Category:Worm
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda uses the example of a worm to illustrate profound philosophical truths about material existence. First, he exposes the deep illusion of the conditioned soul, comparing the materialistic enjoyer to a worm in stool—completely satisfied in an abominable condition and falsely proud of its domain. Second, he reminds us of the strict laws of karma, where an entity can wander from the position of Lord Brahmā down to an insignificant insect. Third, he points out the stark reality of the material body, which, regardless of whether it belongs to a king or a pauper, is ultimately destined to turn into ashes, stool, or food for worms. Finally, he highlights the highest standard of humility, as demonstrated by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, who considered himself lower than the worms in stool, and emphasizes true universal brotherhood by recognizing even the insignificant worm as a spirit soul and a child of Kṛṣṇa.
- The Illusion of the Material Enjoyer: The conditioned soul, blinded by maya, falsely identifies as the master of his surroundings and remains completely satisfied even in the most filthy, miserable conditions.
- The Cycle of Karma and Evolution: Due to independent material desires, the spirit soul is forced to cycle continuously through various species of life, taking birth as anything from a great demigod to a lowly worm.
- The Inevitable End of the Body: False pride in physical beauty and societal status is shattered by the realization that every material body will ultimately decompose and become food for worms.
- True Humility and Universal Brotherhood: Advanced devotees exhibit equal vision by recognizing all living entities as spiritual children of God, cultivating a profound humility that considers oneself lower than a worm in stool.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Lessons from the Humble Worm in Material Existence.
Subcategories
This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.
Pages in category "Worm"
The following 99 pages are in this category, out of 99 total.
2
A
- A devotee of Lord Krsna said, "When even Sasisekhara (Lord Siva) is unable to see You, what chance is there for me, who am lower than an ordinary worm? I have only committed misdeeds"
- A grassworm confined in a hole of a wall by a bee always thinks of the bee in fear and enmity and later becomes a bee simply because of such remembrance
- A man in material existence and attached to ku-visaya or su-visaya is in the same position as that of a worm in stool. After all, whether it be moist or dry, stool is stool
- A sadhu is friend of all living entities. He is not only friend of the humankind; he is friend of the animals, he is friend of the trees, he is friend of the ants, worms, reptiles, serpents - everyone
- After death he is put into the most abominable hell, known as Krmibhojana. In that hell is a lake 100,000 yojanas (800,000 miles) wide and filled with worms. He becomes a worm in that lake and feeds on the other worms there, who also feed on him
- After hearing this statement by his daughter, King Saryati was very much afraid. In various ways, he tried to appease Cyavana Muni, for it was he who sat within the hole of the earthworm
- Although suffering from leprosy, the brahmana Vasudeva was enlightened. As soon as one worm fell from his body, he would pick it up and place it back again in the same location
- And within him there are muscles, bones, blood, intestinal worms, stools, mucus, bile, and similar things
- Aside from human consciousness, there is consciousness in dogs, cats, worms, trees, birds, beasts and all other species. But we are not meant to live in that consciousness
B
- Beginning from Brahma down to the insignificant worm in the stool, they are coming down and going up, coming down. This is going on. This is called samsara-cakra, cycle of birth and death
- Beginning from Lord Brahma down to the worms in the stool, gradually, according to your work, according to your desire, you manufacture your different types of body and enjoy and suffer. That's all
- Beginning from that indra (one worm called indra-gopa) up to this Indra (king of heaven), everyone is bound up by the fruitive resultant action of his karma. This is called karma-phala
- Bitten again and again all over the body by the hungry worms in the abdomen itself, the child suffers terrible agony because of his tenderness. He thus becomes unconscious moment after moment because of the terrible condition
- By gradual evolutionary process from the aquatic to the plant life, then from plant life to worm life, then from worm life to bird's life, then from bird's life to beast life, from beast life to human life - this is the gradual process of evolution
- By nature's own way, his (Hiranyakasipu's) body had been almost consumed by earthworms, ants and other parasites, and therefore even Brahma was at first unable to see him
C
- Caitanya-caritamrta author (Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami), he describes himself that "I am lower than the worms in the stool"
- Consciousness is there in the dog, in the cats, in the worms, in the trees, in the birds, in the beasts. Consciousness is there. But are we meant for living in that consciousness? Cats' and dogs' consciousness? No
D
- Deriving its nutrition from the food and drink taken by the mother, the fetus grows and remains in that abominable residence of stools and urine, which is the breeding place of all kinds of worms
- Due to the other power (of maya avaranatmika), a conditioned soul feels satisfied even if he is rotting in the body of a pig or a worm in stool. To release a conditioned soul from material bondage is very difficult because the spell of maya is so strong
E
- Even if he (the living entity) is born as a worm living within the intestine or abdomen in the midst of urine and stool, still he is satisfied. This is the covering influence of maya
- Even if one tries to separate a worm from stool, the worm will be unwilling to leave. It will return to the stool
- Even in the stool, the worms in the stool, he's also thinking, "I have got so much stool to eat." This same mastership. - I am the monarch of all I survey. I have got so much stool
- Even the worms, birds and beasts are assured of elevation to the highest perfectional life if they are completely surrendered to the transcendental loving service of the Lord, so what to speak of the philosophers amongst the human beings
- External energy is not affecting Krsna. The urine and stool is affecting . . . there are some worms, they are very much attracted with the stool. You see? They are also creatures of Krsna
H
- He (Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami) considers himself unqualified, lower than the worms in stool, and more sinful than Jagai and Madhai. A pure Vaisnava actually thinks of himself in this way
- His brothers used to give him broken rice, oil cakes, the chaff of rice, worm-eaten grains and burned grains that had stuck to the pot, but he gladly accepted all this as if it were nectar. He did not hold any grudges and ate all this very gladly
I
- I (Krsnadas Kaviraja Gosvami) am more sinful than Jagai and Madhai and even lower than the worms in the stool
- I have been very much astonished to see your endurance. In spite of being eaten and bitten by all kinds of worms and ants, you are keeping your life air circulating within your bones. Certainly this is wonderful
- If kama-haitukam, lusty desire, is the only cause for birth, production, then why there is one production street dog, cat or pig or a worm in the stool, and why one is born as demigod, as Indra or Candra, Varuna? Why? A Brahma? Who makes this arrangement
- If we want to attain a body like Brahma's, we can get it. If we want a body like a worm in stool, we can get it. Or, if we want a body like Krsna's, we can get that also. That is our real body of sac-cid-ananda
- If you are chanting within this room and if you find nobody is coming to participate in the kirtana, don't be disappointed. There are many germs, worms, cockroaches, within this room - they are being benefited
- If you don't improve yourself in Krsna consciousness, then you again become stool worms
- If you forget, you go down to the cats and dogs and ants and germs and so many things, become a worm of the stool. He will give you all facilities. This is called karma-cakra, cycle of work. As you desire, so God gives you facility
- In his helpless condition, gnats, mosquitoes, bugs and other germs bite the baby, whose skin is tender, just as smaller worms bite a big worm. The unborn child, deprived of his wisdom, cries bitterly
- In the Caitanya-caritamrta (CC Adi 5.205) Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami thinks of himself in such a humble way: I am a worse sinner than Jagai and Madhai and am even lower than the worms in the stool
- In this verse the three words krmi-vid-bhasma are significant. After death, the body may become krmi, which means "worms," for if the body is disposed of without cremation, it may be eaten by worms; or else it may be eaten by animals be turned into stool
- It is very miserable condition. We had to remain there in packed-up condition like this in a bag, and it is suffocating. At that time, the skin is very tender. There are many worms and germs within the belly, mixed up with stool and urine; they bite
K
- Kaviraja Gosvami, who has written this immortal Caitanya-caritamrta, he is presenting himself: "I am lower than the worms in the stool" Just see. He is not hypocrite. He is feeling like that: "Oh, what is my value?"
- Krsna dasa Kaviraja Gosvami, the author of a literature, Caitanya-caritamrta, unique in the world, he said that, I am lower than the worm in the stool
M
- Man is attached to many miserable conditions, but nevertheless he accepts his condemned position as one of happiness. Sense enjoyment is so strong for such a person that he cannot give it up, exactly as a worm in stool cannot give up the stool
- Mucukunda continued, "After death the body of even a king is eaten by an animal & therefore turned into stool or is cremated in a crematorium, turned into ashes or is put into an earthly grave, where different kinds of worms, insects are produced of it"
- Mucukunda continued, "The royal body was advertised as the king of human society - that royal body decomposes under the influence of inevitable time & becomes fit for being eaten by worms & insects or being turned into ashes or the stool of an animal"
- My dear Raghunatha dasa, your father and his elder brother are just like worms in stool in the ditch of material enjoyment, for the great disease of the poison of material enjoyment is what they consider happiness
O
- On account of our abominable activities, from Brahma, we come down to become the worm of stool. This is called karma, ksetra
- One who criticizes Lord Visnu and His devotees loses all the benefits accrued in a hundred pious births. Such a person rots in the Kumbhipaka hell and is bitten by worms as long as the sun and moon exist
S
- Sannyasis who first consider that the body is subject to death, when it will be transformed into stool, worms or ashes, but who again give importance to the body and glorify it as the self, are to be considered the greatest rascals
- Simply by studying, becoming bookworm, you cannot advance. The real secret is... That is stated in the Vedas. Unflinching faith in God and spiritual master. Then things will be revealed from within. How much strength we have got to study all these books?
- Since the child is born from the womb of the mother and the worms are also born of fermentation within the womb of the same mother, under the circumstances the child and the worms are actually brothers
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave His verdict that those addicted to the materialistic way of life are like worms that are living in stool but cannot give it up
- Superior to worms & snakes are animals that have developed intelligence. Superior to animals are human beings, & superior to them are ghosts because they have no material bodies. Superior to ghosts are the Gandharvas, & superior to them are the Siddhas
T
- The best devotee sees, "Nobody is envious of God. Everyone is better than me." Just like Caitanya-caritamrta's author, Krsnadasa Kaviraja. He says, - I am lower than the worm in the stool
- The change of the bodily construction of a worm into that of a butterfly and, in modern medical science, the conversion of a man's body into that of a woman (or vice versa) are more or less dependent on psychological changes
- The child is tossed downward by the airs that press the embryo during the weeks preceding delivery. Like the worms born of the same filthy abdominal cavity, he cannot remain in one place
- The child thus falls on the ground, smeared with stool and blood, and plays just like a worm germinated from the stool. He loses his superior knowledge and cries under the spell of maya
- The consciousness is developed from tree to worms, microbes, worms, germs - their consciousness is little more higher. Then birds, their consciousness is little more higher; then beasts, their consciousness is little more higher
- The devotee never thinks that he is a great bhakta. Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, the author of Caitanya-caritamrta, has stated, purisera kita haite muni se laghistha: "I am lower than the worms in stool." (CC Adi 5.205) This is the Vaisnava conception
- The example given here (in SB 7.1.28-29) concerns the grassworm that becomes beelike because of constantly thinking of the bee that forces it to enter a hole. By always thinking of the bee in fear, the grassworm starts to become a bee
- The fallen person continued, "There are so many insects and worms, surrounded by the stools left by different kinds of diseased persons. And after visualizing this horrible scene, my eyes have become sore, and I am becoming nearly blind"
- The living entity is satisfied in any abominable condition. Even if he is born as a worm living within the intestine or abdomen in the midst of urine and stool, still he is satisfied. This is the covering influence of maya
- The Lord (Caitanya) specifically indicated that ordinary men who are very happy with material comforts and family life are in no better position than worms in stool
- The Lord says that there are eight hundred, er, 8,400,000 species of life, different forms of life, species of life. There are aquatics, there are plants, trees, worms, germs, then birds, beasts, and at last, the human species of life, only 400,000's
- The material body, even if possessed by a great king, is ultimately transformed into stool, worms or ashes. When one is too attached to the bodily conception of life, he is certainly not very intelligent
- The personified Vedas continued, "There are different types of living entities - demigods, human beings, animals, trees, birds, beasts, germs, worms, insects and aquatics - and all enjoy or suffer in life while resting on You"
- The purpose of our developed human consciousness is to understand how nature works. Aside from human consciousness, there is consciousness in dogs, cats, worms, trees, birds, beasts & all other species. But we are not meant to live in that consciousness
- The Supreme Lord punishes such a man by putting him into the hell known as Andhakupa, where he is attacked by all the birds and beasts, reptiles, mosquitoes, lice, worms, flies, and any other creatures he tormented during his life
- The two energies manifest (spirit and dull matter), beings possessing living force (vegetables, grass, trees and plants) are superior to dull matter (stone, earth, etc.). Superior to nonmoving plants and vegetables are worms and snakes, which can move
- The worms have been described here (in SB 3.31.10) as sodara. Sodara means born of the same mother
- There are bugs, worms, mosquitoes, stool, urine and so many things attacking the new body. These are the threefold miseries, yet we think that we have made such progress
- There was also a brahmana named Vasudeva, who was a great person but was suffering from leprosy. Indeed, his body was filled with living worms
- They (birds, beasts, reptiles, mosquitoes, lice, worms, flies, and any other creatures he tormented during his life) attack him (who, endowed with knowledge, killed or tormented insignificant creatures) from all sides, robbing him of the pleasure of sleep
- This material nature, external energy is Krsna's. Undoubtedly, it is Krsna's. But that worm class of living entities, they are attracted by it. You see? We should not be attracted because we are not going to be worms of the stool
- This material world means all the living entities, they have come here for satisfying their senses. And in different grades of life they are satisfying their senses. Either as Brahma or the worm in the stool
- Those who are not human beings, the animals, the birds, the beasts, and the worms, the trees, they have no economic problem. I see in India the sparrows, they were chanting and dancing and eating
- To live in the skyscraper building, that facility is there even to the worms, cats, rats, everyone. Then what is the difference between these animals and me? The difference is how to become perfect
W
- We are very anxious to establish universal brotherhood among human beings, but we should take into consideration that even the worms are our brothers, what to speak of other living entities
- We should not think that we are here and that all the other planets are vacant. From experience we can see that no place on earth is vacant of living entities. If we dig deep down into the earth, we find worms
- When a person becomes fully Krsna conscious, he does not think, "Here is a man, here is an animal, here is a cat, here is a dog, here is a worm." He sees everyone as part and parcel of Krsna
- When dead, the bodies of all the rulers known as kings and great leaders will be transformed into worms, stool or ashes
- When He (Krsna) says sarva-yonisu kaunteya (BG 14.4). He claims to be father of all living entities. Even the animals, even the aquatics, even the trees, plants, worms, birds, beasts, this human being, that human being - all He claims
- When Krsna speaks, we must understand that whatever He says is not limited but is universally true. He claims to be the father of all living entities - even the animals, the aquatics, the trees, plants, worms, birds & bees are all claimed to be His sons
- When one is advanced in consciousness, he doesn't want to enjoy anything of this material world, any way. He doesn't desire either to become the king or Lord Brahma or the worms of the stool
- When the part of the Supreme Personality of Godhead unfortunately wants to enjoy independently, without Krsna, he is put into the material world, where he begins his life as Brahma and is gradually degraded to the status of an ant or a worm in stool
- When the world was full of water, the living entity took an aquatic form. Then he passed to vegetable life, from vegetable life to worm life, from worm life to bird life, from bird life to animal life, and from animal life to the human form
- When this material body becomes old and worn out, or when it is rendered useless by some accident, we put it aside as we might put aside a soiled or ruined suit and take up another material body
- While living one may be proud of one's body, thinking oneself a very big man, minister, president or even demigod, but whatever one may be, after death this body will turn either into worms, into stool or into ashes - SB 10.10.10
- While one is living, whatever the external condition of the body may be, within there is only stool, urine and various kinds of worms
- While that Sukanya, surrounded by her friends, was collecting various types of fruits from the trees in the forest, she saw within the hole of an earthworm two things glowing like luminaries
- Worms cannot get out of stool by their own endeavor; similarly, those who are overly attached to material existence cannot get out of materialism and suddenly become Krsna conscious
Y
- Yet although the body will be turned into worms, stool or ashes, foolish persons, just to maintain it, commit many sinful activities. This is certainly regrettable
- You embraced the leper Vasudeva, whose body was fully infected by worms. You are so kind that in spite of his condition You embraced him
- You just take the worm from the stool, put it here: "No, no, no, here is my enjoyment. I shall do it" This mastership mentality is there in Brahma, and the mastership mentality is there in the worm of the stool