Śrī Īśopaniṣad mantra 11 , Los Angeles , 1970-05-17

Prabhupāda: Ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt. So Gopāla Kṛṣṇa, how you are feeling? How do you see this temple?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: [indistinct]

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. [devotees chant japa]

Prabhupāda: Oṁ…

Devotees:

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate

Prabhupāda: Loudly.

Prabhupāda: So up to this verse we have done. Next.

[corrects devotees’ pronunciation]

Vidyayāmṛtam aśnute. When they are compounded they are called vidyayāmṛtam aśnute. So you read as the English translation.

[06:35]

Prabhupāda: “Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.”

So we have to learn. Knowledge means, just like darkness and light, if we know “this is darkness” and “this is light,” that is perfect knowledge. If you simply know darkness, or if you simply know light, that is not perfect. So the living entity is called tatasta śakti, marginal. There are two sides: one is darkness, one is light, and the living entity is marginal potency.

As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, there are two…, three prakṛtis: parā, aparā… Two prakṛtis practically, but the living entities belong to the superior energy. But because it is prone to fall down to the inferior energy, it is called marginal. So there are two sides. Just like the seashore: immediately land, immediately water, side by side. On the land you are safe; as soon as you are in the water, unsafe.

So you are on the margin. Just like I was walking on the beach, so I was very careful so that the water may not come and wet my shoes. So we are little bit careful. Side by side there is. So one should have perfect knowledge, that “this is water,” “this is land.” Because water means if you fall into the water, your death; and if you stand on the land, you are secure. Therefore here it is stated:

One should know what is my secure place and what is my unsecure place. Because I am prone. I am not God; I am little spark. God has no such fear, either this land or this water. He is controller of everything. But so far I am concerned, I am tiny. Although I am part and parcel of God, I am tiny. Therefore I must know what is my secure place and what is my unsecure place.

The unsecure place is Kṛṣṇa, and unsecure place is māyā. So if you know what is māyā and what is Kṛṣṇa, this knowledge, if there is perfect knowledge, then avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā. Avidyayā, I am in the nescience, māyā, now, where there is death, repeated birth and death. So if I become conversant what is Kṛṣṇa, then I become transcendental to this birth and death, mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtam aśnute. Āmṛtam means eternal life.

We are eternal by nature. As God is eternal, we are also eternal living entities. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, second chapter [Bg 2.20]: na jāyate mriyate vā. These living entities, actually they do not take birth or do not die. The birth and death is just like changing of this dress. Just like I am now in this dress, next moment I will take out all these dresses—I become naked body.

So birth and death—which we call birth and death—death means sleeping. Death is taking place every day, every night. When we sleep, that is death, but because the duration of life continues, therefore we again come to consciousness and take up this body in the morning. But that sleeping is also death. Sometimes one man dies, appears to be sleeping for seven days, and all of a sudden it is seen that—coma; it is called coma—no more breathing.

So death means sleeping of this body. As soon as this body becomes old enough, useless, somehow or other, then the soul does not come back again to this body; he accepts another body, just like changing dress. So actually if you take sleep as death… But death, that is al... As sleep is temporary, a few hours, similarly this death means sleeping for a few months. That's all. Seven months or ten months—actually seven months.

The child in the womb of the mother sleeps, unconscious, and when the body is made up, he has got his hands, legs, eyes, everything manufactured; then consciousness comes back, and that time the child moves and desires to come out, prays. One who is advanced in his previous life, he understands, “Oh, I am again put into this condition. I did not utilize my life for Kṛṣṇa consciousness; therefore I am again put into this condition.” It is very risky. Don't try to go again into the womb of the mother. It is very, I mean to say, distressful, packed-up.

We all forget this. Sometimes the child is killed by the modern civilization. The most sinful child does not see the light. It is being killed from one womb to another womb. You see? This is going on. Those who are killing this, using these pills, they will be put into that womb, and they will never see light, and from womb to womb they will be transferred—horrible life, ghostly life.

So these are nescience. People do not know, and they are advancing: “I am civilized.” What nonsense civilization you have got. Try to understand this Vedic knowledge, then your life will be successful. Otherwise if you remain in the darkness, then this human form of... And this human form of life is important. Why?

This book is meant for the human beings, not for the cats and dogs and animals. This Īśopaniṣad, the Vedic knowledge, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, it is meant for human beings. So if we do not take advantage of this knowledge and keep ourself into darkness of animal life, then you are doomed.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [offer obeisances] [break]

Prabhupāda: Chant. Chant please.

[16:55]

[kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong] [end]