0 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,359 Cc M 20-103 WDC 1976-07-08 Survival of the Fittest 1 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:19,489 ANNOUNCER: The following is a class on the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, 2 00:00:19,490 --> 00:00:25,479 given by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, 3 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:47,369 recorded on the 8th of July, 1976, in Washington D.C. 4 00:00:47,370 --> 00:00:51,059 PRADYUMNA: “Translation: Actually I do not know how to inquire 5 00:00:51,060 --> 00:00:54,659 about the goal of life and the process for obtaining it. 6 00:00:54,660 --> 00:01:00,579 Being merciful upon me, please explain all these truths.” 7 00:01:00,580 --> 00:01:05,006 PRABHUPĀDA: ‘sādhya’-‘sādhana’-tattva puchite nā jāni 8 00:01:05,007 --> 00:01:10,269 kṛpā kari’ saba tattva kaha ta’ āpani [Cc. Madhya 20.103] 9 00:01:10,270 --> 00:01:23,290 The injunction in the Bhagavad-gītā is that tad viddhi, try to understand. 10 00:01:23,291 --> 00:01:26,820 Not try, but must try. 11 00:01:26,821 --> 00:01:37,190 The human life is meant for understanding tattva, the Absolute Truth. 12 00:01:37,191 --> 00:01:42,730 That is the special advantage of the human life. 13 00:01:42,731 --> 00:01:51,920 If a human being does not inquire or he’s not trained up to inquire about it, 14 00:01:51,921 --> 00:02:01,330 it is a great disadvantage and it is enviousness. 15 00:02:01,331 --> 00:02:06,215 [indistinct] …human life, the chance is there, 16 00:02:06,216 --> 00:02:10,550 to make a solution of the whole problem, 17 00:02:10,551 --> 00:02:14,630 struggle for existence, survival of the fittest. 18 00:02:14,631 --> 00:02:18,335 This is going on life after life. 19 00:02:18,336 --> 00:02:23,340 Now here is a chance, human life, 20 00:02:23,341 --> 00:02:30,330 he can understand what is the goal of life and how to achieve it. 21 00:02:30,331 --> 00:02:32,340 He can be trained up. 22 00:02:32,341 --> 00:02:42,420 So if that opportunity is refused to the human society by the guardians, 23 00:02:42,421 --> 00:02:53,880 by the government, it is a great misservice, a great disadvantage. 24 00:02:53,881 --> 00:02:59,950 To keep them in darkness of animal propensities… 25 00:02:59,951 --> 00:03:07,150 Because we are changing our body, here is a chance, 26 00:03:07,151 --> 00:03:16,360 after many evolutionary process, many thousand and millions of years. 27 00:03:16,361 --> 00:03:19,620 We are going to the park. 28 00:03:19,621 --> 00:03:28,040 How many plants and creepers are there, how many animals, how many aquatics? 29 00:03:28,041 --> 00:03:35,151 We have to come through all these processes, evolutionary process. 30 00:03:35,152 --> 00:03:37,591 So here is a chance. 31 00:03:37,592 --> 00:03:48,521 Therefore for the human being it is advised that try to understand the goal of your life. 32 00:03:48,522 --> 00:03:54,321 tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyam [MU 1.2.12] 33 00:03:54,322 --> 00:03:57,067 That is Vedic instruction. 34 00:03:57,068 --> 00:03:58,898 Must try. 35 00:03:58,899 --> 00:04:01,581 From the very beginning, 36 00:04:01,582 --> 00:04:07,871 if children are not trained up to inquire about the goal of life, 37 00:04:07,872 --> 00:04:16,961 they are kept in darkness, simply eat, drink, be merry and enjoy, that is not civilization. 38 00:04:16,962 --> 00:04:18,621 They must be trained up. 39 00:04:18,622 --> 00:04:21,966 The opportunity must be given, 40 00:04:21,967 --> 00:04:29,001 so that he can inquire more and more about the goal of life. 41 00:04:29,002 --> 00:04:35,251 The goal of life is, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu will explain, 42 00:04:35,252 --> 00:04:41,671 that we are intimately related with God. 43 00:04:41,672 --> 00:04:49,261 Somehow or other, we are fallen down in this material world. 44 00:04:49,262 --> 00:04:56,761 We are by mistake accepting this body as self, 45 00:04:56,762 --> 00:05:04,626 and we are being trained up also, only to see the bodily interests, 46 00:05:04,627 --> 00:05:07,171 just like cats and dogs. 47 00:05:07,172 --> 00:05:12,181 The animals also, they are interested with the body only. 48 00:05:12,182 --> 00:05:15,741 They have no other interest. 49 00:05:15,742 --> 00:05:19,829 But if a human being is kept in the same darkness, 50 00:05:19,830 --> 00:05:29,221 simply bodily interest, that is a great disadvantage. 51 00:05:29,222 --> 00:05:38,919 So Sanātana Gosvāmī, he understands that, because he has already begun, 52 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:46,819 ‘ke āmi’ ‘kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya’ ihā nāhi jāni—‘kemane hita hara’ [Cc. Madhya 20.102] 53 00:05:46,820 --> 00:05:51,789 There are so many things with which we have to struggle. 54 00:05:51,790 --> 00:05:57,539 This is called struggle for existence, even the modern scientists, they call… 55 00:05:57,540 --> 00:06:00,389 It is not a very peaceful situation. 56 00:06:00,390 --> 00:06:06,269 The same question was raised by Sanātana Gosvāmī, 57 00:06:06,270 --> 00:06:10,049 that why there should be struggle for existence? 58 00:06:10,050 --> 00:06:13,649 Why not easy life, peaceful life? 59 00:06:13,650 --> 00:06:21,129 Why some outer elements, they are giving us opposition? 60 00:06:21,130 --> 00:06:27,489 I want to be happy, but there is opposition, that is struggle for existence. 61 00:06:27,490 --> 00:06:30,970 This question should be there: Why? 62 00:06:30,971 --> 00:06:33,850 Even with a fly we have to fight. 63 00:06:33,851 --> 00:06:42,480 I am sitting, without doing any harm to the fly, but it attacks, bothers me. 64 00:06:42,481 --> 00:06:45,005 There are so many. 65 00:06:45,006 --> 00:06:53,597 Even if you sit down without any offense… Just like you are passing on the street, 66 00:06:53,598 --> 00:07:02,609 there is no offense, but from one house all the dogs begin to bark: 67 00:07:02,610 --> 00:07:03,800 “Why you are coming here? 68 00:07:03,801 --> 00:07:07,700 Why you are coming here?” 69 00:07:07,701 --> 00:07:14,500 There was no cause of his barking, but because it is dog, 70 00:07:14,501 --> 00:07:19,940 his business is “Why you are coming, why you are coming?” 71 00:07:19,941 --> 00:07:26,653 Similarly, we have no freedom to go from one place to another, 72 00:07:26,654 --> 00:07:28,800 at the present moment. 73 00:07:28,801 --> 00:07:35,180 There is immigration department: “Why you are coming here, why you are…?” 74 00:07:35,181 --> 00:07:40,770 In many places we have been refused to enter. 75 00:07:40,771 --> 00:07:44,760 We have been refused from the airplane. 76 00:07:44,761 --> 00:07:50,520 “No, you cannot enter, go back,” so I had to go back. 77 00:07:50,521 --> 00:07:54,851 So, so many disadvantages. 78 00:07:54,852 --> 00:08:00,061 padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām [SB 10.14.58] 79 00:08:00,062 --> 00:08:05,221 In this material world, you cannot live very peacefully. 80 00:08:05,222 --> 00:08:08,756 Not very; not peacefully at all. 81 00:08:08,757 --> 00:08:11,101 There are so many impediments. 82 00:08:11,102 --> 00:08:18,811 The śāstra says, padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām [SB 10.14.58]: every step there is danger. 83 00:08:18,812 --> 00:08:25,441 Not only from these lower animals, but from the human society, 84 00:08:25,442 --> 00:08:32,371 by nature, on which we have no control. 85 00:08:32,372 --> 00:08:38,721 So in this way, our life is not very happy in this material world, 86 00:08:38,722 --> 00:08:44,601 and we should be advanced in inquiring about it, 87 00:08:44,602 --> 00:08:47,611 so why there are so many impediments? 88 00:08:47,612 --> 00:08:50,198 That is human life. 89 00:08:50,199 --> 00:08:51,849 That is human life. 90 00:08:51,850 --> 00:08:59,451 So how to inquire…, how to become happy, what is the goal of life? 91 00:08:59,452 --> 00:09:04,131 Sanātana Gosvāmī… Not only Sanātana Gosvāmī, he’s representing us. 92 00:09:04,132 --> 00:09:07,771 We do not know, we do not know. 93 00:09:07,772 --> 00:09:12,593 So by the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, 94 00:09:12,594 --> 00:09:17,601 or by the mercy of the servants of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, 95 00:09:17,602 --> 00:09:23,041 one can be enlightened as to the…, what is the goal of life, 96 00:09:23,042 --> 00:09:27,841 why there is struggle for existence, why there is death. 97 00:09:27,842 --> 00:09:31,582 I do not want to die; why there is birth? 98 00:09:31,583 --> 00:09:35,545 I do not wish to enter into the mother’s womb 99 00:09:35,546 --> 00:09:40,492 and remain packed-up condition for so many days; 100 00:09:40,493 --> 00:09:47,892 I do not want to become old man; but these things are enforced upon me. 101 00:09:47,893 --> 00:09:54,972 Therefore our business is…, real business is how to solve these questions, 102 00:09:54,973 --> 00:09:59,472 not to arrange for economic development. 103 00:09:59,473 --> 00:10:04,752 Economic development, whatever we are destined, we shall get it. 104 00:10:04,753 --> 00:10:09,172 Either happiness or distress, we shall get it. 105 00:10:09,173 --> 00:10:13,962 Just like we don’t try for distress, but it comes. 106 00:10:13,963 --> 00:10:16,552 It is enforced upon us. 107 00:10:16,553 --> 00:10:24,852 Similarly, the little happiness which you are destined to obtain, that will also come. 108 00:10:24,853 --> 00:10:27,122 That is śāstra’s advice. 109 00:10:27,123 --> 00:10:33,402 Don’t waste your time to get artificially some happiness. 110 00:10:33,403 --> 00:10:38,912 Whatever you are destined to get happiness, it will come automatically. 111 00:10:38,913 --> 00:10:40,272 How it will come? 112 00:10:40,273 --> 00:10:43,412 yathā duḥkham ayatnataḥ [SB 7.6.3] 113 00:10:43,413 --> 00:10:48,352 The same way, just like you don’t try for distress, but it comes upon you. 114 00:10:48,353 --> 00:10:51,472 Similarly, even if you don’t try for happiness, 115 00:10:51,473 --> 00:10:54,132 whatever you are destined, you will get. 116 00:10:54,133 --> 00:11:00,982 So don’t waste your time bothering about this so-called happiness and distress. 117 00:11:00,983 --> 00:11:07,973 Better engage your valuable time to understand what is the goal of life, 118 00:11:07,974 --> 00:11:12,733 why there are so many problems, why you have to struggle for existence. 119 00:11:12,734 --> 00:11:16,380 This is your business… 120 00:11:16,381 --> 00:11:19,525 This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, 121 00:11:19,526 --> 00:11:24,861 that we are inducing people to understand the problem, 122 00:11:24,862 --> 00:11:31,443 it is not a sectarian movement or so-called religious movement. 123 00:11:31,444 --> 00:11:35,223 It is educational cultural movement. 124 00:11:35,224 --> 00:11:40,523 Every man has to understand the goal of life. 125 00:11:40,524 --> 00:11:45,513 Every man has to understand why there is struggle for existence, 126 00:11:45,514 --> 00:11:47,583 if there is any remedy, 127 00:11:47,584 --> 00:11:55,923 if there is any process where we can live very peacefully without any disturbances, 128 00:11:55,924 --> 00:12:01,338 without any… These are the things to be learned in human life, 129 00:12:01,339 --> 00:12:05,243 and one should approach… Just like Sanātana Gosvāmī, 130 00:12:05,244 --> 00:12:09,322 he was minister, very educated, well placed, 131 00:12:09,323 --> 00:12:11,953 but he has approached Caitanya Mahāprabhu. 132 00:12:11,954 --> 00:12:14,137 So we should approach, 133 00:12:14,138 --> 00:12:22,909 the Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, or His representative, and surrender. 134 00:12:22,910 --> 00:12:25,683 tad viddhi praṇipātena [Bg. 4.34] 135 00:12:25,684 --> 00:12:30,983 The way is not challenging, “Can you show me God?” 136 00:12:30,984 --> 00:12:35,163 These are challenges, not this way. 137 00:12:35,164 --> 00:12:42,623 God is everywhere, but first of all make your eyes to see God, 138 00:12:42,624 --> 00:12:45,813 then you challenge, “Can you show me God?” 139 00:12:45,814 --> 00:12:49,630 This, this attitude will not help us. 140 00:12:49,631 --> 00:12:51,184 Submissive. 141 00:12:51,185 --> 00:12:54,424 tad viddhi praṇipātena [Bg 4.34] 142 00:12:54,425 --> 00:12:57,224 This is the injunction of the śāstra. 143 00:12:57,225 --> 00:13:04,774 If you want to understand the science, transcendental science, 144 00:13:04,775 --> 00:13:09,704 tad viddhi try to understand it— but praṇipātena, very humbly. 145 00:13:09,705 --> 00:13:15,654 Just like Sanātana Gosvāmī is submitting very humbly. 146 00:13:15,655 --> 00:13:19,314 So, tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena [Bg. 4.34] 147 00:13:19,315 --> 00:13:25,294 First of all praṇipāt, then paripraśnena, questioning. 148 00:13:25,295 --> 00:13:27,834 Don’t waste your time, 149 00:13:27,835 --> 00:13:36,144 by questioning some spiritual master or somebody unless you have praṇipāt. 150 00:13:36,145 --> 00:13:43,934 You must be ready to accept the answer which he gives; then make inquiry. 151 00:13:43,935 --> 00:13:49,844 If you think that “I have to test his answer, 152 00:13:49,845 --> 00:13:54,146 because I am more learned or more advanced than him,” 153 00:13:54,147 --> 00:13:59,694 then don’t go there, don’t propose anything or inquire anything. 154 00:13:59,695 --> 00:14:03,310 You first of all settle up, that whatever… 155 00:14:03,311 --> 00:14:06,873 “I am going to inquire something from somebody,” 156 00:14:06,874 --> 00:14:11,874 so whatever answer he’ll give, you’ll accept. 157 00:14:11,875 --> 00:14:16,004 Then there is question of inquiry. 158 00:14:16,005 --> 00:14:23,235 Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Sanātana Gosvāmī, he is completely surrendering. 159 00:14:23,236 --> 00:14:32,985 He said that “I am blank, I do not know actually how to inquire You. 160 00:14:32,986 --> 00:14:39,326 So kindly, You speak everything, what is the subject matter of inquiry, 161 00:14:39,327 --> 00:14:41,825 and what is the answer of such inquiry. 162 00:14:41,826 --> 00:14:47,085 I am completely blank slate, I am simply submitting to You.” 163 00:14:47,086 --> 00:14:55,435 Sādhya, the goal of life, and sādhana, the process by which one can approach. 164 00:14:55,436 --> 00:15:01,005 So “I do not know anything about it, simply I’m depending on Your mercy.” 165 00:15:01,006 --> 00:15:03,075 That is kṛpā kari. 166 00:15:03,076 --> 00:15:04,465 That is surrender. 167 00:15:04,466 --> 00:15:10,885 In this way, we can make advancement in our spiritual education, 168 00:15:10,886 --> 00:15:18,075 and we must carry out the order of the spiritual master. 169 00:15:18,076 --> 00:15:20,375 Just like you are singing daily, 170 00:15:20,376 --> 00:15:24,545 guru-mukha-padma-vākya cittete kariyā aikya 171 00:15:24,546 --> 00:15:27,286 āra nā kariha mane āśā [Śrī Guru-vandanā 2] 172 00:15:27,287 --> 00:15:31,252 āra nā kariha mane āśā— do not think otherwise. 173 00:15:31,253 --> 00:15:37,785 Simply whatever… First of all, select who will be your spiritual master. 174 00:15:37,786 --> 00:15:44,555 You must know the preliminary law, just like if you want to purchase gold, 175 00:15:44,556 --> 00:15:48,855 at least you must know where gold is available. 176 00:15:48,856 --> 00:15:54,376 If you want to purchase diamond… So you must know, 177 00:15:54,377 --> 00:15:59,299 if you are so foolish that you go to a butcher shop, 178 00:15:59,300 --> 00:16:04,276 and ask him to supply diamond or gold, 179 00:16:04,277 --> 00:16:06,831 then you’ll be cheated. 180 00:16:06,832 --> 00:16:07,586 Then you’ll be cheated. 181 00:16:07,587 --> 00:16:13,156 You must know at least where to go and purchase gold or diamond. 182 00:16:13,157 --> 00:16:21,736 These are valuable things… That requires little intelligence and sincerity. 183 00:16:21,737 --> 00:16:31,046 If we are sincere that “I want to purchase gold or diamond…” 184 00:16:31,047 --> 00:16:32,919 This is crude example, 185 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:39,554 but the spiritual inquiry…, if one is actually serious, 186 00:16:39,555 --> 00:16:44,418 about understanding the goal of life, spiritual knowledge, 187 00:16:44,419 --> 00:16:48,966 then, Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone’s heart. 188 00:16:48,967 --> 00:16:55,336 He understands how this person is sincerely seeking. 189 00:16:55,337 --> 00:17:00,896 Then He’ll give direction that “You do this.” 190 00:17:00,897 --> 00:17:04,856 He is giving direction in every respect. 191 00:17:04,857 --> 00:17:12,216 We are, we want to do so many things, so Kṛṣṇa is giving us facility. 192 00:17:12,217 --> 00:17:15,276 Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati 193 00:17:15,277 --> 00:17:17,756 bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni [Bg. 18.61] 194 00:17:17,757 --> 00:17:23,944 He is giving all facilities, but when one becomes actually, 195 00:17:23,945 --> 00:17:30,807 very much eager to understand Kṛṣṇa, God, He is very glad to give instruction, 196 00:17:30,808 --> 00:17:38,147 that “You go to such and such person and you submissively inquire, and you’ll be…” 197 00:17:38,148 --> 00:17:42,307 guru-kṛṣṇa kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja [Cc. Madhya 19.151] 198 00:17:42,308 --> 00:17:46,927 By the mercy of guru, by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, 199 00:17:46,928 --> 00:17:52,277 one can make advancement in spiritual understanding. 200 00:17:52,278 --> 00:17:56,517 So one must be sincere, then every direction is there. 201 00:17:56,518 --> 00:18:06,017 Thank you very much. 202 00:18:06,018 --> 00:18:06,019 Subtitles by Gopī Kāntā Dāsa, Causelessmercy.com