SB 5.5.1- The Best Use of Rare Human Body | Rus-Split | 12.9.92 | Śrīla Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī Mahārājā

Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya. Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya. So we're going to read a very famous verse from the Fifth Canto of the Bhagavatam. It's, uh, Canto 5, Chapter 5, Text 1. Nāyām nāham dehām dehām bhājām bhājām So this is a very significant verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam. Prabhupada has lectured on this verse unlimited number of times, and he has quoted this verse many times. I'm sure your devotees have also heard this verse before. So this is— this verse is being spoken by the great devotee King Rishabdev. Means the best. And Maharaja was the son of King Nabhi. Maharaja actually is an incarnation of the Supreme Lord, but he appeared in the role of a king. And Maharaja gave very valuable instructions to his 100 sons. Maharaja had 100 sons, and the sons were assembled in an assembly of brahmanas. So when Mahārāja Rāṣyadeva was passing by, the brahmanas invited him inside and said, please enlighten us. And then Mahārāja Rāṣyadeva took the opportunity to instruct his sons and the assembled sages in the, in this assembly. So Mahārāja Rāṣyadeva's instructions are very helpful for staying on the spiritual path. So many important points are being made in this verse and purport, which we shall discuss one by one. Mahārāja Satyadeva is pointing out that this material body that you and I have, this has been obtained after great, great, great difficulty. So since this human body is obtained with great difficulty, it should not be used for working hard for just sense enjoyment. In the absence of spiritual knowledge, one uses this body to work hard for sense enjoyment. But one who has spiritual knowledge understands that this human body has a higher cause. Maharāja Viśvadeva said, don't waste this rare human body to imitate the activities of the animals. One who has obtained this human body, he must investigate the mission of the Lord, the message of the Lord. And one who has this human body should not use this rare human body for sense enjoyment. Prahlāda Mahārāja said that sense enjoyment is available even in the hellish planets. So to utilize this rare human body to pursue the path of sense enjoyment is not very intelligent. Therefore Mahārāja Rishideva is saying, my dear sons, you've got this rare human body with very great difficulty. Now please don't waste it. Please utilize this rare human body for something very valuable. So those who work day and hard, those who work day and night very hard, have been compared in the scriptures to asses. In other parts of, uh, old Soviet Union, you don't see asses except in zoo. I think in the Asia section you can see the asses at work. And so all of you are probably familiar with asses. So you see, the ass works very hard all day. For what? Just for a little bit of grass, a little bit of sex life. So those who work very hard day and night not understanding the goal of life have been compared to the ass. So the Bhagavad-gītā compares the gross materialist to 4 types of animals. Śva-vidvāra-hoṣakarai samsuta-puruṣa-paśu nāyat-kanna-pato-peiṭho jātu-nāma-gadagrajaha. The Bhagavad-gītā says that those who are like cats, dogs, and asses are basically glorifying others also those who are similar to animals. So the Bhagavad-gītā specifically compares the gross materialist to 4 types of animals. For example, the hardworking individual is compared to the ass, because as we explained earlier, the ass, uh, carries this heavy burden just for a little bit of foodstuff. And those materialists who, who work very, very hard, what is the end result? They just want a little bit of food to eat and sense enjoyment. If you say— if your guiding principle is simple life, then you will have plenty of time for self-realization. But because a guiding principle is not simple life, a guiding principle is as much as you have, you should try and get. Therefore, from morning to night, we are busy making plans how we can work hard and make money. Therefore, the Bhagavad Gita further says the materialists are also compared to the hog. You also don't see hogs anywhere else except in zoos. But the hog is very attracted to eating stool and dirt and nothing clean. So if you go and offer the hog something nice to eat, it will reject it. And the hog mates without discrimination. So similarly, in human society today, we are eating obnoxious food and mating without discrimination like the hog. Then the Bhāgavatam compares the hard-working beast, to human being to be like dogs. The dog is searching all day for a master, and once it finds a master, it serves him. A dog is loyal to a master, but the so-called materialist is not loyal to anybody. And like the dog, one is searching from pole to pole, individual to individual, looking for a job or looking for a means of economic livelihood. Then the comparison is made to the animal, to the camel. The camel bites on thorns and then the tongue bleeds, and the foolish camel thinks, oh, these thorns are very tasty. So similarly, the gross materialist works very, very hard and discharges one semen, and he thinks that sex life is very enjoyable. He doesn't realize that behind every drop of semen there's so many ounces of blood that are being lost. The Maharāja Rāja Deva is saying, now that you've got this human body Please do not utilize it like the animals in activities of eating, sleeping, defending, mating. Jñāna-māyā-dvānādi-brihā-medi-sukāṇi-sūkṣam. So for the gross materialist, the only means of happiness is unrestricted sex life. The Mahārāja Deva is saying, now that you got this rare human body, don't waste it, but utilize it to understand your relationship with God. So to fulfill sense enjoyment in the human form of life is not an activity of intelligence. Because as we said, and Maharāja Rādhārāja was saying in this verse, sense enjoyment is also available in the hellish planet, and sense enjoyment is also available in the lower species of life. You mean the animals are not looking for sense enjoyment? Sure they are.

So they—

what Maharāja Rādhārāja was saying please utilize this life for what? Tapo devyam pośraka yena satvam. Tapo means tapasya, devyam means the pleasure of the Lord. Please utilize this rare human body to perform austerities for the Lord. So tapo devyam— austerity must be there, but it must be for the pleasure of the Lord, not whimsical. So today's society, nobody talks of Austerity. I see in Tajikistan now so many big, big billboards are up. They show American flag, Tajikistan flag, and so many other flags, and so many other reclaims promoting sense enjoyment. But there's no reclaim that talks about, uh, austerity of a transcendental nature. Last time I was here, we gave a talk at Al-Mada University, and in that talk other religious leaders also spoke. But the other religious leaders in their talks did not emphasize the nature of tapasya. Even in India, we see their religious leaders, when they give lecture, thousands of people come, but they never talk about tapasya. People are scared of talking of tapasya, the so-called religious leaders, because nobody wants tapasya. They do not mind tapasya for sense enjoyment, but not tapasya for God. Just like Even in your country now with capitalism, everything is ochindorga. So the materialists, they are doing 2-2 jobs, 3-3 jobs to support their minimum maintenance.

Even in America, all this is happening.

So the— they're performing austerities but not divya. Divya means for the pleasure of the Lord, for their own sense enjoyment. So that is a tragedy. And Mahārāja Rādhārāja was saying, please do not repeat the same mistake. Just because 99% of the people are engaged in something sinful, 99.999, doesn't mean everyone should blindly follow. Today everybody is blindly following the leaders who are also blind to the goal of human life. Prabhupada used to tell us a story, the story of Sagal Singh. So there was one man who was very attached to his donkey. So many people are attached to so many different things. So this man's donkey died and he became very, very sad. So he started wearing a black dress. You know, like when people die, they mourn and show their sorrow. So another man came to his shop and he saw this man was wearing a black dress. So without asking any questions, he also started wearing a black dress. The minister of the king came to the shop. He saw that he was wearing a black dress, so he also started wearing a black dress. So slowly, slowly, the whole town was wearing black dress. So the king said, why is everyone wearing black dress? He called the minister and asked him, why are you wearing black dress? He said, I don't know, I just saw that shopkeeper wearing black dress, I'm also wearing black dress. So finally, the minister of the king went to the shopkeeper and said, I started wearing black dress after seeing you wearing black dress. Why were you wearing black dress? And he said, my dear donkey to whom I was so attached, he died. So I was mourning his death. So because he was wearing a black dress, because his donkey died, the whole town started wearing a black dress. So Prabhupada said, people are just following the blind without investigating what is the goal of life. So cats, dogs, Every type of animal also gets its quota of sense enjoyment. Even the birds get their quota of sense enjoyment. Even the monkey gets his quota of sense enjoyment. The monkey and the pigeon, they're both vegetarians, but they engage in sense enjoyment, sexual acts, even 100 times a day.

So the point is that sense enjoyment is not just the privilege of the human form of body. Therefore Maharaja Rāja Dev says one must perform austerities. One must render devotional service, and that austerity should not be whimsical, but it should be according to the bona fide scriptures. Just like if you go to India, you'll see that many places in the heat of summer, people will just light fire and sit next to the fire. Some people in the extreme cold will go and take bath, stay in cold water for hours and hours. Some people voluntarily stop to speak But here the word used is divyam. Divyam means transcendental. So one must perform spiritual austerity in order to succeed on the spiritual path. Now generally people are scared of austerity, and even when it comes to spiritual life, the fear remains. And even when it comes to spiritual life, the illusionary energy is always trying to bewilder us. The illusionary energy is always trying to make us believe The sense enjoyment is superior to spiritual path. Therefore one has to be alert so that one does not get distracted from the spiritual path. So by performing spiritual austerity, there is a gain, and that gain according to Maharaja Dṛṣṣadeva in this verse is spiritual happiness. Why is it that since, since times immemorial people are performing devotional service? Why is it that so many people in your country and in other countries are taking to Krishna consciousness. We do not promise any sense enjoyment.

Why are people still taking? Because there is some satisfaction.

Just like when you eat food, there's satisfaction, and you say, okay, now no more. So similarly, Maharāja Prasāda was saying that in exchange for this devotional service, there will be the realization of spiritual happiness. Āhārī Śrīdeva says spiritual happiness is transcendental to material happiness. In other words, there's a difference between these two different types of happiness, material happiness and transcendental happiness. Material happiness has a beginning and an end. And how much material happiness you may have, the more you have, the less you want. In material happiness, after some time you get tired. That's why people work for 5 days and then the rich men, they go to their dacha in the weekend, isn't it?

In the Western countries, dachas are very common.

Almost all rich people go away on the weekends. But in your country also, people are catching up now. People want to go away on vacation. Theaters, movies, casinos, all these are attempts by individuals to change their routine and find happiness. But there is no happiness. So there, Maharāja Rāja Dev is saying material happiness is temporary. It has a beginning and an end. But spiritual happiness, Maharāja Rāja Dev says, goes on forever. In other words, spiritual happiness is always increasing, increasing, increasing. Sometimes devotees argue that I'm not feeling spiritual happiness. What's the reason? The reason is We are not taking the medicine properly. If you take the medicine properly, then you're guaranteed to experience spiritual happiness. So in spiritual association, you are led to understand that sense enjoyment is not the highest form of activity one should engage in. In spiritual association, you understand, as Maharāja Rādhārāṇḍadeva said, that this material body is giving you nothing but pain.. And if you engage in sense enjoyment, you'll get again nothing but pain. So in the material world, the principal illusion is the attraction, the male to the female, the female to the male. And on the basis of this, the knot gets tied and one gets attached to family, the extension of the family, the place of birth, and so on. And due to this illusion, the living entity identifies with two things: I, ya, and moha. Ya, I and mine. So where is the I in your body? Does anybody know?

And where is the myo?

Where is the mine?

So we are always saying I and mine, I and mine, but where is I?

Where is mine? Brahmaji, when he created this universe, he created five different types of illusion. One was false identification with the body. That means thinking the body to be your real self. Then false sense of proprietorship. That means this is mine, this is my house, my quartier, my machine, my, my, my. Then Brahman established the fear of death. Everyone is fearful of death. The animal doesn't want to die and the human beings don't want to die. Therefore, to kill animal just for our tongue is very, very unpleasant and very, very sinful. So this is fear of death. Everybody wants to avoid death. Even the old man tells the doctor, please, some of the other, extend my life, because there's a fear what will happen after death. Then principle of self-deception. And then just like a man who's intoxicated, he can't really understand his true self. Then anger after frustration. That means when you don't get what you want, you get frustrated, and then you become angry. So these 5 things are the cause, or they are different aspects of ignorance. All different types of Maya that you see in society falls under these 5 headings. And then Brahmaji, he was not satisfied by establishing 5 aspects of ignorance, so he also created 4 aspects of spiritual knowledge. And the 4 aspects of spiritual knowledge he created are the path of yoga, the path of samkhya, the path of tapasya, and the, the path, path of austerity. So yoga means the process by which you can understand the Supreme Lord. Samkhya yoga is a philosophy by which you understand the difference between matter and spirit. And austerity, austerity means to renounce activities of sense enjoyment in favor of a higher goal of life. And jnana, jnana means spiritual knowledge, because unless you have spiritual knowledge You cannot counteract the power of illusion. So the living entity has been given the free choice of either associating with illusory energy or associating with the divine energy. Just like they say in the business language, you get what you pay for. Similarly, the type of spiritual— based on the surrender, based on how you accept, the degree to which you accept Kṛṣṇa's teachings, one is rewarded accordingly. Now if you associate with the spiritual energy of the Lord, then the result will be unlimited happiness. And if you associate with the inferior energy of the Lord, namely the illusory energy, then you'll be tossed. Just like sometimes you see on the banks of the river, the waves of the ocean are just tossing the straws and the ball or whatever there is in the ocean. Similarly, due to unlimited material desires, the living entity is just being tossed from one location to another.

So if you associate with the divine energy of the Lord, then Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhāgavad-gītā, na sojati na kaṅṣati, that is, brahma-bhūta-prasannātmā na sojati na kaṅṣati.

You'll be transcendently situated and there'll be no hankering and no lamenting. There are two types of hankering and lamenting, material and spiritual.

Material lamentation is Oh, I had this, now I have lost it. Lama Lama Ale Ale.