If descending to lower species is the greatest fear why does Bhaktivinoda T not fear an insect birth?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
In the purport to Bhagavad Gita 2.40, Sri Prabhupada says the greatest fear is becoming an animal and that by practicing devotional service, one is protected.
In other verses, Sri Prabhupada says that devotees must be careful or they end up like Bharat Maharaj. Also Bhaktivinod wasn’t fearful of being a dog in the house of a devotee. So, what is the greatest fear and what is protected by the practice of bhakti? Very thoughtful question.
There are two things. There is a human form and there is a human consciousness or rather the facility for spiritual consciousness that is offered in the human form. Now, the principle is that if somebody takes a step towards Krishna, if somebody starts practicing bhakti, then that spiritual attraction towards Krishna, the spiritual awareness of Krishna is never lost.
It will be temporarily obscured in the sense of being forgotten, but it is never lost. So, that is one principle. The principle that whatever spiritual attraction to Krishna we have cultivated, that will always stay with us.
And the speciality of the human form is not just the biological form. The speciality of the human form is the opportunity for spiritual advancement that it offers. So, I stated that.
There is also another law. The law is what Krishna talks about in 8.5, 8.6. 8.6 he says that यम्यम्वापिस्मर्ण्भावंते जित्यंते कलेवरं तम्तमिवैती कौंतेय सदार्थर्भावभावितः that whatever state of being we remember at the time of death, that is what we will attain in the next life. Now, sometimes, even in legal situations, in real life also, two laws might come in conflict.
You know, suppose anybody kills another person, that is a crime. But somebody kills in self-defense, then that’s not a crime. That’s a different situation.
So, just as sometimes two laws might come in conflict and then reconciliation has to be done. So, like that, there can be two principles. One is principle.
One principle is that one’s spiritual growth is always protected. The other is that whatever we remember at the time of death, that is what we will attain. So, how are these two principles to be reconciled? And that is, in the case of Bharat Maharaj, reconciled because he remembered a deer at the time of death and because he had cultivated a lot of attachment to a deer during his life before that.
So, according to the law of nature, he got a deer’s body. But because he had practiced bhakti and he developed attraction to Krishna, although he got a deer’s body, he did not get deer’s consciousness. He still had human consciousness.
In fact, more than human consciousness. Because he still had his attraction to Krishna. And if we look as only a brief description of Bharat Maharaj’s life as a deer, there he is doing primarily three things.
He is lamenting about the mistake that he made in squandering the opportunity that he had in previous life. Then he is warning himself, I should be cautious, and he is trying to seek, even as a deer, he doesn’t go around seeking for green grass, but he tries to associate with the sages over there. And tries to hear spiritual vibrations from them.
So, that means, what is never lost is the developed consciousness which can help us keep moving onwards towards Krishna. Now, when we say that in animal life there is no opportunity for spiritual growth, what that essentially means is that there is no opportunity for one to begin spiritual life. But if a soul in a human body has already begun spiritual life, then even in an animal body, that can be continued.
So, what happened in the case of Bharat Maharaj is, both the rules had to be, both the principles had to be reconciled. And he got a deer’s body, but he did not get deer’s consciousness. So, our, whatever attraction to Krishna we have developed, that will never be lost.
In the sixth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that, पुर्वा भ्यासेन ते नईव, रियते य अवशो पिसह, जिग्यासुर पियोगस्य, शक्ते ब्रह्माति वर्तते, पुर्वा भ्यास, whatever practice one has done in his previous life, पुर्वा भ्यासेन ते नईव, that person, he is talking about a yogi who has deviated from the path, रियते य अवशो पिसह, रियते य अवशो पिसह, person will be helplessly attracted, अवशो, person doesn’t know, just feel some extraordinary mystical attraction, just feel attracted to spiritual principles, feel attracted to Krishna, I want to know what are the ultimate, answers to ultimate questions, so it’s not that when we say a person deviates from the spiritual path in his next life born, when we say spiritual attraction remains, that does not mean that when a baby is born, baby instead of crying will be born chanting Hare Krishna, even if the baby is advanced devotee, as per the biological nature, the baby will be born crying, but we will see that sometimes some people just develop attraction to Krishna so quickly, sometimes two people may come at the same time at Krishna consciousness, but suddenly one person has so much stability, so much faith, so much attraction to Krishna, so what is happening is, in one case, say a person who seems to be advancing slowly, it is that the attraction is being developed for the first time, whereas in the second case, the person seems to be advancing very fast, that means the attraction is just being uncovered, it is already there, but just because of the circumstance of a death in a previous life and a rebirth in this life, there is a temporary covering over that, that is removed, so what is preserved is our attraction to Krishna, and that attraction impels us onwards in the spiritual path, now when Bhaktanath Thakur says that I am not afraid of even being born as a dog in a devotee’s family, he says, he says, that I am ready to be born even as an insect, if it is, if I remain your servant, so what this essentially means is, these sort of prayers signify that that which is normally considered fearful by people, a devotee doesn’t consider it fearful, because the devotee is always connected with Krishna, so what he is saying is, if I am born in a devotee’s family as a dog, or if I am born as an insect also, but I have attraction towards you, then the greatest danger in material existence is forgetfulness of Krishna, if I am protected from that, then even if other dangers come, such as the danger of going down to lower species, that doesn’t matter, because the danger is not just getting an animal form, the real danger is getting animal consciousness, and if the animal, if that consciousness, we biologically get animal form also, but if one still has spiritual consciousness, then that is not a danger, so that’s why what devotees are praying, or what happened in the case of Brahmanas, spiritual attraction is protected, but because of some, because of the alternate, other law of nature, of getting whatever one remembers at the time of death, he got a dearest boy.