Prabhupāda: This is a yantra, machine. I am not this machine, but this machine has been given to me to move. Just like you get a car to move. Especially mentioned, yantra. Yantra, just like a car is machine, but you are not the car. Suppose if you want a car to move. Your father gives you a car, maybe costly or not. That depends on the father's condition or your condition. But the father or the..., you purchase. But here it is said that the..., because we want to move in this material world under difference desires, so Kṛṣṇa gives us different types of bodies, 8,400,000 different species of yantra. They are just like machine, yantrārūḍhāni, and that machine is made by māyā, this material energy. That is not spiritual energy. I am spiritual energy; you are spiritual energy. But this vehicle, or the car, or the moving machine, that is not spiritual. That is material. Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). It is given by māyā. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ... (BG 3.27). We are in a machine made by māyā. And so long we are on this machine, the machine will be old and you will have to change it for another machine. That is going on. That is called janma-mṛtyu. That is called birth and death. Otherwise you and me, we have no birth and death. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. The soul, or the Brahman, he does not take birth or dies. Simply we change this machine, body. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). You are driving one car. If the car is broken or it is smashed, that does not mean you are smashed. You may have some accident, but you are not finished; the car may be finished. Similarly, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Similarly, this body being finished, we are not finished. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), we get another car, another body, just like we are getting different bodies in this life.
So the question is that if I am nityaḥ śāśvataḥ, na hanyate han... and my position is I never die, never take birth, so why I have been put into this condition, accepting this machine? That is real problem. That is real problem. Then what is the cause? That cause is that because I want to enjoy this material world. What is that material world? Here it is said, rāyaḥ paśavo gṛhāḥ. Rāyaḥ means wealth. Formerly a man was considered to be wealthy—now also it is... Dhānyena dhanavān, gavayā dhanavān. If you have got many number of cows, then you are considered to be rich man, not papers. Nowadays, if you have got bunch of paper written "one thousand dollar," but they are paper only. You are dhanavān. Formerly, practical. Not dhanavān by the papers, by the currency notes, but by how many cows you possess, because that is life. You get milk. And dhānyena, if you have got food grains, then you are rich, not by possessing some paper. No. Therefore it it said here, rāyaḥ paśavo gṛhāḥ. So these are the material possession.
So, so long we are after this material possession, then we cannot get out of this circle of birth and death. But if we give up this material possession and you take Kṛṣṇa and the Supreme Personality of Godhead and worship Him in bhakti-yoga, as it is said here, bhajanty ananyayā bhaktyā... Ananyayā bhaktyā. Ananyayā bhaktyā means pure, not mixed. You should not mix bhakti with jñāna and karma. That is pure bhakti. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). To... Just like there are many bhaktas. They are not pure bhaktas. Chanting, they are also chanting, but they are aspiring after mukti. So they are not pure bhaktas; they are adulterated bhaktas. A bhakta does not want mukti. We have discussed all things. Bhakta wants nothing from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He simply wants to serve Him. That's all. And serve Him ānukūlyena, not whimsically, "I want to serve You as I like." No. Ānukūlyena. Just like Arjuna did. Arjuna served Kṛṣṇa not whimsically, but as Kṛṣṇa desired. Kṛṣṇa... Arjuna was not willing to fight. He said, "No, Kṛṣṇa, the other side, my friends and relatives, I cannot." That is whimsical. But when he decided after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73): "Yes, I shall do what You are asking, to fight. I shall kill my grandfather. That's all." That is anukūla. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā (CC Madhya 19.167). You cannot serve Kṛṣṇa by your whims. Ānukūlyena. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam, ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (Brs. 1.1.11). You have to serve Kṛṣṇa as He says. If I want a glass of water, you must give me a glass of water. You cannot say, "Prabhupāda, milk is better than water. Why don't you take one glass of milk?" That is not anukūla. You must supply me what I want. That is anukūla. That is favorable. I want to drink water. Why should you give me milk? That is anukūla. That is bhakti. That is ananyayā... You don't manufacture your own trademark of bhakti. No, that is not bhakti. It is not that...
Sometimes people say, some so-called bhaktas, they say that "I can worship the Lord in my own way." No, that you cannot do. You have to... But because you have no connection with the Supreme Lord, you simply think a fiction, an idea, imagination, kalpana. The Māyāvādīs, they say kalpana. Brahma-rūpa-kalpanaḥ: "Brahma has no rūpa, but you imagine some rūpa, or form." That is Māyāvāda. That is not. Kṛṣṇa has got rūpa. Kṛṣṇa is present here with His original rūpa, as it is described in the Vedic literature.
- veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ
- barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam
- kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.30)
His form. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Paramaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ. We may be īśvara; you may is īśvara. That's all right. But you are not Parameśvara; I am not Parameśvara. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). The Parameśvara is Kṛṣṇa. Paramātmā is Kṛṣṇa. We are not. Kṣetra-kṣetrajña. Kṣetrajña means one who knows about the kṣetra. We are acting with this body. I am also acting, you are also acting, the dog is also acting, cat is also acting, the tree is also acting—according to the body. But within the body, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanam..., tathā dehā... (BG 2.13), the owner, or the occupier of the body, is within.
So Kṛṣṇa says, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi: "You are kṣetrajña. You are owner of this body. But I am also kṣetrajña. So I am kṣetrajña. I am the real proprietor. You are simply occupier. You are not the proprietor." Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). He gives you. You wanted a body like this, oh, you have got, "Now take this body." Kṛṣṇa is giving all facilities to enjoy this material world. Sometimes you want the body of a devatā like Brahmā, Indra, Candra. "All right." Yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, yānti deva-vratāḥ. If you want to become devatā, so you act like that. You qualify yourself, and you will go there, and you will get a body. You can get a body like Brahmā or you can get the body of the worm in the stool, as you like. Now it is... "Or if you like a body like Me," Kṛṣṇa says, yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām. And if you want to get a body like Kṛṣṇa, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1)—that is our body, real body, sat, cit, ānanda—then you can get it.
So our intelligence will be proved when we want to go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa. Mad-yājī mām... He gives you freedom, free pass. If you want to go to the demigod's planet... Yānti deva...what is that? Deva-yajña. Huh?
Devotee: Pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ.
Prabhupāda: Pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ.
Devotee: Bhūtāni...
Prabhupāda: Bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā mad-yājino 'pi yā... Now it is your choice. It is your choice, where you want to go. You have to go somewhere. You can remain here in this material world, you can remain to the higher planets, or you can go beyond these higher planets. Avyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ, paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ (BG 8.20). There is another nature. This is material nature, and there is another nature, spiritual nature. You can go there also, as you like. You are given full freedom. So here it is said... But wherever you go, it is said, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). Kṣīṇe puṇye punar martya-lokaṁ viśanti. You can go to the Svarga-loka, the heavenly planets, by your pious activities, but kṣīṇe puṇye, when your puṇya, pious acti..., resultant action of pious activities will be finished, then you have to come back again. Kṣīṇe puṇye punar martya-lokam...
But Kṛṣṇa says, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama: (BG 15.6) "If you, some way or other, you go to that place where I live..." Kṛṣṇa lives everywhere. Kṛṣṇa, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61), but He has got a special home. Just like the governor or the president, he can move many places, but still, he has got his own place, the rāja-bhavan, like that. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's place is Goloka Vṛndāvana. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu sura... (Bs. 5.29). But goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). That is Kṛṣṇa. He can live in Goloka Vṛndāvana like you see here Kṛṣṇa, His Goloka Vṛndāvana. He is enjoying the company of Vṛndāvaneśvarī, Rādhārāṇī. So goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. That is viśvato-mukham. Here it is said, visṛjya sarvān anyāṁś ca mām evaṁ viśvato-mukham.
So if you concentrate your devotion, your mind, your activities by this bhakti-yoga, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam... Bhakti-yoga means first of all to hear. Without hearing, how you can become bhakta? You must know about Kṛṣṇa. If you want to make friendship with somebody or make some transaction, we have got already our relationship, eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. But some way or other, we have forgotten it now. Therefore in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said, anādi-bahirmukha jīva, kṛṣṇa bhuli' gelā. Some way or other, from long, long time, we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa bhuli' gelā. Ataeva kṛṣṇa veda-purāṇa kailā: "Therefore Kṛṣṇa has made all these Vedas and Purāṇas and śāstra, everything, Mahābhārata." Kṛṣṇa comes there. This is... Because when we forget. Now this age is going on, Kali-yuga, forgetfulness. People are forgetting more and more Kṛṣṇa. They are not interested anymore. But Kṛṣṇa is interested. Kṛṣṇa, because we are sons of Kṛṣṇa... Just like a mad son, he is no more interested in home, or father, mother, but still, the father and mother is interested, that "This boy has gone out of home and is simply suffering." Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). "He has accepted one type of body and again giving it up, again accepting another body. In this way he is traveling," ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ, "all the planets, all the species of life. So let Me try to rescue him." Therefore Kṛṣṇa comes. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7).