Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.1 in Hindi – August 29, 1976, Delhi

Rsabhadeva was the father of Maharaja Bharata. Maharaja Bharata, by whose name this planet is called Bharatavarsa. His father Rsabhadeva was an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He was instructing His sons before retirement. Previously people used to retire. Whether he was a king, or especially brahmanas, ksatriyas and vaisyas. Particularly the brahmanas and the ksatriyas used to retire. Nowadays nobody retires. That is not Vedic system. Vedic system means varnasrama. That which is going on now in the name of Hindu-dharma has simply become hodgepodge. The real thing is varnasrama-dharma. And what is the purpose of varnasrama-dharma? To worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The whole civilisation, the purpose of Vedic civilisation is visnu aradhan: to worship Lord Visnu. Visnur aradhyate. [aside:] What is that child? Disturb. But the difficulty is na te viduḥ svartha-gatim hi visnum [SB 7.5.31] People do not know what is their self interest? Mam eva saranam gatah. This is the self interest. Just like the Supreme Lord has said sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg 18.66]

This is the self interest. Everywhere in the sastra this has been stressed that reach the goal of life. What is the aim of life? The aim of varnasrama-dharma is also visnur aradhyate pumsam nanyat tat-tosa-karanam. To worship Lord Visnu four social orders-brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sūdra, and four spiritual orders-brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, sannyasa have been created. This is called varnasrama-dharma. Now the varnasrama-dharma has broken. It is there in the name only and not by action. Therefore for the worship of Lord Visnu, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the purpose is visnur aradhan, but the varnasrama system has broken and to re-establish it is very difficult. Therefore according to scriptural injunctions, Caitanya Mahaprabhu has inaugurated this sahkirtana movement. This is the scriptural conclusion. Kaler dosa-nidhe rajan asti hy eko mahan gunaḥ [SB 12.3.51]

In Kali-yuga, the vivid descriptions of Kali-yuga is given in the twelfth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam was compiled five thousand years ago and the things that will happen in Kali-yuga were written in it. So in that connection Sukadeva Gosvami said to Pariksit Maharaja that "Maharaja, the Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults. How far can you estimate the qualities and flaws of this yuga? Know for certain that it is an ocean of faults. Only flaws and nothing else. However, it has a great advantage. Especially for Kali-yuga." Because in Kali-yuga almost everyone is fallen. They are called fallen because they have forgotten the aim of life. They are simply working hard whole day just to enjoy sense gratification. They do not know what is the purpose of human life? This is the special symptom of Kali-yuga. This applies to all the yugas that people forget the Supreme Personality of Godhead and work hard whole day just to maintain the body. This same symptom, not today, but thousands of years ago Rsabhadeva explained to His sons. My dear sons, this body, ayam sarira, this body, nrloke, in the human society, everyone receives a body. A dog also gets a body, an ass also gets. But the human body, nayam deha, this body, nayam deho deha-bhajam nrloke. The body in the human society, kastan kaman arhate viḍ-bhujam ye, it is not proper to utilise this body to work hard whole day and thus forget the ultimate goal of human life. He instructed this long time ago. Na arhate. Because the neceesities of life, ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam ca [Hitopadesa 25]

Need to eat something, need a place to sleep, make some arrangement for defense, ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithuna, and sex life between man and woman. But Rsabhadeva says that even a hog does this. There is nothing special skill in it. Viḍ-bhujam, especially viḍ-bhujam. The word vid means dirt, so even the dirt-eater hog works whole day for this. Where to eat, where to sleep, where to enjoy sex life and how to defend from fearful condition? This is not for human life. Even an animal does it. He even mentioned hog, viḍ-bhujam. Then what it is for? Tapo divyam. This human form of life is meant for tapasya. This is Vedic civilisation. tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam suddhyed. Our existence, "I am" everyone knows that I exist. To purify this existence. Is it impure? Yes, certainly impure. It is impure because you have to die. In the Bhagavad-gita the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly declares na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg 2.20]

The spirit soul does not die when the body is destroyed. Na hanyate. Antavanta ime deha nityasyoktaḥ saririnaḥ. [Bg 2.18] What is perishable? It is the body. And the soul within the body is not perishable. So Suddhyet-satta, Sattva-suddhi, suddha-sattva is spiritual. Suddha-sattva means spiritual. Our present existence is not pure. It is impure because of traigunya: three material modes.

Our bodily requirements are maintained by the prakrti. By the material qualities. Sattva-raja-tamo guna: the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. They supply. One who is in the mode of goodness, he receives a superior body-a brahmana body or a demigod body. One who is in the mode of passion, he gets a ksatriya body. In this way,

What is the reason for getting superior and inferior bodies? Karanam guna-sahgo'sya. These material qualities-sattva-guna, rajo-guna, tamo-guna, as we associate with these qualities we will be awarded bodies accordingly.

That we get different types of body, what's the reason for this? Karanam guna-sahgasya. As we associate with the modes of material nature, just like a disease, infection, if you knowingly or unknowingly infect with some particular germ then you will have to suffer from that disease. In the same way, karanam guna-sahgasya, as we will be associating with modes of nature we will receive different bodies. Whether you get a brahmana body, or a demigod body, or a dog body, or a further lower body, it is antavanta ime deha. They all are subjected to come to an end. And in the beginning of Bhagavad-gita the Supreme Lord personally said

There will be change of body. What kind of change of body and what kind of body we are going to get next that we don't know. Although everything is explained in the sastra, the kind of body you want you can get it. You follow the prescribed process.

If you want to transfer yourself to the higher planets like Svargaloka, Janaloka, Mahaloka, Tapoloka, there are many higher planets, you can go there. Yanti deva-vrata devan pitṝn yanti pitr-vrataḥ, you can go to Pitraloka. Bhūtejya yanti bhūtani, if you want to remain here that is also possible. And mad-yajino'pi yanti mam, if you want to go to the Supreme Personality of Godhead then worship Him. Everything is open. As we want. Yathecchasi tatha kuru. [Bg 18.63]

The Supreme Lord told Arjuna that I have explained everything to you. Now you think it over and consider and then do as you like. So everything is in our hands. We can go to the heavenly planets, we can go to the planet of the ancestors, we can remain here also if we like, or we can go back to Godhead. All these things are described in the sastra how to go there. The same thing Rsabhadeva is instructing that this human form of body is a junction. From here you can choose your destination and you will achieve. Change of your body is a must.

He who is intelligent and sober, quickly understands that there is the change of body. One who is most foolish, he doesn't understand at all what is dehantara. This is today's education. Big fools. Big, big university proffessors are all great fools. They don't understand the change of body. They say, "Svamiji, when this body is finished everything is finished." Big, big leaders, proffessors, educationists don't understand what is dehantara? The Supreme Lord Himself is teaching and giving example. Kaumaram yauvanam jara yatha. A boy must grow young, dehantara. The boy-body will not stay. He must get a young body. Supose a boy says that "I won't become young." What is the use of his saying? It is nature's law that he must grow young. And if a young man says "I will not become old man." What's the use of saying? He must become. Tatha dehantara praptir. What is the value of your saying? "I will not change my body. I will finish my existence with this body." No use of your talking.

Just by telling forcibly will you be relieved? No. That is not possible. This is today's education that there is no dehantara, no reincarnation, no past life, no heaven, no hell and many others things that are given in the sastra are all denied. So what can be done? They have become such foolish. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself says

One who does not follow the scriptural conclusion and works whimsically, his life is certainly a failure. Na siddhim avapnoti. Na sukham, he does not achieve happiness. And forget about attaining para-gati: supreme destination. This is going on. Therefore through this Krsna Consciousness movement we are trying little bit to preach that kindly follow the instructions given in our sastra, rectify your life, and ultimately make your goal of life successful. This is what Rsabhadeva instructed not today, but long time ago. This same thing. Change of body. Now the question is why this change of body? We have to change our body because our existence is not pure. Just like if a person becomes ill, he must suffer. It is stated in the sastra that as soon as you accept a material body you must suffer. There are varieties of miseries. One misery or other you must suffer. This is because asann api klesada asa dehaḥ [SB 5.5.4]

Although this body is not permanent, but so long it remains it will give you trouble. Therefore we always try to mitigate distress. How to mitigate distress. We don't even know what it means by mitigate of distress in the first place. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead personally reveals that your real problem is janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi: birth, death, old age and disease are certainly the primary distresses of the material world. [Bg 13.9] You are trying to mitigate your temporary miseries, and also your happiness they all will go away when the body is finished. But then again you will have to accept another body according to your past deeds and suffer the resultant actions. So if want to remove your miseries permanently then you purify your existence. For that you have to undergo tapasya. Tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam suddhyed. Purify the existence. And when do you get the opportunity to purify the existence? Ayam deha. Nrdeha. Nrloke. Nayam deho deha-bhajam nr-loke kastan kaman arhate viḍ-bhujam ye.

In this body, in this valuable human body by which you can destroy all your miseries, it is not proper to utilise it like hogs and dogs to eat, enjoy sex life, eating, sleeping, mating and defending and to do that work hard whole day. This is Rsabhadeva's instruction. Nayam deho deha-bhajam nr-loke. Need is there. Since we have got this human form of body, we need to eat, this is must. And need a place to sleep also. The senses are there, they need some gratification. And need to defend from fear. These are important. But to think the life is meant for this only is an utter foolishness. The life has some purpose. What is that purpose? Tapasya. Divyam. Undergo austerity to achieve the transcendental reality. That is why the division of social order namely brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra is created. The brahmanas should teach others how to perform austerity.

Brahmana means ideal life. He shows by example therefore he is a teacher or a guru. This is stated in the sastra. And the ksatriya takes instructions from the brahmanas and maintains the subject in such a way that they become benefitted. This is the duty of the ksatriyas. The duty of the vaisyas is to arrange foodgrains for all. krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam vaisya-karma svabhava-jam [Bg 18.44]

The foodgrains can be produced by farming. By producing foodgrains…The Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself said annad bhavanti bhūtani [Bg 3.14] Grow plenty of foodgrains. Not plenty, but as much as necessary. Annad bhavanti bhūtani parjanyad anna-sambhavaḥ. Production of foodgrain is possible when there is sufficient of rain. Parjanyad anna sambhava. Yajnad bhavati parjanyo. If you perform sacrifice you will get enough rain in time so that you can produce foodgrain very easily. Yajnad bhavati parjanya parjanyad anna-sambhava. These prescriptions are given in the sastra. If you get your food in a simple way and live happily then rest of the time should be utilised for tapo divyam. Tapasya. This is civilisation. Not that civilisation where one is busy whole day like a hog and look for stool. Where is stool? This is not civilisation. Nayam deho deha-bhajam nr-loke kastan. Work hard whole day. Bring money, bring money.

This demoniac civilisation, we have got so much money, we want so much more, bank balance should be this much. In this way by working hard whole life like a hog just to eat, sleep and mate, this kind of civilisation is not desireable. At least in the human form of life this not at all proper. One should perform austerity. Tapo divyam. In this age of Kali that austerity is very simple. That is what I was telling. Although Kali-yuga is full of faults, it has an advantage. What is that? Kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sahgaḥ param vrajet [SB 12.3.51] Simply by chanting the holy name of the Supreme Lord a person becomes liberated from all association of material qualities. These faults, kalau dosa nidhi, one becomes free from all faults. He becomes faultless. This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's instruction. Ceto-darpana-marjanam. [Siksastaka 1] Where are the flaws? They are all sitting in the heart. All flaws, all dirty things are accumulated in the heart. This hari-kirtana inaugurated by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by performing hari-kirtana the first instalment of benediction is ceto-darpana-marjanam. The heart will be purified. I am thinking I am Hindu, or Muslim, I am Indian, I am American. What are these? These are simply designations. Actually aham brahmasmi: I am spirit soul. This is real identification.

These things described in the sastra in a very simple manner. Therefore a person should labor hard for this cause. Undergo little austerity. See for example, in Europe and America people are accepting it. They are doing little tapasya voluntarily. What tapasya? Four things. No illicit sex. No meat eating. No intoxication. And no gambling. Four. Just like this cot has got four legs. Similarly the four legs of sinful life are these-illicit sex, eating meat, gambling and intoxication. In Kali-yuga, these four thigs are widely spread throughout the whole world. So it is little difficult to give them up. But by tapasya it is possible. Though it will be difficult to give up, by tapasya which means to voluntarily tolerate some inconviniences, it is possible.

This is called tapasya. Tapasya doesn't mean sit down in a chair and smoke cigarette. No. For tapasya you will have to accept some hardship. Just like these boys, they have given the four things. Have they died because of that? From their childhood their parents teach them, they take meat powder, mix it with water and forcibly spoonfeed their child. They are taught. This is the position. The poor children have no faults because from the beginning they are taught like that. Meat eating. The parents drink wine and the children are given soda, lemonade to drink. They are too small to drink wine. But they learn. Soft drinking. It is called soft drinking. So the poor children are taught. Since they have forgot all that is it difficult for the Indians to give these up? But no, they won't do tapasya. Tapasya must be done. Without tapasya nothing is accomplished. Previously, big, big sages, kings used to retire from home and go to jungle to perform tapasya. But that is not possible in Kali-yuga. Do little tapasya, give up these four things and chant the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Is it difficult? One must do this. This Krsna Consciousness movement is preaching this all over the world. That same thing belongs to India. You all accept it. There is no benefit in maintaining a demoniac way of life.

Today I have got this much money, tomorrow I will have more, day after tomorrow it will increase further and so on. In this way, Yamaraja will come one day and snatch away everything by kicking and say "Now go and become a dog." This is what happens. Tatha dehantara-praptir [Bg 2.13]. According to your karma you will receive a body. Prakrteḥ kriyamanani gunaiḥ karmani sarvasaḥ [Bg 3.27]. That is in the hands of prakrti. Your being a high official will have no value at that time. At that time prakrti is the high official. "Dear son, you become a dog. You were given a human body, but you did not utilise it. You acted like a dog."] [end]