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Prabhupada, Sydney, February 17, 1973 — […] Janma-mrityu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam. Just like the ass cannot understand that he’s suffering, loading so much cloth upon his back. That is ass, one who cannot understand the suffering. And we are taking it, “This is now pleasure. This is not suffering, this is pleasure. I am working so hard.”
I remember long ago, about forty years ago, one of my servants, he left my service and he was pulling on Thela. You know Thela, a hand-pulled cart? So after that he came to see me. I asked him, “How you are doing now?” So he was very pleased that, “I am working, pulling on this Thela and eating sumptuously, and by evening it becomes all digested and again I’ll eat.”
That is the situation. He’s eating sumptuously, and by working, by pulling on the Thela, hard labor, whole thing is digested and again goes in the evening he eats very sumptuously, he is very pleased. That is his success of life. So people are doing like that.
They are eating in the morning and working very hard whole day, and in the evening again he becomes hungry and eats more sumptuously. That is his happiness. That is his happiness. But he does not think that these distresses are there, janma-mrityu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam [Bg. 13.9].
So there is no solution for them made. The so-called scientists and philosophers, they do not…, “Oh, death is natural. What is this? I’ll have to, I’ll die.”
But when there is warning, “Now death,” there is… I have, everyone has seen that as soon as there is earthquake, they began to scream, “Oh, now I’m going to die.” As soon as there is any shaking in the airplane, they begin to scream. (laughter) He’s afraid of death, but he says, “Oh, that is not a problem.”
He has got his experience that at the time of death it is very severe punishment. Therefore Bhagavad-gita says, janma-mrityu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam: “You may be satisfied with your foolish idea that you are very happy, but if you are intelligent then you must always keep yourself…” The Canakya Pandita also said that those who advancing in spiritual life, they should place before him that, “Here is death”, just before him.
And those who are karmis (materialists), like ass, they’ll always think that “I’ll never die.” The spiritualist always thinks that, “I am dying, dying, dying, going to die next moment.” And the karmis, he should think that, “I’ll live forever.”
Otherwise he cannot work. He cannot. Unless he is put into this ignorance that he’ll never die, he cannot work.
So at the modern age the people are simply kept into ignorance so that they can work like ass and cow and be satisfied. This is the present civilization.
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