760619 - Lecture SB 07.06.03 - Toronto

Lectures by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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760619SB-TORONTO - June 19, 1976 - 34.04 Minutes

Pradyumna: Translation: "Prahlāda Mahārāja continued: My dear friends born of demoniac families, the happiness perceived with reference to the sense objects by contact with the body can be obtained in any form of life, according to one's past fruitive activities. Such happiness is automatically obtained without endeavor, just as we obtain distress."

Prabhupāda:

sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā

deha-yogena dehinām

sarvatra labhyate daivād

yathā duḥkham ayatnataḥ

(SB 7.6.3)

We are, every one of us, we are fully under the control of material nature. We have put ourselves, in different bodies, we are fully under the control of material nature. There is no question of independence. In the śāstra it is described, just like a horse or a bull is bound up in the nose, and the driver, as he push . . . pull on the rope, it has to go according to that. There is no independence. So our so-called declaration of independence, "There is no God. There is no control. Whatever we like we can do," this means ignorance. And in ignorance we commit so many mistakes, and that is sinful activity.

Sinful activity means do irresponsibly anything we like, and we become entrapped in sinful activities. But as we have got experience in our ordinary life that ignorance is no excuse . . . suppose a child touches fire. The fire will not excuse because it is a child. No. Either you are a child or grown-up man, when you touch the fire it will act. There is no excuse. Similarly, knowingly or unknowingly, if we do something wrong, we have to be punished. This is the law of nature. There was an instance, one muni, he was brought to Yamarāja's court and he was . . . judgment was given that this man should be punished by śūla. Śūla means one iron rod pushed through the rectum, and it will pierce through the head. But the man was condemned to death, and this is the punishment. So the . . . he was a sage, muni. So he asked the Yamarāja that "Throughout my whole life, I never did any wrong. Why you are punishing me in this way?" So Yamarāja replied that "You have forgotten. In your childhood you pierced one ant with a needle. You have forgotten. Therefore you are being punished." So of course, he became . . . Yamarāja became Vidura, because the sage also punished him, that "For my childhood criminality you are punishing me in this way. So I also punish you, that you have no sense. You have to take birth in a śūdra family," in this way. Anyway, either in childhood or knowingly, unknowingly, if we do something wrong . . . there are many other instances. Just like some contaminous disease: either a child or a grown-up man, if he infects himself with that contaminous disease, some way or other, the disease will manifest and he has to suffer.

So the suffering also, and enjoyment, this is also due to the senses. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). So in the material world, so long we have got this material body, two things will be there: suffering or enjoyment. And what is the suffering and enjoyment? With reference to the senses. Or . . . senses . . . just like the skin is called touch sensation. We feel pleasure by touching the skin. So this pleasure, due to the touch sense, sometimes it is painful, sometimes it is pleasing, due to different circumstances. Just like water. Water is very pleasing to the skin if it is summer, and water is very painful to the skin if it is winter. So water is the same, my skin is the same, but due to seasonal changes, the same water is sometimes pleasing and sometimes distressing. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. So, so long we have to remain in this material world or so long we have to continue this material body, two things will continue. You cannot stop it. It is not possible. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. And what are actually there? Agamāpāyino 'nityās: they come and go. They're all temporary. Winter season or the summer season, it does not stay; it comes and go away. So everything in this material world, so-called distress and happiness, they come and go. So we should not be very much disturbed by . . . neither we shall waste our valuable time seeking after so-called . . . nobody wants distress, but everyone wants happiness. So without knowledge, in ignorance, we are simply trying after happiness. This is material world.

Last night we discussed about it, that a dog is running from this side to that side. So he's feeling some pleasure. Similarly, we also, so-called civilized man, we are also running on a car, this side and this side. You see? So the same thing—the dog's race. But we are thinking because we are running on a car, we are civilized. But the business is that dog's race. So Prahlāda Mahārāja's point is that we should try to understand the value of life. We should not waste our time by dog's race, either on four legs or on four wheels. That is the point. Therefore he says, sukham: the happiness is due to the senses. Sukham aindriyakam. Aindriyakam means indriya. Indriya means senses. Daityā. He's addressing his friends. They're all born of daitya family. Daitya family means they're simply after sense gratification. That is called daitya family. And human family, or devata family . . . there are two classes: daitya and devatā. Daitya means they do not know anything, just like animals, simply after sense gratification. They are called daityas. And devatā means they are fully aware of the existence of God, their relationship with God, duty with reference to God. They are called devatās. That is the difference between daitya and devatā. So Prahlāda Mahārāja, circumstantially, because he was to deliver the daityas, so he took his birth, by the will of the Supreme Lord, he took birth in a daitya family. Sometimes devotees come in a particular type of family to deliver the community or the society. So here the class friends were all daityas, born of daitya family. They are not born of very enlightened family. So therefore he's addressing, daityā. Sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā deha . . . (aside) Sit properly. Not like that.

So this sukham, indriya-jam, sense gratification. Here it is said, deha yogena dehinam. Dehī, this is not understood, the dehī and deha. Dehī yogena dehinām. Dehī means the person who possesses this deha. That is not understood. That is the beginning of spiritual education in the Bhagavad-gītā. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). You ask anybody, I think 99.9% will be unable to understand what is dehī and deha. This is our modern education. Dehina and deha. Dehī, the Sanskrit word, that is called inprotra astatra-in, a state in. When you possess something, then in Sanskrit, I means to say, protraya. Just like gunin. Guṇa means guna, and you add in, then guṇin. Similarly, deha, and you add in, then dehin. The real meaning is, deha means this body and dehī means the possessor of the body. So actually in the modern age, the so-called civilization, they do not understand what is deha and dehī. They think this deha is everything, the body is everything. But that is not the fact. So dehī, the possessor of the body.

So there are so many different types of body. But it is possessed. Each and every deha, or body, is possessed by the dehī. So dehī, in a particular possession of deha. Dehī means the spirit soul. When he is within the encagement of a particular body, then his standard of happiness and distress is particular. Just like the hog, he's in a particular type of body, and a human being is in a particular type of body. Deha-yogena dehinām. This dehī, the spirit soul, he's encaged in a particular type of body. Therefore the happiness of the hog is different from the happiness of a man because he has got a particular type of body. A man, if you give him nice halavā, he'll be pleased. And the hog, if you give fresh stool, he'll be pleased. Why? The hog will not protest; rather he will like: "Oh, it is very nice food." And a man will hate to even stand there. So why this difference? Deha-yogena dehina. The dehī, the spirit soul, has a particular type of body, and he's taking pleasure in particular type of food.

So we have to understand this, that the sense gratification . . . in English it is called "One man's poison is another man's food." Why this difference? A particular type of body. Although we are all human being, but every one of us is under the control of the laws of nature. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa saṅgo 'sya . . . kāraṇaṁ guṇa saṅgo 'sya . . . what is that?

Devotees: Sad-asad-yoni-janmasu.

Prabhupāda: Sad-asad-yoni-janmasu (BG 13.22). Sad-asad-yoni-janmasu. We are born in a particular family, particular circumstances, particular taste. Everything. That is kāraṇam. What is the . . . why there are differences? Kāraṇaṁ guṇa saṅgo 'sya. The kāraṇa, the reason is because we are associated with a particular type of modes of nature. Just like a person, at this time he'll be pleased to come here to understand this Bhāgavata-dharma. At the same time, another person will be pleased to go to a brothel or to a liquor shop. Why? The kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. The reason is that he's interested with the particular modes of nature. So Bhāgavata-dharma means, even one is in the most lower stage of association, he can be raised to the highest stage. That is called bhāgavata-dharma. The beginning of this chapter was,

kaumāra ācaret prājño

dharmān bhāgavatān iha

durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma

tad apy adhruvam arthadam

(SB 7.6.1)

Arthadam means the purpose of life. So those who are not taking part of bhāgavata-dharma from the beginning of life, their artham is different, and whereas a person taken to bhāgavata-dharma, artham is different. The bhāgavata-dharma artham, bhāgavata-dharma artham is to go back to home, back to Godhead. And the material life artham: sense gratification. This is the difference. They do not know that there is life after death and there is eternal life, there is eternal happiness. They do not know. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa saṅgo 'sya.

So this type of happiness, different types of happiness, and distress also. Actually, in this material world there is no happiness; everything is distress. But on account of our ignorance we accept distress as happiness. That is called māyā. Māyā, mā-ya, "that is not." We are accepting something . . . the same example. Just like a hog is feeling happiness by eating stool. But it is not happiness actually. One who is not in māyā, one is not in the hog's body, he says, "Oh, what nasty food he's taking." That is also food. From food value, the stool is very valuable. It contains all hypophosphates and so on, so on. The doctors, they have analyzed. But that does not mean because it has got very big food value the human being will agree to take stool. Sometimes it so happens that in the last war in the concentrative camp, the human being was obliged to eat his own stool. So this is called karma. This is karma. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa, jantor deha upapatti (SB 3.31.1).

So we must rectify our karma. Karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (BS 5.54). If you cultivate bhāgavata-dharma, then your karma can be changed. Otherwise, it is not changing. Otherwise, it is not possible. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate (SB 1.5.18). Everyone is born with the resultant action of some past karma. But that also, people in modern days, they do not understand what is past, what is future, what is present. They're simply animals. The animals, cats and dogs, they cannot understand. Therefore human form of life should not be wasted like the animals. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kasṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This should be . . . there should be responsibility, and the state, the father, the elderly persons, the guru, they must be very responsible. And what is that responsibility? That the person under one's control should be trained up in such a way, because he has got this human life, he can be elevated to the highest position. That, how it can be done? By bhāgavata-dharma. Not otherwise. Not by karma or jñāna or yoga. No. You cannot change. Simply by acting in devotional service, bhāgavata-dharma, anyone can be raised to the highest position. Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ ye 'nye ca pāpā (SB 2.4.18). Pāpā, these are pāpā. Pāpa means very abominable life. Even they can be raised to the highest perfection. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). The pāpa-yoni. Pāpa-yoni, there are different types of pāpa-yoni, except civilized human being, advanced human being, those who are called āryan. Āryan means those who are advanced. Below that position they are all pāpa-yoni. In the Āryan civilization there is a system of four divisions of social order and four division of spiritual order. Social order is brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra. And spiritual order: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. Therefore what is going on at the present moment as Hindus . . . this word you won't find in the Vedic literature, "Hindu." Varnāśrama. This is real Vedic system, varṇāśrama. And human life begins when one observes the varṇāśrama regulations. Varnāśrama. Human life means to elevate oneself to spiritual consciousness, or God consciousness. That they do not know. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatim . . . (break)

. . . is the life. Because there is no education, there is no Bhāgavata-dharma preaching, people are kept completely in darkness. This is modern civilization. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Prāyeṇa alpāyuṣaḥ kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ. In this age, first of all, the duration of life is very small. Although in Kali-yuga one is destined to live up to a hundred years, but they, with the progress of Kali-yuga, the duration of age will be decreased. Nowadays, nobody lives for hundred years. If one is eighty years old he is supposed to be very old man. But time will come when one is twenty years old he will be considered a very old man. That time is coming gradually. If one lives from twenty to thirty years, he'll be considered a very old man. So alpa-āyuṣaḥ. This is the effect of Kali-yuga. Duration of life, mercifulness, bodily strength, memory, these things will be reduced gradually. You won't find nowadays very fertile brain. It will reduce. Not very strong man, bodily very strong; and mercy, there is no question. On the street, in your front, if somebody's being killed, nobody will take care; he'll go on with his own . . . there is no mercifulness. Even the mother has no mercifulness, killing the child. This is coming. So just imagine what is the duration of this Kali-yuga. That is all described. Mandāḥ. Everyone is bad. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo (SB 1.1.10). And if one poses himself that he is intelligent, then that is a, also a bad way of life. Sumanda-matayo. Manda-bhāgyā. Everyone is unfortunate.

So there is a great necessity to preach this bhāgavata-dharma. What Prahlāda Mahārāja is preaching about the daityas? Daityas, they cannot understand this life is meant for cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to understand the value of life. Therefore he is . . . this kind of happiness, dehi yogena-dehinam, the particular body and the happiness with reference to the body . . . and another meaning, dehi yogena-dehinām means sex. One dehī, another dehī, they're embracing, they're kissing, they have . . . that is also. That is the ultimate happiness in the material world. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that this kind of happiness, deha yogena-dehinām, sarvatra labhyate, you'll get everywhere. "Everywhere" means either you are in human form of life or in a dog's form of life or hog's form of life, everywhere you'll get. Don't think that the sex happiness is less in dog's life than the sex happiness in the life of human. No. The pleasure of sex life, either in the hog's body or in the dog's body or in the man's body, it is the same. We have several times informed that if you put something eatable in a golden pot or in an iron pot, the taste will not change. The taste is the same. But it is our concoction only that if I put into the golden pot the taste will change. That is misconception. That's not the fact. So we are trying to be advanced civilized for changing the pot. That's all. But that will not change the quality. The quality will go on.

So we have to go beyond the quality of this āhāra-nidra-bhaya-maithunam, eating, sleeping, sex life and defense. That is necessary so far the body is concerned. But that is being done by the dogs and cats and dogs and hogs. We have to go further. That is bhāgavata-dharma. Deha-dharma is the same, either in the cats, dogs or human beings. But the bhāgavata dharma is for the human being. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruva, kaumāra. When you have got this human form of body, from the very beginning of life. Just these children, they are coming. It is very good. They are associating, they are offering respect to the Deity, to the guru. This will not go in vain—it is all recorded—so one day he'll become a devotee. That is bhāgavata-dharma.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja is giving stress that don't be very busy for sense enjoyment. That is available in any condition of life, without any effort. And he's giving a very good example. Daivāt: by the superior arrangement. Superior arrangement means that the hog, because he has been given, daiva-netreṇa, the body of a hog, he must eat stool. That is daiva. He must eat stool. So daivāt. Daivāt means all arrangement is there. You'll find amongst the animals, they have got a particular type of food. Just like cows, goats, these four-legged animals, they will eat grass. They'll never eat meat. And then the tigers, dogs, cats, they'll not touch even grass. They'll want meat. Deha yogena-dehinām. The standard of eating, standard of happiness, is already fixed up. They cannot be changed. But in the human form of life they can be changed if they take to bhāgavata-dharma. Just like, practical example, these European, American boys. They have changed their habit. How it is possible? Because they have taken to bhāgavata-dharma. That is the only . . . (indistinct) . . . otherwise it is not possible. In America, the authorities accepted that "We are spending so many millions of dollars, we could not stop the intoxication habit, LSD habit. And how is that, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is stopped?" That's a fact. As soon as one joins our movement sincerely, he can very easily give up the four abominable things: no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication. How it is possible? Because human being, and he's taking bhāgavata dharma. That is required.

So if you want to change the mentality of the human being as it is going on, the dog's mentality, if you want to change it, you cannot do it by assembly in the United Nation and passing resolution. That is not possible. You must take to bhāgavata-dharma. Then everything will be all right. Otherwise, it is not possible.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya! (end)