By Hansadutta das
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Who is your wife and who is your
son?
The cycle of birth and death is very strange indeed. Who are you? To
whom
do you belong? And where have you come from? Oh brother, just
contemplate
this truth.
In connection with this verse, there is a very
instructive story in the Sixth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam
about
a king named Chitraketu. King Chitraketu married millions of wives in
hope of begetting a son, but because he was not destined to have any
children, all his wives proved to be barren. Therefore the King was
very unhappy.
Generally, those in the royal order are very keen on leaving behind an
heir
to the throne. But King Chitraketu was unfortunate. He could not beget
any
children, and he was very unhappy. One day, whilst he was lamenting,
the
great sage Angira Muni happened to pass through the kingdom and paid
the
King a visit. Angira Muni saw that the King was very unhappy, and he
inquired
from him what the cause of his lamentation was. The King admitted, "I
am
not happy. Although I have everything desirable, I have no son. Please
bless
me that I may have a son."
Angira performed a sacrifice, and the prasadam
(remnants of foodstuff from that sacrifice) was given to the King with
the instruction to give it to his queen. Angira promised the King he
would certainly have a son, but that his son would be the cause of
great jubilation and, at the same time, great lamentation for the King.
King Chitraketu, being so desirous of having a son, thought to himself,
"Yes, a son will
certainly bring me great happiness and jubilation. He may sometimes be
mischievous and may bring me some lamentation, but it is better to have
a mischievous son than to have no son at all."
In due course of time, one of his queens became pregnant
and gave birth to a son. Naturally, the King was very happy, and he
became attached to his son more and more every day. But the other
queens were
jealous of Queen Kritadyuti, who bore the son of King Chitraketu and
thus
became the object of the King's affection since all the other queens
were
without children. Out of envy, the other queens conspired and poisoned
the child. When the King and the Queen found the child dead one
morning,
they were overwhelmed with grief and lamentation, and the King lost all
composure.
It so happened that at that time Narada Muni and Angira
Muni were passing through the kingdom. They visited the King and beheld
his lamentation. When they understood what had happened, they began to
instruct the King in the following way:
While King Chitraketu, overcome by
lamentation, lay like a dead body at the side of the dead body of his
son, the two great sages, Narada and Angira, instructed him about
spiritual consciousness,
as follows:
"O King, what relationship does the dead body for which you lament have
with you? What relationship do you have with him? You may say that you
are now related as father and son, but do you think this relationship
existed before? Does it truly exist now? And will it continue to exist
in the future?" (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.15.2)
"O King, as small particles of sand sometimes come together and are
sometimes separated due to the force of the waves, the living entities
who have accepted material bodies sometimes come together and are
sometimes separated by the force of time." (Srimad-Bhagavatam
6.15.3)
"When seeds are sown in the ground, they are sometimes grow into plants
and sometimes not. Sometimes the ground is not fertile, and the sowing
of seed is unproductive. Similarly, sometimes a prospective father,
being
impelled by the potency of the Supreme Lord, can beget a child but
sometimes
conception does not take place. Therefore, one should not lament over
the
artificial relationship of parenthood, which is ultimately controlled
by
the Supreme Lord." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.15.4)
"O King, both you and us--your advisers, wives and ministers--as
well as everything moving and not moving throughout the entire cosmos
at
this time, are in a temporary situation. Before our birth this
situation
did not exist, and after our death it will no longer exist. Therefore,
our
situation is now temporary, although it is not false." (Srimad-Bhagavatam
6.15.5)
"From one seed another seed is generated, O King, so from one body (the
body of the father), through another body (the body of the mother), a
third body is generated (the body of a son). As the elements of the
material body are eternal, the living entity who appears through these
material
elements is also eternal." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.15.7)
"Divisions of generalization and specification, such as nationality and
individuality, are the imaginations of persons who are not advanced
in knowledge." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.15.8)
Sri Shukadeva Goswami continued: Thus enlightened by the instructions
of Narada and Angira, King Chitraketu became hopeful with knowledge.
Wiping his shriveled face with his hand, the King began to speak. (Srimad-Bhagavatam
6.15.9)
These are the first instructions that Angira and Narada
gave to the King:
As grains of sand are brought together and
then separated by the waves of the ocean, similarly, material bodies
are
brought together and then again dispersed by the waves of time.
In another part of Srimad-Bhagavatam it is
said that just as travelers at an inn meet for some time during their
meal and when their meals are finished again go their separate ways,
similarly, living entities are brought together by the force of karma
in family relationships, communal relationships and national
relationships and then are again separated by time. All the
relationships in connection with this temporary material body are also
temporary. Our permanent identity is in connection with Krishna. Every
living entity is an eternal servant of God, but in the material
condition we have rejected that eternal relationship. We are falsely
trying to establish our own independent relationships of master and
servant. This is called maya (illusion). Although it exists for
some time, the body is ultimately temporary, and therefore it is known
as maya (unreal).
After Narada and Angira instructed the King, the
King was still feeling unhappy. He wanted to see his son just one more
time
and he requested the sages, "Please allow me to associate with my son
just
once more." The sages, because of their perfection in mystic power,
were
able to recall the dead son, or the departed soul of King Chitraketu's
son.
That is explained as follows:
"My dear King, now you are actually
experiencing the misery of a person who has sons and daughters. O King,
owner of the
state of Surasena, one's wife, house, the opulence of his kingdom and
his
various other opulences and objects of sense perception are all the
same
inasmuch as they are temporary. One's kingdom, military power,
treasury,
servants, ministers, friends and relatives are all causes of fear,
illusion,
lamentation and distress. They are like a gandharva-nagara, a
non-existent
palace that one imagines to exist in the forest. Because they are
impermanent,
they are no better than illusions, dreams and mental concoctions." (
Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.15.21-23)
The two sages instructed King Chitraketu that
in fact all kinds of material possessions--sons, daughter, kingdom,
treasury, horses, friends, relatives--are always sources of misery,
lamentation,
illusion, fear and distress, because all these objects, although
externally
very attractive, have no permanent existence in time and space.
The basic principle of material existence is attachment.
Attachment is the cause of all our distress and suffering because all
attachments must eventually be broken due to the fact that every
material object is
by nature temporary, however attractive it may be. We have seen in the
past
five thousand years empires have come and gone, just as daisies come up
in
the spring in the fields and again vanish when the season passes away.
We are always advised by Vedic literature to become
detached from material attractions. The most attractive feature of
material life is sex. Everyone is after sex enjoyment. Young boys are
attached to young girls, and young girls are attracted by young boys.
But youth fades away into old age, old age brings disease, and disease
is the forewarning of death. Death, of course, means the dissolution of
our material situation. However powerful, popular, or wealthy one may
be, he must ultimately be
overcome by death.
The two sages went on to say:
"These visible objects like wife,
children and property are life's dreams and mental concoctions.
Actually,
what we see has no permanent existence. It is sometimes seen and
sometimes
not. Only because of our past actions do we create such mental
concoction, and because of these concoctions we perform further
activities." (
Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.15.24)
When the sages called the child back into the dead body,
the living entity re-entered his dead body for a short time
and spoke in reply to Narada Muni's request. The living entity said:
"According to the results of my fruitive
activities, I, the living being, transmigrate from one body to another,
sometimes going to the species of lower animals, sometimes going to the
species of lower animals, sometimes among the vegetables, and sometimes
to
the human species. Therefore, in which birth were these two my mother
and
father? No one is actually my mother and father. How can I accept these
two
people as my parents?" (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.16.4 )
The King and Queen were in illusion, thinking that
their son was their property, just as all conditioned souls think
of their children as their particular property--my son, my
daughter, my wife, my husband. Everyone thinks in
terms of proprietorship. But here, we hear
the son of King Chitraketu exclaim,
"In every birth I have had a father and
mother. Sometimes I was born in the animal kingdom, sometimes I was
born in the demigod's society, sometimes in the vegetable kingdom. In
which
birth were these two people my parents?"
Then he goes on to say:
"In fact, I have no parents. I
am actually an eternal part and parcel of the Supreme living entity,
the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna."
Then the living entity spoke further:
"In this material world, which advances life a
river that carries away the living entity, all people become friends,
relatives and enemies in due course of time. They also act neutrally,
they mediate, they despise one another, and they act in many other
relationships. Nonetheless, despite these various transactions, no one
is permanently
related." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.16.5)
"Just as gold and other commodities are continually transferred from
one place to another in due course of purchase and sale, so the living
entity, as a result of his fruitive activities, wanders throughout the
entire universe being injected into various wombs in different species
of life by one kind of father after another." (Srimad-Bhagavatam
6.16.6)
In the Third Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam
(3.31.1) it is said:
karmana daiva netrena
jantur dehopapattaye
According to one's work,
and under the supervision of superior authority, the living entity is
put
into the womb of a mother in a particle of male semina.
Although we are conceived by the
combination of mother and father, or male and female, the living
entity,
in fact, is not the son or daughter of anyone. The living entity is by
nature
spiritual. The mother and father are just incidental. They create a
favorable
condition in which the soul takes shelter and then expands to develop a
particular
kind of body according to his past pious or impious actions. In this
particular life we have a mother and father. But before this life we
also had a mother and father, and when this life is finished, we shall
have another mother
and father. As living spirit soul, we are actually part and parcel of
Krishna. The mother and father are just temporary. Mother and father
are also subject to the miseries of birth, death, old age and disease.
Although the mother and father act as the guardians of the children,
they cannot really give
any relief to the children from the problems of material
existence--birth,
old age, disease and death. Therefore, in the human life there are
books
of knowledge (shastras) which are for helping the conditioned
soul
to get out of the cycle of birth and death. The value of human life is
that
one we revive our original consciousness and relationship with God and
be
released from the illusory existence in relationship to this body.
Then the son of King Chitraketu spoke as follows:
"A few living entities are born in the human
species and others are born as animals. Although
both are living entities, their relationships are impermanent. An
animal
may remain in the custody of a human being for some time, and then the
same
animal may be transferred to the possession of another human being. As
soon
as the animal goes away, the former proprietor no longer has a sense of
ownership. As long as the animal is in his possession, he certainly has
an affinity for it, but as soon as the animal is sold the affinity is
lost. ( Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.16.7)
"Even though one living entity becomes connected with another because
of a relationship based on bodies that are perishable, the living
entity is eternal. Actually, it is the body that is born or lost--not
the living entity. One should not accept that the living entity takes
birth or dies. The living entity actually has no relationship with
so-called fathers and mothers. As long as he appears as the son of a
certain father and mother
as a result of his past fruitive actions, he has a connection with the
body
given by that father and mother. Thus he falsely accepts himself as
their
son and acts affectionately. After he dies, however, the relationship
is
finished. Under these circumstances, one should not be falsely involved
with
jubilation and lamentation. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.16.8)
"The living entity is eternal and imperishable because he actually has
no beginning and no end. He never takes birth or dies. He never takes
birth or dies. He is the basic principle of all types of bodies, yet he
does not belong to the bodily category. The living entity is so sublime
that he is equal in quality to the Supreme Lord. Nonetheless, because
he
is extremely small he is prone to be illusioned by the external energy,
and thus creates various bodies for himself according to his different
desires."
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.16.9)
We are just witnessing the transformation of different
modes of nature, of which this material body--composed of earth, water,
fire, air, ether, and so on--is just a fragment, as a drop of water is
just a fragment or part of the great ocean. Similarly, this material
body is just a fragment of the entire body of this material universe.
The
universe is like a great machine, each part interacting with every
other
part. The living entity, however, is not a product or creation of the
universal
machine but is a spiritual spark within the material world.
As long as we identify with this material atmosphere,
which is a foreign place for the eternal, spiritual
soul, we shall feel the sufferings of birth, death, old age and
disease.
As long as a sleeping man identifies with his dreams, he experiences
pleasure
and pain in terms of the dreaming situation. Actually, there is no
pleasure
or pain in dreams; it is only a kind of hallucination. Therefore, when
the
sleeping man is awakened, all his sufferings come to an end. Similarly,
when
the conditioned soul is enlightened with perfect knowledge of Krishna
consciousness
by the spiritual master and the shastra, all his material
miseries
immediately come to an end.
We cannot counteract material misery by material
activity because the cause of our misery is acceptance of the material
atmosphere as all-in-all, whereas in fact it is just a kind of
shadow.
Hearing transcendental knowledge from the bona fide
source is the only way our illusion can actually be
dissolved. When there is morning fog, we cannot see clearly, but with
the
rising of the sun, the fog is automatically dissipated. Similarly, as
long
as we remain devoid of transcendental knowledge we shall be in the fog
of
material existence, but just by hearing the message of Krishna
consciousness this foggy consciousness is dissolved.
Krishna consciousness has nothing to do with our
intellectual or mental power. It has only to do with our
willingness to hear transcendental sound vibration. That is the
significance of this movement: it is organized for broadcasting
transcendental sound
vibration. Even though we may not intellectually comprehend, it
nevertheless
acts, just as medicine acts although we may not know the medicinal
composition. We may not understand what this philosophy is, what the
temple is, what this
Krishna consciousness is movement is, but if we somehow or other come
in
touch with it, it will act in its own way because it is not something
mundane.
It is something transcendental.
For everyone in material life, his wife, children,
friends, countrymen, money, property and prestige are very important
considerations. But if we hear from Srimad-Bhagavatam
and other Vedic literatures, we can get relief from the anxiety which
accompanies our attachment to material things. It is not exactly that
we have to give up our wife, children and money, but we have to know
the real nature of these things. We have to know that they are, after
all, temporary objects of this world. As long as we have to move in the
temporary world, we should do the needful, but we should simultaneously
understand that we have to give them up sooner or later. Our time
should be spent in understanding our eternal nature so that at the time
of death we can withdraw our attachment and consciousness, as a turtle
withdraws its limbs during a time of danger. When we can withdraw our
consciousness, attachment and our intelligence from
temporary objects, then we shall be situated in our eternal
constitutional position as servants of Krishna. Hare Krishna.
