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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[ Canto 2, Ch 3 ]
TEXT 18
तरवः किं न जीवन्ति भक्त्याः किं न श्वसन्त्युत । न खादन्ति न मेहन्ति किं ग्रामे पशवोऽपरे ॥१८॥
taravaḥ kiṁ na jīvanti bhastrāḥ kiṁ na śvasanty uta na khādanti na mehanti kiṁ grāme paśavo 'pare
taravaḥ —the trees;  kiṁ —whether;  na —do not;  jīvanti —live;  bhastrāḥ —bellows;  kiṁ —whether;  na —do not;  śvasanti —breathe;  uta —also;  na —do not;  khādanti —eat;  na —do not;  mehanti —discharge semen;  kiṁ —whether;  grāme —in the locality;  paśavaḥ —beastly living being;  apare —others.
TRANSLATION
Do the trees not live? Do the bellows of the blacksmith not breathe? All around us, do the beasts not eat and discharge semen?
PURPORT
The materialistic man of the modern age will argue that life, or part of it, is never meant for discussion of theosophical or theological arguments. Life is meant for the maximum duration of existence for eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, making merry and enjoying life. The modern man wants to live forever by the advancement of material science, and there are many foolish theories for prolonging life to the maximum duration. But the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  affirms that life is not meant for so-called economic development or advancement of materialistic science for the hedonistic philosophy of eating, mating, drinking and merrymaking. Life is solely meant for  tapasya , for purifying existence so that one may enter into eternal life just after the end of the human form of life.
The materialists want to prolong life as much as possible because they have no information of the next life. Therefore they want to get the maximum comforts of life only in this present life, thinking conclusively that there is no life after death. This ignorance about the eternity of the living being and the change of covering in the material world has played