By Hansadutta das
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Just as the position of a drop of
water on a lotus petal is very precarious, even so this life is
extremely uncertain. Know that the entire world is consumed by disease
and self-conceit, and smitten with sorrow.
Everyone is in illusion. We have accepted this material
body as the self, and we are engaged in activities for satisfying this
temporary bodily existence. This is called maya (illusion),
because the body is actually only a dress covering the real self known
as the eternal soul (jivatma ). In this mistaken concept of
life, everyone is trying to become happy by material activities.
Material activities are aimed at bodily comforts, pleasure and
prestige. For attaining this end of bodily satisfaction, we have
created all kinds of extraordinary, novel and unique things to satisfy
our senses--technological advancement, scientific advancement,
economics, politics, music, art, poetry and industry. All of these are
products of
this mistaken concept of life. The airplane, automobile, skyscraper and
other
modern creations of technology are, after all, only instruments which
are
created to either transport this body from one place to another, or to
protect
this body from the cold, heat, winds and rain. Everything we examine
aims
at this body--our clothing, our make-up, our position in life, our
wife, our
children and our bank balance. Everything is there somehow or other for
maintaining
this temporary material body.
However, we cannot be happy with simply maintaining the
body--even though it may be done in a very sophisticated and
extraordinary way, as we are doing in the modern age through science
and technology--simply because we are not this body. We may take care
of this body but that does not mean that we shall be happy because we
have enough to eat, because we have a good place to sleep, because we
have a very enjoyable sex life or because we are protected by a
powerful nation. These are the four material activities: to eat, to
sleep, to defend oneself and to beget children through sex. Of course,
we are obliged to eat something and sleep somewhere, protect ourselves
and beget children, but the point is that these four activities alone
do not actually constitute the human platform of life. They do not help
us to attain perfection in life. Because at the present moment there is
no knowledge of the aim of human life, we take it for granted that to
eat more, to sleep more, to have more sex, and to have more defense is
perfection. But Vedic literatures say no; to eat, sleep, have sex and
defend oneself
is not unique to human beings.
Animals are eating, sleeping, defending themselves,
having sex and producing children. Therefore, unless a human being has
accepted a transcendental goal in life, he is not really any better
than an animal. In fact, the human being is more degraded, because the
animals, who have no sophisticated, highly developed intelligence and
consciousness, no universities, no government, at least act within the
laws of nature. They do not kill unnecessarily, as human beings do,
with atomic weapons and other instruments of destruction. The animals
do not abort their children in the womb, in the
name of progress. They do not eat more than they require; and they do
not
waste their time unnecessarily constructing skyscrapers just for a
place to
sleep.
When the human being is in ignorance about the goal of
life, he becomes very degraded and destructive, as we are now
experiencing. All over the world there is destruction going on. Every
day a new government is toppled, someone is assassinated, and hundreds
and thousands of people are being killed. We watch it on television,
read about it in the newspaper, and in between we have our
advertisements for liquor, cigarettes, sex and cinemas. That we find
this all very entertaining indicates our degradation. This is the sign
of Kali-yuga--ignorance, darkness, no knowledge; people simply eat,
sleep, defend and have sex, without any awareness about the real
problems of life.
Shankaracharya compares this life to a drop of water on
a lotus petal. If we go to a pond and see lilies or lotuses, we see a
very
pretty drop of water reflecting the sunlight on a fresh, green leaf.
But
with a slight ripple, the drop of water rolls off, falls into the
water, and is finished. Shankaracharya compares this life to that
position: a slight disturbance, and our whole life may be ended.
Every day it happens, not only to ordinary men such as
you and I, but also to big men. There are so many examples. We may be
killed at any moment. There are so many dangerous situations. When we
drive on the road, we might be killed. When we walk on the street, we
might be killed. There might be an earthquake, and the whole thing
might be swallowed up--hundreds and thousands of human beings and
skyscrapers swallowed up in a moment. This is our real position.
We are situated in ignorance. We are very busy trying to
improve our eating, sleeping, sex and defending. We are trying to
improve our wealth, prestige and position. We want to be honored and
loved by friends, relatives and countrymen. But the truth is that we
are going to be destroyed, either today, or tomorrow, or after a
hundred years. In Bhagavad-gita (2.27) it is said, "For
one who is born it is certain he will die." Death is a most certain
thing and yet there is no program anywhere in human society to prepare
a person to die. On the contrary, all the programs of the schools and
universities, all the businesses, politics, economics and so on, are
all preparing us to enjoy, to live and be happy--although no one will
live and no one will be happy. This is ignorance. It is the greatest
ignorance to waste one's valuable time, energy and intelligence in
pursuing something which has no future. When we take a hotel room for a
night or two, we are not going to endeavor to improve the room by
purchasing paint, decorating, and putting up new curtains, because we
know that this is just temporary. Tomorrow or the day after, we will
go. Similarly, we are in transit in this material world. We have come
here, helpless and suffering, out of the womb of our mother. We have,
somehow or other, helter-skelter, grown up through the trials and
tribulations of babyhood, childhood, and youth. Now we are adults, but
still we are bewildered. We have not been able to determine
our position. We do not know where we have come from. We do not know
what
will happen tomorrow. Yet, we do not make any program to inquire, "What
am I? Where have I come from? Where do I have to go? What is this
material creation? Is there a God and if so, Who is He, where is He and
how can I
understand Him?"
This is our unfortunate situation. We are helplessly
lost,
stranded here in outer space and trying to be merry by eating and
sleeping--"Eat,
drink and be merry." But this actually won't bring us any happiness.
Our
material advancement has not solved the real problems. The real problem
for
everyone is birth (which is painful), old age (which is undesirable),
disease
(which is unwanted) and death (which is terrifying). We cannot solve
the
problems of birth and death simply by ignoring them and absorbing
ourselves
in these trivial pleasures of the senses.
The shastras (scriptures) compare sex to an
itch. Our inclination is to relieve the itch. But just as when someone
has poison ivy, if he scratches it, it becomes worse. He doesn't get
any relief by scratching; it only spreads and becomes more aggravated.
The cure is not to touch it. The same thing applies to sex. There is
some itching, some urge, and we
want to relieve it. We want to get some pleasure by scratching that
urge.
A young man and woman get together, but there is no relief; it becomes
aggravated--the man and woman are dissatisfied. He gets another woman
and another and another, and in this way people are jumping from one
sex partner to another.
As far as eating is concerned, of course because we have
this body, we have to eat something, but only as much as necessary;
otherwise that also becomes a source of misery. When we eat more than
we require, then disease sets in. At least 80% of all disease in
America is due to overeating. Americans eat four times a day--in the
morning, in the afternoon, in the evening and a midnight snack. Not
only do they eat too much, but they also eat all kinds of forbidden and
abominable things. They eat animals--cows, chickens, the eggs of the
chickens and fish. In some countries people eat snails, worms, snakes
and cockroaches. These things are forbidden for human beings. The shastras
(scriptures) give the human being a particular diet. Actually, every
species of life has a prescribed diet. The diet for the human being is
to eat six things: vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, sugar and milk. We
can combine them in hundreds of thousands of ways and create wonderful
eatables. That science is described in the Vedas. We
know that science from our spiritual master and are introducing it
through vegetarian restaurants and prasadam (food offered to
Krishna) in the temple.
Eating too much and then oversleeping go hand-in-hand.
People are frustrated in their attempts at having sex and eating, so
then they think, "Let me sleep. I couldn't eat enough, I couldn't have
enough sex, so let me sleep more." On Saturday and Sunday, when there
is no work, people look forward to sleeping at least ten or twelve
hours. But when we sleep more than we require, we also suffer: during
sleep our breathing takes on a different and faster pattern, and
because we are breathing more than necessary, we are reducing our life
span. Each one of us has a life span
measuring a certain number of breaths. When those breaths are used up,
our
time is up. Therefore the yoga, especially the method of
pranayama described in the ashtanga-yoga system, teaches
the yogi how to slow down his breathing, and in this way, he
lives
longer. That is the secret. Foolish Westerners think that by sleeping
more
they will be healthier and live longer. They think that by eating more
they
will be stronger and stouter and that by having more sex they will
become
healthy. All this is exactly contrary to the truth. They are jogging to
improve their health, but in Calcutta the riksha wallas cycle
their rikshas transporting passengers back and forth
all day long, yet they only live to be thirty years old.
These are all concocted ideas. In ignorance, we are
thinking to improve our happiness, but in fact we are only increasing
our misery by eating, sleeping, having sex and defending. Every day we
pick up the newspaper
and see there is another increase in our defense budget for producing
more
weapons--tanks, jet fighters, atomic bombs, neutron bombs and
intercontinental ballistic missiles. Everyone is increasing his defense
measures and thinking thereby to insure his life, that by these
measures he will not be able to be killed by the enemy. This is another
form of ignorance, because even if there is no enemy, we must die. If
there is no war and we have peace forever, still we shall have to die.
This is the ignorance of the materialistic way of life which aims at
bodily comfort, enjoyment and reservation.
The body cannot be made comfortable. We cannot get any
pleasure out of this body; neither can it be preserved for longer than
it is destined to exist. Then what shall we do? Simply sit and cry
because material life is so futile? Should we do nothing? Should we
become zero? No. We should try to become Krishna conscious. We should
try to understand what we are. We should take up spiritual activities,
rather than material activities.
We should take up activities which will benefit the soul, and we should
minimize activities which benefit the body. We should only accept as
much activity as is necessary to maintain this body and soul together.
We have to eat
and sleep, but not more than necessarily--not that the whole day we are
running to earn money and then at night shopping, taking intoxication,
having
sex and sleeping. This is the materialistic life: earning money,
shopping
for items to satisfy our senses and at night having sex and sleeping.
That
is all. We must remember that this life is like that drop of water on
the
lotus petal.
Shankaracharya further explains here that the entire
world is consumed by disease and pride and smitten with lamentation.
Everyone is full of lamentation and desire. That is a symptom of
material life. We see that everyone is running hither and thither in
the street. What motivates them? What moves hundreds and thousands and
millions of human beings daily across the Bay Bridge, across the San
Rafael Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the George Washington Bridge,
moving them back and forth, uptown and downtown? What is moving them?
Desire. Everyone has got so many desires--to get money, to get women
and to become famous. But if we become free from this unnecessary
desire for material sense enjoyment, then we shall become peaceful.
We should sit down and become thoughtful. We should
become introspective and think, "Why am I here? Where am I going? What
is the use of all this hard labor, only to be lost in due course of
time through disease, old age and death?" We should become intelligent.
bahunam janmanam ante
jñanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti
sa mahatma sudurlabah
"After many, many births," Krishna says, "the wise man surrenders
unto Me, Vasudeva [Krishna], because he knows Me to be the cause of all
causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare." (
Bhagavad-gita
7.19) We have to become thoughtful, not thoughtless. We have to become
careful, not careless. This is possible simply by hearing the words of
Vedic literature from authorized devotees of the Lord.
The purpose of this movement for Krishna consciousness
is to create facility so that the public can come and hear about the
goal of human life. All other places--the cinema, the theater, the
skyscraper, the restaurants--are created for sense gratification. The
temple of Krishna is the only place created for enlightenment and
liberation. You can come to the temple and hear the truth of Krishna
consciousness. When one has
assimilated this real knowledge, then he gets freedom.
When your knowledge has passed out of the
dense forest of delusion, you will become indifferent to all that has
been heard and all that is to be heard.
That knowledge lights up everything as the sun lights up everything in
the daytime. (Bhagavad-gita 2.52, 5.16)
We are not explaining something mysterious, sectarian,
dogmatic or cultish. This is common sense. This is scientific, logical
and reasonable. Everyone knows that he will die, and yet no one makes
any inquiry or any effort into solving this problem. We take it for
granted that this is all there is, and we just have to "grin and bear
it," or "be a man and take our hard knocks." That is the philosophy of
an ass--not of a human
being, scientist or philosopher. Is this the result of all our
scientific progress and intellectual understanding--"just grin and bear
it?" But there is an alternative, and that alternative is offered by
Vedic literature.
It is not a new thing, but a very old, ancient wisdom.
To practically understand all these things and apply them in our life,
there is a process which we should accept. That is bhakti-yoga.
It is the lifestyle for those who are preparing to go home, back to
Godhead. Bhakti-yoga is not a whimsical process manufactured
according to our likes and dislikes. It is the standard lifestyle which
has been prescribed by the rishis (sages) and the yogis
of ancient India. Such instructions are contained in the shastras,
especially Bhagavad-gita, which is known as the yoga-shastra.
This should be accepted by everyone. Every human being
should be a yogi, a devotee of Vishnu, because that is our real
identity. We have accepted a temporary, false identity in terms of this
body, but that is not our real identity or real position. When actors
take a part in a drama and play on the stage, that is not their real
identity; that identity is only temporary, and when the play is over,
they resume their real personality. Similarly, we are just acting on
the stage of life, the stage of this world. As Shakespeare said, "All
the world's a stage and the men and women merely players," who strut
their hour upon the stage and then are seen no more. "Out, out, brief
candle, life's but a walking shadow." If we have a black body, then we
shall play the part of a Negro. If we have a white body, then we shall
play the part of a white man. Sometimes we get the body or a Chinaman,
or a Russian or an Indian. But we are not this body. We haven't got to
waste our whole life pretending that we are black or white. We should
now accept our real part, our real identity as eternal servants of
Krishna. That is the purpose for which this movement is organized. That
is the purpose of human life. So, we are asking everyone: please think
about this important matter, try to understand it, and become Krishna
conscious.
We are optimists, not pessimists. Sometimes we
are criticized--"Oh, you are so pessimistic. Why are you always talking
of death, old age and disease?" We are not pessimists, because we do
not
accept birth, death, old age and disease as being all there is. We are
optimistic
that there is something more. Let us try for that eternal, divine life
of
Krishna Consciousness, free from birth, death, old age and disease. Why
should we waste our time working under the cloud of death?
Even Napoleon, such a powerful personality… he moved the
whole world, but death moved him nevertheless, with no
more consideration for Napoleon than the sweeper in the street whose
turn comes to die. Whether you are a Napoleon or a nothing, you cannot
conquer death, old age and disease. No one can do that. No one has done
it in the past, and no one will do it in the future. Therefore the rishis
(sages) of India have recommended, "Don't waste time in temporary
activities. Engage yourself in eternal activities." These eternal
activities are called bhakti-yoga. Bhakti means devotion, and yoga
means connecting or linking. Devote yourself to Krishna and in that way
be connected with Him. This is the only real program for an intelligent
human being.
Another great devotee has prayed in this way:
Both in the day and in the night I remain
sleepless, suffering the pains of the heat and the cold, the wind and
the rain. For a fraction of flickering happiness I have uselessly
served wicked and miserly men. What assurance of real happiness is
there in all one's wealth, sons and family members? This life is
tottering like a drop of water on
a lotus petal. It is the desire and great longing of Govinda dasa to
engage himself in bhakti-yoga, namely hearing, chanting,
glorifying the
Lord, constantly remembering Him and offering prayers to Him, serving
the
lotus feet of the Lord as a servant, worshipping Him with flowers and
incense, and so forth. (Bhajahu Re Mana Sri Nanda-nandana)
This is the same idea. What is the use of all this
material progress? You will still suffer old age, disease and death.
Science cannot save you from death. No amount of wealth can stop old
age. No amount of medicine can stop disease--some kind of disease we
will always suffer. Stop one kind of disease, and you will get another
disease. Nature has innumerable diseases, more diseases than we have
medicine for. Medicine has been going on since time immemorial, but
every year we get another new, unique disease. In this way, we are all
kept busy in the material world. Hare Krishna.
