic is that unnecessarily, without any offense, it bites, and the animal which is bitten, he dies. This is the characteristic. Without any fault... The snake is going, and the other animal is going. Go, but the characteristic of snake is unnecessarily bites. This is the characteristic.
Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ, that "Two kinds of krūraḥ, envious animals, are there. One is the snake, and the other is envious man." So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said that "Both of them envious, but the envious man is more dangerous than the envious snake." Why? "Now, because the snake can be brought into submission..." (tapping noise) (Aside:) What is that? "...by herbs and mantra." There are snake charmer. They chant mantras, and they apply some herb, and the snake come under subjugation. But khalaḥ kena nivāryate: "But the snake-like man, he cannot be subdued at any cost."
There are 8,400,000 species of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Nine lakh species in the water, and trees and plants, there are two million species. Similarly, insects, sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyayaḥ. Eleven lakhs species, 1,100,000 species of insects, serpents, snakes, like that, gradually developing from water, fish, to... As the water dries up, then they come out as grass, as vegetables. Then grow, different types of trees, plants, creepers. Then gradually develops to become insects, flies. Then develops to serpents.
Those who are rascals, fools, if you speak something valuable for his life he'll not hear you. He'll become angry. The example is given, payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam. Just like if a snake, if you ask the snake that "I shall give you daily a cup of milk. Do not commit this harmful life, biting unnecessarily others. You come here, take a cup of milk and live peacefully," that he will not be able. He... By drinking, drinking that cup of milk, his poison will increase, and as soon as the poison is increased—it is also another itching sensation—he wants to bite. He'll bite. So the result will be payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam. The more they starve, that is good for them because the poison will not increase.
The nature's law is there. And as soon as one sees a snake, immediately everyone becomes alert to kill the snake. And by nature's law... It is said, "Even a great saintly person, he does not lament when a snake is killed." Modeta sādhur api sarpa, vṛścika-sarpa-hatyā. Prahlāda Mahārāja said. When his father was killed and Nṛsiṁha-deva was still angry, so he pacified Lord Nṛsiṁha, "Sir, now you can give up your anger because nobody is unhappy on account of my father being killed," means "I am also not unhappy. I am also happy because my father was just like a snake and a scorpion. So even a great saintly person is happy when a scorpion or a snake is killed." They are not happy if somebody is killed. Even an ant is killed, a saintly person is unhappy. But a saintly person, when he sees that a snake is killed, he is happy. He is happy.
So we should not follow the life of a snake, pravṛtti-mārga. Human life is meant for nivṛtti-mārga. We have got so many bad habits. To give up these bad habits, that is human life.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So far sex is concerned, that is also guaranteed. The birds, when they are in the eggs, there are two eggs, one male, one female. And you will find these birds, beasts, they are in pair. Just about two months before, when I was in Māyāpur, the two snakes, not very big, small, were found in the lavatory, and they were also two, in pair. That means this pair in birds and beasts, in animals, in snakes, they are found. The tiger, the elephant, there are two. So there is no scarcity of sex also. And so far defense is concerned, everyone is provided with nails, jaws, and wings, and everything. According to their capacity, they can defend also. So in this way, so far our four necessities of life required, it is already arranged by the laws of nature.
Just like... You have no experience in your country. In India still there are snake charmers. If one is bitten by a snake he remains unconscious. By mantra he can be brought into consciousness, in life. If a man is snakebitten... (aside:) He's sleeping. Why? Don't sleep and you can sleep at the end. Don't in the front. It is disturbing. Enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi'. Lord Caitanya said that "I have brought the medicine." Māyā nāśibāro lāgi'. Just like the snake charmers, they chant mantra. That is factual. It is not story. One medical practitioner friend of mine, when he was student in Lucknow, he stated that there is a palace building, Satar Manji?(?) Satar Manju, in Lucknow. There is some government office. So there were several snakebite cases. Several men were killed by snakebite. So they could understand that there is a venomous snake in this building; at the opportunity he bites. So one snakecharmer was called, and one Muhammadan snakecharmer, he came, and he captured that snake and took it away.
Now these medical students, they do not believe in these mantras. They were surprised. They think that snakebite means finished, there is no medicine. So they were very much, because they were students, very much inquisitive. They went to that charmer at his place and wanted to know from him what is the secret, is it a fact that mantra... So he said, "All right, I shall show you." So he opened one box, and several hundred snakes immediately came out. And all the students, they became so disturbed. Some were crying, some were this way, that way... (laughter) Yes. And the charmer said, "Don't be worried. So long I am here they will not bite. And don't think that these snakes are without poison teeth." He took some of them and showed that "Here is a poison teeth. Not that the poison teeth has been taken away. The poison teeth is there. But by our mantra, we subdue it. He cannot do any harm." So the doctor students, medical students inquired that, "Can we not use this mantra?" Said, "No. You cannot."
I have already explained several times. The dictionary meaning of religion is "a kind of faith." But actually, dharma means occupational duty, or the characteristic. Just like a snake. The snake, its religion is to bite, and fatal bite. That is his dharma, occupational duty. Everything has got... Just like this microphone, it must work, it must expand the sound. That is its dharma. If it does not expand the sound, it is useless. So everything you take, there are characteristics. That is the meaning of dharma. Dharma is not an artificial faith. Faith you can change, but your occupational duty, you cannot change.
We are in a comfortable room. Why these different changes of condition, although the tree is also living being and I am also living being? Who has made this condition? But we have no knowledge. So I may get that condition next life. Then what is the value of my education? Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Because at the time of death, the, your mentality, my mentality, will decide what kind of body I am going to get. That is under the laws of nature. You cannot dictate that "Give me this American life or Indian life." No. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). By your karma it will be decided whether you will be American, Indian, or snake or tree or bird.
Even the biologists, or the anthropologists, they cannot calculate. But from authoritative, revealed scripture we get this information that there are eight, eight, 8,400,000's of species of life of which human beings, they are divided into 400,000's species of life. And eighty, eighty million, eight million, there are other species of life. But Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, claims that all of them, never mind, either he is bird or beast or man or a snake or whatever he may..., god, or semi-god, demigod, anything, whatever... "There are different forms, but apart from the forms, real identity is that all of them, they are My sons. I am actually bīja-pradaḥ pitā, seed-giving father." Just like the father gives the seed, and the mother receives the seed, and the body is formed according to the mother's body.
The... It is said, maṇinā bhūṣitaḥ sarpaḥ kim asau na bhayaṅkaraḥ. Snake. Some snakes are decorated with jewel on the hood. So this materialist, however qualified he may be, just like jewel on the head. The śāstra says, "Do you think that a snake coming to you with a jewel on head is not dangerous or ferocious?" He's as dangerous, as ferocious, as the serpent without jewel. Similarly, any materialistic person, however educated he may be, so-called educated, he is simply a snake, dangerous. That's all. He has no qualification. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. One cannot have good qualities unless one is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Now, that hermitage had one boy, a ten years, twelve years old, and that boy had some playmates. They were playing, and some of the boys informed the son of that hermitage that "Your father has been insulted by the king. He is garlanded with a dead snake." So that boy, the son of that hermitage became very angry, and he cursed him. That one point is here to see, that a child of a brāhmaṇa, a son of a brāhmaṇa, was so powerful that he could curse a great king like Mahārāja Parīkṣit that "You have insulted my father. So that snake will bite you within seven days, and you will die." This was the version. Now the boy came back home and saw the father was garlanded with the dead snake, and he began to cry, began to cry. He felt so much that his father was insulted. His father was brāhmaṇa. He was brāhmaṇa. "Oh, brāhmaṇa has been insulted by the kṣatriya?" So he felt too much. He began to cry. So by his crying, that hermitage came to his senses and asked the boy, "Why you are crying?" "Oh, father, you do not know. You have been insulted by the king in this way, and I have cursed him." Oh, his father became astonished. "Oh, you have cursed Mahārāja Parīkṣit? Oh, you have done the greatest blunder. Oh, such a nice king. Depending on him, the subject, the citizens, are sleeping very peacefully. There is no danger. And you have cursed him?" Oh, he became very much sorry. And that description is there. Next day we shall explain how he was sorry. But after all, the cursing was already there.
Because there is no guarantee when death is coming. If I think that death is next moment, that is not any utopian. The next moment may be my death. And Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, "But if you want to be materially happy, you should always think that 'I shall never die,' " although it is false idea. Everyone will die. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was preparing. How he was preparing? He did not take seven days even a drop of water. He sat down tight on the bank of the Ganges, and the Śukadeva Gosvāmī narrated this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and he heard, and at the end of seven days, at the particular time, he was bitten by a snake and he left this world.
So Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that durdānta indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. Why you should be afraid of your senses? Why you are so much busy to try to control the senses? The senses become... How? Why not controlled? He says that senses are just like serpents. Durdānta indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī. These senses are just like snakes. Snakes are always dangerous because as soon as he touches like this, immediately death. Poisonous snake. You cannot distinguish who is not poisonous. Therefore snake is always horrible. Just like the other day you found out one snake in the brahmacārī's house. So Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says, "Yes, snake is very fierce and horrible. But if you know that the snake has no poison, his poison teeth has been broken..." Snake has also use for human being. There are expert snake charmer who take the snake and take out the poisonous teeth, and that poison is used for so many medicinal purpose. So poison is also used for human benefit if one knows.
So Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, he said, these indriyas, the senses, are just like snakes. Our senses are acting just like snakes. It is, as soon as it touches, there is some danger. Sense gratification means you are creating some danger, some future danger. That's all. We should always remember. All our troubles and miseries are due to sense gratification. They are always troublesome. The yoga system means yoga indriya-saṁyama. Yoga means controlling the senses. That is the first principle. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī said that "Yes, it is admitted that the senses are just like snakes. But if you break the poisonous teeth, then there is no danger. There is no... They have no more fears." A snake without poison, a child may be afraid of, "There is a snake." But if a man knows that this snake is here but there is no poisonous teeth, it is broken, then there is no question of fearfulness. Otherwise, it is ordinary, insignificant... Just like reptile, something, or worm, or microbes. So he said... So that means he answers to the jñānīs, to the yogis, to the karmīs: durdānta indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta. Protkhāta, extracted. The teeth is extracted.
So for a devotee, there is no need of controlling senses. It automatically becomes controlled. Just like we have taken the vow we are not going to eat anything except kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Oh, the sense is already controlled. There is no question of asking a devotee, "You don't drink, don't this, don't this, don't this." So many don'ts. Simply by accepting kṛṣṇa-prasādam, all don'ts there, already there. And it becomes very easier. Others, if one is requested that "You don't smoke," it will be very difficult job for him. For a devotee, he can give up at any moment. He has no problem. Therefore the same example, that these senses are very strong undoubtedly, as strong as the snake. But if you break the poison teeth, the poison teeth, then it is no more fierceful. Similarly, if you engage your senses in Kṛṣṇa, no more controlling. It is already controlled.
That is not our business. Let the śūdras do it. Śūdras will be there. They will do it. This is called ajagara-vṛtti. Ajagara-vṛtti means that the mouse, they make a hole in the field for his living comfortably. You know? You have seen the holes in the field? And the ajagara, the big snake, they take advantage of this holes. They enter into it and eat the mouse, and live comfortably. So the mouse makes the comfortable place for the snake. The snake business is to enter and live comfortably. So our business is like that. You śūdras, you make all the advantages, and we take simply, go there. (laughter) That's all. That is our business. You construct house, nice house, and we enter. That's all. That George Harrison paid for that house. We enter, that's all. We do not care for this fifty-five lakhs, how to earn. No. That is Kṛṣṇa's policy. Let the less intelligent class of men work hard and the higher intelligent class of men take advantage of it. That's all.
So as we have discovered so many weapons... That is gross, to be handled by senses. Even this nuclear weapon, it is handled by the scientists. But it is not by mantra. That science is still to be discovered by the modern scientists, how to... Or just like this mantra. Snake-charming mantra still there are. You are dealing the snake poison with some counter medicine. This is one kind of treatment. But there is another kind of treatment. That is called mantra, by chanting mantra. Or by herbs you can counteract snake bite. Still, there are in India. Therefore Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said that mantrauṣadhi-vaśaḥ sarpaḥ. Sarpa means snake. It can be brought under control by mantra and herbs. Still, in our Māyāpur some Mohammedans, they know how to use these herbs and mantras for treating snake bites. In Māyāpur there are many snakes, and occasionally snakebite cases are there. But they treat it. And mantra has got power. It has been seen by many medical men in Lucknow. That's a long story.
That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's blessing and gift. So we should be very careful and follow the regulative principles. Then automatically you'll be perfect. There is no doubt about it. Mantra... Just like sometimes the snake-charming mantra can be purchased in the market. But if you do not make yourself perfect about chanting the mantra, it will not be effective.
I'll give you one practical instance. It is not a story; it is a fact. It was spoken... Perhaps some of you know that my friend who came here, Dr. Ghosh. He told me when they were students, there was a case. In Lucknow University they were students. So there is a big building, and two, three snake-biting case happened. So some snake charmer was invited to find out the snake and take him. So he came. He came and took it away, the snake. Then this Dr. Gosh and his class friends, they were medical students. Naturally, the so-called modern scientist, they do not believe in all these things. So they became very inquisitive. All of them went to that snake charmer—he was a Muhammadan gentleman.
So he knew that "These students, medical students, they have come to see the fun how the snakes are charmed." So he (they) inquired, "What is the matter? What is the magic that you can catch up snake and the snake cannot do any harm to you?" So he said it is possible by mantra. By mantra it can be done. So they challenged, "Oh, your snakes, I think they are poisonless and they cannot bite. There is no poison. The poison teeth, the fang, is taken away." "No, no. They have got everything." So he took one and showed that "Here is..." So to make a fun... He had many snakes. He let them all come out from the box. And immediately all over the courtyard, just like courtyard, they began to run over, and all these medical students, they became afraid. They were fleeing this side, that side, that side. So the charmer said, "Don't be afraid. So long I am here they'll not bite you."
Why animal should be killed? That is sādhu's business. But Prahlāda Mahārāja says: modeta sādhur api. A sādhu, a saintly person, is also pleased... When? When a scorpion or a snake is killed. They're also living entity. A sādhu is never satisfied seeing another living entity being killed, but Prahlāda Mahārāja says "Even a sādhu is pleased when a snake is killed or a scorpion is killed. So my father is just like snake and scorpion. So he's killed. Therefore everyone is happy." Everyone was... Such demon, who simply troubles the devotees, such demon, a very dangerous demon. So when such demon is killed, even saintly persons are satisfied. Although saintly persons, they do not want anyone should be killed. So Kṛṣṇa is akiñcana-vitta. One who has lost everything materially, for him, Kṛṣṇa is the only solace.
Just like snake. A snakes..., if you get some snakes here, it is very difficult to control. If you go to control, immediately it will bite and your life is finished. But mantrauṣadhi, those who know mantra and oṣadhi, they can control. But common man, they cannot control. But this Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that there is no control. There is no question of control. The snake is horrible, very fearful, so long it has got the poison teeth, viṣa-dānta. So sometimes the physicians, according to Āyur Vedic system, they take out the poison from the teeth. They do not kill, but catch and take out the poison. So if the poison teeth is taken away, the snake is no more fearful. So Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. Daṁṣṭrāyate. Just like the dentists take away the teeth, similarly, if one snake's poison teeth is taken away, so no, it is no more fearful. In Bengal it is said that viṣa nai kula pana cakra.(?) So one who knows that this snake's poison teeth is taken away, he's not afraid. But this snake is fearful to the boys, to the children, not to the elderly men.
So anyone who has become devotee, for them, these senses, which are compared with the snakes, are not fearful. Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. He was young man, he has got all the senses, and the young girl, beautiful girl, came before him. But he was not fearful because the poison teeth is taken away of his senses. The senses, being engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, it is no more controller of the sense proprietor. This is the system. Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī said that durdānta: "The senses are like the snakes; it is very difficult to control. But it can be controlled because the poison teeth is taken away." This is the position of devotee. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate durdānta indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate.
And what is the other? Now, vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. I was going to come to this point.
Just like one man may be, may remain, may be very illiterate, uncultured, but he can be converted into educated, cultured man. By education, by training. So that possibility is there in the human form of life. I cannot train a dog to become a devotee. That is difficult. It can be done also. But I may not be so powerful. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu did. When He was passing through the jungle, Jharikhaṇḍa, the tigers, the snakes, the deers, all the animals, they became devotee. They became devotee. So what was possible for me, uh, Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Because He's God Himself. He can do anything. We cannot do that. But we can work in the human society. It doesn't matter, however fallen a man is. If he follows our instruction then he can be turned.
So nobody is immortal within this material world. And still, we are attached. We want to be immortal. That is the psychology. Just like last night, when the snake... We became disturbed. Why this psychology? Because we don't want to be dead, because we are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Neither we wish to take the trouble of being changed of the body. Otherwise why we became disturbed? We know... Others may not know that we shall not be killed, even bitten by the snake. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So why we became disturbed? What is the psychology? The basic principle is that we don't want to be killed. We don't want to change the body even. We have got attraction for the body. Even an animal or insect, living very wretched condition of life, still, if you want to kill it, it will protest. It will protest, "No, no. I don't want to be killed." This is the psychology.
So therefore the family attraction especially, the family attraction is so strong that life after life one is bound up again in this material world, and he gets one body. To get body means to suffer. To get material body... Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). We are suffering the śītoṣṇa... Sometimes we feel some pleasure, sense pleasure. But actually we are suffering. Just see. We thought on the fourth floor, or third floor, such marble, I mean to say, level... And still, there is a snake. How it gone to such a high floor, and...? That is also surprising. But it has managed to go there. That's a fact. And a snake means death. Sa-sarpe ca gṛhe vāso mṛtyur eva na saṁśayaḥ.(?) So you cannot avoid danger in any condition of life. This is material world. But still, they want to remain here. Death is in every step. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58). This material world means in every step vipadām, danger. Such is the condition of material world. Still, they are trying to adjust. Mūḍha. Bahir-artha-māninaḥ.
Actually we have got tongue, and these frogs, they have got also tongue. So they are using their tongue, ca-ca ca, inviting snakes: "Please come here and eat me." That is their business. Nature's way. So if we simply talk like the frogs without any kṛṣṇa-kathā, then we are inviting death very soon. So don't waste your time, ca-ca ca. That is my request. It is our habit because we are no better than frogs also. We are also living entity. But we have got the chance to stop this ca-ca ca and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. This chance we have got. The frogs, they haven't got that chance. They cannot chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between the frog and myself. So similarly, if we waste our time in that ca-ca ca, then we are no better than the frogs. We are no better than the frogs.
Whatever you get, all the necessities of your life will be available if there is sufficient rain. Because after all, the earth produces... This is the system. There is rainfall, proper rainfall, and the earth produces. Not only food grains. Also jewels also, produced. Those who are astronomers, they know. Under certain constellation of the star, if the rain falls on the head of a snake, there is jewel. If the rain falls on the head of an elephant, there is jewel. Then in the sea also, the pearls, they are produced. It is all due to rains. So kāmaṁ vavarṣa. Kāmaṁ vavarṣa. We require so many things. Kṛṣṇa is prepared also to supply. Nature is there.
So this is the position. Upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ prakopāya na śāntaye. If one is a foolish person, if you give him good instruction, he will be angry. He will not take it. Upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ prakopāya na śāntaye payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam. A snake, if you kindly give him foodstuff, there is no... Snake is very fond of drinking milk. They are very much fond. So sometimes a snake charmer, they mix milk with banana and give them to eat for their satisfaction. But the result? What is the result? Result is as soon as he becomes strong by eating, the poison teeth becomes filled with poison. Just like with our healthy body, our different nerves and parts of the body become healthy, similarly, the snake's most important part of the body... They have got a teeth. They keep... Within the pocket of the teeth there is venomous poison.
So this is renouncement. If you... God has given us freedom, little freedom. Just like a child is given freedom. Naturally, out of affection, mother, father, gives freedom. But not complete freedom. Because child's freedom is nonsense. It must be protected. Therefore all the living entities who have come to this material world for enjoying, it is also exactly like the child. A small child, you let him be free—he will catch up sometimes this, catch up sometimes that. He does not know what is his real interest. But because he is child, he is catching this, catching that, catching that. Sometimes he catches fire and burns his hand. Sometimes he falls down in the water. Sometimes he catches snake. These are all dangerous things, but he does not know.
So there are many important words in this verse. The first is dvija-varya-śikṣayā, "trained by the best of the brāhmaṇas." Dvija. Dvija means twice-born: first birth by the father and mother, and second birth by the spiritual master. That is Vedic civilization, dvija-varya. One must take twice birth. Once birth, father and mother, that is done by the cats and dogs. Any birth, either you take birth as a cat or dog or human being or anything, there requires father and mother. So that birth is not sufficient. Therefore a Vaiṣṇava kavi says, janame janame saba pitā-mātā pāya, kṛṣṇa guru nahe mile bhaja hari ei.(?) In any birth you will get father and mother. It is natural. Without father, mother, how can you get a body? So therefore it is said, janame janame, in any birth. Either human being, or cats, dog, snake, or tree or insect, you will get father and mother. But in every birth you cannot get Kṛṣṇa and guru. That is not possible.
So he entered one of them and asked for water. But the muni was great meditation. He could not hear him, receive the king. So he felt insulted, that "I asked water. This man is silent." So there was a dead snake; so out of anger he took the dead snakes and round, round wrapped him and went away.
So this news was spread, and his son was playing, and as soon as he heard that "My father has been insulted in this way," he became very angry and cursed him immediately, that "This snake or a snake would bite this king and he will die out of snake bite." So... And then again he came to his father. He was crying. The father... At that time the meditation of the father was broken. "Why, my son, you are crying?" "You have been insulted by Mahārāja Parīkṣit. I have cursed him like this." "Oh," he became aston... "Oh, what you have done, wrong thing? You have cursed Mahārāja Parīkṣit? Oh. The greatest blame will be on the brāhmaṇa society. The Kali-yuga will begin, begins deterioration of the brāhmaṇa community. You are the first." So one thing is that even a child born of a brāhmaṇa was so powerful that because he cursed Mahārāja Parīkṣit to die out of snake bite, it could not be withdrawn. He died. Just see how much brahminical power was that time. Even a child. What to speak of grown-up.
This sarpa-yajña... Because his father, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, died of a snakebite, so he performed a yajña, that "All the snakes within this universe must die now." That was his determination. So he was performing such yajña that all the snakes, they were coming and falling on the fire. On the fire. So there was such powerful mantras that one could do that. These things are now forgotten. Nobody knows. Nobody can believe. But it was possible by the brāhmaṇas, by chanting the Vedic mantra, they could do anything they like. That was the yajña performance. Go on.
Pradyumna: "...to kill the race of serpents including the takṣaka, which had bitten his father to death. On request from many influential demigods and sages, he had to change his decision to kill the race of snakes."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Although he was determined to kill, so he was requested by many demigods, saintly persons, "Just for one snake's fault... That was also destination, destined. You cannot kill all the species of snake." Then it was stopped.
So Śukadeva Gosvāmī arrived at the point of death of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy that he would die within seven days, bitten by a snake. Just imagine how the brahminical culture was so powerful that even a boy born in a brāhmaṇa family... He was only ten or twelve years old... When he heard that his father was insulted by Mahārāja Parīkṣit by garlanding him with a dead snake... His playmates informed him that "Your father has been insulted in this way." So he retaliated that "Within seven days this snake will bite the king and he will die."
Parīkṣit Mahārāja is talking with Śukadeva Gosvāmī at the point of death. He was given notice that "Within seven days you'll be bitten by a snake and you'll die." This was a curse by a brāhmaṇa boy. So he was ready. He was not afraid. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati (SB 6.17.28). He could retaliate. He was a great devotee. He could counteract the cursing of the brāhmaṇa boy, but he did not do so. Because he was cursed, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam came. He was perplexed what to do, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī appeared there, and everyone accepted the verdict of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, "Mahārāja, you are a great devotee. So I shall quote from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and you hear only. That's all. You have nothing to do. Simply you hear."
So you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, or God, or His abode by the speculative, ascending process. That is not possible. You have to inquire from. Therefore Parīkṣit Mahārāja inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī, "What is my duty now I am going to die?" He was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy to die within seven days. Parīkṣit Mahārāja was quite competent to counteract the curse of the brāhmaṇa boy, but he decided that "I shall die." Because he thought that "I offended the boy's father by encircling a dead snake on the neck of the ṛṣi. So his son became angry that 'You have insulted my father. You die with this snake.' " So he accepted. So this, on the death point, he immediately left his kingdom, family, and everything, and went down to the river, bank of the river Ganges, and many... Because he was king, so many big, big men, even demigods, great saintly persons, they came to see Mahārāja Parīkṣit at his last stage of life, seven days. And so he asked, "What is my duty?" So he was a devotee, Parīkṣit Mahārāja. From his childhood, he was a devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
He was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy to die within seven days. The reason is that the king was in the forest, engaged in hunting, and when he became tired he went to the cottage of a sage and asked him for water. But the sage was absorbed in meditation, could not hear him, so Parīkṣit Mahārāja, being thirsty, became angry, and there was a dead snake. So he, out of negligence, he took the dead snake and wrapped over the neck of the meditating sage. This news was spread and his son, twelve years old only, he heard that his father was insulted. So immediately he cursed that this snake would bit him within seven days. So this news was brought, although the father, after his meditation was over, he was very..., he was sorry that such a great king has been cursed. So he was very, very sorry, but what can be done? The brāhmaṇa boy's curse must be effective. That because in those days brāhmaṇas, even by caste, was very, very strong in spiritual strength. So when Parīkṣit Mahārāja was informed that he was to die within seven days, he accepted the curse: "Yes, I was wrong to insult the sage." Otherwise, he could counteract. He was also very powerful. But he did not. So this is the history.
When we are free from this material covering, then we are qualitatively ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), as jolly... As Kṛṣṇa is dancing always... Kṛṣṇa you will never find... You have seen the picture of Kṛṣṇa. He is fighting with the Kāliya serpent. He is dancing. He is not afraid of the serpent. He is dancing. As He is dancing with the gopīs in rāsa-līlā, similarly, He is dancing with the snake. Because He is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. He is ānandamaya, always jolly. Always. You will see Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa... Just like in Kurukṣetra the fighting is going on. Kṛṣṇa is jolly. Arjuna is morose because he is living entity, but He is not morose. He is jolly. That is the nature of God. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. This is the sūtra, in the Brahma-sūtra, that "God is ānandamaya, always jolly, always cheerful." So you can become also cheerful when you go back to home, back to Godhead. That is our problem.
So this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was also discussed first in that Naimiṣā... Not first, for the second time. First it was explained by Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Mahārāja Parīkṣit. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy to die within a week. Formerly, even a small child... This boy, this brāhmaṇa boy, was playing with his playmates. That means he was a child, not more than ten to twelve years old. And he was informed that "Mahārāja Parīkṣit has insulted your father by garlanding him with a dead snake." The fact was that Mahārāja Parīkṣit was in hunting. One after another, so many things comes, but let me explain to you. This hunting business was allowed only for the kings, kṣatriyas, not for ordinary man. Killing in sports.
Because he was king, so he is habituated to order. A king is not supposed to submit, although they submitted to great sages and brāhmaṇas. But generally, their spirit is ordering, commanding spirit. So he commanded, "Give me a glass of water. I am very thirsty." So that sage, who was in meditation, could not hear him. The king became little angry, that "I am your guest. I am king. I am asking you water, and you are not hearing me. You are in your meditation." So he became little disgusted, and there was a dead snake. So he took that dead snake and got it round about the neck of the sage and went away in disgust, that "This sage did not offer me even a glass of water."
This is very important. Why hog has been selected? The hog has no discrimination. He is prepared to eat even stool. Therefore hog is selected. So people are now eating anything, everything. So we have heard that in Korea they eat cats, snakes, dogs. In other places also seen, anything. They have no discrimination. No discrimination. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. One living entity is the source of vital strength for another living entity.
Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)
- bile batorukrama-vikramān ye
- na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya
- jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta
- na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ
- (SB 2.3.20)
- (Prabhupāda corrects pronunciation several times during chanting of verse.)
Translation: "One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like that of the snakes and a tongue like that of the frogs."
Prabhupāda: So the impersonalists or the voidists, so where is their God? So there is no God for them. Impersonal. So there is no activity. What they will hear and where they will chant? If you have no activity, then what shall I hear about you? If you are a dead stone, then what can I hear? Simply one, "A big stone." That's all.
So their, these earholes is compared with the snake holes.
When you go, walk on the paddy field, you will find so many holes. Have you got experience? There are so many holes. Even on the beach, you will find so many holes. But especially in the agricultural field there are holes, because the paddy ... The rats and mouse, they come to eat the paddies, and they make hole to live there. And the snakes take advantage. They enter the hole and eat the rat and mouse and live peacefully. So these holes, because there are snakes, nobody utilizes it, that hole. Similarly, when these earholes are not receptive of the message of Kṛṣṇa, it like that, it is not being utilized properly. Similarly, you have got tongue, but you cannot chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jihvāsatī dārdurikeva. It is just like the tongue of the frogs. The frogs ... You have got experience during rainy season. They use their tongue very nicely. They sing ka-ka-kan, ka-ka-kan, ka-ka-kan.. (laughter) Yes. But what is the result of singing? The result of singing: in the darkness, the snakes, they can understand, "Here is a frog," and it comes and takes, immediately eats.
They use their tongue very nicely. They sing ka-ka-kan, ka-ka-kan, ka-ka-kan.. (laughter) Yes. But what is the result of singing? The result of singing: in the darkness, the snakes, they can understand, "Here is a frog," and it comes and takes, immediately eats.
Similarly, we have got tongue, and we are lecturing all nonsense things, mental speculation, or singing in the dancing club, ho ho, ho ho, like that. So the result is that we are diminishing our duration of life in that way. The opportunity, the human form of life opportunity, is being uselessly diminished. In the previous verse we have learned, āyur harati vai puṁsām udyann astaṁ ca yann asau.. Because the sun's business is to take away your span of life gradually. So same. As the frog is calling (to) his death, the snake, "Please come here, I am here," similarly, these persons who are talking all nonsense without kṛṣṇa-kathā, they are inviting the Yamarāja, "Please come soon. I am here. I am here." This is the position.
So we accept Lord Rāmacandra as God, Lord Kṛṣṇa as God, not these petty dogs and cats. We have no business with these petty dogs and cats. All rascals, they are declaring, "I am God." No. Therefore, these rascals, who do not know what is God, you have to inject within their earholes the message of God. That is your business. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means... These rascals, dogs, hogs, camels and asses, who have no information of God, and therefore their earholes are compared like the snake holes, bile... So you have got very responsible task, to inject within their ear the chivalrous activities of God. Otherwise, their earholes remain as snake holes. As I explained yesterday, in the snake holes, nobody goes there. Nobody puts their hands or legs. Similarly, if these earholes remains empty, without aural reception of the great activities of the Lord, it is as good as the snake holes.
These earholes are meant for giving aural reception to the message of God. But they'll not do that. Therefore your mission is to go home to home, village to village, town to town, and give them injection, "Hear." Make such arrangement, nice dancing, nice chanting, prasāda distribution. Why? Just to inject in their snake holes the words of Kṛṣṇa. This is your mission. Those who have taken sannyāsa especially, it is their duty. Sat-nyāsa, to sacrifice everything ... Sacrifice means ... Nothing to be sacrificed. But sacrifice the sense of "I am the Lord." That's all. What you have got, you can sacrifice? This is simply a bluff, sacrifice. We cannot sacrifice. What we have got we can sacrifice? There is no question of sacrifice, but sacrifice means this doggish mentality that "I am Lord, I am God, I am enjoyer."
This should be your life's policy. Avyartha-kālatvam (Cc. Madhya 23.18-19). Rūpa Gosvāmī advises an advanced devotee should always look "Whether my time is wasted?" Avyartha-kālatvam. Vyartha means useless. So that is, that should be one of the, mean, target of devotees, that "Whether I am wasting my time?" Don't waste your time. Always pour in the activities of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa. Always, twenty-four hours. Kīrtaniyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31), Caitanya Mahāprabhu says. Sadā. Sadā means always, twenty-four hours. Otherwise, it is the snake hole. Similarly, jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta. Dārdurikeva. A frog's tongue, ka-ka-kanh, ka-ka-kanh. No. Dārdurikeva sūta na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ. Urugāya. Glorious activities. This should be our motto of life.
That is the difference between Māyāvada and They say "Because it is false therefore reality must be zero. It is formless. It must be zero." Śūnyavādi. Nirviśeṣa śūnyavādi. There are no varieties. They will say "No varieties," and somebody will say, "No. It is zero." We say, "No. There is variety." This is ivābhāti. It appears like the reality. It is not real thing. The real is different. A comparison is given: just like water, the desert. There is no water, but it appears like water. But that does not mean there is no water. As soon as you say, ivābhāti, that there is reality, but this is not. It appears like reality. That is the actual meaning of ivābhāti. Iva, like. Ābhāti, appears. The snake... (end)
The whole situation there is one of freedom from the illusory manifestation of the external energy. Although the illusory energy is also a part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, still, illusory energy is differentiated from the Lord. The illusory energy is not, however, false, as claimed by the monist philosophers. The rope accepted as a snake may be an illusion to a particular person, but the rope is a fact, and the snake is also a fact. The illusion of water on the hot desert may be an illusion for the ignorant animal searching out water in the desert. But the desert and water are actual facts. Therefore the material creation of the Lord may be an illusion to the nondevotee class of men, but to a devotee, even the material creation of the Lord is a fact, as the manifestation of His external energy. But this energy of the Lord is not all.
So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ. There are two envious entities. Sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ. The crooked man is more dangerous than the serpent. Why? Mantrauṣadhi-vaśaḥ sarpaḥ: Sarpa, the serpent, can be subdued by mantra, by chanting, snake-chanting mantra, or by some herbs. Khalaḥ kena nivāryate: The man envious, it cannot be subdued. Therefore he's more dangerous than the serpent.
So we are in this society, human society. Because we are spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the krūraḥ, which is more dangerous than a snake, they are putting, putting so many impediments. But we have to tolerate. We have no other alternative. You see? Ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ. Be peaceful. What can be done? Depend on Kṛṣṇa. Sādhavaḥ. They are sādhu. They are sādhu. Sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ. These are the ornament of sādhu. What is that? Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām (SB 3.25.21). Sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ. But you must know what is sādhu. First, sādhu is that he must be devotee. And if he's devotee, then all the symptoms are there. All the symptoms are there. These are the symptoms. Now, don't go to a sādhu... Śāstra says that this is the sādhu. Now, you find out a sādhu and associate with him. Then your path of liberation will be open.
Therefore it is said that tapanti vividhās tāpā na etān mad-gata-cetasaḥ. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. So how much suffering he had to undergo, the five-years-old boy, and his father was putting in dangers, sometimes under the feet, leg of the elephant, sometimes throwing from the mountain, sometimes on burning oil, sometimes amongst the snakes, so many ways. But he was silent. Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was a Muhammadan by birth. So he became a very good devotee and always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. That was his fault. So the Muslim Kazi called him, that "You are Muhammadan. You born in a such great family, Muhammadan family, and you are chanting Hindu's Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra? What is this?" So he mildly replied, "My dear sir, there are many Hindus, they also have become Muhammadan.
Every night he was to go to that prostitute, and one night it was very terribly raining. So the prostitute thought, "Now this night Bilvamaṅgala is not coming. It is terribly raining." But Bilvamaṅgala went there, crossing the river, and the door was closed. He jumped over the door catching a snake. In this way, very dangerously, he reached the prostitute's house. And the prostitute was astonished, that "How is this condition you could come here? Oh, you are so much attracted by this skin. If this much attraction you would have to Kṛṣṇa, how it would have been nice for you." So immediately he left the prostitute's house and went to Vṛndāvana.
Just like within the earth you have seen, you go to the beach, you'll find within the sand, there are so many living entities. But they are inferior, and the plants on the sand, we have seen there are many green plants, herbs, they are better. They have improved their consciousness. But better than these plants and herbs are the crawling insects, snakes, snail, because they can move. The herbs, they cannot move, and within the sands there are living entities, they cannot sprout. So in this way, this is called evolution, one after another. So the insects, the reptiles, they are better than the standing herbs and plants, and these insects, the worms, they grow wings at the end of their life. In this way they are elevated to the bird's life.
Therefore, when one is after sense gratification, he is mad, he becomes mad. Balavān indriya-grāma durdānta. Indriya-grāma, these are the adjectives. Durdānta indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī. These are the description. Indriya, the senses, are just like snakes, kāla-sarpa-paṭalī. As the snake, as soon as it bites, immediately there is death, so similarly, our indriyas, the material senses, are like durdānta indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī, and we are using it. These sense are being used in this material world. Therefore it is said, nūnaṁ pramattaḥ. They have become mad, mad after sense gratification. The sublime sense gratification is sex.
So somebody required. A man is sleeping, and another man is coming to kill him. A third person is required to awaken: "Mr. such and such, get up, get up, get up! The man is coming to kill you." So the ear is open, although the man is sleeping, all other parts of the body, limbs of the body are inactive. So the ear is open. So therefore the Vedic mantras are called śruti. We have to hear the mantra, Vedic mantra. Just like if a man is bitten by snake, he is caused to hear the snake charmer's mantra—still there are—so that he can become awakened. And it is said in the Cāṇakya Paṇḍita śloka, mantrauṣadhi-vaśaḥ sarpaḥ. Mantra is powerful still—by mantra, a snake-bitten person can be brought into life. There are still some snake charmers in the villages. In our Māyāpur there is a Muhammadan, he can cure the snake-bitten case by mantra still.
We accept something māyā, or illusion, or vivarta. We accept something for something. The example is given: there is a rope, and due to my ignorance or insufficient knowledge, I take it as a snake. This is my insufficient knowledge. The snake is fact, and the rope is fact. But when we take the rope as snake, that is ignorance, or the snake as rope, that is ignorance. The Māyāvādī philosopher says that "We are accepting snake..., er, rope as a snake. But there is no snake." But we, Vaiṣṇava philosopher, we say, "No, there is snake, and there is rope. But when we accept the rope as snake, that is māyā." Similarly, there is spiritual world and there is material world. But when we accept the material world as everything, that is māyā. That is illusion.
"Of the two energies manifest, spirit and dull matter, beings possessing living force, that is vegetables, grass, trees and plants, are superior to dull matter, or stone, earth, etc. Superior to nonmoving plants and vegetables are worms and snakes, which can move. Superior to worms and snakes are animals that have developed intelligence. Superior to animals are human beings, and superior to human beings are ghosts because they have no material bodies. Superior to ghosts are the Gandharvas, and superior to them are the Siddhas. Superior to the Siddhas are the Kinnaras, and superior to them are the asuras. Superior to the asuras are the demigods, and of the demigods, Indra, the king of heaven, is supreme. Superior to Indra are the direct sons of Lord Brahmā, sons like King Dakṣa. And supreme among Brahmā's sons is Lord Śiva. Since Lord Śiva is the son of Lord Brahmā, Brahmā is considered superior, but Brahmā is also subordinate to Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because I am inclined to the brāhmaṇas, the brāhmaṇas are best of all."
They are like flowers in the sky, will-o'-the-wisp, no factual happiness. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tridaśa-pūr ākāśa puṣpāyate. And durdāntendriya kāla-sarpa-paālī proṭkhāta-daṁstrāyate. And indriya saṁyamaḥ, the yogis, they are trying to control the senses. Yoga indriya sam... That is the real purpose. Our indriyas are so disturbing, just like kāla-sarpa. You are sitting here. If one snake comes, immediately you'll be all disturbed, immediately. So to... Disturbing why? Because every one of us, we know, "Here is a kāla-sarpa." Kāla-sarpa means anyone it bites, immediately death. Immediately death. But this kāla-sarpa is dreadful, vicious, so long the fangs are there. Proṭkhāta daṁstrāyate. If the fangs, the poison fangs, are taken away, or if you know, "Here is a snake, but the snake's fangs have been taken away," you'll not be afraid. Visa hina sarpaḥ. Visa hina sarpaḥ.
"If the wife is not chaste and friend is cheater, or śaṭham..." Śaṭham means duplicity, not very sincere friend. Outwardly he's showing he's very good friend, but inwardly he has got some intention. Such friend, duplicity, and unchaste wife, duṣṭā bhāryā śaṭhaṁ mitraṁ and bhṛtyaś cottara-dāyakaḥ, and servant giving reply, and sa-sarpe ca grhe vasaḥ, and in your room if there is a snake... Of course in this big, big concrete building there is no question of snake, but in cottages, huts, made with mud, earth, there are sometimes snakes. So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, "If you live with a duṣṭā bhāryā and a duplicity friend and an answer-giving servant and a snake, then you are sure to die sometime. You'll be cheated."
Similarly, fire is created and the dry leaves of bamboo tree, they set in fire. Then, gradually, the whole forest is in blazing fire. And especially the snakes, they are the first sufferers. Because they remain on the ground and there are dry leaves and it takes fire very quickly, so they cannot fly away. Other animals, they can... Nobody can escape, but they can try because they can go fast. But the snake... Similarly, when there is catastrophe in the world, the persons like snakes, cruel, envious, they suffer first like a snake. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has said, sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ. There are two envious living entities, very dangerous. What are they? One is snake. And another? The man whose habit is like snake. Without any fault he will bite. Without any fault.
So just like we are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So what is our fault? That we are trying to make men—no illicit sex, no gambling, no meat-eating, no intoxication, and they take it otherwise. They take: "It is very dangerous." Without any fault they are finding fault. This is snake. Sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ. No fault, but still fault-finding and giving us trouble. So you'll find so many persons, without any fault they'll bite. A snake, without any fault... You are passing, and you are taking some fruit from the tree. If there is snake, it will bite—the krūraḥ. So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, "There are two, two kinds of krūraḥ, envious living entities. One is the snake; another is the man-snake, or a man habituated to the snake quality." So sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ. But Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, "This man snake is more dangerous than the animal snake." Sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ. Why? Now, mantrauśādhi-vaṣaḥ sarpaḥ khalaḥ kena nivāryate: "You can subdue the snake by chanting a snake mantra or some drug, jadi-bhuti(?), but this man-snake cannot be subdued." It is very, very dangerous.
When Viśvamitra Muni went to see Mahārāja Daśaratha to ask the help of Lord Rāmacandra and Lakṣmaṇa... There was a demon. They were disturbing in the forest. The saintly persons were disturbed. They could kill that demon, but because they were brāhmaṇas, saintly person, they did not like the killing business in their own hand. That was the system. A brāhmaṇa will not kill. A brāhmaṇa, simply by cursing, he can kill. Doesn't require even open... Just like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he was cursed by a boy brāhmaṇa that within seven days he'll be bitten by a snake and he'll die. The brāhmaṇas were so powerful. So brāhmaṇa is not joke. In Kali-yuga there is no such brāhmaṇa. So this Viśvamitra Muni came to Mahārāja Daśaratha to request that "Send your sons Rāmacandra and Laksmana to kill these demons." Kṣatriyas' business is... Kṣat. Kṣat means injury. If somebody is injuring your body, it is the duty of the government to save you: "Why unnecessarily you are injuring this...?" Just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja, when he was going... And some person was śūdra in the dress of the king. He was trying to kill a cow. Immediately Parīkṣit Mahārāja took his sword: "Who are you, rascal, you are trying to kill a cow in my kingdom?" That is kṣatriya.
He says that "You do not try to hear from a person who is avaiṣṇava hari-kathāmṛtam." The hari-kathā, the message of Kṛṣṇa like Bhagavad-gītā and other, Bhāgavata, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you should not hear from a person who is not a Vaiṣṇava. In the Bhāgavata also it is said, satāṁ prasaṅgāt mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ-kathāḥ. When we hear from sad-vekti(?), or Vaiṣṇava, then we get real effect. So if one argues that "Hari-kathā is pure. Even a avaiṣṇava speaks, what is the harm there?" so Sanātana Gosvāmī said in connection with this that śravaṇaṁ na kartavyaṁ sarpocchiṣṭaṁ payo yathā. Just like milk: it is very nice food, but if it is touched with the lips of a snake, it becomes poisonous. Therefore it is concluded that we have to hear the transcendental message of Kṛṣṇa from a realized soul, a devotee.
So this is not very extraordinary thing, that human being has got affection. That affection is there even in tiger. So you are not very in that way advanced. That is natural. That kind of affection for the small child, you will find in cats and dogs and tigers, even snake. These things are not extraordinary thing. They are very much proud, "How I have to take care of my children." So that is taken care by other animals also. Bhuñjānaḥ prapiban khādan bālakaṁ sneha-yantritaḥ, bhojayan pāyayan mūḍhaḥ. In spite of so much affection and taking care of the children, he is addressed here, mūḍha. Just see. (laughs) They are very much proud of being affectionate, but śāstra says, "You are rascal, that's all." Mūḍha. Bhojayan pāyayan mūḍho na veda āgatam antakam. He could not understand that "I am very busy in raising my child, but here, back side, there is death. Death is waiting to scramble me."
So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, duṣṭā-bhāryā: "If the wife is duṣṭā," duṣṭā-bhāryā śaṭhaṁ mitram, "and friend is śaṭham, hypocrite, talking very friendly, but he has got something, design..." That is called śaṭhaṁ mitram. Śaṭham means hypocrite. So "If somebody's wife is duṣṭā and friend is hypocrite," duṣṭā-bhāryā śaṭhaṁ mitraṁ bhṛtyaś ca uttara-dāyakaḥ, "and bhṛtya, servant, does not obey, he argues with the master..." Master says, "Why did you not do?" "Oh, I am this..." No argument. Bhṛtya should be very silent. Then he is faithful servant. Sometimes master may be angry, but bhṛtya should be silent. Then master becomes kind. But if he replies on equal level, oh, then it is very bad. Duṣṭā-bhāryā śaṭhaṁ mitraṁ bhṛtyaś ca uttara-dāyakaḥ, sa-sarpe ca gṛhe vāsaḥ: "And you are living in a apartment where there is a snake." So if these four things are there or one of them, not all the fours, then mṛtyur eva na saṁśayaḥ: "Then you are doomed." You are doomed. Your life is spoiled.
Suppose a snake comes here and he, it has a jewel on the head. So you'll be all safe? (laughter) No. He's dangerous.
So that is going on. So-called educated scientist, degrees, what they're doing? Atom bomb, kill men. This is their scientific discovery: that you can kill a man with a knife, one man or two men; now we have got scientific discovery, millions of men in a moment. Come on, discovery. So why don't you discover something that millions of hospitals, diseased men can be brought into life again? That we cannot do. Kill, killing, killing is going on. What you have discovered? So this is their scientific... Discover something and declare that there is no more death. Here is medicine. Then that is scientific discovery. What is this nonsense? People are dying, and you have discovered something to facilitate death? Is that discovery? Therefore they are this snake with jewel. That's all. They're not gentlemen even. A gentlemen thinks that "I shall kill so many persons by dropping one atom bomb. I have discovered such nonsense thing"? And they are going on as scientist. So be careful. They are like snakes with jewel on the head. That's all.
That depends on the person. Sometimes... Those who are pious persons, they know that these rats, they are also hungry and they should be given some food. That is the vision of the pious person. And that is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that in your house you should see not only to the welfare of your children. Even there is a lizard, there is a rat, even there is a snake, you should see how he is also comfortably situated. That is spiritual communism. In Vṛndāvana still, a snake found in the house is never killed, snake. Still a rat is never killed. If you kill a rat in Vṛndāvana, then so many people will come: "Oh, you are committing such sinful acts. You are killing a rat." That depends on the mentality of the person.
If I think that "My spiritual master is here. He will save me," and if I do not train him how to save them, then what is the use of having such spiritual master? What is the use of having such father? And what is the use of such government? There is a Bengali poetry by a Bengali Vaiṣṇava: kaname janame sabe pitā mātā paya, kṛṣṇa guru nahi mile bhajaha e aya.(?) As soon as you take birth, there is father. Either you take birth as a snake or you take birth as a human being, without father and mother there is no question of birth. So father and mother you will get in every birth. But kṛṣṇa guru nahi mile bhajaha e aya(?): Kṛṣṇa and guru will not be available in every birth. That is very important thing. You cannot get Kṛṣṇa in the form of a snake or a cat and a dog, but you can get Kṛṣṇa in the form as a human being.
So the next verse, the... It is advised... Not it is too much. You can test it. Test it. What is that test? Patita. When you fall down from a high place... Suppose from the roof you may fall down, patitaṁ. Skhalita: you may slip and fall down. Bhagnaḥ: by falling down you may break your bones. Then sandaṣṭaḥ: you may be bitten by some animal—cats, dogs, a snake. There are so many, domestic. Then tapta: you may be burned. And āhataḥ: you may be injured from others. Then during this time you can test, practical. What is that test? Harir ity avaśena aha. Try to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Pumān. If anyone does so, na arhati yātanāḥ. You'll immediately feel that from the injuries you are not feeling pain. This is practical seen. Even a snake bite... You may be saved. The author says, never says, that you may be saved from death, but the suggestion is that you may not feel much pain. This is practical.
One can argue, "No, we can hear hari-kathā from any person, he may be Vaiṣṇava or not Vaiṣṇava. What is the matter?" But Sanātana Goswāmī, "No." So, why it is no? Because it is like sarpocchiṣṭaṁ payaḥ yathā. Milk is very good, nice food, everyone knows, but if the milk is touched by the lips of a snake, it is not to be touched. It is not to be touched. It has become poison. Very good example. Similarly, if we do not hear from the right person, any Vedic literature, especially Bhagavad-gītā because that is the beginning, the sarpocchiṣṭaṁ payaḥ yathā. He may be very big scholar, but because he is avaiṣṇava, not devotee, it has become poison. In our country, we have got so many editions, not only in country, in all, outside the country also. In your country. There are so many hodge-podge interpretation of Bhagavad-gītā, and they are being read and being used for the last two hundred years ago, but there was no effective result. It could not act. But as soon as this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, we have presented and you are reading, so many thousands of thousands, they are becoming devotee.
One who is strictly following the instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and after following Him, he is just delivering the instruction as Kṛṣṇa has said, then you become guru. It is not difficult. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has ordered everyone. Therefore our process is to follow Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and then try to understand Kṛṣṇa's instruction. Just like here in our temple. First of all there is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Through His mercy we are trying to understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. You cannot understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa directly. That is not possible. That will be like that sarpocchiṣṭaṁ payaḥ yathā, milk touched by the lips of a snake. There are so many Bhāgavata reciters in India. They jump over to the rasa-līlā without understanding Kṛṣṇa through Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
So these four things, unfaithful wife, a dupli..., a cheating friend, and servant disobeying order, and a snake within the room, all these things are causes or the..., will cause death at any time. At any time, they can do anything. There are many instances. So these moral instructions are very nice given by Cānakya Paṇḍita. So all living entities who have disobeyed the order of Kṛṣṇa, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66), that is the principle. Every living entity must be obedient to Kṛṣṇa. But by misuse of his little independence, if he does not obey the orders of Kṛṣṇa, he immediately becomes arrested by māyā.
The vidhunoti, this word, is there. Vidhunoti means washing. Washing. As you are hearing the message of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā, the process is vidhunoti, washing. Actually, it is brainwashing—but for good. Washing is not bad. (laughter) That these rascals, they do not know. They are thinking, "Oh, you are making me purified? Oh, you are very dangerous." This is their... Mūrkhāyopadeśo hi prakopāya na śāntaye: "To a rascal, if you give good advice, he becomes angry." Mūrkhāyopadeśo hi prakopāya na śāntaye. How is it? Payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam. A snake-quality man is very dangerous.
"There are two envious living entities. One is a snake, black snake, and one is a human being with the quality of black snake." He cannot see any good thing. Sarpaḥ krūraḥ. The snake is envious. Without any fault he bites. A snake is there on the street, and if you happen to pass by him he becomes so angry, immediately he bites. So this is the snake's nature. Similarly, there are persons like the snake. Without any fault they will accuse you. They are also snake. So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that "This black snake is less harmful than the man snake." Why? "Now, this black snake, by chanting some mantra or by some herb can bring him under your control. But this man snake you cannot. It is not possible."
This Hiraṇyakaśipu is also described by Prahlāda Mahārāja as a snake. When Nṛsiṁha-deva is so angry so he will say later on that modeta sādhur api vṛścika-sarpa-hatyā: (SB 7.9.14) "My Lord, You were very much angry on my father. Now he's finished, so there is no more reason for Your remaining angry. Be pacified. Nobody is unhappy for killing my father. Be sure. So there is no cause of anguish. These all these demigods, Lord Brahmā and others, they are all Your servants. I am also Your servant's servant. So now the envious snake is killed. Everyone is happy." So he gave this example that modeta sādhur api vṛścika-sarpa-hatyā. A sādhu, a saintly person, never likes killing of any living being. They are not happy... Even a small ant is killed, they are not happy: "Why ant should be killed?" What to speak of others, even a small ant. Para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. It may be an ant, insignificant, but at the time of death he has suffered. A Vaiṣṇava is unhappy: "Why an ant should be killed?" This is para duḥkha-duhkhi. But such Vaiṣṇava is happy when a snake and a scorpion is killed. Modeta sādhur api vṛścika-sarpa-hatya. So everyone is happy when a snake or scorpion is killed because they are very, very dangerous. Without any fault they bite and create havoc.
So there are these snakelike persons. They are envious about our movement, and they are opposing. That is the nature. Prahlāda Mahārāja also was opposed by his father, what to speak of others. These things will happen, but we should not be disappointed, as Prahlāda Mahārāja never became disappointed although he was teased in so many ways. He was also served with poison, he was thrown amongst the serpents and he was thrown from the hill, he was put under the feet of elephant. In so many ways put... Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has instructed us that "Do not be disappointed.
So do you think that sādhu, those who are sādhu, they are pleased when a person is killed? Not ordinary person. He is giving very nice example. Modeta sādhur api vṛścika sarpa-hatyā (SB 7.9.14). Vṛścika means scorpion and sarpa means snake. Naturally, whenever a scorpion is found or a snake is out, every man is prepared to kill it. Every man. "Oh, here is a snake. Kill it." When I was in Allahabad, in my bed there was a snake. I do not know how it came, but I informed to the servants, and they came with all stick immediately. So when the bed seat was taken away, it was under the, I mean to say, quilt. So that snake was there, and from the face of the snake I could understand that she was, it was so afraid. He could understand that "Now I'm going to be killed by so many people. They have come." So I told them that "Don't kill this poor fellow. Better take it and send it to the forest." But they took it away, but I later on understood they killed it. So once I saw in our Māyāpur, Lord Caitanya's birthplace, so a snake was going, a black snake with... In Bengal there are many snakes. So my Guru Mahārāja was on the upstair and everyone asked the permission whether this should be killed. He said immediately, "Yes. He should be killed." So at that time I thought that "How Guru Mahārāja ordered for killing the snake?" Then, after so many years, when I began to read Bhāgavatam and came to this passage, Prahlāda Mahārāja assertion, modeta sādhur api vṛścika sarpa-hatyā, then I thought that "My Guru Mahārāja did right thing." Here also, modeta. Even a sādhu. Then why a sādhu is pleased when a sarpa, a scorpion, or snake is killed? The reason is that these two kinds of creatures, they bite innocent persons without any fault. Without any fault. Or for little fault. The venomous snake. Immediately. By nature they are so angry and so envious that they feel pleasure if somebody is bitten and immediately die. That is their nature. Therefore killing a snake and scorpion means to save it from so many sinful activities. Because it is nature. It will kill so many persons, so many animals, because its nature is innocent person, bite innocent person, kill him. So if there is seen by killing another, it will continue. Better to kill it to stop its sinful activities.
If you have killed somebody, then you shall be killed. And it is supported in Manu-saṁhitā that when the king orders that a murderer should be killed, that is a favor to him. Because if he is not killed, then the sinful activities, reaction, will continue, and the next birth he'll suffer. But if he's killed in this life, then all his sinful activities finished. He'll have no more to suffer the reaction. So it is friendly action. Similarly a vṛścika or a sarpa, a scorpion or a snake, if it is killed that means to save it from further, I mean to say, sinful activities. Therefore sādhu, it is said by Brahma, I mean to..., Prahlāda Mahārāja, that modeta sādhur api vṛścika sarpa-hatyā (SB 7.9.14). Yata artho 'yaṁ manuṣya ca asura sādhūnāṁ santoṣaṁ santoṣārtham arti hataḥ (?). Śrīdhāra Swami is annotating that this killing of Nṛsiṁha, here, uh, this killing by Nṛsiṁha-deva of Hiraṇyakaśipu was for the pleasure of the saintly persons. Was for the pleasure of the saintly persons.
So a sādhu, a saintly person, a righteous person, a religious person, will never be happy by other's killing. But killing of persons like scorpion and serpent... And the Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that a person who has envious nature, he's more dangerous than the serpent. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has enunciated that sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ. There are two envious creatures: one is the snake, and another, a man envious, unnecessarily envious of others. So sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ. That man, envious, he's dangerous, more dangerous than the snake. Why more dangerous? Mantrauśādhi-vaśaḥ sarpaḥ khalaḥ kena nivāryate. You can subdue a snake by herbs and by chanting particular type of mantra. There are many snake charmers in India, by mantra they can charm the snakes. But a person who is envious, you cannot pacify him in any way.
Dayānanda: Nirvṛtim... (break) translation: "My Lordship Nṛsiṁha-deva, who can, therefore, stop Your anger? Now my father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, the great demon, being killed, as the saintly persons take pleasure in the killing of the scorpion and the snake..."
Prabhupāda: What is the beginning? Tad yaccha? Hm? Tad yaccha. "Give up that anger." What you have written?
Dayānanda: It says, "Who can, therefore, stop Your anger?"
Prabhupāda: No, no. "Please, therefore, give up Your anger."
Hṛdayānanda: "Please, therefore, give up your anger."
Dayānanda: Oh. "Please, therefore, stop your anger. Now my father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, the great demon, being killed, as the saintly persons who take pleasure in the killing of the scorpion and the snake, similarly, all the saintly persons have achieved great satisfaction on account of the demon's death. Now they are confident of their happiness. They shall always remember about Your auspicious incarnation."
Prabhupāda: "Of Nṛsiṁha-deva."
- tad yaccha manyum asuraś ca hatas tvayādya
- modeta sādhur api vṛścika-sarpa-hatyā
- lokāś ca nirvṛtim itāḥ pratiyanti sarve
- rūpaṁ nṛsiṁha vibhayāya janāḥ smaranti
- (SB 7.9.14)
So Prahlāda Mahārāja is requesting Nṛsiṁha-deva, "Now the business is finished. My father, the great demon, Hiraṇyakaśipu..." He said, asuraś ca hatas. He... Such a great Vaiṣṇava, he is not calling Hiraṇyakaśipu his father.
So long, long ago, sometimes in the year 1933 in this Caitanya Math, there was a big snake came out in my front. I was taking bath. So everyone was looking what to do. So Guru Mahārāja was on the upstair. He immediately ordered, "Kill him." So it was killed. So at that time, 1933, I was newcomer. So I thought, "How that? Guru Mahārāja ordered this snake to be killed?" I was little surprised. But later on, when I saw this verse, I was very glad. Modeta sādhur api vṛścika-sarpa-hatyā (SB 7.9.14). It remained a doubt, "How Guru Mahārāja ordered a snake to be killed?" But when I read this verse I was very much pleased, that these creatures, or creatures like the snake, they should not be shown any mercy. No. And Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said there are two kinds of cruel creatures. One kind is a sarpaḥ krūraḥ. The snake is very cruel. Sarpaḥ krūraḥ, khalaḥ krūraḥ. And khala, a person who has awakened the quality like snake... Then there is no fault. Why a snake is called so cruel? Because unnecessarily they bite. If somebody commits some offense unto you, if you bite me, that is reasonable. But I have no fault, but you are biting me. The vṛścika, scorpion, and snake, they do that, without any offense. A man is passing, an animal is passing—unnecessarily it bites, without offense. A man is sleeping—it bites. Therefore they are very dangerous. Similarly, there are men also like the snake—without any fault, they bite, without any fault. If I do something faulty, you can punish me, bite. But without any fault, if you bite me... So therefore Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, sarpaḥ krūraḥ-khalaḥ krūraḥ sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ. Such person is called khala, envious, jealous.
So there are two living creatures. One is snake, and one is jealous or envious person. So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ: "This man, envious man, is more dangerous than the snake. Than the snake." Why? He's a human being. Yes, because he's human being and he has got developed consciousness and he has practiced to use the developed consciousness for becoming jealous, He's more dangerous than the snake. So therefore he concludes, mantrauśādhi-vaśaḥ sarpaḥ khalaḥ kena nivāryate. The snake, although by nature he is so..., still, he can be controlled by mantra and some herbs. In India they still do that. But this khalaḥ, the person jealous, he cannot be pacified any means. Therefore he's more dangerous than the snake. A person who has become jealous and envious, he cannot be controlled either by mantra or by bribe or this or that. No. Sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ. So Prahlāda Mahārāja said, "My Lord, nobody is unhappy, even the saintly person. Saintly person, we common man, we may be unhappy—'Oh, my father is killed'—or my mother may be unhappy that 'My husband is killed.' But be sure, my father was a khalaḥ. Unnecessarily he was envious of Your Lordship, so he was more dangerous than the snake and the scorpion. Therefore by killing him You have satisfied everyone, even one is saintly person. So there is no question of becoming angry still. By this action everyone is happy, so don't consider any other. You become now pacified."
This is called saṁsāra-cakra-kadanāt. Prahlāda Mahārāja, a devotee, is afraid, very, very afraid. He is not afraid of the lion or the elephant or the tiger or the snake. No. He's not afraid of these. But he's afraid of this repetition of birth and death. That is called saṁsāra-cakra. Is it not botheration? Any sane man will understand how much botheration it is. Just like I am now old man. There are so many inconveniences. And in this way every old man will die, and if he's fortunate enough, if he has done something, he may be promoted to the higher planetary system, or if he has tried for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he may go back to home, back to Godhead.
The demigods were afraid of, very much afraid. Therefore when he was killed everyone became very pleased. There(fore) Prahlāda Mahārāja said that "Nobody is unhappy on account of death of my father." He said, modeta sādhur api vṛścika-sarpa-hatyā: (SB 7.9.14) "My father was exactly like scorpion and snake, so killing of such animal, living entity, is pleasing to everyone, even sādhu. Even bhaktas, they also become pleased." They do not want anyone is killed or anyone is done something harmful. Bhakta never desires. But they also take pleasure when the vṛścika, the scorpion, and the snake is killed. You have got experience. There was a snake in my bathroom. So you all sādhus became very alert to kill it, (laughter) although you are sādhu. So that is natural. When there is snake, there is no question of sādhu or asādhu. Kill him. Sādhur api, very nice.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "My dear Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, on account of my association with material desires one after another, gradually I have now fallen in the blind well full of snakes. But Your servant Nārada Muni kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcendental position. Therefore my first duty is to serve him. And how can I leave it?"
Prabhupāda:
- evaṁ janaṁ nipatitaṁ prabhavāhi-kūpe
- kāmābhikāmam anu yaḥ prapatan prasaṅgāt
- krtvātmasāt surarṣiṇā bhagavān gṛhītaḥ
- so 'haṁ kathaṁ nu visṛje tava bhṛtya-sevām
- (SB 7.9.28)
So this is Vaiṣṇava paddhati. Tava bhṛtya-sevām. Vaiṣṇava does not approach Kṛṣṇa directly. That is not Vaiṣṇava. This is impudency. You cannot approach Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taught us, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). This is the process. You have to... As you have to receive the perfect knowledge by the paramparā system—imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1)—similarly, you have to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the paramparā system.
Just like you can break the fangs of the... There are expert snake charmer. Because this poison is required for some medicinal purpose, so they take it out. Then it is useless. But they again grow. The body is so made of the snake, even if you take once the fangs, again it grows. That is stated here, that how it is possible? Kāmābhikāmam anu yaḥ prapatan prasaṅgāt. Once it may be broken, but if you have bad association, then again it will grow. Kāmābhikāmam. One kāma, one lusty desire, produces another lusty desire. In this way, one after another, this is going on. That is the cause of our repeated birth and death. Bhūtva bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). So therefore, if we want to enter into bhakti platform, then we should give up this.
This is the cause of anxiety. But as soon as I realize myself that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul," then all my anxiety is gone. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). I am always very much anxious to give protection to my body. But we understand that na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Even your body is annihilated, you are not annihilated. That understanding is lacking. One who understands-na śocati na kāṅkṣati, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Then there is no fight between one nation to one nation, one animal to one animal, one man to one... There is no more. Samaḥ sarveṣu. Because that is the realization that "We are not this body." "I am neither dog, I am not man, I am not this, I am not that. This is all superficial. I am spirit soul. A dog is also spirit soul; the snake is also spirit soul; the tree is also spirit soul." Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). That is real knowledge, sama-darśinaḥ.
So the deerskin in the forest is very essential. Just like we take some blankets, we can spread anywhere and sit down. Deerskin, it is said that if you have got deerskin, you can sleep in the jungle; the snake will not touch you. That is the dravya-guṇa, the special effect of deerskin. Either tigerskin or deerskin, if you sit down, if you sleep, the snakes will not come. This is also very scientific. Therefore, because the brahmacārīs used to live in the jungle, it was essential. But on the whole the huts are(?) recommended, not that gorgeous dress, very nice bedstead or... As far as possible, yāvad-artha, whatever is absolutely necessary... That is Vedic civilization.
So that Parīkṣit Mahārāja was condemned to death within seven days. That is also very nice, interesting. Not interesting very much. It is very sorry plight, that Parīkṣit Mahārāja was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy to die within seven days, bitten by a snake. What was the incident? The incident was that Mahārāja Parīkṣit was in the forest, hunting. Hunting is allowed only to the kṣatriya kings. Because they were to rule over, and formerly the rogues and rascals by the order of king or king himself would kill him immediately. So they had to practice how to kill. And that practice was done by hunting some ferocious animal in the forest, not for eating. Nowadays hunting is going on for eating purpose. No, that is not the law. So Mahārāja Parīkṣit was in the hunting excursion and he became very thirsty. So he entered one āśrama of saintly person. He was at that time on meditation. So he entered, and he asked him, "Give me drinking water. I am very thirsty." He thought, "It is āśrama." But the sage who was engaged in meditation could not hear him. So the king became little disgusted that "I am king. I am asking water, and this man is silent." So he became little enraged, and there was a dead snake. So he took that snake and coiled over his neck and went away.
So his one boy, he was ten, twelve years old. He was playing, and his friends told him that, "The king has insulted your father in this way." And the boy became very angry, "Oh, the king is so rude that he has insulted my father." He saw that a dead snake is over his neck. He immediately cursed Mahārāja Parīkṣit that "You will die within seven days, bitten by a snake." So when he was crying very loudly and this, I mean to say, sound was going on, the saintly person, the sage, he got up. "What has happened, my dear boy, you are crying?" "No, no! The king has insulted you, so I have cursed him." Oh, he became very sorry that "You have cursed such a saintly king? Oh, you have brought defamation to the whole brāhmaṇa community. You have allowed Kali-yuga to come in. It is the Kali-yuga's conspiracy." Anyway he sent the news to the king that "My son foolishly has cursed you. This is... But what can I do? It is God's wish. It has been done. So you be prepared." Now, just see, even a boy born of a brāhmaṇa, how much he was powerful. If a ten years old, he could curse such a great king and he had to abide by that. This was the condition of kṣatriya, brāhmaṇa, and vaiśya and śūdra.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
Pradyumna: " 'Pure devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the highest enlightenment, and when such enlightenment is there, it is just like a blazing forest fire, killing all the inauspicious snakes of desire.' The example is being given in this connection that when there is a forest fire, the extensive blazing automatically kills all the snakes in the forest. There are many, many snakes on the ground of the forest, and when a fire takes place, it burns the dried foliage, and the snakes are immediately attacked. Animals who have four legs can flee from the fire or can at least try to flee, but the snakes are immediately killed. Similarly, the blazing fire of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so strong that the snakes of ignorance are immediately killed."
Prabhupāda: Go on.
Pradyumna: " 'Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is All-Auspicious.' Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has given a definition of auspiciousness."
Prabhupāda: The snakes, kāla-sarpa, indriya. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī has explained about these kāla-sarpas, snake... Our senses are compared with the snakes. Just like a snake, as soon as it touches somebody, it kills. It is very dangerous, touching by the lip of the snake. Similarly, a, a slight sense gratification is so dangerous, kāla-sarpa indriya-paṭalī, especially in the sex matter. So one... Yogis, they are training the senses how to restrain them from sense gratification, but a devotee, on account of their senses being engaged in the service of the Lord, there is no poisonous effect of the senses.
Actually, yoga practice means yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. The whole yogic process, aṣṭāṅga-yoga, is meant for controlling the senses. Durdanta indriya-kāla-paṭalī. Indriya, the senses, are just like snakes. As it is very difficult to enchant the snakes, similarly, it is very difficult to control the senses. And the yoga system (is) especially meant for controlling the senses, controlling the mind, and then concentrate on the form of Viṣṇu. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). This is yoga process. But practically we see the so-called yogis, or student of yoga class, I have seen in Western countries, they are habituated to all these nonsense habits—illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating. Still, they're passing on as yogis. So that kind of yoga will not help.
They are unnecessarily, hopelessly trying to become happy within this material world. And people, the so-called scientists, so-called advancement of material education means... Now, the scientist says that they have finished their business; they have no more to discover. But the discomforts of life still is there. As it was two hundred years ago, still, I think it is more acute now than two hundred years ago. So in this way, we cannot... The another example is that just like we dream. We dream something dangerous, a tiger is coming, a snake is coming; sometimes we want to change to another sort of dream.
So the tongue is very good instrument for developing devotional service. If we don't use this tongue in devotional service, then it is compared with the tongue of the frog. Jihvā dārdurikeva. Why? Why? "My tongue is so nice. Why it is compared with the tongue of a frog?" Now, because the frog, crowing, (imitates frog sound:) "caw a kronh, caw ka kronh," that means inviting the snake. The snake cannot see where is the frog, but by hearing the sound, crowing sound, the snake can understand, "Here is my food." So his crowing sound will be stopped as soon it is swallowed up by the snake. Similarly, we have got this tongue, human body. It is not the cat's tongue or dog's tongue or tiger's tongue or hog's tongue. It is the human being tongue. So this should be engaged for Kṛṣṇa's service by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.
This was spoken by the nāga-patnī when Kāliya was being punished by Lord Kṛṣṇa, kicking over his head. So this prayer was offered, that "For Your dust of Your lotus feet, so many great sages are hankering after, and they do not care for even liberation, simply to get Your, that dust of the lotus feet. We do not know how much this fortunate snake is, that he's automatically getting the dust. You are kicking on his head. We do not know what did he do in his previous life that he's so fortunate."
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Very, very abominable condition in this age of Kali. Very, very. It is the beginning of Kali. Now we have to pass through 427,000's of years. Kali-yuga will make progress in that way. And people are now practicing eating their children, and at the end of Kali there will be no food available. They'll have to eat the children just like the snakes do. The snake eat their own children. There are many animals—they eat their own children.
Just like the serpent, if he touches even little, immediately your life is finished, similarly, our senses are very strong, just like as strong as the serpent, uncontrollable. So why it is so dangerous? Because it has got the fang. He has got fang, poison. But there are physicians, in the Āyurvedic physician. They know. They capture snakes and they take away the fang for making medicine. They are also used as medicine. So if the poison teeth is broken, then it is not more dangerous, no more dangerous. It may have very big hood, but one knows that his poison teeth is taken away, he is not afraid. It may be very fearful to the children, but a grown-up man who knows his poison teeth is no longer there, he is not afraid. In Bengal he is called viṣṇai kulama cakra (?): "There is no poison, and you have got a very big hood."
So everything was spoken that is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that "This child will be like this, like this," and it was foretold that the at the last stage of his life, he will be cursed by a brāhmaṇa and he will die out of snake bite. "This child will die by snake bite." That was also foretold. And because the brāhmaṇa cursed, a brāhmaṇa boy cursed him that "Within seven days the king will die by snake bite..." That's a long story. Therefore, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he was not very old, but he understood that "I will have to die by snake bite, so let me get free from this royal responsibilities." He at once handed over his kingdom to his son and went to the bank of the Ganges and sat down there tight, without taking any food and drink, for seven days, and he heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the authoritative source of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and he died at the end of seven days. A snake came and bit him.
So he (she) blocked the door and went to sleep. And when he came to the house he saw, "Oh, the door is blocked," and it was raining still. "So how can I go?" So he crossed over the wall by catching one snake. Just see how much intensely he was attached. And he went to the prostitute, and she was astonished: "Well, Bilvamaṅgala"—his name was Bilvamaṅgala—"how do you dare to come here like this?" Oh, he described, "Yes. I did this, I did this, I did this, I did this." Oh, the prostitute was astonished. Her name was Cintāmaṇi. So the prostitute said, "My dear Bilvamaṅgala, if you have got so intense love for me, oh, had it been for God, for Kṛṣṇa, how would have been, your life, sublime." Oh, that struck him: "Yes." He at once left and went away: "Yes, you are right."
Sri Isopanisad Lectures
As soon as touches you, little biting, finished your life. So it is like that. Durdānta-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī, indriya. But these venomous snakes, if their poison teeth is taken away, then it may be fearful for the boys and children. But if an elderly person knows that his poison teeth has been taken away, nobody's afraid of it. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness means that we take away the poison teeth of the senses. So that even Kṛṣṇa conscious persons are allowed for sense gratification, the poison teeth is broken. So therefore they are not gliding down to the hellish condition of life. So in this way, either the karmīs or the jñānīs or the yogis, they are always... They are, every one of them, trying to elevate. And above them is the devotees.
Festival Lectures
So in this way Prahlāda Mahārāja talked with his father, and the father became more angry. Instead of taking the lesson ... Mūrkhāya upadeśa hi prakopāya na śāntaye. If you teach lesson to a foolish person, he'll be simply angry. He'll not take your lesson. How it is so? Payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam. If you keep a snake and if you want to make friendly behavior with him, that, "My dear snake, don't bite any more. I'll give you milk and banana. You eat here and stay here nicely," he'll not... His poison will increase, and one day he will... There is a story in the Hitopadeśa: one day, one... The same thing. So payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam. So these are lessons, stories.
Nobody has got any interest to set fire in the forest, but it takes place automatically. And when the forest fire is there, all the animals within the forest, they become so much disturbed. They cannot escape. They die, especially the snakes. Because snakes are always envious, so they are first off to be burned into that forest fire. They cannot go very swiftly. Others, tigers and other beasts, they go away. But the snake, they crawl. They cannot get out. Mostly they burn. So this example is given to this materialistic life as forest fire because nobody wants any disturbance, but disturbance is created. Actually I am seeing. Since I have come to this part of the world in 1965, so many boys are chased by the government draft board. You see? They belong to the independent nation, and formerly they were independent. And what is this nonsense independence? You see? Simply nonsense. There is no independence. But we are thinking, "I am independent." "Oh, that nation has become independent. I shall become independent." Just like one of my students said he wanted to be anarchist.
Because it is Kali-yuga, the government discriminates between two nationals. National means one who has taken birth in the land. That is called national. That is... You know, everyone. So the trees, they are also born in the land, the aquatics also born in the land. The flies, the reptiles, the snakes, the birds, the beasts, human beings—everyone is born in that land. Suppose your land, America, United States... Why the government should give protection to one class of living entities, rejecting others? This means they have lost their sympathy for others. This is Kali-yuga. Formerly, before Kali-yuga, unnecessarily even an ant would not be killed. Even an ant. There are many instances that a hunter who was taking advantage of killing animals, but when he became a devotee he was not prepared to kill even an ant.
Initiation Lectures
...worship prevents snake biting. That is a village worship. So in every demigod worship there are drum beaters. So a party of drum beaters were engaged, and when the fees, bill, of the drum beaters was to be paid, the demigod Mansa(?) was sold. They could not pay the bills. Similarly, we may print our books, but the binding charges are so high, then it will cost more than getting it from Japan. (chuckles) Jayānanda looks like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (laughter) Yes. He was tall and stout and strong, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (laughing) Yes.
That is the proper use of our talking. Otherwise, there are frogs also, they are vibrating, "kakaka, kakaka, kakaka, kakaka." That kind of vibration is simply inviting death. You know in every country there are frogs, especially in rainy season they enjoy. They think, "We are now enjoying life," by "kakaka kakaka." So the result is that the snake, in the darkness they cannot see where is the frog, but by the sound he can understand, "Here is a frog," and he comes and swallows it. So our, this talking, nonsense talking whole day and night—in the assembly, in the conference, in the business, in so many ways we are talking, "kakaka, kakaka"—the result is that we are inviting death very soon.
General Lectures
So if you try to wide your feelings of internationality, please try to understand Bhagavad-gītā. You'll be getting enlightenment, you'll understand what is international feeling. Sarva-yoniṣu. Sarva-yoniṣu means then you will feel international even for the cats and dogs and animals and reptiles. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam... These people are manufacturing communism, but in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventh Canto, we'll find a statement given by Nārada Muni that if in your house there is a snake even, you should give him something to eat. Just see how the feeling. Even there is a snake, what to speak of other animals.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, or the Bhāgavata-dharma, there is ideal communism. You'll find in Śrīmad-Bhagavatam in the Seventh Canto, Nārada Muni is instructing to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira about this communism, that "A gṛhastha, before taking lunch, he must see that every insect, every lizard, every cat, every rat..." (break)...whether a snake in that house must have been fed, must have taken their food. This is so hospitable that the householder, the owner of the house, not only see that his wife, children, servants are well fed, but even the rats, cats, or the insect or the lizard or even the snake has got his food. That is the ideal communism. Because when you are paṇḍita, learned, you cannot distinguish that "This is animal and this is human being." You can treat them differently because their consciousness... But on the basic principle, the living entity, any living entity—it doesn't matter whether is animal or man—he's part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.
Here also, explicitly mentioned, harer adbhuta-karmaṇaḥ. Kṛṣṇa's activities are all wonderful. As you read from the Kṛṣṇa book, He is fighting with many demons, and His activities are wonderful. Just like Kāliya-damana. A boy of five years old or six years old jumping in the Yamunā, and the great snake immediately coils Him, as if it will devour Kṛṣṇa. And from the shore, all the members of Vṛndāvana, they become fainted: "Now Kṛṣṇa is gone."
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that "My dear friends..." He was teaching his class friends who were five years old, and he said that durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. "Our duty is, so long the next death does not appear, we should develop our dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness." We should not wait. Just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja. Parīkṣit Mahārāja was given time, seven days. He was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy that "Mahārāja, you shall die within seven days, bitten by a snake." So immediately, because he was emperor, so he understood that "I shall have to die." So he prepared himself. For seven days he tried to understand what is his relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or God.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, or the Bhāgavata-dharma, there is ideal communism. You will find in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the Seventh Canto, Nārada Muni is giving, instructing to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira about this communism that "A gṛhastha, before taking lunch, he must see that every insect, every lizard, every cat, every rat, even a snake in that house must have been fed, must have taken their food. This is so hospitable that the householder, the owner of the house, not only sees that his wife, children, servants are well-fed, but even the rats, cats or the insect or the lizard. Or even the snake has got his food. This is the ideal of communism. Because when you are paṇḍita, learned, you cannot distinguish that "This is animal and this is human being." You can treat them different because their consciousness is... But on the basic principle the living entity—any living entity—it doesn't matter whether it is animal or man—he is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.
Just like the example is sometimes given to mistake a rope as snake. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they give. They say it is māyā. But it is not māyā. When you mistake a snake as..., mistake a rope as a snake, that is not māyā. That is illusion. You can call it māyā. But the snake is there. You cannot say, because it is rope, therefore there is no snake. No. Snake is there. Otherwise, how it comes to the idea of snake? The snake is a fact, but you are mistaking the rope as snake. That is your mistake. But snake is not illusion; snake is a fact. Similarly, another example is given. Just like in the desert, the mirage... In the desert sometimes, the animals find that water, there is a vast mass of water, and when they're thirsty, they jump over and go farther, farther, farther. But because there is no water, he dies. But no sane man goes after that water. But water is not false. That water is being sought in a false place. Similarly, the pleasure, the pleasure between two sexes, man and woman, that is not false. But we are seeking that pleasure in a false place in this material world. Therefore you have (indistinct). It is a great science.
So guru means spiritual master means who can deliver one from this forest fire. Just like when there is forest fire, the animals are very much disturbed, and they die mostly. The snakes, they die immediately. So this forest fire, saṁsāra-dāvānala, is going on perpetually, and the person or the authorized person who can deliver you from this forest fire of material existence, he's called guru, or the spiritual master. Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam. How he delivers? What is his means? The same example. Where there is fire in the forest, you cannot send fire brigade, or you cannot go there with bucketful of waters to extinguish the fire. That is not possible.
Try to understand what is dharma. Dharma means which you cannot give up. Dharma does not mean you accept this dharma today and tomorrow another dharma. That is not dharma. Dharma means the natural characteristic. Just like sugar is sweet. That is its dharma. And chili is hot. That is its dharma. A snake bites. That is his dharma. Water is liquid. That is its dharma. Stone is solid. That is its dharma. You cannot change. So what is the dharma of the living entities, or the human being? Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has enunciated the dharma of the human being: jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). This is dharma, that every living entity is eternally servant of Kṛṣṇa. He cannot give it up.
In the Bhāgavata it is stated that a householder, before taking his lunch, he should invite on the street, "Sir, if anyone is still hungry, please come at my place. There is still food. You can take it." And he should see that in the household even the lizard he is not hungry. Even there is a snake, he is not hungry. This is Vedic principle, God consciousness, that "Somehow or other, one animal has become lizard. Maybe he is hungry. So at my house he is. Why he should remain hungry? Give him some food." Nobody likes snake, but in the śāstra it is said, "Even there is a snake, you should see that he is not hungry, he is given some food." So of course, it is very high idea, but it is the complete ideal of so-called Communism, real. It is not that nation... American nation, they are concerned with the human being only.
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: He is thinking of it more as a personal way of determining how to act, like "I should not act counter to this moral imperative."
Prabhupāda: No. Because suppose that a snake is here and it is dangerous; he'll bite. So killing is necessary. But if you say, "No. I shall not kill this snake. Let it bite. All right, let them all die..." These are simply mental speculations. He has no perfect knowledge.
Prabhupāda: If I say that frogs or many others animals lay eggs, millions... Just like the snake. They give birth to so many hundreds and thousands of snakes at a time. So, if so many snakes are allowed to exist, then there will be disturbance. Therefore the nature's law is that the big snake eats up the small, small snakes. That is nature's law. But behind this nature's law there is brain. That is our proposition: that nature's law is not blind. There is brain, and that brain is God. We get it from Bhagavad-gītā: mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). So whatever things are happening in the material nature, it is being done by the indication of the Supreme Lord in order to maintain everything in order. Just like the snake is laying eggs, thousands. If they are not killed, then the whole world will be full of snakes only. So there is a plan that the snakes will eat. Just like tiger. Tiger, they also have their cubs, but the male tiger kills them and the female tiger hides them. So many tigers are coming out. So that is another economic Malthus theory that whenever there is large number of population there must be some war, some epidemic, some earthquake, like that. They should die. So these natural activities are planned; they are not chance. As he is saying, "chance," that means he has no sufficient knowledge.
Prabhupāda: But I say, I say that it is still existing. The man is existing, the horse is existing, the snake is existing, the insect is existing, the trees are existing; why not millions of years ago?
Śyāmasundara: Because there's no evidence.
Prabhupāda: This is the evidence. This is the evidence. You cannot give the history of this planet. Now suppose the existence of sun, you cannot give history. The sun is existing millions of years ago. It is not that sun is created now. The sun is existing now, the moon is existing now, so why should not they come from millions of years also? The sun existing, and within the sun everything is existing. So if the sun is existing, then other things must be existing. That is my conclusion.
Prabhupāda: Rats can do it. Snake can do it. Not snake. Snakes cannot. Rats can do. (break)
Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...the knowledge that we get from the so-called scientific theories of...
Prabhupāda: Poor fund of knowledge.
Hayagrīva: Well, evidently Marx never got over the antagonism between his father and his mother—his mother who was Jewish and his father who was a Christian convert. He says, "As soon as Jew and Christian recognize their respective religions, there is nothing more than different stages of evolution of the human spirit, as different snakeskins shed by history, and recognize man as the snake who wore them. They will no longer find themselves in religious antagonism but only in a critical scientific and human relationship. Science constitutes their unity. Contradictions in science, however, are resolved by science itself." So that, in other words, science, material science, is to replace this religion, and religion is to be shed by mankind just as a snake sheds its skin. And in this way the antagonisms created between Jew and Christian or, or Hindu and Muslim are reconciled.
Prabhupāda: Reconciled can be only when you actually know what is God. Simply by stamping oneself Christian, Jewish, or Hindu and Muslim, without knowing who is God and what is his desire, that will naturally create antagonism. Therefore the conclusion is, as Mr. Marx giving stress on science, so we should understand scientifically what is religion, what is God. Then this antagonism will stop.
Śyāmasundara: He says that even illusions are genuinely real objects which are uncreated by the human mind. In other words, if I think I see a snake and it is actually a piece of rope, but if I think it is a snake, then it really is a snake.
Prabhupāda: That is reality of a snake; otherwise how this imagination comes to me? I have got an idea of snake. Now, in darkness there is a rope. So I may falsely take it as snake. That's doesn't matter. But snake is there. That is our argument.
Purports to Songs
' Actually, when Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu passed through the forest of Jhārigrāma, the tigers, the elephants, the snake, the deer, all joined Him in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is so nice. Anyone can join. Animals can join, what to speak of human being? Of course, it is not possible for ordinary man to enthuse animals to chant, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu did it actually.
"You have forgotten. But I have brought one medicine so that..." Just like when a man remains unconscious under some intoxication or snake bite, there are some herbs. If it is put before the nostril and if the patient smells, immediately he gets consciousness. Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "I have brought also one medicine." Enechi auśādhi māyā nasibaro lagi': "This medicine can dissipate your this forgetfulness under the spell of māyā." Enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro. What is that? Hari-nāma mahā-mantra lao tumi: "This is this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. You please take it." The idea is that if one simply chants Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare, his unconscious stage, or sleeping stage under the spell of illusory māyā, will gradually vanish.
| Page Title: | Snake (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, Mayapur |
| Created: | 10 of Jun, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=139, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 139 |