HARD STRUGGLE FOR HAPPINESS

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Hard Struggle for Happiness

In the revealed scriptures the

Supreme Lord is described as saccid- 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 lifespan, 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

anyaye nartha-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 Vedantasutra 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 allpowerful

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 nanyatkincid 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 sa msaresu 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

ajnane navrtam jnanam

tena muhyantijantavah

"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.FOR THE COMPLETE BOOK 'ELEVATION TO KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS' WRITE TO ME AT chanu15RegardsPranjal

 

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