Bhagvatam: IF ONE IS ADVANCED IN KNOWLEDGE, HE MUST ALWAYS BE PREPARED TO SACRIFICE ANYTHING FOR A BETTER CAUSE. AT THE PRESENT MOMENT THE ENTIRE WORLD IS IN A DANGEROUS POSITION UNDER THE SPELL OF A GODLESS CIVILIZATION.
As described in this chapter, after Indra obtained the body of Dadhichi, a thunderbolt was prepared from Dadhichi's bones, and a fight took place between Vrträsura and the demigods.
Following the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the demigods approached Dadhichi Muni and begged for his body.
Dadhichi Muni, just to hear from the demigods about the principles of religion, jokingly refused to relinquish his body, but for higher purposes he thereafter agreed to give it up, for after death the body is usually eaten by low animals like dogs and jackals. Dadhichi Muni first merged his gross body made of five elements into the original stock of five elements and then engaged his soul at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Thus he gave up his gross body. With the help of Vishvakarmä, the demigods then prepared a thunderbolt from Dadhichi's bones. Armed with the thunderbolt weapon, they prepared themselves to fight and got up on the backs of elephants.
At the end of Satya-yuga and the beginning of Tretä-yuga, a great fight took place between the demigods and the asuras. Unable to tolerate the effulgence of the demigods, the asuras fled the battle, leaving Vrträsura, their commander in chief, to fight for himself.
Vrträsura, however, seeing the demons fleeing, instructed them in the importance of fighting and dying in the battlefield. One who is victorious in battle gains material possessions, and one who dies in the battlefield attains a residence at once in the celestial heavens. In either way, the fighter benefits.
The demigods replied: O exalted brähmana, pious persons like you, whose activities are praiseworthy, are very kind and affectionate to people in general. What can't such pious souls give for the benefit of others? They can give everything, including their bodies.
TRANSLATION
Those who are too self-interested beg something from others, not knowing of others' pain. But if the beggar knew the difficulty of the giver, he would not ask for anything. Similarly, he who is able to give charity does not know the beggar's difficulty, for otherwise he would not refuse to give the beggar anything he might want as charity.
PURPORT
This verse describes two people—one who gives charity and one who begs for it.
A beggar should not ask charity from a person who is in difficulty. Similarly, one who is able to give charity should not deny a beggar. These are the moral instructions of the shästra. Chänakya Pandita says, san-nimitte varam tyägo vinäshe niyate sati: everything within this material world will be destroyed, and therefore one should use everything for good purposes.
If one is advanced in knowledge, he must always be prepared to sacrifice anything for a better cause. At the present moment the entire world is in a dangerous position under the spell of a godless civilization.
The Krshna consciousness movement needs many exalted, learned persons who will sacrifice their lives to revive God consciousness throughout the world. We therefore invite all men and women advanced in knowledge to join the Krshna consciousness movement and sacrifice their lives for the great cause of reviving the God consciousness of human society.
