Life's Destination

[Guest guest]

Life's Destination

 

This is a lecture by His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Maharaj to

students at a college in Mauritius. His Divine Grace visited that tropical

island off the east coast of Africa as part of his 1992/1993 World Tour.

This lecture is taken from Chapter 5 of The Benedictine Tree of Divine

Aspiration, published in November 1993.

 

Life's Destination

Honorable teachers, respectable Vaishnavas, and my beloved students: I

feel very fortunate that you have given me this chance to speak about

Krishna consciousness. I am especially indebted to the authorities of this

college: because of their kindness it is possible for me to meet with you

all today.

When I first came here to Mauritius, I noticed some very auspicious

symptoms. I noticed that the trees bear so much fruit, the earth is very

fertile, and all the people are very conscious of religion. I was surprised

to see that this country is like a heaven on earth! I also saw that many

mangoes had fallen from the trees, and many other trees bore ripe papayas

and other fruit, yet nobody collected that fruit. Seeing these symptoms

immediately inspired me to remember Sri Vrindavan Dham. There we find ripe

fruit on the trees everywhere, and the souls residing there are full of the

mood of service. They are all eternally engaged in the divine service of the

Supreme Lord. We find such descriptions of Goloka-Vrindavan, the holy abode

of Lord Krishna, in Sri Brahma Samhita. This holy book was brought by Sri

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu from South India, and it is widely accepted by

religious authorities as the authentic treatise depicting the teachings of

Sriman Mahaprabhu.

 

isvarah paramah krsnah

sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah

sarva-karana-karanam

 

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead -- the Embodiment of Truth,

Consciousness, and Joy -- is Govinda, or Krishna. He is beginningless, the

origin of all that be, and the cause of all causes." [sri Brahma Samhitha

5:1] That is, the actual form of each one of us originates from the

sac-cid-ananda-vigraha of Krishna.

All the Vedic scriptures teach us that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of

Godhead. Other "gods" also have their own abodes and full powers, but only

as expansions of the power of the infinite Personality of Godhead, Krishna.

If you subtract infinite power from infinite power, you still have infinite

power, just as zero minus zero equals zero.

 

om purnam adah purnam idam

purnat purnam udacyate

purnasya purnam adaya

purnam evavasisyate

 

A proper examination of the Vedic Scriptures will leave us with no doubt

that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Throughout the whole

world people are chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra, and through that we

can also have some understanding. In all the scriptures -- the Vedanta, the

Upanisads, the eighteen Puranas -- we find that the glories of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, Krishna, are chanted. Still the question arises:

"What is Krishna consciousness, and why should we worship Krishna?"

Love, Beauty, Charm, Ecstasy

We are in want. We are not fulfilled within ourselves -- for that

fulfillment we must worship Krishna. What is our want? We need love, we need

beauty, we need charm, we need ecstasy, and so on. These are essential for

our soul, which is always in a state of living, and has the properties of

thinking, feeling, and willing. The soul can move, and the jada, or the

material, cannot move; but even within matter, there are living souls.

Within a tree is living a soul -- this has also been proved by scientists

such as Jagadish Bose. This knowledge is not new: in the ancient Vedas we

will find all knowledge given in a living way. The knowledge given by the

Vedas is that behind everything is the living soul, and if we study the

Vedas we will find this out.

The property of the living soul is thinking, feeling, and willing. One who

has these properties must necessarily need to do something. He can do good,

or he can do bad. If he does good, he will get a good reaction; if he does

bad, he will get a bad reaction. Every action has a reaction. Newton's third

law states that "every action has an equal and opposite reaction." We should

therefore try to do good things, otherwise we shall not receive a good

reaction. And to get relief from all reaction, we must become Krishna

conscious. If we surrender fully to Krishna, everything will go directly

into His account. If all our actions are done in Krishna consciousness, no

reaction will come to us. This process has been given in Srimad Bhagavatam

and Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

 

In this gathering you are all students and you all wish to know something

about religion, specifically something about Krishna consciousness. If you

try to read Srimad Bhagavad Gita, you will be benefitted. Everyone has the

chance to improve his future by reading this book -- whether he is a karmi,

or a fruitive worker, a jnani, or a seeker of knowledge, a yogi, wanting

power to conquer the environment, or a bhakta, who is always surrendered and

fully dependant upon the knowledge of Krishna consciousness. Everyone can

gain some good future prospect from reading Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

 

anasaktasya visayan

yatharham upayunjatah

nirbandhah krsna-sambandhe

yuktam vairagyam ucyate

 

The real benefit to be gained is that without mundane attachment we are to

engage in service to Krishna. [bhakti Rasamrtasindhu 1:2:255]

asocyan anvasocas tvam

prajna-vadams ca bhasase

gatasun agatasums ca

nanusocanti panditah

 

Krishna said to Arjuna: "You speak like a wise man, yet you are suffering

from material happiness and sadness. You show yourself to be knowledgeable

in the Vedas [pandit] but you are not actually following that line."

[bhagavad Gita 2:11] Then Krishna started to give some knowledge of the

Vedas to Arjuna. He explained that there is a certain plane, and if we can

live there, no reaction will come to us. Krishna says:

niyatam kuru karma tvam

karma jyayo hy akarmanah

sarira-yatrapi ca te

na prasiddhyed akarmanah

 

"If you do not do anything, you will not get anything. You will not even be

able to survive! You must do something, so try to do something good."

[bhagavad Gita 3:8]

yajnarthat karmano 'nyatra

loko 'yam karma-bandhanah

tad-artham karma kaunteya

mukta-sangah samacara

 

"O Arjuna, this whole world of living beings comes into bondage by their

actions, except action performed as selfless duty offered to Lord Vishnu.

Therefore, being free from attachment, fully engage in the performance of

action for the purpose of such sacrifice." [bhagavad Gita 3:9]

Actually, we need to do something good even from childhood. This is the

knowledge of Srimad Bhagavatam and Krishna consciousness. Whenever we gain

any knowledge, we should try to use that for a good purpose -- not just for

a good purpose, but we should use it in a way that will be good for

everybody. If we proceed in this way, we shall be supremely benefitted in

our lives as a result.

 

Failure Is The Pillar Of Success

When students study for promotion to a higher class, they endeavor with

heart and soul, but not everyone is able to get the desired result because

they may have many types of deficiencies. Some may fail in their class, but

if they remember that "failure is the pillar of success," they can get the

strength to try and try again. Even in the mundane world we must apply this

process.

At first nobody can walk. When a very young child first tries to walk, he

falls down, but again he tries to walk. He walks, falls down, walks, falls

down, gradually gaining in strength and capacity until he is finally able to

walk properly. In this way karmis, jnanis, and yogis have some prospect. But

the super prospect is with those who are fully surrendered to Krishna. By

their own free will they march in the line of Krishna consciousness, and

they gain the benefit accordingly. In the Srimad Bhagavatam we find this

advice of Prahlad Maharaj to his student classmates:

 

kaumara acaret prajno

dharman bhagavatan iha

durlabham manusam janma

tad apy adhruvam arthadam

 

Prahlad was a devotee of Lord Nrsimhadev. His classmate friends were only

between five and twelve years of age, yet when he met with them in their

teacher's house he would urge them to inquire about and practice spiritual

life even from childhood.

We have fortunately gained this human body. We are jivas, or souls, and we

may be given any type of body according to our past activities. By some good

previous activity we have been given this human body. In the human body

there is a much greater capacity and possibility to learn and realize many

things. Other species such as dogs, cows, etc., have only a very limited

power of understanding -- just enough to try to achieve some basic

happiness. Real happiness, however, is not possible in this mundane world,

but some realization is possible.

 

We use knowledge in many ways to try to gain happiness and a good result.

The best thing for the jiva is to try to know what is the transcendental

world's environment, and his place there. Who am I? Why am I here? What is

my destination in life? After death where will I go? In this human body we

can realize the answers to many such questions; and that is called

bhagavat-jnana, bhagavat-dharma. If we try to read and understand such

topics, we will be benefitted.

 

The Benefit of Human Life

It is necessary that in this life we try to know what is the super benefit

of our human life, and the super benefit of the soul. The soul is actually

transcendental, but our body is mortal. The transcendental body is living in

the mortal body, whether it be a human body or any other variety of species.

Actually we are not this body -- we are living inside this body. We can

understand this when we see a person who is dying. At that time we cannot

give them any more days. We can understand that inside the body is the

spirit of that person. With the spirit is thinking, feeling, and willing,

and that is called the jiva, or the soul. When a man dies, that soul leaves

his temporary material body. This is not only Indian philosophy, but in the

Western countries also we find famous philosophers such as Hegel who have

had similar realizations.

 

We must try to do something good for our self, for our soul. Good is

possible through the processes of humility, tolerance, and giving honor to

others. We should try to avoid the opposing environment, and in that way we

can happily study what is the soul, what is God, and what is the super

benefit of this life. Also, we should study where we have come from, where

we will go, etc. Birth and death is natural in this world, and we are always

getting happiness and sadness and many other temporary feelings. We must try

to understand all these things. Prahlada Maharaj said:

 

kaumara acaret prajno

dharman bhagavatan iha

durlabham manusam janma

tad apy adhruvam arthadam

 

We must try to understand what is Bhagavat Dharma, and when that steady

knowledge comes within us, we should try to use it to understand what is

what. If not, we will be losers. [srimad Bhagavatam 7:6:1] It is only in

this human body that we can properly understand what is good and what is

bad, and if we try sincerely we will get that type of knowledge.

What is necessary is sincerity, tolerance, humility and giving honor to

others. These four qualities are necessary for everyone. I am very happy to

observe that the people here in Mauritius are very enthusiastic and

enlightened with these qualities. Furthermore, their tendency is to be real

searchers, and they are practicing to do good according to their capacity,

while avoiding bad things. I am very happy to see this within this small

country.

 

I am pleased to have met you all. I do not know how much good I can do for

you, but I am with you, and it is my expectation that our attempt will be

fruitful in the future.

 

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