TLC 4: The Wise Man
Chapter Four: The Wise Man
Since no one can trace the history of the living entity's entanglement in
material energy, the Lord says that it is beginningless.
By beginningless it is meant that conditional life exists prior
to the creation; it is simply manifested during and after the creation.
Due to forgetfulness of his nature, the living entity, although spirit,
suffers all kinds of miseries in material existence.
It should be understood that there are also living entities who are not entangled
in this material energy but are situated in the spiritual world.
They are called liberated souls and are always engaged in Krsna consciousness, devotional
service.
The activities of those who are conditioned by material nature are taken
into account, and in their next life, according to these activities, they
are offered different types of material bodies.
In the material world the conditioned spirit soul is subjected to various
rewards and punishments.
When he is rewarded for his righteous activities, he is elevated to the
higher planets where he becomes one of the many demigods, and when he is
punished for his abominable activities, he is thrown into hellish planets
where he suffers the miseries of material existence more acutely.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu gives a very nice example of this
punishment.
Formerly a king used to punish a criminal by dunking him in
the river, raising him up again for breath and then again dunking him
in the water.
Material nature punishes and rewards the individual entity
in just the same way.
When he is punished, he is dunked in the water of
material miseries, and when he is rewarded, he is taken out of it for some
time.
Elevation to the higher planets or to a higher life status is never
permanent.
One must again come down to be submerged in the water.
All this is constantly going on in this material existence; sometimes one is elevated
to higher planetary systems, and sometimes one is thrown into the hellish
condition of material life.
In this regard Caitanya Mahaprabhu recites a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam
taken from the instructions of Narada Muni to Vasudeva, the father of
Krsna (SB 11.2.37):
bhayam dvitiyabhinivesatah syad isad apetasya viparyayo 'smrtih
tan-mayayato budha abhajet tam bhaktyaikayesam guru-devatatma
In this quotation from the nine sages who were instructing Maharaja Nimi,
maya is defined as "forgetfulness of one's relationship with Krsna."
Actually, maya means "that which is not."
It has no existence.
Thus it is false to think that the living entity has
no connection with the Supreme Lord.
He may not believe in the existence of God, or he may think that he
has no relationship with God, but these are all "illusions," or maya.
Due to absorption in this false conception of
life, man is always fearful and full of anxieties.
In other words, a godless concept of life is maya.
One who is actually learned in the Vedic literatures
surrenders unto the Supreme Lord with great devotion and accepts
Him as the supreme goal.
When a living entity forgets the constitutional
nature of his relationship with God, he is at once overwhelmed by the external
energy.
This is the cause of his false ego, his false identification
of the body with the self.
Indeed, his whole conception of the material universe arises from this
false identification with the body, for he becomes attached to the body an
d its by-products.
To escape this entanglement, he has only to perform his
duty and to surrender unto the Supreme Lord with intelligence and devotion
and with sincere Krsna consciousness.
A conditioned soul falsely thinks himself happy in the material world, but
if he is favored by the instructions of an unalloyed devotee, he gives up
his desire for material enjoyment and becomes enlightened in Krsna
consciousness.
As soon as one enters into Krsna consciousness, his desire
for material enjoyment is at once vanquished, and he gradually becomes
free from material entanglement.
There is no question of darkness where there is light, and Krsna consciousness is
the light that dispels the darkness of material sense enjoyment.
A Krsna conscious person is never under the
false conception that he is one with God.
Knowing that he would not be happy by working for himself, he
engages all his energies in the service of the Supreme Lord and thereby
gains release from the clutches of illusory material energy.
In this connection, Caitanya Mahaprabhu quotes the
following verse from Bhagavad-gita:
daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te
"The divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material
nature, is difficult to overcome.
But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it."
(Bg.
7.14)
Caitanya Mahaprabhu went on to teach that for each and every moment he is
engaged in some fruitive activity, the conditioned soul forgets his real
identity.
Sometimes when he is fatigued, when he is tired of material
activities, he wants liberation and hankers to become one with the Supreme
Lord, but at other times he thinks that by working hard to gratify his
senses he will be happy.
In either case, he is covered by material energy.
For the enlightenment of such bewildered conditioned souls, the Supreme Lo
rd has presented voluminous Vedic literatures such as the Vedas, the
puranas and the Vedanta-sutra.
These are all intended to guide the human being back to Godhead.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given further instructions by explaining that when a conditioned soul
is accepted by the mercy of the spiritual master and is guided by the Supersoul
and the various Vedic scriptures, he becomes enlightened and makes
progress in spiritual realization.
It is because Lord Krsna is always merciful upon His devotees
that He has presented all these Vedic literatures by which one can
understand his relationship with Him and can act on the basis of that
relationship.
In this way one is gifted with the ultimate goal of life.
Actually every living entity is destined to reach the Supreme Lord.
Indeed, it is possible for everyone to understand
his relationship with the Supreme.
The execution of duties to attain perfection is known as
devotional service, and in maturity such devotional service becomes love
of God, the factual goal of life for every living being.
Actually the living entity is not intended to achieve success
in religious rituals, economic development or sense enjoyment.
The living entity should not even desire success in liberation, what to speak
of success in religion, economics and sense enjoyment.
One's real desire should only be to achieve the stage of loving transcendental service
to the Lord.
The all-attractive features of Lord Krsna help one in attaining
this transcendental service, and it is by such service in Krsna consciousness
that one can realize the relationship between Krsna and himself.
Concerning man's search for the ultimate goal of life, Caitanya Mahaprabhu
relates a story from the commentary of Madhva which occurs in the Fifth
Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam (Madhva-bhasya) Sarvajna to a poor man who came
to him to have his future told.
When Sarvajna saw the horoscope of the man, he was at once astonished that the man
was so poor, and he said to him, "Why are you so unhappy?
From your horoscope I can see that you have a hidden treasure left to you by your father.
However, the horoscope indicates that your father could not disclose
this to you because he died in a foreign place, but now you can search
out this treasure and be happy."
This story is cited because the living entity is suffering due to
his ignorance of the hidden treasure of his Supreme Father, Krsna.
That treasure is love of Godhead, and in every
Vedic scripture the conditioned soul is advised to find it.
As stated in Bhagavad-gita, although the conditioned soul is the son of the wealthiest
personality -- the Personality of Godhead -- he does not realize
it.
Therefore Vedic literatures are given to him to help him search
out his father and his paternal property.
The astrologer Sarvajna further advised the poor man: "Don't dig on the
southern side of your house to find the treasure, for if you do so you
will be attacked by a poisonous wasp and will be baffled.
The search should be conducted on the eastern side where
there is actual light, which is called devotional service or Krsna consciousness.
On the southern side there are Vedic rituals, and on the western
side there is mental speculation, and on the northern side there
is meditational yoga."
Sarvajna's advice should be carefully noted by everyone.
If one searches for the ultimate goal by the ritualistic process,
he will surely be baffled.
Such a process involves the performance of rituals under the
guidance of a priest who takes money in exchange for service.
A man may think he will be happy by performing such
rituals, but actually if he does gain some result from them, it is only temporary.
His material distresses will continue.
Thus he will never become truly happy by following the
ritualistic process.
Instead, he will simply increase his material pangs
more and more.
The same may be said for digging on the northern side, or
searching for the treasure by means of the meditational yoga process.
By this process a person thinks of becoming one
with the Supreme Lord, but this merging into the Supreme is like being
swallowed by a large serpent.
Sometimes a large serpent swallows a smaller one, and merging into the
spiritual existence of the Supreme is analogous.
While the small serpent is searching after perfection, he is swallowed.
Obviously there is no solution here.
On the western side there is also an impediment in the form
of a yaksa, an evil spirit who protects the treasure.
The idea is that a hidden treasure can never be found by one
who asks the favor of a yaksa in order to attain it.
The result is that one will simply be killed.
This yaksa is the speculative mind, and in this
case the speculative process of self-realization, or the jnana process, is
also suicidal.
The only possibility then is to search for the hidden treasure on the
eastern side by the process of devotional service in full Krsna
consciousness.
Indeed, that process of devotional service is the perpetual
hidden treasure, and when one attains to it, he becomes perpetually rich.
One who is poor in devotional service to Krsna is always in need of
material gain.
Sometimes he suffers the bites of poisonous creatures, and
sometimes he is baffled; sometimes he follows the philosophy of monism and
thereby loses his identity, and sometimes he is swallowed by a large
serpent.
It is only by abandoning all this and becoming fixed in Krsna
consciousness, devotional service to the Lord, that one can actually
achieve the perfection of life.