Even an ordinary man, uneducated villager, he believes in the next birth.

Here even an ordinary man, a cultivator, uneducated villager,
he believes in the next birth. He believes. He’s afraid of committing sin-

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  1.8.42
Māyāpura, October 22, 1974

Then he dropped into this ocean of material existence. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, anādi karama-phale, paḍi’ bhavārṇava-jale. Anādi. Ādi means the beginning of creation, and anādi means before that. This creation, this material world, it is created and annihilated, as is the nature of anything material. We have got experience from our body, or any body. Everything here is created and annihilated. Even big, big empires like the Roman Empire, the Carthagian Empire, the Moghul Empire, and so many empires—they came, and they were annihilated. This is the nature. Therefore Vidyāpati has sung, kata caturānanam, mari mari yavat, na tuyā ādi avasana. Caturānana means the Brahmā. Brahmā, his life, duration of life, is very, very long. We know from Bhagavad-gītā that sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ [Bg. 8.17]. He’s not also immortal. He’s mortal. Although his one day is equal to our forty-three lakhs of years multiplied by one thousand, but still, he’s not immortal. When Hiraṇyakaśipu pleased Brahmā and he wanted to give him the benediction, so Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted that “Please make me immortal.” So Brahmā said, “That is not possible because I am, myself, is not immortal.”

So nobody is immortal within this material world. And still, we are attached. We want to be immortal. That is the psychology. Just like last night, when the snake… We became disturbed. Why this psychology? Because we don’t want to be dead, because we are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20]. Neither we wish to take the trouble of being changed of the body. Otherwise why we became disturbed? We know… Others may not know that we shall not be killed, even bitten by the snake. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20]. So why we became disturbed? What is the psychology? The basic principle is that we don’t want to be killed. We don’t want to change the body even. We have got attraction for the body. Even an animal or insect, living very wretched condition of life, still, if you want to kill it, it will protest. It will protest, “No, no. I don’t want to be killed.” This is the psychology.

So the, our real business is how to attain that eternal life. That is real business. Other business, they are not important. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ [1.5.18]. This is the instruction, that we should try how to become again immortal. We are immortal by nature, but we have covered by another nature, external nature, bahiraṅga-śakti And because we have been entangled with this material body, we have to die. Otherwise there is no death. Na jāyate na mriyate vā. The living entity does not take birth, neither it dies. Then why we are taking birth and dying? The…, this question does not arise to the fools and rascals of this materialist world. I was talking with one very big man in London, Lord Fenner-Brockway. He came to see me. So I asked him this question. He was old man. He was a, I think, older than me. He was eighty-four. So he said, “Yes, I’ll die peacefully.” You see? This question does not bother even any man. And I talked with that Professor Kotovsky in Moscow. He also said, “Swamiji, after death, everything is finished.” You see? Big, big men in Europe, very exalted position, they do not know even that there is life after death. They do not know. And in India, I think, when I spoke in Calcutta, the American Consulate… There is a club, Indo-American Cultural. They invited. So they gave me the subject matter for speaking: “East and West.” So in that meeting I said that “We don’t make any such distinction, ‘East’ and ‘West.’ Because everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. But there is little difference between East and West. What is that difference? Here even an ordinary man, a cultivator, uneducated villager, he believes in the next birth. He believes. He’s afraid of committing sin-‘Oh, I’ll have to suffer in my next life.” And in the Western world, the big, big men like Lord Fenner-Brockway and Professor Kotovsky, they do not know that there is life after death.”

Formerly, the advanced condition
was considered to be in the mode of goodness

BG 14.7-–The mode of passion is born of unlimited desires and longings, O son of Kunti, and because of this one is bound to material fruitive activities.

PURPORT-The mode of passion is characterized by the attraction between man and woman. Woman has attraction for man, and man has attraction for woman. This is called the mode of passion. And, when the mode of passion is increased, one develops the hankering for material enjoyment. He wants to enjoy sense gratification. For sense gratification, a man in the mode of passion wants some honor in society, or in the nation, and he wants to have a happy family, with nice children, wife, and house. These are the products of the mode of passion. As long as one is hankering after these things, he has to work very hard. Therefore it is clearly stated here that he becomes associated with the fruits of his activities and thus becomes bound by such activities. In order to please his wife, children and society and to keep up his prestige, one has to work. Therefore, the whole material world is more or less in the mode of passion. Modern civilization is considered to be advanced in the standards of the mode of passion. Formerly, the advanced condition was considered to be in the mode of goodness. If there is no liberation for those in the mode of goodness, what of those who are entangled in the mode of passion?

OK-Now what is the condition of one who is NOT affected by the three modes of material nature? And do we need to acquire all these BEFORE we can go back to Godhead? Lets take a further look into this chapter of BG.

BG 14.22-25–TRANSLATION–The Blessed Lord said: He who does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the modes alone are active; who regards alike pleasure and pain, and looks on a clod, a stone and a piece of gold with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor, who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all fruitive undertakings-such a man is said to have transcended the modes of nature.

Seems like a very high list of things we must accomplish, doesn’t it? Is this even possible for us in this kali yuga or is this just Srila Prabhupadas wishful thinking for his followers? He mentions previously , in his preface to his BG that….

…”We hope, therefore, that people will derive the greatest benefit by studying Bhagavad-gita As It Is as we have presented it here, and if even one man becomes a pure devotee of the Lord we shall consider our attempt a success. [signed] A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami  12 May 1971 Sydney, Australia

BG 7.3-TRANSLATION-Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.

Seems like a mountain we all have to climb doesn’t it? And yet Srila Prabhupada did write and more than once, that some of his disciples were pure devotees of the Lord. How is this possible? Pure devotee means no more birth and death, going back to Godhead.

Letter to Tusta Krsna Dec 14 1972.…All of my disciples are pure devotees. Anyone sincerely serving the spiritual master is a pure devotee, it may be Siddhasvarupa or others, a-Siddhasvarupa. This must be very clearly stated. It is not only that your Siddhasvarupa is a pure devotee and not others. Do not try to make a faction.

letter Madhudvisa Dec 29 1972….Recently, I had sent one letter to reply Tusta Krsna’s questions about Siddha Svarupa, namely, that Siddha Svarupa may be pure devotee, but so all of you are also pure devotees. There is no question that Siddha Svarupa is only pure devotee and no one else is pure devotee. All of my disciples, as soon as they surrender themselves to Krsna, they become pure devotees actually.

SB 3.29.8 purport...To act under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master with a motive to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pure devotional service. But if one has a motive for personal sense gratification, his devotional service is manifested differently. Such a man may be violent, proud, envious and angry, and his interests are separate from the Lord’s.

Some Conclusions-So we can see from the above BG verses and the words of Krsna’s bona fide representative that the royal road to hell is set with so many “good intentions” and the road back to Godhead is set only with sincere devotees who want ONLY to please Krsnas bona fide representative, Srila Prabhupada. That is the guarantee  that is ironclad perfect.

We also can understand that from one line in the above purport of BG 14.7, Srila Prabhupada tells us that even though now the present condition of the world, many devotees included, is one of passion and ignorance predominantly. But formerly the advanced condition was mode of goodness. Therefore Prabhupada wanted and probably insisted would be a better word that his followers try to live in the rural settings by growing their own food, taking care of cows, etc, and living basically a much more simple lifestyle. That mode of living is mode of goodness by its very nature and makes spiritual life much more conducive for advancement than any city life we now find all over the world. And this mode of living, mode of goodness, he tells us WAS the formerly advanced condition-not what we see everywhere today. So we do what we can to try and evolve our consciousness upwards toward God-Krsna by trying for this type of lifestyle . As the saying goes God helps those who help themselves and SP said once this means we put ourselves into a more surrendered condition of life.