Bhagavad-gita 13.4
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Paris, August 12, 1973

Devotee: “Now please hear My brief description of this field of activity and how it is constituted, what its changes are, whence it is produced, who that knower of the field of activities is, and what his influences are.”

Prabhupada: Tat ksetram. Idam sariram kaunteya ksetram ity abhidhiyate [Bg. 13.2]. So Krsna has already explained, ksetra means idam sariram. Sariram means this body. Tat ksetram. First of all, you have to understand that this body or any field of action, anywhere, the three things are there: the field of activities, the owner of the field and the supervisor of the field. You can check and tally anywhere. So Krsna says ksetrajnam capi mam viddhi. There are two ksetrajnah and one ksetra. One field of activity and two personalities, ksetrajnah. One is to be supposed as occupier and the other is supposed to be the owner.

Just like in this house we are occupier. The house is ksetra, field of activities. The landlord is the owner and we are the occupier. Two ksetrajnah. This property is interest for two persons. One is the occupier and the other is the owner. Similarly, anywhere, any part of the world, anywhere you go, you will find these three things: One, the field of activities and the other two means one occupier and one owner. If one understands these three things and he can study everywhere these three things, then: ksetra-ksetrajnayor yad jnanam. This knowledge, to understand everywhere that there is a field of activity and two persons are interested in that field of activity… One is the owner, another is the occupier. If you study these three things only, then: taj-jnanam jnanam. That is knowledge. Otherwise all rascals and fools, that’s all. Matam mama. (aside:) Don’t sit like that.

This is jnanam. But ask anybody at the present moment who is the owner, who is the occupier and what is the field of activities. If you ask three things, nobody will be able to answer. That means everyone is rascal at the present. Or they do not know. Ksetra-ksetrajnayor yaj-jnanam, Krsna says, “This relationship between the field of action, and the owner.”

Just like in agriculture. The land is owned by the state or the king. And it is rented or occupied by somebody else. And the land is the field of action. So Krsna is giving direction. Krsna is giving direction, and the living entity is there. He is acting according to that direction.

So both Krsna and the living entity are sitting in one tree. That is stated in the Upanisad. Two birds are sitting in one tree. One is eating the fruit of the tree and other is simply witnessing. The witnessing bird is Krsna. And the bird who is eating the fruits of the tree, he is the living entity. The Mayavadi philosophers, they cannot distinguish between the jiva soul, jivatma, and Paramatma. They know it, but because they are monists, to establish their theory, they say there is no two, there is one. No. Krsna says two. One ksetrajnah, the jivatma, and the other ksetrajnah He is, Krsna. The difference between the two is that the individual living entity knows only about his ksetra, body, but the other living entity, the supreme living entity, He knows all the bodies, everywhere, anywhere, throughout the whole creation. Sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto [Bg. 15.15]. This is the difference.

So material nature is actually the field of activities in our conditioned life. We have—manah sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati [Bg. 15.7]. In the fifteenth chapter you’ll find it, that, who are these living entities, we? Krsna says, mamaivamso: “They are all my parts and parcels.” Mamaivamso. Just like father and the son. A father has got many sons. Similarly, we are all sons of God. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [Bg. 15.7], sanatanah. Sanatanah means eternally. It is not that we are now part and parcel and after liberation we’ll become one, or equal, the Mayavadi theory. No. That is not. Therefore this very word is used, sanatana, eternally. Eternally, we are part and parcel.

Then why they are not with You? Why they are here in this material world? Now manah sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati [Bg. 15.7]. They have preferred to enjoy this material world, to lord it over the material world. Therefore, mind and senses, manah sasthanindriyani , with these senses and mind, karsati. manah sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani. Karsati [Bg. 15.7], karsati means struggling. Struggle for existence. This is our position. We are part and parcel of Krsna. Now we have given up by misuse of our independence. We wanted to imitate Krsna. Krsna is the supreme enjoyer, so when we become envious of Krsna, tan aham dvisatah kruran, the demons are envious. They want to become Krsna. Therefore, you will find so many demons. They will say, “Why Krsna is alone God? I am God, you are God, all of us, we are God.” So they are demons. So demons cannot be allowed in the spiritual world. They are sent in this material world.

Just like in some places I’ve heard in Europe there are many places, where the gamblers and the drunkards, without any license, they can go on with their business. Is there any place like that? Huh?

Bhagavan: Yes.

Prabhupada: What is the name?

Bhagavan: Monte Carlo.

Prabhupada: Yes. So we are given this place, Monte Carlo (laughter). Go on with your sinful activities without any license, go on. Demons. They’ll not hear. They’ll not accept Krsna as the advisor, instructor.

na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah mayayapahrta-jnanah asurim bhavam asritah [Bg. 7.15]

The asurim bhavam asritah means demons. There are two classes of men, demon and god. Not the Godhead, God. Those who are Vaisnavas means obedient to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are also god or godly. And those who are not obedient, they are demons. This is the difference between demon and God or godly. So there are two classes of men always in this material world. In the spiritual world, they are all gods, godly. Krsna is the Godhead and all living entities there, they are godly.

So in the spiritual world there is no facility for the demons. Therefore when Krsna likes to fight, because after many many years not fighting, because in the spiritual world there is no fight. All obedient servant, where is the possibility of fighting? Therefore sometimes He comes here to fight with the demons. (laughter) Just to get the body fit. (laughter) Yes. Therefore sometimes when there are scarcity of demons, some of the devotees, they come and become a demon. Not become demon, just Krsna wants to fight, so without demon, how Krsna will fight? Therefore they play the part of demon so that Krsna—that means they want to serve Krsna. Krsna wants to, just like sometimes big men they keep some wrestlers to make mock fight. Similarly, to serve Krsna, Krsna has desire to fight so they come down and become just like a demon and fight with Krsna.

Just like Hiranyakasipu. They are Jaya and Vijaya, attendant in Vaikuntha. But Krsna wanted to fight, so therefore they came down and became demons like Hiranyakasipu, Ravana and fought with Him. This is, Krsna has all the desires. Otherwise, this fighting desire, where from we get unless it is there in Krsna? There is.

Janmady asya yatah [Bhag. 1.1.1] Everything that we find here, that is in Krsna. Therefore Krsna has got twelve different kinds of relationship. Akhila-rasamrta. Krsna is the reservoir of all kind of rasa. Sometimes fighting is also pleasing. Therefore the fighting spirit is there in Krsna. And we have got also that fighting spirit also, in small quantity. We can fight also, but Krsna can also fight. But when Krsna fight, the opposite party means finished. (laughter) When we fight, that is different. I may be finished or he may be finished. That is different. So this is the position.

Therefore Krsna in the next says tat-ksetram yac ca yadrk. How this ksetra, different types of body, they cannot explain. The so-called scientists, they cannot explain why there are different types of bodies. There are eight million four hundred thousand different types of bodies. And the human race, they are four hundred thousand. These four hundred thousand are distributed all over the universe. On this planet, may be some thousands, not four hundred thousand, not all of them are here. Yet here also in the human forms we find so many differences. The Europeans, the Americans, the Africans, the Indians, the Chinese, different forms. That also can be counted, maybe hundred, two hundred different types of forms of human beings. But there are four hundred thousands. Four hundred thousand. That is the human race.

And eight millions other forms. Eight millions. The aquatics, the trees, these plants, the grass and the insects. We have experience how many different types of insects are there in Mayapur. During night, so many different types of insects come to the fire, to the light. This is another illusion. These insects, they are coming, being attracted by the beauty of the light. The electric light, it is not open. Otherwise, these insects come in the burning fire and die. Beauty. Captivated by the beauty of the fire. So actually it is going on. We are attracted by the beauty of maya and exactly we are falling to the fire and dying.

So there are so many instructions. Even if you study simply these eight million four hundred thousand different kinds of… So how to study them? Krsna is explaining. Tat ksetram. Tat ksetram means that kind of, that body, there are so many. Tat ksetram yac ca yadrk. How they have attained different types of body? The soul is there. Soul, we have already explained, is the ksetrajnam. But except the followers of Vedic knowledge, nobody knows. Just like the Christian people they say there is no soul of the animals. And how is not? Ksetrajnam. Soul is there, everywhere, but they have got their different types of bodies. Therefore Krsna says, tat ksetram. Tat ksetram yac ca yadrk ca. How they have got different? Krsna has already explained in the fifteenth chapter, they are all Krsna’s part and parcels.

In another place Krsna said,

sarva-yonisu kaunteya sambhavanti murtayah tasam mahad yonir brahma aham bija-pradah pita [Bg. 14.4]

He’s the seed-giving father. Therefore, all living entities are Krsna’s part and parcel. It is foolishness to say that other living entities, other than the human being, they have no soul. It is foolishness. They have got soul. Every… Even the ant has got soul, even the microbe has got soul, even the germ has got soul, everyone has got soul. But they have got different types of body only, outward. Therefore Krsna says, yac ca yadrk ca. How they have got different types of bodies? So these, subject matters are very subtle things.

But there is no facility for studying this subject matter in the university or any educational institution. Therefore they are called mudhas. They do not understand what is God. Who was telling me? Some Bengali professor came here, and he said, “I am agnostic.” Who told me just now, in the car? So mostly the so-called educated circle, they are agnostics. They do not believe in God, they do not believe in the soul, and still they are passing on as educationists, learned scholars, professor. This is the pity. Therefore one should learn from Krsna, this education system at the present moment, you cannot learn anything positively. They are all vague.

Here Krsna says, try to understand, each and every body, tat ksetram. Why one soul has got a godly body and one soul has got dog body, one soul has got very beautiful body, another soul has got very ugly body? So one has got nails and jaws, one has very nice beautiful hand, fingers. There are varieties. Krsna says that sa ca yo yat prabhavas ca. Prabhavas ca. And each body has got a different type of influence. Each type of body. This is God’s creation.

There are innumerable planets. Each planet has got a different atmosphere. Just like we have got experience within this planet, Europe has got another atmosphere, India has got another atmosphere. Similarly, all the planets, they are of different atmospheres and each and every planet there are varieties of living entities. Just imagine the living entities are eight million four hundred thousand species. So even if you divide so many thousands and hundreds, still, eight million. This is God’s creation. God’s creation means all these living entities, they want to enjoy this material world in a different capacity and God has given the facility, “Yes, you can enjoy. You can enjoy.” He is giving facility. Sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto [Bg. 15.15] He’s sitting, God is so kind, Krsna is so kind.

Just like you have seen the master taking his dog. The dog is allowed to do whatever he likes, the master waits. The real business of the dog is to obey the master’s order. But the master gives the dog facility, “Yes, you can walk, you can run, you can pass urine, stool, I’ll wait.” As the master gives facility. Similarly, Krsna is so kind, Krsna is so affectionate, that we have come to enjoy this material world, He is giving us the facilities. Just like the master is giving the facility to the dog. Krsna is so kind. But He wants, Krsna wants that every living entity should be obedient to Krsna. Then that is Krsna’s enjoyment.

He’s so kind that He’s asking every living entity, especially the human being, patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati. He’s self-sufficient. He’s not hungry. He is supplying necessities, food, to every living entity. Still He’s hankering for a little flower, little fruit, from this living entity. “Please give Me.” So this is the position. Patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati tad aham asnami: “If you kindly give me even little flower, a little fruit, little water, with faith and love, I will eat.” Krsna is so kind. And He’s simply trying to turn the face of the living entity towards Him. Therefore He is always with us. So this is another— Krsna has come here in this temple to accept your offerings. So that you may again go back to home, back to Godhead.

That is Krsna’s desire. He’s so kind. In whatever way possible, He’s trying to get us back to home, back to Godhead. That is Krsna’s mission. He’s coming Himself as Krsna, the Supreme Personality. He’s coming Himself as the devotee, Lord Caitanya. He came, Krsna, personally, and asked everyone, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja: [Bg. 18.66] “You just, why you are suffering here? You give up all these engagements.” Because here whatever you do will simply create entanglement and suffer, that’s all. You cannot be free to do anything. That is not possible. So Krsna therefore says that, “Don’t bother by manufacturing your ways of thinking.”

Just like yesterday one boy and girl came, he’s poet. I asked him, “What poetry you write? What is the subject matter?” No subject matter. No subject matter. (laughter) This is pagal, Pagal means “mad.” Pisaci paile yena mati-cchana haya mayar grasta jivera sei dasa upajaya. Pisaci, ghost. Ghostly haunted. A person, when he becomes ghostly haunted, he speaks all kinds of nonsense. So maya grasta jivera sei dasa upajaya. Those who have come to this material world under the influence of the external energy of Krsna, maya, they are all madmen.

It is not sastra, it is the opinion of medical science also. The medical science. In India there was a case, a murderer. So his pleader, lawyer pleaded that “This man, when committed this murder, he was insane.” So the judge called for the civil surgeon to examine him whether he has got such tendency, insanity. So he gave evidence, “My lord, so far my knowledge concerned, I have tested so many men, everyone is insane. It is a question of degree. Now if you consider that he was insane, you, that is your business to punish him, or not punish him. But so far my knowledge is concerned, I have studied so many men and I have found they are all insane.” Actually that is the position.

What does it mean, insanity? When his brain is not acting nicely. That is insanity. So anyone who is in this material world, they are against God consciousness. That is the sign of insanity. He’s under the strict regulation of God, still he defies, “There is no God. There is no God, I am God.” This is insanity. Pisaci paile yena mati-cchana haya. So how these different types of insanity is visible, that will be explained, Krsna. Tat ksetram yac ca yadrk ca. Not one kind of body or one kind of insanity, different types of insanities. Yac ca yadrk ca yad vikari. This vikari means transformation. Everyone’s brain is vikari, not in order. Yat vikari yatas ca yat. How such kind of transformation, vikari, this derangement has taken place. Sa ca yo yat prabhavas ca. And prabhavas, everyone, every living entity has got a particular type of prabhavah.

Just like a small bird, immediately he can fly in the sky. And although we are very intelligent, if I want and if you want to fly in the sky, no you cannot. Although he’s supposed to be very intelligent, scientist, but I cannot fly. But a small bird will immediately fly. That is his prabhavah. You must have to admit that this is his special power. Similarly, a vulture, he goes four miles up and his eyes are very small. But from the four miles away he will find out where there is a dead body, immediately jump over. And we have got so many big eyes. But we cannot say, after… This spectacle required. You cannot see even one feet. So this is his prabhavah, influence. A vulture, most, but a nasty bird, still it has got so much influence that you cannot compete with him. So you’ll find in every creature, every living entity, a special prerogative than the others, than the others. So, with the body.

Just like the hog. The hog can eat stool very nicely, very nicely. But although we say that everything is food, we can eat… Then you eat the stool? You cannot eat. He has got the influence that he can eat the stool very nicely. Therefore we should not consider that all living entities are of the same status. They have different status. You cannot say because the other living entity is eating something abominable, therefore I can also eat, it is eatable. No, you cannot do that. If you eat, you will be diseased. Therefore, it is called, “one man’s food is another man’s poison.” Prabhavas ca. One can eat anything. Not anything. Nobody can eat anything. His allotted food.

In the living entities lower than the human being, they follow the nature’s way, their allotted food. Just like the tiger eats blood and flesh. If you offer him nice fruit, nice sweet rice, he’ll not eat. Even the dog, they do not like the sweet rice or nice kachori and srngara. You’ll see. They cannot eat. If they eat, they will fall diseased. In Bengal it is said, kukkure pete ghi sayanaya.[?] Too much fatty things, if you give to the dog, he’ll not be able to digest. So similarly, we are also human beings, we have got special food. Special food.

Therefore Krsna says, Krsna’s prasada will be taken by whom? By the human being. No, it can be offered to any living entities, but worship of Krsna is meant for the human being. Therefore, a devotee will take the remnants of foodstuff offered to Krsna. Therefore Krsna says patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati.

Krsna as the Supreme Lord, He can eat anything. He can eat anything because He is all-powerful, omnipotent. But we cannot do that. Therefore Krsna says, “You give Me this vegetable, fruit, grains, milk, and I will take.” Therefore indirectly it is said, these are the foodstuff of the human being. Not any others things. You cannot say that “This is also eatable, therefore I shall eat.” Then you become a hog. Those who have no discrimination, of eating, they are going to be hog next life. Therefore Krsna says, yad vikari yatas ca yat. How one becomes a hog, dog, cat or demigod or Indra, or Brahma, that will be explained. You are given the facility of human being and if you misuse your facilities, then according to your mental condition, you’ll be offered the next body. Yam yam vapi smaran loke tyajyaty ante kalevaram, you’ll find.

Therefore, give up doggish mentality. That is Krsna consciousness. Train up your mind, God, godly mentality. Then you’ll be transferred next life, back to home, back to Godhead. That is required. This Krsna consciousness movement is training the people for being promoted to the highest standard of life. This Krsna consciousness movement is so important. We are giving chance to the people not to become next life cats and dogs and vultures. But associate of Krsna. To become a cowherd boy, to play with Krsna, or gopi, to dance with Krsna. This much facilities we are going to giving.

So everyone should consider how much welfare movement is this Krsna consciousness movement and they should follow the instruction of Krsna and the acaryas and make their life successful. Thank you very much. (end)