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Bg 13-22 BOM 1973-10-20 Through the Modes of Nature
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ANNOUNCER: Next is a class
on the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is
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13th chapter, text number 22,
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given by His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda,
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recorded on October 20th,
1973, in Bombay, India.
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PRABHUPĀDA: “The living entity in material
nature thus follows the ways of life,
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enjoying the three
modes of nature.
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This is due to the, to his association
with that material nature.
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Thus he meets with good and evil
amongst various species of life.”
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Puruṣa.
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Puruṣa means enjoyer,
the living entity.
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So that day I have
already explained puruṣa.
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Puruṣa means the enjoyer.
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And prakṛti means enjoyed.
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So puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ.
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The living entity, although…
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Prakṛti-sthaḥ means
this material world.
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The living entity, although
part and parcel of God,
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spiritual entity, but he has come
to this material world to enjoy.
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Anyone who is in
this material world,
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his original cause of coming
down from the spiritual platform
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to this material platform
means he wanted to enjoy.
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In the spiritual world the only enjoyer
is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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All others are enjoyed.
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But here in this material world everyone
is trying to become the Supreme,
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and others, to be enjoyed.
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Everyone is trying to become God,
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and the last snare of māyā is that
one is claiming that “I am God.”
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When he tries to become big businessman,
big zamindar, big minister, big president,
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or in the society, big rich
man, big, big always.
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And when he fails to become all kinds of
“bigs,” he wants to become one with God.
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By mixing, by merging into
God, he will be the biggest.
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That is the philosophy.
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So basic principle is
how to become big.
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Otherwise… Because unless I
become very big, I cannot enjoy.
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So what is the field of
these enjoying activities?
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This body.
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That we have discussed.
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Kṣetra-kṣetra-jña.
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idaṁ śarīraṁ kṣetram ity abhidhīyate:
[Bg. 13.2]
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“This body is the field of activities.”
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So puruṣa, the living entities, has been
entrapped by this material energy.
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That is called puruṣaḥ
prakṛti-sthaḥ.
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He is not required to stay
in this material world,
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but he has decided to
enjoy this material world.
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Therefore he is here.
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But he can, he can give up.
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That is called liberty;
that is called salvation.
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He can give up.
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Mukti.
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Mukti means…
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That is also described in
the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
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…hitvā anyathā-rūpaṁ
sva-rūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ
[SB 2.10.6]
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That is called mukti.
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muktir hitvā anyathā-rūpam
[SB 2.10.6]
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Here every living entity is
situated anyathā-rūpam.
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Anyathā-rūpam means otherwise,
which is not his nature.
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His nature is to serve, but he is staying
here not as servant but as master.
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[indistinct] So,
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puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte
[Bg. 13.22]
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Bhuṅkte means “enjoys.”
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prakṛti-jān guṇān
[Bg. 13.22]
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Prakṛti… He, he has come here to enjoy,
but he is enjoying not the prakṛti,
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but prakṛti-jān guṇān, means
the qualities of the prakṛti.
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There are three qualities of the prakṛti:
goodness, passion and ignorance.
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Prakṛti-jān guṇān.
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These, these are products
of material world.
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It is therefore described in another
place, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī [Bg. 7.14]
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…guṇamayī
mama māyā duratyayā
[Bg. 7.14]
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This illusory energy is… There
are three qualities, qualitative.
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Some of them… Therefore we find
different types of species of life.
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Every living entity has associated
with a particular type of guṇa.
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There are three guṇas, namely,
goodness, passion, and ignorance,
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and if you mix them up, then it becomes
nine; three into three equal to nine.
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And again if you mix up, nine into
nine, then it becomes eighty-one.
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Therefore there are eight million four
hundred thousand species of life.
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jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi
sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati
[Padma Purāṇa]
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Nine hundred thousand
species in the water.
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Similarly, birds, beasts,
trees, insects, animals.
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Then we come to the
human form of life.
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These different types of
bodies are meant for enjoying
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in a different spirit;
everyone is trying to enjoy.
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But he is enjoying… He is not enjoying
the prakṛti, but he is enjoying
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the association of the guṇa.
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puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi
bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān
[Bg. 13.22]
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kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo ’sya
[Bg. 13.22]
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So every living entity is
suffering or enjoying.
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There is no enjoyment; everyone is
suffering, but he… That is called māyā.
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He is suffering but he
takes it as enjoying.
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Even the hog, the pig, he is eating stool,
but he is thinking that he is enjoying.
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He is enjoying.
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He enjoys a certain type of
food according to his quality.
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Nowadays, because people are becoming
more and more in the modes of darkness,
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they are eating so many
abominable things.
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And prakṛti also, I mean to say,
minimizing the supply of sāttvika food.
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Just like nowadays it has become
scarcity of grains, of milk, of sugar.
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It is practical experience.
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Because people are becoming more
and more in the modes of ignorance,
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therefore the foodstuffs… These
foodstuffs are in the modes of goodness.
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Just like Kṛṣṇa wants,
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patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
[Bg. 9.26]
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Kṛṣṇa does not say, “Give
me meat and drinking wine.”
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Kṛṣṇa can eat everything;
He is omnipotent.
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But He does not say that “You
give me anything and everything.”
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No.
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He specifically mentions,
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patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
[Bg. 9.26]
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These things are the foodstuffs
in goodness: rice, ḍāl, wheat,
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that means grains.
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Then sugar, fruits,
vegetables, milk products.
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These foods are in the goodness.
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Similarly there are foods, very chili,
very hot, these are in the passion.
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And similarly in ignorance also, there
are many foods, stale food, meat,
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these are in the ignorance.
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So our business is, this
human form of life,
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to get out of this cycle of birth and death
and wandering in different species of life.
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This is the mission of human life.
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Human life, advanced consciousness,
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it is meant for getting out of
the cycle of birth and death.
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And wandering in
different species of life.
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Therefore Caitanya
Mahāprabhu says,
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ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
[Cc. Madhya 19.151]
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In this way the living entities,
puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ,
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within this material world, he is
wandering in different species of life,
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in different planets.
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But the disease is birth and death.
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Even if you take birth in the
Brahmaloka, Kṛṣṇa says,
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ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ
punar āvartino ’rjuna
[Bg. 8.16]
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Even if you promoted to the Brahmaloka,
the highest planet, there is also death.
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You cannot avoid.
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janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-
duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam
[Bg. 13.9]
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That is real knowledge, that “I don’t
want to die, but I am forced to die.
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I don’t want to become old man,
but I am forced to become old man.
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I don’t want any disease, but
disease is forced upon me.”
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So these are the real problems.
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So Kṛṣṇa says that
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ābrahma lo… If… You may get very long
duration of life, very comfortable life,
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in higher planetary system.
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Just like people are engaged in
doing, I mean to, pious activities.
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The result of pious activities is that you
get your birth in a very good family,
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in a rich family, you get
beauty, you become educated,
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janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhiḥ
[SB 1.8.26]
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Janma means birth,
high-class birth.
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And aiśvarya means
opulence, riches.
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And śruta means education,
and śrī means beauty.
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So by pious activities you
can get all these things.
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And impious activities, the opposite
number: in a family, abominable,
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pāpa-yoni, lower-grade family,
not very beautiful, not educated,
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suffering in so many ways.
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So either you get this life or that life, the
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg. 13.9] is there.
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It is not that because you
have got very beautiful body
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and born in very high-class
family and highly educated,
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you will avoid janma-mṛtyu-jarā-
vyādhi [Bg. 13.9]; that is not possible.
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The real problem is janma-
mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. [Bg. 13.9]
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So kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo ’sya
sad-asad…, sad-yoni [Bg. 13.22]
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high-class life, and
asad-yoni, pāpa-yoni…
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So why one is born in
lower grade family?
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Why one is born in
high-grade family?
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kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo ’sya
[Bg. 13.22]
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The cause is as he has associated
with different types of qualities.
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So unfortunately, this science, that
there is birth after death, and there is,
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actually, we are experience, we are
seeing, but they do not inquire.
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They think that one can improve.
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That is not possible.
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Unless he changes the
quality, he cannot improve.
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That is not possible.
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They do not know it.
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They are falsely trying
to improve the position.
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Nobody is trying to become poor.
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Everyone is trying to become rich.
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But it is not possible.
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Because he has got a particular type of
body, and that body is already destined,
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and he has to achieve happiness or
suffer distresses according to the body.
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Therefore śāstra says,
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tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido
na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ:
[SB 1.15.18]
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“You should try for that thing which
you did not receive in your past lives.”
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Past life, by our pious
activities or impious activities,
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we have got a different type of body,
here or in higher planetary system.
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That’s all right.
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But that is not solution of my
problem; the real problem is
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janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi
[Bg. 13.9]
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So we should try, we should
save time and utilize it,
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how to get out of this janma-
mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg. 13.9]
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That is the whole Vedic civilization.
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Therefore it is said,
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tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ
[SB 1.5.18]
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If you are intelligent,
then you should try,
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you should engage your life, how to
get out of this cycle of birth and death.
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tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam
[SB 5.5.1]
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We have to purify our existence so
that we can revive our original position
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of eternal life, blissful
life, full of knowledge.
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That is our requirement.
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So modern civilization, they
have no such information.
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Everyone is trying to improve his
condition according to the quality;
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but that is not improvement.
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Real improvement is how to get
out of this cycle of birth and death.
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That is real improvement.
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janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-
duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam
[Bg. 13.9]
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Thank you very much.
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So I will have to go
with Mr. Ganatra.
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Subtitles by Gopī Kāntā Dāsa, Causelessmercy.com