Tangle of Material Happiness
Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.07
Bombay, December 19, 1974
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Nitai: "Material consciousness is the
cause of one's conditional life. Conditions are enforced upon the living entity
by the material energy. Although he does not do anything and is transcendental
to such activities, the spirit soul is thus affected by conditional
life."
Prabhupada:
tad asya samsrtir bandhah
para-tantryam ca tat-krtam
bhavaty akartur isasya
saksino nirvrtatmanah
[SB 3.26.7]
So karmasu kriyamanesu gunair atmani manyate. The conditioned soul... We say "conditioned." It was not conditioned, but now it has become conditioned, para-tantrya.
krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsara-duhkha
[Cc. Madhya 20.117]
This is a statement in the Caitanya-caritamrta. Krsna bhuliya, forgetting Krsna, jiva, the living entity, anadi-bahirmukha... Anadi... Adi means the beginning of the creation, and anadi means before the creation. Anadi. Nobody knows when it has began. The creation... There are many creations. Bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg. 8.19]. Just like this body: it is created, everyone knows. It is created by the father and mother. And it will be annihilated in due course of time by nature's way. Similarly, anything material... This whole universe, cosmic manifestation, is also created. This is a bigger body, that's all, virat body. And it stays for millions and millions of years during the lifetime of Brahma. We have got information, Brahma's one day: sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmano viduh [Bg. 8.17]. We cannot calculate even one Brahma's day. Such one day means daytime, twelve hours; then night, twelve hours. In this one day, such month, such year, such hundred years, Brahma lives. So this cosmic manifestation, brahmanda, universe, will stay up to that time. So there is no difference in the manipulation with this body and the Brahma. It is the same principle. Bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg. 8.19]. So this is samsrtih, anadi-bahirmukha.
So this creation... Not only this creation... We are in this material world, maybe. "Maybe" not; it is a fact that we have been in many other creations. Therefore our this forgetfulness of Krsna is called anadi. Anadi means before creation. This creation is going on. Before that, there was another creation. The same thing was going on. Now, this is called samsrtih, samsara, samsara-bandhana, bound up by samsrtih. Anadi karama-phale, padi' bhavarnava-jale. Bhaktivinoda Thakura sings, "On account of my fruitive result before the beginning of the creation, I am now in this material ocean." Anadi karma-phale, padi' bhavarnava-jale taribare na dekhi upay: "I do not find any means how to get out of it." This is knowledge. When one becomes very anxious, very serious to get out of this samsrtih, continually going on, birth and death, birth and death, birth... People have no knowledge. So tad asya samsrtir bandhah. This is bondage.
The previous verse, it has been described,
evam parabhidhyanena
kartrtvam prakrteh puman
karmasu kriyamanesu
gunair atmani manyate
Dictated by the material nature, we are acting in some way and thereby creating another resultant action, means another body. In this way it is going on. That is called samsrtih. Tad asya samsrtir bandhah para-tantryam. Svatantrya, and just the opposite word is para-tantrya, under the direction of somebody else, para-tantrya. Just like dog and the master. The dog is para-tantrya, dependent on the master. Similarly, we are now dogs of material nature, para-tantrya. We cannot go beyond the rules and regulation, condition, of material nature. That is called para-tantrya, not svatantrya. Just like they are trying to go to the moon planet, but because they are under condition of material nature, not that they can go very easily. It is not possible. They are coming back again and again trying to go there. This is also material world. Even in this material world we are so much dependent on the rules and regulation of the nature. And what to speak of going to the spiritual world? Para-tantrya is there. We admit or not admit. We are not svatantrya, or independent. We are dependent. Bhavaty akartur isasya saksino nirvrtatmanah.
So we are conditioned soul, but the Supersoul... The Mayavadi philosophers, they do not admit the existence of Supersoul. They think there is one soul. We are... They speak of our conditioned life as lila. This is not very good philosophy. One has got the body of a hog, and he is eating stool, and the Mayavadi philosopher says that it is lila. God is eating stool; it is lila. Just see the philosophy! Because we say krsna-lila... Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is dancing with the gopis or playing with the cowherds boy or becoming the child of mother Yasoda. We say it is lila. The Mayavadi philosopher says... Because they do not two, make two. Their philosophy is one. So the pig or the hog eating the stool, they say it is also lila. Krsna is dancing with the gopis, that is also lila, and because they do not make two, therefore... We cannot say, of course. They say that God is also, has become pig and they, eating stool, that is also lila. This is the grossest offense on the feet of the Lord, to bring Him to the status of ordinary living being who is not independent. Dependent, it is clearly said. Therefore they manufacture these words, "daridra-narayana," "this Narayana," "that Narayana," because they do not make any difference between Narayana and the ordinary living entity. This is their philosophy.
But that is not the fact. Here it is said, tad asya samsrtir bandhah para-tantryam ca tat-krtam. Para-tantrya, under the grip of the laws of material nature. How God can be under the grip of material nature? They explain, "It is lila." But that is not. Here it is said, para-tantrya: "He is forced to accept a certain type of body." That is called para-tantrya. Samsrtih. This is punishment, samsrtih. Why samsrtih? On account of... (aside:) What is that? Sit down. Samsrtih. Samsrtih means punishment. Samyak rupena srtih, going, progress, one after another, one after another, one after another, samsrtih, samsara. So samsara is not very palatable thing. Our Vaisnava acaryas say that samsara is just like blazing fire. It is not a very nice... Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, duhkhalayam asasvatam [Bg. 8.15]. So does it mean that the Supreme Lord, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, He has come to suffer? And by force everyone in this material world is suffering samsrtih, and he is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? How wrong philosophy it is. No.
In the Bhagavad-gita, in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is not possible to make the one. No. Krsna says, mamaivamso jiva-bhutah: [Bg. 15.7] "Jiva is My amsa, part, particle, very small particle." And Krsna, or the Supreme Lord, He is vibhu. We have discussed all this. Vibhu, greater than the greatest, and smaller than the smallest. The smaller than the smallest... Anor aniyan mahato mahiyan. Mahato mahiyan is the Supreme Lord, and we are anu, very small particle, although we are the same expansion of the Supreme. But both, we are individual, not that today we are differentiated, and when we are liberated, we become one. No. That is not. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah jiva-loke sanatanah [Bg. 15.7]. Sanatanah means eternally we are vibhinnamsa.
So our this para-tantrya, dependence on material nature, is para-tantryam ca tat-krtam. Tat-krtam. And we wanted this separation. Therefore it is our conditioned life here. That is our selection. Krsna-bahirmukha hana bhoga vancha kare. When we wanted to enjoy life independently, so-called ind..., because we cannot be independent... We have to become dependent. Either this material nature or the spiritual nature, it is not possible. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, mahatmanas tu mam partha daivim prakrtim asritah [Bg. 9.13]. You have to take asraya, shelter, of either of the prakrtis, para-prakrti or apara-prakrti. Apara-prakrti is this material nature, and para-prakrti is the spiritual nature. So therefore jiva-sakti is called tatastha. Tatastha. Antaranga, bahiranga, tatastha. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport], the Absolute Truth has got multi-potencies. They have been summarized into three. First is para-prakrti, spiritual nature, and then the material nature, and another nature, prakrti -- we are also prakrti -- between the two, tatastha. Just like the beach is between the land and water. Beach is sometimes covered with water, and sometimes it is uncovered; the water is far away. When it is not covered, we call it beach, and it is covered, we call it sea. So similarly, our position is like that, living entities. Although by nature we are para-prakrti, spirit, spirit, but because we have got the tendency to enjoy material nature, therefore we come to this material nature. Therefore our position is in between the spiritual nature and the material nature, tatastha. Tatastha means in between.
So because we have selected this para-tantrya, to be conditioned by the material nature, in any condition we are dependent, either dependent on spiritual nature or on material nature. So if we prefer to be under the control of material nature, then it is duhkhalayam asasvatam [Bg. 8.15]. And if we are under spiritual nature, then... Asango 'yam purusah. Raso vai sah, labdhanandi. Then we get blissful life, eternal blissful life. That is our selection. Either you be under spiritual nature or you be under material nature. That we have got, little independence, as you like. Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham [Bg. 4.11]. Krsna said. Krsna is very kind. If you want to remain in the material nature and enjoy so-called material sense gratification, then you can have it.
In the Bhagavad-gita it is explained,
yanti deva-vrata devan
pitrn yanti pitr-vratah
bhutani yanti bhutejya
yanti mad-yajino 'pi mam
[Bg. 9.25]
If you want to remain in this material world, bhutejya, worshiper of the material energy... Just like we are at present engaged: we are worshiper of the material energy, or Durga. Worshiper of the material energy. In the Durga-puja, in the Candi, the direction is that you ask material opulence, dhanam dehi, rupam dehi, rupavati-bharyam dehi, yaso dehi. That you can do. And we all living entities within this material world, we are worshiper of the material nature. The scientist also trying to find out means how to exploit the resources of material nature. That is also one kind of worshiping. Because if they are successful in discovering some material energy, new kind of material energy, they get money. Then, by money, they get full advantage of sense gratification. So this is called conditioned life, conditioned by the material..., illusioned by the material... They are trying, discover material advances, and becoming happy by such advancement. This is called material life. This is para-tantrya. This is not svatantrya. Para-tantrya. Although constitutionally the living entity is svatantrya, asango 'yam purusah, but because we accepted to be satisfied under the control of material nature, that is called para-tantrya, and that is called samsrtih. Samsrtih means continuously repetition of birth, death, old age, and disease. That is called samsara.
Therefore Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, he says, samsara-davanala-lidha-loka **. This samsrtih, this repetition of birth and death and different standard of material happiness... Everybody has got some material happiness. The man has got a standard of material happiness. The dog has got a standard of material happiness. The demigods, they have got a standard of material happiness. Everyone has got. So... But actually, it is not happiness. It is simply miserable condition. And because we do not appreciate this miserable condition, we still think that we are happy. That is called maya, illusion. This is called samsrtih. Although we are in a miserable condition, continually, every moment, every second... This place is like that. Krsna says, not that we are saying. Krsna says, duhkhalayam. Continually you have to suffer. But we are, we have become so much habituated in this suffering, we do not accept it as suffering. We take it as very pleasing, because we have no idea what is actually happiness. Sukham atyantikam yat tad atindriyam grahyam [Bg. 6.21]. Real happiness, what is real happiness? Sukham yat. Then what is sukham? That is not to be appreciated by these material senses. Sukham atyantikam. Atyantikam means supreme. This is not... Whatever so-called happiness we derive in this material world, that is dependent on so many conditions. That is not atyantikam. Atyantikam means the supreme happiness. That is different from this material happiness, but we have no information or taste because we have been conditioned for many many creation, anadi. Just like a man suffering from disease from many, many years. He becomes accustomed. He does not take any more that this suffering is suffering. He thinks this is natural.
So we have been accustomed to this habit of material disadvantages. We have no information of spiritual life. Therefore sastra says that we should try... This life, human life, is not meant for suffering but to make endeavor to end suffering. That is human life. Human life is not meant for suffering like the animals. Just like the life of pig. Is that very good life? Whole day and night they are searching after stool, "Where is stool? Where is stool?" because that is their enjoyment. Actually, if you give a pig halava and, side by side, stool, he would prefer to accept the stool than the halava because he is habituated to that kind of food. Therefore Rsabhadeva says that human life... He was instructing to His sons, "My dear sons, don't be like pigs. You just become like human being." Nayam deho deha-bhajam nrloke kastan kaman arhate vid-bhujam ye: [SB 5.5.1] "My dear sons, don't try to get happiness like the pigs, dogs, hogs." Kastan kaman. With hard labor, you get some food, and then you enjoy sex life. Yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham [SB 7.9.45]. Material life means to work very hard day and night and get some money and then eat sumptuously. Eat, drink, be merry and then enjoy sex life. That's all. So Rsabhadeva said, "My dear sons, this kind of standard of life is available in the life of pigs." Kastan kaman arhate ye vid-bhujam. Vid-bhujam means stool-eaters.
Then what is human life? If this is not life, then what is real life? That, He recommends, tapo divyam putraka yena suddhyet sattvam [SB 5.5.1]. Sattva, your sattva, your existence, is now impure. It is covered by this material nature; therefore it is impure. So you have to purify. That is real life. And to purify means tapasya. Tapo divyam [SB 5.5.1]. Tapasa brahmacaryena [SB 6.1.13]. That is the way. That is Vedic civilization. That is Vedic civilization, or you may call Indian civilization or Hindu civilization. Actually, it is Vedic civilization. Therefore you will find in India, in the history of India, Mahabharata, greater India, that many people, they are engaged in tapasya. A part of life must be engaged for tapasya. The Bharata Maharaja, Bharata Maharaja, under whose name this planet is called Bharatavarsa... So you will find in the Fifth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam his life. He enjoyed his kingdom, then voluntarily he left. After the end of his material way of life, he divided the property to his sons and left. And he was living alone at Pulahasrama near Haridwar, and undergoing severe tapasya. That is human life, to accept tapasya. Tapo divyam putraka yena suddhyet sattvam yasmad brahma-saukhyam anantam [SB 5.5.1]. You are searching after happiness, but why don't you see that in this material life your happiness is conditioned? That is not easily going or flowing. There are so many conditions. If you have to become a millionaire, before becoming millionaire there are so many condition. So this is not happiness, after going through so many conditions, and which we get, that is also not for good.
So to come to the so-called conditional happiness we have to undergo so many difficulties, and when we come to that position... Suppose after working very, very hard I get one millions dollars, so I will not be allowed to enjoy this one million dollar for all the days. Asasvatam. Duhkhalayam asasvatam [Bg. 8.15]. Krsna says that this place is full of miseries. To get that one million dollar you have to undergo so many miserable condition of life. And even if you get it... Perhaps you may not get it. Everyone is trying, but they cannot. Everyone is not getting. Who is destined to get, he will get it, not that everyone, because he, one is trying very hard, it is guaranteed that he will get one millions dollars. That is not possible. That one who is to get by destiny... This is the sastra. Actually, this is the fact.
Therefore Vedic civilization does not recommend that you waste your valuable life simply for so-called happiness or economic..., improvement of economic condition. Because it is not possible that everyone trying for improving economic condition and everyone is becoming millionaire. No. That is not possible. You cannot get more or less what you are destined to get. Otherwise everyone would have been millionaires -- everyone. In Bombay there are so many. People are trying, working very hard day and night. Still, somebody is living in a very nice, palatial building and somebody is living in the Jappara, or what is that? Most abominable condition. In Bombay city. Why? Because one is destined.
Therefore sastra says that don't bother about these thing. Tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah [SB 1.5.18]. For that reason, one should work, which is not obtainable by wandering, bhramatam upary adhah. Upary adhah. What is that? That thing is that purifying your existence. Tasyaiva hetoh, for that reason. Purifying means, as we have discussed many slokas, we are now covered by this material nature, sattva-guna, rajo-guna, tamo-guna, and our endeavor should be how to purify. Tapo divyam. Tapo divyam putraka yena suddhyet sattvam [SB 5.5.1]. Just to purify our existence. And as soon as we purify our existence, yasmad brahma-saukhyam anantam. Brahma-sukha. Brahman means the largest or eternal. Here the sukha, or happiness, is not brahma-sukha; that is material sukha. Therefore, in another place it is said, ramante yoginah anante [Cc. Madhya 9.29]. The yogis, those who are yogis... Yogi especially means bhakta-yogi. They also enjoy. Ramante yoginah anante. That is unlimited enjoyment, without any stoppage. Anandambudhi-vardhanam. Simply increasing, increasing. There is no decrease. That is called ananta. It is increasing. Just like Krsna. Krsna and the gopis, they are also in pleasure. Gopis are expansion of Krsna's pleasure potency. So they are increasing their pleasure. There is no decrease. In the material world there is no question of increasing; it is decreased. That is the difference.
Therefore, those who are yogis, they are also enjoying. Ramante yoginah anante satyanande. That is real happiness which increases. Which decreases, that is not real happiness. That is illusion. Ramante yoginah anante satyanande cid-atmani. Cit, that is spiritual, spiritual ananda. Really we want ananda, happiness, blissfulness. That is our natural instinct. Anandamayo 'bhyasat (Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12). So... But we are searching after ananda in this material world, and that is described here that samsrtir bandhah para-tantrya, under material condition and changing this body one after another. This is not ananda. Satyanande cid-atmani. Ananda is available on the spiritual platform. Satyanande cid-atmani. Ramante... Iti rama-padenasau param brahma abhidhiyate. Therefore the yogis, they enjoy, ramana, in the spiritual world. That ananda is called Rama, Hare Rama. Hare Krsna. Krsna is also attractive, and Rama is enjoyment. So when we dovetail our activities with Rama and Krsna, then our life becomes happy. Before that there is samsrtih.
Therefore in order to understand the science, one has to go... That is the Vedic injunction, tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet: [MU 1.2.12] "One should approach a proper bona fide spiritual master." And the spiritual master will save him from this blazing fire of repetition of birth and death. Therefore Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura sings,
samsara-davanala-lidha-loka-
tranaya karunya-ghanaghanatvam
praptasya kalyana-gunarnavasya
vande guroh sri-caranaravindam **
It is the business of the guru to deliver this disciple, sisya, from this blazing fire of samsara, samsrti, bandha, conditioned life, to save him from that position and give him the eternal happiness, brahma-saukhyam anantam [SB 5.5.1].
Thank you very much. (end)
© 2001 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.
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