Chapter 6 · Class prep
A printable handout for teaching this chapter. For each verse with Personal Guidance, you'll see Prabhupāda's translation, the essence, two or three practical applications, and a discussion prompt. Press ⌘P / Ctrl P to print as a handout.
BG 6.1
Prahlāda Mahārāja said: One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life — in other words, from the tender age of childhood — to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.
Essence. Prahlāda tells his demon-born friends: start devotional practice from childhood — the human form is rare, temporary, and uniquely suited for bhakti. Even a small amount of sincere devotion can yield perfection. Begin now; the body that allows the practice is already on the clock.
BG 6.2
The human form of life affords one a chance to return home, back to Godhead. Therefore every living entity, especially in the human form of life, must engage in devotional service to the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu. This devotional service is natural because Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the most beloved, the master of the soul, and the well-wisher of all other living beings.
Essence. The human form is given to return home to God; Lord Viṣṇu is the most beloved, the master of the soul, the well-wisher of every being. Devotion is the natural response to who He already is. You are not inventing the relationship — only recognizing it.
BG 6.3
Prahlāda Mahārāja continued: My dear friends born of demoniac families, the happiness perceived with reference to the sense objects by contact with the body can be obtained in any form of life, according to one’s past fruitive activities. Such happiness is automatically obtained without endeavor, just as we obtain distress.
Essence. Material happiness, like material distress, comes automatically according to past karma — in any form of life. No need to chase it; no need to fight it. Free up the energy you have been spending on both and direct it toward Kṛṣṇa-consciousness.
BG 6.4
Endeavors merely for sense gratification or material happiness through economic development are not to be performed, for they result only in a loss of time and energy, with no actual profit. If one’s endeavors are directed toward Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can surely attain the spiritual platform of self-realization. There is no such benefit from engaging oneself in economic development.
Essence. Endeavors for sense gratification and economic advancement lose time and energy with no real profit. Effort directed toward Kṛṣṇa-consciousness reaches the spiritual platform. Same hours, completely different destinations — choose where the labor points.
BG 6.5
Therefore, while in material existence [bhavam āśritaḥ], a person fully competent to distinguish wrong from right must endeavor to achieve the highest goal of life as long as the body is stout and strong and is not embarrassed by dwindling.
Essence. While the body is stout and strong — before age and disease arrive — a wise person endeavors for the highest goal. Bhayam āśritaḥ: take refuge in the fear of saṁsāra to act now. Useful fear is fuel; useless fear is paralysis.
BG 6.6
Every human being has a maximum duration of life of one hundred years, but for one who cannot control his senses, half of those years are completely lost because at night he sleeps twelve hours, being covered by ignorance. Therefore such a person has a lifetime of only fifty years.
Essence. Of a hundred-year life, twelve hours of nightly sleep — fifty whole years — vanish in ignorance. The uncontrolled-sense life is half-asleep on its face. Examine how many of your hours actually carry intentional awareness.
BG 6.7
In the tender age of childhood, when everyone is bewildered, one passes ten years. Similarly, in boyhood, engaged in sporting and playing, one passes another ten years. In this way, twenty years are wasted. Similarly, in old age, when one is an invalid, unable to perform even material activities, one passes another twenty years wastefully.
Essence. Ten years are lost in childhood bewilderment, ten more in boyhood play, twenty more in old-age invalidity. Most of life is taken before bhakti has even been considered. Notice how little time is actually 'in your hands' to choose differently.
BG 6.8
One whose mind and senses are uncontrolled becomes increasingly attached to family life because of insatiable lusty desires and very strong illusion. In such a madman’s life, the remaining years are also wasted because even during those years he cannot engage himself in devotional service.
Essence. Uncontrolled senses pull the heart deeper into family entanglement; insatiable lust and strong illusion eat the remaining years. The 'madman' of attachment cannot serve even in the time left. Without sense-control, even good intentions yield nothing.
BG 6.9
What person too attached to household life due to being unable to control his senses can liberate himself? An attached householder is bound very strongly by ropes of affection for his family [wife, children and other relatives].
Essence. Who, too attached to household life and unable to control senses, can liberate himself? The ropes of family affection are stronger than they look. Loving your family does not require being bound by māyā through them.
BG 6.10
Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate money, especially in household life? Thieves, professional servants [soldiers] and merchants try to acquire money even by risking their very dear lives.
Essence. Money is conceived as sweeter than honey; thieves, soldiers, and merchants risk their lives to acquire it. The pursuit of money repeatedly trades life-time for money-time. Note the conversion rate you have implicitly agreed to.
BG 6.11-13
How can a person who is most affectionate to his family, the core of his heart being always filled with their pictures, give up their association? Specifically, a wife is always very kind and sympathetic and always pleases her husband in a solitary place. Who could give up the association of such a dear and affectionate wife? Small children talk in broken language, very pleasing to hear, and their affectionate father always thinks of their sweet words. How could he give up their association? One’s elderly parents and one’s sons and daughters are also very dear. A daughter is especially dear to her father, and while living at her husband’s house she is always in his mind. Who could give up that association? Aside from this, in household affairs there are many decorated items of household furniture, and there are also animals and servants. Who could give up such comforts? The attached householder is like a silkworm, which weaves a cocoon in which it becomes imprisoned, unable to get out. Simply for the satisfaction of two important senses — the genitals and the tongue — one is bound by material conditions. How can one escape?
Essence. Sweet wife, broken-language children, dear daughter, aging parents, decorated home, animals, servants — who can give all this up? The attached householder is like a silkworm spinning its own cocoon, all for the satisfaction of tongue and genitals. Two small senses bind a whole life.
BG 6.14
One who is too attached cannot understand that he is wasting his valuable life for the maintenance of his family. He also fails to understand that the purpose of human life, a life suitable for realization of the Absolute Truth, is being imperceptibly spoiled. However, he is very cleverly attentive to seeing that not a single farthing is lost by mismanagement. Thus although an attached person in material existence always suffers from threefold miseries, he does not develop a distaste for the way of material existence.
Essence. The too-attached cannot see that valuable life is being squandered on family maintenance, while purpose-of-life slowly spoils — yet he tracks every penny vigilantly. Misallocated attention is the deeper bankruptcy. Cāṇakya: a moment of life cannot be bought back for millions.
BG 6.15
If a person too attached to the duties of family maintenance is unable to control his senses, the core of his heart is immersed in how to accumulate money. Although he knows that one who takes the wealth of others will be punished by the law of the government, and by the laws of Yamarāja after death, he continues cheating others to acquire money.
Essence. Knowing the laws of government and Yamarāja, the sense-bound person still cheats to acquire money. Knowledge alone cannot stop sinful action when senses are uncontrolled. Without restraint, more information is not more virtue.
BG 6.16
O my friends, sons of demons! In this material world, even those who are apparently advanced in education have the propensity to consider, “This is mine, and that is for others.” Thus they are always engaged in providing the necessities of life to their families in a limited conception of family life, just like uneducated cats and dogs. They are unable to take to spiritual knowledge; instead, they are bewildered and overcome by ignorance.
Essence. Even apparently educated people think 'this is mine, that is for others' and engage in narrow family maintenance, like cats and dogs. Without spiritual knowledge, sophistication is just dressed-up ignorance. Real education starts with 'who am I?'
BG 6.17-18
My dear friends, O sons of the demons, it is certain that no one bereft of knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been able to liberate himself from material bondage at any time or in any country. Rather, those bereft of knowledge of the Lord are bound by the material laws. They are factually addicted to sense gratification, and their target is woman. Indeed, they are actually playthings in the hands of attractive women. Victimized by such a conception of life, they become surrounded by children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and thus they are shackled to material bondage. Those who are very much addicted to this conception of life are called demons. Therefore, although you are sons of demons, keep aloof from such persons and take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, the origin of all the demigods, because the ultimate goal for the devotees of Nārāyaṇa is liberation from the bondage of material existence.
Essence. No one bereft of knowledge of God has ever been liberated anywhere, anytime. Sense-gratifiers become playthings of attractive partners and bound by descendants. Even from a demon family, take shelter of Nārāyaṇa — origin of even the demigods — and walk free.
BG 6.19
My dear sons of demons, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, is the original Supersoul, the father of all living entities. Consequently there are no impediments to pleasing Him or worshiping Him under any conditions, whether one be a child or an old man. The relationship between the living entities and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always a fact, and therefore there is no difficulty in pleasing the Lord.
Essence. Nārāyaṇa is the Supersoul and father of all living entities — there are no obstacles to pleasing Him in any condition. The relationship is always already there; one need only act on it. Devotion has no entrance fee but sincerity.
BG 6.20-23
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme controller, who is infallible and indefatigable, is present in different forms of life, from the inert living beings [sthāvara], such as the plants, to Brahmā, the foremost created living being. He is also present in the varieties of material creations and in the material elements, the total material energy and the modes of material nature [sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa], as well as the unmanifested material nature and the false ego. Although He is one, He is present everywhere, and He is also the transcendental Supersoul, the cause of all causes, who is present as the observer in the cores of the hearts of all living entities. He is indicated as that which is pervaded and as the all-pervading Supersoul, but actually He cannot be indicated. He is changeless and undivided. He is simply perceived as the supreme sac-cid-ānanda [eternity, knowledge and bliss]. Being covered by the curtain of the external energy, to the atheist He appears nonexistent.
Essence. The Lord pervades everything — plants, Brahmā, elements, modes, even unmanifested nature and false ego — yet remains one, changeless, undivided, the eternal sac-cid-ānanda Supersoul. To the atheist, behind māyā's curtain, He appears nonexistent. Reality is a question of vision.
BG 6.24
Therefore, my dear young friends born of demons, please act in such a way that the Supreme Lord, who is beyond the conception of material knowledge, will be satisfied. Give up your demoniac nature and act without enmity or duality. Show mercy to all living entities by enlightening them in devotional service, thus becoming their well-wishers.
Essence. Act so the Lord is satisfied — give up the demoniac mood of enmity and duality, and show mercy to all by enlightening them in devotional service. Preaching is the highest service. To share the path is to walk it more fully.
BG 6.25
Nothing is unobtainable for devotees who have satisfied the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all causes, the original source of everything. The Lord is the reservoir of unlimited spiritual qualities. For devotees, therefore, who are transcendental to the modes of material nature, what is the use of following the principles of religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation, which are all automatically obtainable under the influence of the modes of nature? We devotees always glorify the lotus feet of the Lord, and therefore we need not ask for anything in terms of dharma, kāma, artha and mokṣa.
Essence. For devotees, nothing is unobtainable — dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa all wait at the door. Why ask for them when the Lord Himself is being glorified? When you have the source, you do not need to bargain for the secondary effects.
BG 6.26
Religion, economic development and sense gratification — these are described in the Vedas as tri-varga, or three ways to salvation. Within these three categories are education and self-realization; ritualistic ceremonies performed according to Vedic injunction; logic; the science of law and order; and the various means of earning one’s livelihood. These are the external subject matters of study in the Vedas, and therefore I consider them material. However, I consider surrender to the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu to be transcendental.
Essence. The Vedas describe dharma, artha, and kāma as tri-varga — material paths including ritual, logic, law, and livelihood. Surrender to Viṣṇu's lotus feet alone is transcendental. Within the Vedas themselves there is a hierarchy of material and transcendental teachings.
BG 6.27
Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the well-wisher and friend of all living entities, formerly explained this transcendental knowledge to the great saint Nārada. Such knowledge is extremely difficult to understand without the mercy of a saintly person like Nārada, but everyone who has taken shelter of Nārada’s disciplic succession can understand this confidential knowledge.
Essence. Nārāyaṇa Himself explained this knowledge to Nārada — and through Nārada's disciplic line it can still be received. Confidential knowledge is hard alone but easy through a real lineage. Belonging to a real paramparā is itself a major mercy.
BG 6.28
Prahlāda Mahārāja continued: I received this knowledge from the great saint Nārada Muni, who is always engaged in devotional service. This knowledge, which is called bhāgavata-dharma, is fully scientific. It is based on logic and philosophy and is free from all material contamination.
Essence. Prahlāda explicitly names his source: he received bhāgavata-dharma from Nārada. It is scientific, logical, philosophical, and free from material contamination. Real teaching has both a source and a structure — not just feelings, but a method.
BG 6.29-30
The sons of the demons replied: Dear Prahlāda, neither you nor we know any teacher or spiritual master other than Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka, the sons of Śukrācārya. After all, we are children and they our controllers. For you especially, who always remain within the palace, it is very difficult to associate with a great personality. Dear friend, most gentle one, would you kindly explain how it was possible for you to hear Nārada? Kindly dispel our doubts in this regard.
Essence. The demon-children object: we have only ever known Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka; you live in the palace — how did you ever meet Nārada? An honest doubt is welcome. Prahlāda will answer with the story of how Nārada taught him inside his mother's womb.