BEYOND MATERIAL NATURE

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According to karma, the living

entity sometimes goes up and sometimes goes down. He wanders in this way,

thinking how he can become materially happy and satisfy his senses. The

sastras say that we should not do this, that we should endeavor to

understand Krsna. We should not worry about eating and sleeping, for the

needs of the body are aiready arranged. We do not have to work

independently to maintain the body. tal labhyate duhkhavad anyatah

sukham kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa Our actual endeavor should be to

attain happiness; that is our real struggle for existence. According to

the sastras: tal labhyate duhkhavat. The word duhkhavat

indicates that although we do not want misery, misery comes anyway. We

don't have to endeavor separately for misery. No one says, " Let there

be a fire in my house " or " Let my child die. " No one aspires after

these things, yet they happen. Everyone is thinking, " May my child live

happily " or " May I get so much money. " We do not ask or pray for catastrophes,

yet they come without invitation. Similarly, whatever happiness is

there for our enjoyment will also come without our asking for it. The

conclusion is that we should not endeavor for socalled happiness or distress,

but should try to attain that position whereby we can understand

Krsna and get shelter at His lotus feet. This should be the real human

endeavor. It was Caitanya Mahaprabhu who said

to Rupa Gosvami: brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan

jiva guru-krsna-prasade paya

bhakti-lata-bija " The living entity is wandering

up and down, from one planet to another, and he is very fortunate if

by the mercy of the spiritual master and Krsna Himself he can get

the seed of devotional service to Krsna. " (Cc. Madhya 19.151) The

Krsna consciousness movement is an attempt to make people fortunate. In

this age, everyone is unfortunate(manda-bhagyah), but now we are

trying to reverse the situation. Throughout the world there are

problems everywhere. One country has one type of problem, and another

country has another. There is strife within governments themselves, and

even presidents are fraught with problems. Sometimes we may think we

are very fortunate, just as President Nixon was thinking,

" I am very fortunate. I have become the president of the United States. " Then he

soon realized that

he was most unfortunate. Actually this is the

situation for everyone. We should not think that the only apprehended

culprit is President Nixon and that we are safe. There is a Bengali

proverb: Dry cow dung is used for fuel, and it is said that when the dry cow

dung is being burned, the soft cow dung is laughing, saying, " Oh, you

are being burned, but I am safe. " It does not know that when it dries out, it

will be thrown into the fire too. We may laugh because President Nixon is

in trouble, and we may think ourselves very safe because we have

a big bank balance, but actually no one is safe. Eventually everyone

will dry up and be thrown in the fire. That is a fact. We may survive for a

few years, but we cannot avoid death. In fact, it is said, " As

sure as death. " And what is the result of death? One loses everything--all

honor, money, position and material life itself. Krsna states in

Bhagavad-gita (10.34), mrtyuh sarva-haras caham: " I am all-devouring

death. " Krsna comes as death and plunders everything--bank balance,

skyscrapers, wife, children and whatever. One cannot say, " My dear death,

please give me some time to adjust. " There is no adjustment; one must

immediately get out. Foolish people are unaware of the

miserable conditions of material life. Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita

(13.9), janma-mrtyu jara-vyadhiduhkha- dosanudarsanam. Real knowledge means

knowing that however great one may be, the four principles of

material life are present: birth, old age, disease and death. These exist

in the highest planetary system (Brahmaloka) and in the lowest (Patalaloka).

tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatam upary

adhah tal labhyate duhkhavad anyatah

sukham kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa " Persons who are actually

intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavor only for that

purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost

planet down to the lowest planet. As far as happiness derived from sense

enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in course of

time, just as in course of time we obtain miseries even though we do

not desire them. " (SB. 1.5.18) When Dharmaraja asked Maharaja

Yudhisthira what the most wonderful thing in the world was, Maharaja

Yudhisthira replied: ahany ahani bhutani gacchantiha yamalayam.

" Every moment people are dying, but those who are living are thinking, `My

friend has died, but I shall live forever.' " (Mahabharata,

Vana-parva 313.116) Soft cow dung thinks the same way. This is typical of

conditioned beings. Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord, is not

in this position. It is therefore said: bhagavan

atma-mayaya. We come onto this planet to enjoy or suffer life for a few

days--fifty

or a hundred years--but Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,

does not come for that purpose (na mam karmani limpanti). It is further

stated, na hy asya varsmanah: " No one is greater than Him. " No

one is greater than Bhagavan or equal to Him. Everyone is inferior. According

to Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 5.142), ekale isvara krsna, ara saba bhrtya.

There is only one master--Krsna. All others are subservient,

beginning with Lord Brahma, Visnu, Mahesvara, Indra, Candra and all the

demigods (there are thirty-three million demigods) and the middle and

lower species. Everyone is bhrtya, or servant. When Krsna orders,

" My dear Mr. Soand-So, now please give up your place and leave,', one must go.

Therefore everyone is a servant. This is the position of Lord Brahma

and the ant as well. Yas tv indragopam athavendram aho

sva-karma. From Lord Indra to indragopa, an insignificant insect, everyone is

reaping the consequences of his karma. We are creating our own karma, our

next body, in this life. In this life we enjoy or suffer the results of

our past karma, and in the same way we are creating further karma for our

next body. Actually we should work in such a way that we will not get

another material body, How can this be done? We simply have to try to

understand Krsna. As Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita (4.9):

 

 

janma karma ca me divyam

 

 

evam yo vetti tattvatah

 

 

tyaktva deham punar janma

 

 

naiti mam eti so 'rjuna

 

" One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does

not, upon leaving

the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My

eternal abode, O Arjuna. " This sounds very simple, but

actually understanding Krsna is very difficult. If we become devotees of

Krsna, understanding Krsna is easy.

 

However, if we try to understand Him

by jnana, karma or yoga, we will be frustrated. There are many types of

yogis, but he who is devoted to Krsna is the topmost yogi. Sri Krsna

is far above all yogic processes. In lndia there are many yogis who

can display some magical feats. They can walk on water, make themselves

very light or very heavy and so forth. But what is this compared to

Krsna's yogic mystic powers? By His potencies, great planets are

floating in space. Who can manage to float even a small stone in the air?

Sometimes a yogi may show a little mystic power by manufacturing some gold,

and we are so foolish that we accept him as God. However, we forget that

the real yogi, the Supreme Lord Himself, has created millions of

gold mines and is floating them in space. Those who are Krsna conscious

are not befooled by yogis who claim to be Bhagavan. A Krsna conscious

person wants only to serve the foremost yogi, Yogesvara (varimnah

sarva-yoginam). Because we are trying to become His devotees, we accept

the Supreme Lord, Yogesvara, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Krsna Himself states in Bhagavad-gita (18.55):

 

 

bhaktya mam abhijanati

 

 

yavan yas casmi tattvatah

 

 

tato mam tattvato jnatva

 

 

visate tad anantaram

 

" One can understand the Supreme

Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is

in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter

into the kingdom of God. " This process is actually very

simple. One must first of all realize that the first problem is the

conquest of death. Presently we consider

death compulsory, but actually it is

not. One may be put into prison, but actually prison is not

compulsory. It is due to one's work that one becomes a criminal and is therefore

put in jail. It is not compulsory for everyone to go to jail. As

living entities, we have our proper place in Vaikunthaloka.

 

paras tasmat tu bhavo 'nyo

 

 

'vyakto 'vyaktat sanatanah

 

 

yah sa sarvesu bhutesu

 

 

nasyatsu na vinasyati

 

 

avyakto 'ksara ity uktas

 

 

tam ahuh paramam gatim

 

 

yam prapya na nivartante

 

 

tad dhama paramam mama

 

" There is another nature, which

is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested

matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world

is annihilated, that part remains as it is. That supreme abode is called

unmanifested and infallible, and it is the supreme destination. When one

goes there, he never comes back. That is My supreme abode. " (Bg.

8.20-21) Everything is present in

Vaikunthaloka. There we can have an eternal, blissful life full of

knowledge (sac-cid-ananda). It is not compulsory for us to rot in this

material world. The easiest way to go to the Vaikunthalokas is: janma

karma ca me divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah. Simply try to understand

Krsna. Why does He come? What are His activities? Where does He come

from? Why does He come in the form of a human being? We only have to try

to understand this and study Krsna as He explains Himself in

Bhagavad-gita. What is the difficulty? God personally explains Himself as He

is, and if we accept Bhagavad-gita as it is, we shall no longer have to

transmigrate. Tyaktva deham punarjanma naiti. We shall no longer have to

endure birth and death, for we can attain our spiritual bodies

(sac-cid-ananda-vigraha) and live happily in Krsna's family. Krsna is providing

for us here, and He will also provide for us there. So we should know that

our happiness is in returning home, back to Godhead, where we can eat,

drink and be merry in Krsna's company.

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