(When Krishna and His friends were threatened by a forest fire, Krishna swallowed the fire.)December 30, 2007
Dear All,
Yesterday, I was transferred back in time to the days when I was very much entangled and harassed by the modes of nature. The eternity of the soul’s existence can be easily divided into two types of phases of existence – the ones in which the soul is not Krishna Conscious, and the ones in which it is. The former is an existence full of plight and the latter is the existence leading to the extrication from such plight and to the eventual establishment of the self beyond the dualities associated with the modes of nature into the realm of the eternal and blissful existence of the Kingdom of God. Before coming to Krishna Consciousness, making such an analysis would not have been possible. In that state of ignorance, all attempts at rationalizing the observations around are baffled by that unrelenting foe known as the Duality of material existence. This duality is characterized essentially by the personal definitions of the favorable and the unfavorable, and by the dissension caused between different individuals because of conflicting definitions of the same.
We were talking yesterday about different kinds of music – Indian Classical, Western Classical, Jazz, Rock, Metal, and so on… Three of us were there and initially I too was trying to establish by likes and dislikes as the “correct” ones. And inevitably, there was some disagreement amongst us. Since one always wants to be “correct”, a disagreement of this kind suddenly gives rise to at least a slight discomfort in the heart. And as soon as that happened I fearfully realized that I had been gullible and had been sucked into the world of duality once again by the stealthy forces of Maya -- that illusion-causing potency of the Lord which keeps everyone bound to this material world! After this, I lost interest in the discussion and while physically present there I was intellectually trying to get to the essence of what Krishna wants to teach me using this particular situation.
That feeling of discomfort immediately reminded me of the same feeling I used to get before coming to Krishna Consciousness. I remember how I cherished my likes and dislikes and maintained that I was the wisest of all by having those particular ones. That how liking Indian Classical music is better than liking Hard Rock. How tennis was a better sport than cricket. How the sporting heroes I loved were better than their sporting rivals. How the political views I harbored (though I was never really into politics ever) are better than those opposing them. Fortunately, I never cared too much about too many worldly things but of the few I did care for, I was quite strong about it. And of course, those were the ones that gave me most misery.
What is that misery? When one harbors strong likes and dislikes in this world of duality, inevitably one encounters opposing forces in the form of opposing ideologies, fans of other sports stars, patrons of another genre of music, readers of another kinds of books, and so on. In the face of such opposition, one tries to somehow establish within ones mind that what one is doing is the best. Such a mental adjustment is flimsy and once agitated it takes a long time for the mind to again get settled into a calm state. Unfortunately, the time it takes is so long that the probability of having a calm mind for a considerable duration of time is quite low, almost nil. All this eventually leads to the classic heinous philosophical conclusion that is the root cause of all sorts of nonsense that prevails in the modern world – “You do what you like, I do what I like. There is no absolute right and no absolute wrong.” This way everyone can freely do whatever one likes to do without worrying about what others think about it and more particularly, whether it is right or wrong.
This conclusion never ever satisfied my heart. But nevertheless, I had no other option but to accept it in the absence of a better answer. Given all the evidence around me, and without any understanding of the transcendental, this conclusion was all that I had. I even wrote a mail to one of my highly intelligent acquaintances that I accept that “Everything is Relative. There is nothing Absolute”. I was never happy about this philosophical conclusion… but I had no other option.
Truth alone satisfies the heart. If one is not satisfied with the Truth then it means either that what one thinks as Truth is not the Truth or that it is the Truth but that one is not harmonizing oneself with it. If harmonizing oneself with the Truth doesn’t satisfy the heart, then how will anything else for any considerable duration of time? Can building ones life on a flimsy foundation of untruth ever lead to prolonged satisfaction of the heart? Won’t one be harassed by unsuspected harsh surprises if one does not understand what is Truth and what not?
The Truth is that everyone in this material world has acquired a certain combination of the modes of nature based on their activities and desires from their past lives. Everything in this material world, including likes and dislikes, depends on the modes of nature acquired. So its not surprising that different people think different things to be right. The Truth also is that there exists a Supreme Person Krishna (God) who is the source of everything, from whom everything emanates, whose existence depends on nothing else, and on whom everything else depends. He is the supreme cause of all causes and is inexhaustible and unlimited. Krishna is thus the Supreme Absolute Truth. The Truth is also that we are all souls, eternal parts of that Supreme Absolute Truth Krishna and can be happy only if we base our existence on this knowledge. Unless one builds ones life on the foundation of this Truth, one is bound to be unhappy. Not only that, the ignorance of this knowledge of Truth gives room for other partial truths or even blatant untruths to take birth from imaginative brains and become known as truths. And this in turn gives rise to the popular ignorant conclusion that “You do your thing, I will do my thing.”
But, your thing and my thing can not be fundamentally different because you and I have the same fundamental identity (in Truth) as a part of the Supreme Lord Krishna. And thus your thing and my thing should be fundamentally same – to serve Krishna. This is the Absolute Law. Whatever be your material likes and dislikes, mould them in such a way so as to please Krishna! Then, despite your likings being different from mine on a material relative platform, they will be the same on the spiritual absolute platform. Both of us will like to serve Krishna but perhaps according to our different ways. Such is the unifying nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth Lord Krishna! Under Him all contradictions are resolved and hence all philosophical questions answered while completely satisfying the heart.
In fact, by working on such a spiritual platform, ones activities will cease being material. They will be transcendental to the modes of nature because by working only for the pleasure of Krishna, one can cut the strong ropes of the modes of material nature that bind one to this material world. Thus, one who is in the plight of being bound by these ropes can be extricated by using all his activities in the service of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Thus he will gradually transcend the modes of nature and eventually achieve that supreme abode of the Lord in which there are not contradictions and everything is perfect and where once gone, no one returns back to this miserable existence of duality in this material world.
The ISKCON movement of Srila Prabhupada is facilitating such dovetailing of all resources in Krishna’s service all over the world and is thus doing the world the greatest welfare. Let us all join hands and help spread this movement all over the world like wild fire and please Srila Prabhupada and Lord Sri Krishna!
Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.
Dear All,
Yesterday, I was transferred back in time to the days when I was very much entangled and harassed by the modes of nature. The eternity of the soul’s existence can be easily divided into two types of phases of existence – the ones in which the soul is not Krishna Conscious, and the ones in which it is. The former is an existence full of plight and the latter is the existence leading to the extrication from such plight and to the eventual establishment of the self beyond the dualities associated with the modes of nature into the realm of the eternal and blissful existence of the Kingdom of God. Before coming to Krishna Consciousness, making such an analysis would not have been possible. In that state of ignorance, all attempts at rationalizing the observations around are baffled by that unrelenting foe known as the Duality of material existence. This duality is characterized essentially by the personal definitions of the favorable and the unfavorable, and by the dissension caused between different individuals because of conflicting definitions of the same.
We were talking yesterday about different kinds of music – Indian Classical, Western Classical, Jazz, Rock, Metal, and so on… Three of us were there and initially I too was trying to establish by likes and dislikes as the “correct” ones. And inevitably, there was some disagreement amongst us. Since one always wants to be “correct”, a disagreement of this kind suddenly gives rise to at least a slight discomfort in the heart. And as soon as that happened I fearfully realized that I had been gullible and had been sucked into the world of duality once again by the stealthy forces of Maya -- that illusion-causing potency of the Lord which keeps everyone bound to this material world! After this, I lost interest in the discussion and while physically present there I was intellectually trying to get to the essence of what Krishna wants to teach me using this particular situation.
That feeling of discomfort immediately reminded me of the same feeling I used to get before coming to Krishna Consciousness. I remember how I cherished my likes and dislikes and maintained that I was the wisest of all by having those particular ones. That how liking Indian Classical music is better than liking Hard Rock. How tennis was a better sport than cricket. How the sporting heroes I loved were better than their sporting rivals. How the political views I harbored (though I was never really into politics ever) are better than those opposing them. Fortunately, I never cared too much about too many worldly things but of the few I did care for, I was quite strong about it. And of course, those were the ones that gave me most misery.
What is that misery? When one harbors strong likes and dislikes in this world of duality, inevitably one encounters opposing forces in the form of opposing ideologies, fans of other sports stars, patrons of another genre of music, readers of another kinds of books, and so on. In the face of such opposition, one tries to somehow establish within ones mind that what one is doing is the best. Such a mental adjustment is flimsy and once agitated it takes a long time for the mind to again get settled into a calm state. Unfortunately, the time it takes is so long that the probability of having a calm mind for a considerable duration of time is quite low, almost nil. All this eventually leads to the classic heinous philosophical conclusion that is the root cause of all sorts of nonsense that prevails in the modern world – “You do what you like, I do what I like. There is no absolute right and no absolute wrong.” This way everyone can freely do whatever one likes to do without worrying about what others think about it and more particularly, whether it is right or wrong.
This conclusion never ever satisfied my heart. But nevertheless, I had no other option but to accept it in the absence of a better answer. Given all the evidence around me, and without any understanding of the transcendental, this conclusion was all that I had. I even wrote a mail to one of my highly intelligent acquaintances that I accept that “Everything is Relative. There is nothing Absolute”. I was never happy about this philosophical conclusion… but I had no other option.
Truth alone satisfies the heart. If one is not satisfied with the Truth then it means either that what one thinks as Truth is not the Truth or that it is the Truth but that one is not harmonizing oneself with it. If harmonizing oneself with the Truth doesn’t satisfy the heart, then how will anything else for any considerable duration of time? Can building ones life on a flimsy foundation of untruth ever lead to prolonged satisfaction of the heart? Won’t one be harassed by unsuspected harsh surprises if one does not understand what is Truth and what not?
The Truth is that everyone in this material world has acquired a certain combination of the modes of nature based on their activities and desires from their past lives. Everything in this material world, including likes and dislikes, depends on the modes of nature acquired. So its not surprising that different people think different things to be right. The Truth also is that there exists a Supreme Person Krishna (God) who is the source of everything, from whom everything emanates, whose existence depends on nothing else, and on whom everything else depends. He is the supreme cause of all causes and is inexhaustible and unlimited. Krishna is thus the Supreme Absolute Truth. The Truth is also that we are all souls, eternal parts of that Supreme Absolute Truth Krishna and can be happy only if we base our existence on this knowledge. Unless one builds ones life on the foundation of this Truth, one is bound to be unhappy. Not only that, the ignorance of this knowledge of Truth gives room for other partial truths or even blatant untruths to take birth from imaginative brains and become known as truths. And this in turn gives rise to the popular ignorant conclusion that “You do your thing, I will do my thing.”
But, your thing and my thing can not be fundamentally different because you and I have the same fundamental identity (in Truth) as a part of the Supreme Lord Krishna. And thus your thing and my thing should be fundamentally same – to serve Krishna. This is the Absolute Law. Whatever be your material likes and dislikes, mould them in such a way so as to please Krishna! Then, despite your likings being different from mine on a material relative platform, they will be the same on the spiritual absolute platform. Both of us will like to serve Krishna but perhaps according to our different ways. Such is the unifying nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth Lord Krishna! Under Him all contradictions are resolved and hence all philosophical questions answered while completely satisfying the heart.
In fact, by working on such a spiritual platform, ones activities will cease being material. They will be transcendental to the modes of nature because by working only for the pleasure of Krishna, one can cut the strong ropes of the modes of material nature that bind one to this material world. Thus, one who is in the plight of being bound by these ropes can be extricated by using all his activities in the service of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Thus he will gradually transcend the modes of nature and eventually achieve that supreme abode of the Lord in which there are not contradictions and everything is perfect and where once gone, no one returns back to this miserable existence of duality in this material world.
The ISKCON movement of Srila Prabhupada is facilitating such dovetailing of all resources in Krishna’s service all over the world and is thus doing the world the greatest welfare. Let us all join hands and help spread this movement all over the world like wild fire and please Srila Prabhupada and Lord Sri Krishna!
Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.
