Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.27 class by
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at Iskcon Philadelphia,
July 12, 1975
sa evam vartamano ‘jno
mrtyu-kala upasthite
matim cakara tanaye
bale narayanahvaye
[SB 6.1.27]
mrtyu-kala upasthite
matim cakara tanaye
bale narayanahvaye
[SB 6.1.27]
So vartamana, everyone is situated
under certain condition. This is material life. I am situated under certain
consciousness, you are situated in certain consciousness, everyone. According
to the modes of nature, we have got different conception of life and different
consciousness. That is called material life. All of us, we are sitting here.
Every one of us has got a different consciousness. Generally, it is meant for
sense gratification. Material life means everyone is planning, “I shall live
like this. I shall acquire money like this. I shall enjoy like this.” Everyone
has got a program.
So Ajamila also had a program. What
was his program? His program was, as he is very much attached to his youngest
child and whole attention was there, how the child is moving, how the child is
eating, how the child is talking, and sometimes he was calling, he was feeding,
so his whole mind was absorbed with the activities of the child. In the
previous verse we have already discussed:
bhunjanah prapiban khadan
balakam sneha-yantritah
bhojayan payayan mudho
na vedagatam antakam
[SB 6.1.26]
balakam sneha-yantritah
bhojayan payayan mudho
na vedagatam antakam
[SB 6.1.26]
Not only Ajamila, everyone, they are
absorbed in certain type of consciousness. And what is due to it? How the
consciousness develops? It is said, sneha-yantritah. Sneha means affection. “By
the…, affected by the machine which is called affection.” So everyone is
affected by this machine. This machine… This body is a machine. And it is being
worked by the nature. And direction is coming from the Supreme Lord. We wanted
to enjoy a certain way and Krsna has given us a certain type of body, yantra.
Just like you have got different makes of motorcar. You want. Somebody wants. I
want Buick car. Somebody says, “I want Chevrolet,” some, “Ford.” They are
ready. Similarly, our body is also like that. Somebody is Ford, somebody is
Chevrolet, somebody is Buick, and Krsna has given us the chance, “You wanted
this kind of car or body. You sit down and enjoy.” This is our material
position. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese arjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. We
forget. After changing the body, we forget what I desired and why I have got
this kind of body. But Krsna, He is situated within your heart. He does not
forget. He gives you. Ye yatha mam prapadyante [Bg. 4.11]. You wanted this kind
of body: you get it. Krsna is so kind. If somebody wanted a body so that he can
eat everything, so Krsna gives him the body of a pig, so it can eat even stool.
And if somebody wanted a body that “I shall dance with Krsna,” then he gets
that body. Now, it is up to you to decide whether you are going to get a body
which will be able to dance with Krsna, to talk with Krsna, to play with Krsna.
You can get it. And if you want a body how to eat stool, urine, you will get it.
So we have to decide, this human form of life. But if you have no information
that “What kind of body I am going to get next,” if you don’t believe… You
believe or not believe, it doesn’t matter. The nature’s law will act. If you
say, “I don’t believe in the next life,” you may say like that, but nature’s
law will act. Karmana daiva-netrena [SB 3.31.1]. As you are acting, according
to that, you are preparing your next body. So after death — after death means
when this body is finished — then you get another body immediately, because you
have already made the field work, what kind of body you will get.
So this man, Ajamila, was engaged in
taking care of his child very nicely, and the whole mind was absorbed in the
child. So… (aside:) Don’t disturb. Therefore he has been described as mudha.
Here it is said, bhojayan payayan mudhah. We are forgetting that some day is
coming. That is ahead. That is called mrtyu, death. We forget that. This is our
imperfectness. So this man forgot that he was very busy as affectionate father
or affectionate husband. Or anything. I have got so many relationship. As an
affectionate friend or envious enemy, we have got some relationship. With
everyone with this world we have got some. Either it may be affectionate or
envy; it doesn’t matter. So in this way we are living forgetting that death is
ahead. Therefore we are mudha. Mudha means rascal, ass, who does not know what
is actual interest. Just like ass. Ass, the… Mudha means ass. The ass does not
know his own interest. We have seen that ass is loaded with three tons of cloth
by the washerman, and he cannot go; still, he has to do it. And he does (not)
know that “I am loading so many tons of cloth on my back, and what interest I
have got with it? Not a single cloth belongs to me.” So the ass has no such
sense. Ass means he has no such sense. He is thinking, “It is my duty. To load
upon me so much clothing, it is my duty.” Why it is duty? Now, “Because the
washerman gives you grass.” So he has no sense that “Grass I can get anywhere. Why
I have taken this duty?” This is the… Everyone is anxious about his duty.
Somebody is politician, somebody is householder, somebody is something else.
Because he has taken up some false duty and working hard for it, therefore he
is an ass. He is forgetting his real business. Real business is that death will
come. It will not avoid me. Everyone says, “As sure as death.” Now, before
death, I have to act in such a way that I may have a position in Vaikuntha, in
Vrndavana, and I may have permanent life to live with Krsna. This is our real
duty.
But we do not know that. Na te viduh
svartha-gatim hi visnum [SB 7.5.31]. We are in this conditioned state of life
because we are separated from our original person, Krsna. Because we are part
and parcel of Krsna, we have forgotten this. We are thinking we are part and
parcel of America or India. This is called illusion. They are interested…
Somebody is interested in his country; somebody is interested in his society or
family. We have created so many things, duty. Therefore sastra says that “These
rascals do not know what is his actual self-interest.” Na te viduh
svartha-gatim hi visnum durasaya [SB 7.5.31]. He is hoping something which will
never be fulfilled. Therefore he is rascal. We are trying to adjust things within
this material world to become happy, but the rascal does not know that so long
he will remain in this material world, there is no question of happiness. That
is rascaldom.
Krsna says that this place is
duhkhalayam asasvatam [Bg. 8.15]. This material world, where we are now living
under different change of body one after another, it is duhkhalayam. Why I have
to change my body? Why not… I am permanent. Na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg.
2.20]. Therefore we have to learn, we have to be educated, we have to receive
knowledge from the perfect. And Krsna personally, the Supreme Perfect Person,
is giving you knowledge. And if we are so unfortunate that we do not take the
perfect knowledge — we concoct, we speculate, we create our own idea — then it
is to be understood that durasaya. We are thinking, “I shall be happy in this
way. I shall be happy in this…” Nothing. You shall never be happy — this is
perfect instruction — unless you go back to home, back to Godhead. Just like a
mad boy, he has forsaken his father. His father is rich man, everything is
there, but he has become hippie. So similarly, we are also like that. Our
father is Krsna. We can live there very comfortably without any botheration,
without endeavor for earning money, but we have decided that we shall live here
in this material world. This is called ass. This is the… Therefore mudha. We do
not know what is our self-interest. And we are hoping against hope, “I shall be
happy in this way. I shall be happy in this way.” Therefore this word is used,
mudha. They do not know what is actually his happiness, and he is trying one
chapter, another, one chapter, another, “Now I will be happy.” The ass. The
ass. Sometimes the washerman sits on his back and takes a bunch of grass and
puts in front of the ass, and the ass wants to take the grass. But as he moving
forward, the grass is also moving forward. (laughter) And he thinks, “Just one
step forward, I shall get the grass.” But because he is ass, he does not know
that “The grass is situated in such a way that I may go on for millions of
years; still, I will not get the happi…” This is ass. He does not come to his
senses that “For millions and trillions of years I may try to be happy in this
material world. I will never be happy.”
Therefore we have to take the knowledge
from the guru who knows things. Therefore guru is worshiped,
ajnana-timirandhasya
jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri-gurave namah
jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri-gurave namah
The politician or, what is called,
leaders, andha, they will promise you that “You will be happy in this way. You
give me vote, and I shall bring heaven for you, and let me become minister.
That is… You simply wait, and as soon as I become a minister and president, I
will give you such and such benefit.” So you select Mr. Nixon, and again you
become disappointed. Then we request, “Mr. Nixon, you get out.” And we accept
another fool. This is going on. This is going… But sastra says you will not be
getting right information in that way. These foolish men, they will promise you
something, and he is unable to make you happy. You will be again disappointed,
again regret. Then what is…, wherefrom I shall get the right information? That
Vedas says, tad-vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet: [MU 1.2.12] “If you want
right information, then go to the guru.” And who is guru? That Caitanya
Mahaprabhu explains that amara ajnaya guru hana tara’ ei desa [Cc. Madhya
7.128]. He says, “You just become on My order.” Guru means who carries the
order of Krsna. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna. Or who is Krsna’s servant, that
is guru. Nobody can become guru unless he carries the order of the Supreme.
Therefore you will find… Because every one of us is ass, we do not know what is
our self-interest, and somebody comes, “I am guru.” “How you become guru?” “No,
I am self-perfected. I don’t require to read any book. I have come to bless
you.” (laughter) And the foolish rascals, they do not know, “How you can become
guru?” If he does not follow the sastra or the supreme authority Krsna, how he
can become? But they accept, guru.
So this kind of guru is going on.
But you should know, guru means who carries the order of the Supreme Lord. That
is guru. Any rascal who manufactures some idea is not guru. Immediately kick
him out, immediately, that “This is a rascal. This is not a guru.” Guru is here,
as Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, amara ajnaya guru hana [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Guru
means the faithful servant of God. That is guru. So you have to first of all
test that “Are you faithful servant of God?” If he says, “No, I am God,” oh,
kick him on his face immediately. (laughter) Kick him immediately, that “You
are rascal. You have come to cheat us.” Because test is there that guru means
faithful servant of God, simple. You don’t require large definition, what is
guru. So Vedic knowledge gives you indication that tad-vijnanartham. If you
want to know the science of spiritual life, tad-vijnanartham sa gurum eva
abhigacchet [MU 1.2.12], you must approach guru. And who is guru? Guru means
who is the faithful servant of God. Very simple.
So this is the position. Without
guru, if he is manufacturing his way of life, then he is mudha, rascal.
Therefore it is said, mudha. He was thinking, “I am so affectionate father. I
am taking care of my son, little son. In all respect I am feeding him, I am
patting him, and so many things I am… I am very faithful and very honest
father.” But sastra says, “Here is a mudha, rascal.” You see here. It says,
bhojayan payayan mudhah. Why he is mudha? Na vedagatam antakam. He does not
say, does not know, that “Behind me, the death is awaiting. He has come to take
me.” Now, “How your affection for your so-called son and society and family and
nation will save you? Here is death.” That he cannot answer. He cannot answer
that death is there. So we shall be prepared. That is human life. We must
always know that “There is death behind me.” At any moment he can capture my
neck and take it away. That’s a fact. Is there any guarantee that you shall
live hundred years? No. Even just after few seconds, if you go to the street,
you may immediately meet death. There may be heart failure. There may be motor
accident. There may be something, something. So to live is wonderful. To die is
not wonderful. Because you are meant for death. As soon as you took your birth,
immediately you begin to die. Immediately. If you enquire, “Oh, when the child
is born?” you say, say, “One week.” That means he has died one week. We are
taking that he is living one week, but actually he has died one week. That is
wonderful, that still he is living, he has not died. So death is not wonderful
because it is sure. It will come — after one week or after one hundred years.
That is not wonderful. So long you live, that is wonderful.
So we should utilize this time to
make solution of the life that we are repeatedly dying and again accepting
another body. So how they will understand unless they come to the proper guru?
Therefore sastra, says tad-vijnanartham: “If you want to know the real problem
of your life and if you want to be enlightened how to become Krsna conscious,
how to become eternal, go back to home, back to Godhead, then you must approach
the guru.” And who is guru? That is explained, very simple thing. Guru never
manufactures idea that “You do this and give me money and you become happy.”
That is not guru. That is another process of earning money. So here it is said,
mudha, everyone who is simply living in the fool’s paradise, manufacturing his
own ideas like Ajamila… Somebody has taken, “This is my duty,” somebody has… He
is a fool. You must know what is your duty from guru. You are singing every
day, guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya aikya, ar na koriho mane asa **.
This is life. This is life. Guru-mukha-pad… You accept the bona fide guru, and
what he orders you, carry out. Then your life is successful. Ar na koriho mane
asa. You rascal, you do not desire anything else. Are you not singing daily?
But do you understand the meaning? Or you are singing only? What is the
meaning? Who will explain? Nobody knows? Yes, what is the meaning?
Devotee: “My only wish is that my mind
be purified by the words coming from the mouth of my spiritual master. I have
no other desire but this.”
Prabhupada: Yes. This is the order.
Guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya aikya **. Now citta means consciousness
or heart. “I shall do this only, bas. My Guru Maharaja told me; I shall do
this.” Cittete koriya aikya, ar na koriho mane asa. So it is not my pride, but
I can say, for your instruction, I did it. Therefore whatever little success
you see than my all my Godbrothers, it is due to this. I have no capacity, but
I took it, the words of my guru, as life and soul. So this is fact.
Guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya aikya **. Everyone should do that. But
if he makes addition, alteration, then he is finished. No addition, alteration.
You have to approach guru — guru means the faithful servant of God, Krsna — and
take his word how to serve Him. Then you are successful. If you concoct, “I am
very intelligent than my guru, and I can make addition or alteration,” then you
are finished. So that is the only. And now, sing further.
Devotee: Sri-guru-carane rati, ei se
uttama-gati.
Prabhupada: Sri-guru-carane rati, ei
se, uttama-gati. If you want to make real progress, then you must be firmly
faithful at the lotus feet of guru. Then?
Devotee: Je prasade pure sarva asa.
Prabhupada: Je prasade pure sarva
asa. Yasya prasadat… This is the instruction in the whole Vaisnava philosophy.
So unless we do that, we remain mudha, and this is explained in this
Ajamila-upakhyana. So today we are reading this verse, sa evam vartamanah
ajnah. Again he says. Again Vyasadeva says that “This rascal was situated in
that, absorbed in the service of his son, Narayana, of the name.” He did not
know… “What is this nonsense Narayana?” He knew his son. But Narayana is so
merciful that because he was constantly calling his son, “Narayana, please come
here. Narayana, please take this,” so Krsna was taking that “He is chanting
‘Narayana.’ ” Krsna is so merciful. He never meant that “I am going to
Narayana.” He wanted his son because he was affectionate. But he got the
opportunity of chanting the holy name of Narayana. This is his good fortune.
Therefore, according to this, we change the name. Why? Because every name is
meant for becoming a servant of Krsna. So just like Upendra. Upendra means
Vamanadeva. So if you call “Upendra, Upendra,” or similarly, that name is taken
account of. So that will be explained later on.
So here also it is said… In the
first verse it is said mudha, and the second verse also it is said, sa evam
vartamanah ajnah. Ajna means rascal. Mudha means rascal. Ajna means ignorant,
ignorant, who has no knowledge. Jna means one who has knowledge. Ajna mean who
has no knowledge. Mrtyu-kala upasthite. So everyone in this material world, he
is mudha, ajna. He does not care that “I will have to meet death. When
everything will be finished, all my plans, all my assets, everything, will be
finished.” He does not know that. He knows it, but he doesn’t care to observing
these things. Therefore everyone is mudha and ajna. Then, in spite of the death
has come, matim cakara tanaye bale narayanahvaye. He is experiencing, “Now I am
dying; death is near.” Still, he is thinking of his, that child. So yam yam
vapi smaran bhavam tyajaty ante [Bg. 8.6]. He has got a child. His name is Narayana.
Now, his position is different. But if I am similarly affected, similarly
affectionate to my dog, then what is my position? Or anything. Naturally, I
will think of my dog, and immediately I shall get the another body like a dog,
or dog. This is nature’s law. Yam yam vapi smaran bhavam tyajaty ante
kalevaram. At the time… The test will be at the time of death, what kind of
body you are going to get. So yam yam vapi smaran bhavam. The… Just like he is
very much affectionate to his son. He is thinking of his son. Similarly, if you
very much affectionate to your dog or something else, you will think at that
time. Therefore practice Hare Krsna so that at the time of death you can think
of Krsna and your life is successful.
Thank you very much. (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase =>
Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.26-27 — Philadelphia, July 12, 1975
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