So these jivas, we, we are plural number. Jiva-bhagah sa vijneyah sa canantyaya kalpate. How many jivas are there, there is no limit. Nobody can count. Ananta. Ananta means you cannot get the limit, that "So many millions or so many thousands." No. You cannot count. So all these jivas, we, living entities, we are being maintained by that one. This is the Vedic information. Eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman. Just like we maintain our family. One man is earning, and he is maintaining his family, wife, children, servants, dependents, workers, so many. Similarly, that one, Bhagavan, is maintaining all the living entities. You do not know how many there are. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They are also eating forty kg's at one time. So that, they are also being maintained. And the small ant, that is also being maintained. There are 8,400,000 forms of different bodies. Who is maintaining them? Maintaining, Bhagavan, that ekah. Eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman. That is a fact. So why He'll not maintain us? Especially those who are devotees, who have taken shelter at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, leaving aside everything simply for His service.

Just like in our Krsna consciousness movement. We have got more than one hundred centers. And one center... We were just reading from the statement of Nava Bharata Times how they are well managed. But we have no business. We have no source of income. That is the only source of incomeKrsna's shelter. Samasrita ye pada-pallava-plavam. Therefore sastra says that "You take shelter of Krsna." Krsna comes also to say the same truth. Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. He never said that "You do this and do that. Then I shall give you for your maintenance." No. Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami: "Not only I shall give maintenance, but I shall protect you from the resultant action of sinful life." So much assurance is there. So sastra also says, tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah [SB 1.5.18]. Tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovidah. Kovida means intelligent, very intelligent person. So what should he try for? Tasyaiva hetoh: to get shelter at the lotus feet of Krsna. Human life should only endeavor how to get in touch of the lotus feet of Krsna. That should be the only one business.

Tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah [SB 1.5.18]. (aside:) Let them sit down. Upary adhah. Upari adhah. Upari means higher planetary system. There are seven planetary system. This is in the middle. We are in the Bhurloka. Those who are chanting gayatri-mantra, om bhur bhuvah svah tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi... So there are fourteen planetary systems within one universe. So we living entities, we are wandering in different types of forms of body and in different planets. That we are... According to our karma, sometimes down, sometimes up, in this way we are wandering. Therefore sastra says, "Just like you are wandering in this way, your business is how to become materially happy, how to satisfy your senses. But don't do that. Don't do that." Then? What shall I do? Tasyaiva hetoh. "How to understand Krsnafor that purpose you should endeavor." Then how shall I eat? "No, that eating and sleeping, the business of the body, that is already arranged. That is already arranged. You don't have to work for it." Kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa. Tal labhyate duhkhavad anyatah sukham. Our endeavor is to achieve happiness. That is our struggle for existence.

Sastra says, tal labhyate duhkhavat. Duhkhavat means... Just like we don't want anything unhappy or miserable condition of life, but we get it. We don't endeavor for it. Nobody says, "Let there be fire in my house. Let my child die." Nobody aspires these things. Everyone thinks that "My child may live. There may not be any danger. I'll get so much money." Nobody thinks of the opposite. But the opposite number comes. The catastrophes come. You don't pray for it. You don't go to the temple for praying, "My Lord, let there be fire in my house." Nobody goes. He goes for something better. So sastra says that "Which you do not pray for, still, it comes, duhkhavat, without your invitation, similarly, whatever happiness you'll have to enjoy, that will also come." Tal labhyate duhkhavad anyatah sukham. Therefore the conclusion is that "Don't try for your so-called happiness or so-called distress. Try to achieve that position where you can understand Krsna and get shelter at His lotus feet." This is human endeavor. Tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah [SB 1.5.18]. Upary adhah.

Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu says to Rupa Gosvami,

So this is for everyone. Don't think that "Only the culprit is President Nixon, and we are, I am very safe." There is a Bengali proverb: ghunte pore gobar hase.(?) Gobar means cow dung, and ghunte means... What is called in English? The dried cow dung. So dried cow dung is used for fuel. So when the dry cow dung is being burned into the oven, the safe oven is laughing, "Oh, you are being burned. I am in safe side." (laughter) He does not know that when he'll be dry, he'll be put into the fire also. So we are laughing that "President Nixon is in trouble. I am very safe. I have got so much bank balance." No, nobody's safe. They... As like the same, cow dung soft. When it will be dried up, it will be put into the fire. And that dryness will come to everyone. That is a fact. What is that? Death. You may be safe at the present, for a few years, but you cannot avoid death. "As sure as death." And what is the result of death? The same. As the president is taken out from his position, everything, all honor, all money all..., even life, similarly, at the time of death Krsna says, mrtyuh sarva-haras ca aham: "I come as death and plunder everything, whatever you have got." Your bank balance, your skyscraper building, your nice wife, your childrenyou have to give up. You cannot say, "My dear death, kindly give me some time. Let me adjust." "No adjustment. Immediately get out."

So foolish people, they do not know what is the miserable condition of this material life. Therefore Krsna says real knowledge is janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi [Bg. 13.9], to know that "However great I may be, these four principles of miserable condition of life, there are." It is existing in the Brahmaloka, in the Patalaloka, everywhere, sarvatra. Gabhira-ramhasa. Tal labhyate duhkhavad anyatah sukham kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa. In the due course of time. This is the most wonderful thing. That is, that was questioned by Dharmaraja to Maharaja Yudhisthira, that "What is the most wonderful thing in this world?" He said, ahany ahani bhutani gacchantiha yamalayam: "Every moment so many people are dying." Sesah sthavaram icchanti kim ascaryam atah param: "But those who are living, he thinks that 'My friend has died, but I will live forever.' " No. The same thing. The soft cow dung will be dried up, and the same condition.

So Bhagavan, Bhagavan is not like that person. Therefore it is said, bhagavan atma-mayaya. When Bhagavan... We come here to stay for some days, say fifty years or hundred years, enjoy or suffer life, but Bhagavan does not come for that purpose. Na mam karmani limpanti [Bg. 4.14]. That is stated in the previous verse. And the second verse it is further... Na hy asya varsmanah: "Nobody is greater than Him." Bhagavan means the person, nobody is greater than Him and nobody is equal to Him. That is Bhagavan. Everyone is lower. The Caitanya-caritamrta karaca says, ekale isvara krsna ara saba bhrtya [Cc. Adi 5.142]. Ara saba bhrtya. Only one master is Krsna, and others, beginning from Brahma... Brahma, Visnu, Mahesvara, Indra, Candra, all these demigods... There are hundred and thousands. Thirty-three million demigods. And then this naraloka, there are so many rich men, Rockefeller, Ford, Birla and others, others... So they are bhrtyas, all servants. When Krsna will order, "My dear Mr. such and such, now give up your place. Go away," finish. So therefore they are all servants. This is the position beginning from Brahma down to the ant.

So we should work in such a way that we may not get another body next life. That is wanted. That is wanted. And how it can be done? It can be done very easily. What is that? Simply try to understand Krsna. Simply try to understand Krsna. This is the simple method.

So very simple process. The first thing is, the problem of life is how to conquer over death. We are now accepting death as compulsory. No. Death is not compulsory. Just like to be put into the prison house is not compulsory. It is due to my work. Because I have become criminal, therefore I have been put into the jail. It is not compulsory that everyone has to go to the jail. That is not. So similarly, we living entities, our proper place is the Vaikunthaloka.

Thank you very much. (end)