By Hansadutta das
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Text 11
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Do not be proud of wealth,
followers,
or youth, because time snatches all these away in a moment. Having
understood that this entire material existence is simply illusory, you
should enter
into the spiritual platform on the strength of your realization.
Three things are mentioned in this verse: wealth,
followers or admirers and our youth. These are the three objects of
material enjoyment. Everyone is trying to increase his wealth by
various schemes. Indeed,
the American way of life is based on this concept of capitalizing by
enterprise.
America has become the wealthiest nation on the face of the earth,
because
they have organized society for capitalizing on or exploiting the
resources
of material nature by any means. The second item mentioned is followers
or
admirers. Everyone wants to become very popular or very famous and have
many
admirers. Politics is based on this principle of making propaganda in
order
to become a prominent, famous personality. By propaganda even an
insignificant
man can become very popular. He may not have any good qualifications,
but
if he can make propaganda then he can become popular. The third item
mentioned
is youth. Youth means women, enjoyment, comfort, sense gratification.
In
youth everyone wants to satisfy his senses to the maximum degree.
Especially everyone wants to satisfy the genitals. That is possible in
youth. These are
the three attractions of material life.
Shankaracharya says that we should not become proud of
wealth, woman or prestige, because in time all these things are taken
away.
Although one may become wealthy, popular and enjoy his senses, that
situation
will not remain for all time. It is only momentary. We may forget about
the
powerful, inevitable influence of time, but time and death do not
forget
anyone, and in due course they come and take us away. Therefore an
intelligent,
thinking person should not waste his valuable time and energy in
pursuing
things which can never be. We can never be wealthy, popular or
comfortable,
because time is always imperceptibly, relentlessly driving us on to old
age,
disease and finally death.
In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, time is compared
to the wind, a powerful wind which disperses the clouds. The clouds
look
very massive and impressive, but the wind scatters them until they
vanish.
Similarly, we are very much enchanted with our prestige, wealth,
comforts
and advancement of economics, science and medicine, but in time all
will
be scattered away into the air of oblivion.
So many great personalities have moved on the face of
the earth, forming empires and dynasties. Now they are all scattered,
vanished,
and we cannot even remember the names, the dates, the places of such
empires
and emperors, except for a few--Napoleon, Alexander, Genghis Khan,
Akhbar,
Stalin, Hitler, Mao-tse Tung, President Kennedy. Their rise and fall
are
like a kaleidoscope which is ever changing, very enchanting and
attractive.
Although very grand, it actually has no substance. Similarly, the
present
empire of modern technology and science, which we see about us in the
form
of skyscrapers, airplanes, automobiles and telephones, will also be
scattered
by the winds of time. "Time I am," Krishna says, "the destroyer of
worlds.
I am the beginning, and the middle, and the end of all beings. No being
can exist without Me." (Bhagavad-gita 11.32, 10.20)
Mattah parataram nanyat/ kinchid asti dhananjaya:
"There is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon
Me as pearls are strung on a thread." (Bhagavad-gita 7.7)
Whatever
is seen, either material or spiritual, is just an exhibition of the
energy
of the Lord. It is said that just as the cloth is woven by threads
going
this way and that, the final product being a cloth with some design,
similarly
the whole creation is an interweaving of the energy of the Supreme,
both
the spiritual energy and material energies.
The Supreme Lord is above the temporary manifested
fabric
of this material existence. In time it wears out, and the whole thing
is
dissolved. So instead of becoming attached to this illusory exhibition
of
material nature, we should rather try to understand the permanent,
eternal
nature, which is blissful and cognizant.
This is the sum and substance of human life:
self-realization
(atma-tattva ). We are meant for inquiring into the Absolute
Truth,
the ultimate perfection of life. That was the basis of Vedic
civilization.
Now there is no standard knowledge. There is no awareness of the
importance
of human life. Everyone takes it for granted that life is meant for
eating,
sleeping and sex enjoyment and when this life is finished, then we
shall
just vanish into the void and attain eternal, impersonal, vacant
existence
in the void.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Life is
continuous.
Even after the annihilation of this body, we shall continue to
experience
the hopes and fears which we experience at this very moment, but we
shall
be in a disembodied or subtle state of existence. Just as when a man
finishes
his daily activity and lies down to rest, his existence does not stop;
his
desires, his hopes, his fears are still there. Everything continues to
haunt
him, but in another plane, a dreaming plane, a subtle plane, an
inactive mental
condition. We say, "Asleep." Although one is sleeping, still the soul
is
awake, and the soul is witnessing all the desires, frustrations, hopes
and
fears of the mind. But the body does not act; only the mind acts, and
when
sleep comes to an end, then again the senses are put into action to
pursue
the desires of the mind. In this way, we are existing from one day to
the
next, from one week to another, month after month, year after year,
lifetime
after lifetime, struggling to eat, to sleep, to defend and to enjoy
sex.
This struggle for existence is unnatural because
it is temporary. We want a permanent life of full knowledge and bliss,
and
the Vedic wisdom gives us information on how to come to this eternal,
blissful
life, where everything is perfectly known. This knowledge makes up what
is known as yoga. The yoga process, or the yoga
system,
is the science of the soul, and anyone in any station of life can
practice bhakti-yoga and make himself perfectly pure and
Krishna
conscious in this very lifetime. This alone constitutes a human life.
To
eat and sleep and beget children through sex is also there in the lower
species
of life. Only in human life is there question of Absolute Truth. The
opportunity
to obtain freedom from birth and death, to deliberate on our original
nature
and our eternal relationship with God--that is the special feature of
this
human life.
