Friday, February 17, 2012

"Reincarnation--Very Risky"

Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.25
Vrndavana, October 5, 1974



Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada


Nitai: "I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths."

Prabhupada:

vipadah santu tah sasvat
tatra tatra jagad-guro
bhavato darsanam yat syad
apunar bhava-darsanam

So the people do not know this philosophy: apunar bhava-darsanam. Punar bhava... Bhutva bhutva praliyate. The rascals, they cannot understand that what is our real difficulty or suffering. Mudha. Therefore the mudhas, they do not know it, that what is our actual suffering.

We understand from Bhagavad-gita, na jayate na mriyate, that "This living entity is never born, never dies." This information we get, very simple information. We are taking information from whom? Krsna, jagad-guru, the supreme guru, the original guru. Guru means Krsna's representative. A guru cannot be manufactured. Guru means... Krsna is jagad-guru, and one who speaks on behalf of Krsna or one who speaks as Krsna says, he is guru. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, amara ajnaya guru hana: "You just become guru on My order." You cannot become guru automatically without following the order of jagad-guru. The government servant... Who is government servant? Who is strictly following the government order, that is government servant. Anyone can say, "I am government servant." No. How you can be? Similarly, guru means who is following the principles given by the jagad-guru. The... He's guru.

So the principle... What is that principle? Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. This is principle. "You give up all these nonsense activities. Simply surrender." So one who has surrendered to Krsna fully, no other business, he is guru. This is the definition of guru. There is no difficult to understand who is guru. One who follows strictly the principles laid down by jagad-guru, he is guru. So the jagad-guru says... Because we have to learn everything, especially spiritual subject matter, from guru. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. This is the injunction of the Vedas. If you want to understand Brahman... Athato brahma jijnasa. This life, human life, is meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth: athato brahma jijnasa. This is not meant for any other purpose. This life, any life... There is no question of inquiring about "Where shall I eat? Where shall I sleep? Where shall I have sex? How shall I be saved from fear?" There is no such question. This is already arranged. These things are already arranged even for the birds and beasts. They are also living. They are also eating. They are also sleeping. They are also having sex life. They also defend them from danger. So by nature the arrangement is already there. So only thing is, difference, that in other life... There are 8,400,000... So eighty-million, 8,000,000 lives, they do not know except these things. And out of the four millions, eight million, four..., 400,000 human species, so mostly they are like animals. So unless one comes to the Vedic civilization, he's not human being. He's not human being.

So when one comes to the Vedic principle, then the question is athato brahma jijnasa. Vedanta-sutra says, "Now you have come to the real platform. You inquire about Brahman." Jijnasuh sreya uttamam. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh [SB 11.3.21]. When one is inquisitive to inquire about the higher level questions, brahma-jijnasa, then he requires a guru. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta: "You are now inquisitive about understanding higher level knowledge, so you must go to a guru." Tasmad gurum prapadyeta. Who? Jijnasuh sreya uttamam. Uttamam. Uttamam means this which is above this darkness. This whole world is darkness. So one who wants to go above darkness... Tamasi ma jyotir gama. The Vedic injunction is: "Don't keep yourself in darkness. Go to the light." That light is Brahman, brahma-jijnasa.

So one who is inquisitive... The uttama... Udgata-tama yasmat. Udgata-tama. Tama means ignorance. So in the spiritual world, there is no ignorance. Jnana. The Mayavadi philosophers, they simply say, jnana, jnanavan. But jnana is not stereotyped. There is varieties of jnana. Just like in Vrndavana, there is jnana, but there is varieties. Somebody wants to love Krsna as servant. Somebody wants to love Krsna as friend. Somebody wants to appreciate Krsna's opulence. Somebody wants to love Krsna as father and mother. Somebody wants to love Krsna as conjugal lover, as paramour -- never mind. So somebody wants to love Krsna as enemy, just like Kamsa. That is also vrndavana-lila. He is always thinking of Krsna in a different way, how to kill Krsna. Putana, she also apparently came as lover of Krsna, to offer her breast for sucking; but the internal desire was how to kill Krsna. But that is also taken indirect love, indirect love. Anvayat.

So Krsna is jagad-guru. He is the original teacher. That teacher is teaching personally in the Bhagavad-gita, and we rascals, we do not take the lesson. Just see. Therefore we are mudhas. Anyone who is unfit to take the lessons given by the jagad-guru, he is mudha. Therefore our test tube is: if one does not know Krsna, if one does not know how to follow Bhagavad-gita, we immediately take him as a rascal. That's all. Never mind he... He may be prime minister, he may be high court judge, or... No. "No, he is prime minister. He is high court judge. Still, mudhah?" Yes. "How?" Mayayapahrta-jnanah: "He has no knowledge of Krsna. He is covered by maya." Mayayapahrta-jnana asuram bhavam asritah. Therefore he's mudha. So straightly preach. Of course, you may say all these things in soft language just to, not to make any agitation, but anyone who does not accept Krsna as the jagad-guru and does not take His lessons, he is a rascal. Just like this mudha in Jagannatha Puri. He says that "You take next birth. Then you can..." That mudha, take him as rascal. Why? He is jagad-guru; he also says, "I am jagad-guru." But he is not jagad-guru. He has not even seen what is jagat. He is a frog. And he is claiming jagad-guru. So he's mudha. Krsna says. He is mudha because he has not taken the lessons given by Krsna.

Krsna personally says, mam hi partha vyapasritya ye 'pi syuh papa-yonayah [Bg. 9.32]. Papa-yoni... Those who are born in the family of mlecchas, yavanas, or the svapacas, they are called papa-yoni. But Krsna says, "Even they, the born in the papa-yoni..." Yatha bijam yatha, yatha bijam yatha yoni. The father is the bijam. He gives the semina, and mother is the source of birth. So combination of father, mother... So papa-yoni. Therefore yoni. Yoni means source of birth. So Krsna says papa-yonayah, plural number, yonayah. Yoni, this word, sabda, so the plural number, yonayah... There are many different types... That is also mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. What are that? Kirata-hunandhra-pulinda-pulkasa abhira-sumbha yavanah khasadayah ye 'nye ca papah. These are mentioned, papa-yoni. And less than them, if there are still papa-yoni, sudhyanti yad-apasrayasrayah, if such persons take shelter of a pure devotee, he's sudhyanti. This is the shastric injunction. He becomes purified because the pure devotee knows how to purify the papa-yoni. He knows. That rascal is not a pure devotee. He does not know. Therefore he thinks, "Unless the birth is changed, how one can be purified?" He does not know the process.

Therefore sastra says that the Mayavadis, rascals, they should not become guru because they do not know how to purify the disciple. The Mayavadi rascals, they do not know. They think after changing this body, one becomes purified. No. Therefore sastra says that sat-karma-nipuno vipro mantra-tantra-visaradah. A person, vipra, brahmana, he is expert in six kinds of brahminical business, sat-karma. Sat means six, and karma means activities. Sat-karma-nipuno viprah. Nipuna. Nipuna, very expert. He knows all the brahminical activities. What is that? Pathana-pathana yajana-yajana dana-pratigraha. He knows, he is educated. Brahmana means pandita. He's personally educated, and he educates others. That is brahmana. Brahmana does not keep himself educated. That education, that means he is brahmana, he makes others also brahmana. That is brahmana, not that "I remain brahmana. I remain Vaisnava, and others may suffer." No. Pathana-pathana. He must educate others. That is the business of brahmana. Para-duhkha-duhkhi. That is Vaisnava. Vaisnava means who is unhappy by seeing other's unhappy.

Just like Prahlada Maharaja, soce tato vimukha-cetasa maya-sukhaya bharam udvahato vimudhan: [SB 7.9.43] "My Lord, so far I am concerned, I have no problem." Naivod..., udvije para duratyaya-vaitaranyah. "This vaitaranya, this ocean of nescience..." What is explained here as punar bhava, this is nescience ocean, again and again, swimming. If you perpetually remain in the ocean, and if you have to perpetually struggle for swimming, because in the ocean you have no shelter... Land is your place, but if you are placed in the ocean, however expert... You may be very expert swimmer, but that does not mean that you are happy. You can go on struggling, swimming, very expert swimming, but that does not mean happiness. Similarly, here, in the ocean of nescience, all these rascals are swimming. They are making plans to become happy, but they are not happy. That's a fact. They can try to become happy. That is natural. Everyone unhappy, he wants to become happy. That is called struggle for existence. But they do not know except this. The Darwin's theory, because he's a rascal, he thinks that the struggle is the only business. His only observation is that the struggle is the only business: "Survival of the fittest." But he does not know how to become fit. He does not know. That is mentioned here, apunar bhava-darsanam. That is fitness, no more struggling, struggling stopped. So that process is not known.

So this is the lack of knowledge at the present moment. We do not take instruction from the jagad-guru, Krsna, and still, we are M.A., Ph.D., "Doctor Frog." So this will not help. This will not help. He must know that this maya... Just like a police. Police business is to give trouble to the criminal so that he can understand that "Government is most powerful. I cannot violate the rules and regulations of the government." This is police business. If you follow, if you obey the government's rules and regulations, then police has nothing to do with you. Police may be. Police department may be. Similarly, mam eva ye prapadyante, if you surrender to Krsna, mayam etam taranti te [Bg. 7.14], this maya has nothing to do with you. There may be maya, hundreds of maya, thousands of maya. That doesn't mean that maya will bother you.

Therefore one who is Krsna conscious, advanced in Krsna conscious, he is not bothered with sex life. That is the prime factor of disturbing. So,

yad-avadhi mama cetah krsna-padaravinde
nava-nava-rasa-dhamany udyatam rantum asit
tad-avadhi bata nari-sangame smaryamane
bhavati mukha-vikarah susthu nisthivanam ca

The Yamunacarya said that "Since I have dedicated my life to Krsna and I am getting more and more happiness by serving Him, since then, whenever I think of sex life, oh, I spite." So because maya cannot touch him. This is the test. Yad-avadhi mama cetah krsna-padaravinde. You haven't got to ask anybody, "Whether I am advanced in Krsna consciousness? Will you give me certificate?" You can have your certificate by yourself, whether you have no more any desire for sex life. That's all, not that he has become impotent. If required, he can give birth to hundreds of children, but he does not like it. That is. That is the certificate. And so long we'll have any such material desire, then Krsna is so kind -- He will give you chance to take birth again.

Therefore the aim should be... Real happiness is apunar bhava-darsanam. Apunar bhava. This is going on. The jagad-guru is teaching, na jayate mriyate va. It requires little intelligence, that "Krsna, the jagad-guru, is teaching that living entity is never born and never dies. So why I am taking birth and I am dying?" This much intelligence they haven't got... Because they do not take the instruction of the jagad-guru... He is describing, na jayate na mriyate va kadacit. Kadacit, at any time. Not that in the past he was dying. Krsna says again in the Second Chapter that "All these soldiers and kings who have assembled there, so also you and Me, we existed in the past, we are existing now, and we shall continue to exist in the future." Therefore kadacit. Kadacit means "at any time." "Any time" means past, present and future. Time has got three factors. So at any time. Kadacit means at any time the living entity is never born, never dies. The... If this is the fact, why you do not think, "Then why I am dying? I must have to die. Death is as sure as anything."

So they have no even sense. They are so animalistic. Just like animal. He does not know that death can be avoided. So the animal civilization. This very question... In the Bhagavad-gita, jagad-guru is teaching that try to understand this fact first of all. This is beginning of Bhagavad-gita, tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati [Bg. 2.13]. So there is no death, but you change your body just like you change your garment, you change your shirt and coat. Similarly, you change your body, but the thing is that this changing of body is not very happy task. Tomorrow... Today I am American, very happy, but tomorrow, if I change my body -- I become a dog or even cow in America, I'll be sent to slaughterhouse. So changing of body is very risky. You Americans, human being, or Indian human being, anyway, you have got protection. But as soon as you change your body, American cow, then you are for slaughterhouse. Is it not a fact?

So change of body is very risky. Therefore Kunti says, apunar bhava-darsanam: "Krsna, by seeing You I can stop this again and again birth and death. Therefore let all the dangers remain so that we always seek to see You, because we have no other shelter. Whenever we are in danger, we simply ask Your favor. That is our business." So Krsna was taking farewell from Kunti to go back to Dvaraka. So that was the lamentation of Kunti, that "Krsna, You did so much for us. You saved us so many, from so many dangers. Now, because we are situated in our position -- we have got the throne, we have got the kingdom -- but You are going away? No, no, no, I don't want." Vipadah santu. "Let us remain in danger always. Don't go. Please don't go. I prefer to remain in vipada." This is Kunti's prayer. "I prefer because... Let there be all kinds of dangers in this life, but I, if, when I see You again and again, I advance. I advance in what?" Apunar bhava-darsanam: "That I'll not have to take birth again. So let there be dangers always so that I can see You again and again so that this business of taking birth and death again and again be finished."

Just like you have got a dangerous boil. You are applying so many medicines, but it is not curable. The doctor says, "You have to go, surgical operation. So that will be very troublesome, vipada. But a intelligent person will say, "Yes, you do it so that this trouble may be finished." So Kunti wants that "Again and again, all these dangers may be repeated so that we can think of You, we can see You, so that no more this life of repetition..." But these people, they do not know. This is the real unhappiness. Bhutva bhutva praliyate. This rascal civilization, they do not know. They are taking risk of again and again taking birth.

nunam pramattah kurute vikarma
yad indriya-pritaya aprnoti
na sadhu manye yata atmano 'yam
asann api klesada asa dehah
[SB 5.5.4]

So long you'll get this material body, you have to suffer. It is meant for suffering. As soon as you get this material body, this body or that body, you have to suffer tri-tapa. So people do not know... (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974

No comments:

Post a Comment