Real advancement

Speaker:  Srila Prabhupada
Source: The Rascals’ Business

Everyone is busy how to exploit the resources of material nature. That is advancement of civilization. Advancement of civilization means how to exploit the material resources. But they do not know, the foolish people do not know that is not advancement. That is entanglement. That is not advancement. This knowledge, they are lacking. They do not know what is advancement. Advancement means advancement in spiritual life. That is advancement. We are spirit. In essence we are spirit soul. We have been encaged within this body. Therefore advancement means how to get out of this entanglement of repetition of birth and death.

When Visvamitra Muni went to Maharaja Dasaratha to ask for his two sons, Ramacandra and Laksmanaji, to take them to the Dandakaranya to kill the demon, so at that time, Maharaja Dasaratha welcomed Visvamitra, Visvamitra Muni with these words: aihistam yad punar-janma-jayaya, yatram punar-janma-jayaya(?). Aihistam. Just like if I meet my friend… Suppose he’s a businessman. So I’ll ask you how your business going on nicely. Similarly, Visvamitra Muni, he was not a businessman. He was a great saint, and he was living in the forest. So what was the purpose? The purpose was aihistam yat tat punar-janma-jayaya. As you are trying to conquer over the repetition of birth, punar-janma-jayaya… The people do not know, at the present moment, that the business is to conquer over the repetition of birth and death, punar-janma-jayaya.