Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.10 , Bombay , 1974-11-10

Nitāi: "[Now be pleased, my Lord, to dispel my great delusion. Due to my feeling of false ego, I have been] ...engaged by Your māyā and have identified myself with the body and consequent bodily relations."

Prabhupāda:

So Devahūti is accepting, or accepted, her son Kapiladeva as guru, and now he [she] is placing the problem and how to solve it. So to go to guru means to solve the material problem. Not temporary problem, "I have got some disease. Give me some mantra so that I may cure," or "I am in poverty. Give me some mantra where I can get money." Not like that. "To deliver me from the sammoha, illusion, ahaṁ mameti [SB 5.5.8]."

This material life is sammoha, ahaṁ mameti. Atha... The material life begins = puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etat [SB 5.5.8]. This material life is described in four lines. What is this material life? Now, puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam. Etat, this material life, is nothing but an attraction of sex. Puṁsam striyā. The man is after woman, and woman is after man. This is material life, beginning. Everywhere, not only human society. Even in bird society, dog society, cat society or demigods' society---everywhere you'll see the sex attraction. Puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etaṁ tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ. And... They are seeking, and as soon as they are joined together to satisfy the sex desire, their the, I mean to say, attraction becomes more and more tight. Then ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti [SB 5.5.8]. So as soon as they are combined, they require one house or apartment or cottage or nest. Something must be private. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra. Then to work, to earn livelihood, one must have some land. Either you construct skyscraper building or till it for get some food grain. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra, suta. Then without children, married life is frustrated. Putra-hīnaṁ gṛhaṁ śūnyam. Married life without children is void. Vidya hīnaṁ jīvanaṁ śūnyam. If one is not educated, his life is vacate, or vacant. Vidya hīnaṁ jīvanaṁ śūnyaṁ diśaḥ śūnyā deva abāndhavāḥ. And if you go to some foreign country, if there is no deva, temple, God's temple, or friend, that is also useless. And putra-hīnaṁ gṛhaṁ śūnyam. And if you have no children, the so-called married life is also void. And sarva-śūnyā daridratā. And if you are poor, in poverty, then everything is zero. Even if you have got a wife, or even if you have got education, even you have got friend, everything is... That is Cāṇakya Paṇḍita's advice.

So this family life is attraction. Gṛha-kṣetra, then suta, children. Then āpta, relatives. In this way, janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti, he becomes entangled in this material life. But that is moha. That is not fact. It is moha in this sense, because we have to change this body. In this body I have created something, gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ, and at the time of death, as Kṛṣṇa says, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham. Kṛṣṇa takes away everything as death. Your gṛha, your house, your land, your wife, your children, your friend, your reputation---everything is taken away. And then you have to begin another life. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg. 2.13]. You are not dead. You are living eternally. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20]. This body is finished, you have to accept another body. And that you do not know what kind of body you'll get. There are so many bodies. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati [Padma Purāṇa] = 8,400,000 forms of body. So you have to enter some of the, some of them, one of them. So in this way our life is going on. But temporarily, if we are situated in a position, "This is my wife, this is my children, this is my house, this is my country, this is my nation, this is my, mine..." Ahaṁ mameti. This illusion. You'll not be allowed to stay in these circumstances of ahaṁ mameti. That's a fact. Everything will be taken away. But we are attached to this. This is material life.

Therefore Devahūti proposes, "Sir..." Yaḥ avagrahaḥ. This false conception of life, ahaṁ mameti: "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian..." Or "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya..." This avagraha... It is called upādhi, designation = "For the time being." Just like you become minister for five years or three years. Or president. Just like Nixon was president; now he's not president. So this is an upādhi. You are Indian, American, this, that---they are all upādhis. Therefore if we attached..., if we are attached to the upādhi, that is called avagraha. Ahaṁ mameti. And according to the upādhi, I become attached to "me" and "mine"---"I am this," "I am that," and "It is mine, it is..." But actually, they are all illusion. Fact it is. If you suppose... Just like the president was five years very powerful. Now he's dragged down. Then what is the value? What is the value? So it may be for five years or fifty years or utmost hundred years, or a million years, just like Brahmā---but they are all temporary. In the eternal time, five years or ten years or hundred years or five million years, they are all limited. They are not eternal. But we are eternal. We living entities, we are eternal. So why we should be illusioned by the noneternal? That is called illusion.

That is called jñāna, that "I learn from Bhagavad-gītā that 'I am eternal. There is no birth and there is no death.' " Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. Kadācit, at any time. Not that it has begun now. No. Never we are born. Na hanyate hanyamāne... [Bg. 2.20]. So this is the fact. So why I shall be interested in something noneternal? This is called knowledge. If I am eternal, and my position is to enjoy life... Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12]. By nature I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1], and Kṛṣṇa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ [Bg. 15.7]. So qualitatively I am also sac-cid-ānanda. So why I am enjoying this temporary life for ten years or twenty years or two hundred years? This is called knowledge. Etaj jñānam. Other jñānam, they are not jñānam. I have said many times. They are arts, śilpa, to live for some time and make some artistic way of living condition and forget my real problem---janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg. 13.9]. So for this purpose one should approach guru. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta [SB 11.3.21]. One who is actually interested for spiritual life, he should inquire about a guru. Not as a fashion, that "I may... Let me keep one guru and..." No. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. Just like Devahūti is doing. Uttamam, something beyond this darkness. Tama means darkness, and ut means above. Uttama. That is uttama. So one who is interested... Uttama life means the spiritual life. Tama life means this material life. Tamasi mā jyotir gama. If you can transcend this darkness, the world of darkness, and if you come to the world of light, that is required.

So Devahūti, in the previous verse, accepted his [her] son, Kapiladeva = puṁsām īśvaro vai bhavān kila lokasya tamasāndhasya..., lokasya tamasāndhasya cakṣuḥ sūrya ivoditaḥ [SB 3.25.9]. "You are just like the sun. Sun, when the morning the sun is arisen, then all darkness immediately gone. Similarly, You have arisen..." God, Kṛṣṇa, or His incarnation, when They come, the darkness of this material world, illusion, is dissipated. Just like Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, came, the darkness, illusion, Arjuna's illusion, was counteracted. He was also thinking, ahaṁ mameti. "Why shall I fight with my relatives, the other side?" So this was darkness, aham mameti. Because either you maintain or..., or you love this illusory position, that is sammoham. This very word is used here = atha me deva sammoham apākraṣṭuṁ tvam arhasi. Sammoha. Samyag-rūpeṇa moham. Sammoha. The, the material life, ahaṁ mameti, we have created some situation "my" and "mine." All this is false, illusion. "Although it is false, we are so much attached to it. So You require to dissipate that." Apākraṣṭum. This misconception.

That is the business of guru.

This is guru. Guru's business is that we are in the darkness of this illusion, "my" and "mine." The whole world is going on. They fight between nation and nation, between society and society, community and community, brother and brother, father and mother, or so many... Simply this ahaṁ mameti. "This much mine. Why you are interfering in my business? There must be fight." This illusion is going on. But we do not belong to any one of them. It is temporary. Just like in a railway compartment, if there is some crowd, somebody fights, "Why... Why... Why you have pushed me? Why you have taken my seat?" And there is very big fight. And somebody tolerates, that "I shall sit here for two hours or for three hours. Why shall I fight?" This is one mentality. And another mentality is that he knows that for the two hours or three hours or some other hours he'll remain in that compartment, but there is fight, because ahaṁ mameti. But two hours' seat, he's thinking, "It is my permanent seat. Why you should intrude upon my seat?"

This is going on. Nobody will be allowed to stay here in this material world. He will have to change the body, his position. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam [Bg. 8.15]. And so long you'll remain here, you'll have to fight, struggle for existence. This is material life. And at the same time, if you make compromise, that "Never mind, it is full of miseries. I shall stay here," no, you cannot be allowed. You'll be kicked out. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. This is the material world. So... And we have got very much attachment for this material world. We cannot... Therefore according to Vedic system there is compulsory renunciation. "Get out, please, immediately." Pañcāśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. "You are now past fifty years. That's all right. You have falsely fought in this material world, ahaṁ mameti. Now stop this business. Come out." This is Vedic civilization. As soon as you are fifty years, you may... Just like children, they play on the beach, making sand house and so on. Now, the father, when the time is up = "Now, my dear children, stop this business. Come out. Come here, home." So we have to do that.

So this is the business of guru, to teach the student detachment, that "This world is not your place. Your place is Vaikuṇṭhaloka." Kṛṣṇa comes for this purpose. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata [Bg. 4.7]. This is dharmasya glāniḥ. When we become too much attached with this material world, that is called dharmasya glāniḥ. What is dharma? Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam [SB 6.3.19]. Dharma means the order of the Supreme Person. That is dharma. The order of the Supreme Person is, I mean to say, open to everyone. Nobody can say that "I do not know what is the order of the Supreme." I do not carry out, that is another thing. But the order of the Supreme is there. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg. 18.65] = "Just become My devotee. Always think of Me." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī: "Worship Me. You haven't got to worship anyone else." Mām ekam. The order is open. But we'll not do it. That is another thing. We'll not accept. But still, Kṛṣṇa comes. When this dharma is disobeyed, Kṛṣṇa comes. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna that "Because you are My friend, I am just talking to You the most confidential dharma. Because I have spoken to you in so many ways, but because you are My intimate friend, so I am talking to you now the most essential part of dharma." What is that? "Now, whatever I have said, you can give up." Sarva-dharmān parityajya. "I have explained to you about so many yoga system, but this is the real yoga system = sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. Bās."

So this dharma is taught by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His incarnations, by His devotee, by saintly person. This is real dharma. But we do not take it. That is another thing. But if we take it, then we become benefited. So here it is said, "You are my spiritual master, although You are my son. But I accepted You as my spiritual master. I know You can deliver me from this darkness of ignorance." So atha deva sammoham apākraṣṭum: "I am attached to this material world. That is illusion." Sammoham apākraṣṭum: "Now You dissipate this sammoham." So guru means repeatedly his business is to enlighten the disciple how to become detached to this material world. Simply detachment will not help you. The other philosophy, Śūnyavādī, that you make zero this material detachment... No. That is not possible. We have got... Because we are ānandamaya, we want ānanda, sac-cid-ānanda. Actually, we are searching after eternal life, sat. That is sat, eternal life. And cit means knowledge. And ānanda... Sac-cid-ānanda. We are seeking that. Partially, if we simply understand eternity, that will not help us. We must have blissful knowledge. So the Māyāvādī, those who are impersonalists, they want to make these material varieties of life zero, because they are very much disgusted with this material life. So jagat mithyā. They say, "This is mithyā. This is false."

But we say that it is not mithyā. It is... Mithyā means false. It is not false. It is truth, but you are using it in a false way. That is our philosophy. This is the expansion of energy of Kṛṣṇa. So this energy, you are not utilizing for Kṛṣṇa, but you are utilizing the energy for your sense gratification. That is mistake. But otherwise, how it can be false? It is not false. It is creation of God. Mama... Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhiḥ, bhinnā prakṛtir me aṣṭadhā [Bg. 7.4]. Me. It is Kṛṣṇa's energy. How Kṛṣṇa's energy can be false? If Kṛṣṇa is truth, Kṛṣṇa's energy is also truth. But it may... Just like the cloud. You cannot say the cloud is false. Cloud is fact, although it is temporary. The cloud does not remain in the sky permanently; it appears and again disappears. But when it appears, there is rain, there is reaction of the rain, vegetation on the ground, on the field. How you can say it is false? But it is temporary. That is actual philosophy.

So this material world is not false, as the Māyāvādī philosopher says, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Jagat is not mithyā. It is fact, but we are using it in a way which is false. We are using it in the way for our sense gratification. That is false. But the material world is not false. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is just to teach people how to use it properly. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Just like we are utilizing this microphone. It is not false, but we are utilizing it for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And if you use it for something else, for some political propaganda or some other propaganda, then it is false. But if you use it for propagating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is not false. Therefore the conclusion is the microphone is not false; its use is false. So if you properly use, that is wanted. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for that purpose. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam [Īśo mantra 1]. Everything Kṛṣṇa's. Everything of the Supreme Personality belong to Him. Actually, that is the fact. So if we misuse it for our purpose or for our sense gratification, that is false.

So here Devahūti is requesting Bhagavān Kapiladeva that "I am in this illusion, ahaṁ mameti, by false conception of life. Kindly You dissipate this illusion, because You are my guru." Yaḥ avagrahaḥ ahaṁ mameti iti etasmin yojitas tvayā: "You can say that 'How I am engaged in these material activities...' " That is also, the chance is given, the opportunity is given by Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is very kind. He says, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham [Bg. 4.11]. If you want Kṛṣṇa to give you material advantages, He'll give you. Take it. And if you want from Kṛṣṇa again revival of your spiritual life, then He will give you. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante. Kṛṣṇa is very kind. Just like a kind father, he says sometimes, "My dear boy, you don't do this." But if the boy, if the son, persists, "All right, you can do it at your risk..."

This is going on. This is going on.

Māyā means when we forget Kṛṣṇa and we want to enjoy this material world to the best capacity, means as far as we can do with our senses, Kṛṣṇa gives us opportunity. Kṛṣṇa gives us opportunity, and therefore so many varieties of life. If somebody wants to eat without any discrimination anything... There are many persons, even in the so-called civilized world, they eat anything and everything. But that is misuse of life. Human life is meant for eating Kṛṣṇa's prasādam, not anything and everything. That is not human life.

Human life is meant for eating... Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ [Bg. 3.13]. Because this material life is all sinful life, because everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, and we are possessing things for my satisfaction. This is sinful, criminal. Suppose if your property I use for my sense gratification, it is criminal. Similarly, everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg. 5.29]. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the proprietor." So if you don't acknowledge that, if you use this world for your sense gratification, then you are criminal. Therefore it is said that you offer yajña, offer to Kṛṣṇa. Then you take it. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. You bring things... You have to eat. That's a fact. Kṛṣṇa is giving you opportunity of eating nice thing = food grains, fruits, flowers, milk, so many things. So you prepare, offer to Kṛṣṇa. That is called yajña. Yajña means satisfaction of the Supreme Person. That is called yajña. So yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ [Bg. 3.9]. If you do not work for performing yajña, then you are becoming entangled. Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ. And if you perform yajña and then you enjoy... Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ [Īśo mantra 1]. We require our, I mean to say, maintenance of life and soul. That is, that is a fact. But tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ. You enjoy everything which is given to you as prasādam, as remnants, as mercy. This is Vaiṣṇava life. Vaiṣṇava life means they do not... What is this temple? The temple is they are being trained up how to accept the remnants of foodstuff of Kṛṣṇa. We don't cook for ourself. If we cook for ourself, then, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt, bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpām [Bg. 3.13]. They are simply eating sinful things.

And people are doing that. They do not offer to Kṛṣṇa, and they eat whatever they like. The result is that you have misused this opportunity of human life, to understand Kṛṣṇa and go back to home, back to Godhead, so that you'll be happy eternally; you'll be freed from this entanglement of bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg. 8.19]---you enjoy one duration of life; again you have to give it up; then you accept another duration of life, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate. This human life is meant for getting rid of this business, taking birth and dying, taking birth and dying. This is meant. This is... This opportunity's given. But if you do not use it properly---you use it as cats and dogs and hogs---then the..., by nature's law you will get the body next life cats and dogs and hogs. You eat even stool. Because you had no discrimination in eating, the "All right, you can now eat...," the pig's body, hog's body you get, and eat even up to stool. That opportunity is given. And you have sex life with your mother and sister. You see hog's life, they have no sex discrimination. They do not discriminate, "It is..., she is my mother," or "She is my sister." No. So this is hog's life. Therefore śāstra says that "Don't be foolish to lead a life like hogs." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye [SB 5.5.1]. The material civilization should not be like that. What is that? Now, simply for sense gratification. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān. That sense gratification is also not very easy. People are working so hard. They are stealing even, risking life. So many things they are... This is not very easy-going life. Kaṣṭān kāmān. Everything is studied by śāstra. Arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye. This kind of life is meant for the hogs.

So human life is not meant for like that. Human life is meant for tapasya. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam [SB 5.5.1]. Śuddhyet. You have to purify your existence. Now our existence is not purified. We get this contaminated body and change it; again another contaminated body, another... Just like one man is suffering from disease = one contamination, then another contamination, another... This is not life. You purify yourself. And that purification begins when you accept the life of austerities, tapaḥ, tapasya. Tapasya means voluntarily accepting some... This is not inconvenience. Just like in our Society it is enjoined, the students, they should voluntarily accept the principle = no illicit sex life; no meat-eating, no fish-eating, no, nothing of the sort; no intoxication; and no gambling. This is tapasya. Especially for these European and American students, they are, from the beginning of their life, they are accustomed to these habits. But they have voluntarily given up on my word. And that is guru's business. So to purify so that he may be saved from this illusion---he must be purified---so this little inconvenience for higher happiness, that is desired, that is required.

Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvaṁ yasmād brahma-saukhyam anantam. Anantam. You are after happiness, but you do not know how to enjoy happiness. That you do not know. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam [Bg. 6.21]. Atīndriya. Not these false senses. We want sense enjoyment, but not these covered senses. We are spiritual. We have got spiritual body. That body is now covered with this material garment; therefore it is covered. The senses are covered. With covered senses, you cannot enjoy actually. The senses must be open. That means you can enjoy life when your senses are open, not covered by this material body. That is recommended. One who is interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness... It is said, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. Nirmalam means purified. You have to become purified. And sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam. Now we are in..., covered by this material body, means I am covered by so many designations = "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim." These are all coverings, material. So we have to get free, freedom from this covering. You should not think that "I am American" or "Indian" or this or that. As Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa [Cc. Madhya 20.108-109]. When you understand simply that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa," that is sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam, nirmalam. And with that conception of life, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. Hṛṣīkeṇa means when your senses are now clean, without any covering, then with that senses, when you try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam... [Cc. Madhya 19.170].

Kṛṣṇa's name is another..., Hṛṣīkeśa. Senayor ubhayor madhye hṛṣīkeśa sthāpaya me acyuta. The Hṛṣīkeśa name is there. Hṛṣīkeśa means actually Kṛṣṇa is the master of the senses. We are not proprietor of the senses. Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of the senses. So when our senses are purified and we apply them... After all, our senses are employed for satisfaction of somebody, myself or somebody else. Actually, somebody else. That is kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mātsarya. That is illusion. We are not serving ourself; we are serving our lusty desires, kāma, krodha. I am angry; therefore I am killing somebody. So that is not mine. But I am servant of the anger. I am servant; I am not master. If I would have been master, then I could control my anger. But I am not. I am servant of anger. I am servant of lusty desires. So I am servant, but this servitude should be transferred to Kṛṣṇa. That is perfection of life.

That is bhakti. And if you sta..., if you are situated in that transcendental position, bhakti, then you can understand Kṛṣṇa. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti. Not by so-called speculation. No. That is not possible. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa would have said, "By jñāna, by yoga, by karma one could understand Me." Kṛṣṇa says "No," clearly. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg. 18.55]. If you want to know Kṛṣṇa as He is, then you have to accept this process of bhakti, and that bhakti means sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam. You should not consider yourself.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is actually, factually, the movement for unity of the whole world. And that is actually beginning. It is actually being happened. All classes of men, from all groups of men, all religious societies or nation, they are joining this movement. They are joining it. Actually there is the possibility. The United Nation could not unite the nation, but if you push on this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, all people of different dimensions, of different nations, different religions, they will join. That is required.

So otherwise, we are in the moha, illusion. So it is the business of guru to dissipate this illusion, darkness, and enlighten the student to the real life.

He is guru.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]