761215 - Lecture BG 16.07 - Hyderabad

Lectures by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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761215BG-HYDERABAD - December 15, 1976 - 24:23 Minutes

Prabhupāda:

pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca

janā na vidur āsurāḥ

na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro

na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate

(BG 16.7)

So this asuric public, they do not know which way their destination is. They say it is self-interest, but these rascals, they do not know what is the self-interest, because their very beginning of life is mistaken. They are thinking this body is the self. So how they will know self-interest? The basic principle is mistaken. Dehātma-buddhi. The dogs, cats, they think that "I am this body." So same interest, asura. They do not know, neither they try to understand. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Within this body the spirit soul is there. They cannot understand. Therefore their self-interest is mistaken. Real self-interest is that "I am spirit soul. I am son of God. My father is very, very rich, opulent. I have given up my father's association and therefore I am suffering." Otherwise there is no question of suffering. We have got experience. A very rich man's son, why he should suffer? So here Kṛṣṇa says that ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4): "I am the seed-giving father of all living entities." Then . . . God means ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇaḥ, six kinds of opulences. He is complete. He is the proprietor of everything, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). So if I am the son of a person who is the proprietor of everything, then where is the question of my suffering? So therefore the basic principle of self-interest is lost.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to revive their consciousness that "You are not this body. You are spirit soul. You are part and parcel of God. Why you should suffer? So cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and simply by cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness you will go back home, back to Godhead, and then you'll be happy." Kṛṣṇa confirms this. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ, mām upetya (BG 8.15): "If somebody comes to Me," mām upetya, "then he does not come back again in this material world, who is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15)." This place is place for suffering. Because they do not know self-interest, the place of suffering they are accepting place of enjoyment. But actually it is place of suffering.

Why you are covering this body? The body is the cause of suffering, and in contact with the atmosphere I feel cold. Therefore I have to cover. It is a means of mitigating the suffering. The position is suffering, but somehow or other we are trying to mitigate the suffering. Similarly, in summer season also, the suffering is there. At that time we don't want this covering; we want electric fans. So always there is suffering. Either in the summer season or winter season, suffering must be there. That we do not come to understand. This is due to our asuric svabhāva. So we do not question. In the summer season and the winter season . . . the summer season, we like something cool, and in the winter season we want something which is warm. So two things are there. So sometimes the warmth is suffering; sometimes this cool is also suffering. So where is enjoyment? We simply hanker that "At this time, if there were warm . . ." But warm is also suffering. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "Don't bother about this suffering. It will continue. You are thinking in summer season something as very pleasing. The same thing in winter season will not be pleasing. So they will come and go. Don't bother about this so-called suffering and enjoyment. Do your duty, Kṛṣṇa consciousness."

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya

śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ

āgamāpāyino 'nityās

tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata

(BG 2.14)

We are busy in solving our temporary problems. Sometimes we want warm; sometimes we want coolness. This is not actually our self-interest. Our self-interest is to understand that "I am son of God. My father is complete in everything. So why shall I suffer?" Does a rich man's son suffer? No. But a rich man's son, if he goes out of home and voluntarily accepts suffering, loitering in the street . . . just like we see amongst the hippies: unnecessarily they have accepted suffering. Similarly, unnecessarily we have accepted sufferings of this material world. If our real consciousness, means Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is awakened, then we become aware of our position, constitutional position. Then we are saved from this repetition of birth and death and go back home, back to Godhead. But these asuras, they do not know it. Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca (BG 16.7). They do not know. Where we shall stop our activities and where we shall continue our activities, that they do not know. They are increasing their activities on the platform where they will continually suffer. That has to be changed, and then our life will be successful.

So na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāraḥ. Ācāra. Ācāra and vicāra, there are two things. Vicāra means consideration. That is vicāra. Just like vicāra-pati The high-court judge is called vicāra-pati. Two opposite party presenting their grievances, and he will consider and give his judgment. So vicāra-paṇḍita. Unless one is very learned, he cannot consider things. But ācāra. Ācāra everyone can do. Ācāra means just like to rise early in the morning, to take bath, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, have tilaka, observe maṅgala-ārati. This is called ācāra. Then there is hygienic. And vicāra means consideration. So in the asuras, both things are lacking. Neither there is ācāra nor vicāra. Therefore it is said, na śaucaṁ nāpi ca ācāraḥ. Ācārya . . . you have heard the name ācārya. Ācārya means he teaches by personal behavior. Just like I teach you, "No intoxication." So if I am addicted to intoxication and if I say that "You don't take any intoxication," then who will care for me? This is therefore ācāra. Ācārati. Practically you have to behave; then you can preach. Otherwise you cannot become ācārya. Ācārya means one who practices the ācāra and then teaches. He is ācārya. So ācāra.

Na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro na satyam. Satyam means truthfulness. He is preaching something and doing something—that is not truthfulness. Truthfulness means what you preach, you must do. So these things are lacking in the asuric life, so we have to be careful that we must be very neat and clean; we must behave according to injunction of the śāstra and guru. Then we can get out of the jurisdiction of asuras. Then we can come to the platform of sura, or devatā. Then we can make advance in spiritual life. If you keep yourself in the asuric platform there is no possibility of making advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is warning here. Na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate.

Asatyam apratiṣṭhaṁ te jagad āhur anīśvaram (BG 16.8). Because they are rascals, not cleansed, inward, outward . . . externally one has to be cleansed.

apavitraḥ pavitro vā

sarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā

yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ

sa bāhyābhyantara-śuciḥ

(Garuḍa Purāṇa)

There are two kinds of cleanliness. Outside, externally, we take bath by soap or by soda, or by oil. We cleanse external body, and internally by cleansing the intestine, the heart, the mind, the consciousness—that is internally cleansing. And external . . . both cleansed, one must be. Bāhya abhyantara-śuciḥ. Yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bāhya abhyantara-śuciḥ. Because they are not śuci . . . śuci means brāhmaṇas, always cleansed, hygienic. That is śuci. And muci. Muci means cobbler. There is a class in India, cobbler. Their business is to take away the dead animals, especially cows. Other animals, they do not care; they are taken by the vultures and others. But when a cow is dead, that is very important. Cow is alive important and dead also important. It is so important. When the cow is dead the skin is valuable, the hoof is valuable, the horn is valuable, the bones are valuable. Everything is valuable. Just like elephant. Dead or alive, it is one lakh of rupees. The price is the same. That is the . . . because elephant is very costly, everyone knows. You cannot . . . one lakh of rupees. Unless one is king or a big zamindar he cannot purchase elephant, neither he can keep. And if the elephant is dead, that is also one lakh of rupees, because it contains the ivory bones, very, very costly. So there are animals, either dead or alive, the price is the same. Similarly cow, dead or alive, the price is the same.

So this cobbler . . . just like we are protecting cows. We cannot kill for the skin, but these asuras, they are killing thousands and thousands of cows for getting the skin, only for the skin. So if you are interested in the skin, if you are interested in the flesh, so at least wait for the time the animal will die. There is no doubt about it. So at least let him, let her die natural death. Why you should kill? You can take at that time the skin, the bone, the hoof. Whatever you like, you can take—the flesh. So in India there is a class, they are called chāmāra. They are called opposite, muci. Śuci and muci. The first class is śuci, brāhmaṇa, and the last class is the muci. The last-class men, muci, they . . . as soon as your animal is dead you give them information. They will come. They'll take the animal. They will get the skin for nothing. So they'll tan it and make shoes for selling. So they will get the raw materials free of charges, so they can make shoes. Tanning with oil and keeping it in the sunshine, the skin becomes soft and durable, and then you can prepare shoes. A class of men, muci. So there was no problem. And the bones you gather together and keep in a place. In due course of time it will become very good fertilization. And they can eat the flesh also. Only the cobbler class, the muci class, they eat this cow's flesh after taking the dead animal. So after killing, everyone eats; so why not wait for the natural death and eat it?

But because they are asuras, rākṣasas, they do not wait for that. They want the fresh. What is that "fresh"? Unless you kill the animal, you cannot eat. So where is freshness? You have to kill him. You have to make it dead, so why not make it natural dead? And they have imagined something, this, that, vitamins, and so on, so on. This is asuras. So these asuras, they do not know that killing of an animal is sinful. You cannot . . . just like we are sitting here, and if somebody comes and disturbs us and makes us obliged to leave this place, that is criminal. That is criminal. Similarly, a living entity has been ordained by the nature's law that he has to live in such and such body for a certain period. The living entity never dies. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So killing the body, he does not die, but because you disturb him, his duration of period to live in that body, you become sinful. You cannot disturb him.

Sometimes these rascals put the argument that living entity does not die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Big, big sannyāsī rascals, they give this argument that "What is the wrong if it is killed?" No. He does not die, but because . . . just like if somebody disturbs, we have to go out from this place. But that is criminal. You cannot disturb me. That is criminal, unlawful disturbance. So similarly, the living entity will not die after being killed or the body being annihilated. But because one disturbs him, therefore he is punishable. He becomes criminal. But because they do not know, asuras, the rules and regulation, God's law . . . that is dharma. Dharma means to know the rules and regulation given by God. That is dharma. Dharmaṁ tu . . . just like you must know the government's laws, similarly, you must know what is God's law. God's law is this, that everyone is evolving through different forms of body to come to the platform of human body. That is nature's law. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi (BG 3.27). But they do not know. Nāpi cācāraḥ. All so low-grade person at the present moment, civilization, that . . . mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Oh, this is a civilization of all bad men, manda, manda, with ideas, nonsense ideas, sumanda-matayaḥ, and all unfortunate. Unfortunate in this sense, that this human body was given by nature in due course of time, but he remained an animal without becoming a human being. Therefore unfortunate. And still disturbed. This is the position.

So you have come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Be very careful. Do not waste your time. Do not fall down again. Mām aprāpya nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). If in this life you neglect to achieve Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you have to return back again to the lower grade of life according to your karma. You can become next life a dog, a cat, a tree, according to your karma. So don't degrade yourself again, because nature's law you cannot avoid. Daivī hy (BG 7.14) . . . you may be very proud so long this body is there, that "I don't care for anything." My dear sir, you don't say that. You are not independent. You have to care. You will be obliged to take care. But because you are a fool, you are rascal, unnecessarily you are proud, and you are thinking that you are independent. Don't be like that.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. (end)