By Hansadutta das
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Day and night, dusk and dawn,
winter and spring come again and again. Time frolics and life passes
by, yet man does not give up the whims of desire.
Everyone is full of desires for material enjoyment, but
that is a waste of time. We are wasting time pursuing temporary
material enjoyment. We should utilize this time to understand things as
they are. Time is driving us as the wind drives the clouds, scattering
us hither and thither, and no one is ever satisfied in any position,
however grand and
comfortable it may be. We find everyone is unhappy. The reason? We
belong in the spiritual atmosphere--not in this material atmosphere.
The material atmosphere is temporary, whereas the living entity is
eternal. He wants
to be in an eternal situation. Krishna consciousness means to elevate
one's
self to that eternal life and become indifferent to temporary, material
life.
For some time only we are youthful. For some time only we can be
wealthy
and comfortable. We cannot be wealthy and comfortable all the days of
our
life. In old age, when disease sets in, wealth is of no use. There is
no
comfort whatsoever. We shall be always agitated and aggravated by
bodily
distress--liver ailments, stomach ailments, mental ailments. Then there
will
be no question of sex enjoyment. An old man cannot enjoy his senses.
They
are worn out and dull.
A life in pursuit of sense enjoyment brings only
frustration, lamentation, disappointment and unhappiness. But if we
come to the spiritual platform, we shall find permanent happiness.
Brahma-bhutah prasannatma (Bhagavad-gita
18.54) No lamentation and no desire. Then what is there?Mad-bhaktim
labhate param (Bhagavad-gita 18.54) Bhakti
means devotion to Krishna, devotional life. We are devotees by nature.
Our pleasure is in serving--not exploiting. No one can enjoy life by
accumulating, but we enjoy when we give, when we serve. Serve whom?
Serve my wife? My children? My neighbor? My country? No, because all
these are also temporary. But when we serve the Eternal, we enjoy an
eternal life of bliss and knowledge. Bhakti is the healthy life
of the soul. When the living entity attempts to accumulate, exploit and
extract so-called pleasure in material life, he is in a diseased
condition. It is natural for
us to serve, to submit, to follow.
Krishna consciousness is the science of the soul. The
material sciences are dealing only with the symptoms of our misfortune
and unhappiness. Our dissatisfaction in life is not due to
unemployment, inflation, recession or anything like that. All problems
stem from one root cause: godlessness. We have become godless. We are
actually part and parcel of God, but we are trying to be godless. We
are trying to be without God, and that is impossible. The symptoms of
our disease are experienced in so many external features that
we call unemployment, schizophrenia or energy crisis. The real problem
is
that we are without God.
We must re-establish our relationship with God; then
every
problem automatically will vanish, just as when a sleeping man
experiences nightmares, the solution is to wake up. As soon as he is
awakened from his sleep, his nightmare is solved. It cannot be solved
by another dream, because dreaming, either good or bad, is unnatural.
It is ignorance. Our natural, awakened state is Krishna consciousness,
serving Krishna.
By chanting the names of Krishna and Rama this
consciousness is revived. It is not an intellectual adjustment or
mental speculation. It is a practical experience which everyone can
have simply by vibrating the transcendental sound: Hare Krishna, Hare
Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama,
Hare Hare. It does not cost anything. It can be practiced anywhere at
any time. You can experiment yourself to see the effect of chanting the
holy name of Krishna.
As I have my name and you have your name, so God, the
Supreme,
has His name also. He is a living being, like you and I, with the power
of
thinking, feeling and willing. He has His personality, His form, His
activities,
His place of residence and His friends. Similarly, He has His name. If
you
chant the name Krishna, Krishna will reciprocate--"Yes, what do
you
want? I am here." Then your spiritual life will begin. Hare Krishna.
