Yes. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantor deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). Our next life means according to the karma, activities, in this life. They're judged at the point of death. The, our activities are judged and then we are given opportunity by the laws of nature to be carried in another mother's womb to get another gross body. We have got two kinds of bodies, the gross body and the subtle body. When this gross body is stopped working, the subtle body works. We have got experience every night. When you are lying down on bed, you are dreaming. You have gone somewhere else from your room and you are acting. That means the subtle body is acting. Similarly, when this body's stopped, nobody works, no more working, or the machine is broken, then, at that time, the subtle body carries you to another machine. This body is machine. Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). This is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. This is yantra. So just like your car, you are driving one car, the car is stopped for some reason.
Womb (Lectures, Other)
Lectures
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
He's called, therefore, pitāmaha, Lord Brahmā. But if you still inquire further, who is the father of Brahmā, then you come to Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. From the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, from His abdomen, there sprouted a lotus flower, and (on) the lotus flower, Brahmā was born. Therefore Brahmā's another name is Svayambhūr. He did not come out through the womb of his mother, although the mother was present. Kar..., Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, we have seen the picture. Lakṣmījī is massaging the lotus feet of Viṣṇu, and Brahmā is sprouted from the abdomen. So this is called omnipotency. Generally we have got this idea that a child is born from the yoni, but here Kṛṣṇa gives birth to a child without the help of His wife and from His abdomen. This is called omnipotency. We say, "God is omnipotent," but how God is omnipotent, that we do not know practically. Here is omnipotency.
So that is... Just like in every day we have got experience. The gross body is lying on the bed, but the subtle body goes out of the bed, out of the room, goes on the top of a hill or somewhere. It works. That is our practical experience. Similarly, when this gross body is finished, no more usable, the subtle body carries the soul to another womb of the mother. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantor deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). Through the semina of the father, the living entity is injected within the womb of the mother, and the two secretions becomes emulsified, and it becomes just like a small pea, and within that pea the soul is there, and it develops. This is the process of transmigration of the soul from one body to another.
He was also Kṛṣṇa conscious, that... But he was thinking, "As soon as Kṛṣṇa will take birth, I shall immediately kill Him." And he was anxious, "Whether He is born, whether He's born, whether He's born?" So when his sister, Devakī, was pregnant, he was thinking of the pregnant..., Kṛṣṇa, within the womb, "When He will take birth, when He will take birth, when He will take birth?" That was... That was also Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but that kind of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not bhakti. The indirect Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is not bhakti. That is attachment for Kṛṣṇa. That will also give benefit. Just like Kaṁsa and other enemies of Kṛṣṇa, who were killed by Kṛṣṇa, they got immediately salvation, immediately got salvation.
So the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Rūpa Gosvāmī teaches that even if you be attached to Kṛṣṇa in adverse condition, in opposite condition, that is also good, because Kṛṣṇa is there. The example can be given in a different way: just like sandalwood.
By pious activities, we get birth in good family, janma; aiśvarya, we get sufficient riches, wealthy family, wealthy parents; janmaiśvarya-śruta, good education; and śrī, beauty. These are the result of pious activities. But to take birth in the family of a king or very rich man, the sufferings of taking birth is the same. As the poor man suffers within the womb of his mother, similarly the rich man also suffers within the womb of his mother. The sufferings of taking birth is equal to the poor man and rich man. There is no difference. When there is disease, fever, it is not it is less painful to the rich man and very painful to the poor man. The pain is the same. So actually, so long there is material existence, the so-called suffering and enjoying, they're on the same level. There is no difference. But if we take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, as Kṛṣṇa assures, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66), "I shall get you relieved, released from all kinds of sinful activities." That is real auspiciousness.
Therefore one has to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness without fail. Otherwise he'll be entangled, karma-bandhanaḥ. Even if he's doing pious activities, he's becoming entangled in karma-bandhanaḥ, in bondage. He has to take birth. Pious activities means he has to take birth in nice family, rich family. That is also bandhana. He has to enter into the womb of the mother and live there for ten months, in compact, air-tight, compact bag. That is not very good living condition. But we forget all these things, neither we do not care for all these things. But actually fact is, knowingly or unknowingly, we are becoming implicated. But if we simply take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and if we engage ourself in His unalloyed devotional service, if we try to understand Kṛṣṇa, His activities, His form, His name, His quality, His paraphernalia, then the result will be, as Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). There is no question of reaction.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Nitāi: "Desiring to understand the glory of Rādhārāṇī's love, the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes through Her love, and the happiness She feels when She realizes the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord Hari, richly endowed with Her emotions, appeared from the womb of Śrīmatī Śacīdevī, as the moon appears from the ocean."
Prabhupāda:
- śrī-rādhāyāḥ praṇaya-mahimā kīdṛśo vā anayaivā-
- svādyo yenādbhuta-madhurimā kīdṛśo vā madīyaḥ
- saukhyaṁ cāsyā mad-anubhavataḥ kīdṛśaṁ veti lobhāt
- tad-bhāvāḍhyaḥ samajani śacī-garbha-sindhau harīnduḥ
- (CC Adi 1.6)
So the love affairs between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā... That we have already understood, that Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa combined together is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptam. Tad-dvayam. Dvayam means two, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. They are one. There is no difference, energy and the energetic. So Rādhārāṇī is the energy, pleasure energy, of Kṛṣṇa. So when Kṛṣṇa... We have explained this. When Kṛṣṇa wants pleasure, He cannot derive it from anything material. We should not misunderstand that Kṛṣṇa is ordinary human being and He is enjoying like us. Completely different.
Kṛṣṇa is trying to understand, "What is there in Rādhārāṇī that She attracts? I attract the whole universe, and She attracts Me."
So with this feeling, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, tad-bhāvāḍhyaḥ lobhāt. These are all transcendental loving affairs. Lobhāt: there is greediness to understand. Tad-bhāvādhyaḥ samajani: "He appeared in the womb of mother Śacī." Samajani śacī-garbha-sindhau harīnduḥ. Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is like the moon. So we established this temple, Māyāpura-candrodaya. So this is the idea, that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is just like moon. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He appeared in this land of Māyāpura; therefore He is said here as "the moon." Therefore we say candra, Māyāpura-candra. Now, as Śrī Māyāpura-candra is rising... Rising. Rising means He is to distribute the moonshine all over the world. This is the idea, moonshine. Śreyaḥ-kairava candrikā-vitaraṇam. Śreyaḥ-kairava.
Then all the universes, they gradually develop into gigantic form. In the originally, it is coming out. We cannot understand. Sometimes we become surprised that "How such innumerable universes are being created by a person?" So, the universe is not so big in the beginning. Just like our, this body is not so big in the beginning of our body within the womb of our mother. It is not so big. It is very small, minute, and then it becomes just like a pea, and gradually the body develops. The same process is applicable to the universes. In the beginning, they are coming out of the breathing of Kāraṇa-toya-śāyī Viṣṇu, and then gradually they are developed bṛhannatvāt, bṛhatvāt. It increases gradually. That Kāraṇa-toya-śāyī Viṣṇu is also Saṅkarṣaṇa. And then Garbhodakaśāyī. The universes are created. Then, when they develop, then same Viṣṇu, Mahā-Viṣṇu, enters into each universe, and He creates an ocean. That is called Garbhoda Ocean. And He lies down there on Śeṣa-Nāga, And then, from the navel, the lotus flower sprouts, and then Lord Brahmā is created.
And so far the material world is concerned, the same person is the Supreme, but His name is different, Kāraṇābdhiśāyī. In the spiritual world, the name is Saṅkarṣaṇa, and the material world, the supreme superintendent is also the same person, but name is different—Kāraṇābdhiśāyī. This Kāraṇābdhiśāyī is māyā-bhartā. Bhartā means husband. Just like a husband begets children in the womb of the wife, similarly, all these universes are impregnated in the total material energy, māyā, by Kāraṇābdhiśāyī Viṣṇu. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā.
We have already discussed Kāraṇodakaśāyī, who is the plenary portion of Saṅkarṣaṇa. Now, from Kāraṇodakaśāyī is Garbhodakaśāyī. Garbhodakaśāyī means this, within the womb or bottom of this universe, there is a ocean, big ocean, and in that ocean the plenary portion of Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu enters. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, viṣṭabhya aham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). By one portion, the Garbho..., er, Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu enters each universe, and within that universe He creates a ocean by His perspiration. Now, there are so many questions: "How these oceans are created?" The scientist says that it is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen gas. So wherefrom this gas came? The answer is here. Of course, from the gas, water comes out. If you cover one boiling pot, the gas, the vapor coming... And you will find spots of water. So from the gas, the water comes, and from the water, gas comes.
Māyā means to give sufficient punishment to the living entities who have forgotten Kṛṣṇa and wants to enjoy material life independently. They are called conditioned soul. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). This conditioned life means we accept one type of body, we suffer sufficiently. It is simply suffering. There is no enjoyment. Where is enjoyment? To remain in the womb of the mother for ten months, is that enjoyment? Packed up in airtight bag? Just imagine, if you were put in airtight bag at the present moment, within three seconds you will die. You cannot live without air, even for three seconds. This is our position. And by māyā's arrangement, we have to remain at least for ten months within the airtight bag, embryo, within the abdomen of our mother. So if we cannot live for even three seconds without air, how it was possible to remain in that airtight bag for ten months? That is also Kṛṣṇa's mercy, to allow us to develop the body, so that coming out of the mother's womb we can live independently.
Vedic culturalists that as soon as a child is born, immediately his horoscope is made and his past, future is calculated. Janma-grasthi (?). So that function, on account of poverty and many other causes, nobody practically practices. But this is also one of the saṁskāra. Before birth there is saṁskāra, garbhādhāna saṁskāra. While the child is within the womb, there is saṁskāra. In this way, a human body is purified by different kinds of saṁskāras, or purificatory methods. Daśabhidasaṁskāra. Saṁskārād bhaved dvija. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. If in... Anyone is born by father and mother, even cats and dogs they have got father and mother. Any life you get, there is father and mother. Therefore in the Prema-vivarta there is a śloka:
What is this nonsense? I am born of my father. Suppose I have not seen. Just after my birth, my father died. So, in my childhood or even when my mother was pregnant, my father died. So I did not see my father. There are so many cases. Just like Mahārāja Parīkṣit. His father died while he was in the womb of his mother. Now he has not seen his father. Does this mean that his father is impersonal? Any common man (can) understand, "I have got this body from my father, and I am so intelligent. I can do things nicely. So naturally my father is a person. How he can become imperson?" although I have not seen it. So these require, janmādy asya yataḥ... (SB 1.1.1). Vedānta-sūtra says that "from whom everything is emanated." So He's not imperson. Therefore Bhāgavata explains this verse, this sūtra, very nicely. Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ (SB 1.1.1). That Supreme Person, God, is cognizant. He's sentient, not imperson, because He knows everything.
That is the way, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya. From the energy... In the Vedas also it is said, sa aikṣata sa asṛjata: "The Supreme Personality of Godhead glanced over." In the Bhagavad-gītā also, ahaṁ bijā-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). In the material energy, Kṛṣṇa gives the seed. Just like a father gives the seed, the semina, within the womb of the mother, and a living entity comes out, similarly, within this material world the Supreme Personality puts, impregnates, the material energy with the living entities, and they come out with different types of bodies, 8,400,000's. This is the creation.
So here Caitanya Mahāprabhu quotes one verse from Viṣṇu Purāṇa: viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā (CC Madhya 6.154). You cannot say that the Absolute Person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has no energy. Niḥśakti. The Māyāvādī philosopher says that the energy generates when impersonal Brahman enters into this material energy, or māyā. He has got a body of māyā. No. That's not the fact.
Anyone who accepts the Supreme Lord, God, and abides by the laws of God, or laws of nature, he's called religionist or an advanced human being. But Kṛṣṇa says, "Either advanced or not advanced, that doesn't matter. It is a kind of dress only. But I am the father." Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). Just like father is the seed-giving agent into the womb of the mother, and then the child, baby, comes out... Without the combination of father and mother, there is no possibility of generation. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says that "In all species of life, the living entities, I am the seed-giving father, and this material nature is the mother." Nobody can deny. Because our this body... Just like the child's body is made by the mother. Father gives the opportunity to develop the body, and the mother supplies the ingredients for developing the body, similarly, God impregnates, God impregnates material nature with the living entity, and they come out in different forms: aquatics, birds, beasts, animals, trees, plants, vegetables, so many.
And "Why you are fool?" He said that "You are not this body. You are changing every moment your body. Why don't you think that you are not this body? Why you are identifying yourself as with the body?" Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā: (BG 2.13) "You are changing your body at every moment. From the mother's womb up to the death point, you are changing every body. Then why you are thinking that you are body? But you are the same. In spite of all changes, you are the same." I think, my childhood, I think that I am the same. I forget that I am so much grown-up. That is my position. So the first lesson, the inquiry of Śrī Caitanya, of Sanātana Gosvāmī, is that "What I am? What I am?" Arjuna did not place himself "What I am?" but here, because the instruction which is given in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta is practically higher than Bhagavad-gītā—it is postgraduate study, higher than Bhagavad-gītā. In the Bhagavad-gītā the, Arjuna, he did not question "What I am?" He was perplexed with this bodily conception.
"Now die peacefully," (laughter) the whole peaceful condition finished immediately. He will cry. So these are nonsense, if somebody says, "I will die peacefully." Nobody dies peacefully, that is not possible. Therefore death is a problem. Birth is also a problem. Nobody is peaceful while within the womb of the mother. It is packed-up, airtight condition, and nowadays there is risk of being killed also. So there is no question of peacefulness, birth and death. And then old age. Just like I am old man, so many troubles I have got. So old age. And disease, everyone has got experience, even headache is sufficient to give you trouble. The real problem is this: birth, death, old age and disease. That is the statement given by Kṛṣṇa, that janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). If you are intelligent, you should take up these four problems of life as very dangerous.
We do not know, we do not know. So by the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu or by the mercy of the servants of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, one can be enlightened as to the..., what is the goal of life, why there is struggle for existence, why there is death. I do not want to die; why there is birth? I do not wish to enter into the mother's womb and remain packed-up condition for so many days; I do not want to become old man; but these things are enforced upon me. Therefore our business is..., real business is how to solve these questions, not to arrange for economic development. Economic development, whatever we are destined, we shall get it. Either happiness or distress, we shall get it. Just like we don't try for distress, but it comes. It is enforced upon us. Similarly, the little happiness which you are destined to obtain, that will also come. That is śāstra's advice. Don't waste your time to get artificially some happiness. Whatever you are destined to get happiness, it will come automatically. How it will come? Yathā duḥkham ayatnataḥ.
So we find mahad-yoni, mahā-tattva, the material elements, is the mother. Everything is coming out of the womb of the mother. Whatever we see in this creation, the plants, the trees and living entities, and we are speaking especially of the living entities, and there are 8,400,000 different forms, they are coming from earth. That we can see. It doesn't require great intelligence. Any boy can understand that it is coming out of these five elements—means earth, water... The grass is coming out of earth, the fish is coming out of the water. So we have got experiences in two elements. But we have got experience also that living entities coming out of air. So earth, water, air... There are living entities in fire also, but because our knowledge is limited, we do not see. We cannot conceive that in the fire also there can be living entities. And why not?
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, when Mahārāja Parīkṣit was born, his father was dead, his grandfather. You know, his father was only sixteen years old when the boy was in the womb of his mother. In the battlefield he died. So when the child was born, the grandfather, Arjuna, and his elder brother, they are very much anxious to know how this child will become in future. Because a responsible king, they wanted to know "Whether the child is worth to our family?" 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.
Vaibhava-prakāśa, vaibhava manifestation... The example is given: just like when Kṛṣṇa was born, He was not exactly born from the womb of His mother. So He appeared first of all with four hands. Then, when the mother prayed... She could know that Kṛṣṇa has come. She prayed for become an ordinary child, and at once He became two-handed. This is called vaibhava-prakāśa manifestation. Ye-kāle dvibhuja, nāma-vaibhava-prakāśa. When He is two-handed, it is called vaibhava-prakāśa, and when He is four-handed, it is called prābhava-vaibhava.
Sri Isopanisad Lectures
This I have explained several times, that if a man is pious, he has to take his birth in rich family, janmaiśvarya-śruta (SB 1.8.26), in very aristocratic family, rich family. He may become next life very learned scholar, very beautiful. These are the results of pious activities. But pious or impious, you have to enter into the womb of some mother. That tribulation is very severe. That we have forgotten. That we have forgotten. Either you take birth in a very rich family, aristocratic family, or you take birth in the animal womb, so the pangs of birth, death, disease and old age will continue.
Festival Lectures
"You stop all this business. Simply you are migrating or transmigrating from one body to another or one planet to another. That will not make you happy. Sarva-dharmān. "You just surrender unto Me. Because you are meant, your original creation is meant, for serving Me." Just like this body. When this body was made in the womb of my mother, it was just like a small pea, and from that pea, different holes came out, then hand came out, leg came out, the fingers came out. Why this finger was created? Because I require the service of the fingers. Suppose if I want to press something, if there was no nail, then I cannot press. It is so nicely manufactured. By my energy, by my desire, and nature supplying me ingredient, it is manufactured. So you are manufacturing different bodies, but our real sense is covered. So that transcendental sense can be discovered when we give up this material sense gratificatory process by creating different kinds of bodies.
So Kṛṣṇa, He is born of a kṣatriya father. He is not born, but He appeared as the son. God is never born. Unborn. Therefore the Māyāvādī philosophers, they mistake to know Kṛṣṇa. They think that Kṛṣṇa is born, then how He can be God? But actually, Kṛṣṇa was not born from the womb of His mother. He appeared in four hands before His mother, and the mother was afraid that "My brother Kaṁsa, was awaiting to kill God, and now God is here in four hands. Immediately he'll kill." The mother forgets that "My son, if He's God, how He can be killed?" But the mother's affection is always like that. Just like Kṛṣṇa, when He was going to attack a demon as a boy, Yaśodā-mā, mother Yaśodā, would ask her husband Nanda Mahārāja, "Why do you allow this boy to go out? Why don't you lock Him?" So that is mother's affection. The mother, Yaśodā mother, she does not know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
I mean to say, Varāhadeva. The Varāhadeva, He appeared in such a gigantic body that He could lift this whole planet by His tusk. So just imagine how much great body He assumed. So aprameyam. Another, He can assume so small body. Just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja, when he was within the womb of his mother, attacked by the atomic energy, so Kṛṣṇa entered the womb of his mother and saved him. Just imagine how small He became.
Therefore aprameyam means you cannot measure how He is small, how He is great. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they can think of greatness, but Kṛṣṇa can become small also. Just like Jagannātha, He is the master, He is the proprietor of the whole world, but He has assumed such a nice form that He is within our reach. We can serve Him very convenient. This is God. Therefore aprameyam, immeasurable. Immeasurable does not mean simply great. Immeasurable means you cannot measure even how small He is.
And these gopīs are expansion of His pleasure potency. And Rādhārāṇī is the center. Rādhārāṇī is the center. So Rādhārāṇī is not... Don't take that Rādhārāṇī is an ordinary woman like we have our wife or sister or mother. No. She is the pleasure potency. And the birth of Rādhārāṇī was not from the womb of any human being. She was found by her father in the field. While father was plowing, he saw one little nice child is lying there, and he had no children, so he caught it and presented to the queen, "Oh, here we have got a very nice child." "How you got?" "Oh, in the field." Just see. Rādhārāṇī's janma is like that. So this janma is today and Rādhā, this name is sometimes not found in Bhāgavata. So the atheistic class of men protest this Rādhārāṇī's name is not in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. How this name came, Rādhārāṇī? But they do not know how to see it. There is anayārādhyate. There are many gopīs, but there is mention that by this particular gopī He is served more pleasingly. Kṛṣṇa accepts this gopī's service more gladly. Anayārādhyate. Ārādhyate.
So when that place is sanctioned, the place is selected, that "This particular man should go in such and such body," then he is at once transferred to the semina. That small particle, spiritual particle, is transferred to the semina of the father, and the father injects the semina into the mother's womb, and it gets a particular type of body according to his karma. That is Bhāgavata's version. But the Sāṅkhya philosophy, they say, because they have no idea that there is spiritual spark, they think simply that, simply the father and mother's or man and woman's sex life produces life.
So here practically the same thing is advocated by Kṛṣṇa, that sattvaṁ rajas tama iti sthity-utpatty-anta-hetavaḥ. Now, the creation of this material world is the three modes of material nature. There is no other cause. There is no other cause.
Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Yasmāt, these guṇaiḥ. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ. According to the association of guṇa, or quality, prakṛti gives you a certain type of body. The body is given by prakṛti, by nature. Therefore, nature is called mother, Durgā. Just like we develop this body exactly from the mother's womb. The father gives the seed, but the bodily ingredients, that is... Just like mother is developing the body, similarly, she is developing the child's body also, by eating, by the secretion, by development of the secretion, air. Air is solidifying the secretion. It is becoming gradually muscles, skin, bone, as it is becoming harder and harder. A very nice factory is going on. That is also by nature. And nature is working by the order of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, ultimate cause is Kṛṣṇa.
So Kṛṣṇa will help, Kṛṣṇa is within you. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa is without. He's without and within, both. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. When Kṛṣṇa was standing before Kuntī and He also entered within the womb of Uttarā to save Parīkṣit Mahārāja, so Kuntī said that "I see that You are within and without. Still, You are unseen." God is within and without, but the rascals cannot see. They say, "Where is God? Can you show me?" But He is always everywhere, within and without. So one has to train himself how to see. That is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38). One has to anoint the eyes with love of God. Then he can see. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. Santaḥ, saintly person. Sant. Just like your San Francisco, the Sant (Saint) is Sanskrit word, santaḥ. The saint word is Sanskrit word. Santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
This is Kṛṣṇa philosophy. Our philosophy is not simply a negation. It is positive. They, general people, they are unnecessarily producing children, then cannot manage. So they are adopting so many sinful activities, so much so that they are now killing their own child within the womb and becoming implicated in sinful activities and prolong the life in this material world very miserably. Just see the miserable condition of the child, baby within the womb. She is... It is in the mother's womb, and the mother, at the advice of the doctor, is killing. Why? Because that child—now it is child—he did it. He killed so many other children in his previous life; now he is being killed. Not only in one womb, but he will enter another womb—he will be killed. As many children he has killed, he will be killed in this way. But they do not know. They do not know this, blind, mūḍha, that how nature's law is going on, how tit for tat is going on. They do not know it.
Why and how to. That is answered in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, actually. (break) ...condition of the world, simply full of criminals, that's all. And our is pāpī tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo. This is our movement. Crimes means pāpī, sinful. And this is the only remedy for reclaiming the sinful. Simply by law if you want to suppress them, it will not be successful. Deliver them. Then you also come, I mean to say, along with them. Not that these criminals only should be delivered, and you will go on, continue with criminal activities, slaughterhouse, and killing the child in the womb. You are criminal yourself, the whole state. So reception was very nice.
This body is changing. But if the child is born dead—that means without the soul—then the body does not change. We have got practical experience. A dead child, if you keep the body in a preservative way, it will not grow. So long the soul is there, the bodily changes are there. From the womb of the mother, the embryo, the child, grows daily. Why? Because the soul is there. So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to understand this fact first of all, that body is superficial. Just like you are dressed with your shirt and coat. The shirt and coat is not important, but the person who is putting on the shirt and coat, he is important. Unfortunately, modern education is giving stress on the outward, external body or to the dress and not to... They do not understand who is the person who is dressed or who has got this body. This is the first lesson of spiritual understanding. In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find, this is the first instruction:
Initiation Lectures
So Vedic literature, Vedas' meaning, when it is said, arthadam, "In this life you can achieve the substance," that substance means Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise, taking it substance means multimillionaire or millions of dollars, that is also artha but anityam. That is anityam. That substance will not be carried by you. You have come here empty-handed from the womb of your mother, and when you leave this place, you will also go empty-handed. Not that because you have earned millions of dollars, Mr. Rockefeller or Ford, you can carry this. No. The Rockefeller Center will remain there, where it is. You have to go empty-handed. So now, when it is said arthadam, "You can achieve the substance," that does not mean this artha, temporary, which will not be carried by me. It will be left behind. That is going on. I create something in this life. As much as this body is created by the father and mother, similarly, I also create. That creative energy is there in me because I am part and parcel of God. So God creates; I also create. That creative energy is within me, but a very minute quantity.
So give her protection and raise her nicely. She is becoming attracted to the Vaiṣṇavas, to Kṛṣṇa. This is the opportunity, to get nice father and mother and become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Yes. So that is the duty of the father and mother, parents, to raise the children to complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then she will no more have to come back in the womb of any other mother. This is the... This finishes. That is the duty of father and mother. Father and mother should think that "This child will no more come in any other womb. I shall train him or her in such a way." That is the duty. That is the duty of spiritual master, that is the duty of parents, that is the duty of state. But it is Kali-yuga; everything is different. So somehow or other, so she should be taken care of. And as you train, so she becomes trained. That's all. (pause) Oh. (chuckles) Something...
Even if you go to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, then there also punar āvartinaḥ, means the four principles of material existence, namely birth, death, old age, and disease, they will accompany you. Wherever you go. You may have a long duration of life, but you have to meet death. That is compulsory. And as soon as you meet death, you have to enter into the womb of a certain type of mother and develop another body and come out again and begin another life. This is going on. So Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, ā-bhrama-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna. Even if you go to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, within this material world, that process will go on, repetition of birth, death, old age, and disease. Because this material body, wherever you get it, either you are American or Englishman or Indian or moon planet or sun planet or Brahmā planet, Brahmaloka planet, anywhere you go, you'll get a certain type of body, but that material body is subjected to these four principles: birth, death, disease, and old age.
Wedding Ceremonies
The cycle of birth and death. If you can train your children to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then your child will go back to Godhead in this life. That should be the aim. As you will try to go back to Godhead in this life, similarly, you shall take charge of your children that he can also go in this life back to Godhead. The mother's and father's duty should be that "This child is born out of my womb, and this is the last phase of his life, to come into this womb of any animal or man—no more material body." That should be the responsibility of father and mother. That is the direction of Bhāgavata.
So my dear children, boys and girls, I request you that live happily. There is no restriction. We don't restrict eating, sleeping, or mating, or defending. But do it in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, pure life, and be happy in this life and next life.
Thank you very much. Now come forward. I shall begin our... Where is your father and mother? You can please come here. Yes. You can sit down here with the girls.
General Lectures
This is Sanskrit language. I'll explain it in English. He said that within this body there is soul, and the body is changing every moment, but the soul is there. He is giving example, just as a soul comes from the womb of his mother with a small body, and that small body changes—it becomes the body of a boy, it becomes the body of a youth, then it becomes the body of an old man, then it vanquishes... That we have to admit. We may say that the body is growing, but actually, the fact is, body is changing. It is medically admitted that we are changing our body every second. We are changing our blood corpuscles, and therefore a change of the body is taking place, and that is being manifested in a different shape only. Actually, we are changing every moment our body. So the ultimate change, when this body cannot be worked any more, just like a dress, when it is torn, when it is too old, you have to change it.
Tathā dehāntara-prāptir. As we are, in our practical life, we are changing our body every moment, similarly, the last stage of changing this body is called death. Death means, according to Vedic literature, sleeping for seven months. Just as I give up this body, I have to enter into the womb of some kind of mother. These things are explained in the Vedic literatures. I am not manufacturing. That karmaṇā dehopapattaye. We are preparing our next life, next body rather... Life is continuing. I am eternal. Next body—according to my present one. Just like in this meeting we have got two hundred ladies and gentlemen, but you cannot find out any lady or any gentleman exactly like the feature of the other. Differences. That means different consciousness, different work, and we have got different body. According to Bhagavad-gītā, the soul is transmigrating from one body to another, but the soul is eternal and permanent. And there are evolutionary process also.
What is this atomic bomb? Killing. Killing is going on. Have you manufactured anything by which you can save from death?
So our problems of life, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, is to solve these four things: no more birth... Because we are... Always remember that we are all eternal. Just like in this body, beginning from my mother's womb up to this old age, I am the same eternal soul, but my body is changing. So after changing this body also, I shall remain the same. Simply I shall have another body. This plain truth, there is no difficulty to understand. Now if I am eternal... If I am eternal means no death, no birth, no disease, no old age. That is eternal. So if I am eternal, whether it is possible to get an eternal body? Or eternal happiness? That is the problem of human society. If you can solve that problem, then you be proud of your civilization. Otherwise there is no difference between cats' and dogs' civilization and your civilization. Because you are simply trying to solve the problems of eating, sleeping, defending and mating.
So these are the sufferings of birth. At least, one child has to remain in that air-packed condition at least for ten months. Now just imagine if you are put into that air-packed condition for three minutes now, you will immediately die. But actually, we had that experience to remain in the mother's womb in that air-packed condition for ten months. So suffering was there, but because the child was incapable of expressing, therefore... Or his consciousness was not so elevated. He could not cry, but the suffering was there. Similarly, at the time of death there is suffering. Similarly, old man. Just like us, we have got so many complaints, bodily complaints. Because now everything, the anatomical or physiological condition, is deteriorating. The stomach is not digesting foodstuff so nicely as when I was young I could digest. So the sufferings are there. Similarly, disease. Who wants disease?
Now what is this consciousness? The Bhagavad-gītā replies what is this consciousness. The Bhagavad-gītā says, avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. That consciousness which is spread all over your body, that is eternal. How it is eternal? That also you can understand by practical experience. Just like in your childhood, there was consciousness. When you were in the womb of your mother, of course, at a certain stage there was consciousness. In your boyhood, there was consciousness. In your youthhood, there is consciousness, and as you make progress, in your old age, there is also consciousness. Now, your body is changing but consciousness is continuing. That you cannot deny. Therefore the Bhagavad-gītā says, avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. That consciousness is eternal, and that does not vanquish with the destruction of the body. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20).
We say, "It is growing," but growing or not growing, this body will not remain. This body will go; another body will come. Medical science also says that every second we are changing blood corpuscles, and therefore change in the body is going on. So you say or I say that "Body is growing," but in the Vedic language it is said that "Body is changing." Just like a child is born so small from the mother's womb, and it changes body every second. Then he becomes a young child or a boy, then young man, then old man like me, and so on. In this way this changing, body changing, is going on. And the final change is called death. Death means... Just like the too much old garments cannot be used, similarly, this body is the garment of the soul. When it is..., no longer can be used, we have to accept another body. This is called transmigration of the soul.
So try to be like Arjuna, to become out of darkness. That is the Vedic injunction. Tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ: "Don't remain in darkness. Just try to go to the light." This is light. Just like it is very commonsense affair that I, the soul, is eternal. I am changing my body from the very inception in the womb of my mother. And because I am changing this body, therefore I am nowhere? I am gone forever? Ask the greatest scientist. He will say like that. It is a commonsense affair. Just like a child. Because he cannot see the sun at night, he may say, "Oh, sun is gone, dead and gone." But no scientist, no intelligent man will say. "My dear child, the sun is not gone. The sun is there. I cannot see now." That is the fact. Similarly, these foolish persons, because they cannot see the soul and because the body is left there and it is destroyed, he says that there is no soul. Just see how childish and how much darkness is there. It is commonsense affair. How this body...?
The threefold miseries are called ādhyātmika, ādhibhautika, and ādhidaivika. Ādhyātmika means caused by the body and mind. Sometimes the living entity suffers bodily and sometimes he is distressed mentality. Both are ādhyātmika miseries. We experience these miseries even in the womb of our mother. There are many forms of miseries that take advantage of our delicate body and give us pain. Miseries inflicted by other living entities are called ādhibhautika. There are many living entities such as bugs born of eggs that cause us miseries while we are sleeping in bed. There are many living entities like cockroaches that sometimes give us pain. And there are other living entities born on different kinds of planets, and they also cause us miseries. So far as ādhidaivic miseries are concerned, they originate with the demigods from the higher planets.
Yes. There are 8,400,000 species of different kinds of life. So, so far my condition is concerned, I am not this body; I am spirit soul. Just I am changing my body even at the present moment. Just like when you were born from your mother's womb, your body was very small. Now it has grown. You were a boy; now you are young. Now you will become old man like me also. That means the changing body. It is simple fact. You are changing. From your childhood body, this body is different. Either you take it that it has grown or either you take it that the body has changed, the same thing. But actually it has changed. So the changing of body is accepted. Therefore it is concluded that when you change this body, you may get another body.
The body is changing from one form to another, but the spirit soul is existing eternally. This fact we can experience even in our own life. Since the beginning of our material body in the womb of our mother, the body is transforming from one shape to another in every second and in every minute. This process is generally known as growth, but actually it is change of body. On this earth planet we see change of day and night and of seasons. The more primitive mentality attributes this change to changes occurring in the sun. For example, in the winter they think the sun is getting weaker, and at night they presume sometimes that the sun is dead. With more advanced knowledge of discovery we see that sun is not changing at all in this way. Seasonal and diurnal changes are attributed to the change of the position of the earth planet.
No one wants to become diseased, but everyone becomes diseased. Everyone dies. It is not that rich man will not become old and the simply poor man will become old. No. Everyone will become old. It is not that... When a child takes birth, the condition within the womb of the mother, air-tight packed, cannot move—we forget, but that is a great suffering. The suffering of death, suffering of birth, suffering of disease and suffering of old age—these are imposed on the living entities, those who are criminals. Criminals means revolted against the service of the Lord.
So we are trying to bring them into practice, how to serve Lord, how to, how to serve the Supreme Lord. That is our movement. It is not patchwork. Other humanitarian societies or welfare societies, they are trying to give some patchwork.
That is the duty of the father and mother. All right, here is a child. Let him take a little prasādam. All right. Little beginning. And it is simple. Why one should wait for sixteen years or sixteen or thirty-two years? No, there is no waiting. Immediately. (reading:) "Will ISKCON accept people this young?" Oh, yes, we, younger, even younger. Even one child is within the womb of his mother, we can teach. It is so nice thing. The instance is Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja, when he was in his womb of his mother, one saintly sage taught his mother about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and the child became Kṛṣṇa conscious from the womb of his mother. So we can teach even in the womb of the mother because it is spiritual. It is not material. No material condition can check this teaching. Ahaituky apratihatā. That is the highest perfectional system of religion which is unchecked and develops love of Godhead. That is first-class religion, not under any condition. Ahaituky apratihatā.
Dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣu (SB 2.1.4). They have no other information.
But you are not like that. You are, from the beginning of your life, you are given advantage by your parents, by your family, to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because Mahārāja Parīkṣit, when he was in the womb of his mother the other side of the Kuru dynasty, they released atom bomb to kill him, and Kṛṣṇa saved him. And after his birth, the boy was playing with Kṛṣṇa statue. So he is from the very beginning Kṛṣṇa conscious. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī is advising, "My dear king, you are not this type of man, because as soon as you have heard you are sure that you are going to die, immediately you have come out from your home and all attachment of your kingdom, wife and children. So your business is," he advises, tasmād bhārata sarvātmā bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ. "Therefore you have asked me what is your duty. Now I give you to understand that this is your duty." What is that?
Our sufferings are there. Mother is taking so much care undoubtedly; still, the child is crying. Why it cries? It has got some suffering, but he cannot express. There are some bugs biting or some pains within somewhere. The child is crying, crying. The mother does not know how to pacify it. So in this way our suffering has begun from the womb of our mother. And then I do not wish to go to school. I am forced to go to a school. I do not wish to study. The teachers give me tasks. If you just study, analyze your life, it is full of suffering, full of suffering. But we have no inquiry. We have no inquiry. This is not education. Therefore Brahma-sūtra says, athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now you should inquire why you are suffering. Is there any remedy for suffering? Then, if there is remedy, then you must take it. You must take advantage of the remedy." But we are callous. We do not care for it. This is not good.
Then beasts, four-legged beasts, there are 3,000,000 species of life. Then, from beastly life, he comes to the human form life. There also variety, 400,000's of varieties. In this way we come to the point of civilized human form of life. The evolution is coming. Just like we evolve our body or grew our body from the womb of our mother. It is stated... Everything is there in the Vedic literature. After the sex intercourse of the man and woman, there is an emulsification of the two kinds of secretion. And in the first night there is a pealike form that takes place. Then he grows, growing. Then many holes come out of that pealike form—that becomes our eyes and other nine holes. In this way the body is developed in seven months. Then the child gets consciousness, and he feels very much inconvenience. Therefore moves this side, that side. Then, if he is fortunate, he prays to God, "My Lord, please save me from this inconvenience, this position." Just imagine, airtight packed. In this way he comes up and cries, and again grows.
Not whenever. You have got always a problem. It is not... Because we have got this material body, we are simply meeting problems. That's all. You're simply thinking that "This is good problem, and this is bad problem." But on account of possessing this material body, beginning from this body, just like a pealike form within the womb of mother, till death, it is simply problem. If you do not understand it, then it is our less intelligence. That is called sleeping.
What we have to learn about Vedānta? We are very much happy." But, try to understand that how long you shall remain American? It is all right, you have got this nice body, beautiful body, you have got opulences, your country is very nice. But as soon as you change your body, that change of body is going on. Try to understand. You were a child when you were born out of the womb of your mother, or in the womb of the mother your body was so small. Just like a pea it has developed, and when it's fully developed you come out. You have come out, you are developing. Developing means changing. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:
What are those? Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi: (BG 13.9) birth, death, old age and disease. Everywhere there is. Your period of life may be very long, but these four things are there. You have to take your birth. Suppose you prepare yourself for going to the moon planet. Then next life, after leaving this body, you'll be pushed into the womb of a mother there in the moon planet, and you'll come out with a suitable body. So the birth is there, and wherever there is birth and death, there is disease and old age. But I am, as spirit soul, I am free from... Asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. I have nothing to do with birth, death and disease and old age. I am spirit soul. Na jāyate na mriyate na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇaḥ. It is always, although it is the oldest, it is always fresh. Just like I have become. Now, amongst you, I am the oldest man. You are fresh. But the propensities of you and when the..., of me, it is the same. I want to enjoy life.
"That thing is imperishable which is spread all over your body." That is very easy to understand. What is that? If you pinch your body, any part of your body, you feel pain. That means your consciousness. Your consciousness is imperishable. The body is changing. When you took your birth from the mother's womb you were a small child. But perhaps you may remember your childhood activities. The consciousness is the same, but the body has changed. The body has changed. If you have got sharp memory you can remember so many things of your past life, and that means the consciousness is the same but body is changing. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that,
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
Asmin dehe, in this body, there is one thing which is the proprietor of the body. And that proprietor of the body, due to the presence of the proprietor of the body, the body is changing from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to youthhood, from youthhood to old age.
All of a sudden there is earthquake, there is famine, there is pestilence. So many, in which you have to control. In every misery, there is no control. Ultimately, all the miseries are summarized in four things: the misery of birth... We do not... We have forgotten how much miserable condition we passed during our stay in the womb of mother, in a suffocated condition. You just imagine. Some of you might have seen the picture how the child remains within the womb of the mother. It is air-tight packed. And there are many germs who are biting the delicate skin of the child. And when the child is little grown up, at seven months, it feels too much pain. Therefore the mother can feel that the child is moving. It wants to come out, and prays... One who is fortunate, he can pray to God, "Please give me relief from this condition. This time I shall try my best not to come again in this position of life." So there is severe pain of birth. Similarly, there is severe pain during death.
We had to remain there in packed-up condition like this in a bag, and it is suffocating. And because we are... At that time, the skin is very tender. There are many worms and germs within the belly, mixed up with stool and urine; they bite. We have forgotten that, the actual position. Anyone who knows how a child remains within the womb of his mother... The medical profession, they also know how much it is suffocating. Suppose you are packed up in a bag... It is simply by the mercy of God, Kṛṣṇa, that we can remain in that condition. If you are put again into that condition, you will immediately die. So we have forgotten what is the distress to remain in the womb of mother. And that also, sometimes a child is killed. At the present moment, advanced civilization, pregnancy is killed sometimes. So we cannot see even light. We die within the womb of a mother and again enter another womb. And it may be we die again.
So we cannot see even light. We die within the womb of a mother and again enter another womb. And it may be we die again. So just try to understand what is the miserable condition of birth. But because we forget, we think we are very happy. And again, not only that, as soon as we take birth, again a new chapter of life begins. Again you... Even after coming out of the womb, when we are little child we cry. There may be mosquito biting or bugs biting or something in the belly, troubling, crying. Mother is trying to pacify, but we are crying, crying. We cannot express. So these are the miserable condition of life. Kṛṣṇa says it is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). So under the illusion of māyā, as soon as we get out of the womb we forget everything, what we are suffering. And because the mother and relatives, they take on the lap, we forget. So this is the condition, miserable condition of birth. And similarly, miserable condition of death.
Kṛṣṇa conscious, to become Kṛṣṇa conscious unfavorably, that is not bhakti. Just like Kaṁsa. Kaṁsa was also Kṛṣṇa conscious. He was always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. "As soon as Kṛṣṇa is born, please bring Him. Or inform me. I shall immediately kill Kṛṣṇa." When Kṛṣṇa was in the womb of His mother Devakī, Kaṁsa was Kṛṣṇa conscious. He could understand that "Kṛṣṇa is now... Because Devakī, she is now so much glowing." So he could understand. He sometimes wanted to kill Devakī; then he restrained himself, that "If I kill Devakī in pregnancy, it will be great, I mean to say, bad reputation." So he restrained himself. But therefore he was always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, but he was thinking of Kṛṣṇa unfavorably. So similarly, those who are reading Bhagavad-gītā unfavorably means in the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa is the principal factor, but anyone who is trying to kill Kṛṣṇa and reading Bhagavad-gītā, that is Kaṁsa's reading.
So, first of all he was (indistinct), "My dear boy, You give me all these ornaments I will give you nice thing." He said, "No, I cannot give you, my mother will be angry, no." (laughter) In this way then he decided that I shall take forcibly. In this way simply by the association of Śyāmasundara he became a devotee. That is the fact. Dhruva Mahārāja also went to worship Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṇa, to get the kingdom of his father. He was insulted by his stepmother that, "You cannot sit down on the throne, or on the lap of your father, because you are not born from my womb." So he took it very seriously. He went to his mother, "My stepmother insulted me like this." So, his mother said, "My dear boy, yes, it is a fact because you are not born from my..." What it is called co-wifes?
".... womb. I'm unfortunate, you are born of my womb. So, so you cannot." Then, "I must have." The boy was very insistent, kṣatriya boy. "Then Kṛṣṇa helps you, then you can. Otherwise how, you cannot." Then he went to search out Kṛṣṇa in the jungle and he searched out. When he saw Kṛṣṇa he said, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42), no more I want it, no more I want it." This is the process. So, pure bhakti is without any desire, but even if you are filled up with desires, you go to Kṛṣṇa. Don't go to other demigods.
So when the body is complete, then the consciousness coming. So long the body is not complete, the consciousness is almost dead. It is called suṣupti, or sound sleeping. Then gradually, when the consciousness comes, the child within the womb feels uncomfortable and wants to come out. Therefore at the stage of seventh month of pregnancy sometimes the child moves. That is the process of growing. And after coming out of the womb the body grows. But if the child comes out dead, the body does not grow. Therefore it is to be understood that due to the presence of the spirit soul the body grows, means changes from one form to another. It is concluded by learned scholars that this change of body is taking place every moment, but the soul is there from the beginning of the life. And when this body is no longer persistable, the soul changes to another body.
So he also underwent great austerities, but for material enjoyment. He wanted to live forever in this material world. So he was never interested to teach his children about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But Prahlāda Mahārāja, fortunately, when he was in the womb of his mother, at the care of Nārada Muni, he understood the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because if you associate with a sādhu, the saintly person, then saintly person has nothing to do but simply deliver the knowledge, transcendental knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They have no other duty. Just like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he was king but a great Vaiṣṇava. So about him it is stated, sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18). He was king, very responsible king, emperor of the world, but he cultivated this Kṛṣṇa consciousness that he fixed up his mind, sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravindayor, always fixed up on the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
His father was a great atheist, Hiraṇyakaśipu. Hiraṇya means gold and kaśipu means soft cushion. That means complete materialist. The materialist want these two things, woman and money. So Hiraṇyakaśipu was very expert in this business. But fortunately he had a great son, Prahlāda Mahārāja. So this Prahlāda Mahārāja, when he was in the womb of his mother, he had the chance of hearing about Bhāgavata-dharma from Nāradaji. You have heard that there is always fight between the atheist and the theist, or the demigods and the demons, sura asura. So sometimes there was a fight between the asuras and the devas. The asuras became defeated, and Hiraṇyakaśipu left the battle. So as it sometimes appears..., happens in the war, the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu was captured by the demigods, and she was being taken away although she was pregnant. So Nārada Muni met on the way and he asked the demigods, "Oh, what you are doing this? You are taking away one pregnant woman? What is this?"
So Nārada Muni met on the way and he asked the demigods, "Oh, what you are doing this? You are taking away one pregnant woman? What is this?" So Indra replied that "We are not going to do any harm to the woman. But we are concerned with the child within his womb. Because that child is born of Hiraṇyakaśipu, he must be a greater demon. So as soon as the child is born, we shall kill it. Therefore, we are taking this woman." Then Nāradajī said that "This child is not an ordinary child. He is mahā-bhāgavata. So you do not try this attempt. Just release her. I will take her."
So Nāradajī is authority, so demigods accepted his advice, Vaiṣṇava. The demigods are also Vaiṣṇava. Demigods means there are two kinds of population all over the universe, daiva asura eva ca. One class is called daiva, devata, and the other class is called asura. So who is asura and who is a deva?
If you desire something, God will remind you. So that is good record. So all this record will be considered about your karma. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye. It will be decided that "This particular or this individual soul, he has to accept such-and-such body." Daiva-netreṇa jantur. Then that soul is transferred to the father's semina, and the father injects the semina in the womb of the woman. And then in the first night, by emulsification of the two seminas, there is a form like a pea, and that pea grows into the body. This is the secret of different types of body.
So we do not know, we are not certain that what kind of body I am going to get next, but we will have one body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). As I am getting one type of body from another type... In my this life, I was a child, I was a baby, I was a boy, I was a young man, now I am old man. As I am changing my body differently—I was a small child, I can remember personally.
It is the duty of the father and mother to see that "My son, this is the last attempt of coming into this material world." Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. It is the duty of the father and the mother to stop the repetition of birth and death of his son. The mother should consider that "My son came to my womb, and he has suffered so much while he was remaining within the womb. Now I shall teach my son in such a way that no more he is going in the womb of a material mother." That is the duty of father, that is the duty of mother, that is the duty of friend, that is the duty of guru. Gurur na sa syāt sva-jano na sa syāt pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt, na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. So save your children from the danger of repetition of birth and death, that is the real discharge of father and mother's duty.
And we are proclaiming ourself M.A., Ph.D., D.A.C. and so on. But we do not know wherefrom we have come. Anyone, a scientist, any scientist, big scientist, M.A., Ph.D., D.A.C., ask him that "Wherefrom you have come and where you will go?" He cannot answer. He will think that "I have come from the womb of my mother. That's all." "Wherefrom you came to the womb of your mother?" "The father injected." "Where your father got you?" These answers he will give.
So this is the problem. Nobody is self-independent. Everyone is dependent on Kṛṣṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Everything. Aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2), in Bhagavad-gītā: "I am the origin of all the demigods." The Brahmā is also demigod. Brahmā is born out of the lotus stem which is grown from the abdomen of Viṣṇu. So he has to find out the source of his birth. That is stated here. "Could not trace out the source of his lotus seat.
As we have advertised, bhāgavata-dharma. This is part of bhāgavata-dharma. Bhāgavata-dharma was explained by Prahlāda Mahārāja, a great devotee of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, Nārāyaṇa, some millions of years ago. His father was Hiraṇyakaśipu, atheist. He did not believe in God. But by the grace of Nārada Muni, his son, from the very womb of his mother, he was initiated in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And after his birth he became a great devotee. And when he was only five years old he was preaching this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement amongst his class fellows. He was little boy, king's son. He had no opportunity to go out of the palace. Still, he took the opportunity of speaking something about this bhāgavata-dharma amongst his class fellows. So he was canvassing his class fellows, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa."
We have got daily experience. Similarly, death means this gross body we change. Just like you have got your shirt and coat. So you change the coat, but you keep your shirt. You do it, generally. Similarly, I keep my subtle body and I give up my gross body; that is called death. And I am carried by the subtle body in the womb of another mother by the laws of nature, and I develop another gross body, materials supplied by the mother. And when the body is prepared, I come out of the womb of mother and I work again with that subtle and gross body. And bhāgavata-dharma means that we have to transcend both the gross and subtle body; come to the spiritual body. It is very scientific. And as soon as we come to the spiritual body, mukta saṅga, being freed from the gross and subtle body, we come to our real body, spiritual body, then actually we feel happiness and independence.
This is not advancement of civilization. The advancement of civilization is that "Why I am put under the material laws?" Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānu-darśanam (BG 13.9). One must be complicated... Everyone is trying to live. Nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to take birth. He's afraid of dying and again entering into the womb of mother. But less intelligent class of men, because they cannot make any solution, they make a wash-off: "Oh, there is no life after death." No. That's not fact. That's not fact. There is life.
Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Dehino'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). So this transmigration of the soul from one body to another is not very good business. Who wants to die? Nobody wants to die. But he has to die. He must die. There is no question of he likes or not likes. Nobody wants to take birth, again enter into the womb of mother. And nowadays it is very risky, because mother is killing the child: the ultimate end of Kali-yuga. The mother's shelter, a child feels very happy on the lap of mother, and that is the arrangement of nature. Mother should take care of the child. But in this age the people are so, I mean to say, contaminated that even mother is killing child. Just imagine what is the position of birth and death. Birth and death is not very good business. Therefore if you want to stop this birth and death then take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, try to understand Kṛṣṇa.
They simply speak, but it is not possible. Therefore this body is not the... Moving spirit soul, that is different. Therefore śāstra says, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhiḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhiḥ. And as soon as you take this body, that "I am this body," then, in bodily relation... Because a woman has got bodily relation, "She is my wife," and the children born out of the womb of that woman, "That is my children..." Sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ (SB 10.84.13). Bhauma means the land where we live or where this body is produced. That is worshipable. That is called nationalism. Bhauma ijya-dhīḥ. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ, yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicit. And tīrtha, holy place... Just like people go to Vṛndāvana, Hardwar. Salile. They take birth in the Ganges and the Yamunā, and they think that "Now we have finished our tīrtha." No. Tīrtha is not that. Tīrtha means we have to find out sober person to take instruction from him.
He asked the demigods, "Why you are harassing this lady? After all, she is woman. She is dependent." So by the order of Nārada Muni they let her go, and her husband was engaged in tapasya, so she had no protection. Therefore Nārada Muni took her at his āśrama and instructed her about God consciousness. That is the duty of saintly person. So Prahlāda Mahārāja, while he was within the womb of his mother, he heard all those instructions. His mother in due course of time—that is the nature of woman—she forgot the instruction. But Prahlāda Mahārāja remembered; therefore he became a great devotee. This is the history of Prahlāda Mahārāja.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja became a devotee, not a so-called devotee, that "If my senses are gratified, then I shall continue to remain a devotee. Otherwise I shall slip away, go away. That's all." So he was not such kind of devotee. He remained devotee in all circumstances. You see his father wanted to chastise him is so many ways.
Kṛṣṇa appeared before Devakī and Vasudeva as four-handed Nārāyaṇa. Then the father, mother requested Nārāyaṇa that "You have appeared as Nārāyaṇa. Immediately Kaṁsa will kill You. Please, You become like human child." So He again immediately became a human child. So the conception of birth from the womb of the mother was not actually the fact about Kṛṣṇa. You read Bhāgavatam. You will find this description. So even though if He comes as a child, still He is unborn because Kṛṣṇa, or God, is in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). So from the heart, if He comes before you, so is it very difficult task for Him? It is not at all difficult. (break) What to speak of Kṛṣṇa, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa; we do not take birth. You will find in the Bhagavad-gītā, na jāyate na mriyate vā. When the description of soul is given there, it is said that the soul is never born. If the soul is never born, how the Supersoul is born? That you have to understand. Even the soul... We are ordinary soul.
He is described as demon because he was interested only in material comforts. Hiraṇya means gold, gold and very comfortable situation of material life. He was interested in that, and he wanted to teach his son about this economic development. But Prahlāda Mahārāja, when he was in the womb of his mother... There was fight between the demons and the demigods, so the demons—sometimes when there is fight, sometimes one party is victorious, sometimes the other party is victorious—so the demigods' party became victorious, and they were harassing the demons like anything. So Hiraṇyakaśipu's wife, she was pregnant, she was captured by Indra, the King of heaven, and she was being dragged to take her in the house of Indra. In the way, Nārada Muni met them; he chastised Indra. Nārada Muni was devarṣi, ṛṣi amongst the demigods. So he said, "Why you are giving trouble to this woman? This is not good." So the demons replied, demigods replied that "This woman is pregnant, and there is Hiraṇyakaśipu's son.
This is not good." So the demons replied, demigods replied that "This woman is pregnant, and there is Hiraṇyakaśipu's son. So we want to kill that son also, because he is demon. So we are taking this woman to our place just to wait for the time of her delivering the child." At that time Nārada Muni said, "No, no. This child is not a demon child. This child who is within the womb of this woman, he is a great devotee, so don't try to kill him. Neither you can kill him, that is not possible." So they are demigods, they accepted Nārada Muni's proposal. So they offered respect to the woman, that "Here is, within the womb of this woman, a great devotee." So they circumambulated and offered respect to the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu and they went away. So Nārada Muni took the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu to his āśrama: "My dear girl, my dear daughter, you please come with me, remain with me till your husband comes back."
So she agreed, and woman's natural propensity is to serve, so she was very nicely serving Nārada Muni, and Nārada Muni became very much pleased and he instructed about transcendental knowledge. Although to the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu, but still the Hiraṇyakaśipu's son Prahlāda Mahārāja was within the womb, he also heard the instruction and he learnt everything. Later on he will explain that "My mother, on account of being woman, she has forgotten the instruction of Nārada, but I heard it even from within the womb; I remember it."
So this Prahlāda Mahārāja is repeating the same instruction which he heard from Nārada Muni when he was packed up within the womb. So this is one of the instruction, that spiritual instruction does not depend on any material condition. In any position one can understand spiritual instruction. Ahaituky apratihatā yena ātmā samprasīdati.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: That means imperfect knowledge. We say that material world is creation, and within the material world the living entities are allowed to act. So the living entities coming from God; therefore He says bījo aham. So God... Just like our life begins from the womb of the mother, but the father gives the bīja. The mother's womb cannot produce itself; then there was no need of father. The father gives the bīja and the mother gives the body. Similarly, the living entity, part and parcel of God, is put into the material nature, and according to his desire the material nature gives him a body. That is the beginning. Very simple thing. But these people, on account of insufficient knowledge they cannot understand what is the beginning, either Darwin or the opposite. This is the beginning. The material nature is created by God, and the living entities, who are part and parcel of God, desire to enjoy this material nature, so God impregnated material nature with the living entities.
Prabhupāda: One may be surprised that how this universe has come from the breathing of Viṣṇu, but actually it is so. If we accept that the universe is increasing, length and breadth, then the universe may come like particles and then begin to develop. That is the process we see in our child birth. In the womb it becomes just like a small pea, then it develops, develops as either elephant or man, the body develops. So everything material, it is created, it is very small, that a seed, very small, but it develops a big tree, banyan tree. That is the way of nature. So that's a fact that the universe is increasing. Not perpetually; to a certain extent. Then stop, again it becomes dwindled, and then it is finished.
Hayagrīva: Yes. He didn't know. He says, "It is growing, perhaps indefinitely." "Perhaps," he says.
Prabhupāda: No it cannot be. That is the function of the soul. The soul is eternal, therefore willing is eternal. It can be suppressed for sometime. Just like death. What is death? Death means stop willingness for seven months, that's all. That is death. And as soon as, according to your will, you develop a type of body and come out from the mother's womb, and the willing begins again. Again. Death means suppression of will for seven months, that's all. So suppression of willing... Just like if you are chloroformed, if you are anesthetic given, you can suppress your willing. Therefore you are unconscious. Even somebody is cutting you, you don't protest. But that does not mean the will is not there. It is there. It is suppressed, by artificial means. In other words, will cannot be killed or it can be stopped. If you train your willing process badly, then you have to suffer life after life. And if you train your willing nicely, then you go to Vaikuṇṭha, back to Godhead.
Prabhupāda: That is also not proof. As soon as he gets a body, his thing is settled up. Just like you have got this body—white body. You cannot become black body. Or a man who has got black body, he cannot become white man. This is wrong philosophy. How you can settle up? Because he is considering the of body, he is considering the existence means the manufacture of the body from the womb of mother up to the destruction of the body. So this body, as it is made, there are different types of body. So that cannot be changed.
Śyāmasundara: What about if someone can choose to become a doctor or a lawyer or a physician or anything like that.
Prabhupāda: That is quality; that is not the body.
Prabhupāda: That is the proof. Because the soul takes shelter into the womb of the mother, the father injects the soul—that is the statement of the śāstras—in the womb of the mother, and the mother gives shelter. So the body develops from the womb of the mother. There is conception, pregnancy. That is the proof.
Śyāmasundara: Ultimately there is nothing to measure, when the body dies, to determine where that soul went.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That you can measure by knowledge. Just like Bhagavad-gītā has said, ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā (BG 14.18). Just like a man has committed murder, killed somebody. He is arrested, he is taken away from your sight, but you can know that he has committed murder, he will be hanged. That's all. You do not require to go there and see that he is hanged. It doesn't require. That is foolishness. If somebody says that "I did not see that the man was arrested," that's all right, but "I did not see that he was hanged. I cannot believe it," no. You believe or not believe, it is a fact.
Śyāmasundara: What he is talking about is the natural instinct of people to forget painful experiences.
Prabhupāda: (indistinct) forget. Just like you were in the womb of your mother. It was a very painful situation. But you have forgotten. That is natural.
Śyāmasundara: So it's not artificial?
Prabhupāda: No. But when you were in the womb of your mother, that's a fact. Now when you think of it you can understand how horrible condition was that. Therefore śāstra says that even if you have forgotten, it does not mean that you have escaped the incidents. It is that you are waiting for another painful situation like that.
Prabhupāda: You are going to be again (indistinct). Why you forget Kṛṣṇa? After this life, you will be put in another womb of mother, so that the same thing will again happen. You are not finishing your business, so therefore it is the duty of guru and father and mother to save him from that situation again. Pitā na sa syāt, gurur na sa syāt, na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. So that is the opportunity of this human life. They should know that I had such-and-such bad experience. (indistinct), I will also experience the same thing again at the time of death, horrible situation. Again after, again enter, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). You have to again take birth in the womb. The same situation is repeating. You may forget. That is another thing. Just like you had some surgical operation in your body. That was very painful. So even if you have forgotten, that does not guarantee that there will be no more (indistinct) and no more surgical operation.
Prabhupāda: "What is that Brahman, God?" Immediately answer is, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). God means, the Absolute Truth means, Brahman means from whom everything has emanated. We see everything is emanating. Just like we see the trees are emanating from the earth, and by eating the fruits, flowers, grains, the animal, human being, they are also emanating. So ultimate cause is this earth. We are emanating. We can say that "I am emanating from my mother." So the mother does not eat, then how he, his, her body can continue and how she can give another body within the womb? So ultimately we can see that the earth or the water is the source of emanation of everything. Then we can inquire wherefrom the water comes and wherefrom the earth comes, wherefrom the air comes, wherefrom the fire comes. This is philosophy. Then ultimately when we come, come to the supreme point of emanation, janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "Here is the person, here is the source of everything." So that we must know.
Śyāmasundara: In other words, he says that there are many factors which are unconscious which determine our personality that we may not be aware of-many hopes, many fears, many contents of our own consciousness that clarify our personality and which we are not aware of...
Prabhupāda: Yes, (indistinct). Just like when we are in the womb of our mother. Up to seven months we are unconscious. That means to remain unconscious for seven months, that is death. Living entity does not die; he remains unconscious for seven months.
Devotee (5): That's actually suṣupti?
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) (indistinct) ...anaesthetic, when the medicinal effect is lost, it comes. Zero mistake. (indistinct) come. These are three stages: consciousness, dream, and unconsciousness. So he does not know suṣupti. He simply considers the dreaming unconsciousness. When he sees dream, he thinks (indistinct).
Devotee (3): That is the reference to the ocean of the womb.
Prabhupāda: (indistinct) You can say like that. (indistinct) And the child is floating in that water.
Śyāmasundara: Well, are there not certain characteristics that are particularly male and certain characteristics that are particularly female?
Prabhupāda: Male is only God. That is the characteristic. Male means enjoyer and female means enjoyed. So except God, except Kṛṣṇa, nobody is enjoyer. Therefore He's God.
Śyāmasundara: So it's a false idea to think that anything is masculine besides God.
Prabhupāda: Masculine is a different (indistinct). Masculine gender. So that is called (indistinct), symbolic. But a real male is Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: No. The idea... Actually he has the quality of becoming massive. The same thing we can... Just like the active principle which develops the body within the womb. He may not accept it as soul or something, but without that active principle, simply cohabit of the male and female and combination of secretion does not develop the body. The active principle must be there. So as soon as the active principle is there, the combination of male and female secretion acts, and it develops into body, mass body. You can develop into an ant or you can develop into a big hill. That is the difference. Just like a seed, a small seed, that is active principle. So from that seed a big tree develops. So this existence of the big tree depends on that small seed. That is the active principle. Why it is nothing? That is nonsense.
Prabhupāda: That is Vedic conception. The soul, he, as he is, he is part and parcel of God, but he is imprisoned in different types of body. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "I am the seed-giving father of all different forms of life, and the mother, material nature is the mother." That is actually very logical. Through the matter different varieties of living entities are coming out. From water, from earth, from air, even from fire, ether, everywhere, sarva-gataḥ, life, living entities are visible. Therefore the combination of five elements—earth, water, fire, air—that is the body of the living entities. And the soul is the part and parcel of the Supreme, and the souls are impregnated within this material world by God, and they come out through the womb of the mother, nature or individual mother, whatever you say. The soul is coming out of matter but it is not matter.
Prabhupāda: ...that we shall consider later. First of all come to the reasoning, that this combination of air, water and bone and muscle and urine and stool is not life. You first of all come to that, then we have to find out that what is that soul. First of all you come to this conclusion. "This is not," neti. "This is not." Then what is the positive thing, that we have to search, athāto. That is brahma-jijñāsā. What is that Brahman? It is not matter. Then we will come to the conclusion that Brahman is the origin of this matter, because the matter is developing on the soul. That is also reasoning. Simply sex does not create pregnancy unless there is soul. They have so many times sex, so not every time there is pregnancy. Of course, it is expected, but... Anyway, when the soul is injected in the womb of the woman, then the pregnancy means the matter develops, and that we can see outside the pregnancy also—when the child comes out it develops a body.
Prabhupāda: So the matter is coming out on the positive existence of the soul. This is to be learned. Without soul being present within the womb of the woman there is no pregnancy, there is no development of the matter. We can see the same thing, that the child is developing or changing the body because the soul is there. This is reasoning. Where is the difficulty? So the philosophy, first of all find out what is that external thing which is the living force. By analyzing this material body we don't find any symptom of life either from breathing or from blood or from (indistinct). Therefore something extra. Now you find out what is that extra. That extra you will find out if you come to the right platform—that it is soul, jīvātmā. And on the basis of jīvātmā, that is very minute. If you take authority of the Vedic śās..., very, very minute, one ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair, a very small particle that we cannot find it where it is in the body. It is very small. So with your material eyes and material instruments it can not be found. We are missing.
Purports to Songs
"How long you shall go on sleeping on the lap of the witches, māyā?" Bhajibo boliyā ese saṁsāra-bhitare: "In the womb of your mother you promised that this life you shall engage in the matter of developing your Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Bhuliyā rohile tumi avidyāra bhare: "But you are forgotten everything under the spell of illusory energy." Actually, when$the child remains within the womb of his mother, packed up in airtight bag, at the age of seven months within the womb, when he develops his consciousness, he feels very uncomfortable, and the fortunate baby prays to God, "Please relieve me from this awkward position, and this life I shall fully engage myself in developing my God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness." But as soon as the child comes out of the womb of his mother, under the spell of these three modes of material nature he forgets, and he cries, and the parents take care, and the whole thing is forgotten.
There is one instance of Parīkṣit Mahārāja. When he was in the womb of his mother, their paternal, I mean to say, enemy, Droṇa..., son of Droṇācārya, Aśvatthāmā, he released a weapon called brahmāstra. The brahmāstra could kill even within the womb. So at that time Lord Kṛṣṇa entered and saved the child. The child saw the form of Kṛṣṇa and was remembering. And when the child came out, he was trying to find out where is that form. He was searching after Kṛṣṇa. So the astrologers who were present there, they could understand that this child is seeking something. Therefore his name was given, Parīkṣit. Parīkṣit means one who is trying to test. Parikṣa. Parikṣa means test, examination. So there are many examples, of course, very rare, the child remembers. Generally forgets. So Lord Caitanya is trying to wake up all children of māyā, nature's son, to wake up. The similar instruction is in the Vedic Upaniṣad. Uttiṣṭhata jāgrata. The advice is that "Everyone should now wake up. They should not sleep under the spell of illusion, material nature. This human form of body must be utilized."
| Page Title: | Womb (Lectures, Other) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 29 of Sep, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=95, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 95 |