This is our actual distress, that we are obliged to take birth, death, disease, old age. So we are struggling against it. Nobody wants to become old man, especially in this winter season. It is very difficult for old men. So, but you have to accept jara and vyadhi [old age and disease]. Nobody can escape disease. Nobody can escape birth. Nobody can escape death.

[Posted January 27, 2008]

Don't wait for old age, disease and death

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Like preventive medicine and a healthy life style, a proactive spiritual life takes you farther along the road than last-minute measures to scoop scrambled eggs back into their shells.

Telegraph Jan 26, 2008 - LAURA DONNELLY

Don't treat the old and unhealthy, say doctors

Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives.

Smokers, heavy drinkers, the obese and the elderly should be barred from receiving some operations, according to doctors, with most saying the health service cannot afford to provide free care to everyone.

Fertility treatment and "social" abortions are also on the list of procedures that many doctors say should not be funded by the state.

The findings of a survey conducted by Doctor magazine sparked a fierce row last night, with the British Medical Association and campaign groups describing the recommendations from family and hospital doctors as "outrageous" and "disgraceful". go to story

Sri Guru and Gauranga

Death is coming - get ready now

excerpt from lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.6.5, Vrindaban, December 7, 1975

This is material world. We take birth, we exist for some time, we grow, then there are some by-products, and then we become old and then die. This is called shad-vikara, six kinds of changes. But the atma is the same. The example is given: just like a tree, any tree, say a mango tree. During season, summer season there are flowers in the tree, and then they grow a small green mango, then it becomes yellow or reddish, and then it becomes ripened. Then there is a seed within the mango. And then, when it is over-ripened, it falls down. Then finished, business finished. Similarly... But when the mango is finished, it does not mean the tree is also finished. The tree is there, and again, in the next season, there will be mango and the same changes will go on. Similarly... It is a crude example. We spirit soul, we are eternal exactly like the tree. Tree is not eternal, but in comparison to the fruit, it is eternal. A tree lives for hundred thousand, five hundred, years and the same business go on. The mango, it is coming in [stages], just like flower, then green, then grows, then dwindles. So we are eternal, and our different bodies are just like seasonal fruits. On account of our different karma, we get different body. So this body is undergoing the six kind of changes. But the soul, he is not going any change. He is the same.

So here it is said that we are changing. Ever-increasingly we are taking birth. Janma-mrityu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-doshanudarshanam [Bhagavad-gita 13.9]. This is our actual distress, that we are obliged to take birth, death, disease, old age. So we are struggling against it. Nobody wants to become old man, especially in this winter season. It is very difficult for old men. So, but you have to accept jara and vyadhi [old age and disease]. Nobody can escape disease. Nobody can escape birth. Nobody can escape death. But struggle is going on. When you are diseased, there is a great struggle how to cure yourself, go to the doctor, take good medicine and so on, so on. But we cannot check the diseased condition. Similarly, we cannot check our old age, cannot check our birth, death. Therefore here it is said, kushalah. Kushalah [intelligence] means if you actually want benefit, because this kind of struggling has not given you any benefit, but if you want actually benefit, then you should endeavor for this. What is that? For your ultimate benefit. And how long? So long you are stout and strong, you should try how to become free from this bondage of birth, death, old age and disease, not that you keep yourself, this business set aside: "When we shall get old then we shall chant Hare Krishna and become Krishna conscious." That is not the meaning. Immediately. Prahlada Maharaja said that kaumara acharet prajño dharman bhagavatan iha [Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.6.1]. From the very beginning of life, when kaumara, a small child, boy, from that age one should begin this bhagavata life, or Krishna consciousness. That is called brahmachari, to teach brahmacharya from the very beginning of life. And when you are young, then you should work with more vigor and intelligence. At that time brain is very nice. Young man has got all the facilities. The machine is strong. This is a machine. So old machine cannot so work. So it is a great fortune for the young boys and girls of Europe and America that in this young life they are cultivating Krishna consciousness. It is a very good fortune.

Here it is recommended by Prahlada Maharaja, shariram paurusham yavan na vipadyeta pushkalam. So long you do not become invalid, old, unable to work, you should try. Not try, you must—yateta—for developing Krishna consciousness. Not that "When I shall become old, before death I shall try a few months Hare Krishna." No. From the very beginning of life, from childhood, they should be taught how to chant Hare Krishna, how to attend mangala arati, how to... In this way, by this practice, vidhi-bhakti, regulated principle, tapasya... This is called tapasya [austerity]. Tapo divyam putraka yena shuddhyet sattvam [SB 5.5.1]. If you want to purify your existence, then you should begin... That is human life, tapasya. Human life is not meant for polished dogism and pigism. That is not human life. If a cat and dog becomes nicely dressed, that does not mean he becomes a human being. He is cat and dog. Similarly, if we keep our mentality like cats and dog and outwardly we dress very nicely, they have been described as dvi-pada-pashuh, "two-legged animal." Animal. He is animal because he is not cultivating Krishna consciousness. The cats and dogs cannot do it, so he is no better than cats and dog. This is the conclusion. Sa eva go-kharah [SB 10.84.13]. That is the verdict of Vedic literature.

yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke
sva-dhih kalatradishu bhauma-ijya-dhih
yat tirtha-buddhih salile na karhichit
janeshu abhijñeshu sa eva go-kharah

Just like in Vrindavana many visitors come. They think that by simply taking a dip into the Yamuna water their tirtha is finished, pilgrimage is finished. But shastra says, yat tirtha-buddhih salile. If one comes to Vrindavana and simply takes advantage of taking a bath in the river Yamuna, that is also very good, but that does not finish his business. He must seek out where in Vrindavana Krishna consciousness is going on, "Where there is a person who can teach me about Krishna conscious." That is humanity. Otherwise, if he thinks simply by going to Vrindavana and taking a dip in Yamuna or shaving the head and purchasing some utensils for sons and daughter, their tirtha... They have been described as sa eva go-kharah [SB 10.84.13]. Go means cow, and kharah means ass. When you go some holy place, because in the holy place there are many persons who are very learned, who can give you very good instruction about spiritual life, so you must seek such person and associate with him. That is tirtha. Tirthi-kurvanti tirthani. Because it is said in the shastra that ordinary men with sinful habits, they come to tirtha, holy place, and actually they become purified. Actually they become purified. That is the glory of tirtha-sthana, dhama. But when such sinful garbage is accumulated, who will clear? It will be cleared by the saintly person, by their punya work. ... Again they make it tirtha. So therefore it is advised... So anyone who is coming to Vrindavana, they must seek out the devotees who have dedicated to Krishna consciousness and trying to preach Krishna consciousness to the ignorant people who are busy in material activities. This is tirtha. Therefore it is recommended. In India you'll find so many tirthas, so many tirthas—Prayag, Mathura, Vrindavana, Hardwar, Rameshvaram. That is the arrangement.

And after retirement of life, vanam vrajet [leave the home, go to the forest]. Pañcashordhvam vanam vrajet. Prahlada Maharaja also said to his father, hitvatma-ghatam griha-andha-kupam vanam gato yad harim ashrayeta. Formerly big, big kings, everyone—compulsory retirement, vanaprastha, sannyasa. Vanam means go to the forest. One who goes to the forest, he is called vanaprastha. From vana, the word vana, has come vanaprastha. Pañcashordhvam vanam vrajet, that "After fifty years of age one must go to the forest for meditation, for tapasya,, austerity."

This training is given from brahmachari [celibate student] life, grihastha [married] life also, but people are not taking training. They are not kushalam. Actually they do not know what is the aim of life. They are cats and dogs. So one who is kushala, actually knows the aim of life, for him, yateta ksemaya bhavam ashritah. Because in the material existence it is simply suffering. But these foolish men, they do not understand. They are thinking, "Enjoyment." How you can enjoy? Krishna says, duhkhalayam ashashvatam: [Bg. 8.15] "This is a place for suffering." Actually suffering—adhibhautika, adhidaivika, adhyatmika.[1] But because they have become fools and rascals, they do not understand that they are suffering. They are taking it they are enjoying.

Therefore, anyone who is in such condition, abominable condition, condemned condition, they must take to shelter of Krishna consciousness so long the body is strong enough. Not put it off till when the body is old and it cannot move, it is attacked with rheumatism, and so many other things, indigestion. No. So long it is shariram purusham. Purusham, why this word used? There are women also. Purusham does not mean man. Purusham means one who wants to enjoy. He is called purusha. Anyone here in the material world, although one has got the body of a male or although one has got the body of a female, both of them are for enjoyment. Therefore it is used, purusha. Purusha means enjoyer. So either the woman or man, the propensity is how to enjoy life. Therefore it is called. So either purusha, the male or female, anyone who has got this body, he must perform Krishna consciousness until she becomes... It should go on. If you practice when you are stout and strong... Just like a person begins exercising in young age, and in the old age also he can perform exercise. Practice, anything you practice, that is recommended. Yateta kushalah ksemaya bhavam ashritah: "Therefore, while in material existence [bhavam ashritah], a person fully competent to distinguish wrong from right must endeavor to achieve the highest goal of life as long as the body is stout and strong and is not embarrassed by dwindling." [SB 7.6.5]

So this is Prahlada Maharaja's instruction, that "Don't waste your time. Human life is very valuable." And Chanakya Pandit also says, ayushah kshana eko 'pi na labhyah svarna-kotibhih: "You cannot get back even one moment of your life by paying millions of dollars. So if you waste your time..." The Krishna conscious people, they should not be lazy. They should always remember that death is already there. Let me finish my business properly so that after death I may not be a cat and dog. At least I may get... There is no... My Guru Maharaja used to say that "Why should you wait for another life? Finish Krishna consciousness business in this life." In this life. Why you should set aside the business for another life? No. This is the instruction of Prahlada Maharaja. Before the next death you should prepare yourself for death. Death is inevitable. You cannot avoid death. But before the next death comes, if you become fully Krishna conscious, then your life is successful. Janma karma cha me divyam yo janati tattvatah [Bg. 4.9: "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."].

What is Krishna? Try to understand Krishna—Krishna, what is Krishna, why He appears, why He disappears, what is His nature, who is He. So many things are to be known. Krishna is God. He is not an ordinary thing. He has got unlimited qualities, unlimited function. And if we simply understand that krishnas tu bhagavan svayam... [SB 1.3.28]. Without going into the details, if we accept simply this fact, that "Here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, and everything is the exhibition of His different energies" ... if you simply understand, even if blindly, that everything, whatever we see, that is exhibition of Krishna's energy... Just like in this material world the practical example is, whatever we see, the trees and the plants and buildings, the chemicals—everything is generating from the sunlight, energy of the sun globe. Similarly, whatever we see... Krishna says also,

maya tatam idam sarvam
jagat avyakta-murti
namat-sthani sarva-bhutani
naham teshu avasthitah [Bg. 9.4: "By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them."]

Krishna is manifest by His energy. So if we understand these things, that is Krishna consciousness. There is nothing but Krishna. Therefore it should be utilized for Krishna. If everything belongs to Krishna, things belonging to a certain person, it must be utilized for Him. This is Krishna consciousness.

1. - adhidaivika, adhibhautika, adhyatmika: the threefold miseries, namely acts of God such as earthquake, flood, hurricane, drought; injuries caused by other living beings; afflictions arising from one's own body. back to text