116 TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTI

right now, sir?”’ A real scientist will not say, ‘‘Just go on suffering as you
are suffering now, and in the future we shall find some chemicals to help
you.” No. Atyantika-duhkha-nivrttih. The word atyantika means ‘“‘ulti-
mate,”’ and duhkha means ‘‘sufferings.”’ The aim of human life should
be to put an end to the ultimate sufferings, but people do not even know
what these ultimate sufferings are. These sufferings are pointed out in
Bhagavad-gitd as janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi: birth, death, old age, and dis-
ease. What have we done to nullify these sufferings? There is no remedy
for them in the material world. The ultimate way to relinquish all kinds of
suffering is stated in Bhagavad-gita (8.15), where the Lord says:

mam upetya punar janma
duhkhalayam asasvatam

napnuvanti mahatmanah
samsiddhim paramam gatah

‘After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never
return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they
have attained the highest perfection.”

Thus the Lord says that one should approach Him and go back to Him,
back home, back to Godhead. But unfortunately people have no knowl-
edge of what God is, whether one can go back home to Him or not, and
whether or not it is practical. Because they have no knowledge, they are
simply like animals. They pray, ‘‘O God, give us our daily bread.’’ But
now suppose we ask them, ‘‘What is God?”’ Can they explain? No. Then
whom are they asking? Are they merely praying into the air? If I submit
some petition, there must be some person to whom the petition is sub-
mitted. But they do not know who that person is or where the petition is
to be submitted. They say that God is in the sky. But there are also so
many birds in the sky. Are they God? People have imperfect knowledge
or no knowledge at all. Nonetheless, they pose as scientists, philoso-
phers, writers, and great thinkers, although their ideas are all rubbish.

The only truly worthwhile books are those like Srimad-Bhagavatam
and Bhagavad-gita. In the Bhdgavatam (1.5.10-11) it is said:

na yad vacas citra-padam harer yaso
jagat-pavitram pragrnita karhicit

tad vayasam tirtham usanti manasa
na yatra hamsda niramanty usik-ksayah
