Pradyumna: "A person who knows the principles of religion does not kill an enemy who is careless, intoxicated, insane, asleep, afraid, or devoid of his chariot. Nor does he kill a boy, a woman, a foolish creature or a surrendered soul. A cruel and wretched person who maintains his existence at the cost of others' lives deserve to be killed for his own well-being; otherwise he will go down by his own actions."
Prabhupada:
mattam pramattam unmattam
suptam balam striyam jadam
prapannam viratham bhitam
na ripum hanti dharma-vit
sva-pranan yah para-pranaih
prapusnaty aghrnah khalah
tad-vadhas tasya hi sreyo
yad-dosad yaty adhah puman
So ksatriya's fight, it is not ordinary fight like cats and dogs. The cats and dogs also fight and the ksatriyas in the battlefield of Kuruksetra, under the guidance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are not the same. Sometimes in the foreign countries, they do not know. They simply know fight means cats' and dogs' fight. No. Therefore they question that why Krsna induced Arjuna to fight? Certainly they do not know there is fight on the principle of religion. That is real fight. Otherwise fight whimsically, that is animals' fight, cats' and dogs' fight.
So when there is fight on religious principle, there are different rules and regulations. One has to observe these rules and regulations. Just like striking the enemy, it should not come down the waist. You can strike the enemy from head to the waist, not below that. That is illegal. Similarly, when the enemy is like this, mattam pramattam unmattam, one after another... Matta means careless, inattentive. So if by chance, by inattentiveness, one does something wrong, he should not be considered as enemy. He's careless. He should be chastised, but not... Even if he's enemy, he's not subjected to being killed. No. Similarly, pramatta. Pramatta means constitutionally he's not mad, but by some external influence one has become madlike. He's called pramatta.
Just like in this material world almost everyone, 99.9 percent, they are all pramattas. For example, pramattah tasya nidhanam pasyann api na pasyati. In the Bhagavata it is said that we are depending, we are thinking, "I am sure." Why? "Now I have got very good wife. I am sure to live very peacefully or happily," or "I shall not die because I have got very good wife, faithful wife." Similarly, "I have got very good husband or very good friend," or "I am born in a very big nation." So on, so on. Security. Because security is a problem. Everyone in this material world, they have got four problems: how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex, and how to become secure. Security. The animal is also working very hard for these four principles, and the man is also working very hard. That is common. But that is not security. "Because I have got very good means of living, very good means of sleeping, nice house, and very good wife and very good bank balance and good government, therefore I am secure." That is nonsense. Pramatta. That is called pramatta. Means he does not know that at any moment Yamaraja can come and kick him out from this position. At any moment. Mrtyuh sarva-haras ca aham. Yamaraja is the representative of Krsna, a servant of Krsna. He is Vaisnava. Yamaraja, we are very much afraid of Yamaraja, but he Vaisnava. Not only Vaisnava, but he's one of the mahajanas. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah. He's mahajana in this sense: All the sinful living entities are brought before him, and according to the gravity of criminality, sinful action, he punishes. Just like magistrate. Magistrate, before the magistrate all criminals are brought in, and he considers the gravity of the case, and according to the case, somebody is hanged, somebody is put into the jail for three years, somebody for six years, somebody for six months. That is Yamaraja's duty. So that is... He's also dharma-vit. His name is Dharmaraja. Not that because he is punishing... Simply his only business is to punish. But still he's Dharmaraja, dharma-vit. He knows how to punish a person on religious principles.
So we are, in this material world, we are pramatta. We are thinking "These material conditions will save me." That is pramatta, half-mad, crazy. Pramatta. We are thinking, dehapatya-kalatradisu. I am thinking "I am very strong body..." [break] ...cannot achieve self-realization. Now some of our big sannyasis, he took it that unless you become very strong and stout by eating meat and exercise, gymnastics, you cannot understand spiritual life. This is their interpretation. But that is not the fact. Bala, bala means Balarama. Do you think that because you are very strong and stout, a big wrestler with muscles, you'll live? No. For Yamaraja there is no consideration that "Here is a weak person, lean and thin, and here is a very strong person; therefore the strong person should be left over and the lean and thin will be taken to Yamaraja." No. When the time will come, the lean and thin may be spared, but the strong man may be immediately taken. So this rascaldom, that by exercise... People are very much attached to the body. We have seen everywhere, especially in European, they are very much attached to make the body stout and strong. And in the morning you'll find... Here also you'll find. They're running to make the body... As if the strong body will save him from death. This is rascaldom. Therefore pramatta. Crazy. We do not say that you remain very weak and lean and thin. No. You should maintain this body properly, but not that that is my only business, how to maintain this body. That is pramatta. These are some of the examples of pramatta. He does not know. Pramatta. Dehapatya-kalatradisu. Deha, body. One is feeling secure, "I have got very strong body. I shall live forever." Rascal. Pramatta. That is not possible. Deha and apatya. Apatya means sons. "Oh, I have got so many nice sons, very earning, very obedient; therefore Yamaraja will not touch me." No, no. That is not possible. There is a very joking story in Bengal, gaye gum akale jam care na(?). Gu means stool. So one intelligent person, he thought, "I shall be free from the touch of Yamaraja by one tactics." What is that? "Stool is very obnoxious. Nobody comes to stool. So let me smear my body, whole body with stool so that Yamaraja will not come and touch me." Gaya muk gum akale jam care na(?). This is another pramatta. That crazy fellow, that he is thinking "By keeping myself dirty and obnoxious, Yamaraja is gentleman, he'll not come and touch me." This is another pramatta.
So deha apatya kalatra. Kalatra means wife. "Oh, I have got such a nice wife, and she'll pray to Yamaraja, ‘Please excuse my husband.' " Just like Nala-Damayanti. Not... What is that? Savitri-Satyavan. The Savitri saved her husband from the hands of Yamaraja. That's a long story. It will take much time. So therefore "I have got such a nice chaste wife, she will save me from the Yamaraja hands." Then I can speak shortly that Savitri-Satyavan... Satyavan was to die on the marriage day. But Savitri was attached to Satyavan, so her father, mother said that "You don't marry this boy. He'll die on the very day of his marriage." So love is blind. She said, "Still I shall marry him." So she married, and the husband died. So Yamaraja came. So she pleased the Yamaraja, and Yamaraja, being pleased, said, "My dear girl, you'll have a very good son" -- because every girl expects some son. So Yamaraja gave her the benediction that "You will have very nice son." Then the husband was dead... No, she prayed for a good son, yes. And Yamaraja gave her benediction, "Yes, you'll have good son." First of all she pleased Yamaraja by prayers, and then Yamaraja asked, "What do you want?" "A very good son." "All right, you'll have a good son." So then the Yamaraja was taking her husband, and she was going behind. Then Yamaraja said, "Your husband cannot be returned. He is dead. And it is my duty, I am taking. Why you are coming, following me?" "Now, you said that I will have a son. So if you are taking my husband, how he will have son?" So Yamaraja came to his senses that "I have done a mistake." Then "All right, take your husband."
So these are rare instances. But don't think that because you are very clever and..., you'll be untouched by Yamaraja. No, no, no. Dehapatya-kalatradisu asatsu. Asat. Nobody will stay. Asat. This material world is like that. Asat means temporary, everything. This body is temporary. Your body is temporary, this life is temporary. Tatha dehantara-praptih, Krsna says you'll have to change this body. It may be for fifty years, sixty years, utmost hundred years. But still, you have to change this body. Therefore asat. Asato ma sad gama. This is Vedic instruction. Don't be attached to this asat, temporary things. That is called vairagya. Vairagya-vidya-nija-bhakti-
dehapatya-kalatradisv
atma-sainyesv asatsv api
tesam pramatto nidhanam
pasyann api na pasyati
Pramatta, that word is used. Pramattah tasya nidhanam pasyann api na pasyati. He is seeing every day that "This gentleman had a very good wife, this gentleman had very nice son, very good family -- but they are dying." So who will protect him? He's thinking that "My children, my wife, my friends will save me," but they have died. So how he will be protected?
So nobody can protect anyone. That is not possible. Everyone has to take care of himself. This world is like that. Don't depend. Only Krsna can protect you -- nobody else. If you know this, then you are not pramatta. And if you do not know this, if you are a rascal, then you are pramatta. Only Krsna. Krsna therefore said, He gives assurance, that sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. Suhrdam sarva-bhutanam: "I am the friend of everyone. I can give you protection." Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami. So you have to take shelter of Krsna, otherwise you are a pramatta, rascal, mudha. Krsna is giving advice that "Do this." But we are rascals, pramatta. We think that "My son will give me protection, my wife will give protection, my friend will give me protection, my government will give protection." All these are nonsense, pramatta. This is the meaning of pramatta. Just try to understand. Pramattah tasya nidhanam pasyann api.
Another pramatta is that those who are mad after sense gratification. Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. There is another verse, nunam pramattah. Those who are pramatta, those who have no responsibility of life, sometimes unnecessarily stealing and doing some, so many wrong things... Vikarma. Why? Now pramatta, he is also crazy. Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. And why he is taking risk of being punished? Suppose one man is stealing. He'll be punished. Either by the law of the state or by the laws of nature or God, he'll be punished. He can escape the laws of the state, but he cannot escape the laws of nature or God. Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani [Bg. 3.27]. It is not possible. Just like the laws of nature. If you infect some disease, so you'll have to be punished. You'll suffer from that disease. That is punishment. You cannot escape. Similarly, anything you do, karanam guna-sango 'sya. If you live like a cat and dog, that is infection, guna, the modes of ignorance. Then your next life you become a dog. You must be punished. This is law of nature.
So therefore one who does not know all these laws, he commits so many sinful activities. Vikarma. Karma, vikarma, akarma. Karma means what is prescribed. Guna-karma. Guna-karma-vibhagasah. Karma means, as it is in the sastra, as you have developed a certain type of modes of nature, your karma is according to that: brahmana-karma, ksatriya-karma, vaisya-karma. So if you follow... That is the duty of the spiritual master and sastra, to designate when he's brahmacari, that "You work like this." "You work like a brahmana," "You work like a ksatriya," "You work like a vaisya," and others, "Sudra." So this division is made by the spiritual master. How? Yasya yal laksanam proktam pumso varnabhivyanjakam. The spiritual master will say that "You work like this." So that should be determined. That is karma, guna-karma. Spiritual master sees that he has these qualities. That is natural. Just like in the school, college, somebody is being trained up as a scientist, somebody is trained up as an engineer, as a medical man, as a lawyer. According to the tendency, practical psychology of the student, he is advised that "You take this line." Similarly, these four divisions of the society, it is very scientific. So by the instruction of the guru, when he's in the gurukula, he will be specified a particular type of duty, and if he does it faithfully... Sva-karmana tam abhyarcya. The real purpose is Krsna consciousness. And according to his guna and karma he's engaged in a particular occupational duty.
Nothing is bad provided it is meant for Krsna's satisfaction. Atah pumbhir dvija-srestha varnasrama-vibhagasah. The varnasrama-vibhaga must be there. But what is the aim of varnasrama? Simply by becoming a brahmana he's successful? No. Nobody can become successful unless he satisfies Krsna. That is real success. Just like Arjuna did. By the military art, he satisfied Krsna. Similarly, by your vaisya-vrtti, krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam [Bg. 18.44], you can satisfy Krsna. By your brahmana-vrtti you can satisfy Krsna. Even by your sudra-vrtti you can satisfy Krsna. That possibility is here, that Krsna says sva-karmana tam abhyarcya. The aim should be how to satisfy Krsna. Doesn't matter whether you are a brahmana or a ksatriya. Krsna confirms it, api cet su-duracarah... No. Mam hi partha vyapasritya ye 'pi syuh papa-yonayah [Bg. 9.32]. Papa-yoni means below the vaisyas, the sudras, they are papa-yonis. Vaisyas also. Striyo vaisyas tatha sudras te 'pi yanti param gatim. So there is no impediment to approach Krsna because you are a sudra, or candala or woman or vaisya. No. Everyone can... That facility is there. Therefore our duty should be, "Never mind in whichever position I am posted. Let me satisfy Krsna." It is not that... Suppose we are worshiping Deity. That is the duty of brahmana; but somebody is called that "You cleanse this floor." So he should not think that "I am cleansing the floor; therefore I am lower than the person directly worshiping the Deity." No. Krsna's pleasure wanted. If Krsna sees that by washing the floor you are doing very nicely, Krsna is pleased: "Oh, you are nice." Similarly, one man is decorating Krsna with garland and... If Krsna is pleased, that is the main point. Not that because you are on the Deity room you are very elevated, and the other man who is cleansing the door, he is not elevated. No. Sri-vigraharadhana-nitya-nana-
Also it is said, atah pumbhir dvija-srestha varnasrama-vibhagasah. Because generally we take divisions, varna and asrama. So Suta Gosvami says in the meeting of Naimisaranya, atah pumbhir dvija-sresthah. They are all big, big, very learned scholars and brahmanas, so they were addressing, dvija-sresthah. Dvija means brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya. One who has got the right to take the sacred thread, they are called dvijas. But out of the three, brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, the brahmana is called dvija-srestha. Therefore he addressed,
atah pumbhir dvija-srestha
varnasrama-vibhagasah
svanusthitasya dharmasya
samsiddhir hari-tosanam
[SB 1.2.13]
Samsiddhi. Never mind what you are. Either you may be sannyasi or may be grhastha or may be brahmacari or a brahmana, a ksatriya, or vaisya, sudra. Never mind. Try to satisfy Krsna. Try to please Krsna. Then your life is successful. Otherwise, you are pramatta, mad. Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. So long you shall remain a pramatta, you shall act just opposite function, and you'll be entangled. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, yajnarthe karmanah anyatra karma-bandhanah. If you do not work for pleasing Krsna, then that work will entangle you in the cycle of birth and death.
Thank you very much. (end)
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