Practicing Yoga in the Age of Quarrel 159

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. It is just like a motorcar. Just as you go from one
place to another ina car, so due to mental concoction in the material con-
dition of life, we are going from one position to another, trying to
become happy. But nothing will make us happy unless we come to our
real position, which is that we are all parts and parcels of God and that our
real business is to associate with God and help all living entities by
cooperating with Him. Civilized human life is attained only after a long
evolution through 8,400,000 species of life. So if we don’t take advantage
of this civilized human life to understand who God is, who we are, and
what our relationship is, but instead simply waste our life like cats and
dogs, going here and there looking for sense gratification, then we will
have missed a great opportunity. The Krsna consciousness movement is
meant to teach people how to take full advantage of the human form of
life by trying to understand God and our relationship with Him.

Mr. Faill: If we don’t make the most of this life, do we get a second
chance in another life?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. According to your desires at the time of death,
you get another body. That body is not guaranteed to be a human body,
however. As I’ve already explained, there are 8,400,000 different forms
of life. You can enter any of them, according to your mental condition at
death. What we think of at the time of death depends on how we act dur-
ing our life. As long as we are in material consciousness, our actions are
under the control of the material nature, which is being conducted in
three modes: goodness, passion, and ignorance. These modes are like the
three basic colors—yellow, red, and blue. Just as one can mix red,
yellow, and blue to produce millions of colors, the modes of nature are
being mixed to produce many varieties of life. To stop the repetition of
birth and death in different forms of life, we must transcend the covering
of material nature and come to the platform of pure consciousness. But if
we do not learn the transcendental science of Krsna consciousness, then
at death we must transfer to another body, either better or worse than
our present one. If we cultivate the mode of goodness, then we are pro-
moted to the higher planetary system, where there is a better standard of
life. If we cultivate the mode of passion, then we will remain at the pres-
ent stage. But if out of ignorance we commit sinful activities and violate
nature’s laws, then we will be degraded to animal or plant life. Then again
we must evolve to the human form, a process that may take millions of
years. Therefore a human being must be responsible. He must take ad-
vantage of the rare opportunity of human life by understanding his rela-
tionship with God and acting accordingly. Then he can get out of the
