Though beautiful, the setting sun represents the passing of our days and the steady march to our final appointment
ayur harati vai pumsam
udyann astam ca yann asau
tasyarte yat-ksano nita
uttama-sloka-vartaya
“Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilises the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.” – Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.17
The sunrise and sunset decrease our life. This is a very nice example. The sun’s business is to take away a portion of your span of life. But it cannot take away the life of a devotee, because a devotee is going to live. The Krishna consciousness movement is meant to give the living entity a permanent span of life.
When a man becomes diseased, the physician tries to get him relief from the infection. Our material body is an infection. Actually, we spiritual souls have no death. Death is due to this infection. This infection is called ‘dirty things’. Actually, the body is dirt. “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
That’s a fact. Because as soon as I, the soul, leave this body, it will be immediately decomposed, and after a few days it will be earth, dust. So actually, it is dirt. And we have to cleanse this dirt from our real identity – spiritual life. The cleansing is very nicely done simply by hearing the message of Uttama-sloka, or Krishna. You haven’t got to scratch the soul with some machine. No. It will be automatically cleansed if you simply give aural reception to the message of Uttama-sloka, which is called krsna-katha.
Krsna-katha means the words of Krishna. Katha means words. In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna is personally giving us words of instruction. If we simply read the Bhagavad-gita, then the sun cannot take away our duration of life.
What is the proof? We find the proof in the Bhagavad-gita, where Lord Krishna says, janma karma ca me divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah: “Anyone who understands My birth and appearance does not take birth again.” The Lord Himself does not take birth. He is Aja, “one who never takes birth – ever-existing.” But still we see that Krishna is taking birth. We are observing the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna. This is a mystery. Krishna does not take birth, and still we are observing the birth anniversary of Krishna, Janmastami. So this is to be understood in truth – tattvatah.
The Vedas say, na tasya karyam karanam ca vidyate: “The Supreme Lord has nothing to do.” Why should He have to do anything? Yet we see that from the day of His appearance at His maternal uncle’s prison till His going back to His own abode, Krishna was always active, especially in killing the demons. But the demons could be killed without the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If there is a little earthquake, millions of demons can be killed. It is not a very difficult job. If the Pacific Ocean floods this city, millions of people can be killed. If there is a war, millions of people can be killed. If there is an epidemic, millions of people can be killed. So Krishna does not come to kill the demons. Rather, Krishna’s many agents can kill the demons without any difficulty.
But He comes. Lord Nrsimha did not appear in order to kill the demon Hiranyakasipu. He could have been killed otherwise. But the Lord appeared for Prahlada. Prahlada Maharaja was being so much teased and tortured. The Lord could not tolerate it. He wanted to show His devotee, “I shall kill your torturer in front of you.” That was His purpose. He did not appear for killing Hiranyakasipu. He appeared to give encouragement to Prahlada Maharaja. As Lord Krishna says, kaunteya pratijanihi na me bhaktah pranasyati. He asks Arjuna, “My dear Arjuna, you declare that My devotee will never be vanquished.” Therefore He comes. These are the understandings of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in toto.
We were discussing krsna-katha, the words of Krishna. Every Vedic literature is krsna-katha. But two books are especially krsna-katha: Bhagavad-gita – Krishna directly speaking; and Srimad-Bhagavatam – directly spoken about Krishna.
Here it is said uttama-sloka vartaya. Varta means message, words. If we pass our time simply by reading and talking about Krishna, then the sun will not be able to take away our life. This is the secret. If you want to become immortal, then always be engaged in krsna-katha. Always, 24 hours – think of Krishna. This is Krishna consciousness.
Everyone is dying, but those who are engaged in krsna-katha, in Krishna consciousness, those who are busy in Krishna’s business, they are not dying. They are living. How? Because the span of life of the ordinary man is being taken away by the sunrise and sunset every day. If a man is 50 years old, 50 years has already been taken away by the sun. It will never come back.
“But what about the devotee? He is also the same. His life is being taken away.”
No. His life is not taken away, because he is going to live. Superficially, we see that the body of a devotee is also taken away. But this is not the real body. The real body is the spiritual body. Krishna says, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti: “After giving up this body, he does not take birth. He comes to Me.” So who comes to Him? The self.
Materialistic persons, so-called scientists, philosophers – they do not know that the body is the cover of the self. The real self, the real person, goes to Krishna to live forever. Those who are devotees, those who are in Krishna consciousness, they are giving up this infected body and getting their original, spiritual body.
Therefore, as soon as you get the spiritual body, the sun has no power to take it away. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita: “Fire cannot burn it, weapons cannot kill it, water cannot moisten it…” Spirit cannot be destroyed by anything material. This body is matter. It can be cut into pieces. But the spirit soul cannot be. The body can be burnt into ashes, but the spirit soul cannot be.
