Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.20 Prabhupada: Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Six, Chapter One, verse number twenty? Is that the number, twenty? (devotees repeat) atra codaharantimam itihasam puratanam dutanam visnu-yamayoh samvadas tam nibodha me “In this regard, learned scholars and saintly persons describe a very old historical incident involving a discussion between the order carriers of Lord Visnu and those of Yamaraja. Please hear of this from me.” So Yamaraja is the superintendent or the judge for considering what kind of punishment should be given to a certain sinful person. After death, those who are sinful, they are taken to Yamaraja for judgment, what kind of punishment one has to be given. And those who are pious devotees, they are taken charge by the Visnuduta. I think the Christian doctrine, that in this life either you go to hell or go to heaven. Is it not? Devotee: Yes. Prabhupada: That is nice. The same thing. This human form of life is a chance. Actually, in this material world we are all suffering. Duhkhalayam asasvatam [Bg. 8.15]. You cannot make it a happy place. That is not possible. Krsna says, who has created this material world, He says, duhkhalayam asasvatam [Bg. 8.15]. Duhkha means unhappiness; alayam means place. Duhkhalayam asasvatam. That is also temporary. Duhkhalayam asasvatam, napnuvanti mahatmanam samsiddhim paramam gatah [Bg. 8.15]. So this is place of duhkhalayam. Any commonsense man can understand that Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita… You may challenge, “Where is the unhappiness? We are very happy.” Madmen. Krsna points out, “No, it is not place of happiness.” Why it is not place of happiness? Now, janma-mrtyu-jara vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam. Why don’t you see the real unhappiness? This is real duhkha, or unhappiness. What is that? Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi. You have to die. You have to take birth within the womb with so much risk that even your mother can kill you. Is it very happiness? At the present moment the mother… When the child sleeps very peacefully, that “I am on the lap of my mother,” now the time has come when the mother is killing the child. So is it very happiness place? That you cannot trust even your mother, what to speak of others. The time has come, degraded, that… Naturally a child, he thinks, “I am safe now with my mother.” But the Kali-yuga is so cruel that even with mother you are not safe. And still you say it is a place of happiness? This is called illusion. It is not place. So this is going on. Not only in the human form of life, in the animal form of life, in trees and so on, so on, it is going on. Eight million, four hundred… So this is a chance given, human form of life. Just like after imprisonment you are again given little freedom. You cannot be completely free; however, you may declare that “I belong to free nation…” Free nation means you are free, certainly, but not absolutely free. You are dependent on the state laws. Similarly, nobody can be free. That is not possible. prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate [Bg. 3.27] These rascals, they are thinking, “I am free.” No. Nobody is free. But because we are not free, that does not mean there is no freedom. There is freedom. That is not in this world. That is in the spiritual world. Just like mirage, the desert: the animal does not know that there is no water; it is simply reflection by the sunshine. There is some reflection. There is no water. So a man does not run after such false water, but animal runs, and they lost in the running after. Similarly, this material world is reflection of the spiritual world. There is no happiness. Happiness is there in the spiritual world, but we are running after it, being ignorant. But that does not mean… Although we are running after false water, it does not mean there is no water. Water is there, but not in the desert. That is intelligence. So happiness is there, but not in this material world. It is in the spiritual world. So we have forgotten. There is no education. So anyway, nature gives us the chance. So either you take the Biblical truth or Vedic truth… So this is… The human form is given to us. Now you make your choice: whether you are going to hell or you are going to heaven. That’s a fact. If you want, you can go to back to home, back to Godhead, or if you want to remain in this material world and go under the rules and regulation of birth and death, then make your choice. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita. yanti deva-vrata devan pitrn yanti pitr-vratah bhutejya yanti bhutani mad-yajino ’pi yanti mam [Bg. 9.25] So generally the karmis, they want happiness in this life, and if he is intelligent enough, if he believes in the next life, then he makes some provision for next life. Next life is there. Only the rascals, they cannot understand. It is very simple. Next life is there. Tatha dehantara-praptih. There is no doubt about it. So next life you can prepare in this life, where you want to go. If you go, want to go to the higher planetary systems, you can go. Yanti deva-vrata devan pitrn yanti… [Bg. 9.25] If you want to go to the Pitrloka… Don’t think like the so-called scientists that only this planet is full of living beings and other all vacant. No, that is not the fact. Every planet, it is congested with living entities. That information given there. That is… The whole bunch of universe is just like a tree. At night you have seen, it is rotating. On each and every planet there is life, full of life. Don’t think there is no life. There is life. Why not there life? If this planet contains so many living entities, why not in other planets? So from Vedic scripture we understand. So we can go anywhere. There are three divisions: urdhva, madhya, and adhah—upper planetary system, middle planetary system, and lower planetary system. So urdhvam gacchanti sattva-sthah. If you practice here how to remain in the modes of goodness… Goodness means brahminical qualification: satya samo damo titiksa arjava, to become truthful, controlling the senses, controlling the mind, satya sama titiksa, tolerant; satya samo damo titiksa arjava, simple, no duplicity; jnanam, full knowledge of everything; vijnanam, practical application; jnanam vijnanam astikyam… Astikyam means to accept Vedic literature as fact, not imagination. That is called astikyam, or theistic. Astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam. This is called to live in the modes of goodness. So our Krsna consciousness movement is to bring every person to the platform of goodness, not even on the platform of passion, no, because urdhvam gacchanti sattva-stha [Bg. 14.18]. At least, if you remain on the platform of goodness, then you can be promoted to the higher planetary system. Svarga, begins… Higher planetary system begins from the sun, moon, and there are others, Janaloka, Tapoloka, Maharloka, like that, up to Satyaloka, Brahmaloka. So this is the chance. So now you make your selection. Either you go in the upper planetary system or remain where you are or go down in animal life also. So this is the chance. We should not neglect. So if we misuse this human form of life like animals, then we are punishable. Then you have to go to the Yamaraja and he’ll judge what kind of body you’ll get. Karmana daiva-netrena. Just like if you are criminal, then you are put into the magistrate’s court and the magistrate decides what kind of punishment you must be given. So don’t think you are, we are, every one of us, independent. No. No independent. And after death you are completely under the grip of material nature. That time you cannot say, “I don’t care for anyone.” No, you have to care. You can falsely become proud so long this body is there. You can talk all nonsense. But when the body is finished, now you are completely under the control of nature. Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani. Then your quality will be judged. Gunaih karmani. Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah [Bg. 3.27]. Everyone is under the control of this prakrti, but rascals, ahankara-vimudhatma, too much bodily concept of life, bewildered, vimudha… Visesa mudha, first-class rascal, vimudha. Vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate. He says that “Whatever I like, I can do,” karta. No. That is not possible. So this life is preparation for the next life. You can prepare. It is in your hand. It is in your hand. God has given you the superior intelligence better than the animals. The animals are simply interested eating, sleeping, mating and fearing. So we have got better intelligence, so we must utilize it. Therefore Narottama dasa Thakura sings, you know, those who are, the song, hari hari biphale, janama-goinu: “My Lord, I have simply wasted my life.” Why? Manusya-janama paiya, radha-krsna na bhajiya, janiya suniya visa-khainu. “I got this nice human form of body for understanding, worshiping Radha-Krsna. Now I did not do anything, that means knowingly I have taken poison.” So if we misuse this human form of life only like animals, eating, sleeping, sex and fearing, then we are spoiling our life. We must prepare next life. If we don’t, then after death we have to go to the Yamaraja, and he will decide what kind of next body… Body will change. Krsna says in the Bhagavad… Tatha dehantara-praptih. After death you have to change the body. As you are changing from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, similarly this old body, when it is no more usable, that means death. But the subtle body, mind, intelligence, that is… We have got proof. At night this body is silent, but your mind, intelligence and ego takes you somewhere. You dream that “I have come to here.” Sometimes we dream, “I am flying in the sky,” or gone to some forest or some friend’s house or so many things. “I am talking with a beautiful girl or beautiful man.” So this dream we every day see. So that means when this body stops, the gross body, the subtle body is there. Why don’t you believe it? Unless the subtle body is working, how do you dream? The dreaming means subtle body is working. So transmigration of the soul means the soul is twice covered—subtle body and gross body—just like shirt and coat. So when this gross body is finished, the subtle body is there. It takes you to another body. The subtle body with the semina of the father, it is injected in the mother’s womb, and then again you will develop another body. This is the process of transmigration. So this body, how you’ll be transferred to another body, that will be judged by the Yamaraja. Daiva- netrena. Karmana daiva-netrena. By our activities we shall be judged. Those who are criminal, they will be judged, not that everyone will be judged. So, and because those who are devotees, they are… Mad-yajino ’pi yanti mam. Those who have devoted their life, dedicated their life only in Krsna consciousness, they are sure. Krsna says, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti [Bg. 4.9]. That is sure. They are going back to home, back to Godhead. And those who are not dedicated or taken to Krsna consciousness, they are criminals. They will be taken to the Yamaraja’s court, and Yamaraja will decide what kind of body. There are 8,400,000 different forms of body, and he will be given a certain type of body. This is called transmigration of the soul. And so Sukadeva Gosvami is going to give example from the history about the Ajamila, how he was in the beginning very good boy, brahmana, and then, under the influence of a prostitute, he fell down and became most degraded, and then again, because in the past he had some good asset of spiritual life… That is described in the Bhagavata, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat. Spiritual life is so nice, Krsna consciousness. If one has executed even for a short time, it may help to deliver him from the greatest dangerous way of life, and that history will be recited by Sukadeva Gosvami. Kanyakubje dvijah kascid dasi-patir ajamilah. Dasi patir ajamilah, namna nasta-sadacaro dasyah samsarga-dusitah. This is the beginning of the story, that in Kanyakubja… Kanyakubja is… Still the place is there in India. Kanyakubja is a very famous place. It is near Kanpur. There is a place, Kanpur. So there… Kanyakubje dvijah kascid. He was a brahmana, but he became under the clutches of a prostitute. And how nasta- sadacara, how he lost his brahminical qualification, samsarga-dusitah, by the association of prostitute, so this history will be recited. So tomorrow we shall speak of this. Thank you very much. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Honolulu, May 20, 1976