By Hansadutta das
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Text 13
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What is the use of worrying about
wife and wealth? O madman, does not the Lord who ordains all exist for
you?
In the three worlds, it is only the association of saintly persons
which
can serve as a boat to cross over the ocean of birth and death.
In connection with this verse, there is another
important verse in Srimad-Bhagavatam:
Shukadeva Goswami said: "O twice-born sages,
by serving those devotees who are completely freed from all ranges of
vice, a standard of great service is done. As a result of such great
service,
affinity for the message of Vasudeva is made possible." (Srimad-Bhagavatam
1.2.16)
Purport by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The conditioned life of a living being is
caused by his revolting against the Lord. There are men called devas,
or godly living beings, and there are men called asuras, or
demons, who
are against the authority of the Supreme Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita
(Sixteenth Chapter) a vivid description of the asuras is given
in which it is said that the asuras are put into lower and
lower states of ignorance life after life and so sink to the lower
animal forms, where they have no information of the Absolute Truth, the
Personality of Godhead. These asuras are gradually rectified to
God consciousness by the mercy of the Lord's liberated servitors in
different countries, according to the supreme will. Such devotees of
God are very confidential associates of the Lord, and when they come to
save human society from the dangers of godlessness, they are known as
the powerful incarnations of the Lord, as sons of the Lord, as servants
of the Lord or as associates of the Lord. But
none of them falsely claim to be God themselves. This is a blasphemy
declared
by the asuras, and the demoniac followers of such asuras
also accept pretenders as God or His incarnation. In the revealed
scriptures there is definite information of the incarnation of God. No
one should be accepted as God or an incarnation of God unless he is
confirmed by the revealed scriptures.
This verse stresses the importance of associating with
devotees of the Lord and points out the uselessness of worrying about
life and wealth. Everyone in the material existence is anxious to
improve his material enjoyment, which comes through increasing his
wealth and,
of course, maintaining his wife and children, relatives, and friends.
But
all these anxieties are due to ignorance, because a living being is
actually spiritual by nature. He has nothing to do with the material
world, which
is just a temporary phase of his eternal existence. Just as when a
sleeping
man forgets himself and becomes anxious about his dreams, but then
awakens,
and forgets everything about dreams and goes about doing his real work,
similarly, every living entity is eternal by nature, and his temporary
life with wife, children, friends, and countrymen, his prestige, and
wealth, is all just illusion. When he comes in touch with a devotee of
the Lord, he wakes up
to his real business and gives up his temporary engagement in material
life.
This is effected by the association of sadhus,
or saintly people. Krishna consciousness is not a mechanical, mental
or intellectual engagement, but the eternal life of every living being.
Krishna consciousness is awakened when one comes in touch with a
representative of Krishna. It does not depend on intellectual knowledge
or material qualifications of any kind, but it depends completely on
the mercy of the Lord, and the mercy of the Lord is received through
the Lord's bona fide representative, the spiritual master.
The servants of God are to be respected as good as God
by the devotees who actually want to go back to Godhead. Such servants
of God are called mahatmas, tirthas, and they preach according
to
the particular time and place. The servants of God urge people to
become
devotees of the Lord. They never tolerate being called God. Sri
Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu was God Himself, according to the indication of the revealed
scriptures, but He played the part of a devotee. People who knew Him to
be
God addressed Him as God, but He used to block His ears with His hands
and
chant the name of Lord Vishnu. He strongly protested against being
called
God, although undoubtedly He was God Himself. The Lord behaved thusly
to
warn us against unscrupulous men who take pleasure in being addressed
as
God.
The servants of God come to propagate God consciousness,
and intelligent people should co-operate with them in every respect. By
serving the servant of God, one can please God more than by directly
serving
the Lord. The Lord is more pleased when He sees that His servants are
being
properly respected, because such servants risk everything for the
service
of the Lord and so are very dear to the Lord.
The Lord declares in the Bhagavad-gita
that no one is more dear to Him than one who risks everything to preach
His glory. By serving the servants of the Lord, one gradually acquires
the quality of such servants, and thus one becomes qualified to hear
the glories of God. Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.16 states that
eagerness to hear about God is the first qualification of a devotee
eligible for entering
into the kingdom of God.
A living being in his normal constitutional position is
fully satisfied in spiritual bliss. This state of existence is called brahma-bhuta
or atma-nandi, the state
of self satisfaction. This self-satisfaction is not like the
satisfaction of the inactive fool. The inactive fool is in the state of
foolish ignorance, whereas the self-satisfied atma-nandi is
transcendental to the material state of existence. This stage of
perfection is attained as soon as one is fixed in irrevocable
devotional service. Devotional service is not inactivity but the
unalloyed activity of the soul.
At the present moment everyone is engaged in material
activity, trying to satisfy his senses and mind with various programs
for exploiting material nature. Everyone wants to be wealthy, everyone
wants to be famous, and everyone wants to enjoy sense gratification.
But all
of these programs are based on the bodily concept of life, which is
illusory because the living being is not a product of the material
world. The living being is an eternal servant of Krishna. Only the body
is produced by material nature, but in ignorance we identify with this
temporary material body,
which may be Indian, American, German or Chinese. Actually, we have
nothing
to do with this body. The body is just covering the eternal soul. Our
real
position is to serve Vishnu. When we develop an affinity to hear about
Vishnu,
then we gradually come out of ignorance and develop devotional service.
Devotional service is the natural life of every living
being. No one can be happy unless he learns how to serve Vishnu. In
material life everyone is trying to get service from someone else, but
in spiritual life everyone is trying to give service to Vishnu. This
attitude actually makes the living entity happy. In contact with
matter, the soul's activity becomes adulterated and exhibits lust,
desire, hankering, inactivity, foolishness, and sleep. The effect of
devotional service is complete elimination of the influence of passion
and ignorance. The devotee is fixed at once in the
mode of goodness, and he makes further progress, rising to the position
of vasudeva or the state of unmixed sattva, or suddha-sattva
(pure goodness). Only in this suddha-sattva state can one
always see Krishna eye-to-eye by dint of pure affection for the Lord.
A devotee is always in the mode of unalloyed goodness,
and therefore he harms no one; but the non-devotee, however educated he
may be, is always causing harm. A devotee is neither foolish nor
passionate.
The harmful, foolish and passionate cannot be devotees of the Lord,
however
they may advertise themselves as devotees by outward dress. A devotee
is
always decorated with all the good qualities of God. Quantitatively
such
qualifications may be different, but qualitatively both the Lord and
His
devotee are one and the same. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.19 ).
In the material world, one may be highly qualified and
respected, but such qualifications and respect are always harmful and
frustrating, because ultimately everything material will pass away into
oblivion. Although a devotee may be materially imperfect, he is always
good
and beneficial for everyone, because devotional service of the Lord is
eternal
and beneficial for everyone.
We have to learn the purpose of human life. Instead of
becoming attracted to temporary material opulences, we should pursue
our eternal nature, serving Vishnu under all circumstances. Nowadays,
it
is fashionable to be godless and atheistic, but such godlessness and
atheism has not brought any happiness anywhere. It is better to be
submissive, humble, God conscious and make progress out of the dark,
materialistic existence, and go home, back to Godhead. This movement
teaches people how to advance spiritually. In this way, human society
can make an ultimate solution to the problems of birth, death, old age,
and disease, which cannot be solved by any materialistic scientist,
philosopher, or politician.
The simple formula for advancing in Krishna
consciousness has been given to us by Lord Chaitanya: to chant the holy
names of the
Lord--Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare
Rama,
Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare--and to follow the four regulative
principles,
giving up animal killing, or the eating of meat, fish and eggs, giving
up
taking intoxicants, giving up illicit sex life and giving up gambling.
Avoiding
these four things and practicing this simple process of chanting the
Hare
Krishna maha-mantra will bring us out of our present
situation
and into transcendental life. From there we will make more and more
progress,
according to our desire.
It is not something sentimental or cultish. It is
scientific, authoritative, and it is going on now, practically, in the
shape of the Hare Krishna movement. It does not matter whether one is a
student, a scholar, a businessman, a worker or a housewife. Everyone is
Krishna's part and parcel, or servant, and unless we come to this
understanding and practice we actually cannot be happy by any material
arrangements.
We ask everyone to try to practice chanting Hare Krishna either at
home,
at work, on the street or wherever, and follow these four principles:
no
intoxication, no meat eating, no illicit sex, and no gambling. Hare
Krishna.
