Jahnu
2020-07-29 01:37:03 UTC
It is said that bad karma hits in three basic ways - poverty, disease,
and being harassed by the state. The advantage of being wealthy is
that there is no suffering from poverty. There are other advantages to
being wealthy - its easier to have onea desires fulfilled. As we all
know, wealth cant buy happiness, but it can buy lots of
sense-gratification, which is an advantage to those who confuse
sense-gratification with happiness.
Actually, the bottom line in the material world is suffering, for the
simple reason that everything ends in old age, disease and death. Not
all the wealth in the world can buy us more time, or make us more
happy than we are allotted by our karma.
The only way to escape the fundamental suffering of living in a
material body, is to cultivate spiritual knowledge. Spiritual
knowledge begins with knowing the difference between matter and spirit
- the difference between the body and the self.
Krishna says:
My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to
you this most confidential knowledge and realization, knowing which
you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence. (Bg. 9.1)
Only by knowing oneself as an eternal particle of consciousness, can
one gain real happiness. Real happiness is a constant fact. Real
happiness is not constantly being interrupted by misery. People of the
modern world are not educated in real happiness.
In the modern consumer civilization people are indoctrinated into
believing that sense-enjoyment will create happiness for them. Indeed,
bodily and mental enjoyments are the only types of happiness people
know of. But sense-enjoyment is merely a temporary pause in the basic
suffering of the body and mind.
Sex, for instance, is regarded by most people to be the highest joy
available. But sex-enjoyment are merely an attempt to escape the
suffering of being without sex. It's misery to live in forced
celibacy. Anyone who has reached puberty can testify to that.
Or eating. To eat is considered one of life's major enjoyments. But
actually, to eat is merely an attempt to escape the suffering of
hunger. People of the Western culture don't know what it means to
suffer from famine, but it is a great suffering experienced by many
people around the world.
And that's how it is with most of the enjoyment we seek. Eating,
sleeping, mating, and defending are the four activities humans have in
common with all other living entities. In the modern world, however,
it has become the foremost goal to fulfill and satisfy these four
needs.
They have been made the standard of happiness and enjoyment in life.
What do we do together with our loved ones, with our family and
friends? We eat, we sleep, we mate, and we defend. The entire
civilization revolves around these four activities. That's an animal
civilization. Humans are expected to have a higher goal in life than
merely satisfying basic, bodily and mental urges.
"Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating
and defending. But the special property of the humans is that they are
able to engage in spiritual life. Therefore without spiritual life,
humans are on the level of animals." --Hitopadesa
Millions of tons of iron are extracted from the earth to make pots,
knives and forks. Whole forests are cut down to make serviettes and
napkins. Add to that the industrial setup to manufacture cups and
glasses etc. And for sleeping - beds, mattresses, pillows, quilts,
covers, the list goes on and on. A massive enterprise - all of it,
just to eat and sleep. What to speak of the meat-industry, the second
largest industry in the world, only topped by the defense industry.
So the global culture is nothing more than one giant industrial setup
to fulfill four basic bodily needs. The fact is that the modern,
global civilization is an exploitative civilization that rapes and
plunders nature, and puts her inhabitants through untold suffering.
And its proudly called the industrialized, developed world.
Anyway, the happiness that can be obtained by surrendering to
Krishna's enjoyment is so far superior to the happiness that can be
squeezed out of matter, that sex with the most beautiful women become
like broken glass in comparison.
And who or what is to be blamed for the fact that the modern world
runs on animal principles? Atheism. Atheism reduces the human being to
nothing more than an animal.
In reality, the human life-form is a unique opportunity for the soul
to realize its real identity. The soul cannot realize itself in any
other life-form. In other forms of life, the soul is simply absorbed
in eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. The human form of life is
a waste of time for the soul, if it is not used to learn about one's
relation to Krishna.
Krishna should be the only center. He is the beloved of the soul. When
we love Krishna, who is the root of everything, we automatically love
all His parts and parcels - all other living entities.
It's like watering a tree. One does not benefit a tree by pouring
water on its every leaf, twig and branch. Water is poured on the root.
Then the whole tree is nourished. In the same way all living entities
are benefited and nourished when one serves Krishna - the root of all
existence.
Lord Brahma says:
"One attains the human form of life after transmigrating through
8,400,000 species by the process of gradual evolution. That human life
is spoiled for those conceited fools who do not take shelter of the
lotus feet of Govinda."
--Brahma-vaivarta Purana
and being harassed by the state. The advantage of being wealthy is
that there is no suffering from poverty. There are other advantages to
being wealthy - its easier to have onea desires fulfilled. As we all
know, wealth cant buy happiness, but it can buy lots of
sense-gratification, which is an advantage to those who confuse
sense-gratification with happiness.
Actually, the bottom line in the material world is suffering, for the
simple reason that everything ends in old age, disease and death. Not
all the wealth in the world can buy us more time, or make us more
happy than we are allotted by our karma.
The only way to escape the fundamental suffering of living in a
material body, is to cultivate spiritual knowledge. Spiritual
knowledge begins with knowing the difference between matter and spirit
- the difference between the body and the self.
Krishna says:
My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to
you this most confidential knowledge and realization, knowing which
you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence. (Bg. 9.1)
Only by knowing oneself as an eternal particle of consciousness, can
one gain real happiness. Real happiness is a constant fact. Real
happiness is not constantly being interrupted by misery. People of the
modern world are not educated in real happiness.
In the modern consumer civilization people are indoctrinated into
believing that sense-enjoyment will create happiness for them. Indeed,
bodily and mental enjoyments are the only types of happiness people
know of. But sense-enjoyment is merely a temporary pause in the basic
suffering of the body and mind.
Sex, for instance, is regarded by most people to be the highest joy
available. But sex-enjoyment are merely an attempt to escape the
suffering of being without sex. It's misery to live in forced
celibacy. Anyone who has reached puberty can testify to that.
Or eating. To eat is considered one of life's major enjoyments. But
actually, to eat is merely an attempt to escape the suffering of
hunger. People of the Western culture don't know what it means to
suffer from famine, but it is a great suffering experienced by many
people around the world.
And that's how it is with most of the enjoyment we seek. Eating,
sleeping, mating, and defending are the four activities humans have in
common with all other living entities. In the modern world, however,
it has become the foremost goal to fulfill and satisfy these four
needs.
They have been made the standard of happiness and enjoyment in life.
What do we do together with our loved ones, with our family and
friends? We eat, we sleep, we mate, and we defend. The entire
civilization revolves around these four activities. That's an animal
civilization. Humans are expected to have a higher goal in life than
merely satisfying basic, bodily and mental urges.
"Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating
and defending. But the special property of the humans is that they are
able to engage in spiritual life. Therefore without spiritual life,
humans are on the level of animals." --Hitopadesa
Millions of tons of iron are extracted from the earth to make pots,
knives and forks. Whole forests are cut down to make serviettes and
napkins. Add to that the industrial setup to manufacture cups and
glasses etc. And for sleeping - beds, mattresses, pillows, quilts,
covers, the list goes on and on. A massive enterprise - all of it,
just to eat and sleep. What to speak of the meat-industry, the second
largest industry in the world, only topped by the defense industry.
So the global culture is nothing more than one giant industrial setup
to fulfill four basic bodily needs. The fact is that the modern,
global civilization is an exploitative civilization that rapes and
plunders nature, and puts her inhabitants through untold suffering.
And its proudly called the industrialized, developed world.
Anyway, the happiness that can be obtained by surrendering to
Krishna's enjoyment is so far superior to the happiness that can be
squeezed out of matter, that sex with the most beautiful women become
like broken glass in comparison.
And who or what is to be blamed for the fact that the modern world
runs on animal principles? Atheism. Atheism reduces the human being to
nothing more than an animal.
In reality, the human life-form is a unique opportunity for the soul
to realize its real identity. The soul cannot realize itself in any
other life-form. In other forms of life, the soul is simply absorbed
in eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. The human form of life is
a waste of time for the soul, if it is not used to learn about one's
relation to Krishna.
Krishna should be the only center. He is the beloved of the soul. When
we love Krishna, who is the root of everything, we automatically love
all His parts and parcels - all other living entities.
It's like watering a tree. One does not benefit a tree by pouring
water on its every leaf, twig and branch. Water is poured on the root.
Then the whole tree is nourished. In the same way all living entities
are benefited and nourished when one serves Krishna - the root of all
existence.
Lord Brahma says:
"One attains the human form of life after transmigrating through
8,400,000 species by the process of gradual evolution. That human life
is spoiled for those conceited fools who do not take shelter of the
lotus feet of Govinda."
--Brahma-vaivarta Purana