Simply studying the "machine" of the human body is not enough.
We must use the machine to attain life's ultimate goal.
nisamya mriyamanasya
mukhato hari-kirtanam
bhartur nama maharaja
parsadah sahasapatan
"My dear king, the order carriers of Visnu, the Visnudutas, immediately arrived when they heard the holy name of their master from the mouth of the dying Ajamila, who had certainly chanted without offense because he had chanted in complete anxiety."(Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.30)
In your city the police are wandering in their car, and if somebody calls for the police, immediately they go to him. Similarly, the attendants of Lord Visnu are wandering throughout the universe, searching out somebody who is chanting the holy name of the Lord. If you chant the holy name of the Lord, they are very much pleased, and they immediately come.
When Ajamila called out "Narayana!" he was simply calling his son, but the attendants of Hari took notice of the chanting only, that's all. They did not care to know whether or not Ajamila meant Lord Narayana. No. Because they heard their master's name, they immediately appeared. This is clear.
So, anyone who chants the holy name of the Lord is immediately taken care of by the attendants of the Supreme Lord. Especially if one chants at the time of death that is when the account is figured up. If you practice chanting Hare Krsna during your lifetime, naturally at the last moment of your life you will be inclined to chant Hare Krsna. It is so nice.
If in this life I practice chanting the Hare Krsna mantra, then gradually the core of my heart will be cleansed and everything will become manifest. My position, my duty, what is God everything will become manifest (ceto-darpana-marjanam). Now, because our hearts are filled up with so much rubbish, we cannot understand the science of God. But if you practice chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, your heart will become cleansed and you will see things as they are.
And as soon as you are able to see things as they are, your material bondage is over. Now you are researching the bodily senses finding out how they work and doing so many things simply on the basis of the body. But as soon as your heart becomes cleansed, you will immediately understand, "I am not this body. So what is the use of studying cells and atoms, this and that? I am simply wasting my time."
Suppose I am driving a very nice car, but I am simply absorbed in the machine only. I have forgotten my destination, where I have to go, and I am busy studying the car. What is the use? You may be driving a good car, but you must know how to reach your destination. That is your main business. Knowing how the car works is secondary. Your main business is knowing how to utilize the car so you can reach your destination. That is intelligence.
So, we have fallen into this material condition, and we are occupying various forms. As long as we are in the bodily concept thinking "I am this 'car' " that is ignorance. What is wanted is to think, "I am not this body. I am spirit soul, and I have to utilize this body to go to my destination the spiritual world where I can meet the supreme spirit, God, and live in His association." Human life is meant for understanding what the Supreme Lord is, where He lives, what He does, and what our relationship with Him is. To seek to understand these things is called brahma-jijnasa, "inquiry into the Absolute Truth." That is actual education.
We are given this machine of the body, but what is the use of simply studying the machine? The sastra [scripture] says that since the machine will work until it is rotten, you shouldn't bother with the machine but should search out the Absolute Truth. But people are simply thinking, "Oh, now we have such a good machine."
The dog also has a machine. The ant also has a machine, the elephant has a machine, the human being has a machine every living entity has a bodily machine. But the sastra says that this human machine should not be utilized like the animals'.
God has given us a human machine, and now we should utilize it to go to our destination. Nr-deham adyam … plavam sukalpam. This nr-deha, this human machine, is very carefully made not by me but by nature. Nature is the agent of God. I wanted to do something, and so I required a particular type of machine. God ordered nature: "This living entity wants to do such and such, so give him an appropriate machine." And she did that.
So, prakrti, or nature, gives us different types of machines. Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah. I am not the ultimate controller of the machine, nor have I made the machine. Rather, I have been given this machine as a gift to fulfill my desires. This is our position.
Now, the sastra says, nr-deham adyam sulabham sudurlabham plavam sukalpam. This human body is a very good machine, and it is very rare. With great difficulty we have gotten this machine, because we had to come through so many other machines the aquatics, the plants, the insects and trees, the serpents and reptiles, and then the birds and beasts. This has taken millions and millions of years. For example, we have seen trees that are standing for more than five thousand years. If you get that kind of machine, you cannot move: you have to stand in one place. We had to go through this. Foolish people do not know.
Therefore this human machine is sudurlabham, "very difficult to attain." And it is also sukalpam, "very nicely made." Those who are medical men know how nicely it is made how the nerves are working, how the brain is working, the intestines and heart and everything is working so nicely. It is a grand machine. Therefore it is called sukalpam, "very well constructed."
And what for? Suppose you have a nice, well-constructed boat. Then you can get into it and cross over a river or ocean. Similarly, in the human "boat" we can cross over this material ocean. Life after life we have been struggling in this material ocean, but now we have a suitable boat to cross it this human body.
The human boat is especially advantageous because the breeze is very favorable. The breeze is the sastra. When you ply your boat, if the breeze is favorable for pushing on to your destination, that is another advantage. So, we have a good boat and a good breeze. And, guru-karnadharam the guru is the good captain who can steer the boat. He is giving instructions: "Sail like this, turn quickly this way, now that way."
So, we have a great opportunity: the boat is very nice, the captain is very good, the breeze is very favorable. But if with all these advantageous facilities we do not cross over the sea of ignorance, of material existence, then we are committing suicide (sa atma-ha). You have such a great opportunity, yet still you are remaining in this material world, repeatedly suffering birth, old age, disease, and death. Is that very good intelligence? No. That is not good.
People are being misled. They are studying the human machine, that's all. Instead of taking advantage of the machine to cross over the material ocean, they are busy studying it. And they cannot even study it completely. I may claim, "This is my body," but if somebody asks me, "How many hairs do you have on your body?" I cannot say. How I am eating something, how it is being turned into some secretion, how the secretion is becoming blood and going to the heart, how the blood is being distributed throughout the arteries and veins I do not know any of these things. I can simply theorize.
The human machine is not under your control. The machine is made by God, or by nature. It is a very subtle machine. So if you are intelligent, you will ask, "What is the use of simply studying the machine? I have it, so let me utilize it for going to my destination." That is intelligence.
But no, people neglect to use the human machine for going to their destination, and instead they simply study it. And this is going on in the name of science. What is this nonsensical science? Simply busy in studying the machine?
This is our mistake: Although we should use our developed human consciousness for going back home, back to Godhead, we are not doing so. Why should we waste our human intelligence? Suppose you study the human machine throughout your whole life. What will you get? Can you adjust the machine so that it will not be lost, so there will be no death? All you scientists who are studying the machine, have you found any means by which there will be no death? Where is that knowledge? Death will come. You may study the machine or not study the machine, but in due course of time death will come and take you.
You cannot cure even one disease. You are embarrassed by the cancer disease. So, find out how the cells are working and how they can be changed, and then there will be no more cancer. No, that you cannot do. You go on studying and simply waste your time.
The sastra says, "Don't waste your valuable time in that way. Try to understand God. Use your intelligence for this purpose." It is also said, tapo divyam … yena sattvam suddhyet. You have to undergo austerities so that in the future you will not be subjected to this machine. That is your business not to study the machine, but to become independent of the machine.
As long as you are in this material world, you are desiring in a certain way, nature is supplying you a certain type of machine, then you are busy trying to fulfill your desires, then the machine breaks, and then you accept another machine. This is going on. So your problem is to stop this repetition of birth, old age, disease, and death. Come to your spiritual life. That is your business. That is the instruction of the sastra.
Everyone knows how to maintain the machine. The dog knows howto maintain his machine. He eats according to the necessity of his doggish body. Similarly, we are maintaining our human body. That is natural. The supplies are already there. You cannot manufacture them. That is the Vedic instruction: nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman. "There are millions and trillions of living entities, but there is one living entity God who is supplying the necessities of all the others."
We ordinary living entities have many millions of duplicates. Therefore the word nityanam is used, meaning "eternal living beings." The ordinary living beings, or jivas, are innumerable. You cannot count them. But above these innumerable living entities is one prime living entity, God. He is also a living entity, as we are. In your Bible there is the statement that "Man is made in the image of God." So, God is a living entity, and this human form is made according to the form of the Lord. The human form is an imitation; God's form is real (sac-cid-ananda-vigraha).
But you are thinking that God has no form. Why? Wherefrom did you get your form? You are daily praying, "O God, our father, give us our daily bread." So, you accept God as the supreme father. And if you have form, your father must have form. This is reasonable. Therefore, how can you say God has no form? This is all foolishness.
Suppose a child is born after the death of his father. So, simply because he has not seen his father, that does not mean he should conclude, "My father had no form." This is not a good conclusion. His mother can tell him, "Yes, my child, your father had form." This is intelligence.
So, God is a living entity, but the difference between Him and all the other living entities is that they are all dependent on Him. That's all. God is great, we are small. He is just like a father who maintains all his children. We are all children, and the supreme father maintains us.
Now one child may like to play with a motorcar toy, another with a doll, and so on. And the parents are supplying: "All right, you take this toy car, you take this doll." Similarly, we are playing like that making plans to enjoy and God is supplying all our necessities. But He doesn't want to do that. He says, "My dear child, you are grown up now, you have this human body. Don't play like this and waste your time. Get an education and know things as they are." That education is called brahma-jijnasa,"inquiry into the Absolute Truth." As the Vedanta-sutra says, "Now that you have the human form of life, try to understand God. That is your main business."
Unfortunately, we are misled by blind leaders. We have been engaged in studying the body, that's all. So here it is said, nisamya mriyamanasya mukhato hari-kirtanam. God very much appreciates it when we use our tongue and mouth to chant His holy name. He very much appreciates that. Because the name of God is not different from God Himself, as soon as you chant Hare Krsna you are in touch with Him.
In another place the Bhagavatam says, punya-sravana-kirtanah. Sravana means "hearing," and kirtanah means "chanting." So, one who is chanting God's name and one who is hearing God's name both are purified. Simply by chanting the name of God one can be delivered from birth and death. The example is given here Ajamila. He was addicted to so many sinful activities, and out of fear or because of good luck he chanted "Narayana!" at the time of death. Immediately the attendants of Narayana came to deliver him. This is the great benefit of chanting the holy name of the Lord.
Hare Krsna. Thank you very much.