SB 1.13.42 (1965)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 42
Yatha gava nasi protas tantyam baddhas cha damabhih Vaktantayam namabhir baddha bahanti balim isutuh.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Yatha—as and as, Gava—cow, Nasi—by the nose, Protas—woven, Tantyam—by thread, Baddhas—bound up by, Cha—also, Damabhih-by ropes, Vaktantyam—in the net work of Vedic hymns, Namabhir—by nomenclatures, Baddha—conditioned, Bahanti- carry on, Balim—orders, Isituh—for being controlled by the Supreme Lord.
TRANSLATION
As the cow being woven by threads in the nose and bound up by long rope is conditioned, so also human being is tied up by different nomenclatures of Vedic injunctions and conditioned to obey the orders of the Supreme.
PURPORT
Every living being either a man or an animal or a bird etc everyone thinks that he is free by himself but actually nobody is free from the severe laws of the Lord.* That is the condition of material existence. All living beings in the material world have taken up the risk of conditioned life by their own selection and have thus been entrapped by the laws of material nature. The human form of life is meant for understanding this conditioned life and thus become free from the clutches of material existence and the only means for getting out of the entanglement is to agree to obey the Supreme. But instead of becoming free from the clutches of Maya or illusion, the foolish human being becomes bound up by different nomenclatures of being designated as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras, Hindus, Mussalmans, Indians, Europeans, Americans, Chinese, and many others and thus carry on the orders of the Supreme Lord under the influence respective scriptural or legislative injunctions.* Such scriptural injunctions are made by a liberated representative of God in consideration of different conditions of living and by carrying on such orders of the Lord gradually the conditioned living beings become free from the clutches of material existence. The factual position of the living being is, however, that he is eternally servitor of the Supreme Lord. In his liberated state he renders service to the Lord in transcendental love and thus enjoys a life of full freedom even sometimes on the equal level with the Lord or sometimes more than the Lord. But in the conditioned state of the material world every living being wants to be the Lord of other living beings and thus by the illusion of Maya such mentality of lording it over, becomes a cause of further extention of conditional life. So in the material world the living being is still more conditioned till he surrenders unto the Lord by reviving his original state of eternal servitorship. That is the last instruction of the Bhagwat Geeta and all other recognised scriprures of the world.