BG 3.10 – Death Is the Final Exam

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Tonight, we shall read from Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Bhagavad-gītā which means literally the song of God. When God speaks, He does not speak in ordinary language like us, but he speaks in poetry and music. So, the Bhagavad-gītā is spoken directly by God Himself. God is eternal, He has no beginning and no end. In fact, the living entity or soul is also eternal. The living entity also has no beginning and no end. Bhagavad-gītā explains that as long as the soul is within the body, the body is alive, and as soon as the soul leaves the body, the body is dead. We all have experience that once the soul leaves the body, we can never bring the body back to life.

There are some materialistic scientists who suggest that life arises from a combination of chemicals. But if life actually arose from a combination of chemicals, death would be a breakdown in the chemical combination. And consequently, if the chemical combination was restored, life would return. But although people have been fighting against death for millions of years, no one has been able to bring a dead body back to life. A car may have an accident, but we can replace the broken parts of the car and the car will work again because the car is material. The body is also material. We can replace an eye, we can replace a kidney, we can replace a heart. But once the soul has left the body, no matter what we do to the body, we cannot bring the life back because the soul has gone.

Someone may die of a heart attack, but after he is dead, which really means after the soul has left the body, you can replace the defective heart. But the body will not come back to life because the soul, which is the real person, has gone. So, the soul is Sanatana; in Sanskrit language, Sanatana means eternal. It has no beginning and no end. And God, who is the supreme soul is also eternal. He also has no beginning and no end. So, Bhagavad-gītā is the science of the relationship between the individual soul and the supreme soul. The individual soul is eternal, he has no beginning and no end. The supreme soul is eternal, he has no beginning and no end. And the relationship between them is also eternal. But unfortunately, we in the material world have forgotten our eternal relationship with God. And because we have forgotten our eternal relationship with God, we are forced to suffer. Everyone in the material world is forced to suffer. We cannot even count the ways in which we are forced to suffer. But Bhagavad-gītā mentions four types of suffering which we should particularly remember at all times: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi—birth, death, old age, and disease. Nobody wants to die. We have already discussed; nobody wants to die. Everybody wants to live forever. We are forced to die, as sure as death. Similarly, nobody wants to grow old. People exercise to stay youthful, they do so many things to stay youthful. But old age will come, we cannot avoid it. And disease, nobody wants disease. We take so many precautions not to get disease, and if we get disease, we make so many endeavors to get rid of it. We take vitamins, we go to the doctor, we take medicine. But we cannot avoid disease either. And after we leave the body, we will have to take birth again.

Even in ordinary terms, some governments in the world have made propaganda to try to stop birth. Birth control, like in India, the government has spent millions of dollars to try to stop birth. But they cannot stop birth, the population goes on increasing and increasing. So, birth, disease, old age, and death are concomitant factors of material existence, and we cannot escape them by any means. We may be proud of the advancement of material science, but if we ask the scientists, can you stop death? No. Can you stop old age? No. Can you stop disease? Actually, they cannot stop disease. If they could actually stop disease, all the hospitals would be empty, everyone would go home, all the doctors would be free. But they cannot stop disease. And therefore, there is always clamor for more hospitals, more doctors, more nurses, and so many health plans. Because disease is not decreasing, it is increasing. Maybe we have been successful to some extent in reducing the incidence of diseases like tuberculosis, which was more prominent earlier. But now we have other diseases like cancer, heart disease, AIDS, which were not so prominent earlier. So although we try to counteract the miseries of material existence by material means, by scientific advancement, medicine, or whatever, we cannot succeed.

We may try to forget the plain truth, but we cannot escape it. Southern California is a very beautiful place, the weather is nice, the mountains, the sea, the fresh air. And we might have a nice house and a good bank balance and a nice car. But still, when it comes to the real problems of life, the repetition of birth, disease, old age, and death, we are more or less helpless. So, a sober person will perceive the miseries of material existence, and if he is intelligent, he will think, ”How can I escape them? I am not going to escape them by going to the doctors or the scientists or the politicians for help. I may forget them by going to the movies or getting drunk or amusing myself. But I cannot escape them, they are there and they will get me.”

The material world is like a prison house for the living entities who have forgotten God, or in more explicit language, for the living entities who have gone against God. And because we have gone against God, we have been placed in the material world and are forced to suffer the material miseries. So, we cannot avoid the material miseries here, we cannot counteract them. In fact, the other day, one neighbor was telling me his impression of American movies and American news. He had come from Europe and he settled in Santa Barbara. And he was saying that the most prominent feature of the movies and the news are calamities. And people pay, they go into the theater and they watch spectacles of devastation. I mean, we generally don’t go to movies, but he mentioned one movie about a volcano that erupted and thousands of people were killed in the volcano. And Titanic, he said young people go two, three, four times to see the same movie, to see the spectacle of devastation. And the news is more or less the same. Some crime, some corruption, some natural calamity. He said every day, the news is the same, only the names change and the places change. But the news is the same, and that is what we are actually facing in the material world. That is what we are actually facing. But there is no escape by material means, that we have discussed. The only solution, real solution, is spiritual. And that is to revive our eternal relationship with God and get out of the prison house of material existence.

Srila Prabhupada, who is our spiritual master gives the example that sometimes the king or the governor will visit the prison. And if some prisoner very sincerely surrenders to the king or the governor or the executive head and begs for mercy, the king has the authority to pardon the criminal and release him from prison. So, in the same way, if we sincerely regret our forgetfulness of God or our disobedience to God and surrender to Him, He can order the material nature to release us from the prison house of material existence. And then we can be reunited with Him in the spiritual kingdom of God. Now, sometimes people raise the argument that who has seen God? Who has seen the kingdom of God? Who has ever gone there to tell us? How do we know God even exists? How do we know that the kingdom of God exists? Let us examine the idea, who has seen God first of all. Everyone gets knowledge on the basis of authority. Now, if we say that who has seen God? We are actually saying that we accept the authority of the senses. We accept the authority of our eyes. If I can see God with my own eyes, then I will believe He exists. But why are you so proud of your eyes? Why do you think your eyes are so perfect? There are so many things you cannot see with your eyes. Without assistance, you cannot see your eyelids, for example. You cannot see your brain. You cannot see things that are very small like the atom, or what to speak of subatomic particles. Because the eye itself is made of atoms, so how can the eye perceive atoms or particles smaller than atoms? We cannot perceive things that are very far away. Even with the most powerful telescope, we cannot perceive things that are far away. Just as with the most powerful microscope, we cannot perceive things that are too small.

So every one of our senses is limited. There are so many things that exist beyond the range of our sense perception. So why do we want to make our limited senses? Why do we want to accept our limited senses as the authorities? Even if we see something, we may be deceived by what we see. With our naked eye we can see the sun, but what do we see? You see a small disc in the sky. But we know that the sun is many times bigger than the earth. But not by seeing, by hearing from authorities, we know that the sun is many times bigger than the earth. It is very hot, but because it is ninety-three million miles away, it appears small. So hearing from authorities is a superior method of acquiring knowledge, than depending on direct sense perception. There are so many things we haven’t seen. We haven’t seen, probably many of us, I haven’t seen China, but I accept that China exists because I have heard from authorities that China exists.

So hearing from authorities is a superior method of acquiring knowledge. And in Vedic civilization, the central authority is shastra, shastra can be roughly translated as revealed scripture. It actually means knowledge that descends from a superior entity on a superior platform. And of course, if we think about it, we must conclude that God exists because there is so much order in the universe. It is like driving here from Highway 101. I was struck by all the signs on the road, warning the drivers about curves. And especially because of the new pavement, everything was very vivid. The borders on the sides of the highway and the yellow lines in the middle that indicate when you can pass and when you can’t pass, what the speed limit is. So there is intelligence to regulate the traffic. There is intelligence. We don’t know perhaps the individuals who are planning the highways, setting the speed limits, planning the signs. But there is intelligence. They don’t just appear automatically. So similarly, within the universe, there is intelligence. The sun is rising every day at a certain time, setting at a certain time. The moon is rising, the phases are changing. Everything is going on in a very orderly fashion. The seasons are changing. Everything is happening. So there must be some intelligence. We may not be able to see the intelligent person behind the natural order because, like we may not be able to see the persons who are regulating the highways, but we know they must exist because intelligent order is there. So in some intelligent person must be behind it.

So God is there. There is an intelligent plan behind the creation. And what is the intelligent plan behind the creation? And where do we fit in? That is described in this verse of Bhagavad-gītā. So I will read the verse and a purport by Srila Prabhupada, although we have already discussed some of the points. And by understanding what God’s plan for us and living accordingly, we can become free from the punishment which is offered to us by material nature. Otherwise, there is no escape. So we will begin by reciting the Sanskrit. Just the vibration of the Sanskrit syllables of Bhagavad-gītā are auspicious and purifying. So those who want can respond, please repeat.

saha-yajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā
purovāca prajāpatiḥ
anena prasaviṣyadhvam
eṣa vo ‘stv iṣṭa-kāma-dhuk

TRANSLATION

In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Viṣṇu, and blessed them by saying, “Be thou happy by this yajña [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you everything desirable for living happily and achieving liberation.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The material creation by the Lord of creatures (Viṣṇu),

COMMENT

Vishnu is the another name for Krishna or God. There are various names of God in various languages and cultures, but there is only one God. So here in Vedic literatures, we find the name, Krishna or Vishnu. In other languages and other scriptures, we find the name Allah or Jehovah or Jesus. Of course, Jesus is the son of God. But we should keep in mind that when we utter the name Krishna we mean God. We don’t mean anything else. And we mean the same God, or the one God, which is worshipped by different people and different places, different culture, by different name.

PURPORT (continued)

The material creation by the Lord of creatures (Viṣṇu) is a chance offered to the conditioned souls to come back home – back to Godhead. All living entities within the material creation are conditioned by material nature because of their forgetfulness of their relationship to Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedic principles are to help us understand this eternal relation, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ. 

COMMENT

Whatever knowledge we may have, but if we don’t have knowledge of God, our knowledge is incomplete and imperfect. True knowledge culminates in knowledge of God.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord says that the purpose of the Vedas is to understand Him. In the Vedic hymns it is said: patiṁ viśvasyātmeśvaram. Therefore, the Lord of the living entities is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,

COMMENT

Which is another Vedic literature.

PURPORT (continued)

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also (2.4.20) Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes the Lord as pati in so many ways:

śriyaḥ patir yajña-patiḥ prajā-patir
dhiyāṁ patir loka-patir dharā-patiḥ
patir gatiś cāndhaka-vṛṣṇi-sātvatāṁ
prasīdatāṁ me bhagavān satāṁ patiḥ

The prajā-pati is Lord Viṣṇu, and He is the Lord of all living creatures, all worlds, and all beautiful creation, and the protector of everyone. The Lord created this material world to enable the conditioned souls to learn how to perform yajñas (sacrifices) for the satisfaction of Viṣṇu, so that while in the material world they can live very comfortably without anxiety, and after finishing the present material body they can enter into the kingdom of God. That is the whole program for the conditioned soul. 

COMMNET

So although there are certain miseries of material existence which we cannot evade, still within the material world, we can live relatively happily. Relatively happily. Absolute happiness is possible in the spiritual world, but in the material world, we can live relatively happily. But we see some people are struggling terribly. Some people are suffering horribly. Why is someone living more happily than someone else? Now, some people argue against the existence of God by citing the fact of the differences of the creatures of God. The differences that someone is enjoying and someone is suffering. So God should be equal to all. So why is someone born as a prince and why is someone born as a pauper? But the cause of the differences is not any partiality in the Lord. The cause of the differences is us, because we act differently. We reap different results. As you sow, so shall you reap.

So in Vedic language, the law of cause and effect is called karma. One action will produce a particular reaction. So if someone has engaged in pious activities, pious activities mean activities beneficial for oneself and others. The result is that he will enjoy material happiness to the same extent. And if one engages in sinful activities, which may be defined as activities which are harmful to oneself and others, the result is that one will be forced to suffer material miseries. For in terms of God’s laws, we can say that pious activities are activities performed within the laws of God, and sinful activities are activities performed against the laws of God. Just like in the state, if someone lives within the laws of the state, he can live relatively peacefully and happily. But if someone breaks the laws, he will be put in prison, and then he will have to suffer. God’s laws are given in Bhagavad-gītā to us, so that we can rectify ourselves or reform ourselves and get out of the material world and become free from the material miseries. So if someone is suffering more in the material world, the reason is that he is engaged more in sinful activities or vicious activities. And if someone is enjoying more material happiness, the reason is that he has in the past engaged in more pious activities.

Sometimes people see that bad people are enjoying and good people are suffering. Why do bad things happen to good people? But the answer is that however bad the person may be now, if he is enjoying, he is enjoying because in the past he engaged in pious activities. And similarly, however good a person may appear to be now, if he is suffering, it is because in the past he engaged in sinful activities. It is like you walk into a movie in the middle and you see a man being murdered. You think, “Oh, that poor fellow, he didn’t deserve to be murdered.” But you missed the beginning of the movie. At the beginning of the movie, you didn’t see how many people he murdered before he finally got his just dessert. So there is no injustice in the kingdom of God. Everyone gets exactly what he deserves. But we may not be able to perceive what happened earlier that caused the person to be enjoying or suffering in the present. So we can enjoy relatively, we can live relatively happily in the material world if we perform sacrifice. And at the end of this life, when we leave this body, we can go to the kingdom of God where life is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge. No birth, death, old age, and disease.

“The Lord created this material world for the conditioned souls to learn how to perform yajña (sacrifice) for the satisfaction of Vishnu, so that while in the material world, they can live very comfortably without anxiety. Then, after finishing the present material body, they can enter into the kingdom of God. That is the whole program for the conditioned soul.

PURPORT (continued)

By performance of yajña, the conditioned souls gradually become Krishna conscious and become godly in all respects.”

COMMENT

Now, the next question should be, what should the next question be? How to perform yajña or sacrifice?

PURPORT (continued)

In the Age of Kali, the saṅkīrtana-yajña (the chanting of the names of God) is recommended by the Vedic scriptures, and this transcendental system was introduced by Lord Caitanya for the deliverance of all men in this age. Saṅkīrtana-yajña and Kṛṣṇa consciousness go well together.

COMMENT

So when we hear of sacrifices, we may imagine a fire and offering grains into the fire, offering animals into the fire. But such types of sacrifice are not recommended in the present age. The sacrifice recommended for the modern age is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. And we find that every scripture of the world recommends the chanting of God’s name. But let us discuss first what Bhagavad-gītā says. According to Vedic civilization, there are four ages that repeat in cycles. First is Satya-yuga, which is the golden age. Then is Treta-yuga, which is the silver age. And then is Dvapara-yuga, which is the copper age. And then Kali-yuga, which we are in, that is the Iron Age. Now, in each age, a different method of self-realization or God realization is recommended. So, in Satya-yuga, the recommended method was meditation, in Treta-yuga, the recommended method was fire sacrifices. In Dvapara-yuga, the recommended method was elaborate temple worship. But in the modern age of Kali-yuga, the recommended method is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. Other methods are not practical.

If we try to meditate for five minutes, we will find that our mind is immediately distracted here and there. And if we try to perform sacrifice, first of all, we don’t even know how to perform it. But even if someone did know how, he would have a very hard time doing it because one has to chant mantras perfectly. And if he mispronounces one syllable, the whole sacrificial performance can be nullified and it can even have a reverse effect, a negative effect. In addition, one has to offer tons of clarified butter and grains into the sacrificial fire, which we cannot afford to do in the modern age. As far as temple worship is concerned, the rules and regulations for temple worship are so elaborate. Even our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, when he introduced a very modified version, not a modified version, but a simplified version, when he just began to introduce the system in the temples in ISKCON, one of the devotees exclaimed that, “There are so many rules and regulations, there are so many procedures.” And Srila Prabhupada replied that, “I have just taught you a little. If I were to tell you everything, you would faint.” So we cannot do elaborate temple worship as in previous age. What we can do is chant the holy names of God. We can chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra or any name of God found in any bona fide scripture. That we can do. And therefore, the Vedic literature state,

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā 

“One should chant the holy names, chant the holy names, chant the holy names of God. There is no other way, no other way, no other way for success in the modern age.” Now, nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva means no other way, no other way, no other way. Not by meditation, not by Vedic fire sacrifices, not by elaborate temple worship. And harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma is repeated three times for emphasis. You must do it, you must do it, you must do it. You must chant the holy names of God.

Our spiritual master was very fond of quoting one cartoon that appeared perhaps in the New Yorker magazine. And the cartoon depicted an old man and an old lady sitting on a park bench. And the old lady is saying to the man, “Chant, chant, chant.” And the old man is replying, “Can’t, can’t, can’t.” He could, he can, but he says he can’t with the same energy he expanded to refuse, he could have done it. And chanting is so nice, anyone can do it. A young child, an old man, anyone can do it. And no, there is no price, there is no taxes. It is not against the law, there is no cholesterol, it is not fattening. You cannot lose anything by chanting. And there is such a great gain to be had. And the gain is described here. You can live peacefully and happily in the material world. And after giving up the present material body, one can go back home, back to Godhead, and live life eternally in the spiritual kingdom. So just read the conclusion of the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

Lord Kṛṣṇa in His devotional form (as Lord Caitanya) is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32) as follows, with special reference to the saṅkīrtana-yajña:

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

“In this Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña.” Other yajñas prescribed in the Vedic literatures are not easy to perform in this Age of Kali, but the saṅkīrtana-yajña is easy and sublime for all purposes, as recommended in Bhagavad-gītā also (9.14).

COMMENT

So every scripture actually recommends the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. And especially, if we can chant the holy name at the time of death, then when we leave the body, we can be promoted to the spiritual kingdom of God. I was pleasantly surprised because for the last more than twenty-five years, I have been based in Bombay, India. And from Bombay, India, sometimes I would travel to Karachi, Pakistan. And there, I had the opportunity to meet some very learned Muslim gentlemen. Not many, but some, few. And they told me how in their understanding, the time of death is critical for the destination of the soul about to leave the body. And the whole effort, the whole concentration is to help the person chant the holy name of God at the final moment. And they have a book called 99 Names of God. And in Vedic culture, there is a book, Vishnu Sahasranam, One Thousand Names of God or Vishnu. And I received a letter from a Jewish lady, and she described the passing away of her father. And at the time of the passing away of her father, they all chanted Shema Yisrael, which is a prayer to God. It is a prayer to God, and there have been great saints in the history of Christianity who have also chanted the name of God, who chanted the name of Jesus. And the Bible says that thou shalt praise the name of the Lord with symbols and drums, which is exactly what we do.

So what we are presenting is not something new that we have manufactured, nor is what we are presenting something limited or sectarian. But we are presenting information that comes from the Vedic literatures, which are thousands of years old, coming from Lord Krishna Himself. But the same principles appear in other scriptures as well. The same principles are not foreign, but they appear in other scriptures as well. But the Vedic literatures give maybe a little more complete or a little more scientific explanation of the same principles. So someone might say, “Well, alright, let me, let me do what I like, and then at the time of death I will chant the name of God and I will go to the kingdom of God. Why do I have to bother about it now?”