244. Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 15
“Those who are not faithful on the path of devotional service cannot at-
tain Me, O conqueror of foes, but return to birth and death in this ma-
terial world.” (Bg. 9.3) The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna,
personally gives instructions on how one can return home, back to God-
head, but if one does not care to listen to His instructions, the result will
be that one will never go back to Godhead, but will continue life in this
miserable condition of repeated birth and death in material existence
(mrtyu-sarnséra-vartmani).

The advice of experienced transcendentalists, therefore, is that the
body be fully engaged for achieving the ultimate goal of life (sudrtha-
gatim). The real interest or goal of life is to return home, back to God-
head. To enable one to fulfill this purpose, there are so many Vedic
literatures, including Veddnta-siitra, the Upanisads, Bhagavad-gita,
Mahabharata and the Ramayana. One should take lessons from these
Vedic literatures and learn how to practice nivrtti-marga. Then one’s life
will be perfect. The body is important as long as it has consciousness.
Without consciousness, the body is merely a lump of matter. Therefore,
to return home, back to Godhead, one must change his consciousness
from material consciousness to Krsna consciousness. One’s consciousness
is the cause of material bondage, but if this consciousness is purified by
bhakti-yoga, one can then understand the falsity of his upddhi, his
designations as Indian, American, Hindu, Muslim, Christian and so on.
Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam. One must forget
these designations and use this consciousness only for the service of
Krsna. Therefore if one takes advantage of the Krsna consciousness
movement, his life is certainly successful.

TEXT 42
ad =| Fanaa
waster tad FT stay |
qafe qa amt geld
Bt og ote TT EAT UNA
aksam dasa-pranam adharma-dharmau
cakre ’bhimanam rathinam ca jivam
