This Civilzation Will Not Help

Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.15.45
Los Angeles, December 23, 1973

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Pradyumna: Translation: "The younger brothers of Maharaja Yudhisthira observed that the age of Kali had already arrived throughout the world and that the citizens of the kingdom were already affected by irreligious practice. Therefore they decided to follow in the footsteps of their elder brother."

Prabhupada: This kalina... We are reading kalinadharmena. Kalina adharma. The two are mixed together becomes one, a sandhi. Kalinadharmena. So kali. Kali means quarrel, unnecessarily quarrel. Kali... Kalina, "by the age of Kali." This is the age of Kali. There are four ages -- Satya, Treta, Dvapara, Kali -- degrading, gradual degrading. This nature's way is to degrade. That is the nature's way, time factor. Just like you construct a very nice house today, good looking, fresh, but by ages it will become old. Your body, my body, in youthhood it is very beautiful, and in due course of time it will be ugly like me. So this is the work of the time. Similarly, nature's way, there are four ages: Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, Kali-yuga. Seasonal changes.

So in Satya-yuga, the religious principles are followed strictly, cent percent. That is called Satya-yuga. And Treta-yuga, twenty-five percent reduced. That means seventy-five percent religious principles and twenty-five percent irreligious. And the Dvapara-yuga, fifty-fifty: fifty percent religious and fifty percent irreligious. And the Kali-yuga, seventy-five percent irreligious and twenty-five percent religious, gradually reducing to nil -- no more religion. Then finished. Then there will be devastation. Again Satya-yuga will begin. This is the way of change of Satya-yuga -- Satya, Treta, Dvapara, Kali. The duration of Satya-yuga is about eighteen hundred thousand of years. Eighteen hundred thousands of years. Hundred thousand. Eighteen hundred. Similarly, Treta-yuga, about twelve hundred thousands of years. Similarly, Dvapara-yuga, eight hundred thousands of years. And Kali-yuga four hundred thousands of years. This is the beginning of Kali-yuga. Out of four hundred thousands of years, we have passed only 5,00 years. Not only 400,000, 432,000's of years. There is regular calculation in the Vedic sastra. So out of that, we have passed 5,000 years. That Kali-yuga has begun just after the Battle of Kuruksetra. So we have passed only 5,000 years of this Kali-yuga. There are still balance, 427,000's of years, still balance.

So the Kali's friends... Just like a man is known by his company. So Kali-yuga is the age of irreligion. Therefore, quarrel and fighting. Quarrel and fighting, communal fighting. Unnecessarily they will form a community, a group, all rascals, another group, another group of rascals, and they will fight unnecessarily. Just like this nationalism. This is simply group of rascals. That's all. Why rascal? Because irreligious, therefore rascal. So "Big, big, men, big, big scientist, big, big... Still, they are rascal?' Yes. Still, they are rascal. Why? Because irreligious. They do not know what is God. Therefore they are rascal. This is the only test. "Whether you know God?" "No, sir." "Then you are rascal." That's all. No more test. One test is sufficient: "Whether you know God?" Because this human life is meant for knowing God. This temple is meant for human being, not for the cats and dogs. So if you (do not) know God, then you are a rascal. You are exactly like the cats and dogs. That's all. This is the verdict. Now you can fight. "Why you are calling me cats and dogs?" But this is the... We are talking, following Krsna, the great authority. But what Krsna says, that is right. If you scrutinize by your logic, argument, philosophy, science, you will find that Krsna is perfectly right. Therefore we accept Krsna.

Unless Krsna is perfectly right, why should we accept Krsna? If He is ordinary rascal, then why, what is the use of reading His book, Bhagavad-gita? No. All the acaryas, all the saintly scholars, they have accepted. Therefore we have accepted. Because He is beyond all, I mean to say, faults. What is the difference between ordinary man and a liberated man? Liberated means not under the conditions of material nature. He is called liberated. Liberated means who is not conditioned by the laws of nature. He is called liberated. So Krsna is the liberated Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore He has no defects. And those who are... Just like we are..., we are not liberated. Therefore we have got four defects. The four defects are that we commit mistake. Anyone, big, big man, he must commit mistake, because he is not liberated. He is under the laws of material nature. Who is here in this meeting who can say that "I have never committed any mistake"? Is there anybody? However learned scholar you may be, commit mistake is inherent. Similarly, to become illusioned. Illusioned means to accept something which you are not or which is not fact. That is called illusion. Just like sometimes we see that the sun is on the western side, but reflection is on the glass, and the glass is reflecting some light. So we are thinking that sun has come to the other side. We have got this experience. Sun is this side, reflecting the sun shining, and on the glass or on mirror, and the same reflection is this side. So we are thinking that "Sun is this side. The sunlight is coming..." That is called illusion. This is example of illusion, which is not fact. But it is appearing. False thing appearing as truth, that is called maya. This is the explanation of maya. Maya. Ma means "not," ya means "this." Maya, what you are experiencing, that is not. That is called maya. So a conditioned soul... A child will think that... Although the fact is sun is this side, by seeing the reflection a child may say, "The sun is this side." So that is called illusion.

So we are all illusioned because we accept this body as self. "What you are?" "Oh, I am American." "Why American?" "Because this is American body." But I am not this body. So... But we accept. It is going on. This illusion is going on. Mistake is going on. And in spite of becoming illusioned and mistaken, I am posing myself as great scholar, philosopher, scientist. Therefore cheater. But I do not know the things because I am already illusioned and I commit mistake. And still, I am proving that "I am theologician," "I am scientist," "I am philosopher." Then change again. I say today something and tomorrow something else, because I am mistaken, illusioned. I must go on speaking like that, nonsense, today something, tomorrow something. And this is going on (as) advancement. What is this advancement? If you do not know something as real, you say something today, and tomorrow you say something, the same mistake, again, day after tomorrow, you say something, where is your knowledge? There is no knowledge, but still, he is posing to be man of knowledge. He is getting Nobel Prize. This is called cheating. And people are, those who are cheated, they are accepting this cheating knowledge. Therefore the whole human society is full of cheaters and cheated. Full of.

So bhrama, pramada, vipralipsa(?) and karanapatava. Then if somebody says that "Why you are speaking that these men are cheaters and cheated and illusioned and in maya?" Now, because the senses are imperfect. Because you are gathering knowledge by the senses. There are five senses, acquire knowledge, and the five senses act according to that knowledge. And these sense objects. There are sense objects. Just like you have got eyes, you have to see something objective, rupa, form. The knowledge acquired by the eyes is to understand the form. Similarly, the knowledge acquired by the ears is to acquire knowledge from the sound. Because physical means the sound, light, form. These things are physical things. So we have got senses to acquire knowledge. So five knowledge-acquiring senses, five working senses, and five sense objects, and I am there. This is called sixteen elements. And then five material elements, earth, water, fire, air, and three subtle elements, eight. So in this way the whole world, this universe, cosmic manifestation, is a composition of these eight elements, er, twenty-four elements. And beyond these twenty-four elements, I am the soul, and beyond myself, there is the Supersoul. This is knowledge. This is knowledge.

So without this knowledge, nobody is perfect, and without being perfect, if we hear from somebody who is not perfect, it is simply waste of time. And that is the symptoms of Kali-yuga. Therefore it is said, kalina adharma-mitrena. And the adharma-mitra, this is the composition of ignorance. Now, the friends... Which friend helps me to keep me in this perpetual ignorance? These are illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling, these four friends. You associate with these four friends, you will be very easily advancing under the influence of Kali-yuga. This is the fact. Kalinadharmena. So formerly the kings, the government men... King means the supreme executive head of government. They could understand that "These things are now coming." Drstva, "seeing practically." Because as soon as people are addicted to these four principles -- illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling -- when everyone can see, that means Kali-yuga. Drstva.

So how they saw? They saw the practical. They know how to see. Just like in the chemical laboratory, they see the characteristic of a certain thing analyzed, and they say, "Yes, it is perfect. It is not perfect. Because these things are wanting, so it is not pure. It is adulterated." Chemical examina... And if these characteristics are there... In every chemical book, every chemical has got some characteristic. Just like potassium cyanide. The chemical examiners have not experienced what is the taste. Because as soon as you taste, you finish. Potassium cyanide. You know this. So therefore in the chemical there is not mention, "the taste of the potassium cyanide." Nobody has still tasted. So there is a Hindi word in India, delhika ladu yakaya abhipataya ya lakaya abhipataya...(?) There is a delhika ladu. You make ladu. So delhika ladu. It is very slang language. Delhika ladu yakaya abhipastya. Delhika ladu is so made that one who has tasted it, he laments, and who has not tasted, he laments. Both of them. So this potassium cyanide is like that, a chemical. The chemists, because they do not know what is the taste, so they say that "We do not know. Analysis is imperfect." And those who have tasted, they cannot say. They are finished. (laughter) So this is the position.

So this delhika ladu is referred to, Delhi prostitute. Delhika ladu. So we do not wish to discuss these things, but so many things. Not only prostitute, even sex life, it is like that. Anyone who has tasted, he also laments, and who has not tasted, he also laments. This is the position. This is the position. Yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham [SB 7.9.45]. Maithunadi. Maithunadi means sexual intercourse. Yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham kanduyanena karayor iva duhkha-duhkham. It is a pleasure just like itching sensation. It is all described. Yan maithunadi... A grhamedhi... Grhamedhi means a so-called householder. There are two words: grhamedhi and grhastha. Grhastha means... That is called asrama, grhastha-asrama, to live with wife and children, but the business is how to developed Krsna consciousness. That is grhastha-asrama, as we recommend. And where there is no such attempt how to develop Krsna consciousness, simply living like cats and dogs... They have also sex life. They also produce children. They also eat. They also work. Such kind of life, household life, working day and night simply for sense pleasure, and at night they have got sense pleasure... That is also described in the Bhagavata: diva carthehaya rajan. At night either sleep or enjoy sex life, and in daytime, simply work hard, "Where to get money?" And as you get money, spend it for maintaining your family. Nidraya hriyate naktam. Nidra means sleeping. Hriyate, that night is passed. Nidraya hriyate naktam vyavayena ca va vayah [SB 2.1.3]. Or one who has got facility to enjoy sex, so night is passed. One who has no... Everyone has practically, but... Two things: sleep or sex. And then, at daytime, carthehaya. Artha. Artha means money. Ihaya means trying for to get it. Diva carthehaya rajan. All right, they are getting money. Then? Then kutumba-bharanena va, spending for kutumba, for the dependents. That's all. So finished. Then where is the time for Krsna consciousness? That is called grhamedhi. But grhastha means they will see whether every moment is utilized for Krsna. That is grha...

So human civilization means grhastha, not grhamedhi. If you become grhastha, then you are nice. Then you are advancing towards self-realization. That is required. Because the cats and dogs cannot become grhastha. That is not possible. If you say... If you have got a dog, you get another female dog, "My dear dog, you get your wife, live peacefully, chant Hare Krsna." "No, sir, it is not possible because I am dog. Because I am dog, therefore I cannot be satisfied. I must find out another illicit sex and create trouble," then phat! He engages. Then fight. That is Kali-yuga. Unnecessarily create, by illicit sex life, enemy, and then become killed and finish your life. That is called grhamedhi. You require wife. That's all right. Take wife. There is no scarcity of wife. Live peacefully. Chant Hare Krsna. "No, I have got my wife; I want another. I want another." Like dogs. Yes. So the dog civilization cannot help us. This will not help us. Human life is meant for something else. Nayam deho deha-bhajam nrloke kastan kaman arhate vid-bhujam [SB 5.5.1]. Everything is discussed in Bhagavata. Therefore we request the whole human society to read these valuable books, valuable. Oh, they are missing the opportunity. Let them read these books. Then life will be successful.

So this human life is not meant for like dogs and cats and hogs. That is said in the Bhagavatam. You will find in the Fifth Canto, Fifth Chapter, Rsabhadeva. Every word is so valuable. Just like here in these verses, sarve tam anunirjagmur bhratarah. How ideal brothers they were. "My elder brother is going, retiring, going to the Himalayan side," all the brothers followed. When the elder brother was king, they acted. They did not fight, that "We are five brothers. Why you shall become king? I shall become king." No, there was a fight. One of them, the elder brother, Maharaja Yudhisthira, was enthroned, and the other brothers, they acted as commanders of the soldiers. One brother is going one side of the earth to fight, to subdue the rascals. There was fight to subdue the rascals, not for ambition. Because he was emperor, so anyone who is doing wrong irreligiously, go there and fight. That was fight. That is called dharma-yuddha. Just like you can maintain police force, military force. What for? Whenever there is outlaws, go and punish them. That should be the system. That should be... Military force is required, violence is required, when there is irreligion. Then must be, they must be made religious. And because such government was there... That we have discussed. During Maharaja Yudhisthira's time, everything was peaceful, adayovyadha(?)... Even people did not suffer from excessive heat, excessive cold. This is also another punishment. Just like disease is punishment, similarly, excessive heat and excessive cold is also punishment. That is not very good. But Yudhisthira Maharaja's time was such, they did not feel. People did not feel. It is nature's punishment. Just like I was proposing to go to, what is that place? Florida, Florida,

Devotee: Miami.

Prabhupada: Miami. So Karandhara said that there also the temperature has reduced. It has come to 50 or something like that, 40. The temperature is high there.

So nature can change at any time, at any time. You are not controller of nature. You are under the control of nature. That we forget. This is our illusion. We are under the control of material nature fully, cent percent, and still, we are declaring independence. What kind of independence you have got? Any kind of independence can be finished by one kick of nature. And still, you declare independent. You cannot be independent. When you go above the control of the material nature, then you can say independent. But they do not know that. And nature is controlled by God. That also they do not know. Nature... Daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya [Bg. 7.14]. Just like police force. Police force is under the control of the government, and you are under the control of police force. Everyone knows it. So how you can get out of the police force? When you are not criminal. That's all. Similarly, nature is like police force, this material nature. As soon as you become irreligious, making friendship with Kali and his friends, then you will be punished. Nature will... There will be severe cold, there will be this blast, that blast, and no production, and famine, pestilence, so many things. Nature can disturb you, natural. That is called adhidaivika, which is beyond your control. Adhidaivika. If the Pacific Ocean within a second overflows your Los Angeles town, what you can do? What your scientists can do? "Nothing, sir." But it can be done, at any moment. What is the difficulty? One big wave. Skyscraper building, all skyscrapers will be finished. So that is called nature's disturbance.

So there are other disturbances also. This is called natural disturbance. Then other disturbance is... Your body is the source of so many disturbances. Even you don't feel nature's disturbances, then your body friend, which you have taken so friendly, that "My body is everything. Exercise, keep this body very perfect to eat, eat meat and drink." But this body will give you trouble. The mind will give you trouble. This is called adhyatmika. Everything is analyzed. Adhyatmika and adhibhautika. You do not create any enemy, but your neighbor will be enemy, unnecessarily. Your friend will be enemy. Your brother will be enemy. Your son will be enemy. There are so many instance. This is called adhibhautika. Just like your, somebody's dog. Unnecessarily... We have seen. You are passing the road, and this dog is so faithful, he become your enemy. "Gow! Gow! Gow! Why you are passing here? Why you are passing?" You see? The mosquito will be enemy. The bugs will be enemy. The insects will be enemy. You go on killing. Go on killing with spray.

So, so many enemies, so much troubles is being created. Who has created? The nature. You haven't go to create, but nature will create to give you disturbances. This is your position. And you are thinking, "We are very happy. We are very happy in this material life." Just...How mudha, nonsense rascals. So in the beginning I said, "All these rascals." So are they not rascals? They are harassed in so many ways; still, they are thinking, "We are making advance and we are happy." Just see. So are the whole situation is not full of rascals? They do not know. They are accepting unhappiness as happiness. This is called maya. This is called maya. Maya-mohita-jiva. And you cannot get out of this illusion and mistakes unless you surrender to Krsna.

daivi hy esa gunamayi
mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante
mayam etam taranti te
 [Bg. 7.14]

This is the medicine. This is the only counteraction. You cannot...

Suppose you are being harassed by the police. You are put into the prisonhouse. And in so many ways you are being harassed by the criminal department. How you can get out? You simply file a petition, "Sir I am now experienced. I will never commit this criminal act. Kindly excuse me and get me released." That is the only way. Similarly, you can be very proud that "I don't care for God. There is no God. I am God. You are God." You can go on talking nonsense like that, but the maya will give you so much trouble. But if you are sane man, then you will admit that "This was a wrong thing. Please excuse me." And then it will be possible. But that is not possible. Especially in this age, in Kali-yuga, the age is very strong and deteriorated that in spite of our daily class, daily instruction, the Kali is so strong that capturing, "Please come under my control and be killed. Please come under my... Be killed." "Yes, I will go." This is going on.

So Yudhisthira Maharaja and his brothers, they say, "Now the Kali yuga has begun." Drstva and sprstah prajah, "All the citizens and all the land. Now... We have done our duty. Now let us retire. The next king, Maharaja..." He's their grandchild, Maharaja Pariksit. "He will do his duty." So it is the duty of the king to see, to give protection from this onslaught of nature, to make the life successful. That is the duty of the king. That is the duty of the father. That is the duty of the spiritual master. That is the duty of friends and relatives. Then one should cooperate, one should give protection. Just like these children are there. If the father, mother and the teacher, they do not give these children protection, then what is their future hope?

So unnecessarily, so-called education will not help. Let them become Krsna conscious. That is the duty of the government. Just like we are not speaking on the slogan, "In God We Trust." Is that that slogan, "In God We Trust"? So this is a slogan, but it is the duty of the government, that "We are using this slogan, but actually what we are doing about people's education that they may know what is God and then trust?" But everyone is godless. And still, as a matter of fashion, we are writing, "In God We Trust." This is another cheating. Nobody trusts in God, and they write, "In God We Trust." And unless I write... Of course I do not wish to say very harsh word, that unless I cheat you that way, how a man will accept one piece of paper as one thousand dollars? (laughter) You see? It is a grand cheating, that "I am giving one thousand dollars to you." But if I value, it is not even one farthing. This is called maya. It is not, but I accept. I accept. If people become enlightened, "No, we are not going to accept this piece of paper as one thousand dollars. We must have gold," so many things will be solved immediately. So many things. But because we agree to be cheated, the cheaters are cheating and things are going on wrong. This is called Kali-yuga.

Thank you very much. (end)

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.15.45 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1973

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