The modern scientists say there is no life on the sun planet. According to the ancient Vedas, that is not a fact. What is the sun? It is a fiery planet, that’s all. But the spirit soul can live in the fire, and on the sun he gets a fiery body. Here on this planet, on earth, we have these earthly bodies. They may be very beautiful, but they are earth.
Someone showed me some plastic trees, exactly resembling real trees. But they are not trees. Similarly, this body is as good as a plastic body. It has no value.
Krishna speaks of our giving up the body, but the body is like a plastic body. “Giving up the body” is like giving up a cotton shirt or a plastic shirt. That does not mean you die.
That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita: vacamsi jirnani yatha vihaya… As one gives up an old garment for a new one, similarly, death means to give up this plastic body and take another plastic body. And with that plastic body, you have to work again. If you get a nice body, then you can work nicely. If you get a dog’s body, then you act like dog.
Krishna says, “Anyone who understands Me in truth will not take birth again.” So how will you understand Krishna? Simply hear about Him; then you will understand. Hearing is not difficult. But you must hear from the realised soul. If you hear from a professional man, that will not be effective. Hearing must be from a sadhu, a devotee, just as Maharaja Pariksit heard from Sukadeva Gosvami.
Even if you read books, you will save your life. If you simply read Krishna book or the Bhagavad-gita or Teachings of Lord Caitanya, then the sun is unable to take your life. If you constantly read, where is the opportunity of the sun’s taking your life? That means you are becoming immortal.
People are very much anxious to become immortal. Nobody wants to die. Everyone knows, “I shall die”. But if there is some danger – say, fire – immediately everyone will go away from this room. Why? I do not wish to die. I know I must die, so why do I go away? I could think, “Oh, let there be fire. I have to die today or tomorrow. Let me die.” No. I do not wish to die. Therefore I go away. This is the psychology.
Everyone wants to live forever. That’s a fact. So if you want to live forever, then you have to take to Krishna consciousness. This verse confirms it. Ayur harati vai pumsam udyann astam ca yann asau. The sun is rising early in the morning. As it is rising, gradually it is taking your life. That’s all. That is its business. The sun is very powerful. It is very difficult to fight. But you can fight with the sun. How? Simply by reading Krishna-katha, the words of Krishna.
This is the simple process. Don’t waste your time talking nonsense. Rupa Gosvami has atyaharah prayasas ca
prajalpo niyamagrahah
jana-sangas ca laulyam ca
sadbhir bhaktir vinasyati
Our devotional life can be finished, or baffled, by six things. Those in devotional life, Krishna consciousness, are fortunate.
This fortune can be ruined by six things. Be careful. Atyahara means eating more than necessary or collecting more than necessary. Ahara means collecting. We require to collect some money, but we should not collect more than necessary. Because if I get more money, then immediately Maya will say, “Why don’t you spend for me?”
Ahara also means eating. Don’t eat more than necessary. Actually, we have to come to the point of reduced eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. We must try to keep these activities to the minimum.
Prayasah means unnecessarily wasting our energy. We should not take great risks for fruitless things. We must accept something which can be done for a higher purpose.
Prajalpa means talking nonsense. This is the nature of the living entity in the conditioned state. Just as when crows gather together. Or the frogs – any living entity – as soon as they gather, they talk all nonsense. Don’t do that. We have a great assembly. We have facility for mixing. Niyamagrahah means not accepting the rules and regulations. niyamagrahah also means blindly following the rules and regulations.
So, one, atyahara; two, prayasa; three, prajalpa; four, niyamagrahah; five, laulyam, greed; and six, janasangah. Jana-sangah means to associate with ordinary men, those who have no sense of God consciousness – the so-called karmis, jnanis, and yogis. They do not understand Krishna. Or scientists and philosophers – we should not associate with them. Because we know, harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna.
Anyone who does not understand Krishna and Krishna’s service, though he may be a very big man in the ordinary estimation, we don’t give him any value. Because persons such as him are mental speculators. They have lower spiritual value. They have value in their own way, but according to our line of thought, they have little value.
There is a tendency to talk, so talk of Krishna. That is Krishna consciousness. We assemble together, a few friends, and we want to vibrate some sound. The child is also vibrating sound. That is nature. A bird will vibrate; a beast will vibrate. So we have to vibrate transcendental sound. Then we shall be saved from the plundering business of the sun.
This is the secret. Always talk of Krishna, and you must know that you are saving yourself. You are not dying. Because talking of Krishna means you will understand Krishna. And Krishna says, “Anyone who understands Me rightly, then after giving up this body, he comes to Me.” And as soon as you go to Him, back to home, back to the Godhead, your life is eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge.
Why should we lose this opportunity? The most rascal persons give up this opportunity. They do not take advantage of Krishna-katha. Therefore, the scriptures say, smartavyah satatam visnur vismartavyo na jatucit. We have to remember Krishna always, everywhere.
This is the process of Krishna consciousness. We have to hear about Krishna, we have to chant about Krishna, we have to remember Krishna, and we have to worship Krishna. This is our movement. We are worshipping Krishna in the temple, we are thinking of Him, we are talking about Him, and we are hearing about Him.
These things do not require any monetary exchange or any high education. Everyone can hear about Krishna. After hearing, everyone can talk about Krishna. And while hearing and talking, everyone can remember Krishna. And everyone can worship in the temple. Where is the difficulty?
By prosecuting these four principles of Krishna consciousness, you become immortal. No austerity, no penance, no education, no riches. Simply by following these four principles, you become immortal.
This verse is very important. If you have spare time, don’t sit idly. If there is no facility for reading books or talking about Krishna, chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. Always be busy with Krishna. The sun will not be able to kill you. You are going to live forever.