Lord Sri Krishna says, "My dear Arjuna, there are different classes of men. One class of men, they are sleeping. And another class of men, they are awake. They are not sleeping." And how is this so? This chanting, which we have performed just now, is the wakening process for the sleeping soul. The soul is sleeping, covered by this material body. These bodily activities are in the sleeping stage. Just as we see dreams in the sleeping stage, similarly, all these bodily activities are dreams. Just think for yourself: how many incidents have there been in your past life? If you think of them, they will appear just like dreams. At least for myself this is the case. I was born in India, educated, then married, then I had very good days with my wife, got some children, some of whom died, some of whom are living, some of whom are married; now they have begotten children. All this occurred in my past life. Now it is all a dream. I have no connection with it. Similarly, in dreams I sometimes find that I have become a king. Oh, there are so many riches and so much opulence. Then, as soon as the dream is over, I come home and all is gone.
So actually, these bodily activities which we are now engaged in are not our actual life. Therefore, the Vedic mantra says, "O human race, please wake up. Just utilize the opportunity which you now have." You have a special opportunity. And what is that? This human form of life. Utilize it; don't waste it. Don't go on sleeping. This very same matter is taken up by Sri Krishna. Those who are accustomed to the yoga process know this. The first principle of the yoga process is to control the senses. This is so for every process. In any bona fide process for spiritual realization, the first principle is to control the senses. This is because the senses are dragging us into the darkest region of life. But we do not realize this.
In the Srimad Bhagawatam there is a nice verse. It says, first, man is too much addicted to this materialistic way of life. The materialistic way of life involves eating, drinking, making merry, and enjoying. That's it—that's all. Have very good food, sleep well, and defend yourself so that enemies may not enter into your country, or into your home. And, have sexual enjoyment to your heart's content. This is the materialistic way of life. But persons who are so sleeping do not realize that their real self-interest is different. Our real self-interest is that we must know of our lost relationship with the Supreme Absolute Truth.
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