Los Angeles ‐ December 3, 1973:
Krsna dispenses reward and punishment with perfect fairness.
prayenaitad bhagavata
isvarasya vicestitam
mitho nighnanti bhutani
bhavayanti ca yan mithah
"Factually this is all due to the supreme will of the Lord, the Personality of Godhead. Sometimes people kill one another, and at other times they protect one another." Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.15.24
Disciple reads the Purport: "According to the anthropologists, there is nature's law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest. But they do not know that behind the law of nature is the supreme direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gita it is confirmed that the law of nature is executed under the direction of the Lord. Whenever, therefore, there is peace in the world, it must be known that it is due to the good will of the Lord, and whenever there is upheaval in the world, it is also due to the supreme will of the Lord.
"Not a blade of grass moves without the will of the Lord. Whenever, therefore, there is disobedience of the established rules enacted by the Lord, there is war between men and nations. The surest way to the path of peace is, therefore, dovetailing everything to the established rule of the Lord. The established rule is that whatever we do, whatever we eat, whatever we sacrifice, or whatever we give in charity must be done to the full satisfaction of the Lord. No one should do anything, eat anything, sacrifice anything, or give anything in charity against the will of the Lord.
"Discretion is the better part of valor, and one must learn how to discriminate between actions which may be pleasing to the Lord and those which may not be pleasing to the Lord. An action is thus judged by the Lord's pleasure or displeasure. There is no room for personal whims; we must always be guided by the pleasure of the Lord. Such action is called yogah karmasu kausalam, or actions performed which are linked with the Supreme Lord. That is the art of doing a thing perfectly."
Srila Prabhupada: Everyone is suffering or enjoying. Actually, there is no enjoyment, only suffering. But in the struggle for existence, when we counteract the suffering we take it as enjoying.
In the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna, the supreme authority, says duhkhalayam asasvatam: "The material world is the place for suffering." That is a fact. One person is trying to accept suffering as enjoying, and another person is trying to end suffering. That is the difference between a sane person and an insane person. I'll give you a practical example. In the prison some prisoners are called first-class prisoners. They are given special favor by the government. And there are third-class prisoners also. But both of them are prisoners, and prison is not meant for comfortable life. It is meant for suffering. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura therefore sings, anadi karama-phale pari' bhavarnava-jale taribare na dekhi upaya: "Because of my past fruitive activities, I have fallen into the ocean of material suffering, and I cannot find any way out of it." A sane person knows, "I may be a first-class prisoner, but that does not mean I am not a prisoner; I am a prisoner."
The suffering of prison is to have no independence to do anything. That is prison life. We are all thinking we are independent, but that is not the fact.
prakrteh kriyamanani
gunaih karmani sarvasah
ahankara-vimudhatma
kartaham iti manyate
"The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature." [Bhagavad-gita 3.27] Everybody is being carried by the laws of material nature, but a foolish person thinks he is doing everything himself.
In today's verse it is said, prayenaitad bhagavata isvarasya vicestitam. We cannot do anything without the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, just as in the state we cannot do anything without the sanction of the government. Without the sanction of the supreme state, the supreme order-giver Krsna, or God we cannot do anything. But here it is said, mitho nighnanti bhutani bhavayanti ca yan mithah. Sometimes by Krsna's will we kill one another, and sometimes we protect one another. Does that mean that at different times Krsna gives different intelligence? No. Krsna's action is daiva, superior, like that of a highcourt judge who condemns someone, "This man should be hanged," and for another man, "He will get millions of dollars from that person."
Impartial Judge
Now, is God partial? He is giving somebody millions of dollars and ordering somebody else to be hanged. Is He partial? No, He is not partial. He is simply administering the law. That's all. One man has created such a situation that he should be condemned to death, and another man has created such a situation that he will be awarded millions of dollars. They are getting the results of their actions.
We are acting, and by superior administration daiva-netrena we are getting different types of bodies, and suffering or enjoying the consequences. That is our position. In the Bhagavad-gita Krsna says, samo 'ham sarva-bhutesu: "I am equal to everyone." Otherwise, how is He God? God is not partial in saying that somebody should be killed and somebody should be awarded ten thousand dollars. No. It is our own work; we create such situations. That you should know.
If I kill somebody, then, by the law of nature, or the law of God, I shall be killed also. But I forget that because I killed somebody, now that person is killing me. But Krsna reminds us, "This person killed you," or "This child killed you last life. Now you can kill this child in the womb." Vicestitam: He reminds us.
Krsna is described as upadrasta, the witness. He sees that one man has killed another, so He will give the victim the chance to kill his killer. Krsna reminds him, "Kill him. Here is your opportunity." Because He is equal to everyone, He gives the victim the chance to retaliate. That is going on.
God is impartial, just like the jail superintendent or the government. The government is not partial. The government is equal to everyone, but everyone enjoys or suffers according to his own work. So God reminds us, "This body, this being, killed you in your last life. Now I give you the sanction: You can kill him." This is called nighnanti.
And God also reminds us, "This man gave you protection, so you give him protection." So there is nothing wrong. It is equal justice. Don't think that because God, or Krsna, gives sanction, He is partial. No. He is always impartial. We are suffering the results of our own activities. Karmana daiva-netrena. We are getting different types of bodies and suffering.
The Will of God
Therefore we should always try to understand the will of God. That is our duty. We can understand the will of God in the human form of life. That is our opportunity. The will of God is expressed very clearly. Nobody can say, "What is the will of God? I do not know." No, you know. God says, Krsna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja: "Give up all other business. Just become surrendered to Me."
"And then how shall I go on?"
Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami: "I shall give you protection, and I shall release you from the effects of all sinful activity."
We suffer because of sinful activities, and we enjoy because of pious activity. That is the law. If you become nicely educated, cultured, then you get a good position in society. But if you are a rascal, then you suffer. Similarly, we are creating our position. That is called karma-bandhana. Karma-bandhana means that as long as we do not know what our duty is, we create positions for ourselves, and therefore sometimes we suffer, sometimes we enjoy.
Therefore we must know what our duty is. That we have forgotten. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum. In the material condition of life we have forgotten what is our actual aim of life. Therefore Krsna comes.
yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham
"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion at that time I descend Myself." [Bhagavad-gita 4.7]. When we forget our dharma, that is called dharmasya glanih. Dharma is not a religious sentiment. Dharma means our occupational duty. So dharmasya glanih means the deterioration of our real occupational duty.
Our real occupational duty is to serve the Supreme. We are meant for serving. But we forget serving Krsna, and we try to serve so many other things. "So many other things" means our lust, our greed, our illusion, our many problems. We have to serve. That is our position. Nobody can be free from service. That is not possible. But we do not know where to give our service. That is our forgetfulness. Here, the human being, in ignorance, serves lust, greed so many things. A man kills another body because of lust, or because of illusion, or because of so many other reasons. So we are serving. There is no doubt about it. But we are serving our kama, krodha, lobha, moha, matsarya: lust, anger, greed, illusion, envy.
Now we have to learn that we have been frustrated by serving so many things. Now we have to turn that service attitude to Krsna. Teaching us that is Krsna's mission. Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja: "You are serving already. You cannot be free from service. But your service is misplaced. Therefore, just turn your service to Me. Then you become happy." That is the purpose of the Krsna consciousness movement: to give our service to Krsna.
Serving Our Lust
We suffer because we serve our lust, anger, greed, and so on. For example, a greedy man suffers by eating more than required. Diseases like diabetes and dysentery are caused by overeating. We are suffering, but we continue to eat more than required because we are greedy and lusty. That is the cause. We are serving our lust, our greed, and we are suffering. That is practical. If you have no appetite and you eat, then you suffer. If you infect some disease, you'll suffer.
We are being infected by lust, greed, illusion, fear. If you steal, then you will be fearful: "Oh, I may be arrested." Because you have done something wrong, you are under the influence of fear. It is very easy to understand.
We are creating our situation and serving different types of desire. That's all. Sometimes we do something we should not do. Although we have done so much to serve lust and greed, they are not merciful. They still dictate, "Go on doing this, go on doing this, go on doing this." A man is suffering, but still he follows the dictation of lust and desire. We create our own karma. Therefore any sane man will see, "I have served my desires for so long, but I am not happy, and the desires are not fulfilled."
The desire is never satiated. We may tell someone, "You have killed so many animals. Now don't kill anymore." No, he will go on killing, killing, killing, killing, killing, killing. He is never satisfied. "Now I have killed so many. No more. Stop." No, there is no stopping. The injunction is "Thou shalt not kill," but he will kill and kill and kill and kill, and still he wants to be satisfied. Just see. The Bible says, "Thou shalt not kill," and people are simply engaged in the killing business, and still they want to be happy. Just see the fun.
Therefore Krsna says, "Yes, you be killed by an occasional world war. You must be killed. You have created this situation. You must be killed. You may be American or English or German or this or that. You may be very proud of your nationality. But you must be killed." This is the position. "You have killed so many animals. Now wholesale killing with one bomb. One atom bomb. Be killed."
Rascals do not know how things are going on. Tit for tat. That must be. In ordinary laws, in the state laws, if you have killed somebody you must be hanged. So do you think you can simply bluff the supreme authority, Krsna? You are killing, killing, killing, and you will be saved? No. You will be killed by pestilence, by famine. Even within your mother's womb, you will be killed. Where there is supposed to be good protection, there also you will be killed. The human nation is degenerating in such a way. The killing business is increasing daily.
Therefore we must submit to Krsna. We cannot get away from the laws of God. That is not possible. Therefore we must surrender: "Krsna, God, I have acted freely for so many births. I did not become happy. Nor I am happy at the present moment. So now I surrender unto You. You say, 'I give you protection.' So kindly give me protection." That surrender is the aim of the Krsna consciousness movement.
Thank you very much.