Harikesa: Translation: "Money is so
dear that one conceives that money is sweeter than honey, and who can give up
the desire of accumulating such money, especially in the household life? The
thieves, the professional soldiers, or the mercantile community try to acquire
money by risking the very life."
Prabhupada:
ko nv artha-trsnam visrjet
pranebhyo 'pi ya ipsitah
yam krinaty asubhih presthais
taskarah sevako vanik
[SB 7.6.10]
So here is one condemnation, that taskarah, sevakah and vanik. Similarly, there is another verse in Bhagavad-gita, striyah vaisya tatha sudra. So stri sudra quality, vanik quality, they are very backwards. So here it is said, sneha-pasair drdhair baddham. Professor Marshall, he has given reason for economic development: the family affection. Unless one has got family affection, he is not interested in money. So therefore I sometimes say that these hippies, they are little advanced because they have no affection for family and they have no affection for money also. This is... In the other way, these are good qualification: no interest, no affection. Everyone is working on account of family affection, sneha-pasair. He has got wife and children, and he requires money to make the family happy. So..., and for maintaining the family, he requires money. Ato grhesu sutapta-vittair janasya moho 'yam.
This world is going on, this material (world) is going on the principle of sense gratification, pumsah striya mithuni-bhavam. Everyone is hankering after sex life, man and woman. This is the beginning of material life. In the Vaikuntha-loka there are thousands times beautiful women and thousand times strong men (noise in background) (aside:) Where is this sound coming? ...but there is no sex desire. This is Vaikuntha life. Here in this material world, as soon as there is strong man, as soon as there is beautiful woman, then there is sex impulse. In the Vaikuntha world there is no such thing, because they are so much absorbed in Krsna consciousness that sex life is very insignificant. There is no sex life in the Vaikuntha realm. But in this material world, the sex life is the basic principle of pleasure.
pumsah striya mithuni-bhavam etat
tayor mitho hrdaya-granthim ahuh
ato grha-ksetra-sutapta-vittair
janasya moho 'yam aham mameti
[SB 5.5.8]
So when they are united, then the attraction for man or attraction for woman becomes very, very strong. Then it requires grha, apartment, home. Then it requires field, land, because land is the means of livelihood. Ato grha-ksetra. Then children, then friends. In this way he becomes implicated. Moho 'yam. These things are not required, but out of illusion he is thinking that "These things will give me protection, life and pleasure." That is explained in the previous verse: sneha-pasair drdhair baddham. He becomes too much entangled and captivated by this family affection. So therefore in the Vedic civilization, from the very beginning of life the brahmacari is educated not to be attracted by family life, very strictly. Even though he is educated so, if he is found unable, then he is allowed to marry. That also not for many years. To remain in the household life for twenty-five years, then compulsory, I mean to say, separation, pancasordhvam vanam vrajet. Then when the mind is settled up, he is awarded sannyasa. This is the system.
So on account of this deep affection for maintaining family, everyone is risking life. The example is given here that taskarah. There are many professional thieves, any country, India also. They are family men -- not they are loafers -- but their business is to steal. Their business is to steal. Why? They steal, they know it is risky,. He has heard it that "If you steal you'll be arrested, you'll be put into jail." Knowledge is gathered by hearing and by seeing. Hm? In Hindi it is called 'dekha suna'-dekhavyair sunavyair, that "Have you seen or heard it?" That is experience. So thief knows he has heard it from lawbooks that stealing is not good, and from religious scripture also, that "It is sinful. Do not commit theft. Do not become criminal." But still he does, at the risk of ad At night he goes in the house of rich man and risk his life. Especially in Western countries, there is fire gun, and trespassers, even without permission, if anyone enters anyone's house, he can kill him. Is it not the law in your country? Trespassing? So there is risk of life, but he has entered the house for stealing. And why stealing? The family affection. That is the impetus for economic development. The Professor Marshall, the economist, he has given the definition, that "Wherefrom the economic development begins? By family affection." Or by sex attraction. So this earning money, there are so many smugglers, so many illicit businessmen, black market, they are risking their lives to get money. The purpose is when one becomes too much attached to family life and too much devoted to maintain it, he doesn't care. He has to earn money, some how or other, even risking life. Even risking life.
So taskarah. Who risks his life? First of all taskarah, thieves. And the next? Taskarah sevakah. Sevakah, servant. Still, in India, in the, some district, there was a servant of mine, he belonged to that... There are professional class of servant, they voluntarily sell themselves to the master: "Sir, I'll require five hundred rupees, and if you advance me this five hundred rupees I shall remain lifelong your servant." Still you get. Formally there were slaves, slave trade, but..., you get it still. You advance, the servant class, sudra class -- nowadays may not be five hundred -- you advance five thousand, you can purchase. There will be agreement. That is law court, that "He has to work lifelong." And, specially the professional soldiers, nowadays the economic activities are so..., varieties. One of our disciples' son, he has accepted the service of a diver. He enters into the ocean. This is his service. Sometimes they accept the service of coming down from the aeroplane, paracy... What is called? Parachute. Fall down. They are forced, from three miles up. These are all risky things. At any moment... Of course, at any moment there is death, that is a fact, but people voluntarily accept these kind of services. For what purpose? For getting money. And what for money? For sense gratification. And where is the sense gratification? In family.
So actually, if one becomes too much attached to family life and one has to become -- this is the way -- then has to earn money by risking life. He has to earn money. Similarly, the vanik, mercantile community, they also risk imprisonment by so many illegal activities. So formerly, these classes of men were after money. The higher class, the brahmana, ksatriya, they were very, I mean to say, pious. They did not do anything for risking life for earning money. The brahmana, they were trained up not to earn money, but to learn how to become self-controlled, sama damas satyam, how to speak truth, or how to understand the Absolute Truth. Then cleanliness, sama dama satyam saucam. Titiksa, how to become tolerant. Arjava, simple. Jnanam, fully aware of all kinds of knowledge. Vijnanam, practical application of knowledge. So then astikyam. Astikyam means to accept the authority of the sastra. That is called astik. That is theism. Theism means just like Veda, one who accepts the authority of Vedas, he is called astik. And one who does not accept the authority of the Vedas, he is called nastik. Astik and nastik.
According to Vedic civilization, one who does not follow the Vedic principle, he is called nastik. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has explained about the Buddhist. Buddhists, they do not believe in the Vedic injunction, or the Muslims. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that veda na maniya bauddha haya ta' nastika. Buddhists are called nastik, atheist. Why? Veda na maniya: he does not believe in the Vedas. Veda na maniya bauddha haya ta' nastika. Vedasraya nastikya-vada bauddhake adhika. But a person, hypocrite, who accepts the Vedas but he preaches atheism... Just like you are praying that sunyavadi, nirvisesa sunyavadi, pascatya desa tarine. These two, very dangerous position, nirvisesa. The Buddhists, they say there is no God, sunyavadi. "Everything, at the end, everything is zero. You have got this body. When this body is finished, then everything becomes zero." Because they do not believe in the soul, not in God. There are many nastik. Vasu bhuta sa dehasya kuta purna... bhavet: "The body, I see it is burnt into ashes. Where is life? There is no life. There is no soul." So this is bauddhya-vada, sunyavada -- everything becomes zero. And the vedasraya nastikya-vada, the Mayavadis, they do not say there is no God, because in the Vedas there is God. So they do not say directly, but they say, "Yes, there is God, but He has no head, no leg, no hand. He cannot talk, He cannot eat." Then what remains? He is making zero, God, zero, by negative definition -- "He has no head, He has no... And he has no leg." So both of them are zero, advocate of zero. But one directly says, "No, there is no God. Everything is zero." And these Mayavadis, nirvisesa-vadi, they say the same thing -- zero -- but in a different way. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that these Mayavadis, zero-vadis, they are more dangerous than the bauddha. Vedasraya nastikya-vada. All these Mayavadi sannyasis, they are very learned, but they'll never accept that God has form. They say it is kalpana, it is imagination. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu has designated them very, very dangerous, these Mayavadis. He has therefore strictly forbidden, mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa: [Cc. Madhya 6.169] If you hear this Mayavadi speaking, then your future is doomed. You are finished. Because as soon as you have become infected with the Mayavada philosophy, it will take millions of years to come to the platform of devotional service. It is so dangerous. Mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa. Sarva-nasa means everything is finished when you become godless, or you think yourself as you are God. The Mayavadis do that. They accept God, Krsna, as God, but Krsna's body is maya. He has assumed a form, with a body which is created by maya, just like our body is created by maya.
That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita.
isvarah sarva-bhutanam
hrd-dese arjuna tisthati
bhramayan sarva-bhutani
yantrarudhani mayaya
[Bg. 18.61]
This body is given by the material nature at the direction of..., by the direction of Krsna. Because the nature is working by the direction of Krsna. Nature is not independent. Mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram [Bg. 9.10]. So isvara, Krsna, as Supersoul, He is in the core of my heart, sitting with me. I am also in the heart. And I am desiring, and Krsna is fulfilling my desire. Mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca [Bg. 15.15]. Smrtih, Krsna gives a body, by the living entity: "You wanted to eat anything and everything, without any discrimination -- now take this body of a hog. You can eat even stool. I give you the facility." Mattah smrtir jnanam. "Now, here you have got this body, you eat stool." Smrtir jnanam. In this way we are going on, life after life. We are creating different types of body. This is called seasonal changes. Just like there is tree, and every season there are fruits. The fruits, they are undergoing six kinds of transformation. First of all it is just like a small bud, or flower, then grows into a green fruit, then it is ripened fruit, then there is seed, then it is completely ripened, then falls down and finished. The fruit is going on, these six kinds of transformation, but the tree is standing. Similarly, as living entity we are permanent, and according to our karma, fruitive result of our karma, we are getting different body. So I am steady, as spirit soul. My bodies are changing, seasonal changes. But Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg. 2.20]. Because the fruit is grown, stays for some time, then dwindles, then vanishes, that does not mean the tree is finished. This is a crude example. So this change of body is there on account of presence of the Supersoul. He is noting down. He doesn't require to note down, but He notes that "This living entity wants this kind of facility." So each and every body means a kind of facility for fulfilling our desires. So that desire is fulfilled by Krsna. He is within our heart. He is giving, has given full independence. "Desire Whatever you desire, I will give you." Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham [Bg. 4.11].
So for fulfilling our desires... In the morning we were talking on the street about desire. So desire cannot be stopped. Desireless, it is not possible, because we are living entity; we must have desires. But this kind of desires we are proposing: "My Lord, give me a facility for fulfilling these desires." So that means you get a particular type, and these desires are generated on account of our different association -- sattva-guna, rajo-guna, tamo-guna. So if we associate with sattva-guna, then we get a body like the demigods.
urdhvam gacchanti sattva-stha
madhye tisthanti rajasah
jaghanya-guna-vrtti-stha
adho gacchanti tamasah
[Bg. 14.18]
In this way it is going on, vasana. Therefore we have to become vasana -- less -- without any vasana, means without any material desires. Vasana cannot... It is therefore not actually to make it null and void, but to make it purified. That is the aim of human life: to purify our desires. That purification is possible by Krsna consciousness. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. If you simply desire how to serve Krsna, then that is really desirelessness. Desirelessness means not to become without desire. You desire to serve Krsna, then these material desires will automatically finish. Sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayor [SB 9.4.18]. So you fix up your mind at the lotus feet of Krsna, then non-Krsna desires will be finished. Sa vai manah krsna. Everything will be there: the hands will be there, the legs will be there, the eyes will be there, the ears will be there -- everything will be there. But if you change your desire, they will be purified. It is not to make it null and void. No. The hand is there, but if you engage your hand in cleansing the temple, then you are transcendental. If your... If you walk to go to the temple, then your desire for walking will be spiritual. If you smell the flower offered to the Deity, then your desire for smelling so many scented things will be finished. If you eat prasadam, then your desire for going to the restaurant and making satisfy..., satisfaction of the tongue will be finished. Therefore if we simply desire eating, sleeping, mating -- everything, even mating also... If you desire that "If I can beget a child who will be Krsna conscious," then you have sex life; otherwise stop it. If you take this responsibility that you will beget a child who will be Krsna conscious, you can produce thousands of children, allowed; otherwise don't become mother and father. This is sastra. Don't become. Pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat na mocayed yah samupeta. Why? That is the duty. Make your children Krsna conscious, then your duty is all right. Otherwise, don't become father and mother.
So desireless means when we don't desire anything material. Simply desire to serve Krsna. That is desirelessness. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. Then it is nirmala, purified. And the, what is the function of the purified senses? Hrsikena hrsikesa sevanam bhaktir ucyate. When your..., there is no more material desires, none of your senses are engaged in anything except Krsna's service, this is purification. And in that purified state, when your senses are purified by this way, then you can render service to Krsna. That service is accepted. Then patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati tad aham asnami [Bg. 9.26]. In that stage of transcendental position, that is bhakti. Everything you offer to Krsna, He'll eat, with a great relish, "Oh, it is very nice." Just like Vidura(?) was offering the skin of the banana, and Krsna was eating. He was so much absorbed in Krsna thought, Krsna came to his house, and in great ecstasy he was opening the banana, and the skin was being offered to Krsna and the pulp was thrown away. But Krsna was eating that skin. Because yo me bhaktya prayacchati. Krsna can eat anything, He is all-powerful. Even if you give the skin or the pulp, it doesn't matter. But it must be yo me bhaktya prayacchati. The real thing is bhakti. So this is, when you are bhakta, then you are desireless. Otherwise desire cannot be finished. That is not possible. The Mayavadi philosophers say you become desireless. It is not possible. Desire can be purified in connection with service of Krsna.
So the whole idea is that our desires, ko nv artha-trsnam... Artha-trsnam meens desiring for getting money, visrjet. That is not possible. So long you are in this material world, one cannot give up these desires. Therefore I was saying these Europeans, American boys, they prefer to become hippies. That is another process of desirelessness -- don't want. They are coming from rich man's house, but they don't want. That is a desireless, but it is not properly utilized. Now they have got this opportunity: how to serve Krsna. Therefore they are advancing so quickly. So desirelessness is not possible. Desire there will be. When we change our consciousness, desire is transferred for Krsna's service, that is perfect life.
Thank you very much.
Devotees: Jaya, Srila Prabhupada.
© 2001 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.
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