Understanding Our Awkward Material Position

Ignorance and entanglement in material life

0:05Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena ca damena ca, tyāgena satya-śaucābhyāṃ yamena niyamena vā. This verse we have been discussing last week, that we are in a very awkward position.

0:28We should understand that is the mistake of the present civilization. Not only present, this is the way of material state, way of life: forgetfulness. One does not know what is his position. That requires knowledge.

1:00That ignorance is not very good for human beings. That may be good for the animals, not for the humans. Human beings have got developed consciousness. So he can utilize it properly. The animals cannot.

1:26So our awkward position is that we are entangled in the three modes of material nature. Therefore by repetition, birth and death and different species of life, you are wandering, and actually we do not want this.

1:49And that is not our natural position. This repetition of birth and death is unnatural for us. But we do not know. We are thinking that it is natural. No. This is unnatural. Therefore we want to live.

2:09We want to be perpetually happy. We want to be vastly wise because that is our prerogative constitution. We are simply surely in this material condition of life. So we are in the dilemma.

2:38The first beginning of this instruction is that I do not want to do something, but I am forced to do it. This is my position. This is due to ignorance.

2:56That's why we have seen many persons in the beginning of the life, they were like animals. But by good association, by endeavor, by education, by knowledge, one comes out in light.

3:16So that process is first of all described, that one has to elevate oneself by these methods, which I have already discussed. Tapasā, austerity, penance.

3:38Not that we shall give away ourselves in the waves of material nature. No, we have got developed consciousness, which is our property. So that means, that means tapaḥ. Restraining. Restraining, I am explaining.

4:02Restraining is meant for human beings, not for the animals. The simple example: keep to the right. This instruction, this law, this state is meant for the human being, not for the dogs.

4:24If the dog violates, it goes from right to the left. This is not punished, because it is an animal. But if a human being driving his car, instead of driving on the right, he drives on the left, he is immediately punished.

4:47Therefore we should know that all scriptures, all laws, all knowledge, everything is for human beings, not for the animals. Therefore, we have to utilize that. We should not be like animals.

5:08If we degrade ourselves to the animal propensity, then we go again to the animal kingdom, that we do not know.

Evolution and risks of human irresponsibility

5:22It is a great opportunity, that gradual process of evolution from lower grades—animal life, plant life, beast life, insect life, bird life—we have come to this civilized human form of life. That we should know.

5:42And if we do not utilize this chance given by God or nature, then He says, "Again go back." Punar mūṣiko bhava. There is a story. Punar mūṣiko bhava. This is a Sanskrit story. Punar means again, and mūṣika means mouse.

6:12Punar mūṣiko bhava. Bhava means "again become." The story is that a mouse came to a saintly person and said, "Sir, I am in difficulty." "If you kindly help me." "What is your difficulty?" "Sir, the cat's trouble."

6:40"I am a mouse and the cats are always after me." "So what do you want?" "Let me become a cat." "Oh, let you become a cat." So you become a cat. So after a few days, again he came. "Sir, I am in trouble." "What is that?"

7:05"The dogs are a trouble." "So what do you want?" "Let me become a dog." "Oh, let you become a dog." Then in this way he comes again, the fourth circle.

7:29In this way, at last the tiger, the biggest animal. The saintly person said, "What you want?" "No, I want to become a tiger." "All right," he became a tiger. So when he became a tiger, he was staring on the same person.

7:56The same person asked him, "What do you mean by this?" "That means I shall eat you." "Oh, you want to eat me? By my mercy you have begun from mouse to tiger and now you want to eat me? Oh, you again become mouse."

8:27This is the position. We have come through evolutionary process to this human form of life. And if we stare on God, "What is God?" then again we have to be go to the animal. Punar mūṣiko bhava. This is the way of nature.

8:55So we should be very careful that in this human form of life, if we become godless animals, then our next life is very risky. That you should remember.

9:12We are meant for elevating ourselves more and more up to the level above. That is our business.

Spiritual nature and the Vaikuntha planets

9:28Because God... we are sons of God. God wants that we become all good sons and become like him. And in the Vaikuṇṭha planet, all the living entities are of the same feature. Svarūpa. Svarūpa means of the same bodily feature.

9:49As Nārāyaṇa, you see the picture of Nārāyaṇa here. He has got four hands and very beautiful body and very ornamented and with four hands.

10:01So all the inhabitants there in Vaikuṇṭha planet, they are of the same feature, sārūpya. Sālokya. You can live on the same planet where God is there. Sārūpya, sālokya, sāmīpya. He can associate with God.

10:24Just like Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's associates. The cowherd boys. They are not ordinary human beings. They are associates of Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa comes, they are with Kṛṣṇa. Or some of the devotees, they are elevated to that position.

10:48That's what Śukadeva Gosvāmī is describing this: ittham satām brahma-sukhānubhūtyā dāsyam gatānām para-daivatena, playing with the cowherd boys. So he is describing in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: who are these boys?

11:28Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ. These boys are not ordinary human beings. They have accumulated volumes of their pious activities. Now they have come to play with Kṛṣṇa.

11:46They have elevated to such a position that they are playing with God just like an ordinary friend. That is possible. You can elevate to that position.

12:01You can elevate your position just like the gopīs, the any, the company, a practice. Just like here, the imitation, enjoy. The young boys and girls, they mix together, they try to enjoy life, but it breaks.

12:23But there it will not break, it will continue eternally. So you can elevate yourself to this position in this human form of life. Therefore, even the devatās, they also desire this human form of life.

12:47So if we forget ourselves, then by nature's way we shall be again glided down to the animal kingdom. Very responsible. Therefore, it is commanded that: tapasā. The same instruction was given by Ṛṣabhadeva to his sons.

13:12Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. "My dear boys..." These... Ṛṣabhadeva was the emperor of the world and his sons were rich.

13:28So they could enjoy life, and here material world meant for enjoyment means sense, and that they do not know anything more. But that is not enjoyment; enjoyment

Austerity for transcendental realization and happiness

13:45is the fact that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: «sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam». The real happiness is to be enjoyed by the transcendental senses, not these blunt senses.

14:11Our present sense is covered. You cannot enjoy life with covered senses. It must be open in its own nature. So that is not possible now, because this material body is covering my real body, my spiritual body.

14:36We are not impersonal, we are personal, each one of us. This body is described as dress: «vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya». So how your dress is made? Your coat has got two hands. Why? Because your real body has got two hands.

15:00Otherwise, how your coat gets two hands, how your pants get two legs? Because you have got two legs, because you have got two hands. That's why it is cut according to your body.

15:18Similarly, if this material body is our dress, then we must have our real body with hands and legs and like that. So we are not impersonal. That's the wrong concept. How can we be impersonal?

15:34We are all, each one of us, person. God is person. You are person. We are personal. So everything is personal. Therefore, because our body and senses, spiritual body and senses, are now covered by this material cover,

15:57we have to discover, uncover. And when it is uncovered, when the senses are acting without any covering, with those senses you can enjoy. And that is the process called bhakti.

16:20The definition is given in the Nārada-pañcarātra: «sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam», «hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate». Sarvopādhi, upādhi. Upādhi means external designation.

16:44Now this body, your body, you are thinking American. Because you have got by nature's way, you have got a body which is called American. I have got a body which is called Indian.

16:58But this is external dress, designation, covering. My actual form is neither American nor Indian. I am Brahman. My actual form is Brahman, spirit soul. So we have to come to that stage.

17:24Therefore, just like one has to follow some restrictions to recover himself from disease, so we have to recover ourselves from this diseased condition of material life. That is our real aim of life.

17:48And that requires tapasya. That is mentioned. Ṛṣabhadeva also says to his sons, "My dear sons, don't be led by sense gratification process." The sense gratification process is available in the dog's life, hog's life.

18:15That is not a very difficult thing. We have created problems, although things needed for this maintenance of the body—four things: eating, sleeping, mating, and defending.

Modern civilization versus spiritual survival

18:37These are necessary. But just see: the animals can do it and the birds can do it. They have no problem for these things. In the morning the birds will very clearly chirp that now it is morning and go somewhere.

18:59And they are confident somewhere there is food for them. Any tree and the fruit is ready. So they are not anxious how to get their food. About sleeping, they are also not anxious.

19:20Just in the evening, they come to the tree and take shelter and pass the night. So eating, sleeping, there is no problem for them. Mating—immediately from the birth, the male and female is born.

19:39So from the very beginning, the female has got a male companion and the male has got a female. So sex life and mating, there is no problem; and defending. They defend according to their own way. They have got two wings.

20:02They are always very careful. As soon as something obstructly done, immediately fly. That's all. This is nature's way. So why there should be problems for the human being for these four things? That is nonsense.

20:22That is nonsense. We have created such a civilization that we have brought problems: how to eat, how to sleep, how to mate, and how to defend. You see?

20:36So our advancement of civilization means at the present moment we are lesser than the animals and birds. They have no problems, but we have problems. This is our study. Just study.

20:58How our modern civilization means we have created problems. They have not solved problems. They have created problems.

21:08If the civilization, if the technology would have solved this problem, then there is no more problem for eating, sleeping, mating. No. That problem has arisen. It has increased. Let's try to understand.

21:26So we should understand that these things for elevating ourselves on these problems, to increase the method of eating, or to increase the method of sleeping, or increase the method of mating, and increase the method of defending— that is not civilization.

21:52Because if such things are not problems to the animals, why they should be problems to the humanity? But because we have misused our consciousness, we have misused our intelligence, these things have become a problem.

22:16Therefore, Ṛṣabhadeva said, "My dear boys, don't think that if you increase the method of your sense gratification, especially such like, just like we see here so many advertisements.

22:39Just like here, by the side of our temple, there is naked dance. What is this? Increasing the method of sex life. That is not a problem, but we have made it a problem. That is advancement."

23:02So Ṛṣabhadeva said, "My dear boys, this is not a problem. These things are available in the animal life, easily, automatically. Why do you create problems for this? The real problem is different. What is that?

23:26You are wanting happiness uninterrupted. That you have to attain. That is your thought. You are hankering after happiness, which will be uninterrupted, which will continue forever.

23:48If you remain in a happy life, you deserve our now position, a position to enjoy my life if I can continue like this." That is our natural purity. We want to be happy, and by our spiritual existence, we shall be happy.

24:11Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt, the Vedānta-sūtra says, because by nature you are joyful. Therefore, joyfulness is your priority, you must have. But how to have it? Therefore it is said, you have to undergo tapasya.

24:33Ṛṣabhadeva said, "My dear sons, don't be carried away by this method of sense gratification. This is not good. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā, you put yourself in austerities, penance." Why? Divyam.

24:57Divyam means for transcendental realization. To make yourself transcendentally situated. Because without being transcendentally situated, you cannot endure. You cannot even have sense gratification.

25:13That is also not possible. Senses are not denied. That is natural. But the method of gratification at the present moment is abominable. Nobody will be happy in that.

25:30Suppose, tapo divyaṁ putrakā, undergo austerities for transcendental reality. Why? Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvam. Sattvam means existence. You exist eternally.

25:49But your existence is being interrupted by this change of body. Don't think that you shall continue your nice American body for good. Stay for 50 years only. And next we may get another body. It may be white now, body.

26:11So there is no guarantee. Tapo divyam. Yena śuddhyet, you make your existence param. Satya. Tapo divyaṁ putraka. Yena śuddhyet sattvam. Śuddhyet, śuddha means purify. Just like we try to purify ourselves when we are infected.

26:37We go to a doctor, take some medicine, take some injection, just to purify yourself from the contamination. Therefore, we have to undergo austerity, penances, just to purify our existence.

26:54Suppose this, yena śuddhyet sattvam. Then what is the result? Yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam. You reach the platform of enjoyment either. That is our problem. That is our problem.

27:18So here also Śukadeva Gosvāmī is advising Mahārāja Parīkṣit that if one wants eternal life, peaceful life, life of full knowledge, then one has to deliver himself from this contaminated life of material existence.

27:47And the method is prescribed here, we have discussed it elaborately.

Comparing yoga systems and devotional service

27:52Śabdena brahmacaryeṇa śamena ca damena ca. Yamena niyamena vā. The yoga is dama, and the first thing is yama, niyama. Aṣṭāṅga-yoga, eight-fold yoga system. Not this fast yoga system, but real yoga system. That is eight-fold.

28:21You have to first of all yama. Yama means regular life, regulative life. And niyama, under routine. Yama, then āsana, then prāṇāyāma, then dhyāna, then dhāraṇā, then samādhi, pratyāhāra.

28:43These are different stages of yoga system. So here also it is said, yamena niyamena vā. So you have to elevate yourself.

28:56Then it is said, deha-vāk-mānasaṁ dhīraḥ dharmajñāḥ sādhu-niṣṭhayā kṣipanti aghaṁ mahad api veṇu-gulmam ivānalaḥ.

29:11So those who are following the regulatory principles, religious principles, activities, penance—they will be able to get out of this material entanglement exactly like if you want to clear one field of dry grass, you set fire and it will burn, everything will be automatically clear.

29:42Veṇu-gulmam ivānalaḥ.

29:45Now again he says that these processes, that means austerity, brahmacharya, celibacy, controlling the mind, controlling the senses, renunciation, tyāgena, damena—these are principles, but at the same time they are, as Śukadeva says, very difficult.

30:22So Śukadeva Gosvāmī is suggesting another alternative. What is that? Kecit kevalayā bhaktyā vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ agham dhunvanti kārtsnyena nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ. Very nice example. Nīhāra. Nīhāra means the dew.

30:47What is called in the morning on the grass? The dew. He finds thousands of millions of grasses and on the head of each grass there is a drop of water. So if you want to clear them one after another, it takes a long time.

31:10But as soon as there is sunrise, a little after, immediately they are dissipated. Immediate. Automatic. So here the example is given: nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ. Bhāskara means the sun.

31:30Just like all the dews are disappeared immediately after the sunrise, similarly, kecit kevalayā bhaktyā, some fortunate person, they simply take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service.

31:48And immediately all their sinful activities, the resultant activities, disappear. Immediately, all Kṛṣṇa consciousness. To become Kṛṣṇa conscious, there is no need of previous qualification. Any other method...

32:11You take other methods of self-realization. There are, just like karma, jñāna, yoga, these are also methods. But they are very difficult, especially in this, uh, age.

32:36Kevalayā, kevalayā bhaktyā... If you simply... What the point was, that we do not require any qualification.

32:47If you want to be a karmī — karmī means pious actor — then you will have to perform so many sacrifices for which money is required and energy is required, and that is very difficult in these days.

33:05Then, if you want to be a great philosopher and if you want to realize yourself by philosophical method, then you have to learn so many books of knowledge, philosophy, and speculation.

33:22That is also very difficult in these days. Similarly, if you want to perform yoga system, that is also very difficult in this age. You require so many qualifications, previous qualifications.

33:36For becoming a learned philosopher, you require so much previous qualification. For becoming a great pious actor, you require so much money for offering sacrifice.

33:52If you want to be a great yogi, then you have to learn this yama, niyama, prāṇāyāma. That is also... But coming to Krishna consciousness, you don't require any previous qualification. That is a special advantage.

34:14Whatever you may be, that's alright. Our process, you are seeing practically, we are inviting all friends and guests to come here. What is that process?

34:28The process is: please come here, chant with us, dance with us, take little prasāda and go.

Surrender and the wisdom of mahatmas

34:39We don't ask you that you require this qualification and that qualification. No. Simply bhakti, bhakti — this devotional status is so strong.

34:53Therefore, bhaktyā kevalayā is recommended, that those who are intelligent, instead of undergoing so many difficult processes, kevalayā bhaktyā — simply unflinching, unalloyed devotional service.

35:12That should be kevala. Kevala means without any adulteration. Kevala. That is the qualification. Krishna in the Bhagavad-gītā demands that. That sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja.

35:32You just surrender, and these qualifications require: that one must be ready to surrender. "My dear Lord, whatever is that, my past history, I forget. And You kindly forget also. Excuse me. Now I surrender unto You.

35:54This only surrendering process makes you sufficiently qualified to become anyway transcendental. Simply this. My dear Krishna, my dear Lord Krishna, I was forgotten. I forgot You for so many lives.

36:17Now, so many lives, that is also studied in the bhāva. This knowledge, this surrendering process does not come all of a sudden. For many yogis, for many jñānīs, after many, many births, this knowledge comes.

36:38That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate. After many, many births of period of real speculation, then one has become perfectly wise. What is that perfect wisdom?

36:58The perfect wisdom: God is great and I am small. That's why I must surrender. This is knowledge. This is knowledge. And so long as I believe in śānta and this and that, dāsya and so on, that is all nonsense.

37:19That's not knowledge. That is ignorance. Simply. The rascal, some man said, "I don't believe in God." That is a false statement. He believes in God. He believes in God. But he falsely says that "I don't believe in God."

37:44But how does he believe? He believes God as death. God is seen in God's picture, Nārāyaṇa's picture. Four hands. In two hands He has got club and disc. This is for the club, hammering, and disc, cutting the throat.

38:16These two hands are engaged. God's two hands are engaged for this purpose: cutting and hammering. Another two hands, lotus, life, peace, and prosperity, and conch, auspiciousness. So these two things are there.

38:39And in the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna said: paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām. Just to deliver the pious and to kill or annihilate the impious. So the impious atheists, they will believe in God when death comes.

39:03Because they cannot... What is the definition of God? God is great. If you say that "I don't believe in God," that means you don't believe anyone who is better than you.

39:20But when death comes, you understand that it is greater than you. Yes, it is greater than that. So God comes to the atheist as death. And God comes to the theists, the devotees, as love. That's all.

39:41In finding that picture, Hiraṇyakaśipu... He was a thief. So Lord Nṛsiṁha has appeared as death for Hiraṇyakaśipu. And His son, His young child, Prahlāda Mahārāja: blessings. "My dear Prahlāda, you have suffered so much."

40:04So God is there. But the atheist will believe God when death is there. And the theist and the faithful will believe God by devotional service. That is the difference.

40:24Therefore, we can save ourselves completely if we are intelligent. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante. That intelligence comes to the ordinary man after many, many births of philosophical search.

40:46Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate: "Kṛṣṇa is everything." Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti. Kṛṣṇa is the original, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam, original cause of everything. Sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. That knowledge...

41:13When he comes to that knowledge, then he surrenders: "Oh, my Lord, I was challenging so many ways." Now I have come to this knowledge, I surrender and please accept. Sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ.

41:31Such kind of great soul is very rare. But this Krishna consciousness movement is making very cheaply a mahātmā like that. Although you are distributing this knowledge very cheap, don't think it is a very cheap thing.

41:53It is very valuable. Those who are intelligent, they will understand and they will take to it. Thank you.