240 Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta

ly beneficial activities, but there are also sreyas, or activities which are ultimately
auspicious. According to Vedic civilization, a human being must be God conscious.
He should understand what God is, what this material world is, who he is and what
their interrelationships are. This is called sreyas, or ultimately auspicious activity.

In this verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said that one should be interested in
sreyas. To achieve the ultimate goal of sreyas, or good fortune, one should engage
everything, including his life, wealth and words, not only for himself but for others
also. However, unless one is interested in sreyas in his own life, he cannot preach of
sreyas for the benefit of others.

This verse cited by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu applies to human beings, not to
animals. As indicated in the previous verse by the words manusya-janma, these in-
junctions are for human beings. Unfortunately, human beings, although they have
the bodies of men, are becoming less than animals in their behavior. This is the fault
of modern education. Modern educators do not know the aim of human life; they
are simply concerned with how to develop the economic condition of their countries
or of human society. This is also necessary; the Vedic civilization considers all aspects
of human life, including dharma (religion), artha (economic development), kama
(sense gratification) and moksa (liberation). But humanity’s first concern should be
religion. To be religious, one must abide by the orders of God, but unfortunately
people in this age have rejected religion, and they are busy in economic development.
Therefore they will adopt any means to get money. For economic development one
does not need to get money by hook or by crook; one needs only sufficient money
to maintain his body and soul. However, because modern economic development is
going on with no religious background, people have become lusty, greedy and mad
after money. They are simply developing the qualities of rajas (passion) and tamas
(ignorance), neglecting the other quality of nature, sattva (goodness), and the
brahminical qualifications. Therefore the entire society is in chaos.

The Bhagavatam says that it is the duty of an advanced human being to act in
such a way as to facilitate human society’s attainment of the ultimate goal of life.
There is a similar verse in the Vispu Purana, Part Three, Chapter Twelve, verse 45,
which is quoted in this chapter of Caitanya-caritamrta as verse 43.

TEXT 43
atfyatgrsraty WAcae Taw B |
FAT TAM A) SCHA HPOUTY SAS 4 804
praninam upakaraya yad eveha paratra ca
karmana manasa vaca tad eva matiman bhajet
SYNONYMS

praninam—of all living entities; upakaraya—for the benefit; yat— whichever; eva—
certainly; ‘ha—in this world or in this life; paratra—in the next life; ca—and;
karmana—by work; manasa—by the mind; vaca—by words; tat—that; eva—certainly;
matiman—an intelligent man; bhajet—must act.
