- na hy asya varṣmaṇaḥ puṁsāṁ
- varimṇaḥ sarva-yoginām
- viśrutau śruta-devasya
- bhūri tṛpyanti me 'savaḥ
- (SB 3.25.2)
So we have been discussing about the incarnation of Kapiladeva, Devahūti-putra Kapiladeva, the propounder of Sāṅkhya-yoga. So in the previous verse He has been explained as bhagavān ātma-māyayā. Bhagavān . . . bhaga means opulence, and vān means "One who possesses." Bhagavat-śabda. In Sanskrit, when the meaning is "one possesses," then these pratyayas are used, vat-pratyaya, mat-pratyaya. So the real word is bhagavat-śabda, and the first word is bhagavān. So bhaga means opulence. So all the opulences are there in Bhagavān. It is said in the Vedas:
- nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
- eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān
- (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)
What is that Bhagavān's opulences? This is: eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Bhagavān, singular number, and nityo nityānām, and nityānām, plural number.
So these jīvas, we, we are plural number. Jīva-bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ sa anantyāya kalpate (CC Madhya 19.140). How many jīvas are there, there is no limit. Nobody can count. Ananta. Ananta means you cannot get the limit that, "So many millions or so many thousands." No. You cannot count. So all these jīvas, we, living entities, we are being maintained by that one. This is the Vedic information. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. Just like we maintain our family. One man is earning, and he is maintaining his family, wife, children, servants, dependents, workers, so many. Similarly, that one, Bhagavān, is maintaining all the living entities. You do not know how many there are. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They are also eating forty kg. at one time. So that, they are also being maintained. And the small ant, that is also being maintained. There are 8,400,000 forms of different bodies. Who is maintaining them? Maintaining, Bhagavān, that ekaḥ. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. That is a fact. So why He'll not maintain us? Especially those who are devotees, who have taken shelter at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, leaving aside everything simply for His service.
Just like in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we have got more than one hundred centers, and one center . . . we were just reading from the statement of NavBharat Times how they are well managed. But we have no business. We have no source of income. That is the only source of income—Kṛṣṇa's shelter. Samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavam (SB 10.14.58). Therefore śāstra says that, "You take shelter of Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa comes also to say the same truth: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). He never said that, "You do this and do that, then I shall give you for your maintenance." No. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi: "Not only I shall give maintenance, but I shall protect you from the resultant action of sinful life." So much assurance is there. So śāstra also says, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18). Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. Kovida means intelligent, very intelligent person. So what should he try for? Tasyaiva hetoḥ: to get shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Human life should only endeavor how to get in touch of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. That should be the only one business.
Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ.
(aside) Let them sit down.
Upary adhaḥ. Upari adhaḥ. Upari means higher planetary system. There are seven planetary system. This is in the middle. We are in the Bhūrloka. Those who are chanting gāyatrī-mantra, oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur vareṇyaṁ bhargo devasya dhīmahi . . . so there are fourteen planetary system within one universe. So we living entities, we are wandering in different types of forms of body and in different planets. That we are . . . according to our karma, sometimes down, sometimes up, in this way we are wandering. Therefore śāstra says: "Just like you are wandering in this way, your business is how to become materially happy, how to satisfy your senses. But don't do that. Don't do that." Then? What shall I do? Tasyaiva hetoḥ. "How to understand Kṛṣṇa—for that purpose you should endeavor." Then how shall I eat? "No, that eating and sleeping, the business of the body, that is already arranged. That is already arranged. You don't have to work for it."
Kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā, tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham (SB 1.5.18). Our endeavor is to achieve happiness. That is our struggle for existence. Śāstra says, tal labhyate duḥkhavat. Duḥkhavat means . . . just like we don't want anything unhappy or miserable condition of life, but you get it. You don't endeavor for it. Nobody says: "Let there be fire in my house. Let my child die." Nobody aspires these things. Everyone thinks that, "My child may live. There may not be any danger. I'll get so much money." Nobody thinks of the opposite. But the opposite number comes. The catastrophes come. You don't pray for it. You don't go to the temple for praying, "My Lord, let there be fire in my house." Nobody goes. He goes for something better. So śāstra says that, "Which you do not pray for, still, it comes, duḥkhavat, without your invitation . . . similarly, whatever happiness you'll have to enjoy, that will also come." Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. Therefore the conclusion is that, "Don't try for your so-called happiness or so-called distress. Try to achieve that position where you can understand Kṛṣṇa and get shelter at His lotus feet." This is human endeavor. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18). Upary adhaḥ. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says to Rūpa Gosvāmī:
- ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
- guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
- (CC Madhya 19.151)
We are wandering in this way, up and down, brahmāṇḍa bhramite. Brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva. If one is fortunate, he can get the information of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. He gets this information. So this assembly, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is an attempt to make people fortunate—from the unfortunate position, to become fortunate. Everyone is unfortunate, at least in this age. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Now see everyone. Everywhere, there is simply problem. There is simply problem. One problem in one country, another problem in another country. There is strife, there is government . . . there is . . . even the president, and he is also, has to meet so many problems. At the end he has to be dragged down. Now he's going to die in the hospital. What to speak of others? The problem, only problem. Therefore everyone is unfortunate. This is the conclusion. You may think that, "I am very fortunate." President Nixon was thinking, "I am very fortunate. I have become the President of United States." But now he's realizing, "I am the most unfortunate."