So we are concerned with the laws of God. God may be dead or alive—it doesn't matter. Suppose by law we are prisoners, we are in the prison house, and all of a sudden the president or the king dies. Does it mean you shall be free? No. You have to rot. Just like Bengali proverb says (Bengali), that if the king dies, his government is not stopped. We should remember that. That government is prakṛti, the material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). You are reading Bhagavad-gītā. So this is . . . these are all foolish things, that "God is dead," "I don't care for God." But God, actually, God is not dead; you are dead. You are dead because . . . you are dead actually, because this body, the bodily concept of life, this body is dead. Just like you are driving one car. But if you think that "I'm the car . . ." The car is dead. The car is moving because you are alive. Similarly, this dead body . . . this body is dead, already dead from the very beginning, but it is moving on account of the soul. This is knowledge. It is dead from the very beginning. Therefore in the śāstra it is said that . . . what is that? I am just now forgetting. Aprāṇasya hi dehasya maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam (Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya 3.11). Aprāṇasya hi dehasya. Deha, deha means this body. So either it is dead or alive, it has no life. Aprāṇasya hi dehasya. Deha, it is not alive. It is always dead. Simply we understand, because we are foolish rascals, we understand that this body is dead when the soul is away. The body is always dead. So bhagavad-bhakti-hīnasya jatiḥ japas tapaḥ kriyaḥ (Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya 3.11). If one is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, bhāgavata-bhakti-hīnasya, then his big nationality, jatiḥ, his achievement, japas tapaḥ, his activities, everything, bhagavad-bhakti-hīnasya jatiḥ japas tapaḥ kriyaḥ, all these things are like decoration of the dead body. Aprāṇasya hi dehasya maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. Maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. We are decorating this body with flower, ornaments, nice cloth. How long? So long the life is there. Then it is beautiful. Otherwise no more beautiful. If you garland . . . suppose I become dead and you garland. It may be pleasing to somebody, but what is the value? There is no value.
So this material civilization, they're decorating this body. So the bodily concept of life is condemned in the very beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. This knowledge was given to Arjuna by Kṛṣṇa when he surrendered. When he was talking friendly, He did not say. When Kṛṣṇa . . . Arjuna submitted that "Kṛṣṇa, I'm now perplexed. So how my intelligence can be revived, You know." Kṛṣṇa . . . Arjuna knew that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, so his perplexed position can be solved by Kṛṣṇa. That he knew. Therefore he said, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7): "Kṛṣṇa, no more friendly talks. We are wasting time. Now I become Your disciple, śiṣya." Śiṣya means disciple. "You kindly advise me. I'm surrendering unto You." Tad viddhi praṇipātena (BG 4.34). Spiritual master means you must surrender to him. If you talk foolish, then you will not be benefited. You must submissively hear and accept whatever he says.