# Bhagavad-gita 4.13, NYC, 1973 **Location:** New York City (1973) **Related verse:** [[bg/4/13]] **Duration:** 62:32 <div class="video-container" style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%;"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kR-_pA7e83Y" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; pointer-events: auto; z-index: 10;" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR-_pA7e83Y) --- ## Transcript **[07:49]** "catur-varnyan maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah tasya kartaram api mam viddhy akartaram avyayam" **[08:04]** This is a verse from Bhagavad-gita. Most of you know this book, Bhagavad-gita. **[08:16]** It is a very famous book of knowledge and we are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is. **[08:27]** This Krishna consciousness movement means to present Bhagavad-gita as it is, without any adulteration. **[08:40]** So, Krishna says four classes of men. "catur-varyan" **[08:54]** 'Catur' means four and 'varnyam' means division of society. **[09:06]** Just like 'varnyam' means color. As there are division of color, red, blue, and yellow, **[09:18]** similarly human being, human society should be divided according to the quality. **[09:34]** The quality is also called color. **[09:38]** "catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah" **[09:45]** So, there are three qualities in this material world. Three qualities. **[09:58]** Or three colors. Red, blue, and yellow. You mix it. Then you become 81 colors. **[10:14]** Three colors. Three upon three, multiplied it becomes nine. Nine upon nine multiplied, it becomes 81. **[10:29]** So, there are 8,400,000 different forms of living entities. Due to this mixture of different qualities. **[10:51]** Nature is manufacturing different types of body according to the association **[11:02]** of the living entity to the particular type of quality. **[11:08]** Living entities are part and parcel of God. **[11:16]** Suppose God is the big fire and living entities are just like sparks. **[11:25]** The sparks, they are also fire. The sparks also, if one spark falls on your body, on your garment, it burns. **[11:40]** But it is not as powerful as the big fire. **[11:45]** Similarly, God is all-powerful, God is great. **[11:53]** We are part and parcel of God, therefore our greatness is very, very small. Infinitesimal. **[12:04]** God is great. Therefore He has created so many universes. **[12:17]** We cannot account for even one universe. **[12:24]** This one universe which we see, the sky, the dome, within that sky, outer space, **[12:37]** there are millions and trillions of stars, planets, they're floating. **[12:45]** Floating in the air, everyone knows. **[12:49]** We can float one Sputnik in the sky and we take so much credit, **[12:58]** that we have become very, very great scientist. We don't care for God. **[13:04]** This is foolishness. Foolish person will say like that. **[13:12]** But one who is intelligent, he knows that God is floating millions and trillions **[13:21]** of planets in the sky, and what have we done in the comparison? **[13:26]** This is intelligence. **[13:29]** So we have become very much proud of our scientific knowledge, **[13:39]** and therefore, at the present moment, we defy the existence of God. **[13:46]** Sometimes we say that "I have become God now." **[13:50]** These are foolish statements. You are nothing in comparison to the intelligence… **[13:59]** He's also intelligent. Because we are part and parcel of God, **[14:05]** that we can study what is God if we simply study ourselves. **[14:11]** Just like if you study a drop of sea water, **[14:18]** if you analyze chemically, you'll find so many chemicals in that drop. **[14:24]** So you can understand what is the composition of the sea. **[14:30]** The same composition, but in greater quantity. **[14:36]** That is the difference between God and ourself. **[14:42]** We are small gods, we can say, small gods. Teeny, sample gods. **[14:51]** Therefore, we are so much proud. **[14:56]** But we should not be proud because we should know that all our qualities are taken from God. **[15:08]** Because we are part and parcel. **[15:12]** So originally all these qualities are there in God. **[15:16]** And therefore Vedanta-sutra says what is God, what is the Absolute Truth? **[15:24]** "Athatho brahma-jijnasa" **[15:28]** When [we] inquire about God, about the Absolute Truth, the answer is immediately given: **[15:36]** "janmady asya yatah." **[15:39]** The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything comes, everything emanates. **[15:48]** So everything is coming from God. He's the original source of all supplies. **[15:57]** Now what is our position? There are innumerable living entities. **[16:06]** "Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam" **[16:11]** That is Vedic information. God is also a living entity, like us, but He's the chief living entity. **[16:20]** And we are also living entity. **[16:24]** Just like one father. Father may have got twenty children. Twenty sons. **[16:28]** Formerly, they used to have one hundred sons. **[16:34]** Now the fathers have no such power. **[16:38]** But in the, up to five thousand years ago, King Dhritarastra gave birth to one hundred sons. **[16:51]** Now we are… We say, we are saying that we are overpopulated. **[16:57]** But that is not the fact. At the present moment, where is the question of overpopulation? **[17:07]** Now, how many of us giving birth hundreds of children? No. Nobody. **[17:14]** But formerly, a father could give birth to one hundred children. **[17:21]** So there is no question of overpopulation. **[17:25]** And even there is overpopulation, we get information…, information from the Vedas: **[17:33]** "eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman." **[17:38]** That one chief living entity, God, He can maintain innumerable living entities. **[17:47]** There is no question of overpopulation. This is a false theory. **[17:53]** If God can create, He can maintain also. **[17:58]** And actually, this is the fact. I am traveling all over the world. **[18:08]** There are so much vacant places upon the surface of the globe **[18:15]** that ten times more than the present population can be easily maintained. **[18:23]** But we, we, we do not know how to use it. **[18:29]** In Africa, in Australia, in your America, enough land still lying. **[18:37]** But because we have encroached upon the land of Krishna, the difficulty's there. **[18:48]** China is overpopulated, India is overpopulated. **[18:53]** But if we take to Krishna consciousness these difficulties will be over within a second. **[19:01]** Krishna consciousness means to take everything Krishna's. **[19:07]** I am also Krishna's. That is Krishna consciousness. **[19:11]** Actually, that is fact. Everything…Krishna means God. **[19:16]** Everything belong to God. I also belong to God. "Isavasyam idam sarvam" **[19:25]** Everything belongs to God. That's a fact. But we do not accept the fact. **[19:33]** We take something illusory. Therefore it is called 'maya.' Just like the Americans. **[19:44]** They are claiming this land is for the American group. **[19:50]** Similarly, other nations, they're…but the land actually belongs to God. **[19:57]** The land, the sky, the water, and the products in the land, in the sky, in the water, **[20:04]** everything belongs to God. And we are children of God. **[20:10]** We have got the right to live at the expense of the father. **[20:16]** Just like we live, small children. They live at the cost of father. **[20:23]** Similarly, we also live by the arrangement of God. **[20:31]** Why should we claim that this is our property? **[20:35]** This is the idea of spiritual communism. **[20:39]** In Bhagavata these things are stated, how to feel spiritual communism. **[20:47]** In the spiritual communism… **[20:51]** The present communists, they are thinking of the human being only. **[20:57]** And the animals are being sent to the slaughterhouse. **[21:03]** Although the human being and the animal is born in the same land… **[21:09]** Actually they are also nationals. National means one who's born in that particular land. **[21:16]** So why not these animals, nationals? **[21:20]** But because they have no Krishna consciousness, they cannot think so broadly. **[21:27]** They think nationalism means it is limited to the human being. Not to the animals, not to the trees. **[21:38]** But when you become Krishna conscious, you understand that the trees, the plants, the reptiles, **[21:47]** the aquatics, the human beings, the beasts, everyone, each and everyone, part and parcel of God. **[21:58]** According to their karma, they have got different bodies, the color, as I explained. **[22:07]** According to "karanam guna-sango 'sya sad-asad-janma-yonisu" **[22:14]** These things are described in the Bhagavad-gita. **[22:18]** One has got a different type of body according to his karma. "Karmana daiva netrena jantor deha upapattaye." **[22:30]** By karma we create next body. So this is a great science. **[22:36]** People do not know how things are taking place, how there are so many species of life, **[22:45]** how one is so-called happy, one so-called distressed. Why one is rich, one is poor. **[22:53]** Why there are so many planets. **[22:56]** Why some of them are demigods and some of them are human beings, some of them are animals. **[23:01]** It is a great science but there is no cultivation of this knowledge in the modern universities or educational institutions. **[23:15]** Perhaps we are the only group of men, we are trying to propagate this science of Krishna consciousness. **[23:26]** But it is a perfect science to understand the position. **[23:33]** Now Krishna says: "catur varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah." **[23:41]** Now the…When we are animals, we had to pass through animal bodies. **[23:47]** By evolution, we have come to this human form of body. **[23:52]** Now it is an opportunity to get out of this cycle of birth and death. **[24:02]** This is our real problem. But people, because they have no education, poor fund of knowledge. **[24:10]** There is no educational institution how transmigration of the soul takes place. **[24:18]** They do not know. Big, big M.A., Ph.D.'s. **[24:21]** But they do not know what is the actual position of the living entity. **[24:26]** But that is the real problem. They do not know the real problem. The real problem is… **[24:36]** It is stated in the Bhagavad-Gita: "janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi," birth, death, old age and disease. **[24:45]** This is real problem. Nobody wants to take birth. At least nobody wants to die. **[24:56]** Birth and death. Wherever there is birth, there must be death. **[25:00]** Anything which is born must die. So, "janma-mrtyu." And old age. **[25:11]** So long you live, you have to change your position. So one position is this old age. **[25:20]** Just like we have become old, there are so many complaints. "Jara." **[25:27]** And "vyadhi." And when we become diseased. Everyone should become diseased. **[25:32]** Everyone should become old. Everyone must die. This is the problem. **[25:38]** "Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi duhkla-dosanudarsanam." **[25:43]** We are trying to mitigate all our miserable conditions of life. That is struggle for existence. **[25:53]** We are scientists. We are discovering many counteracting processes to get out of distressed condition. **[26:02]** But the difficult position, "janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi," we are avoiding. **[26:09]** Because we cannot do anything. We cannot even… **[26:16]** The so-called science, they cannot solve this problem, **[26:22]** although sometimes they falsely become proud that by science we shall become immortal and so on. **[26:29]** These things were tried before also by atheistic class of men like Ravana, Hiranyakasipu. **[26:37]** But it is not possible to become successful, to stop birth death, old age and disease. **[26:45]** That is not possible. If there is any possible process, that is Krishna consciousness. **[26:52]** That is Krishna consciousness. **[26:55]** If you become Krishna conscious, then you can get a body. **[27:05]** Not get… You have already got the body, spiritual body. **[27:10]** And upon that spiritual body, this material body has developed. **[27:16]** Just like dress. Your coat is cut according to your body. **[27:22]** Similarly, this material body is cut according to our spiritual body. **[27:29]** We have got our spiritual body. This material body is covering. "Vasami jirnani," just like dress. **[27:41]** You shirt and coat is the covering of your real body. **[27:44]** Similarly, this body, gross body and subtle body, made of material elements… **[27:54]** The gross body is made of earth, water, air, and fire. **[28:00]** And the subtle body's made of mind, intelligence, and ego. This is the shirt and coat. **[28:06]** Within this shirt and coat, there is the soul. **[28:10]** So the soul is now encased in this material body. **[28:16]** And our business in the human form of body. In animal form of body, we cannot do this. **[28:24]** But the human form of body we can understand that, "I am not this body." **[28:31]** The body, this material body, is an outer encasement, because I have got this body, **[28:42]** I am subjected to birth, death, old age and disease. **[28:45]** Now, in the human form of body, I understand it. So if I take the process, **[28:55]** how to get out of this cycle of birth and death, then our human life is successful. **[29:03]** This is Krishna consciousness movement. How, we are helping people how to get out of this material body, **[29:14]** and revive your own spiritual body, and in that spiritual body, you go back home, back to Godhead. **[29:24]** This is the process. "Tyaktva dehamjpunar janma naiti." **[29:29]** But people are so attracted to this material body that they are prepared to become cats and dogs next life, **[29:42]** but they are not prepared to go back to home, back to Godhead. **[29:44]** This is the problem. So why this problem? **[29:51]** Because the human society is in chaos. A chaotic condition. **[29:58]** There must be division of four classes. **[30:04]** One class must be brahmana, intelligent class of men. **[30:09]** And one should be ksatriya, one class, the administrators. **[30:15]** Because human society, they require good consulting brain, good administrators, **[30:22]** good producers, and good workers. That is the division of brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra. **[30:31]** Therefore Krishna says: "catur varnyam maya srstam." **[30:38]** In order to keep smooth facilities for human life, there must be four divisions. **[30:48]** If you say that, "We don't require brahmana." **[30:53]** If you don't require brahmana, then you'll suffer. Just like you have got this body. **[31:01]** And if you think, "This part of the body is very expensive, always eating. Cut it off." **[31:08]** Then you'll be dead. Similarly, just to keep your body in good condition, in living condition, **[31:21]** you must have your head, you must have your arms, you must have your belly, you must have your legs. **[31:28]** You cannot say that, "I can avoid this part of the body." No. **[31:33]** Similarly, "catur varnyam maya srstam," the four divisions of the society must be there. **[31:42]** Otherwise it will be chaotic or dead body. **[31:45]** So at the present moment, the difficulty is there is no brahmana, there is no ksartiya. **[31:54]** There are only the vaisyas and sudras, belly, vaisya means belly, and sudra means the leg. **[32:07]** So if out of the four divisions, one is wanting............... **[32:15]** ...............God. That is brahmana. And keeping in view God, they teaches others to become God conscious. **[32:28]** Without becoming God conscious, the human society is simply animal society. **[32:34]** Because animals cannot be God conscious, however you may go on preaching amongst the animals, **[32:42]** cats and dogs. It is not possible. Because they have no brain to understand what is God. **[32:50]** So in the human society, if there is no brahmana who can teach about God, **[32:58]** who can elevate persons to God consciousness, then it is also animal society. **[33:05]** Simply eating, sleeping, and sex life and defense, these are the business of the animals also. **[33:17]** The animals also know how to eat, how to sleep, how to enjoy sex life, how to defend. **[33:24]** They know in their own way. **[33:26]** So simply to do these business does not mean human being. **[33:33]** Then human, the mission of human being will not be fulfilled. **[33:37]** There must be the four classes of men, as Krishna recommends: "catur varnyam maya srstam." **[33:46]** There must be a brahminical class of men, a ksatriya class of men, a vaisya class… **[33:55]** There are already. But they're not very scientifically settled, as it is propounded in the Bhagavad-gita. **[34:04]** "Catur varnyam maya srstam." These are, "guna-karma-vibhagasah." 'Guna' means according to quality. **[34:13]** So in India, these four classes of men are there, but they are in the name. **[34:22]** Actually it is also in the chaotic condition. **[34:26]** Because nobody is following the prescription as given by Bhagavad-gita, **[34:32]** "guna karma-vibagasah." **[34:35]** In India, although a person born in a brahmana family, but his guna, qualities, are less than sudra, **[34:44]** but still he's being accepted as a brahmana. That is the difficulty. **[34:51]** Therefore, India's condition is so chaotic. **[34:53]** But this is a scientific process. You Western people, you should try to understand that. **[35:02]** And our boys and girls who have joined, they are trying to understand, and execute the principles. **[35:09]** So if you take up this Krishna consciousness movement, which is meant for the brahmanas, **[35:18]** if you become brahmana by quality, then your, the Western nations will be… **[35:26]** especially in America, they'll be first class nation. **[35:29]** They'll be first-class nation. You have got intelligence. You have got resources. **[35:35]** You are also inquisitive. You catch up good things. **[35:41]** So you have got good qualities. You take up this Krishna consciousness movement seriously, **[36:05]** and you'll become the first-class nation of the world. **[35:52]** That is my request. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.