Instruction of the Spiritual Master | SB 03.31.09 | 30 Mar 2007 | Mumbai | Gopal Krishna Goswami

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Kṛnda 3, Chapter 31, Text 9. Kalpa svanga ca śayaḥ sukuntaye vafanjare tatva labdasmiti daivā karma janma sattvobhavaṁ svanandhegam anuśvasaṃ shañakyaḥ Svāṅgā caīṣṭayāṁ śukānta īvā pāñjare tattvā labdhā smṛtir daivāt karma-janmā sattvāḥ bhāvaṁ svarandhērgaṁ anuḥ śvaṣaṁ śārna-kēṇaṁ avindaṭhe. So Lord Kripiladeva is continuing. To enlighten us. And in this chapter, he is describing how the child develops in the womb of the mother. Kapiladeva has been giving us instructions from 25th chapter. In other words, this is the 6th chapter that we are reading in this 3rd canto. Where Kāpīla Deva is continuing to enlighten us. Earlier, Kāpīla Deva has explained about the glories of devotional service. And in the previous chapter, Kāpīla Deva also explained how one enters into the different hellish planets for the sinful activities that he has committed. And this is further described in greater detail in the 5th Canto. And in this chapter, he's describing how child evolves in the womb of the mother. I've had the opportunity of presenting this chapter in discussion to doctors in America, Russia, even in India.. And these doctors and gynecologists were just amazed when I read to them this chapter, how the child evolves in the womb of the mother. Medical science is struggling to find out why does the child kick in the womb of the mother, why does the child move, move around in the womb of the mother. I've asked many prominent gynecologists for the answers to these questions, and they frankly admitted that modern science is still searching for the answers. They have guesses, but they don't know the answer. But here in the Bhāgavatam, you see, you read a very vivid explanation as to why this happens and how the child evolves. In the womb of His mother. For example, in the first verse of this chapter, Kapiladeva establishes, kamra deva-naitreṇa janto deho papataḥ estriya praveshodāru puṁtareta-kṛṣṇasyāḥ. So this is a very famous verse where Kapiladeva explains that under the supervision of the Supreme Lord, deva-naitreṇa, The living entity enters through the semen of the male into the womb of the female. Then the Bhāgavatam also explains how on the first night the sperm and the ova mix, and how on the fifth night it ferments into a bubble, how on the tenth night it develops into a plume, how it gradually turns from flesh to egg and so on. And when it's 4 months from the date of conception, the 7 ingredients are in the body. And how the body begins to develop and how the body, the child in the womb of the mother, even experiences the results of the food that the mother eats. So the mother eats pungent food, for example, Bhāgavatam explains, very spicy food. It affects the child in the womb of the mother. And then the child is also bitten by the worms, the worms, the hungry worms, the worms inside the body. And the worms, they bite the child. You know, like sometimes the mosquitoes come and bite you. So when the mosquitoes bite you, what do you do? Put Goodnight. Or use a fan, isn't it? But you can't use that, what do you call it, Goodnight or? All Out, huh? You can't put All Out inside the womb of the mother. There's no All Out that you can implant in the womb of the mother so the worms won't bite the child. When the worms come and bite the child in the womb of the mother, the child moves. The child is in a very unbearable, uncomfortable position. But he has no alternative. And then the child has to be in the womb, and his head is turned towards his belly, and his back and neck are arched like a bow. You've all seen pictures of the child in the womb of the mother. The head is towards the belly, isn't it? And the back and neck are like a bow. So in that position, the child is in a very, very painful condition. Prabhupāda says in the purport, and Prabhupāda explained in many lectures, that if you would experience that pain today, you could not survive for more than few seconds. You couldn't even survive for 2 seconds if you had to undergo the pain that you had to undergo in the womb of the mother. So the point that we are making is birth is a very painful process. You know, when we tell people about the 7-fold miseries of life—birth, death, disease, old age, adidevik, adibodhik, adidevik, kleshas—people say, "Eh, birth? Is that a painful process?" In India, when The child is born, they distribute sweets, isn't it? Am I right? Especially if the boy is born. If the girl is born, they probably cover the head, but if the boy is born, they distribute sweets. In some cultures, they distribute cigars. In some cultures, they distribute wine bottles. In Russia, you know, when a child is born, they distribute liquor bottles. So they— when the child is born, people rejoice. But why does the scriptures explain birth to be one of the sevenfold miseries of life? Because birth is a very painful process. That's why when a child comes out of the mother's womb, the child is crying. The child is crying, isn't it? Have you ever seen a child take birth smiling? No, the child is crying because the child has been in a very uncomfortable, painful position. And that's why when it comes out of mother's womb, it cries. So the Bhāgavatam explains this in great detail, how child is— the position of the child in the mother's womb. Now what is the verse explaining today? In today's 9th verse, Kapiladeva explains, the child remains inside the womb of the mother like a bird in a cage with no freedom of movement. Now you have freedom, isn't it? If you want, you can sit here. If you want, you can go to the ashram. If you want fresh breeze, you can go to Juhu Beach, etc. But when you were in the womb of your mother, There's absolutely no freedom. How do you have to sit? With the head bent down towards the belly. Even our best of yoga teachers like Iyengar, probably even if you ask Iyengar or his daughter, Iyengar is too old now, ask his daughter to sit in that position, I don't think she could sit for more than a few minutes the most. You sit with the head towards the belly and your back, your neck arched like a bow. It'd be impossible. So birth is a very, very painful process. And therefore Prabhupāda said in one of his lectures, the sex life is painful whichever way you look at it. If you take part in it, results in birth, which is very, very painful. If you don't want birth, then you do abortion and contraception. That again is very painful because the result of these activities, so severe that one which engages in this, Prabhupāda said, will never see the light again. That means when you stop natural process of birth as a result of sexual intercourse, then the end result is you just go on getting transmigrated from one body to another body. That's why you never see the light again. Just like ladies have miscarriages. So this child in the womb is miscarriage. So you just go from one womb to another womb. How would you like if somebody locked you in a room and kept you locked up in the room permanently? Would you like that? No. Even prisoners, they don't keep under such severe conditions. They don't keep prisoners in dark room for 20 years. They give them— the modern prisons are pretty fancy. There's a prison house in Delhi called Tihar Jail, which is considered the biggest jail in Asia, probably has the most criminals of Asia in India. So they have pretty nice fancy places, nice facilities, fresh air, playground, grounds for walk. They used to say crime doesn't pay, but now they say crime pays. So anyway, even in the material world, prison house, you have freedom. But when you are in the prison house of the mother's womb, you have no freedom. You can't move even a centimeter. You are stuck in that position. Now if the child is fortunate in that position, then what did he say? He remembers all the troubles of his past hundred births. There is a very nice song composed by the great sage Chakrabhakti Goswami. He says, "Jeem jago jeem jago gorachanda bole, kothaneta jao maya pīśa chira kōle." He says, "Lord Caitanya is saying," Wake up, sleeping souls, wake up. You have slept for very long in the lap of the witch known as Maya. Then he says, "Vājitā bhūlīya iti samsārabhitāde bhūlīya rohīla tumi avidyāra bhārde." He says, "You came to this world saying, 'My dear Lord, 'Please release me.' But now that you've come out of the mother's womb, you have forgotten your promise. That's like many times when we are in difficulties, we say, 'Please, please, please, I will never do this again, I will never do this again, I promise, I promise,' isn't it? And then when you recover, you forget the promise. I'm sure you all have experienced. Prabhupāda in one of the prayer quotes says that the woman when she is delivering a baby, she is in such intense pain that she says, "I'll never have a child again." Then she forgets the pain, goes on with the process. So the point is, Tākṣa-bhaktinath says in his famous prayer, Nijāgo, As a child, when he is in the womb of his mother, he prays, "Please release me. When I come out of the womb, I promise You that I will engage in devotional service." But then when he comes out of the mother's womb, he has completely forgotten his promise and he gets back into sinful activity. So, Kapiladeva is saying in this verse, A child in the mother's womb is in such a tight condition that he cannot move at all. At that time, if the child has pious karma— if the child doesn't have pious karma, Prabhupāda has explained this in his lectures— then he's not able to remember and understand the cause of his suffering. And if he has pious karma, just the Bhāgavatam in this verse says that the child is fortunate. Who is fortunate? One who has pious karma. We may think that one who has a big house on Juhu Beach, or someone who is enjoying driving a fancy car or has a beautiful wife, he is fortunate. But the real fortunate person is one who takes to the process of devotional service, one who understands that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and I should not misuse my human life. So if the child in the womb of the mother is fortunate, then he can remember how he has been sinning and going through these samsara of birth and death, and then he prays to the Lord, "Please release me," and then he comes out. So by Understanding from the Bhāgavatam how painful the process of birth is, what should be our resolution? What should be our resolution? We've been hearing about how painful the process of birth is. So what should be our decision? Our decision should be surrender to the Lord. And give up this process of birth and death. That should be the process. Human life, birth is a very painful process regardless of whether you're born in a rich queen's family or a pauper's family. It is not that if you're born in Ambani's family or a millionaire's family, you don't have to go through this misery in the mother's womb. Regardless, you have to go through the painful process of sevenfold miseries of life. Therefore, Prabhupāda in his purport is telling us that after birth, the child may forget the difficulties of his past life. Just like sometimes you are diseased and then you recover from the disease. So after a few years you forget I was ever diseased, isn't it? I forget I ever had a surgery. I forget I ever had such deep pain. You forget that. So Prabhupāda says in the purports that the child, after he grows up, he may forget about his past lives, but then by reading the authorized scriptures like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you can understand. Just like as I said in the beginning, I've had the opportunity of presenting this chapter to scientists in Russia, America, India. And they were amazed by the information that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam had. They said, "This chapter is giving us information on subject matter that the scientists are looking for answers to." So the point is the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the scriptures are most complete. Vigāma-kāpa-karor galitam phalam. Ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge. And the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has answer on virtually every question that you can possibly raise. Therefore we should have faith in the scriptures. Now how does our faith in the scriptures increase? Just like how does our faith in the Holy Name increase? Our faith in the Holy Name increases as we practice the art of chanting. Similarly, our faith in the scripture increases as we hear the scriptures. Therefore the Bhāgavatam says, nāsta praśyava draiṣu nityam bhāgavata sevaya bhāgavaty uttamaśloke bhakti-bhāvati rāisṭhike. By regularly hearing the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, you are capable of developing what? Devotional service. Why? Because as you hear the Bhāgavatam, all that is undesirable, they begin to get disappear. The Prabhupāda says that in the purport to the authorized scriptures, we can understand how painful the process of birth is. Now you may say, "But when we preach and talk to people, tell them about the process of birth being so painful, they don't believe it." Just like When you talk about the position of the soul and the eternal nature of the soul, does everyone believe it? Tat Tvam Asi. Does everyone believe there's soul in the body, soul is eternal? No. People don't believe it. Why? They don't want to believe it because the moment they believe there's something known as a soul which is eternal, they will also have to recognize that then there is a possibility of punishment. And so, because they do not want to believe that there's any possibility of punishment for the sinful activities, they just say, "Oh, where is the proof? Where has anybody come back and said that there is a soul in the body?" The main reason is they don't want to accept the reality that if we do sinful activities, there's going to be punishment or reaction for that. So Prabhupāda says, if you do not believe in the scriptures, that is very unfortunate. It's very unfortunate. Further Prabhupāda says, the human form of life should be used for what? For taking advantage of scriptural injunctions. And over here, In the purport of this verse, Prabhupāda gives, or he quotes, a famous example. In a famous statement in the scriptures, it is said that the material world is compared to a turbulent ocean. In the ocean, even if you are on the best of ships, but if the waves are coming heavily and it's turbulent weather, then what happens? You are a sailor. Huh? You travel in these big ships, huh? How heavy, how big are your ships? Huh? How big? Very big. How many pounds? 300,000-ton heavy ship. But when the weather is rough, tough, doesn't it affect the ship? It does. You fly even in these 747s, but when the weather gets rough and the winds are blowing heavily, it affects the ship. In fact, if you're flying in the direction that the winds are flying, then the plane moves faster. When you're flying against the winds, then the same distance takes more. So this material world is compared to a turbulent ocean. The human body is compared to a ship. The spiritual master is compared to the captain of the ship, and the instructions of the Vedas and the spiritual master and disciplic succession and the sadhus is compared to favorable winds. When the winds are favorable, the sailing and the flying is faster. And the instructions of the scriptures and the spiritual master and the sādhana is compared to favorable wind. So Prabhupāda is making this point in the purport. In fact, Prabhupāda's whole purport in this verse is dedicated to this theme that one must use the rare human body to surrender to the instructions of the Lord. So human body is compared to a ship. Why? Because human body gives you the opportunity to surrender to the Supreme Lord, to understand what is the cause of my suffering, and to find a cure. Prabhupāda used to give an example. He used to say, if a man is diseased, If a man is, if a human being is in pain, he at once goes to the doctor, isn't it? But an animal when he's in pain, does he go to the doctor? No. He's just roaming around in the street. If he's a fortunate animal having a fortunate boss, rich man, then he'll take you to the veterinary doctor. But in most cases they just rot in the streets, isn't it? But as a human being, if you are suffering, sick, you say, "Let me go to the doctor." So human life is a life of responsibility. So if you have this human birth and you don't use it for self-realization, then one is considered to be very unfortunate. Actually, the concluding lines of the purport, Prabhupāda's presenting the translation of Narottama Mahāprabhu's famous prayer where he says, manuṣya hari-hari-bhiflē, manuṣya janma-pāya, Radha-Kṛṣṇa-bhājīya, jñāṇīya, śūnya, viṣuḥ, hainava. Nārādhama ṣaṇakrūṣa says, "Having obtained this rare human birth and not having worshiped Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, I have been simply drinking poison uselessly." So when you have this human birth, And he turned towards his brother and, "Kṛṣṇa, what are you doing? Drinking poison." Now society today has got so degraded, and when people are drinking poison, you tell them, "Prabhu, this is a drop of, this is a glass of nectar." What do they say? "Nāi cha ye." "Let me drink poison." Bhaktivedanta Mahāprabhu used to give a story that a man was about to fall off the roof. He was flying his kite, and he was so absorbed in flying his kite, he was about to fall off. And somebody came and said, "Hey, careful, sadhāna! You're going to fall off." He said, "No, let me fly the kite." So the point is, people are drinking poison. They're wasting this valuable human life. And you go to them and tell them, "Please wake up, jīv-jāgo." Most of them say, "Leave me alone." They are drinking poison knowingly. So that is what Prabhupāda says. He says, "If we do not cross over the ocean of nāsāyaṁ, the material existence, in spite of all these facilities, then certainly we are all intentionally committing suicide." So that is called suicide. Īśopaniṣad says, Ātmahana. Ātmahana means one who is killer of the soul. And specifically it means when he gets his human life and he doesn't take the spiritual life, he is considered to be an Ātmahana, a killer of the soul. So this rare human birth, in the previous verses you have read about the different species of life and how One gets this human form of body. So this human form of body, if it is not used in service to the Lord, then that is considered to be very tragic, and one is considered to be drinking poison. Now we just explained, as Prabhupāda explains in the purport, that one should use the human body to cross over the material ocean. And the spiritual master is described as a captain of the ship. Now, Caitanya Mahāprabhu explains the process of spiritual advancement, which is further explained by Rūpa Gosvāmī in Nectar of Devotion. Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave summary instructions to Rūpa and Sanātanu, which were later on elaborated by the two in different scriptures. See, Nectar of Devotion, Rūpa Gosvāmī describes the process. He says, first step, take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. Then he says, get initiated by a bona fide spiritual master. Then he says, serve him. Then fourth, he says, inquire from him, how can I make spiritual advancement? And fifth, he says, give up What is detrimental for spiritual advancement? So the process of spiritual advancement is very clearly explained. All we need to know is take advantage of it. So we should inquire, "How can I make spiritual advancement?" That should be our main topic of concern. How can I make spiritual advancement? Sometimes you are concerned about, "How can I get some more facilities? How can I get a better position? How can I get a ticket to America? How can I get this and that?" But these are not important concerns. Our real concern should be, "How can I make spiritual advancement? How can I develop love of God? How can I become a pure devotee? How can I give up all my anarthas?" Because till you don't give up all your anarthas, Another entry into the womb of the mother is guaranteed. And then again go through this pain in the womb of the mother, the worms are biting you. You may say, "Oh, pain is only for 9 months, then for 70, 80 years I'm enjoying it. So, 9 months pain is okay, you know, then when I come out I'll enjoy like I'm enjoying now, going to clubs, going to this." You're not enjoying. Look at material society today. There are more diseases than ever before. Children today are getting diseased. I was just reading an article 2 weeks ago which said that India now has the highest number, is going to have something as a percentage of the population, the highest number of youths in the world. But it also said The article, and the article was written by a karmī man, not by a devotee. It said the youth today, though India may have the highest percentage of youth as a percentage of the total population, the Indian youth is going to be the most diseased youth in the world. And it said that 60% of the youth are going to get heart attacks. 50% are going to suffer from diabetes. It listed the population breakdown, how you're going to have youth for the youth of today is going to be more diseased than the youth of 50 years ago. I have had the opportunity of discussing this with doctors even in America and Russia, and they say today children are born with diseases that a 70-year-old man used to get. 2-year-old children even in the West today are getting diseases that an old man would get. So, the point is, look at the effects of global warming, how the weathers are changing. So, it is said that in another 60, 70 years, England's weather is going to be as warm as India. You say, "Oh, very good." Our weathers are going to be the same. But India is going to be 20, 30 times warmer than what it is now. If England's weather is going to come down to India's level, you can imagine where India's level is going to go to. So the point is, material world is becoming an unbearable place to live even for the materialist. Forget— and everyone, even the materialists are saying now that the effect of global warming is moving far more rapidly scientists had earlier predicted. So what they are saying is, even the material scientists are saying that the effects of global warming on people's health and on society is going, is moving at a fast, more greater pace than even they had imagined. You know, they had thought the effect would be slowly, slowly, slowly. So birth is a very painful process. They were properly to say, "The material world is no place for a gentleman or gentlewoman." You know, in our society we think gentleman means one who wears nice clothes, nice hat, nice attaché case, nice watch, nice car. But a real gentleman is one who understands that I should use this human body to cross over the turbulent ocean of birth and death. And that is through the process of surrendering to the Lord. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained to Sanatana Gosvāmī the 6 principles of śrīnāgati. And very briefly he said, one, accept everything favorable for spiritual advancement. Two, reject everything unfavorable for spiritual advancement. So whatever is favorable for spiritual advancement, like chanting around, leading a simple life, studying the scriptures, having good sadhana, seva, bhāv, etc. And what is detrimental? Bad sadhana, not chanting rounds, and too many material desires. I want facilities, this, that, that. That's all detrimental. Give it up. Then you must be confident that Kṛṣṇa will give you protection. You must have full faith that only Kṛṣṇa can give you protection and nobody else. I don't need to go to demigods, etc., to get protection. Then have full faith the Lord is your guardian and master. Ekalaiśvākṛṣṇaḥ sabritāya, which self-full faith that Kṛṣṇa is our ultimate guardian and master. Then self-surrender. Self-surrender means understanding that my desires should be based on Kṛṣṇa's desires. Normally we think my desire should be God's desire. But self-surrender means God's desire is my desire. And what is God's desire? You get to know through the sadhus, gurus, others. Sixth is humility. Humility is a must for spiritual advancement. Therefore, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Nāda-behi sunitīna taur api hāgamanina mana denā kete nā viśravaḥ." If you want to be in a position, if you always chant the Holy Name, then you should be more humble than a blade of grass, etc. So these are briefly the 6 principles of surrender. I know we are a little bit over time. To summarize the verse, Kapiladeva has very nicely described in this chapter how the child evolves in the womb of the mother, how the child is in such a painful condition in the womb of the mother, and he is like a bird in a cage. A bird is in a— at least a bird in a cage has some freedom to move, but when you are in the womb of your mother, you have no freedom, and you have to sit down with your head towards the belly, and in that position you're in a very painful condition. Therefore, Prabhupāda explains, once you use this human birth, surrender to the Lord and become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Hare Kṛṣṇa.