He does not see the destruction of these things, although he is seeing others destroyed at every moment.

Living on Edge

How to prepare for crash landing

Just as the nation thinks it is well-protected when it has good defense measures, so an ordinary man thinks that if he has a strongly built body and a very faithful wife, nice children, good bank balance, some property, securities, these things will give him protection. “Yes,” he believes, “they will give me protection. I have nice children, I have nice wife, I have a good bank balance, I have so many properties, so why shall I go to Krishna consciousness? I am well-protected. These boys and girls have no bank balance, they have no home; therefore they should go.” But actually they are blind. How are they blind? They are thinking that these things will give them protection. Pramatta means crazy. Their craziness is thinking that these things will give them protection. No. ...Because he is crazy, he does not see the destruction of these things, although he is seeing others destroyed at every moment. “My father has died, naturally I shall die, naturally my sons also will die,”—so why are you so anxious for protecting this family? Everyone will die. They can see daily that the things they are working so hard for will be destroyed; but still they do not see, although it has been destroyed previously in history. Many empires have been destroyed previously in history. Many empires have been destroyed. The British empire, the Roman empire, the Egyptian Empire—all have been destroyed. Also, the Indian empire is now gone where formerly Parikshit Maharaja was the emperor of the world. They see that these things cannot give one protection when he is called for death.

Parikshit Maharaja was preparing. It was not that his good soldiers, children, wife, country, or bank balance could protect him. No. Nobody can give any protection. For example, when you fly in the sky you have to protect yourself. And if you are crashing in the airplane, nobody—neither the birds or other airplanes—can save you. You have to come down. Similarly when death will come, nobody will be able to give you protection. You cannot say, “My good state, good family or bank balance or this or that will protect me.” No. That’s all. Finished. Shukadeva Gosvami is giving right instructions to Parikshit Maharaja. The rascaldom news of ordinary persons is not meant for hearing. Therefore he concludes: ...If one is actually expecting that he shall be protected, there should be no more fearfulness. Shukadeva Gosvami is instructing that if you simply divert your attention to the varieties of newspaper or any other information of this world, which is for the grihamedhi [householder], whose business is to sleep at night and work hard at daytime, that will not give you protection. What you have to do is hear about Bhagavan, hari ishvara [the Supreme Lord, Krishna].