The Material World?

[peter]

I have read through many posts here that one should quit the material world. What does that mean exactly? Give up my car or home? Never buy anything "materialistic" again? Please shed some insight if you can. Thanks.

 

Peter

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna.

 

Life in the material world is life in a gross body, like us and the animals and plants.

 

The material world represents trillions of planets in millions of universes with living beings. The spiritual world represent 75% of Gods creation. Thus the material world is only 25% of gods creation.

 

Every planet in the material world is full of miseries, the pangs of material life. Birth, old age, disease, and death.

 

"From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to my abode, O son of Kunté, never takes birth again." Lord Krishna (Bg. 8.16)

 

Just as on this planet there are so-called heavenly places like life in USA and hellish places like life in third world countries. Although life in America is far better than in third world countries. People in America still suffer from old age, disease, and death as a minimum. People in America have better houses and cars and other things. But the average man in a third world sleeps better than the average man in America. So the so-called luxury lifestyles are merely illusions. They don't bring real or everlasting happiness, only short term enjoyment and long term suffering.

 

Similaraly there are heavenly planets where life is much better than on Earth, but they too suffer. On the Planet of Bramhaloka, one single day is 4.32 billion years on Earth and the living beings there live for 311 trillion years. But still they have to suffer from old age, diasease, death, then re-birth.

 

In the spiritual world there is no old age, no disease, no death, no taxes, no martital problems, no sex, no intoxications, no gambling, and no meat eating.

 

Only a fool would choose to stay in the material world.

 

Read questions and answers from the Bhagavad-gita as it is at: www.gitamrta.org/gita.htm

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna.

 

I forgot to mention how to quit material life.

 

The more material things like cars, houses and other things we have attachments for, the longer we will stay in the material world.

 

After death we come back to satisfy our un-fullfiled desires and to face the reactions to our karma, thus to exhume our karma.

 

The more materilaist life we live, the more births we will take.

 

If you live a very simple life, then your chances of coming back are greately reduced. As you have no desires and thus fewer karmic reactions to face. Thus one should try to minimize the desires for things. Instead of a Mercedes, buy a toyota. Instead of buying a 60 inch TV for watching demonic Boolywood or Hollywood movies. Buy a 27 inch TV and watch devotional movies and serials like Vishnu puran, mahabharat, ramayan, abbhay charan etc.. Instead of going on a vacation in Hawai to enjoy the sea and scenary, go to ISKCON Hawai temple. etc...

 

If we become krishna conscious then that's the quickest way to give up material desires and thus not come back.

 

"A person in full consciousness of me, knowing me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.” Lord Krishna (Bg. 5.29)

 

 

 

 

 

[Max_]

Ideally the perfect devotee would have no taste for anything in the material world. Unfortunately we are not perfect devotees, so we still have many material desires, the key is not to be attached to material things. For example if you bought a really nice expensive jacket, you may really like it, but say it got caught in a fire and burned to ashes, if you were not materially attached to it than it's no problem, you won't feel any grief or anything like that.

[Guest guest]

just my opinion but i feel that life should be embraced in its totality

the material things are there for us to enjoy

but do not get attached to that enjoyment and desire or long for it

but be able to enjoy it in that present moment

no need for one to live in a cave and have no possessions

as long as you are freed from such desires

which is the trickiest thing we can achieve in this loca probalby

its in our nature to enjoy material things

don't reject

but renounce

and this can be mastered through your own path of yoga

and i'll assume your a KC devotee so i guess for you it would be japa

well thats my opinion

won't be surprised if i see a bunch of replies disagreeing to this

good luck peter

God bless

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna.

 

We cannot be freed from desires if we have everything. Our desires only increase as we satisfy the desires.

 

It's our nature to serve God, as we are the servants of God. But we are bewildered by material nature which has captured us.

 

We think that having nice expensive things and a beautiful partner will satisfy us. The truth is that they only bring more misery.

 

Take for example having a beautiful partner. Nowdays, nearly all marriages are based on lust, two poeple see each other and immdediately they fall in love. They think they are made for each other and they go to church or temple and get married. At the marriage ceremony they say, 'til death do us part'. But how long do marriages last? The divorce rate in every country is dramatically increasing each year. In the West, most marriages fail. So where is the 'til death do us part' promise gone?

 

The main reason why marriages fail is because the couple try to satisfy each others lusty feelings. Such desires can never be satisfied.

 

Everyhting is temporary. The houses we own, money in the bank, the cars and other possessions are all temporary. Also our partner. We have been through so many millions of births and thus had many partners come and go. So why get so attached to this one? This does not mean you treat your partner badly, but actually give them the most respect and spiritual love as you won't be with them for long.

 

[peter]

I'm understanding that perhaps it is not wrong to have nice things, it is only wrong to be attached to them. Thank you for helping my understanding. Peter

[sumedh]

Hare Krishna

please accept my dandavat pranam

 

The cardinal rule is that we can attain only atmost what we desire. If we desire the material things we can only attain those. If we sincerely desire our true spiritual position of surrender to God and dedicate ourselves to it then the Lord will aid us in every way; He will remove our (really really) huge past karmic debts which are the fruits of our past actions since time immemorial; He will gradually remove the material contamination so that our pure love for Him becomes manifest; He will even protect us from falling away from our sadhana-bhakti due to temporary distractions/attractions etc. The Lord says in Bhagavad-Gita 8.6

 

Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.

 

 

 

And it is inevitable that our state of mind at our death will be what we develop over our lifetime. So the Lord says Bhagavad-Gita 8.7-8

 

Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Krsna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.

 

He who meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Partha [Arjuna], is sure to reach Me.

 

 

 

The scriptures and our Spiritual Masters give us the procedures (the primary being chanting the Holy Names of the Lord) to enable us to execute this order of the Lord perfectly.

[imported_yasodanandana]

"I'm understanding that perhaps it is not wrong to have nice things, it is only wrong to be attached to them. Thank you for helping my understanding. Peter "

 

mmh.. slightly different...it is only wrong not to be absorbed in Krishna Consciousness, this is the cause of all problems

 

if i am a real devotee, chanting hare krsna under the guidance of a true spiritual master, i do not put efforts in detaching from nice things, simply, being completely absorbed in krishna, all my life is an offering to krsna, a gift to him. I cannot simply avoid to offer whatever i have because i am deeply absorbed in love for krsna.

 

There's no use to discuss, for example, if arjuna were or weren't attached to the nice weapons, cart, armour and other facilities he had in kuruksetra war because he considered himself and his possession a krsna's property. So if i have a computer and i use it to discuss about krsna in this forum, there's no use in repressing my taste and appreciation for it, but simply, when i will be a real devotee by practising harekrsna mahamantra with concentration and sincerity, i automathically will see the computer as krsna's computer.

So every appreciation and care wil be devotional service and not attachement..

 

there's no possibility to reduce ourselves our attachement to matter(maya).. only krsna can do it. So our effort is on remembering krsna, not on forgetting maya

 

haribol peter!!

[peter]

Thank you for your timely advice and wisdom. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know!!

 

Peter