Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.4
Pradyumna: "When a person considers sense gratification the aim of life, he certainly
becomes mad after materialistic living and engages in all kinds of sinful activity. He
does not know that due to his past misdeeds he has already received a body which,
although temporary, is the cause of his misery. Actually the living entity should not
have taken on a material body, but he has been awarded the material body for sense
Prabhupāda:
[SB 5.5.4]
sevā, we have described the symptoms of mahātmā. The sum and substance
of mahātmā is mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ [Bg. 9.13]. That
is mahātmā. Otherwise durātmā. Simply putting on a saffron dress and having a big
beard, he's not mahātmā. Mahātmā is he who is cent percent engaged in Kṛṣṇa's
service. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim [Bg. 9.13]. He's not in the
control of this material nature. He's completely under the direction of spiritual
nature. Daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ. And what is the sign? What is the difference between
a person under material nature and spiritual nature? The difference is that one who is
under spiritual nature, he is cent percent engaged in the service of the Lord. This is the
sign.
[Bg. 9.13]
[Bg. 9.30]
These things are there. So bhajana wanted. Bhajana means these nine kinds of
activities:
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
[SB 7.5.23]
This is bhajan, bhajana-kriyā. Atho bhajana-kriyā. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo
sanga [Cc. Madhya 22.83]. So mahat-sevā means sādhu-saṅga. If you associate with
devotees, that is called sādhu-saṅga, mahat. Each devotee is mahātmā. And the signs
cittāḥ praśāntā [SB 5.5.2], we have already discussed. And another mahātmā is
The main business is how far one is devoted to Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. It doesn't
mean that one has to become a sannyāsī or one has to remain a gṛhastha. There are
four āśramas. You should accept whichever is suitable for you, but the business is how
to serve Kṛṣṇa. That's If you find that remaining as a gṛhastha, you can serve
has got some position. So it doesn't require that you have to change your position. But
the real business is you have to see how far you are making progress
He never says that only the sannyāsīs should be guru: kṛṣṇa bhajanete nāhi yāti-ulādi-
position. No.
yei bhaje sei baḍo abhakta hi cāra
Āra saba car. And others, they are all rotten. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's division.
prapadyante narādhamāḥ
māyayāpahṛta-jñānā
[Bg. 7.15]
If one is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he is either duṣkṛtina, mūḍhāḥ, narādhamāḥ, māyā-
pahṛta-jñānā, āsuriṁ bhāvam āśrita. This is the test. Take this simple test. Just like
test tube. A chemical analyzer examines chemicals in the test tube, a small nozzle, and
he tests what it is. You can also test. Just like a big pot of rice boiling, you can test. Take
one grain of the rice and press it. If it is properly boiled, then you can understand the
whole thing is boiled. Similarly, there are, everything a test tube. So for
us, Kṛṣṇa conscious people, there is a test tube. What is that test tube? If one does not
immediately. It is not sectarian. It is test tube. Kṛṣṇa says that if you do not find anyone
become Kṛṣṇa conscious cent percent unless he's free from sinful life. Kṛṣṇa said,
janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām
te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā
[Bg. 7.28]
This is the test: if one has taken to Kṛṣṇa, that "Kṛṣṇa is my only worshipable Deity..."
Caitanya-caritāmṛta-kaj says,
This is śraddhā. Ādau śraddhā. Beginning of spiritual life is śraddhā. Just like you
have come here. It is based on śraddhā, a little faith. Otherwise, there are millions of
people, why they are not coming? There is no śraddhā. But anyone who comes, it
means there is ādau śraddhā. This śraddhā has been Śraddadhānāḥ. Kṛṣṇa said. So
what is that verse? Aśraddadhānāḥ. Śraddhā, and the opposite word is aśraddhā. So
faith, aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyāsya parantapa [Bg. 9.3]. What Kṛṣṇa said...
Kṛṣṇa personally comes to enlighten us, that "This is your life. You should do like this.
You should live like this. You should act like this. Why you are rotting in this material
world?"
So the same thing is repeated in different way in different places. Here also it is
said, nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. These rascals have become
so mad, pramattaḥ. Prakṛṣṭha rūpena mattaḥ. Mattaḥ means mad, intoxicated. And
one, another, pra. Pra means prakiṣṭha, sufficiently mad. So these materialistic
persons, you will see everywhere. They're running here and there. Especially in the
Western countries, from the early morning, from five o'clock or still earlier, the whole
street is full of motorcars. They are going to their work. Those who have gone to foreign
countries, you have seen. In every big, big city of the Western countries they are always
busy. They work. Now we are also imitating them. Our leaders are advertising, "Work
hard. Work hard. That you are pulling on rickshaw, that is not sufficient. Still you have
to work hard. You are pulling on thela? That is not sufficient. You have to still..." "What
civilization, Mad. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. And what for they're
doing? Yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti. The aim is how to satisfy senses. Eat, drink, be
merry and enjoy. That's all. I get money, go to the restaurant, go to the liquor house, go
to the prostitute house, and nightclub, and so on, so on, so on. Because they have no
other business. They do not know anything more than that. Indriya-prītaya. A little
sense gratification.
So they are all mad. So nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. And they are
implicating so many sinful activities. Legally and virtually, they are becoming
only for yajña, then you become implicated. The evidence is, the proof is I am
implicated that there are different varieties of life. You should know that "Why there
are so many varieties of life." That is explained here. The varieties of life
is na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ [SB 5.5.4]. Here,
and anyone who has got this material body Material body means kleśada, different
not kleśada. His body is also kleśada, giving some pain. Nobody is free
from kleśa. There was a very big rich man in Calcutta. So he could not eat. His appetite,
there was no appetite. So he's rich man. So he was given sufficient foodstuff, and
simply show, he could not eat. But a big rich man. And one poor man was passing on
the street, taking a fish and chanting very Not chanting; singing very jubilantly. So this
gentleman saw. He said that "I have become so rich man, but I have no appetite inspite
of so many nice foodstuff before me. And that poor man is carrying one fish. He's
thinking that he'll go and cook it and eat it very nicely. He is so jubilant. So if I would
have become a poor man like him I could have enjoyed some food." He was wishing
that. Because real business is sense gratification. So in spite of his becoming so rich he
So this is the position. Everyone has got a certain type of body on account of
different types of sense gratification. Otherwise why there are so many varieties? Why
one is human being? Why one is a pig? Why one is a demigod? Why one is a tree? Why
one is a fish? Why...? So many—8,400,000. This is all due to our desire for sense
gratification. These varieties. Otherwise, one variety would have been there, existing.
Why there are so many varieties? And that is not my creation. Kṛṣṇa says in
the Bhagavad-gītā that īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-
deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61]. Īśvara, the Supreme Lord, Paramātmā, is situated in
everyone's heart. And we are always praying. Even we do not pray, we are... "If I would
have been like this, if I would have got this opportunity, then I would have eaten like
this, I would have done like this." This is going on continually. Continually. Indriya-
prītaya apṛṇoti. We are simply desiring one after... And it is God's business, thankless
business, that He is noting down, "All right, I will give you facility like this."
īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
[Bg. 18.61]
So His business is that "This rascal wants like this," and still He's so merciful, He
asks māyā, the material nature, "Give him a body like this. He wants like this." So
therefore we have got varieties. Because we have got varieties of desires we have got
varieties of bodies. This is the explanation. Otherwise who will explain why there are so
So if you want to stop these varieties of body, then you should give up all these
are jñānī, you are karmī, you are yogi, but your desires are all different. One yogi wants
that "I shall fly in the sky." One yogi wants, "I shall walk on the water." One yogi thinks,
"I shall create gold and show magic to the rascal people that I am God." This is going
on. One jñānī, he is speaking something, one karmī... This is going on. Therefore there
are varieties, varieties of desires. You have to stop these nonsense desires. That is
wanted. Otherwise, you are implicated. You are implicated. So, therefore you can stop
on. Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce [Cc. Madhya 22.42]. This
is Dhruva Mahārāja said. He had desires, very, very great desires that "I shall have, I
shall possess a kingdom greater than Brahmā, greater than my father." He was insulted
by his stepmother. This is desire. This is We are Action and reaction. So he desired that
"I shall have a great kingdom—greater kingdom than my father." He went to the forest
and he underwent very severe austerities, a five-years-old boy. He saw, Kṛṣṇa came. So
when He wanted to give him, fulfill his desires, he said, svāmin kṛtārtho
'smi varaṁ na yāce: "No, no, no, no. I have nothing to ask from You." This
kāma, the jñānīs they want mokṣa, to merge into the existence of Brahman. The yogis,
they want siddhis, some perfection, material perfection, to show some magic. And
the karmīs, they want sense gratification. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said
that karmī jñānī yogi sakali aśānta. Aśānta, they cannot be at peace because they are
desiring. So long you want, you desire, there will be no peace. Kṛṣṇa-bhakta-
are mad after sense gratification and doing everything nonsense which is forbidden in
the śāstra. You know, those who are too much after fulfilling desires, they even kill his
own men. He'll kill his own child. Because the mother desiring that "I have become
Kill." Vikarma. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. He doesn't see that what
will be the result of it. Vikarma. Karma, vikarma, akarma. Karma means prescribed
duties, according... Just like law. "You keep to the right," this is law. And as soon as you
keep to the wrong side, left, it is vikarma. This is karma and vikarma. But for sense-
for the next life. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram: [Bg. 8.6] at
the time of death these desires become prominent. Even without desire we get so many
ideas and dream at night. So at the time of death, on account of our vikarma, we shall
create a situation, and the next life we get a similar body. That's
I have got already one body which is kleśada. Everyone has got experience. No one
is here who can say that "My body is very nice. There is no kleśa. There is no pains and
pleasure. I am very perfect." That is not possible. As soon as you get a material body, it
means kleśada. Therefore the Vedic civilization is to stop getting this material body.
That is Vedic civilization. Not that increase. That is explained in the Bhagavad-
gītā. Two things are there. You must accept, you must get the service of Kṛṣṇa.
don't get Kṛṣṇa, then there is no other way. There is no other alternative. The only
alternative is mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani [Bg. 9.3]. You get one body and again you die,
good." Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ [SB 5.5.4].
regrettable. But the informations are there, the science is there. If one is intelligent, he
can take advantage of this science, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and mold his life accordingly
so that he can stop this process of accepting a body which is kleśada. Kleśada. That is
the perfection of life. And that can be simply done very easily if you simply study Kṛṣṇa,
if you come in this temple and see Kṛṣṇa. Very simple method. Mayy āsakta-
manufacture; Kṛṣṇa says. You come here. The temple is meant for this purpose: that
you come, see Kṛṣṇa, and be attached to Kṛṣṇa. The more you become attached to Kṛṣṇa,
yathā jñāsyasi...
[Bg. 7.1]
Then what will be the benefit? Suppose I understand you very perfectly. Then what will
me yo janati tattvataḥ
[Bg. 4.9]
Simply. If you simply know Kṛṣṇa, then this business, repetition of birth and death, will
stop. It is so simple thing. So we should take advantage of it and utilize our human