Verse: Bramacharya
rsabha uvaca
nayam deho deha-bhajam nrloke
kastan kaman arhate vid-bhujam ye
tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam
suddhyed yasmad brahma-saukhyam tv anantam
SYNONYMS
rsabhah uvaca--Lord Rsabhadeva said; na--not; ayam--this; dehah--body; deha-bhajam--of all living entities who have accepted material bodies; nr-loke--in this world; kastan--troublesome; kaman--sense gratification;arhate--deserves; vit-bhujam--of stool-eaters; ye--which; tapah--austerities and penances; divyam--divine; putrakah--My dear sons; yena--by which; sattvam--the heart; suddhyet--becomes purified; yasmat—from which; brahma-saukhyam--spiritual happiness; tu--certainly; anantam--unending.
TRANSLATION
Lord Rishabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.
PURPORT
In this verse, Lord RIshabhadeva tells His sons about the importance of human life. The word deha-bhak refers to anyone who accepts a material body, but the living entity who is awarded the human form must act differently from animals. Animals like dogs and hogs enjoy sense gratification by eating stool. After undergoing severe hardships all day, human beings are trying to enjoy themselves at night by eating, drinking, having sex and sleeping. At the same time, they have to properly defend themselves. However, this is not human civilization. Human life means voluntarily practicing suffering for the advancement of spiritual life.
There is, of course, suffering in the lives of animals and plants, which are suffering due to their past misdeeds. However, human beings should voluntarily accept suffering in the form of austerities and penances in order to attain the divine life. After attaining the divine life, one can enjoy happiness eternally. After all, every living entity is trying to enjoy happiness, but as long as one is encaged in the material body. He has to suffer different kinds of misery. A higher sense is present in the human form. We should act according to superior advice in order to attain eternal happiness and go back to Godhead.
It is significant in this verse that the government and the natural guardian, the father, should educate subordinates and raise them to Krishna consciousness. Devoid of Krishna consciousness, every living being suffers in this cycle of birth and death perpetually. To relieve them from this bondage and enable them to become blissful and happy, bhakti-yoga should be taught. A foolish civilization neglects to teach people how to rise to the platform of bhakti-yoga. Without Krishna consciousness, a person is no better than a hog or dog. The instructions of Rishabhadeva are very essential at the present moment. People are being educated and trained to work very hard for sense gratification. and there is no sublime aim in life. A man travels to earn his livelihood, leaving home early in the morning, catching a local train and being packed in a compartment. He has to stand for an hour or two in order to reach his place of business. Then, again he takes a bus to get to the office. At the office he works hard from nine to five; then he takes two or three hours to return home. After eating, he has sex and goes to sleep. For all this hardship, his only happiness is a little sex. “Yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham” - Rsabhadeva clearly states that human life is not meant for this kind of existence, which is enjoyed even by dogs and hogs. Indeed, dogs and hogs do not have to work so hard for sex. A human being should try to live in a different way and should not try to imitate dogs and hogs. The alternative is mentioned. Human life is meant for tapasya, austerity and penance. By tapasya, one can get out of the material clutches. When one is situated in Krsna consciousness, devotional service, his happiness is guaranteed eternally. By taking to bhakti-yoga, devotional service, one's existence is purified. The living entity is seeking happiness life after life, but he can make a solution to all his problems simply by practicing bhakti-yoga. Then, he immediately becomes eligible to return home, back to Godhead. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (4.9):
janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so 'rjuna
"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."
Rishabadev was the King of Earth Planet. He was giving parting advice to his sons as he was just about to leave to take-up the renounced order of life. He practically walked with nothing leaving everything behind. This is the foundation of Vedic culture namely, renunciation and detachment. Here we see that he was a King and one fine day he was ready to walkout. But before leaving, he is giving final advice to his sons. He had 100 sons, eldest being Bharat Maharaj, anointed as the successor to the throne. And nine of them became yogendras.
Rishabadev is advising his sons to abstain from sense gratification especially, after having assumed a human form of body. Instead, one should use it for spiritual endeavor as the sense gratification is even possible in animal form. In the above verse, the term “vit-bhujan” refers to stool-eaters. One such animal is pig which madly runs after woman pigs. Rather, one should design his life to perform austerities i.e., to voluntary accept difficulties for spiritual advancement. Rishabadev is a perfect example of Brahmachari. He accepted the renounced order of life to stay fixed up on the lotus feet of Krsna. As we already discussed, Brahmacharya means not just being a celibate. Devotees want to be lovers of Krsna rather than just being celibate.
Text
nunam pramattah kurute vikarma
yad indriya-pritaya aprnoti
na sadhu manye yata atmano 'yam
asann api klesada asa dehah
TRANSLATION
When a person considers sense gratification the aim of life, he certainly becomes mad after materialistic living and engages in all kinds of sinful activity. He does not know that due to his past misdeeds he has already received a body which, although temporary, is the cause of his misery. Actually the living entity should not have taken on a material body, but he has been awarded the material body for sense gratification. Therefore, I think it not befitting an intelligent man to involve himself again in the activities of sense gratification by which he perpetually gets material bodies one after another.
Material nature is world of illusion, where a spirit-soul is entrapped in it. The prime illusion is to consider the body to be the self. As a result, the male body becomes attracted to the female body and vice- versa, thus deepening the illusion. This point is explained in verse 8.
TEXT
pumsah striya mithuni-bhavam etam
tayor mitho hrdaya-granthim ahuh
ato grha-ksetra-sutapta-vittair
janasya moho 'yam aham mameti
TRANSLATION
The attraction between male and female is the basic principle of material existence. On the basis of this misconception, which ties together the hearts of the male and female, one becomes attracted to his body, home, property, children, relatives and wealth. In this way one increases life's illusions and thinks in terms of "I and mine."
The spirit-soul is entrapped in this material world due to the basic attraction for the opposite sex where all the trouble begins. Srila Prabhupada often pointed out that we are not this body but spirit-souls. The moment we misidentify ourselves to be the body, the attraction begins. That’s why we have to uphold this spiritual culture given by Srila Prabhupada and distribute it to others. We are not really performing our duty unless we distribute this spiritual culture. In Bhagavatam, it is repeatedly mentioned to not to get attached to this body. The purpose of this seminar is also the same. I personally felt that there is a need for an in depth understanding of this responsibility. Since, we are already present on this material platform, the least we can do is to come out of it to be situated in spiritual platform. Brahmacharya is to become situated in spiritual platform. In earlier days, there was some misconception about Brahmacharya which meant to hate women. Those false conceptions don’t work out. In fact, the people who hated women were the first one to fall down. One must learn to respect women.
Srila Prabhupada taught that in Krishna consciousness, even householders can be Brahmacharis. Those who unite just for the sake of procreation are also Brahmacharis. This process of copulation is a very painful experience. But just to trick human beings, nature awards some pleasure in it. The modern society has forgotten this real purpose and indulges in it for flickering pleasure. Consequently, they destroy themselves. Therefore a spiritual person should consider this sex-life as the most painful process.
The people who come to spiritual platform are the real ones who can benefit this human society. Those whose life is centered on sex-life are in illusion. They cannot benefit others when they themselves are under false conception. A blind man will only take another blind man to a gutter. Hence in order to properly guide the human society, there is a need for people with proper spiritual vision. Srila Prabhupada came to distribute this spiritual culture. One has to take Prabhupada’s teachings to his heart so as to understand His mission and become engaged in His service. Brahmacharya or spiritual reality is the foundation of it. Hence, Brahmacharya is the very basis of spiritual life.
Recently, I was reading an article about the Olympics held in Australia wherein the trainers prohibit their students from indulging in sex-life. Thus, even materialistic people are severing this sex-life for material gain. But the society leaders are misleading the human society and making it a pig-society. The Western-culture is based on four activities namely, meat-eating, gambling, intoxication and illicit sex. Next to industries, only these are the activities that are being promoted everywhere. A common man can easily become rich if he runs a meat-industry or invests in drug-trafficking. The government is also promoting these businesses. This is the sad state of affairs today.
Kali is spreading through these activities which ought to be defeated. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to defeat Kali and spread Krsna consciousness. Being the followers of ISKCON, we ourselves have to follow these four regulative principles to hold back the Kali’s influence and spread Krsna consciousness all over the world. In that case, we can proclaim the victory of Mahaprabhu’s mission. When that happens, people who still have the inclination to indulge in sinful activities will be sent to the forest. In order to accomplish this objective of ISKCON, we have to become qualified soldiers of Mahaprabhu’s army.
Thank you very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Does anybody have any question?
Question: Why do people don’t go to forest for their renounced order of life nowadays?
Answer: In age of Kali, devotees don’t go to forest. They prefer to stay in big cities and do Hari-Naam sankirtan. For us, the forest is Vrindavan and Mayapur. The way the saintly people lived was also exemplary. They live in forest but not like animals. They create a beautiful atmosphere by residing on the banks of a river and planting trees. A very beautiful description is given in Ramayana.