Prabhupāda: ...[indistinct] of life. So Prahlāda Mahārāja is recommending that either material prosperity within this planet or in other planet, they are all destructible. They're not permanent. Therefore nirmala, not free from the contamination of material nature. That is also recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā: ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna [Bg. 8.16], that even if you go to the highest planet, that is also perishable.
[From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.]
So we are not interested in perishable things. Unfortunately, people have no knowledge that what is that unperishable. They are accustomed in the association of perishable things for many, many lives.
[aside:] Is not working? Yes.
Therefore they have no information what is the... If we say that "You work for nonperishable things," he'll be astonished, because he has no idea that there can be anything which is not..., which is not perishable.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja recommends that "Don't try for nonperishable things... Don't try for perishable things. Try for nonperishable things." And that is
bhaktyā uktayeṣaṁ bhajatātma-labdhaye
[SB 7.7.40].
[It is learned from Vedic literature that by performing great sacrifices one may elevate himself to the heavenly planets. However, although life on the heavenly planets is hundreds and thousands of times more comfortable than life on earth, the heavenly planets are not pure [nirmalam], or free from the taint of material existence. The heavenly planets are also temporary, and therefore they are not the goal of life. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, however, has never been seen or heard to possess inebriety. Consequently, for your own benefit and self-realization, you must worship the Lord with great devotion, as described in the revealed scriptures.]
As the devotees recommend to worship the Supreme Lord, and the Supreme Lord also confirms it: yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama [Bg. 15.6], that supreme abode, where going, nobody returns...
[That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.]
Prahlāda Mahārāja recommends that "My dear friends, you just worship that Supreme Personality of Godhead, where going, nobody comes back."
yad-artha iha karmāṇi
vidvan-māny asakṛn naraḥ
karoty ato viparyāsam
amoghaṁ vindate phalaṁ
[SB 7.7.41]
[A materialistic person, thinking himself very advanced in intelligence, continually acts for economic development. But again and again, as enunciated in the Vedas, he is frustrated by material activities, either in this life or in the next. Indeed, the results one obtains are inevitably the opposite of those one desires.]
In this material world we are making so many plans for permanent settlement, but unfortunately, we are meeting with just the opposite result. That is in our experience. There is very nice song sung by a Vaiṣṇava poet. He says, sukhere lagiya e baro bhaginu anale puria gelā: "I constructed this house for living happily. Unfortunately, it was set in fire, so everything is finished." That is going on. In the material world we are making so many plans for living very comfortably, peacefully, eternally—but that is not possible.
People do not understand it. They are seeing, experiencing, from śāstra; from scripture we are getting instruction that nothing is imperishable. Everything is perishable in the material world. And we are actually seeing also that perishable agents are always ready.
Just like the fire. In New York City, at least, within twenty-four hours, there are at least ten or fifteen places where fire is going on. And your fire brigade is running on just trying to protect you from fire. The house regulation is all for fire: "How we are protected from fire." Then it will be allowed, certificate of occupation, "You can live."
In other words, that fire is always ready to vanish everything, but artificially, somehow or other, we are trying to protect ourself from fire. But we do not take it for granted that this material nature is so made that it will set in fire everything, however we may be strong in protecting ourself. That is the nature.
So however we may make plans to live very happily, the nature's law is that it will destroy.
daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te
[Bg. 7.14]
[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]
So this material nature is very powerful. You cannot protect from the onslaught of material nature. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja advising us that you try to achieve the permanent. The permanent is the soul. God is permanent. And there is a world, a sky, which is also permanent. So why not transfer yourself to that permanent sky, permanent association, permanent life, permanent supreme knowledge? What we are seeking here in imperfectness?
But people have no information. Some of them, they do not believe in it. Some of them are callous. This is our unfortunate condition. But it is neither false nor it is fiction. It is actual fact, truth, real truth, Absolute Truth. Paraṁ satyaṁ dhīmahi [SB 1.1.1].
[O my Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmājī, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.]
Śrīmad-Bhāgavata presents the objective as the Supreme Truth, paraṁ satyam. Paraṁ satyaṁ dhīmahi: "I offer my obeisances to the Absolute Truth, paraṁ satyam." And what is that paraṁ satyam? Nirasta-kuhakam. Nirasta-kuhakam means "which is devoid of all illusion." Here everything is full of illusion. I am thinking, planning something, and at any moment, oh, it is all vanished, all finished.
So we do not understand that this is illusion, and there is a permanent life. So,
sukhāya duḥkha-mokṣāya
saṅkalpa iha karmiṇaḥ
sadāpnotīhayā duḥkham
anīhāyāḥ sukhāvṛtaḥ
[SB 7.7.42]
[In this material world, every materialist desires to achieve happiness and diminish his distress, and therefore he acts accordingly. Actually, however, one is happy as long as one does not endeavor for happiness; as soon as one begins his activities for happiness, his conditions of distress begin.]
Now everything we are planning, sukhāya, for matter of happiness, and duḥkha-mokṣāya, and to get rid of all miseries. This is our plan. Sukhāya duḥkha-mokṣāya saṅkalpaḥ, our determination; iha, in this world; karmiṇaḥ, those who are working. That determination is to make life happy and avoid distress. That is the plan. Sadāpnotīhayā. But that is simply plan-making within our mind. Actually, it is never achieved. It is never achieved.
kāmān kāmayate kāmyair
yad-artham iha puruṣaḥ
sa vai dehas tu pārakyo
bhaṅguro yāty upaiti ca
[SB 7.7.43]
[A living entity desires comfort for his body and makes many plans for this purpose, but actually the body is the property of others. Indeed, the perishable body embraces the living entity and then leaves him aside.]
Now we are desiring so many things, kāmān kāmyair kāmayate. Kāmān means desirable, and kāmayate, we hanker after such desirables, kāmyaiḥ, being too much eager, greedy, for fulfilling those objects. Yad-artham iha puruṣaḥ sa vai dehas tu. And what is that kāma? What are those desirables?
The desirables are simply for making this body perfect. Not perfect—comfortable. Perfect it cannot be, but as far as possible... We are manufacturing nice cushions for sitting comfortably, nice bedroom, buy nice motorcars, and..., everything for this body. The ultimate aim is to make this body comfortable. That's all.
But Prahlāda Mahārāja says that the body itself, dehaḥ..., sa vai dehas tu pārakyo bhaṅguro. Either you make your position secure and comfortable in this life or next life. Next life means there are many religious rituals which assures in your next life very comfortable life, very, I mean to say, long duration of life in other planets.
So either you make arrangement in this life or in the next life, in the material world. If you make your next life in the spiritual world, then that is a different question. But so far we are materially concerned, either we make comfortable life in this life or in the next. But the body itself is kṣaṇa-bhaṅguraḥ, it is perishable. It is perishable. Sa vai dehas tu pārakyo bhaṅguro yāty upaiti.
kim u vyavahitāpatya-
dārāgāra-dhanādayaḥ
rājya-kośa-gajāmātya-
bhṛtyāptā mamatāspadāḥ
[SB 7.7.44]
[Since the body itself is ultimately meant to become stool or earth, what is the meaning of the paraphernalia related to the body, such as wives, residences, wealth, children, relatives, servants, friends, kingdoms, treasuries, animals and ministers? They are also temporary. What more can be said about this?]
They were all sons of big chieftains and ministers, and he was himself the son of the king, Hiraṇyakaśipu. Therefore he was speaking from his own standard. He says that kim u vyavahitāpatya-dārāgāra-dhanādayaḥ. Apatya means we are expanding. We are single; now we are expanding, expanding by our children, apatya.
And dāra means wife. The Sanskrit word strī... Strī means woman, and the root meaning of strī means "which expands." As soon as you have got wife, you expand yourself. You are one, and as soon as you get your wife, you become three, four, five. So strī means that helps me expanding. That is the root meaning.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that what is the use by expanding your attachment to this material world by children? Apatya-dāra. Dārāgāra. Dāra means wife, and āgāra means house. Dārāgāra-dhanadayaḥ. Dhanādayaḥ means riches. These are our expanding processes.
And rājya, kingdom. Rājya. Kośa. Kośa means treasury. These are concerned with government. Government wants to expand. Rājya, kośa, and gaja. Gaja means elephant. The royal orders, they keep elephants. Especially in India, those who are princely order, they must keep at least dozens of elephants, and many thousands of horses.
That is royal opulence. So rājya-kośa-gajāmātya [SB 7.7.44]. Amātya means minister, and bhṛtya, bhṛtya means servants, and āptā mean friend. That means, in other words, Prahlāda Mahārāja says that there is no necessity of expanding these material opulences. [end]
