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 (svargapavarga) or
for degradation (tirascam 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 dif-
ferent states of suffering, represented by the letters pa, pha, ba, bha and
ma. Pa means parisrama, 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 byarthatd, 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 mrtyu, 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 tirascam refers to degraded life. Human life, of course, pro-
vides an opportunity for the best living conditions. As Western people
think, from the monkeys come the human beings, who are more comfor-
tably 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 ele-
vate 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-gita (9.25), yanti deva-vrata
devan. Those interested in being elevated to the higher planetary
