Bg. 2.13 — New York City, 1972

[09:24] : dehino ‘smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara

[09:35] : tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati [Bg. 2.13]

[09:54] : So this is a statement by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, bhagavan uvaca,

[10:05] : that you are not this body. The first instruction for spiritual understanding

[10:18] : is to know that I am not this body. This is the beginning. The so-called yogis,

[10:33] : they are exercising the body, studying the psychology of the mind by charts,

[10:44] : by so many humbugs. But our philosophy (is) that we are not this body.

[10:52]

Then where is the question of exercising the body and spiritual realization?

[11:01]

If I am not this body, then how I can realize myself simply by some gymnastic process?

[11:11]

So this is the mistake-the karmis, jnanis and the yogis. The karmis, fruitive workers,

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materialistic persons, they want bodily comforts. Their only idea is how to get the best

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comfort of this body. This body means the senses. We have got eyes, ears, nose, mouth,

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tongue, hands, genital-so many senses we have got.

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So as soon as we are in the bodily concept of life, immediately the necessity is for sense gratification.

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But Krsna says to Arjuna that “You are not this body.” So therefore my self-interest

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does not depend on my bodily comforts. They do not know this. Everyone, at the present moment,

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in this age, their only business is how to gratify the senses. Atheistic principle. Just like there was

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a great atheist, Carvaka Muni, all classes of philosophers there were in India. The Western countries,

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they have got little information, but in India, there was cultivation of all kinds of philosophy.

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So atheist philosophy was there. Carvaka Muni is the chief of the atheist class of philosophers.

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So he said, hedonism. The Western philosophy is hedonism, that eat, drink, be merry and enjoy.

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This philosophy. So long you have got this body, eat, drink, be merry and enjoy.

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The Carvaka Muni also said like that. Rnam krtva ghrtam pibet. In India, bodily enjoyment means first, tongue.

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Tongue’s enjoyment. Everywhere. Here also. Tongue’s enjoyment. So if we want to control our senses…

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Therefore Bhaktivinoda Thakura, following the footsteps of previous acarya, he says that

[14:36]

“Control your tongue.” Control your tongue. And in the Bhagavata also it is said,

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atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [Brs. 1.2.234]. With our, these blunt senses,

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we cannot understand Krsna. It is not possible. The senses are so imperfect

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that you cannot acquire any perfect knowledge, material or spiritual, by the senses.

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That is not possible. Atah. Even if you cannot know perfectly the affairs of this material world.

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Just like they are studying the moon planet, the nearest planet. Besides this moon planet,

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there are millions and trillions of other planets. They cannot say anything.

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Because the senses are imperfect. How you can understand? I can see, say up to one mile.

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But when there is question of millions and trillions of miles, how you can use your senses

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and have the perfect knowledge? So you cannot have even material knowledge perfectly

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by using these senses. What to speak of God and spiritual knowledge? That is beyond,

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manasa-gocara, beyond your conception. Therefore sastra says:

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atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [Brs. 1.2.234].

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If you want to know God by mental speculation, that is frog philosophy,

[16:37]

Dr. Frog, calculating Atlantic Ocean, sitting down in the well. This is called frog philosophy.

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You cannot understand. Then how it is possible to understand? The next line is

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sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty. If you employ your tongue in the service of the Lord,

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He’ll reveal Himself to you. He’ll reveal, revelation.

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So therefore we have to control the tongue. What is the tongue’s business?

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The tongue’s business is taste and vibrate. So you vibrate in service of the Lord,

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Hare Krsna. Hare Krsna means “O Krsna, O the energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service.”

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Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare… This is the meaning of Hare Krsna.

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It has no other meaning. “O my Lord Krsna and O the energy of Krsna, Radharani,

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especially, kindly both of You engage me in Your service.” As Narottama dasa Thakura says:

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ha ha prabhu nanda-suta vrsabhanu-suta-juta: “My Lord, Krsna, You are well known as

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the son of Nanda Maharaja. And Your eternal consort, Radharani, She’s also known as the

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daughter of King Vrsabhanu. So both of You are here.” Ha ha prabhu nanda-suta vrsabhanu-suta…

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koruna karoho ei-bara. “Now I have come to You. Please both of You be merciful upon me.”

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This is Hare Krsna: “Be merciful upon me.” Narottama-dasa koy na theliho ranga pay:

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“Your lotus feet, You have got, don’t neglect me or push away with Your lotus feet.”

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I think if Krsna kicks and push away, that is our great fortune. You see.

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If Krsna kicks with His lotus feet: “You go away,” that is also a great fortune.

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What to speak of accepting? Just like when Krsna was kicking on the hood of the Kaliya.

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So the Kaliya’s wives prayed: “My dear Sir, I do not know, this culprit, Kaliya,

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how he became so fortunate that his hood is being kicked by You?

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Your touch of lotus feet, great, great sages, saintly persons are trying to meditate

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upon millions of years, but this Kaliya… I do not know, what did he do in his past life

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that he’s fortunate that his hood is being kicked by You?”

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So this is our position, that we cannot understand Krsna by our mental speculation,

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limited sense. That is not possible. We have to engage-sevonmukhe hi jihvadau-

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beginning from jihva, tongue. Tongue is the greatest enemy, and it is the greatest friend also.

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If you allow the tongue to do whatever it likes, smoking, drinking, eating meat,

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and this and that, then it is your greatest enemy. And if you do not allow the tongue,

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you can control the tongue, then you can control the, all the senses. Automatically.

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Ta’ra madhye jihva ati lobhamoy sudurmati, ta’ke jeta kathina samsare, krsna bado

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doyamoy koribare jihva jay, sva-prasad-anna dilo bhai, sei annamrta pao, radha-krsna-

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guna gao, preme dako caitanya-nitai. So tongue should be used always for glorifying the

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Supreme Lord. That is our business with the tongue. And the tongue should not be

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allowed to eat anything except krsna-prasada. Then you become liberated,

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simply by controlling the tongue. And if you allow the tongue to do anything,

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then it very difficult. So the spiritual education, as Krsna says, begins when you

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understand that I am not this body. And satisfying the senses is not my business,

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because I am not this body. If I am not this body, why shall I bother myself to satisfy

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the body only? Body means the senses. This is the first instruction.

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So the karmis, jnanis, yogis, they’re all trying to satisfy the demands of the body.

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The karmis are directly doing that. “Eat, drink, be merry, enjoy.” That is their philosophy.

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Jnani also, he’s simply trying to understand that “I am not this body.” Neti neti neti neti:

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“This is not, this is not, this is not, this is not, this is no…” The yogis, they are also trying

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to come to the point of controlling the senses by bodily exercise, hatha-yoga.

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So their center of activity is body. Center of activity is body. And our philosophy begins that,

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“You are not this body.” You see? When they will pass their M.A. examination in studying this

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body, then they may be able to understand what is their function. But our philosophy begins that

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“You are not this body.” Postgraduate study. “You are not this body.” That is Krsna’s instruction.

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We have seen so many big, big politicians and scholars in India. They write comments

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on Bhagavad-gita, but they write on this bodily concept of life. We have seen in our country

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the great leader, Mahatma Gandhi, his photo is with Bhagavad-gita. But what did he do

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throughout his whole life? The bodily concept: “I am Indian. I am Indian.”

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Nationalism means that bodily concept of life. “I am Indian.” “I am American.”

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“I am Canadian.” But we are not this body. Then were is the question of “I am Indian,”

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“I am American,” “I am Canadian”? So they have no, this knowledge, the bodily concept of life,

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they’re absorbed, and still they’re authority of Bhagavad-gita. Just see the fun.

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And Bhagavad-gita teaches in the beginning “You are not this body.”

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And they are in the bodily concept of life. Then just try to understand what is their position.

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What they can understand Bhagavad-gita? If one is feeling that “I belong to this nation,

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I belong to this family, I belong to this community, I belong to this cult,

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I belong to this, I belong to this religion…,” everything is bodily concept of life.

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The yogis, they are also trying to understand by bodily exercise.

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The jnani is also trying to know, understand fully that “I am not this body.”

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And the karmis, they cannot understand. They are as animals.

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The animals cannot understand that he’s not body.

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So factually the karmis, jnanis, yogis, are a little, maybe elevated than the animals.

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That’s all. They are on the animal platform, but it is little elevated.

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So I give this example-perhaps you heard it-that the dry side of the stool.

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India, they pass stool on the open field. So at the end of day, because there is sunshine,

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the upper side of the stool becomes dried up. And the lower side, still moist.

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So somebody says, “This side is very good.” He does not know. It is stool after all.

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This side, or that side. So these rascals, they are on the bodily concept of life,

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and they are thinking that “I am nationalist,” “I am yogi,” “I am this, I am that, I am that…”

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You see. This is the philosophy.

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So long you are in the bodily concept of life, we are no better than the animal.

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That is the Bhagavata philosophy. You are animal. Yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke.

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Yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dha… [SB 10.84.13], sva-dhih kalatradisu bhauma ijya-dhih,

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yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhicij janesv abhijnesu sa eva go-kharah [SB 10.84.13]. So go-khara

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means, go means cow, khara means ass. Animals. So who is that? Now yasyatma-buddhih kunape

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tri-dhatu. This bag of tri-dhatu-kapha pitta vayu-if one thinks that “I am this body,

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I am this body, and, in bodily relation,…” Because in bodily relation I have got my family,

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society, children, wife, country, and therefore they are mine. So yasyatma-buddhih

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kunape tri-dha…, sva-dhih. Sva-dhih means thinking: “They are mine. I am theirs.”

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Sva-dhih kalatradisu. Kalatra means wife. Through wife, we get children, we expand.

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The Sanskrit word is stri. Stri means expansion. I remain one. As soon as I get wife,

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I get, become two. Then three, then four, then five. Like that. That is called stri.

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So, our expansion, these expansions, these material expansion, bodily expansion,

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means illusion. Janasya moho ‘yam aham mameti [Bhag. 5.5.8]. This illusion increases,

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that “I am this body, and in bodily relation, everything is mine.” Aham mama.

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Aham means “I”, and mama means “my.”

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So, so long one shall remain in the bodily concept of life, his illusion will increase.

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It will never decrease. Therefore the first instruction of Krsna to Arjuna…

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Because if Arjuna would not have been in that position of illusion, that

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“I am this body, and the other side, my brother, my grandfather, my nephews,

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they’re all my relations. How can I kill?” This is the illusion. Therefore to dissipate

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this illusion, darkness, Krsna begins the first lesson that “You are not this body.”

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Dehino ‘smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13].

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You’ll have to change this body as you have already changed. You have already changed.

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You were a baby. You change your body to child. You change your body to boyhood.

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You change your body to youthhood. You change your body to old man. Now, after change is …

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As you have already changed so many times, similarly, there will be another change.

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You’ll have to accept another body. Very simply logic. You have already changed.

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So tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati: [Bg. 2.13]

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…Because they are in the bodily concept of life, “I am this body.

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And the body has no change.” Body’s changing. He’s seeing actually in this life.

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Still he’ll not believe that “After changing this body, I’ll get another body.” It is very logical.

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Dehino ‘smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13].

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Exactly in the same way, as we have changed so many times this body, I’ll have to change.

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Therefore, one who is intelligent, he should try to understand that “What kind of body am

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I going to get next?” That is intelligence. So that is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita,

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what kind of body you can get.

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yanti deva-vrata devan

pitrn yanti pitr-vratah bhutani yanti bhutejya yanti mad-yajino ‘pi mam [Bg. 9.25]

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If you want to go to the higher planetary system where demigods live for hundreds and

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thousands and millions of years… Just like Brahma. Brahma’s one day you cannot calculate.

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So in higher planetary system, you have got thousands and thousands of better facility

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for sense gratification and duration of life. Everything. Otherwise, why the karmis,

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they want to go to the heavenly planet? So yanti deva-vrata devan [Bg. 9.25].

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So if you try to go the higher planetary system, you can go. Krsna says.

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There is process. Just like for going to the moon planet, one must be very expert

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in the karma-kanda, fruitive activities. By karma-kanda, you get, by the resultant

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action of your pious activities, you can be promoted to the moon planet.

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That is mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. But you cannot enter moon planet by your,

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this process: “By force we shall go with this aeroplane and jets and sputniks. Oh…”

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Suppose I got a nice motorcar in America. If I want to enter in

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another country forcibly, is it possible? No. You must get the passport, visa.

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You must get sanction from the government. Then you can enter.

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Not that because you have got a very good car, you’ll be allowed. So we cannot by force…

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This is foolish attempt, childish attempt. They cannot go. Therefore nowadays they stopped.

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They do not speak. They are realizing their failure. In this way, you cannot.

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So, but there is possibility. You can go if you adopt the real process.

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You can be promoted. Similarly you can go to the Pitrlokas by offering sraddhas

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and pinda; you can go to the Pitrloka. Similarly you can remain in this loka. Bhutejya.

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Similarly you can go back to home, back to Godhead. So who is intelligent? And if you ask:

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What is the benefit by going to the planet, back to home, back to Godhead?

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So who is intelligent? If you ask what is the benefit in going to the planet, back home, back

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to Godhead. That is assured in the Bhagavad-gita: mam upetya tu kaunteya duhkhalayam asasvatam

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napnuvanti: [Bg. 8.15] “If you come to Me, then you won’t have to accept again this material body,

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which is full of miserable conditions. You will remain in your spiritual body.”

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So our Krsna consciousness movement is meant for, I mean to say, allowing,

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elevating all living entities… Of course, it is not for all. It is very difficult.

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But anyone who has accepted this Krsna consciousness movement,

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if he follows the principles, then he’s surely going to home, back to home, back to Godhead.

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That is certain. But if you deviate, if you become attracted by maya, that is your business.

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But we are giving you information: This is the process, a simple process.

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Chant Hare Krsna maha-mantra, be purified, be…, remain always liberated from material clutches,

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and tyaktva deham. Mam upetya. Janma karma me divyam yo janati… If you simply try to understand

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Krsna, then tyaktva deham, after quitting this body, mam eti, “You’ll come to Me.”

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So this is our philosophy. It is very simple. And everything is explained in the Bhagavad-gita.

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You try to realize and preach this cult for the benefit of the whole world. Then everyone will be happy.

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Thank you very much. (end)