Mode of goodness leads to higher planetary systems | SB 6.1.15 | 27 Jun 2006 | Gopal Krishna Goswami

Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya! Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya! Om namo bahagate Vasudevaiahya! Om namoh Bhagavathe Vaasudhevayahyam! Ki na yavan athā dharmo dharmo veyah samihitāḥ seivatāt phalam punakte tātā tāvan amṛtāvaye. In proportion to the extent of one's religious or irreligious activities in this life, one must enjoy or suffer the corresponding reactions of this karma in the next. Corporate by Divine Grace, Prasad RAVAL. Ācī-bhaktinanda Swāmi Śrīprabhupāda. Śrīprabhupāda ki. Prabhupāda ki. Prabhupāda ki. As stated in Bhāgavad-gītā, udamaṇkajanti sattva-sthaḥ mādetiś caṇti rāja-saḥ jaganya-gūna-vṛttiṣtaḥ adhobhijanti tāma-saḥ. Those who act in the mode of goodness are promoted to higher planetary systems to become demigods. Those who act in an ordinary way and do not commit excessively sinful acts remain within this planetary system. And those who perform abominable sinful actions must go down to, to where? To hellish life. Jīnā yāvam athā dharmo dharmo veyhasamīhitāḥ sevā tat phalaṁ punaktaḥ tathā tāvan amṛtāvayeh. So, yāmraj, the yāmadūtas over here are addressing the Viṣṇudūtas. The background to these verses is that there was a brahmānical devotee called Ajāmila who was brought up in brahmānical culture and he got degraded. He got degraded because on one occasion while he was returning from the forest where he had gone to collect flowers for puja, so he wasn't returning from a nightclub or a movie house, he was returning from an auspicious purpose. He had gone to collect flowers for his worship and on the way back He saw a prostitute embracing her client, and he started meditating on that incident. So we can see from this, from this, his story, that even if you may be located in the temple, or you may be engaged in devotional service, But if your mind is incorrectly positioned, then your future will be endangered. Arjuna, he started meditating on that activity, and as a result, a little later, he kept that prostitute as a maidservant, then married her, produced children, and engaged in a variety of sinful activities to keep his prostitute wife happy. If you have a devotee wife, you can live simply. If you have a prostitute mentality wife, then naturally you have to endeavour, engage in various sinful activities to keep her happy. He had become so sinful that the amraaj, The superintendent of death decided that now he should be brought for punishment. It is not that one can act in any manner he wishes and there is no accountability. We are all accountable for our actions, whether we are devotees or non-devotees. Even if one becomes a devotee, and he doesn't act according to religious principles, then he becomes accountable and liable for punishment. No one is karma-free. So, Yāmṛta sent the Yāmadūtas. Who are the Yāmadūtas? They are the police force of Yāmṛta. Just like in Atlanta or any other country of the world, you have a police force., and you have a police commissioner. So Yama is the commissioner for death, and he has a force of Yama Dutas that help him. And the Yama Dutas, their very appearance is frightful, like you see over here. Look at the Yama Dutas, frightful! And this is just a picture. If you were to actually see them with long teeth, long nails, and blackish hair, teeth coming out, teeth are as sharp as that of an animal. So the Yamadutas were sent by Yamraj to bring Arjuna to hell for punishment. And how many Yamadutas came to bring him? 3. Not 4 or 5 or 1 or 2. Why? Why did Yama send 3 Yama-dutas and not 4, 5, 6, or 1 or 2? Because there are 3 agencies through which we commit pious or impious activities. The 3 agencies are: mind, through the tongue, and through the body. Through the mind you can act piously, impiously. Through the tongue, you can act piously, impiously. And through the body, you can act in similar ways. So there are three main agencies through which we can either get liberated or we can get bonded. If we use these three agencies in service to the Lord, they open the doors for liberation. And when you use the three agencies for your sense pleasure,, then we further entangle ourselves in the cycle of birth and death. So Ajamil, when he saw these Yamadutas, fearful, frightening, he cried, he shouted his youngest son's name, to which he was excessively attached, excessively. He couldn't even live without him for a second. If he would go out of sight for a second, he would get disturbed. But the fortunate thing was he named his youngest kid after the name of the Lord, namely Narayana. This was a common practice in India and around the world to give the children names of God. The Christians have also had this tradition to give their name St. Mark, St. Patrick, Mary, Virgin Mary, so on. The Mohammedans also have this practice. They give Muhammad, Akbar. In the Russian tradition also, that has been a tradition. So, and in the Hindus also, there has been a tradition to give your children names of God. The logic is that when you call, when you address your children, then you are indirectly always chanting with the, also chanting the names of the Lord. Of course, if you have a son and you name him Krishna, and all day you are calling him Krishna, you can't include that in your 16-round quota. You can't say, "I chanted for 2 hours, I called my son Krishna for 2 hours, so I have done my 12-16 rounds for the day." No. But the point is, nevertheless, naming your children after the names of Lord is a tradition by which the parents also get purified. Unfortunately, in today's environment, society has got so degraded that even in India you see parents don't want to give their children spiritual names now. Sometimes parents come to us saying, "Maharaj, Swamiji, please give them a name." So we give them a name and then the mother says or the father, "Don't you have any other name?" Then we give them another name. Ultimately, they reveal their inner desire. They want a modern Western-flavored name. So then we have to tell them, "You've come to the wrong person." So this tradition of naming children after names of God is a very ancient system. And here we see that Arjuna was practicing it. The story of Arjuna is very, very old. Because 5,000 years ago when Śrīkṛṣṇa Gosvāmī was reciting the Bhāgavatam, Śrīkṛṣṇa Gosvāmī told Parīkṣit Mahārāja that, "I have heard from the ancient Purānas this story." So this incident or this pastime probably took place at least 6,000-7,000 years ago. Because 5,000 years ago, Śrīkṛṣṇa Gosvāmī said, "I heard a very ancient story." Where? In the Purāṇas. So 6,000, 7,000 years ago, this tradition was there to name your children after the names of God. So Ajāmila in desperation addressed his youngest son. And as soon as He uttered the word Narayana, who appeared? The Viṣṇu-dūtas. Just like the Yama-dūtas are the police force of the amṛta, the Viṣṇu-dūtas are the reps or the representatives of Lord Viṣṇu. But unlike the Yama-dūtas, the Viṣṇu-dūtas are very handsome. Because they are descending from the spiritual world. They look godly. Their features resemble those of the Lord. So the Viṣṇudūtas appeared, and as we know, they stopped the Yama-dūtas from taking Arjuna's soul to hell. So the Yama-dūtas were stopped from discharging their duty by whom? By the Viṣṇudūtas. And in fact, this was the first time in history that their master Yama Raj had sent them on an assignment and they were stopped by someone. So then there was a dialogue that took place between the Vishnu Dutas and the Yama Dutas, and the Vishnu Dutas wanted to know, "What is the process?" of punishing others. In other words, who are the people who get punished? Are all the materialists engaged in fruitive activities punishable, or only some of them? You know, the Vishnu-dutas are inquiring from the Yama-dutas. Now the Yama-dutas have begun to reply, and Yama-dutas are describing What is religion? What do they say? Dharmāṁ diṣakṣāt aśvat parnibhaḥ. The religion means the words of God and that which is prescribed in the Vedic dharma are called religious principles. And what is irreligion? If what is prescribed in the Vedas is religion, then what is irreligion? Equation, question. What is not prescribed in the Vedas? Logically. So Yamarāja said that what is not prescribed in the Vedas constitutes actually a religion. Then Yamarāja goes on, the Yama-dūtas go on to identify various witnesses to all our activities. Prabhupāda used to tell us that when he was studying in Scottish College, Calcutta, PRASAD RAVAL, once he was talking to his friends and a Scottish professor appeared on the scene and said, "You Hindus believe in reincarnation, but who is witnessing all our activities? Who is witness?" Just like anybody who knows law knows that to convict a criminal You have to have witnesses. If you have no witnesses, then even a murderer gets away scot-free. The karmic kaliga laws are so defective. Therefore, what these professional murderers do, they just do their act in such a way that there are no witnesses. So Yama Raj and his Yama Dutas testify that they are We are His witnesses to our actions. In the third canto of the Bhāgavatam, you read about the dialogue between Lord Kāpiladeva and his mother Devahūti. His mother Devahūti knew that her son is the Personality of Godhead. When he was in the womb, this was revealed by Lord Brahmā. So she wanted him to know, "My dear son," On what basis is it decided what type of body one is going to get? And who are the witnesses? To which the Lord replied, 'Karma na devat netra na janto deho pavata hai'— that all our actions are being witnessed by several witnesses. All our actions are being observed by several witnesses. And who are some of the witnesses? The sun, the sun is one of the— the sun and the moon are the two eyes of God. The sun and the moon have the capacity to see everything. Just like these days you have the Google site and you have all these sites you can log on and you can even find out in China where the tanks are situated. There are cameras that are picking up where the tanks are situated in India, where they are situated pocketbook. You don't need more intelligence now. You can just go on the internet. You have these spy satellites, cameras that can take pictures of virtually everything, even the number of plates on the car. You go for— when you travel by air, you go through an X-ray machine. Before your luggage gets on the plane, it is screened. You don't know that, but they don't put any suitcase on the plane. Till they screen it. You go to a— previously you had the X-ray, but now they've gone so much ahead of that, you can go and get a CT scan. You can see virtually every organ of your body right in front of you on the screen. You couldn't even dream of that. So the karmis can come up with all this technology to record your pictures, your movements, etc. Why can't the sun and moon witness everything? It's totally conceivable. And the thing that is inconceivable is an act of Poliṣṇa. So there are several witnesses to our activities. The sun, the moon, fire, sky, then air. Can you live without air? No, you can't. There's a demigod in charge of air. Evening, day, night, any sinful activity you do or pious, either it's in day or in the night. Then directions, water, land, and ultimately one more. Oh, super soul. The Paramātmā. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, sarvaśya caḥam hirdi sāneviṣṭho madrahasmitra-dyānaṁ apahānaṁ ca. He says, "I am the cause of smaranam, remembrance, and abhohanam, forgetfulness." Paramatma is the cause. Why is it the Lord causes one to remember and one to forget? Why? Because the Lord has given us all freedom and we can decide how we want to execute our freedom. If we didn't execute, if we didn't have freedom,, then where would the question be of voluntarily surrendering to the Lord? So Yāmṇa, the Yāmadūtas have established that the candidates for punishment are those who are confirmed by so many witnesses. In the material world, you know, you can always cheat. In the material world, you can always bribe. You know, it's not uncommon that witnesses get bribed, even the juries get bribed, even the judges get bribed. It's so common. But you can't bribe Yāmraj or the Yāmadūtas or these witnesses. They are above corruption. So all of them testify. And Yāmadūtas have also said that everyone engaged in fruitive activities is also subject to punishment. Now fruitive activities are a type of business relationship with the Lord, karma-kanda, in the sense that you agree to do some yajñas, etc., you agree to give some donations, sacrifice, but in exchange, what do you want? Pure devotional service? No. In exchange you want, you have your wish list of material desires. So Narottama Das Thakura has said that fruitive activities are comparable to drinking water from a— drinking poison from a golden cup. Poison, whether you drink from an ordinary cup or a golden cup, is it going to make any difference? No. Poison is poison. So Narottama Das Thakura condemns fruitive activities also. So whether you act piously or impiously, if you act piously, then you get promoted. Where? To the heavenly planets. And if you've acted sinfully, in a sinful manner, then you get degraded to the lower planets. And if you've acted wisely and not minimize your sinful activities, then you have a chance of taking birth again in this material world. The point is, based on our actions, our next life gets established. And Prabhupāda makes a point in the purport to Text 44 that the difference between human beings and non-human beings is that human beings are supposed to follow the direction of the Vedas, and non-human beings, they are exempt. They don't have to follow the laws of the Vedas. But human beings, if they act improperly, they become liable for punishment. But the animals do not. When a lion eats a male, a human being, He doesn't take on any sinful reaction. But when a human being even steps on an ant and kills an ant, he takes on sinful reaction. Because as we've heard many times, human life is a life of responsibility. You cross the street on a red light, the cops will arrest you. A dog or a cat crosses the street on a red light, he's not going to get arrested. So we've seen that human life is a life of responsibility. Responsibility. Therefore, the government passes legislation for human beings. Therefore, human beings are expected to conform to a certain etiquette, code, etc. But animals are not expected to. So Prabhupada makes the point that unfortunately people manufacture their own ways without reference to the Vedas. Just like these days, There are so many religious processes. Last night I was talking about the incarnations and the fake incarnations of God who claim to be God and they kind of establish themselves as God by performing superhuman activities. When God appears, he performs superhuman activities which cannot be equaled or rivaled by anybody else. So many people today are concocting religion. As Prabhupāda says in the purport. So what does this result to? Rūpa Gosvāmī has said, śruti-smṛti-prāṇādi-paṇcārādhaka-vidimena ekaṇṭhiki haripakiruḍ-pātayeva kālpate. He said that religious process that is not based upon śruti and smṛti will actually simply create a disturbance in society. So as a result, you see that many people claim they are preaching religion, but because it is not based on śruti and smṛti, simply creates a disturbance in society. So Yama-Dūtas are making it clear that everyone in the material world is punishable, especially everyone who is contaminated by the three modes of nature. Kṛṣṇa explains in the Bhāgavad-gītā that the living entity, when he comes in contact with material nature, he gets influenced by how many modes? Three modes. What are the three modes? Goodness, passion, and ignorance. Now each of these modes has different characteristics. In goodness, one has concept of happiness. He thinks that, "I know what's right." And he thinks, "Oh, what I'm doing is okay. No need to go beyond that." And at least he's not sinful, but he's not at the point of complete surrender to the Lord. He has understanding of religious principles, but he doesn't have understanding of ultimate surrender. So in goodness, a man is happier than the others, but still is way behind. Pure love of God. Then you have the mode of passion. The symptom of the mode of passion is he works very hard and he wants to enjoy the fruits of his work. He works very hard, earns money, but then he feels, "I worked hard, it's my money, I should enjoy it for my sense enjoyment." He is very attached to the result. Then there is ignorance. In ignorance one is inactive, one is lazy, one doesn't inquire about spirituality at all. That is in ignorance. Now, Krishna says, when all the gates of the 9 body, when the 9 gates are illuminated with knowledge, that is considered to be One is in the mode of goodness. Kṛṣṇa also says, "As long as you are in the material modes, there's always a competition going on, competition between the material modes. Sometimes the mode of goodness wins, sometimes the mode of passion wins, sometimes the mode of ignorance wins." So ultimately Kṛṣṇa's advice is, "Go beyond the modes." and come to what level? Shuddhasattva, or pure goodness. So Yama Duttas are making the point that as long as one is under the modes, he must get the punishment also. Now if you've done a lot of pious activities, giving in charity, giving cows in charity, Feeding Brahmanas, feeding Prasads, then okay, as a result of these pious activities, you will be promoted to the heavenly planets. But again, if you can get promoted to the heavenly planets, can you stay there permanently? No. You can only stay there as long as your karma allows you, just like a plane. It can only fly in the sky as long as it has enough fuel. And before the fuel runs out, it has to land, otherwise it will crash. So even if you do pious activities, you get elevated to the heavenly planets where the standard of living, where the so-called material comforts are thousands of times in excess of what you can experience in the material world. Just like in the material world you can see the different standards of living for different people. I'm sure Bill Gates lives in a higher standard than most of you live at the moment. So you can see even when there's an earthly planet, you have millionaires who live in a higher standard than the paupers. And you can see some countries are more developed than other countries. So there's a discrepancy. So similarly, on heavenly planets, the standard of living is far in excess of this earthly planet. But however, as Kṛṣṇa says, "Ābrahmā-bhūmanā loke punār avartanā rājuna, māmopetit-kandya-panā-janmāna-vidyate." Even if you go to Brahmaloka, still you will not be able to free yourself from the cycle of birth and death. So devotees are not interested in fruitive activities also. Vyasadeva, even after having compiled the vast Vedic literature, was still feeling very, very unhappy. And while he was meditating, "What's the cause of this unhappiness? I presented this vast Vedic literature." Then who appeared? Nārada Mūrī. And he told them the cause of his unhappiness was that he has not exclusively presented the importance of pure devotional service or unmated, unmotivated devotional service to the Lord. And then came the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī and the yama-dūtas are establishing whether you act piously or impiously, as long as you have this material body, There will be reaction. If you acted piously, then you get promoted to the heavenly planet. But there again you can only stay for a period of time, as long as your karmas don't get exhausted, and then again you have to descend. So Yama and Dootas are making the point, in proportion to the extent of one's religious or irreligious activities, one must enjoy or suffer the corresponding reactions of his karma in the next. So these verses are very clearly establishing that in proportion to how we act, our future will be decided. What does Krishna say? Ye yatha mām prapadeyate. All of them, as they surrender to me, what do I do? I reward them accordingly. In the Bible it is said, as you sow, 'As you sow, you shall reap.' So what is— where is this 'as you sow, you shall reap' theme coming from? This verse. Here clearly it is being said, in proportion— so in proportion to our pious or impious activities, one must enjoy or suffer the reactions of this karma in the next. So in proportion to how we have acted, our future gets decided. If, for example, we have acted completely surrendering to the Lord, carrying out His duty, His instructions, following regular principles, etc., then Krishna says, "Without doubt, where will you come? You will come to Me. Without doubt. Have no doubt." Just like if you have a $100 bill, a genuine $100 bill and not a fake bill, You have the confidence you can go to any store and cash it. So you should have the confidence that if I surrender to Kṛṣṇa, if I don't withhold, if I give up my material attachments for a higher cause, then you have to have— and Kṛṣṇa is going to protect me. That faith can be developed by the execution of bhajanakriya. When you execute the process of devotional service, by that execution our faith in Kṛṣṇa as our Supreme Father, our faith in Kṛṣṇa as the ultimate enjoyer, our faith in Kṛṣṇa as our well-wisher increases. What increases or decreases our faith is the degree to which we execute devotional service. Practices and instructed by the Acharyas. So, it is very clearly being mentioned here that in proportion to how we have acted, our future gets decided. And as we said earlier, there are several witnesses to all our activities, not one or two. And above all, there is the Paramatma, the Lord in the heart, The Paramātmā is causing, giving us remembrance and forgetfulness. Why does the Paramātmā cause one to remember and another to forget? Why? Who knows? Lord has given everyone this freedom. Sometimes people say, "Why did Kṛṣṇa give us this freedom?" If we had no freedom, we'd be forced to do devotional service. Just like people say, "Why did God create Maya?" If there was no Maya, we'd have no problem. We'd all be— Now because Maya is there, we want freedom from Maya, we struggle. Every morning we get up, "Oh, another day of struggle. How am I going to fight Maya today?" But if there was no Maya then— So this Maya is there, or the illusionary energy, because the living entities wanted to have the opportunity to be real enjoyers like God, be God's competitors. And the Lord has given everyone a free choice. He doesn't want to force us to serve Him. We have the free choice. Just like in a democratic country like United States, you have the free choice to what degree you want to follow the government. So Kṛṣṇa reciprocates. When Kṛṣṇa sees that here is somebody "Who wants to serve Me?" Then Kṛṣṇa arranges the necessary association. It may be association of a devotee, may be association of a transit of Bhagavan Prabhupāda, but Kṛṣṇa arranges a situation by which one can get exposed to spiritual life. So our faith that Kṛṣṇa is my ultimate protector, that Kṛṣṇa is my well-wisher, will be strengthened by the execution of bhajana-kriya. It is our experience and observation that devotees who sincerely follow sadhana, they are able to develop strong faith. And those who are weak in sadhana, don't chant the rounds attentively, etc., now they may be hanging, but they don't really have very, very strong faith that Krishna is my ultimate protector. Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate protector, and the Lord reciprocates in proportion to our, in proportion to our surrender. So Prabhupāda is making the point that in proportion to one's religious or irreligious activities, one enjoys or suffers. So we should not think that I can do what I want Nobody is witnessing and I'll get away scot-free. No. Everything is being witnessed, everything is being recorded, and our computers may have crashes, but Yama and his computer never gets virus infection. Okay, Yama and his computer is totally reliable and everything is being recorded. Now when the Paramātmā sees, now this man is tired of material life, Then the Paramatma directs him to a situation where he gets a book or devotee association, and thereby he begins to cultivate spiritual life. So devotees have to act very cautiously, just like the seventh offense is committing sins on the strength of chanting. Now sometimes when devotees hear the story of Ajāmila that we have briefly summarized, they say, Ajaamil. He did this brahminical work, then he fell in bad association, and then he was rescued by the Vishnu Dutas. So they say, "No, I have chanted, I have been initiated for 20 years, I have been chanting for so many years the Holy Name. Let me also engage in sense enjoyment." And at the moment of death, "I have already given my son Narayana name. I will call him Narayana or Krishna or Ram, Chetanya, Abhay." A lot of parents give their kids the name Abhay. So, I will tell them, "Aye!" And then Prabhupada will come. So, is that feasible? Yes or no? Why? Why is it not? It was feasible in Arjuna's case, so why is it not feasible in your case, in our case? I will do exactly what Arjuna did. "I was born in Brahminical culture. I've been initiated for 20 years, and so I'll take a little break from devotional service." So why is it not feasible? There's a reason. Viśvanātha Chakrurī ṭhākura has explained on the story of Ajāmila that Ajāmila, when he was chanting the names of Nārāyaṇa, he wasn't chanting with the intention of counteracting his sinful activities. He knew he was engaged in sinful activities, but he wasn't thinking, "I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, nārāyaṇa, nārāyaṇa, nārāyaṇa, nārāyaṇa, nārāyaṇa, so my sinful activities reaction is going to be minimized or terminated." He wasn't chanting from that angle. He was chanting out of his attraction, attachment to the Lord, to His son, and the Lord having His auspiciousness. And his son having Utpriṣad's name. So, if we were to try and do this, then that would constitute the seventh offence, which is— which is what? Committing sins on the strength of chanting. Whereas in the case of Arjuna, he was not committing sins on the strength of chanting. He wasn't chanting the names of Narayana to nullify anything. Whereas if we were to copy it and think, "Because I'm initiated, because I'm chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, I'm going to be automatically pardoned," then that would become committing sins on the strength of chanting. You're thinking, "Now I'm initiated, now I've been chanting for so many years, so many of my sins have been wiped off because I'm chanting. So I can commit some fresh sins." So that should be avoided. Just like you take a bank loan, then you, 'Pay off the loan.' Then you think, a businessman thinks, 'Oh, let me take a fresh loan.' So it's not that, 'Now I'm initiated, now I'm in chanting, so I can now take fresh reaction.' So this story of Ajamiya points out how important the Holy Name of the Lord is, how powerful the Holy Name of the Lord is, and as it is said, knowingly or unknowingly, anyone who takes the Holy Name is guaranteed to reap only benefit. So this is the power of the Holy Name. So to summarize, in today's verse it is said, quoting the words from the 14th chapter, how those who engage in pious activities get promoted to heavenly planets and the others get degraded. And the Viṣṇudūtas have pointed out that we are all subject to scrutiny. It is not that nobody is exempted from scrutiny. That we are all being observed and based on our actions, our future will be decided. So this story of Vāja Mīlā also tells us power of the Holy Name. The Holy Name is so powerful that knowingly or unknowingly anyone who chants the Holy Name is going to get nothing but benefit. Therefore, we should chant the Holy Name and propagate the chanting of the Holy Name. And by this process, we make spiritual advancement. And this is the ultimate goal of life. The ultimate goal of life is to make spiritual advancement and go back to Godhead. And this process of devotional service is the principal medium through which this can be realized. So we should sincerely follow the process We should rigidly follow the process, and then spiritual success is guaranteed. Hare Krishna.