4 THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION

the important officer has to discharge duties of a more responsible nature
than those of an ordinary clerk. Similarly, the human being has to dis-
charge higher duties than the animals, who are always busy with filling
their hungry stomachs. But by the laws of nature, the modern animalistic
standard of civilization has only increased the problems of filling the
stomach. When we approach some of these polished animals for spiritual
life, they say that they only want to work for the satisfaction of their
stomachs and that there is no necessity of inquiring about the Godhead.
Yet despite their eagerness to work hard, there is always the question of
unemployment and so many other impediments incurred by the laws of
nature. Despite this, they still denounce the necessity of acknowledging
the Godhead.

We are given this human form of life not just to work hard like the
swine or dog, but to attain the highest perfection of life. If we do not want
that perfection, then we will have to work very hard, for we will be forced

_to by the laws of nature. In the closing days of Kali-yuga (this present
age) men will have to work hard like asses for only a scrap of bread. This
process. has already begun, and every year the necessity for harder work
for lesser wages will increase. Yet human beings are not meant to work
hard like animals, and if a man fails to discharge his duties as a human
being, he is forced to transmigrate to the lower species of life by the laws
of nature. The Bhagavad-gita very vividly describes how a spirit soul, by
the laws of nature, takes his birth and gets a suitable body and sense
organs for enjoying matter in the material world.

In the Bhagavad-gita it is also stated that those who attempt but do not
complete the path of approaching God—in other words, those who have
failed to achieve complete success in Krsna consciousness—are given the
chance to appear in the families of the spiritually advanced or in finan-
cially well-to-do mercantile families. If the unsuccessful spiritual
aspirants are offered such chances of noble parentage, what of those who
have actually attained the required success? Therefore an attempt to go
back to Godhead, even if half finished, guarantees a good birth in the
next life. Both the spiritual and the financially well-to-do families are
beneficial for spiritual progress because in both families one can get a
good chance to make further progress from the point where he stopped in
his previous birth. In spiritual realization the atmosphere generated by a
good family is favorable for the cultivation of spiritual knowledge. The
Bhagavad-gita reminds such fortunate well-born persons that their good
fortune is due to their past devotional activities. Unfortunately the
