When a man enters into the sitting room of a friend, the friend receives the man with all cordiality and offers him the best couches for his comfortable rest. The friend accepts this friendly welcome and sits along with his host in all security. Does this mean that the man who has entered the house of his friend will consider the sitting room his own property? Certainly he will not think like that unless he has turned to be a mad man. His consciousness of the fact that none of the paraphernalias of the friend's sitting room do belong to him does not disturb him in the least to sit down there tightly and securely and with this pure consciousness of his position, he is allowed equal facility along with his friend who is actually the proprietor of the sitting room.
But if the man after some time madly thinks that because he was allowed to enter into the parlour of his friend to sit down there comfortably he has thereof become the proprietor of the room and all the furnitures in that room, then what will become the lot of the mad man? The natural consequence of this unlawful desire of the intruding friend will meet with police action by the real proprietor of the room and trouble will begin to disturb the friendly relation.
And if the man leaves the room without being able to occupy it as his own property and impertinently tells his friend that he is renouncing the right of proprietorship in disgust, certainly the proprietor friend will laugh at him thinking as to when and how the proprietorship of the room was awarded to him.
This is the real position of the conditioned soul who enters a stage of life in the cycle of birth and death. The living entity is unborn and eternal. The living entity simply changes his dress according to the price of the dress he has paid for. In the shop of the material nature there are eighty-four lacs of different dresses and the living entity is allowed to put on any one of them according to the price he is able to pay. Leaving aside all other dresses let us consider about the dress of the human body. Because in the dress of the human body a living entity is more puzzled than in the dress of the beast due to the gorgeousness of the particular garment. The dress of the human body is also exhibited in varieties of four lacs of species. There are different dresses of humanity in the form of Kirata, Huna, Andhro, Pulinda, Pukkasa, Abhira, Sumbha, Yananu, Khasadaya etc. and almost all of them are no more civilized than the jungle beasts. As such they have very little idea of civilized form of national feeling. Out of the eighty-four lacs of different dresses exhibited by the living entities, only the highest civilized human being is conscious of national feeling. This national feeling has created different civilized nations of the world but because almost every one of them is guided by sense of nationalism of impure consciousness, all of them are always busy in making pacts and blocks for security of everyone's national position.
The impure consciousness of nationalism has kept all the big heads of world nations always active for an adjustment of everyone's national interest. They have now made a united nation's security council and trying in vain to make a right adjustment. Impure consciousness of every nation has made it impossible to come to the safety point and it is needed therefore to awaken their pure consciousness by the propagation of spiritual education back to Godhead undertaken by the Lord Himself in the form of Shree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
What is that pure consciousness? The idea of pure consciousness is specifically described in the Ishopanishad and it is said there as follows:-
Wordings: Isha, Abasya, Idam, Sarbam, Jat, Kimchit, Jagatyam, Jagat, Tena, Taktena, Bhunjeetha, Ma, Gridha, Kashyachit, Dhanam.
Synonyms: Isha-The Lord, Abasya-Domain, Idam-All, Sarbam-These, Jat-Whatever, Kimchit-Anything and everything, Jagatyam-In the world, Jagat-Material things, Tena-By Him, Taktena-By His offer, Bhunjeetha-You can enjoy, Ma-Do not, Gridha-Accept, Kashyachit-Anyone's, Dhanam-Property.
Translation
Everything that we see in this material world or in the matter, all belong to the domain of the Supreme Lord. You can therefore enjoy what has been offered to you by Him and you must not accept any others property and enjoy it.
Purport
The living entity in either of the above mentioned eighty varieties of dresses enter into four lacs the domain of the Lord. The agent of the Lord material nature gives him all facilities to live in that domain provided with all comforts of air, light, shelter, food, drink, residence, and all the facilities of acquiring knowledge. The lower grade living beings such as the aquatics, the plants and trees, the reptiles, the birds and beasts and the beastly human beings living in the jungle-do take all the facilities offered by nature and make progressive evolution by a gradual process from the aquatics to the plants, from the plants to the reptiles, from the reptiles to the birds and from the birds to the beasts. The human form of life is evolved out of the life of the beast in the three modes of nature. As guests of the material nature all these non-human living entities do not bother much about conventional civilization to mishandle the products of material nature. But the civilized man, because of his developed consciousness, mishandles the laws of nature, thinks on terms of proprietorship of the particular place of appearance and thus become entangled in the matter of designations. The civilized man thus creates a bungle in the name of advanced civilization.
These civilized nations forget completely that the particular places offered to them for residential purpose-all belong to the proprietorship right of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is the proprietor of all the 'Lokas' or planets. In the Bhagwat Geeta [Bg. 5.29] it is said like this.
Wordings: Bhoktaram, Yajna, Tapasam, Sarba, Loka, Moheswaram, Suhridam, Sarbabhutanam, Jnatya, Mam, Shantim, Richhati.
Synonyms: Bhoktaram-The beneficiary, Yajna-Sacrifice, Tapasam-Penances, Sarba-All, Loka-Planets, Moheswaram-The Supreme Lord, Suhridam-Benevolent friend, Sarba-Of all, Bhutanam-Living entities, Jnatya-Knowing, Mam-Me, Shantim-Peace, Richhati-Is able to enjoy.
Translation
I am the beneficiary of all sacrifices and penances and I am the Supreme Lord of all the planets and universes. I am the benevolent friend of all living being and knowing this one can enjoy perfect peace.
Purport
The so-called civilized nations have forgotten the fact that the place of residences particularly specified for them by the Supreme Lord do not belong to them but it is the property of the Supreme Lord. He has given the nations particular places of residence and comfortable life making progress in the matter of pure consciousness. The Lord has not allowed us to remain in such places of residence to create a hell of it by developing a denching ground for the hooligans, ruffians, demons and unbelievers. He is the Supreme Friend of all living entities and therefore He has made the codes of scriptures like Vedas and Purans to guide the civilized nations so that they are not illusioned by the influence of Maya or impure consciousness and consider the place of their appearance as their property.
The particular place of residence allotted to us must be protected from the disturbing forces of demons and non-believers,-not as proprietor of the land but with full consciousness of servitorship of the Supreme Lord.
Out of an impure consciousness Shri Arjuna declined to fight in the battlefield of Kurukshetra as a proprietor. He forgot for the time being that he was not the proprietor. The Supreme proprietor is Shri Krishna and Arjuna is a servitor only. This fact was explained in the Bhagwat Geeta from different angles of vision and ultimately when the illusion of proprietorship was dissipated-pure consciousness of Arjuna was awakened by the mercy of the Lord and Arjuna agreed to abide by the order of the Supreme Lord. His attitude of non-violence adulterated with a sense of proprietorship right was condemned by Shri Krishna in the very inception of the idea. It is sheer nonsense to think that devotees of Godhead are so many inertia element of society. Real devotees of the Lord like Shree Bajrangajee Hanuman and that like Arjuna-both of them fought out the two celebrated battles of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The devotees are neither violent nor non-violent on their own account but they are both violent and non-violent on account of the Lord. That is the criterion of pure consciousness.
Nationalism in pure consciousness as it was exemplified by Shree Arjuna or Bajrangaji brings in real peace of the world. Such pure consciousness is aroused by devotional activities. Unbelievers in the Supremacy of the Absolute Lord cannot have pure consciousness. Nationalism, guided by the principles of devotional activities of which Shri Arjuna is the typical example, is the goal of our life.
[Written By A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada for "Back to Godhead Magazine": June 29, 1956]
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