Chapter
2
Hard
Struggle for Happiness
In
the revealed scriptures the Supreme Lord is described as sac-cid-ananda-vigraha.
Sat means eternal, cit means fully cognizant, ananda means joyful, and vigraha
means that He is a person. Thus the Lord, or the Supreme Godhead, who is one
without a second, is a fully cognizant and eternally joyful personality with a
full sense of His identity. No one is equal to Him or greater than Him. This is
a concise description of the Supreme Lord.
The
living entities (jivas) are minute samples of the Supreme Lord, and being so
they therefore find in their activities the desire for eternal existence, for
complete knowledge, and for happiness. These desires are evident in human
society, and in the upper planetary systems (Svargaloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka,
Maharloka, Brahmaloka, etc.) the living entities enjoy a longer duration of
life, an increased amount of knowledge, and a generally more blissful existence.
But even in the highest planet in this material world, where the duration of
life and standard of enjoyment are thousands and thousands of times greater than
those on earth, there is still old age, disease and death. Consequently the
level of enjoyment is insignificant in comparison to the eternal bliss enjoyed
in the company of the Supreme Lord. Loving service to the Supreme Lord in
different relationships makes even the enjoyment of impersonal Brahman as
insignificant as a drop of water in comparison to the ocean.
Every
living being desires the topmost level of enjoyment in this material world, and
yet everyone is unhappy here. This unhappiness is present on all the higher
planets, despite a longer life span, higher standards of enjoyment and comfort.
That is due to the law of material nature. We can increase the duration of life
and standard to the highest capacity, and yet by the law of material nature we
will be unhappy. The reason for this is that the quality of happiness which is
suitable for our constitution is different from the happiness which is derived
from material activities. The living entity is a minute particle of the superior
spiritual energy of the Lord, which is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, and therefore he
has the necessary propensity for joy which is spiritual in quality.
Unfortunately for him, he is trying vainly to attain his enjoyment from the
foreign atmosphere of material nature.
A
fish that is taken out of the water cannot be happy by any arrangement on land.
He must be supplied with water. In the same way, the minute sac-cid-ananda
living entity cannot be really happy through any amount of planning conceived by
his illusioned brain in this material universe. He must therefore be given a
different type of happiness which is spiritual in essence. Our ambition should
be aimed at enjoying spiritual bliss and not this temporary happiness. Some
philosophers claim that spiritual bliss is attained by negating material
happiness and material existence. Theoretical negation of material activities as
propounded by Sripada Sankaracarya may be effective for an insignificant section
of mankind, but the best and surest way for everyone to attain spiritual bliss
was propounded by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by means of devotional
activities. These devotional activities can change the very face of material
nature.
Hankering
after material happiness is called lust, and lusty activities are sure to meet
with frustration in the long run. The body of a snake is very cool, but if a
man, wanting to enjoy this coolness, garlands himself with a venomous snake, he
will surely be killed by the snake`s venomous bite. The material senses are
compared to snakes; indulgence in material happiness will surely kill our
spiritual identity. Therefore a sane man should be ambitious to find the real
source of happiness.
In
order to find this source, however, we need some knowledge of what that
happiness is. There is the story of the foolish man who had no experience with
sugar cane. When he asked his friend about the characteristics of sugar cane, he
was imperfectly informed that sugar cane resembles the shape of a bamboo stick.
Consequently he began trying to extract juice from bamboo sticks, but naturally
he was baffled in his attempts. This is the situation with the illusioned living
entity who, in his search for eternal happiness, ties to extract happiness from
this material world, which is not only full of miseries but is also transient
and flickering. In Bhagavad-gita the material world is described as being full
of miseries.
abrahma-bhuvanal
lokah
punar avartino `rjuna
mam upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate
"From
the highest planet in the material world, down to the lowest, all are places of
misery, where repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My
abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again." (Bg. 8.16)
The
ambition for happiness is natural and good, but the attempt to derive it from
inert matter by so-called scientific arrangements is an illusory attempt doomed
to frustration. Those who are befooled cannot understand this. How a person is
driven by the lust for material happiness is also described in Bhagavad-gita.
idam
adya maya labdham
imam prapsye manoratham
idam astidam api me
bhavisyati punar dhanam
"The
demoniac person thinks: `So much wealth do I have today, and I will gain more
according to my schemes. So much is mine now, and it will increase in the
future, more and more.` " (Bg. 16.13)
This
atheistic or godless civilization is a huge affair contrived for the
gratification of our senses, and now we are all mad after money in order to
maintain this empty shell. Money is sought after by everyone because that is the
medium of exchange for objects for sense gratification. Obviously the
expectation of peace in such an atmosphere of gold rush pandemonium is a utopian
dream. As long as there is the slightest tinge of sense gratification or desire
for sense gratification, peace will remain far, far away. This is because by
nature we are all eternal servants of the Supreme Lord and therefore cannot
enjoy anything for our personal interests. It is therefore necessary for us to
learn how to employ our senses in the transcendental service of the Lord, and to
utilize everything to serve His interest. This alone can bring about much
desired peace. A part of the body cannot in itself be independently happy. It
can only derive its happiness and pleasure out of serving the entire body. The
Supreme Lord is the whole, and we are the parts, but we are all busily engaged
in activities of self-interest. No one is prepared to serve the Lord. This is
the basic cause for our conditioning in material existence and for our resultant
unhappiness.
From
the highest executive in his skyscraper office down to the coolie in the
street--all are working with the thought of accumulating wealth, legally or
illegally. Actually it is all illegal, for to work for one`s self-interest is
both unlawful and destructive. Even the cultivation of spiritual realization for
one`s own self-interest is unlawful and destructive. The point is that all
activities must be directed to the satisfaction of Krsna and His service.
Those
who are not engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Lord
wrongfully think that they are accumulating so much money day after day.
asa-pasa-satair
baddhah
kama-krodha-parayanah
ihante kama-bhogartham
anyayenartha-sancayan
"Being
bound by hundreds and thousands of desires, by lust and anger, they secure money
by illegal means for sense gratification." (Bg. 16.12)
Consequently,
although there is no lack of money in the world, there is a scarcity of peace.
So much human energy is being diverted to making money, for the general
population has increased its capacity to make more and more dollars, but in the
long run the result is that this unrestricted and unlawful monetary inflation
has created a bad economy all over the world and has provoked us to manufacture
huge and costly weapons to destroy the very result of such cheap money-making.
The leaders of the big money-making countries are not really enjoying peace but
are making plans to save themselves from imminent destruction by nuclear
weapons. In fact, huge sums of money are being thrown into the sea by way of
experiments with these dreadful weapons. Such experiments are being carried out
not only at huge costs but also at the cost of many lives. In this way the
nations are being bound by the laws of karma. When men are motivated by the
impulse for sense gratification, whatever money is earned is spoiled, being
spent for the destruction of the human race. The energy of the human race is
thus wasted by the laws of nature because of man`s aversion to the Lord, who is
actually the proprietor of all energies.
Wealth
is worshiped and is referred to as Mother Laksmi, or the goddess of fortune. It
is her position to serve Lord Narayana, the source of all the naras, or living
beings. The naras are also meant to serve Narayana under the guidance of the
goddess of fortune. The living being cannot enjoy the goddess of fortune without
serving Narayana, and therefore whoever desires to enjoy her wrongly will be
punished by the laws of nature. These laws will make certain that the money
itself will bring about destruction instead of peace and prosperity.
Unlawfully
accumulated money is now being snatched from miserly citizens by various methods
of state taxation for the future civil and international war fund, which is
spending money in a wasteful and destructive manner. The citizens are no longer
satisfied with just enough money to maintain a family nicely and cultivate
spiritual knowledge, both of which are essential in human life. Now everyone
wants money unlimitedly to satisfy insatiable desires. In proportion to the
people`s unlawful desires, their accumulated money is taken away by the agents
of illusory energy in the shape of medical practitioners, lawyers, tax
collectors, societies, constitutions, so-called holy men, famines, earthquakes,
and many similar calamities. One miser who hesitated to purchase a copy of Back
to Godhead spent $2,000 for a week`s supply of medicine and then died. Another
man who refused to spend a cent for the service of the Lord wasted thousands of
dollars in a legal suit between the members of his home. There are innumerable
similar instances occasioned by the dictation of illusory nature. Indeed, that
is the law of nature; if money is not devoted to the service of the Lord, it
must be spent as spoiled energy in the form of legal problems or diseases.
Foolish people do not have the eyes to see such facts; therefore the laws of the
Supreme Lord befool them.
The
laws of nature do not allow us to accept more money than is required for proper
maintenance. There is ample arrangement by the law of nature to provide every
living being with his due share of food and shelter, but the insatiable lusts of
human beings have disturbed the arrangement set forth by the Almighty Father of
all species of life. By the arrangement of the Supreme Lord, there is an ocean
of salt because salt is so necessary for the living being. God has, in the same
manner, arranged for sufficient air and light, which are also essential. Anyone
can collect any amount of salt from the natural storehouse, but constitutionally
we cannot take more salt than what we need. If we take more salt, we spoil the
broth, and if we take less salt our food becomes tasteless. On the other hand,
if we take only what we require, our food is tasty and we are healthy. presently
there is a great deal of concern over the fact that our natural resources are
becoming polluted and exhausted. Actually there is ample supply, but due to
misuse and greed everything is being spoiled. What conservationists and
ecologists do not understand is that everything will continue to be spoiled by
the insatiable lusts of mankind unless this Krsna consciousness process is taken
up. It is impossible to have peace on any platform of existence without Krsna
consciousness.
Man
is therefore suffering due to his insatiable desires and lusts. Not only is man
suffering, but the planet on which he resides, his mother earth, represented in
Srimad-Bhagavatam by mother cow, is also suffering. Once a well-known swami in
India was asked whether God or providence is responsible for the sufferings of
humanity. The swami replied that these sufferings were all God`s pastimes or
lila. The questioner continued to ask why a living entity should be put under
the dictations of the law of karma. The swami could not answer these questions
to the satisfaction of his inquirers. The monists and impersonalists who think
only in terms of the oneness of the living entities with the Supreme Lord cannot
give satisfactory answers to such questions. Such an imperfect reply can hardly
satisfy the heart of a living entity.
The
Lord is described in all scriptures as lila-purusottama, or the personality of
Godhead, who is by His own nature always engaged in transcendental pastimes. In
the Vedanta-sutra He is also described as anandamayo `bhyasat. The monists and
impersonalists try with great difficulty to explain this sutra in diverse ways
in order to support their imperfect theory of oneness and impersonality.
However, the fact remains that ananda, pleasure, cannot be enjoyed alone. That
variety is the mother of enjoyment is a well-known fact. Cities, for instance,
are known to be attractive if they contain a variety of things. Living entities
are naturally attracted by variety, by attractive streets, buildings, cinemas,
parks, conveyances, businesses, employments, foodstuffs, etc. Despite all this
variety, the English poet Cowper once said, "The city is made by man, but
the country is made by God." The countryside is also full of natural
variegatedness in a crude form, whereas in the city this variegatedness is
displayed in a modernized scientific manner. Poets like Cowper are attracted to
the variegatedness of the country, and prosaic people who live in the city are
attracted by the colorful varieties manufactured by man. In any case, it is
variegatedness which attracts people both to the country and the city. This is
the proper explanation of the verse of the Vedanta-sutra.
Many
so-called swamis who are so frequently attracted by the cities often seek a kind
of pleasure in society and feminine friendship. Generally they are not attracted
by the natural beauty of the woods, although they may assume the dress of a man
who is meant to live in the woods. Such swamis are seeking varieties of
enjoyment in matter because they have no information of the variegatedness of
spiritual life. On the one hand they enjoy variegatedness in matter, and on the
other they deny spiritual variegatedness to the Absolute. Because they are
pledged to the theory of monism and impersonalism, they deny that whatever
pertains to matter can pertain also to spirit. According to them, spirit is the
denial of matter. The fact is, however, that spirit is not a negation of matter,
but matter is a perverted reflection of spirit.
The
real pleasure of variety exists in spirit without deluding relativity. On the
other hand, inert matter, in association with dynamic spirit, manifests a false
representation or a perverted reflection of that very spiritual variegatedness
which is so adamantly denied by the monist class of so-called swamis.
As
stated before, the Supreme Lord is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, joyful by nature, and
therefore He expands Himself by His different energies, parts, and
differentiated and plenary portions. The Supreme Lord is the Absolute Truth, and
He is one without a second, but He also includes His diverse energies, parts,
and plenary portions which are simultaneously one with and different from Him.
Because He is joyful by nature, He expands Himself in diverse ways, and the
activities of these expansions are called His transcendental pastimes or His
lila. These pastimes, however, are not blind and inert; they exhibit full sense,
independence, and freedom of action and reaction. The complexities of the
actions and the reactions of the diverse energies of the Absolute Truth
constitute the subject matter of a vast science called the transcendental
science of God, and the Bhagavad-gita is the ABC or primary book of knowledge
for students interested in that science. Every intelligent human being should
become interested in this transcendental science; indeed, according to the
opinions of the sages, human life is only meant for learning this science. The
opening words of the Vedanta-sutra proclaim: "Now is the time to inquire
about Brahman."
Human
life by nature is full of suffering, and lower life forms are even more
miserable. Any sane man with properly discriminating senses can understand that
life in the material world is full of miseries and that no one is free from the
actions and reactions of such miseries. This is not a pessimistic view of life
but is an actual fact which we should not be blind to. The miseries of life are
divided into three categories, namely miseries arising from the body and mind,
miseries arising from other living entities, and miseries arising due to natural
calamities. A sane man must look to eliminate these miseries and thereby become
happy in life. We are all trying to achieve peace and freedom from these
miseries, at least unconsciously, and in the higher intellectual circles there
are attempts to get rid of these miseries by ingenious plans and designs. But
the power that baffles all the plans and designs of even the most intelligent
person is the power of Maya devi, or the illusory energy. The law of karma, or
the result of all actions and reactions in the material world, is controlled by
this all-powerful illusory energy. The activities of this energy function
according to principles and regulations, and they act consciously under the
direction of the Supreme Lord. Everything is done by nature in full
consciousness; nothing is blind or accidental. This material energy is also
called Durga, which indicates that it is a force which is very difficult to
surpass. No one can surpass the laws of Durga by any amount of childish plans.
To
get rid of the sufferings of humanity is simultaneously a very difficult and
also a very easy affair. As long as the conditioned souls, who are themselves
bound up by the laws of nature, manufacture plans to get rid of the three
miseries, there will be no solution. The only effective solutions are those
mentioned in Bhagavad-gita, and we have to adopt them in our practical lives for
our own benefit. The three miseries of material nature are not found in the
pastimes of the Supreme Lord. As mentioned before, He is eternally joyful, and
His transcendental pastimes are not different from Him. Because He is the
Absolute Truth, His name, fame, form, qualities and pastimes are all identical
with Him. His pastimes, therefore, cannot be equated with the sufferings of
humanity as the so-called swami contends. The pastimes of the Supreme Lord are
transcendental to the actual miseries and sufferings of human beings.
The
sufferings of humanity are caused by the misuse of the discriminative power or
the little independence which is given to individual souls. The fraudulent
swamis or mental speculators, in order to remain consistent with the theory of
monism, must pass off the miseries of mankind as the pastimes of God, but
actually these miseries are only the enforced punishments of Maya devi inflicted
upon the misguided conditioned souls.
As
living entities, we are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Indeed, we actually
belong to His superior energy. As such, we may join His transcendental pastimes
in our unconditioned state of life, but as long as we are conditioned by the
laws of karma, in contact with the inferior energy, our sufferings are our own
creations, born of a gross misuse of our little independence. The impersonalist
monists only misguide people by contending that the threefold miseries are a
part of the Lord`s pastimes. Such impersonalists and monists have misguided
their followers because they incorrectly think that the Supreme Lord and the
individual souls are equal in all respects. True, the individual souls are equal
in quality with the Supreme Lord, but not in quantity. If the individual soul
were quantitatively equal to the Supreme Lord, he would have never been
subjected to the laws of material nature. Material nature is subordinate to the
will of the Supreme Lord, and therefore He cannot be subjected to the laws of
material nature. It is contradictory for the Lord to be subjected to the laws of
His own inferior energy.
mattah
parataram nanyat
kincid asti dhananjaya
mayi sarvam idam protam
sutre mani-gana iva
"O
conqueror of wealth (Arjuna), there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests
upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread." (Bg. 7.7)
Again,
Sri Krsna states:
tribhir
gunamayair bhavair
ebhih sarvam idam jagat
mohitam nabhijanati
mam ebhyah param avyayam
"Deluded
by the three modes (goodness, passion, and ignorance), the whole world does not
know Me who am above them and inexhaustible." (Bg. 7.13)
The
individual souls, who are put into the miseries of the material world, are
suffering the resultant reactions of their unsanctioned activities. This is the
verdict of Bhagavad-gita.
tan
aham dvisatah kruran
samsaresu naradhaman
ksipamy ajasram asubhan
asurisv eva yonisu
"Envious,
mischievous, the lowest of mankind, these do I ever put back into the ocean of
material existence, into various demoniac species of life." (Bg. 16.19)
The
parts and parcels are meant to serve the whole, and when they misuse their
independence they are subject to the miseries of the laws of matter, just as
criminals are subject to police action. The state considers its citizens to be
its parts and parcels, and when a citizen misuses his relative independence, the
state puts him under police authority. The life of a citizen outside the prison
and the life of a citizen within the prison are not the same. Similarly, the
sufferings of the living entities within the prison of material nature cannot be
equated with the pastimes of the Supreme Lord which exist in the absolute
freedom of sac-cid-ananda.
No
government wants its citizens to act in such a way that they must go to prison
and suffer tribulations. The prison house is undoubtedly constructed by the
state government, but this does not mean that the government is anxious for its
citizens to be put into it. Indirectly, the disobedient citizens force the
government to construct the prison house. It is not done for the pleasure of the
government, which has to spend a great deal of money in constructing and
maintaining it. On the contrary, the government would be very glad to demolish
prisons altogether provided that there are no disobedient citizens in the state.
In the same way, this material world is created by the Supreme Lord, but the
Supreme Lord does not will that living entities be put in it. The living
entities themselves make that decision. The residents of this material world are
therefore different from those who are eternally engaged in the transcendental
pastimes of the Supreme Lord.
The
impersonal monists have no information of full-fledged independent life in the
eternal spiritual realm. According to them, the spiritual realm is simply void.
This is like prisoners thinking that there is no life outside the prison. Life
outside of a prison is certainly free from prison activities, but is not devoid
of activity. The soul is by nature eternally active, but the impersonalists try
to negate the activities of the soul in the spiritual realm. Thus they
misunderstand the miseries of prison life to be the pastimes of the Supreme
Lord. This is due to their poor fund of knowledge.
The
Supreme Lord never creates the actions and reactions of an individual soul. In
Bhagavad-gita this matter is clearly defined in the following way:
na
kartrtvam na karmani
lokasya srjati prabhuh
na karma-phala-samyogam
svabhavas tu pravartate
nadatte kasyacit papam
na caiva sukrtam vibhuh
ajnanenavrtam jnanam
tena muhyanti jantavah
"The
embodied spirit, master of the city of his body, does not create activities, nor
does he induce people to act, nor does he create the fruits of action. All this
is enacted by the modes of material nature. Nor does the Supreme Spirit assume
anyone`s sinful or pious activities. Embodied beings, however, are bewildered
because of the ignorance which covers their real knowledge." (Bg. 5.14-15)
It
is clear from these passages that the sufferings of humanity are not to be
equated with the pastimes of the Supreme Being, nor is the Supreme Being
responsible for them. The Lord is never responsible for anyone`s vices or
virtues. By vicious actions, we are put into more and more distressful
conditions, whereas by pious actions we place ourselves on the path of
happiness. Thus man is the architect of his own material distress or happiness.
The Lord does not want the living entity to become entangled in the reactions of
activities, be they good or bad. He simply wants everyone to go back home, back
to Godhead. As long as we are not awakened to our pure eternal relation with
God, we are certainly bewildered in our actions. Our actions, in respect to
right and wrong, are all performed on the platform of ignorance. We must rise to
the platform of pure knowledge, which is the pure realization that we are the
eternal servitors of the Supreme Lord and enjoyers of His transcendental
pastimes. The Supreme Lord is the master-enjoyer of those pastimes, and we are
the servitor-enjoyers.
Transcendental
knowledge is only attainable by transcendental devotional service, as described
in Bhagavad-gita.
tesam
satata-yuktanam
bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam
yena mam upayanti te
"To
those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the
understanding by which they can come to Me." (Bg. 10.10)
By rendering such devotional service only, and not by merely acquiring a bulk of discriminative knowledge, can we know the Supreme Lord as He is. When we know the personality of Godhead in reality, we can then enter into His pastimes. That is the verdict of all revealed scriptures.