Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.6.10 Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.) “Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate money, especially in household life? Thieves, professional servants (soldiers) and merchants try to acquire money even by risking their very dear lives.” Prabhupada: ko nv artha-trsnam visrjet pranebhyo ’pi ya ipsitah yam krinaty asubhih presthais taskarah sevako vanik So, the beginning of instruction was kaumara acaret prajno dharman bhagavatan iha [SB 7.6.1]. This material world, beginning, those who are not trained up, their beginning is hankering after union for sex. And pumsam striya mithuni-bhavam, this is the material world, attraction, and when they are united the attraction increases, we have already discussed. In this way our attraction for material wealth, ato grha-ksetra-sutapta-vittair. In this way material possessions, material facilities, we increase. Modern civilization is that. They are simply increasing material wants. The process is pravrttir esam bhutanam nivrttes tu maha-phalam. Natural tendency is, because we have come to enjoy this material world… Conditioned soul means we wanted to enjoy this material world, not to serve anyone. Although our constitutional position is to serve, but artificially we want to give up service and we want to enjoy. That is material disease. So gradually, if we want to enjoy material world, then we require money. Money is the via media for enjoyment of material world. People are working so hard, day and night, just to get money because money is the source or the means of sense enjoyment. That is the disease, sense enjoyment. But actually our life, especially in the human life we should be sober to understand… That has already been explained by Prahlada Maharaja, that this sense enjoyment, it can be obtained in any form of life. Sukham aindriyakam daitya deha-yogena dehinam. Just this morning we were discussing about mosquito. The mosquito is so tiny, a little slap, immediately finished. But he has got all the facilities of sense enjoyment. We have to study nature in this way. You’ll find so many different varieties of insects come in light. In your country it is not so, but in our country, tropical climate, hundreds and thousands of varieties of insects, they come. There are eleven hundred thousand varieties of insects. Jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati krmayo rudra-sankhyakah. Krmayo means insects. They are one million and one hundred thousand varieties. How many you have seen? But there are so many. So you’ll find they have got all equipment for sense gratification. Even the smallest, full-stop-like insect. So we were discussing about the mosquito. The mosquito, as soon as he sits down, any part of your body, immediately he injects his, that nozzle, and within a second sucks the blood. Immediately. And if you allow two seconds, then his belly is filled up with blood. Just see the facility. So this life, this mosquito life is that there was strong desire to drink blood, so nature has given the facility, all right. But the body is very, very small. The mosquito, if the body would have been very large, then it will kill every man. So he has been offered a very small, tiny body so that… His desire is to suck blood, but it cannot suck blood very much. The mosquito, bugs, there are so many. This is called adhibhautika. Adhibhautika means we are troubled by other living entities. These bugs, this mosquito, and many others. Just like you are passing on the road, a dog comes, barks and… So this is called adhibhautika; adhyatmika, pertaining to the body, mind and other living entities; and adhidaivika, offered by nature. There is always trouble. So the point is that actually we do not require things for sense gratification, especially in this human form of life. That we have enjoyed. Even a mosquito is also enjoying, the bug is also enjoying. The arrangement is so nice by nature’s arrangement. Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah [Bg. 3.27]. Everyone has got the facilities for sense enjoyment. Why not human being? Human being is developed consciousness, he has got better facilities. But the human being’s business is not to indulge in sense gratification. sukham aindriyakam daitya deha-yogena dehinam sarvatra labhyate daivad yatha duhkham ayatnatah This is described. So don’t waste your time. Don’t waste your time, your valuable time. Prahlada Maharaja’s instruction is very nice. If you simply waste your time simply for sense gratification, it is waste time. What is that verse? Tat-prayaso na kartavyo. For sense gratification, do not endeavor. Tat-prayaso na kartavyo yata ayur-vyayah param. If you simply waste your time for sense gratification, then your valuable life, the time duration of your life is being wasted. Wasted because you have already one standard of your sense gratification, that is arranged by nature, by God. Be satisfied with that. Do not try to develop. The modern civilization is how to develop the facility of sense gratification. This is modern civilization. For spiritual life this should be, rather, whatever facilities we have got, we have to curtail, not to increase. That is Krsna consciousness. Just like Gosvamis, they were ministers. But when they went to Vrndavana they curtailed—nidrahara-viharakadi-vijitau—curtailing the hours of sleeping, the quantity of eating. And mating, there was no question. So nidrahara, this is spiritual life. This is called tapasya. Tapo divyam putraka yena suddhyed sattvam. Spiritual life means purifying our existence. Unless we purify our existence, if we keep ourselves in the material condition, then we have to accept birth and death repeatedly. The human life is the opportunity that we can purify our existence. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. We have to become purified. Nirmalam means completely purified. That is the mission of human life. Tapo divyam, purify. Why purification required? Because we are after happiness. That is our nature. Anandamayo ’bhyasat. Everyone, we want happiness. But we are so blind that happiness in the material world is faced with so many other troubles. Just like I want to be happy, I am sitting peacefully, the mosquito will come and disturb me. The bugs will come, disturb me. The dogs will come, disturb me. And so many other… There will be some earthquake will disturb me, there will be some storm will disturb me. There will be some fever, disturb me. Some calamity will disturb me. So because all these disturbances are, this is nature’s daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya. That maya is always ready to disturb us. Because to remind us that “You want to be happy in this material world, that is not possible. I shall disturb you always, in this way or that way.” That we haven’t got eyes to see, that we are being disturbed. But if we want undisturbed happiness then we have to purify our existence. That is wanted. It is for our interest. To become Krsna conscious means that is our interest. Krsna doesn’t want that you become… Krsna wants, but if you do not become Krsna conscious, He has nothing to lose. But if we do not become Krsna conscious, it is, our chance is lost. This is the problem. So when Krsna comes and He advises sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66], it is for our interest. If we do that, then we become happy. Because we want happiness, so little tapasya. Just like if you want to cure your feverish condition you have to accept some rules and regulations ordered by the physician. If we want to cure, bhavausadhih. So simple thing: tapo divyam putraka yena suddhyed sattvam. Little tapasya. It is not very difficult. But if we undergo a little tapasya—no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication—little, not very… Now those who have given up these bad habits, they are not dying for want of these. But this little tapasya, tapasa brahmacaryena… [SB 6.1.13]. So, otherwise our propensity for sense gratification will increase, and for satisfying our sense gratification we require money, and for money they are risking their life. Yesterday our Pradyumna was speaking about the description of the factory. For some money they are going to the factory, hellish life. But money required, never mind hellish life. Going underneath the mine, at any moment the mine may collapse, and we risk life. Especially, here it is given that taskarah sevako vanik. Taskarah means thieves, they risk their life, enter into the house of another rich man, and he can shoot him immediately. There is dog, so many, but he risks his life for money. Taskarah. Taskarah means thieves, burglars, they risk their life. And sevaka. Sevaka, as soon as we become servant of some materialistic person, he’ll extract, as much as possible, service in the factory. That is also very risky. We are not happy, sevaka. And vanik. Vanik means merchants. Sa vai vanik. They also risk their life. In European colonization, how much they risked life. When the Americans came here, how much they risked their life. So because you require money, we have to risk our life in so many ways. So the best thing is that we have to minimize our wants. We should be satisfied with the yavad artha-prayojana, as little as possible. Not that we shall starve. That is not recommended. But don’t increase. So here in New Vrindaban we are trying to establish an ideal life— plain living and advanced in Krsna consciousness. That is real business. People, they do not know that Krsna consciousness business is essential, imperative. We must take to it. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnu. They do not know this. Durasaya ye bahir-artha-maninah. Out of false hope they are trying to be happy materially. Bahir-artha-maninah. Bahir means external. External means this body. I am soul, I am within this body. Dehino ’smin yatha dehe [Bg. 2.13]. So real I am within the body, but because we are misled, we are thinking, “I am the body.” Just like this shirt and coat, if I think, “I am this shirt, I am this coat,” that is misleading. Actually no, I am within the shirt and coat. So this requires knowledge. We get this knowledge that this body is not all in all. There is soul. As soon as the soul is out of the body it is a lump of matter. But in spite of all our experience we are interested only with this body. This is called ignorance. This is called ignorance. We know, we are seeing every day, we are reading in the sastra everything, but still we are attached to this body and sense gratification, and that is spoiling our life. We should be interested as spirit soul, aham brahmasmi, as soul, my business is how to get out of this entanglement of repetition of birth and death and be situated in our original spiritual life, where eternal life, blissful life. That is our aim should be. But unfortunately, there is no such education. So in our Krsna consciousness movement we are trying to give this education, a standard education, Srimad-Bhagavatam. anarthopasamam saksad bhakti-yogam adhoksaje lokasyajanato vidvams cakre satvata-samhitam Poor people, they do not know what is their self-interest, what is the aim of life. Therefore Vyasadeva he is called vidvams. Vidvams means very learned. He has compiled the sastra. Anartha, unnecessarily want. Wants we have increased. Now we, instead of wasting our time for increasing our unnecessary needs of life, we shall be satisfied with the bare necessities of life. Eating, sleeping, mating, we can minimize it. But don’t, we don’t say that you starve, you keep your body uncomfortably, and then fall sick, and then your Krsna conscious business is hampered. No. Yavad-artha prayojana. Anasaktasya visayan. Don’t be attached to sense gratification. Satisfy senses as little as possible, which is essential, needed. It is not stopped. Nirbandhah krsna, anasaktasya visayan yatharham upayunjatah. Don’t be attached to the sense gratification. Just like eating, it is also a kind of sense gratification, to satisfy the tongue, satisfy the belly. But eating is also necessary if we want to maintain our body, and with the body you have to execute Krsna consciousness. Without maintaining the body, or disturbing the body, we cannot. So everything can be adjusted. That is Krsna consciousness education. And we are trying to establish an ideal colony in New Vrindaban and other places. So I’m glad that in spite of all difficulties you are trying to… But do it nicely. Plain living, high thinking, that is required. It is not necessary that unnecessarily we increase objectives of sense gratification and be entangled. Minimize it and live peacefully, chant Hare Krsna. Thank you very much. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
New Vrindaban, June 26, 1976