Caught in the Economy Trap

Social Divisions

Hog Civilization A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada: Cutting the tail of the jackal. "My tail is cut, so your tail must be cut." This is a fashion. That is practical. The world is working so hard but where is the peace and happiness? Brahmananda: It's coming. Prabhupada: [laughs] When it will come? That is unknown.
Brahmananda: Maybe at the end of this century. Prabhupada: And at the end of your life. Just like insurance policy. You'll be happy after death. "You go on paying now, work hard, go on paying the premium and you'll be happy after death." This is insurance policy. And I am going to be a dog after death, and how he'll be happy? Just see. more

Prabhupada: The lawyers will plunder. The government men will plunder. The physician will plunder. Ordinary dealing, they will plunder. The shopkeepers will plunder. The... And bank will say that "You take money. You pay your bills. We'll give you loan, we'll charge interest. And when you get your salary, then you have to deposit it in the bank." And they'll adjust. And again you are penniless. Again you take loan. The social arrangement is so made that you simply depend on loan. And to earn this money you'll have to go five hundred miles away from your home, early in the morning, in the car.

Gurukrpa: And in the train.

Prabhupada: Train also. So how you can be happy? This is their civilization. You study. I have studied in your country, everywhere. This is civilization.

Gurukrpa: Our printing man from Dai Nippon... The printing man who was doing our book from Dai Nippon, he would come to the house at eight-thirty at night. And he lives... Every day he travels two hours to Dai Nippon in the morning and at night another two hours.

Prabhupada: Just see. Many. Why Dai Nippon?

Gurukrpa: But this was eight-thirty at night he came.

Prabhupada: No, Bombay, Bombay, Calcutta.

Gurukrpa: I asked him, "What time do you go to work?" He said, "At nine in the morning." I said, "But it is eight-thirty. You have been working now eleven hours." He said, "Well, after I leave here, I must go back to the office and finish my work. I will be finished at eleven tonight. Then I will go home. I will get home at one o'clock, and then I must get up at six in the morning to go to the office." So much tapasya [austerity].

Prabhupada: There is a book, novel. The subject matter is that the man, when he goes out of home the child is sleeping. He has to rise four o'clock to prepare to take the six o'clock train. At that time his child is sleeping. And when he comes back at ten o'clock, the child is sleeping. So he does not know. So when he's grown up, on Sunday he's asking his mother, "Who is this man?" (laughs) This is the subject matter. They have written in a very... He is asking, "Who is this man?" When he was child, he did not see, neither inquired. Now, when he's grown up, on Sunday he sees that this man is very intimately talking with his mother. He... In this way...

Gurukrpa: The poor man, his office is cheating him, and then his wife stays home and spends all his money and he is being cheated by her.

Prabhupada: Yes. He comes, taking so much trouble for the wife. He will lie down with her from eleven at night up to three o'clock. For that, that is home. This is his home. And to maintain this home, he has to take so much trouble. And this is civilization. He does not think, "For this little happiness why I am here? Better to become a sannyasi and live independently. Why I'm taking so much...?" No. And after working so hard, in old age if you ask permission from the wife, "I have done so much for you, for family. Now let me retire." "Eh? You'll retire? Then who will look after me?" The home member not satisfied, and you are not satisfied. You are working so hard—how you can be satisfied? And they find still insufficient income. They are not satisfied. But what is this home? To sense gratification. You are not serving this woman. Because this woman, as soon as she is not able to serve you by her sex, then there is divorce. Nobody's serving anybody, but everybody is serving his own senses. So actually the man is serving his own senses, uñöra. He's eating his own blood and thinking, "Thorn very palatable." He's eating thorn. What is his palatable? Cutting the tongue and blood is coming out, and when the thorn's chewed with this blood, it makes little taste. Blood has got taste. And he's thinking, "Thorn is very nice." Therefore they have been called as ushtra. Ushtra eats own, drinks or eats his own blood, and takes the thorn as very good. Shva-vid-varahoshtra-khara. These animals have been specially mentioned: dog; vid-varaha means hog; ushtra [camel]; and khara means ass. How Bhagavata has selected. [laughs] Shva means dog. Dog, after technical education, if he does not get a post where he can use this computer and other big, big..., he's a dog. He goes to a bank, "Sir, I am expert in this machine work. Can you give me a job?" "No, no. There is no vacancy." Then again he puts his tail, goes another, another. What is use, this? The big, big technologists, unless they get a suitable job, they're just like dog. Dog is loitering in the street, no food. So these men with all this high technological knowledge, if they do not get a proper master, they are nothing but dog. This is university education. So dog. And hog. Hog means he can eat any nonsense thing, whole day working, if he gets sex. Never mind whether mother, sister or daughter or any. You see the hog's family. They are very much sexually inclined, without any discrimination, and eating stool. This is his life. You see nowadays this man, he's eating anything, the hog's intestine. What is that?

Gurukrpa: Sausage.

Prabhupada: Very good food. What is that? Hog intestine. Hog is eating stool, and the intestine is filled up with the stool, and they have to clear it out. When it is boiled there is a so bad smell. And that is very palatable. And by eating, as soon as he gets little strength, then sex without any discrimination. So hog. Shva-vid-varaha. And the ushtra. Ushtra I have already explained, camel. And then ass. Shva-vid-varaha -ushtra-khara. Khara means ass. Now, why ass is mentioned? Means he's work with the washerman, and he loads tons of cloth to take him to the ghata [bathing area, typically on the banks of a lake or river] where he'll wash, and give him a little grass. And he'll stand whole day. And again load and again come. He has no eyes to see that "Grass is everywhere, every... Why I am engaged in this washerman? Whose cloth? It is neither my cloth nor his." But he is working: "Oh, washerman is giving me grass."

Gurukrpa: Everybody is ass.

Prabhupada: So therefore these four animals have been mentioned: Shva-vid- varahoshtra-kharaih samstutah [Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.19]. And he is, this class of men, selecting a leader by vote, democracy. So this class of men intelligence, just see. And what class of man he will select? And how we desire to be happy by such elected man who is elected by these dog, hog, camel and asses? Are there any intelligent? And you expect good government, peaceful state and... And the Shva-vid-varahoshtra-kharaih samstutah purushah pashuh. Therefore the others, they went to see the lion. So dog, hog, camel, ass will... "Oh, he's a lion." But what is a lion? It is also an animal, big animal. That's all. Similarly, the so-called president and leader and Gandhi, they are also another animal, big animal. So does it mean an animal big and very powerful, he has got the human intelligence? This is civilization. And when you say the right thing—that human life is meant for understanding God and prepare for the next life—"brainwashed." This is life. So remain like hog, dog, camel, and asses and go on, be engaged in politics and election —"Then you are right." And if you speak against this mode of civilization—"brainwashed."