Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.4.3-4 Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.) papraccha cemam evartham yan mam prcchatha sattamah krsnanubhava-sravane sraddadhano maha-manah samstham vijnaya sannyasya karma trai-vargikam ca yat vasudeve bhagavati atma-bhavam drdham gatah Translation: “O great sages, the great soul Maharaja Pariksit, constantly rapt in the thought of Lord Krsna, knowing well of his imminent death, renounced all sorts of fruitive activities, namely acts of religion, economic development, and sense gratification, and thus fixed himself firmly in his natural love for Krsna and asked exactly all these questions, as you are asking me.” Prabhupada: So, krsnanubhava-sravane sraddadhano maha-manah. Vasudeve bhagavati atma-bhavam drdham gatah. Krsnanubhava-sravane. When we hear from right source, the natural result will be Krsna consciousness, krsnanubhava, krsna-bhavanamrta. Sraddadhano maha-manah. One who hears with attention, with faith, maha-manah. Just like the great sages in Naimisaranya, they did. Real purpose is vasudeve bhagavati atma-bhavam drdham gatah, to increase our affection or love for Krsna. Vasudeve bhagavati. Vasudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogah prayojitah, janayaty asu vairagyam [SB 1.2.7]. Purpose, sannyasya, renounced… People cannot renounce. They are very much attached to this material body and anything in relationship with this body. But the real purpose of human life is to become renounced, no more material body. That is required. Vairagyam. This is called vairagyam, or renounced. Because we want this material body, therefore we get it, life after life. This will continue so long we’ll be overpowered by material thought. Material thought means these fruitive activities. “I shall work very hard, and I shall get so much wealth, and for this purpose I can go to church and temple. If God gives me millions of dollars, then I am ready to go there.” So real purpose is sense gratification. “If I take to religious principles, then I’ll get more money without any hard work, and if I get more money, then I’ll be able to satisfy my senses.” This is called dharmartha-kama. And there is another stage, which is called moksa, liberation. So people are not interested for liberation. They want to become religious for material benefits. But that is not the real purpose of life. Material benefit, you cannot get more than what you are destined to have; that is already fixed up. According to your body… You get the body. We get different types of body, and according to the body, our material sufferings and enjoyment are fixed up, already. You cannot have more or less. Otherwise… you’ll see, one man is working so hard, day and night, and he could hardly maintain himself or his family. And another man, he’s going to the market, sits down for one hour, and earns 100,000 dollars, immediately. You can see. Simply by touching the phone, he simply asks, “What is the rate of this? What is the rate of that?” and he makes one transaction, and immediately he gets one thousand dollars. And this man is working hard, day and night, he could not get even two sufficient meals. So that means the, according to the body, the material happiness and… Just like you are. You have got this American body. So automatically your country’s facilities… You are more comfortable than other countries because you have no scarcity, enough production. Everything is enough. So according to the body, you are getting comforts of life. And in another country, deserted country, very hard living, cannot get nice foodstuffs, only living on animals. That is also very rarely. So these are different. Just like in Greenland. It is filled up with ice. They cannot get any nice food. Still they live there. This is maya. They will not think, “Oh, here the life is very difficult. Let me go away from here. Let me go to some other, better place.” No. He’ll not go. Janani janma-bhumis ca svargad api gariyasi. Our birthplace, even it is hell, it is better than heaven. That is maya. Just like hog. Hog is living most abominable condition of life, with stools and filthy water, but still, he is thinking he’s living in heaven. Janani janma-bhumis ca svargad api gariyasi. So therefore, the conclusion is that so far material comforts are concerned, you cannot get more. Or less. You will get. It is already fixed up. Deha-yogena dehinam. Sukham aindriyakam daitya deha-yogena dehinam, sarvatra labhyate… eh? Yatha duhkham ayatnatah. Prahlada Maharaja says. Sarvatra labhyate. So far material comfort is concerned, what you are destined to get, you’ll get it, in wherever you may live. It doesn’t matter. Your allotment is already there. That is your body. And our sense pleasure means this material bodily pleasure. That is all. Sukham aindriyakam. We have got these senses: hands, legs, eyes, ears, and five working senses, and knowledge-gathering senses. They are all constitute the whole body. So bodily comfort means this sense gratification. Dharma, artha, kama. But here it is said trai-vargikam. Samstham vijnaya sannyasya karma trai-vargikam ca yat. When you are ready for death, there is no more this trai-vargikam. Trai-vargikam means religion and economic development and sense gratification. This is human civilization. This is not human civilization, in one sense, because there is question of dharma. Dharma means religion. Religion… not exactly in the same way as we understand in English language: “a kind of faith.” Dharma. Generally, people understand that “I have got my own dharma.” “I am Hindu; I am Christian; I am Muslim; I am this; I am that.” But in Sanskrit language, dharma does not mean like that, “a kind of faith.” No. Faith is blind. Today you are Hindu, tomorrow you are Christian, today you are Christian. So this faith-changing is not dharma. Dharma means “which you cannot change.” That is dharma. Not that whimsically I change. That dharma is service. Every one of us rendering some service to others. That is dharma. Every one of us. Jivera svarupa haya krsnera nitya dasa. Caitanya Mahaprabhu gives us immediate information what is a living entity. He immediately gives the definition that a living entity means who is rendering service to the Lord. So we are rendering service. Somebody’s rendering service to the countries, society, family, and at least, to dog, to cat. That is our general inclination, because we want to give service to the Supreme. But because we have forgotten the Supreme, our service attitude is now distributed in so many ways. But I am serving. That’s a fact. Either you serve dog or either you serve God; the service is there. That you cannot avoid. You cannot say, nobody can say that “I am not serving anyone.” Even becoming God, so-called God… As there are so many rascals, say, they say that “We are God” or “I am God, everyone God.” God is never servant. God is enjoyer; God is master. God does not serve anyone. Just like you see, we have God here, Krsna. He’s not serving, He’s enjoying. That is God. You’ll always find God enjoying. God is not servant. Master. Krsna says bhokta. Bhokta means enjoyer. Everyone should be engaged for His service, and He’s the only enjoyer. Ekale isvara krsna. The only enjoyer, only master, is Krsna, and all others, they are servants. Now, there may be gradation of servant, just like in your country, President Nixon is also a servant. And ordinary constable, he is also a servant. Everyone is servant; nobody is master. So there is gradation of service. That’s all. Somebody is serving as President, somebody is serving as constable, somebody is serving as dog, somebody is serving as cat. And similarly, somebody is loving reciprocally. In this way, the whole situation is there. But the central point is, master is Krsna, or God, and our love should be reposed unto Him. This is the point. This is Krsna consciousness. Sraddadhano maha-manah. So one who has fixed up his goal of life in this way, that “I am rendering service. That’s a fact. But I am not satisfied. Why? I am rendering so much service.”… Just like in our country, Mahatma Gandhi rendered so much service to his country that at the end he was killed by his countrymen. Just see. This is the return. Your country also. President Kennedy, he was a nice president, but he was killed. So here in this material world, or maya, if you render service to maya, illusion, you’ll never be satisfied. Neither the person to whom you are giving service, he’ll be satisfied. There is no satisfaction, either to the so-called master or to the servant. Because Krsna is missing. That’s all. One should understand this. This is the actually fact. Here the service is going on, but the master and the servant, both are not satisfied. But there is another platform, spiritual world, where service rendered, both the master and the servant become satisfied, immediately. Tasmin tuste jagat tustah. The same example. Just like if (you) put your eatables into the stomach, so the stomach is satisfied and all the servants, the hands, legs, and others who acquire their foodstuff and put into the mouth, they are also satisfied, automatically. The hands, legs, fingers, eyes—every part of my body, immediately satisfied. Yatha pranopaharac ca yathendriyanam. We are, at the present moment in the material existence, we are trying to be satisfied. That is also… The example is there. Just like a child is crying. You give him something eatable, he puts it in the mouth, and he’s satisfied, no more crying. Similarly, actually if we want to be satisfied, then, as it is said here, samstham vijnaya sannyasya karma trai-vargikam, give up this, samstham, samstham vijnaya … Samstham means death. Death is sure. Death is the best surety as… “As sure as death.” Nobody can say that “I can avoid death.” That’s a fact. So one who actually understands that “I’ll have to die,”… People do not understand. Everyone thinks that he will not die. He’ll not die. That is called maya. He’s seeing that everyone is dying; still, he’s thinking that “I shall not die” or “I shall live for millions of years. There is no question of death.” But it is a fact. You may be advanced in science, but he, this death is sure. That’s a fact. Therefore it is advised here that samstham vijnaya, one who is actually intelligent, he should know that he will die. But the karmis, the rascals, he knows also that he will die—at least, theoretically accept—but he wants to enjoy, since the death does not come, to the fullest extent. That is the present condition of the society. He knows that will he die. “So, so long my senses are there, let me gratify.” Now, yesterday, when I went to the bank, there was a cinema signboard, what is that? Karandhara: “Is there sex after death?” Prabhupada: Yes. (laughter) You see? Because this material life means sex. So, they are seeking sex after death, also. (Laughter) This is, I mean to say, plain acceptance of the materialistic… He’ll, “Is there sex after death?” they’re inquiring. If there is sex after death, then they are not fearful of death. (laughter) There is a story that one man was drinking. So, drinking in India is a great sin. So his friend advised that “You are drinking. You’ll go to hell.” So he said, “Oh, my father also drinks.” So he said, “Your father also will go to hell.” “Oh, my brother also drinks.” “Oh, he also will go to hell.” In this way, he continued to say, “My father, my brother, my sister, my this, my that…” So… And he was replying, “Yes, he will also go to hell.” “Oh, hell is heaven. Because we’re all drinking here and drinking there. So what is the hell? That is heaven.” Similarly, this is, this signboard is like that. “If sex is there after death then that is not death. That is life.” (laughter) You see? So actually, you have got sex after death. Because you’ll get into another body. Now you are having sex as human being in very nice apartment or on the street, on the beach, as you like. In the next life also, as cats and dogs, you will have sex life. The sex life is not denied, because the life is there. Ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam ca. This maithuna, maithuna means sex life. Eating, sleeping, and sex life, and defending. Ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam ca samanyam etat pasubhir naranam. So this is now inquiry. Now, if this inquiry is taken scientifically, “Is there sex after death?” it is not joking, if it is taken seriously, so people should be informed that “Yes, there is sex after death. Why there is no sex? Because there is life after death. You get another body. Maybe a god’s body, demigod’s body, or dog’s body, you’ll get another body, according to your own work. And as soon as you get body, these four things are there: eating, sleeping, sex, and defending.” So there is, actually. So the higher inquiry should be that “Then what is the position of this sex life?” The position of this sex life is eternal. The sex life is from Radha and Krsna. Cin-mithuna, cin-mithuna, spiritual. But there the sex life is not like this abominable sex life. There is sex impulse in the original. Otherwise how we have got this sex impulse? In the Vedanta-sutra it is said, janmady asya yatah [Bhag. 1.1.1]. “Supreme Brahman, Absolute Truth, is there, is that from whom everything comes.” So if there is sex life there in the Absolute Truth … There must be sex life. Otherwise where you have got it? Wherefrom we get it? Everything is there, but the difference is that here, everything is contaminated, abominable, and there, everything is without inebrieties; it is happy, healthy, and eternal blissful. That is the difference. The things are there. Just like Krsna’s mother. Motherly affection of mother Yasoda upon Krsna. And Krsna is playing as child, pleasing mother Yasoda. So that thing is also in this material world. Here also, the mother likes to raise his beloved child, the child also plays to give pleasure to the mother. The rasa… Rasa means the humor or mellow. Exchange between the mother and child is there and here also. Similarly friendship, similarly conjugal love. Everything, all the five rasas, mellows, are there. The impersonalists cannot understand. They’re afraid of… As soon as they hear “love,” “Oh, love? Here is love, frustrated. Then it is maya. Then Krsna’s love is also maya.” Therefore they are called Mayavadi. They are carrying this material idea to the spiritual idea. And when they cannot accommodate, they make it zero or impersonal. Sunyavadi. That is their position. They cannot understand that these very things are existing in the spiritual world in a blissful way. So there is sex, but there is blissful sex. Not that… Here, we want to enjoy sex life, but at the same time want to get out of the result of sex life; therefore we use contraceptive tablets. Because result of sex life is very, I mean to say, miserable. So we want to avoid the miserable condition of sex life, but there is another life, where there is no miserable condition of sex life. That is spiritual life. But the ordinary poor fund of knowledge, they cannot understand it. They think that “Here, the sex life is miserable, conditional sex life. So if in the spiritual world there is also sex life, then it is also miserable.” So this conception of sex impulse, just like Radha Krsna and gopis’ dealing with Krsna, they think it is maya. Therefore they are called Mayavadis. They have no knowledge. Their brain cannot accommodate this idea that all these activities can be very blissful, supreme. Without any difficulty, without any miserable condition. They cannot understand it. But … Therefore it requires higher intelligence to understand Krsna consciousness. Krsna consciousness is trying to give the people the happiness to which is simply blissful, without any inebrieties. That is Krsna consciousness. So here, vasudeve bhagavati atma-bhavam drdham gatah. Vasudeve bhagavati. Vasudeva, the son of Vasudeva, Krsna, bhagavati, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here… Just like if I give one’s father’s name, then you know the man particularly. So here, bhagavati. There are many expansions of God. Advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam [Bs. 5.33]. But He is particularly mentioned here: vasudeva, Krsna. Krsna’s name is Vasudeva. Vasudeve bhagavati atma-bhavam drdham gatah. We are trying to enjoy life by making friends, atma-bhavam. Atma-bhavam means very intimate. Intimate, near relative, or beloved. So we have to change our consciousness. Instead of trying to make this material world as beloved, you have to make Krsna as beloved. That is Krsna consciousness. The everything is there. You get everything in return, as here, you are trying to enjoy, but without any inebriety. That is called Krsna consciousness. So Pariksit Maharaja attained this stage. Therefore he could give up all his kingdom, all his family, all his animals and everything, and he simply became Krsna conscious. Read the purport? Pradyumna: “The three activities of religion, economic development, and sense gratification …” Prabhupada: Oh, there is no time. All right, have kirtana. Hare Krsna. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Los Angeles, June 27, 1972