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TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTĪ
right now, sir?” A real scientist will not say, “Just go on suffering as you are suffering now, and in the future we shall find some chemicals to help you.” No.  Atyantika-duḥkha-nivṛttiḥ . The word  atyantika  means “ultimate,” and  duḥkha  means “sufferings.” The aim of human life should be to put an end to the ultimate sufferings, but people do not even know what these ultimate sufferings are. These sufferings are pointed out in  Bhagavad-gītā  as  janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi : birth, death, old age, and disease. What have we done to nullify these sufferings? There is no remedy for them in the material world. The ultimate way to relinquish all kinds of suffering is stated in  Bhagavad-gītā  (8.15), where the Lord says:
mām upetya punar janma 
    duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam 
    nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ 
    saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ
“After attaining Me, the great souls, who are  yogīs  in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.”
Thus the Lord says that one should approach Him and go back to Him, back home, back to Godhead. But unfortunately people have no knowledge of what God is, whether one can go back home to Him or not, and whether or not it is practical. Because they have no knowledge, they are simply like animals. They pray, “O God, give us our daily bread.” But now suppose we ask them, “What is God?” Can they explain? No. Then whom are they asking? Are they merely praying into the air? If I submit some petition, there must be some person to whom the petition is submitted. But they do not know who that person is or where the petition is to be submitted. They say that God is in the sky. But there are also so many birds in the sky. Are they God? People have imperfect knowledge or no knowledge at all. Nonetheless, they pose as scientists, philosophers, writers, and great thinkers, although their ideas are all rubbish.
The only truly worthwhile books are those like  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  and  Bhagavad-gītā . In the  Bhāgavatam  (1.5.10–11) it is said:
na yad vacaś citra-padaṁ harer yaśo 
    jagat-pavitraṁ pragṛṇīta karhicit 
    tad vāyasaṁ tīrtham uśanti mānasā 
    na yatra haṁsā niramanty uṣik-kṣayāḥ