Bondage And Freedom

Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.15.40
Los Angeles, December 18, 1973

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Pradyumna: Translation: "Maharaja Yudhisthira at once relinquished all his garments, belt and ornaments of the royal order and became completely disinterested and unattached to everything."

Prabhupada: This is required. If you want to go back to home, back to Godhead, then you will have to completely become detached to any material things. Even if you have got little attachment for material things, then you will not be allowed. Prakrti will say, "You just satisfy yourself. You want this. Do it."

So this is renouncement. If you... God has given us freedom, little freedom. Just like a child is given freedom. Naturally, out of affection, mother, father, gives freedom. But not complete freedom. Because child's freedom is nonsense. It must be protected. Therefore all the living entities who have come to this material world for enjoying, it is also exactly like the child. A small child, you let him be free -- he will catch up sometimes this, catch up sometimes that. He does not know what is his real interest. But because he is child, he is catching this, catching that, catching that. Sometimes he catches fire and burns his hand. Sometimes he falls down in the water. Sometimes he catches snake. These are all dangerous things, but he does not know.

So similarly, we are in the modes of material nature. There are three modes of material nature: sattva-rajas-tamah. Those who are in darkness, tamah, completely in darkness, do not know anything. Exactly like the child does not know what is his actual interest. Know to..., not. Generally, everyone who is in this material world, he does not know what is actually, what thing he should capture. He does not know. That is the difficulty. Mudha. They are therefore mudha. Real interest is to capture Krsna. That is real interest. But he does not know. The capturing power and capacity is there. Even a child... In the beginning, the children, there are so many other things. But the child will capture that biscuit, because he knows it is eatable something. But he does not whether it is poison I am giving. He does not know that. That discrimination he hasn't got. But because it appears something to be eatable... The example, as I was giving in walking, that the fish, he has got enough food within the ocean. God has provided. But still, he will capture that tackle, fish-catching tackle, a little something. For taste, he will capture it, and that means lost life. Similarly, the bees, the enter the flower, a big flower like lotus flower, enjoying the smell, but in the evening, with the set of sunset, the petals close and they remain and suffocated, loses their life.

For... We have got different senses. So this bee is losing his life on account of this nostril, very powerful, wants to smell. Similarly, the fish is losing its life on account of this tongue. Similarly, the elephant. Elephant loses... Such a big powerful animal. But he loses his independence for sex life. You know how the elephant is captured? A female elephant is induced to attract the male elephant, and for sex, the male follows the female elephant, and the female elephant is trained up. He puts him in a ditch. He falls down. Then he cannot move. You see. That means in spite of his becoming such a giant animal, powerful animal, simply for sex life he becomes captivated. You see? So someone is becoming victim for this sense. Someone is becoming victim of the sense. This is the world, whoever wants to study. Similarly, the deer, when the hunter wants to kill them, he plays very nice flute, and... They are very fond of hearing musical sound. They stand, and the hunter kills. So one is losing for ear, one is losing for smelling, another for sight seeing, sight seeing. We have seen the insects. When there is fire, thousands of insects will fall and die. What is that? Sight-seeing. "Oh, very beautiful fire." Fall down.

So we have got all these senses, and each of us, each, every one of us living entities, we are being victim of these material laws, being captivated by one sense or other. But an animal or an insect, they have got one sense very powerful, but we the human being, we have got all senses very powerful. So in the Bhagavata it has been explained. Just like a man has got six wives, and when he comes from office, his six wives are waiting. One wife has captured his one hand, another wife has captured another hand. One wife has captured one leg, another one leg. In this way, some, hair... So in this way he is incapable. Everyone is asking, "You come to my room." But how he can go? He is captured. So this is the position. A materialistic person is captivated by so many objects of sense gratification. That is his prison house. The state laws, if you are criminal, they put him into the jail. But nature's law is such that you don't require... Your senses will keep you intact in jail. You don't require to be handcuffed. The senses are so strong that it will keep you in this material world, incapable. You cannot move. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya [Bg. 7.14]. Gunamayi. Guna means qualities. Everyone is compact, bound up by different qualities: sattva-guna, rajo-guna, tamo-guna. And gunamayi means... Guna means rope also. In this way he was bound up by the ropes. Just like if I tie your hands and legs with rope, you are helpless, similarly, the gunamayi, the mother nature, has tied up, and we are bound up by the laws, stringent laws of material nature. So daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya. You cannot get out of it. It is not possible. How to get out of it? Mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te [Bg. 7.14]. If one is fully Krsna conscious, he can get out of it. That is the only way.

So the one process is voluntarily giving up. Just like Yudhisthira Maharaja. He is the king. He is giving up a royal dress. Valayadi. A king is decorated with fine jewelries, bangles and many other, here, here, here. You have seen. Nowadays nobody has seen also how many different types of ornaments there is. They do not know it. Simply plastic plate or a paper plate, and he thinks something. That's all. They do not know what is golden plate, what is silver plate, what is jewelry. All forgotten. All forgotten. And still, they are proud of advancement of material civilization. What you have got? Plastic and paper plates only. That's all. No more ornament, no jewel, no house, no garment, no life -- everything is gone. And still, they are proud: "We are advancing in this material civilization." Money. "We have got money." What is that money? Paper, that's all. (laughter) And everyone is cheated. "Take hundred dollars." What is this? A paper. That's all. So it is the society now at the present moment, the cheater and the cheated. Similarly religion. Similarly science. Similarly philosophy. Everything is cheating. Because all of them are rascals, and people are rascals, they cannot protest. They cannot protest.

Just like this morning there was talking. Some boy suggested that "Creation is... There was something." Who was speaking?

Devotee: Big bang.

Prabhupada: Big bang. "Big bang" means what is that?

Devotee: Noise or explosion.

Prabhupada: Explosion. So people have no brain to ask that "How this explosion took place?" When there is some bomb explosion, immediately there is inquiry by the police, that "Who has put this bomb? How it took place?" But these rascals... One scientist says, "First of all there was explosion." But nobody will question, "How the explosion took place?" Because they are sudras. They have no brain. The rascal scientist says. "There was explosion," and he accepts. That's all. This is going on.

So at the present moment, Kali-yuga, it is very difficult to become perfectly realized soul, or Krsna conscious. There are two methods. One method is voluntarily giving up all unwanted things. That is one method. Just like Maharaja Yudhisthira is doing. He is the emperor, most opulent. His position is most exalted. There was nothing, material unhappiness, but still, voluntarily he is giving up. This is civilization. Not sticking to this, "Oh, I have got this emperor. I have got my good brothers, good wife, good children, good influence, good dress, good food, everything good. Why should I give up?" Nowadays even an ordinary post, just like elected post, say, for five years or three years, still, he will stick to that. The president, your president, he knows that "After three years it will be finished. So people are protesting. Why shall I...? Let me give it up." No. He is so much attached to the post that he cannot give it, even for two years or three years or for one day. And here you see in comparison, Maharaja Yudhisthira, the emperor of the whole world, and so much opulence... I think any executive officer of any state has bangles or ornaments or jewels? No. There is no possibility. But he is giving up, everything. He divided the kingdom to his grandsons, to the grandson of Krsna and others. And now he is becoming completely nir, no possessions. No possessions. Why? Nirmama nirahankarah. Nirmama. Nirmama means... Mama means "my." Mama means "my." And nir means negation. This is called nirmama. And nirahankara. Ahankara, "egotism," and nir means "not."

So in order to become nirmama... Because here, material world, we are simply fighting, "It is mine, mine." The Arabians, they are, "This oil tank, this oil deposit is mine." Or "our." The same thing, individually or collectively. You just make up a gang, and you steal something, and then you say, "It is our." Your possession is by stealing, but still, you are claiming, "It is our." So the petrol tank belongs to God, but some way or other, they are in possession. They fighting it, "It is our." So this is called mama. So one has to become nirmama. "It is not mine. It is Krsna's." Immediately you become nirmama. Everything is bondage so long you claim, "It is mine." And as soon as you understand, "It is not mine; it is Krsna's," then you are free. This is the difference of bondage and freedom. Actually, everything belongs to Krsna. Everything. Isavasyam idam sarvam.

So this consciousness required. So somebody is trying to be nirmama, to become free from false idea, "It is mine," by renouncing. And if one knows perfectly well that "It is not mine; it is Krsna's," then he hasn't got to do anything artificially. If you know that "Everything belongs to Krsna. I am not the owner. I am given the chance to use it," tena tyaktena bhunjithah, whatever allotment is given to you, you can use. Prasadam. Krsna... Actually, eatable belongs to Krsna. So after eating, whatever He gives you, you also eat this. That is required. So one is trying to renounce this world by practice. Because unless you become fully conscious that anything you are possessing, that does not belong to you, that belongs to Krsna, so long you will be allowed to enjoy it under the false impression, egotism, that "It is mine." Because you have come here to possess something as your property, so Krsna will give you. Just like father gives children... They are fighting. So father gives some toy, "Now it is yours. So that's all right, play. Don't fight." So similarly... The toy does not belong to the child. It is purchased by the father. It belongs to the father. But the father give you, "No, it is yours. Don't fight with the other child," so they are satisfied. Similarly, we have been given by the supreme father, "Now this is your America. This is your India." But nothing belongs to the American or to the Indian. It belongs to the father, supreme father. So unless they come to the consciousness, that "The father has given me to enjoy that this is mine, but actually it belongs to father..." This is called Krsna consciousness. This is called Krsna consciousness.

Therefore those who are Krsna conscious, fully conscious that "Nothing belongs to me. Everything belongs to..." Isavasyam idam sarvam yat kinca. "Even the minute thing, even atom, that belongs to God. I am not proprietor." If this sense comes to you, then you are free. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita,

mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan samatityaitan
brahma-bhuyaya kalpate
 [Bg. 14.26]

The bondage is gunamayi maya, being wrapped up by the qualitative modes of nature. That is bondage. But if one is engaged in devotional service, he is not under this bondage because he knows things as they are. So... Just like I am foreigner and I am... So I have come to your country. So if I claim that "This country is mine," then there is trouble. But if I know that I have come as a visitor or as a foreigner I have come here, so there is not trouble. I can freely move. I can get all the facilities of the United States government. There is no trouble. Similarly, we come here as traveler, as visitor, within this material world, and if we claim that "This material world belongs to me," or a group of men, or group of nation, that is called ignorance.

So Krsna consciousness movement means to move this ignorance, to make people intelligent, that "Nothing belongs to you. Everything belongs to God." So here is the general process, renouncement, that Maharaja Yudhisthira, he's saying... Because as I have already explained, that because we are too much absorbed in the conception of ahankara, "I am this body, and anything in relationship with this body that is mine," this is illusion, moha. This is called moha, illusion. Janasya moho 'yam. Moha means illusion. This is illusion. What is this illusion? Aham mameti: [SB 5.5.8] "I am this body, and anything in relationship with this, it is mine." This is called moha, illusion. The body even does not belong to him, because the body is awarded by God according to your karma. Just like according to your payment, the landlord gives you an apartment. The apartment does not belong to you. That's a fact. If you pay $500 per week, you get very nice, good apartment. And if you pay $25, then you get another. Similarly, these different types of bodies we have got... Everyone we have got, different type. This is apartment. Actually, it is apartment because I am living within this body. I am not this body. That is the instruction of the Bhagavad-gita. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe [Bg. 2.13]. Asmin dehe, there is the dehi, the occupier, not proprietor. Occupier. Just like in any apartment, the occupier is somebody and the owner is somebody. Similarly, this is apartment, this body. I am the spirit soul, occupier. I have rented it according to the payment or according to karma.

They say... Darwin's theory is a failure because he cannot explain that why there are different types of... Even in human society, every man is different from the other man. Why? If it is nature's process, then all the bodies should have been equally the same. But why different? Just like in an apple tree the formation of apple is the same. So if it is nature's evolution, then why there are white men, black men, colored men, deformed men and...? No one's face will be equal to anyone. That he cannot explain. This is the explanation, that... Just the same example, just a man, as he pays for it, he gets a different apartment. So we have got different bodies, different apartments, according to our karma. And whose karma? The soul's karma. But he has no information of the soul or how the soul is working, how he is getting a different body. Tatha dehantara-praptih. This science is unknown to him, but still, he is known as the master of evolution, and people are following him. This is ignorance. Andha yathandhaih. One blind rascal gives some theory, and the followers are also blind rascals; they follow. They do not take instruction from the perfect.

Therefore our position is perfect, because we are not following rascals and fools. We are following Krsna, the supreme perfect. I may be imperfect. That's a fact. I am imperfect. Just like a child is imperfect. That's a fact. But so long he follows the father, catching his hand, he is perfect. He is perfect. He has no danger. He has no danger. Similarly, anyone who is not Krsna conscious, and following blindly some rascal, he is imperfect and he will suffer. And because we have taken Krsna's shelter, Krsna says sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam [Bg. 18.66]. He will give guidance. If you follow perfectly, you surrender unto Him, He will guide you. He is within you, everyone. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. He is there. He is not far away, although He lives in His own abode, Goloka Vrndavana. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhutah [Bs. 5.37]. That is Krsna. Although He is in His abode, but He is everywhere. Here is Krsna. Although He is living in Goloka Vrndavana, He is in this temple, He is within our heart. Simply we have to take advantage, how He is present, how He is advising. That is the technique. That is Krsna consciousness movement. God is everywhere. He is prepared to guide you. He is prepared to help you. Because He is father, He is always prepared. But we do not take His guidance. We do not take His shelter. That is the difficulty.

So why you do not take? Because aham mameti [SB 5.5.8], we have attachment, "This country is mine. This family is mine. This wife is mine. The children is mine. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine." So you have to become nirmama, without "mine." And why we are accepting this "mine," ahankara? Ahankara. Ahankara means false ahankara, false identification. So everyone is fighting because the false identification, "I am this body." He does not know. In this way we are so much in ignorance. Therefore the word used, mudha, is the appropriate word. Mudha, "rascal." We call everyone rascal. That is a harsh word. But actually that is the fact. They do now know what is what.

So if you actually are serious about stopping this rascaldom and wish to go back to home, back to Godhead, then you have to take this Krsna consciousness. Because by becoming Krsna conscious, you become fully qualified. Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana sarvair gunais tatra... Because this surrendering to Krsna, that is the perfection of intelligence. Therefore Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita,

bahunam janmanam ante
jnanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti
sa mahatma su-durlabhah
 [Bg. 7.19]

Because everyone is struggling... Manah sasthani indriyani prakrti-sthani karsati. Prakrti-sthani, in this material nature, everyone is struggling, prakrti-sthani karsati, with the mind and the senses, that's all. Compact, in the direction of the mind. Mano-dharma. Mano-dharma. So long we are directed by the flickering mind, then we are in danger. We have to go Above mind there is intelligence. The intelligence is where to consider, "Whether I am this body or I am something else?" So on this way, from the mental platform, you have to elevate yourself to the intellectual platform, and from the intellectual platform, you have to raise yourself to the spiritual platform. Then you will be able to give up so-called material possession, completely freed and surrender to Krsna and become wise.

Thank you very much. (end)

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.15.40 -- Los Angeles, December 18, 1973