While contemplating on the emphasis given on putting Krsna in the center of every relationship and other related ideas, following arguments came across.
Relationships can satisfy heart's innermost desire to be loved and to give love. To the extent a relationship is based on foundations of selfless service and willingness to sacrifice instead of squeezing out pleasure for oneself, to that extent it is nourishing to one's soul. Radhanath Swami Maharaj writes in his book, 'Journey Home' www.thejourneyhomebook.com, it is part of the deepest nature of every soul to please others. Service rendered with care, love and for the pleasure of beloved should be the foundation, if the relationship has to last long. In this world we see the epitome of this in the relationship between mother and son. Mother while changing nappies at midnight does not have any expectations from her little baby. It is love of mother for her child expressed through service without any expectations. Love means to think, speak and act in a way that is pleasing to other. When we think of love as a means of gratifying our own mind and senses and false ego, it is lust. For instance, love between a man and woman based on bodily features does not last long because factually it is lust devoid of any sense of love. It can never give us satisfaction because lust can only cater to the demands of senses which are dead matter. On contrary, we are a living force, we need love to be happy. So the barometer of love in any relatioship is the ratio of willingness to sacrifice for the pleasure of beloved to the selfish expectations we have from beloved. More the love, long lasting and satisfying will be the relationship.
Having understood the need to render service, theory is incomplete if we do not identify the object of our service. Mother unconditionally loves her children but in ignorance of spiritual reality that love remains on bodily platform which causes attachment and leads to material bondage. Ajamila was helplessly attached to his youngest son. As a result, at death bed he could only think of him. Not just mental thinking but he was strongly remembering his son and crying out to him for shelter. By the will of providence he named his son Narayana and therefore got the benefit of chanting Lord's holynames. If he would have had this same attachment to Lord, rememberance of Lord and cried out to the Supreme Personality then the purpose of human life was fulfilled. This is the point:
Ajamila who was destined to live in hell for millions of years for his sins reaped so much eternal benefit because he unconsciously somehow involved Lord Narayana in his relationship with his son. Then what to speak of Lord's devotees who plan and diligently centre every relationship around Lord. What will be their destination? Very similar to pastime of Putana.
In BG, Krsna proclaims: 'bhoktarama yajnatapasam...'. He is the supreme enjoyer. Any desire to enjoy separate from Him is lust. Therefore, any relationship devoid of an attitude of serving and pleasing the Lord betrays our tendency to enjoy that relationship without Him. Therefore, love between mother and child on material platform is not love in absolute sense because that love diverts our attention away from Krsna, is temporary and gives only a glimpse of satisfaction. However, when parents serve their child or child serves his parents because they are also parts and parcels of the same Lord and that Lord wants us to help each other come closer to Him, then such a relationship will cause liberation. Krsna is our factual father, forgeeting Whom we are entangled in miserable cycle of birth, death, old age and disease.
Srila Prabhupada writes in 'Prayers of Queen Kunti' purport (SB:1.8.42), "The skin relation is the cause of material bondage, but the relation of the soul is the cause of freedom. This relation of the soul to the soul can be established by the via medium of the relation with the Supersoul. Seeing in the darkness is not seeing. But seeing by the light of the sun means to see the sun and everything else which was unseen in the darkness. That is the way of devotional service." That's what Kunti Maharani prayed for.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Pleasures of Material World
Loving relationships alone can satisfy our hearts. No amount of wealth, power, strength, prestige can satisfy us to the extent relationships can. Subtle material opulence give very superficial satisfaction. Soul sitted in the heart is not deriving any joy from the profit, prestige and adoration. In fact, Radhanath Swami Maharaj says, "Desire for profit, prestige and adoration (puja, labha, pratishtha) is perverted reflection of our hankering for love. We think that these things of the material world can give us the love that we all are looking for." What to speak of gross material opulence. Maharaj narrates a personal instance wherein he goes to meet a very wealthy person. He describes various attributes of him - He has palatial house, chandeliers, statues from different countries, every sitting place is like that for a king etc... and his servants dress more opulently than CEOs of many companies !! But that man has boil on his foot and its not going away. That person is in total distress and complete anguish just because of that single boil. He complains, "I have paid thousands of rupees to many doctors but they are not able to do away with this boil. I am willing to exchange it for anything, Anything!" This is what I can remember, to read detailed version visit:
http://radhanathswamionline.com/nature/oh-my-toe/
Nevertheless, message is clear - nature of this material world is that if you have slightest discomfort, you can not enjoy no matter whatever amount of pleasures you may amass. And distresses or miseries will come because Krsna Himself has certified this. Citraketu Maharaj is another famous example. That's why Prahlad Maharaj advises, "If you want to be happy in this world, do not try to be happy." We have observed ourselves that whatever plan we make to enjoy, sooner or later, by inconceivable time they are shattered. We hanker for things, we invest time, energy and intelligence in attaining them. We struggle so hard amidst all difficulties for few moments of pleasure. But we are left with more hankering and lamentation - hardly any satisfaction is there in the end. Just like a thirsty person in desert is offered only few drops of water. So in short:
- Sufferings dominate pleasures in the material world
- Pleasures of this world are temporary and therefore can not fully satisfy us
- For acquiring one moment of sense gratification, hundreds of moments are spent in anxiety, uncertainty, fear, anguish and distress - all pathetic situations.
Therefore, Krsna says in BG that we are in illusion thinking that sensory pleasures of the body can satisfy us. Even worse is that we do not give up this false hope despite realizations. A child gives up a toffee for a chocolate. Similarly if we taste the sweetness of loving devotional relationship with the Lord Who is eternally blissful and resrvoir of all pleasures - Whose every aspect is madhura, we can easily give up the lowly attractions of the dead matter. Most appropriate example is of Srila Hari Das Thakur. He was not even slightest bit disturbed by the approaches of the most beautiful prostitute because he was tasting the sweetness of the holy names of the Lord. With such devotion, love and humility he was chanting that Krsna reciprocated and satisfied him completely. That's wonderful - no hankering and no anxiety and no lamentation, only bliss. May we also remember Krsna, our eternal father and our best well wishing friend, with the same loving devotion as Hari Das Thakur did. May he bless us with the same humble attitude, tolerant desposition and genuine compassion required to chant Lord's holynames feelingly.
http://radhanathswamionline.com/nature/oh-my-toe/
Nevertheless, message is clear - nature of this material world is that if you have slightest discomfort, you can not enjoy no matter whatever amount of pleasures you may amass. And distresses or miseries will come because Krsna Himself has certified this. Citraketu Maharaj is another famous example. That's why Prahlad Maharaj advises, "If you want to be happy in this world, do not try to be happy." We have observed ourselves that whatever plan we make to enjoy, sooner or later, by inconceivable time they are shattered. We hanker for things, we invest time, energy and intelligence in attaining them. We struggle so hard amidst all difficulties for few moments of pleasure. But we are left with more hankering and lamentation - hardly any satisfaction is there in the end. Just like a thirsty person in desert is offered only few drops of water. So in short:
- Sufferings dominate pleasures in the material world
- Pleasures of this world are temporary and therefore can not fully satisfy us
- For acquiring one moment of sense gratification, hundreds of moments are spent in anxiety, uncertainty, fear, anguish and distress - all pathetic situations.
Therefore, Krsna says in BG that we are in illusion thinking that sensory pleasures of the body can satisfy us. Even worse is that we do not give up this false hope despite realizations. A child gives up a toffee for a chocolate. Similarly if we taste the sweetness of loving devotional relationship with the Lord Who is eternally blissful and resrvoir of all pleasures - Whose every aspect is madhura, we can easily give up the lowly attractions of the dead matter. Most appropriate example is of Srila Hari Das Thakur. He was not even slightest bit disturbed by the approaches of the most beautiful prostitute because he was tasting the sweetness of the holy names of the Lord. With such devotion, love and humility he was chanting that Krsna reciprocated and satisfied him completely. That's wonderful - no hankering and no anxiety and no lamentation, only bliss. May we also remember Krsna, our eternal father and our best well wishing friend, with the same loving devotion as Hari Das Thakur did. May he bless us with the same humble attitude, tolerant desposition and genuine compassion required to chant Lord's holynames feelingly.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Greatest illusion
Kunti Maharani prayed to Lord to sever the tough knot of affectionate family ties. She prayed that let her affection continuously flow towards Krsna without any diversion or hindrance just like Ganges is always flowing towards sea without any impediment. In a recorded class by HH Radhanath Swami that was being played today, Maharaj said that family life not based on the principle of serving the Lord is the greatest illusion.
Affection for family members based on skin is disastrous for one's spiritual advancement. Family has the potential to divert our loving propensities away from Krsna. The relationships with father, mother, husband, wife, children, brother, sister etc, if not conducted in full knowledge of Lord, jiva, prakrti and their mutual relationships then, as per Prahlad Maharaj, family life is a deep dark well. Even if one cries out for help nobody can do anything. When we are overwhelmed by bodily conception being ignorant of our spiritual identity, we start thinking in terms of 'I', 'me' and 'mine' - 'I am this body and persons or objects in relation to this body are mine. They will support me and give me protection at the time of calamity.' We repose our faith and love, originally meant for Krsna, in our near and dear ones. This leads to attachment that only binds us to this material world more and more. Through out our life, in our relatives, we always looked for shelter - emotional, physical and mental. We knew nobody but them. But at the time of death remembering the 'fallible soldiers of this world' would only frustrate us and guarantee another birth in the material world because of our love for material opulence and unflinching faith in them. Having a prosperous family life is indeed, a material opulence.
Pastime of Gajendra's deliverance says it all. It serves as an incredible case study. He was the king of the forest. But when he got caught in the jaws of inevitable crocodile none of his family members nor his own strength could help him. They only caused him more and more frustration at the time when he needed them most. But because he remembered Lord, due to previous life's credits, Lord saved him. Gajendra was a great devotee in his previous life - so he could remember. But if we want to remember the Lord at the time of death which is the only means of salvation, then we have to practise right from now. We can not afford to take shelter of our family for the time being and postpone surrender to Krsna up until the death because death can come at any moment.
Putting in nutshell my humble realizations on 'Why saintly persons condemn grha-medhi life': Family life based on bodily concept and enjoying mentality, diverts our attention away from Krsna in an unparalleled way. Maharaj says, "Its a hard knot that keeps us always in illusion." We go on entangling ourselves in complicated relationships for want of security and gratification. Prabhupada remarks that bodily relations are illusion because they are due to the influence of external energy.
What is the ante dote? Solution is the example of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur. In his song he sings that when he would come home he would hear bhajans and see that whole family is engaged in devotional service of the Lord. Thus, his home would appear non different from spiritual abode, Vaikuntha. One who helps us remember Krsna is our real well-wisher and true friend. Somehow or other we have to increase our favourable remembrance of the Lord.
Affection for family members based on skin is disastrous for one's spiritual advancement. Family has the potential to divert our loving propensities away from Krsna. The relationships with father, mother, husband, wife, children, brother, sister etc, if not conducted in full knowledge of Lord, jiva, prakrti and their mutual relationships then, as per Prahlad Maharaj, family life is a deep dark well. Even if one cries out for help nobody can do anything. When we are overwhelmed by bodily conception being ignorant of our spiritual identity, we start thinking in terms of 'I', 'me' and 'mine' - 'I am this body and persons or objects in relation to this body are mine. They will support me and give me protection at the time of calamity.' We repose our faith and love, originally meant for Krsna, in our near and dear ones. This leads to attachment that only binds us to this material world more and more. Through out our life, in our relatives, we always looked for shelter - emotional, physical and mental. We knew nobody but them. But at the time of death remembering the 'fallible soldiers of this world' would only frustrate us and guarantee another birth in the material world because of our love for material opulence and unflinching faith in them. Having a prosperous family life is indeed, a material opulence.
Pastime of Gajendra's deliverance says it all. It serves as an incredible case study. He was the king of the forest. But when he got caught in the jaws of inevitable crocodile none of his family members nor his own strength could help him. They only caused him more and more frustration at the time when he needed them most. But because he remembered Lord, due to previous life's credits, Lord saved him. Gajendra was a great devotee in his previous life - so he could remember. But if we want to remember the Lord at the time of death which is the only means of salvation, then we have to practise right from now. We can not afford to take shelter of our family for the time being and postpone surrender to Krsna up until the death because death can come at any moment.
Putting in nutshell my humble realizations on 'Why saintly persons condemn grha-medhi life': Family life based on bodily concept and enjoying mentality, diverts our attention away from Krsna in an unparalleled way. Maharaj says, "Its a hard knot that keeps us always in illusion." We go on entangling ourselves in complicated relationships for want of security and gratification. Prabhupada remarks that bodily relations are illusion because they are due to the influence of external energy.
What is the ante dote? Solution is the example of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur. In his song he sings that when he would come home he would hear bhajans and see that whole family is engaged in devotional service of the Lord. Thus, his home would appear non different from spiritual abode, Vaikuntha. One who helps us remember Krsna is our real well-wisher and true friend. Somehow or other we have to increase our favourable remembrance of the Lord.
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