Text 25]
The Behavior of a Perfect Person
109
and death in different species may be called the evolutionary process, but in the Western world it has been wrongly explained. Darwin's theory of evolution from animal to man is incomplete because the theory does not present the reverse condition, namely evolution from man to animal. In this verse, however, evolution has been very well explained on the strength of Vedic authority. Human life, which is obtained in the course of the evolutionary process, is a chance for elevation ( svargāpavarga ) or for degradation ( tiraścām punar asya ca ). If one uses this human form of life properly, he can elevate himself to the higher planetary systems, where material happiness is many thousands of times better than on this planet, or one may cultivate knowledge by which to become free from the evolutionary process and be reinstated in one's original spiritual life. This is called  apavarga , or liberation.
Material life is called  pavarga  because here we are subject to five different states of suffering, represented by the letters  pa ,  pha ,  ba ,  bha  and  ma .  Pa  means  pariśrama , very hard labor.  Pha  means  phena , or foam from the mouth. For example, sometimes we see a horse foaming at the mouth with heavy labor.  Ba  means  byarthatā , disappointment. In spite of so much hard labor, at the end we find disappointment.  Bha  means  bhaya , or fear. In material life, one is always in the blazing fire of fear, since no one knows what will happen next. Finally,  ma  means  mṛtyu , or death. When one attempts to nullify these five different statuses of life— pa ,  pha ,  ba ,  bha  and  ma —one achieves  apavarga , or liberation from the punishment of material existence.
The word  tiraścām  refers to degraded life. Human life, of course, provides an opportunity for the best living conditions. As Western people think, from the monkeys come the human beings, who are more comfortably situated. However, if one does not utilize his human life for  svarga  or  apavarga , he falls again to the degraded life of animals like dogs and hogs. Therefore a sane human being must consider whether he will elevate himself to the higher planets, prepare to free himself from the evolutionary process, or travel again through the evolutionary process in higher and lower grades of life. If one works piously one may be elevated to the higher planetary systems or achieve liberation and return home, back to Godhead, but otherwise one may be degraded to a life as a dog, a hog and so on. As explained in  Bhagavad-gītā  (9.25),  yānti deva-vratā devān . Those interested in being elevated to the higher planetary