Prabhupada, Vrindavana, October 30, 1972: […] The whole world is working, especially in Western countries, you see… They are working so hard. They have got their nice motorcar, nice roads, and very, very nice ways also, fly over, one road is flying over another road, another road. Very good facility for driving motorcar, and they have got enough motorcar also.
Every third man has got a car. But what are these civilization? Kama and lobha, lustiness and greediness. That’s all. The basic principle is lust and greediness. That’s all. This is their qualification.
So anyone who has become free from this lusty and greedy status of life, he’s advanced. He’s advanced. Kama-lobhadayas ca ye. Because these lusty desires and greediness will not help him at any time to realize his self or to realize God. That will not be helpful.
So at least, if he comes to the platform of goodness, sattva-guna, then he can at least understand that “I am not this body. I am spirit soul. My duty is different from these bodily activities.” Brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati [Bg. 18.54].
The lusty and greediness keeps one always in lamentation and hankering. Na socati na kanks… Na kanksati. Kanksa. These people, they have no end of their kanksa, hankering. One after another, one after another, one after a… Sarva-kama. In the sastra they are called sarva-kama. There is no end of their lusty desires. So nasta-prayesu abhadresu.
By the hearing process, one becomes gradually free from the lusty and greedy platform, and he comes to the platform of knowledge. And at that time he can understand at least that, “I am not this body. I am spirit soul. And what is my duty as spirit soul?”
That duty, if he understands, that is, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, samah sarvesu bhutesu mad-bhaktim labhate param [Bg. 18.54]. That is the duty. When he comes to this platform that “My duty is to execute devotional service”, that is required. Full Lecture
pamho agtACBSP,
Nobody can say, I’m free from lust and greed.
kama esa krodha esa, rajoguna samudbhavah,
maha-sano maha-papma, viddhy enam iha vairinam
Nowadays India is still trying to imitate the degraded life-style of western countries and all of them get the false ego smashed very often, but still they do not want to give up their animalistic way of life.
There is a lot of violence around the world nowadays nobody is safe even at home what to say about outside then? Padam padam yad vipadam, at any step there is danger in this kali yuga age.
Our only business is how to become advanced in Krishna consciousness. There is no other problem in human life. Athato brahma jijnasa, human life is meant for inquiring about spiritual knowlege.
agtys ys haribol