Paṇḍita means one who knows that "I am not this body." That is paṇḍita. The body is a lump of matter, so what is the value of lump of matter? Either while it is moving or while it is not moving, it is a lump of matter. Suppose we are now moving with this body with nice coat, pant, hat. That's all right. But what it is? It is a lump of matter. Either coat, pant, or these bones and the skin and the blood and the stool and urine, whatever this body is composed of, it is all material. And when the living entity goes away from this body, the same lump of matter... Does it change? So we are not lamenting at the present moment because it is moving. And as soon as the movement is stopped, I say, "Oh, my father has gone. My son has gone," and we lament. So actually the body is the same. The same body is lying here as dead body, whom we are lamenting, "my father," but you have never seen your father. You have seen only the coats and pants and the body. That is your education. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, "Arjuna, you are thinking on terms of this coats and pants and bones and muscles and urine and stool. Therefore you are rascal number one." This is the first instruction, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā... (BG 2.11). "Do any gentlemen lament for this torn-up cloth, bones and skins and urine and stool? Does any sane man lament?" This is the first instruction. So aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase: "You are talking just like a very learned man to argue with Me, but you are fool number one because"—gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ—"this is not the business of the paṇḍita."
Torn (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
This gross body, this coat, coating of the body, has stopped. It is (indistinct), or by some reason it is torn, it is no longer usable. Therefore, the soul has left this gross body and, being carried by the subtle body—mind, intelligence, ego—he has gone to accept another gross body. This is transmigration of the soul.
Guest (4): Prabhupāda, is it true that can a human body take a form of a human body in the next birth?
Prabhupāda: No. Kṛṣṇa doesn't say. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You will get another body, but that does not mean human body. That will depend on your price. Just like if I say, "When your coat is old and torn, you'll purchase another coat." So that another coat, what kind of coat, that will depend on your price, as you are able to pay. Similarly, your activities in this life will decide what body you are going to get next life.
Bhīṣma knew that "Kṛṣṇa is very cunning also. He will save His devotee. So He has done this. All right, in spite of Kṛṣṇa... He has broken my promise, and tomorrow I shall see. If Kṛṣṇa does not break His promise, then His friend will be killed. I will fight in such a way." So he was fighting in such a way that Arjuna became almost dead. Then at that time, Kṛṣṇa... The chariot was torn into pieces, and Arjuna fell down. And then Kṛṣṇa took up one of the wheel of the chariot and came before: "Now, Bhīṣma, you stop this fighting; otherwise I will kill you." Bhīṣma at once gave up his arrow, and he offered, "All right. Kill me." So thing is that because Bhīṣma promised that "I shall kill Arjuna tomorrow," and Kṛṣṇa also promised not to fight, just to save these two devotees, Arjuna and Bhīṣma—Bhīṣma also was a great devotee—just to show him that "I am breaking My promise.
People should be little intelligent that "If I am eternal," na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), "I do not die even after the destruction of this body..." Just like if this shirt and coat is torn out, we throw it away, that does not mean I am also torn and finished, similarly, this body... This body means I am spirit soul. I am covered with this gross body and the subtle body. This gross body is made of earth, water, air, fire, sky, and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence and ego. So I am covered by these two shirts and coat. So I am different from this. That is knowledge. That is knowledge.
Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, therefore, deha smṛti nāhi jār, saṁsāra bandhan kaha tār:(?) "If one becomes free from the bodily concept of life, then where is material miseries?" Material miseries does not affect him. He know that... Just like I am putting on this shirt. If it is torn, so am I affected? I am not affected.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
You cannot make any philanthropic work and change the fortune of any person. No. That is not possible. Tāvad tanu-bhṛtāṁ tvad-upekṣitānām. These are very nicely discussed. Bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ nṛsiṁha, pitarau nṛsiṁha. It is not that because a child has got his father and mother, he is happy, he should be happy. No. In spite of rich father and mother, he must be unhappy. Just like these hippies. In spite of they have parents, they have grandparents, they are all very rich, but they are lying on the street. I have seen. Torn clothes, this, why? Means condemned. Condemned by God.
Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya wrote hundred verses appreciating Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, of which two verses are available, because when he sent the hundred verses glorifying Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He immediately torn the papers, but the devotees collected the torn papers and saved one or two ślokas.
I am putting on this sweater, but when it is torn, no more useful, I get it up. I get another, new. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi (BG 2.22). Everything is clearly stated. This is dress only. This body is dress. Therefore we do not give on the bodily dress. We give stress on the soul. We do not make any distinction that "This is Hindu dress, Muslim dress, Christian dress, white dress, black dress." No, no, we have nothing to do with the dress. We have to do with the soul within the dress. He is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. He has forgotten Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he is suffering.
If somebody says that "If I do not get some money, then how I shall live?" to answer this question, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that "Why you are anxious for your maintenance? What you want for your maintenance?" "I want an apartment. I want clothing. I want food. I want water." So many things, this is necessary. Therefore he says "All right, if you want cloth, don't you find cloth, torn cloth, thrown in the street," Cīrāṇi kiṁ na pathi santi. "Don't you find?" "All right, I can collect it, pick up some cloth. That's all right.
Now, Kṛṣṇa does not say what kind of body you are going to get. That will depend on your work. Just like this is described as the dress. Now, if this dress is spoiled or torn, you have to purchase another dress. That will depend on your purchasing power. Similarly, after this dress is spoiled, no more usable, you have to purchase another body. That may be a dog's body or a god's body—that depends on your purchasing power. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25).
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that this body is just like a machine, motorcar. Suppose you have got now a very nice motorcar, Rolls Royce car. So somehow or other, your car is lost. The next car, is it any guarantee that you will get Rolls Royce car? No. You'll get a car as you pay for. That's all. If you can pay for a Rolls Royce car, then you can get. Or any dress. Suppose you have got now very costly dress. Now your dress is torn, you have to change the dress, but is there any guarantee that you'll get the same type of dress? No. You'll get a dress as you pay for it. It's a common sense. Similarly, if you act like a demigod, you will get the body of a demigod. If we act like ordinary human being, then you get the body of a human being. If you act like a dog, then you get the body of a dog. And if you act like a devotee, you go back to home, back to Godhead. This is the process.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
Because they were minister, their friendly circles were big, big zamindars, administrators. But they gave up their company. Tyakvtā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇ... Not one, two, but many. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucchavat. Very insignificant. "Oh, what is this? Give up." Bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. Became very poor mendicants, accepted torn cloth. Sanātana Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī, here, in Vṛndāvana, they were living underneath one tree, one night. Such vairāgya, renunciation. But how they were living? A very rich man, coming to the lowest standard of living.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Thinking this, he went to the bank of the Ganges and he saw one, another vairāgi. He had a torn clothing, and he, after washing it, he gave it for drying. So Sanātana Gosvāmī went there and asked him, "Please take this blanket and kindly give me your, that torn clothing." So that man thought that he's cutting jokes with him, that he wants to exchange such a nice blanket. So he said, "Sir, you appear to be very good gentleman. You should not cut joke with me in this..." Then Sanātana Gosvāmī, "No, I am not cutting joke with you. I am really serious. Please exchange this. You take my, this valuable blanket, and give me that torn clothing." And after taking that torn clothing, when he appeared before Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very much pleased. Yes.
He inquired again, "Oh, where is that, your blanket, that valuable blanket I saw? Where you left it?" Then he described that "I could understand Your opinion. So I have exchanged that valuable blanket with this torn clothing. Yes."
Festival Lectures
So these Gosvāmīs, Sanātana Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī, they gave up their posts. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śrenīṁ sadā tucchavat bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau kṛpayā kaupīna-kantāśritau. Kaupīna, the underwear, loincloth, and a torn quilt, and a kuraṅga, That was their possessions. And they used to live underneath one tree, and next day another tree. In this way, in this Vṛndāvana... First of all, Sanātana Gosvāmī came here after taking instruction from Lord Caitanya in Benares.
General Lectures
Prabhupāda: No, that example is given. Just like this garment I am using. So when it becomes too old torn or something, so I will throw it away. I take another. What is the difficulty? When this body I am growing or changing, whatever the Christians say, but when it is no more workable, I give it up. I take another. What is the difficulty?
Nara-Nārāyaṇa: The materialistic man will think, "Well, I am voluntarily giving up my clothing, but I'm involuntarily giving up my body."
Prabhupāda: Voluntarily, involuntarily, that is another thing. Just like a child does not know that his coat is useless, but mother comes and changes the garment. So it is changing, that's a fact. It doesn't matter whether you are changing voluntarily or involuntarily, that is not very important thing. You are changing, that's a fact. Yes?
| Page Title: | Torn (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, ChandrasekharaAcarya |
| Created: | 18 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=17, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 17 |