Prabhupāda:
...uṭhāya, kabhu narake ḍubāya
daṇḍya-jane rājā yena nadīte cubāya
So Lord Caitanya is explaining the position of the conditioned souls. They are completely under the grip of this material nature. And just like one is seated on the car and the driver drives him—if the driver is not under control, he drives him anywhere, to any hell—similarly, we are sitting on this car of this body, supplied by the material nature, and she is driving anywhere, sometimes up, sometimes down. In this way we are suffering life after life, birth after birth. This is our condition. We are not independent; completely under the stringent laws of material nature.
So daṇḍya-jane rājā yena nadīte cubāya. The example is very nice, that a culprit is drowned in the water, again taken for some time to take breathing. He was suffocating. Nature... He's not meant to be killed, but he is to be given suffering in that way. So material nature is giving us suffering, miseries like that. Bhayaṁ dvitīya.
(bhayaṁ) dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād
īśād apetasya viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ
tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ
bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā
Therefore Bhāgavata, Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, is giving direction, bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt. When we are forgetful of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, when we think that "There is no God. This matter is everything. This material manifestation which we see, that is everything all in all, and there is no Lord, no, I mean to say, supreme controller," when we think like that, that begins, that is the point of our anxiety, beginning of anxiety. Bhayam, fearfulness. We are all fearful because, as we have got these bodily necessities, we want to eat something, we want to sleep, similarly, we have fear, and we have demand for mating. These four principles are animal life. We are always fearful. And why we are fearful? Because we have taken it that there is no God. There is no God; therefore we are fearful. Just like a forlorn child, when he thinks that "My... I am... My father and my mother, lost." You might have experienced. A child lost, he cries. He thinks himself, "I am helpless. Where is my mother? Where is my...?" Similarly, when we are helpless, we are fearful. And those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, they are not helpless. They know, "Above me, there is Kṛṣṇa." And śaraṇāgati, surrender, means to have firm conviction that "Kṛṣṇa will protect me. I am engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, so Kṛṣṇa will give me protection." If I work in some ordinary man's service, he gives me protection. Don't you think if you work for Kṛṣṇa, He'll not give you protection? Because we have no faith, therefore we are seeking protection from elsewhere. Kṛṣṇa is able. He says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi: (BG. 18.66) "I shall give you protection from all sinful reactions."
But we have no faith. We are thinking, "Oh, it is written in the Bhagavad-gītā. That's all right, but I must have my protection in a different way." So dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ. Because he thinks there is anything superior than Kṛṣṇa, therefore he is fearful. Why a conditioned soul is fearful, that is explained in the Bhāgavata. Bhayam dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt. So this māyā, the illusion, when we take shelter of this illusion, then we are afraid. And when we understand that "Illusion, this energy, is under the control of Kṛṣṇa, because illusion, this material energy, is also Kṛṣṇa's energy, inferior energy. So even if I, I am within this material energy, when I am forgetful of Kṛṣṇa, this material energy is fearful for me, and when I am in Kṛṣṇa consciousness fully, there is no question of fearfulness from material nature." Therefore tan-māyayā ābhajet tam. Ābhajet tam. And therefore it is our duty to regain our lost consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the duty of this human form of life. Ābhajet tam bhaktyaika īśam. Simply by devotional... If you want to worship the Supreme Lord, then you have to worship Him simply by service. There is no other process. You cannot worship Kṛṣṇa by this controlling breathing or by mental speculation or by some pious activities or by charities. You have simply to worship Him simply by your devotional love. That is the only way. Bhaktyai, bhaktyaika, only one, bhakti. There is no other means. There is no second means to understand God without this devotional service. Rest assured. Foolish creatures, they take this, that. They do not understand. They come to the, that impersonal, void, all the nonsensical conclusions and... Because they do not take shelter of this, devotion, therefore they cannot have any conclusion. It is not possible. Therefore, more or less, they become atheists or after the voidness or impersonalism, and so many things there are. They create.
But because Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord, cannot be understood by any other process... It is simply waste of time. If you want to know Kṛṣṇa, if you want to know God, then you have to take this process. That is a... Bhaktyaikayeśam, ābhajet tam bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā: "He is the Supreme Lord, He is the Supersoul, and He is the supreme spiritual master." In this way. He's the supreme spiritual master within you. As soon as you will take to devotional service, He'll give you dictation, "You do this." What dictation? To go to hell? No. Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam. In the Bhagavad-gītā: "I give him intelligence." Why? What for? Yena mām upayānti te: "By which he can come back to Me." That buddhi-yogam. He'll help you. If you think something... If He takes seriously about your case, if you are fully surrendered, then He'll direct you in such a way that you cannot go elsewhere except to Him, even sometimes you may find that "He is doing something against my will." I have got my personal experience. I never tried, never accepted that I shall become a sannyāsī. And I tried my best to keep myself in this material world. And He has, several times He has frustrated me and has brought me by force to this life. And now I am happy. I can understand that how much favor has Kṛṣṇa showed me. Yes. I did not understand in the beginning.
So sometimes, if Kṛṣṇa takes special care for you, He'll do in such a way that you will have no other way than to go back. He'll take charge, take charge. If we sincerely want Kṛṣṇa, if He sees that "Here is a person. He wants Me. But he's a foolish. He wants Me; at the same time he wants to enjoy this material world. So crush this, crush this, his material propensities, and let him become simply devoted." Yes. Sometimes we see like that.
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New York, November 23, 1966)
.
