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Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare,
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare
And now, Chapter 9: Punishment, from Canto 6, Chapter 1, texts 41-45 of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The Yamadūtas continued, "The supreme cause of all causes, Nārāyaṇa, is situated in His
abode in the spiritual world, but still He controls the entire cosmic manifestation according
to the modes of material nature—goodness, passion, and ignorance. In this way all living
entities are awarded different qualities, different names (such as brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya,
and vaiśya), different duties according to the varṇāśrama institution, and different
forms. Thus Nārāyaṇa is the cause of the entire cosmic manifestation.
"The sun, fire, sky, air, demigods, moon, evening, day, night, directions, water, land,
and the Supersoul Himself all witness the activities of the living entity. The candidates
for punishment are those who are confirmed by these many witnesses to have deviated from
their prescribed duties. Everyone engaged in fruitive activities is suitable to be subjected
to punishment according to his sinful acts. "O inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha, you are sinless,
but those within this material world are all fruitive workers, whether acting piously or
impiously. Both kinds of action are possible for them because they are contaminated by
the three modes of nature and must act accordingly. One who has accepted a material body cannot
be inactive, and sinful action is inevitable for one acting under the modes of material
nature. Therefore all the living entities within this material world are punishable.
Thus in proportion to the extent of one's religious or irreligious actions in this life,
one must enjoy or suffer the corresponding reactions of his karma in the next." (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
6.1.41-45) The Cause Behind All Activities
The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.8) informs us, na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]
Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is almighty, omnipotent. He has multifarious
energies, and therefore He is able to remain in His own abode and without endeavor supervise
and manipulate the entire cosmic manifestation through the interaction of the three modes
of material nature—goodness, passion, and ignorance. These interactions create different
forms, bodies, activities, and changes, which all occur perfectly. Because the Lord is perfect,
everything works as if He were directly supervising and taking part in it.
Atheistic men, however, being covered by the three modes of material nature, cannot see
that Nārāyaṇa is the supreme cause behind all activities. Lord Kṛṣṇa confirms this in
the Bhagavad-gītā (7.13), tribhir guṇa-mayair bhāvair
ebhiḥ sarvam idaṁ jagat mohitaṁ nābhijānāti
mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam "Deluded by the three modes, the whole world
does not know Me, who am above the modes and inexhaustible."
Compelled to Work There are three energies of the Supreme Lord:
the internal energy (parā-śakti), the marginal energy, and the external energy. The living
entities belong to the marginal energy because they can come under the influence of either
the internal or external energy of the Lord. By nature they also belong to the parā-śakti,
but when they come under the control of the material energy they are known as kṣetra-jña-śakti,
"knowers of the material field." In other words, the direct, internal energy of God
is spiritual (para), and the living entities have this same nature (para), but in contact
with the material energy (kṣetra), the living entity accepts a material body as his self
and is thus forced to act, manipulating the five senses.
The Yamadūtas say that everyone with a material body must work. An ant and an elephant both
have to work. The ant requires only a grain of sugar for his sustenance, whereas the elephant
requires three hundred kilograms of food daily, but both must work for it. Foolish people
say that the Vaiṣṇavas do not work, but the Vaiṣṇavas work for Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours
a day. They are not idle do-nothings. While we are in this material world, we have to
work, but we work for Kṛṣṇa. That is not really work, or karma: it is dharma, practical religion.
Unless one works for Kṛṣṇa, all his labor is adharma, irreligious sense gratification.
On the Basis of a Man's Nature The real aim of life is to satisfy Kṛṣṇa,
and varṇāśrama-dharma is the institution of that ideal in human society. The varṇāśrama
system divides society into four spiritual orders (āśramas) and four social classes (varṇas).
The spiritual orders are the brahmacārīs (celibate students), the gṛhasthas (householders living
under spiritual regulation), the vānaprasthas (retirees), and the sannyāsīs (renunciants).
The four social orders are the brāhmaṇas (intellectuals), the kṣatriyas (warriors and administrators),
the vaiśyas (farmers and businessmen), and the śūdras (manual laborers). Without the
principles of varṇāśrama-dharma, human society is almost animal society. Indeed, human civilization
begins when human beings accept the four social and spiritual divisions of society, according
to quality and work. As Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.13), cātur-varṇyaṁ māyā sṛṣṭaṁ
guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: "I have created the four social divisions according to quality
and work." In this material world we associate with a
particular combination of the modes of nature, and accordingly we mold our character and
behavior, and by this criterion we fit into a particular social category. Today people
say that there should be no more caste system, but how can they ignore the natural designation
of classes in human society? There must be a class of intelligent men, the brāhmaṇas,
who are qualified to disseminate Vedic knowledge to the people in general. There must be a
class of kṣatriyas to offer administrative rule and protection. There must be a class
of merchants and farmers, the vaiśyas, who trade and perform agricultural duties such
as cow protection. And there must be a class of śūdras, who render service to the other
classes. All men fit into these four classes, each according to his guṇa, or nature.
Prescribed Duty vs. Unlawful Action Whatever our varṇa or āśrama, however, the
perfection of our work is to satisfy Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa. The Lord states this in the Bhagavad-gītā
(3.9): yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra
loko 'yam karma-bandhanaḥ tad-arthaṁ karma kaunteya
mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara "Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to
be performed; otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O Arjuna,
perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain free
from bondage." This is the sum and substance of human life. Since we have to work, we should
work for Kṛṣṇa. Then we are saved from all sinful reactions.
But if we work for our personal sense gratification, we will become entangled in the reactions,
lifetime after lifetime. It is not possible for a person to get out of the clutches of
repeated birth and death as long as he continues to pursue sense gratification.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa' (Caitanya-caritāmṛta,
Madhya-līlā 20.108): "The constitutional position of the living entity is that he is eternally
a servant of Kṛṣṇa." If one takes that position, he is saved; otherwise not.
And how does one who accepts his position as a servant of Kṛṣṇa work? Prahlāda Mahārāja
explains in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.5.23): śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam "Hearing and chanting about the transcendental
holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia, and pastimes of Lord Viṣṇu, remembering these,
serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship, offering prayers
to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering
everything to Him—these are the nine processes of pure devotional service."
In order to take up these processes seriously, one must accept the regulative principles
for spiritual life: no meat-eating, no illicit sex, no intoxication, and no gambling. Then
one will be able to accept the injunction to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and always
be engaged in the service of the Lord in one of the above nine ways. If we accept this
authority, our life will be successful, both spiritually and materially. Otherwise, we
will have to be satisfied with indulging in sense gratification, performing sinful activities,
suffering like dogs and hogs, and enduring repeated birth, old age, disease, and death.
Forgetfulness We accept the body as our self, thinking,
"I am this body." However, we are not the body but rather the owner of the body, just
as we are not our apartment but rather the owner or resident of the apartment. The soul
is called dehi, "one who possesses a body." When we study our body, we say, "This is my
hand, this is my leg." We do not say, "I am this hand, I am this leg." Yet the illusion
that we are the body persists. The body is nothing but a vehicle for the soul. Sometimes
a new motorcar is wrecked in an accident, and the driver is overwhelmed with the sense
of loss, forgetting that he is not the motorcar. That is the effect of ahaṅkāra, false ego,
or false conception of proprietorship. Because we are covered by ignorance, we have
forgotten what our previous body was. Even in this life we do not remember that we were
once babies on the laps of our mothers. So many things have happened in our lifetime,
but we do not remember them all. If we cannot even remember things that have happened in
this life, how can we remember our last life? A person engages in sinful activities because
he does not know what he did in his past life to get his present materially conditioned
body, which is subjected to the threefold miseries—those produced by his own body
and mind, those caused by other living entities, and those arising from natural disasters.
As stated by Lord Ṛṣabhadeva in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.5.4), nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad
indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti: a human being who is mad after sense gratification does not
hesitate to act sinfully. Na sādhu manye: this is not good. Yata ātmano 'yam asann api
kleśada asa dehaḥ: because of such sinful actions, one receives another body in which
to suffer as he is suffering in his present body because of his past sinful activities.
A person who does not have Vedic knowledge always acts in ignorance of what he has done
in the past, what he is doing at the present, and how he will suffer in the future. He is
completely in darkness. Therefore the Vedic injunction is tamasi ma: "Don't remain in
darkness." Jyotir gama: "Try to go to the light." This light is Vedic knowledge, which
one can understand when one is elevated to the mode of goodness or when one transcends
the mode of goodness by engaging in devotional service to the spiritual master and the Supreme
Lord. Knowledge through Service
How service to the Lord and the spiritual master results in Vedic knowledge is described
in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.23): yasya deve para bhaktir
yathā deve tathā gurau tasyaite kathitā hy arthaḥ
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ [SU 6.23]
"Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master,
all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed."
The Vedas enjoin, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: [MU 1.2.12] one must approach
a spiritual master who has full knowledge of the Vedas and be directed by him in order
to become a devotee of the Lord. Then the knowledge of the Vedas will be revealed. When
the Vedic knowledge is revealed, one need no longer remain in the darkness of material
nature. According to his association with the material
modes of nature—goodness, passion, and ignorance—a living entity gets a particular type of body.
The example of one who associates with the mode of goodness is a qualified brāhmaṇa.
Such a brāhmaṇa knows past, present, and future because he consults the Vedic literature and
sees through the eyes of scripture (śāstra-cakṣuḥ). He can understand what his past life was,
why he is in the present body, and how he can obtain liberation from the clutches of
māyā and not accept another material body. This is all possible when one is situated
in the mode of goodness. Generally, however, the living entities in this material world
are engrossed in the modes of passion and ignorance.
One who is in the mode of ignorance cannot know what his past life was or what his next
life will be; he is simply interested in his present body. Even though he has a human body,
a person in the mode of ignorance and interested only in his present body is like an animal,
for an animal, being covered by ignorance, thinks that the ultimate goal of life is immediate
happiness—to eat and have sex. A human being must be educated to rise above this platform,
to understand his past life and how he can endeavor for a better life in the future.
There is even a book, called the Bhṛgu-saṁhitā, which reveals information about one's past,
present, and future lives according to astrological calculations. Somehow or other one must be
enlightened about his past, present, and future. One who is interested only in his present
body and who tries to enjoy his senses to the fullest extent is understood to be engrossed
in the mode of ignorance. His future is very, very dark. Indeed, the future is always dark
for one who is covered by gross ignorance. Especially in this age, human society is covered
by the mode of ignorance, and therefore everyone thinks his present body to be everything,
without consideration of the past or future.