20100220 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.14.38

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ
 paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande
 paramānanda-mādhavam
śrī caitanya īśvaram

Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.14.38

etasmin saṁsārādhvani nānā-kleśopasarga-bādhita āpanna-vipanno yatra yas tam u ha vāvetaras tatra visṛjya jātaṁ jātam upādāya śocan muhyan bibhyad-vivadan krandan saṁhṛṣyan gāyan nahyamānaḥ sādhu-varjito naivāvartate 'dyāpi yata ārabdha eṣa nara-loka-sārtho yam adhvanaḥ pāram upadiśanti.

etasmin—on this; saṁsāra—of miserable conditions; adhvani—path; nānā—various; kleśa—by miseries; upasarga—by the troubles of material existence; bādhitaḥ—disturbed; āpanna—sometimes having gained; vipannaḥ—sometimes having lost; yatra—in which; yaḥ—who; tam—him; u ha vāva—or; itaraḥ—someone else; tatra—thereupon; visṛjya—giving up; jātam jātam—newly born; upādāya—accepting; śocan—lamenting; muhyan—being illusioned; bibhyat—fearing; vivadan—sometimes exclaiming loudly; krandan—sometimes crying; saṁhṛṣyan—sometimes being pleased; gāyan—singing; nahyamānaḥ—being bound; sādhu-varjitaḥ—being away from saintly persons; na—not; eva—certainly; āvartate—achieves; adya api—even until now; yataḥ—from whom; ārabdhaḥ—commenced; eṣaḥ—this; nara-loka—of the material world; sa-arthaḥ—the self-interested living entities; yam—whom (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); adhvanaḥ—of the path of material existence; pāram—the other end; upadiśanti—saintly persons indicate.

TRANSLATION

The path of this material world is full of material miseries, and various troubles disturb the conditioned soul. Sometimes he loses, and sometimes he gains. In either case, the path is full of danger. Sometimes the conditioned soul is separated from his father by death or other circumstances. Leaving him aside he gradually becomes attached to others, such as his children. In this way, the conditioned soul is sometimes illusioned and afraid. Sometimes he cries loudly out of fear. Sometimes he is happy maintaining his family, and sometimes he is overjoyed and sings melodiously. In this way he becomes entangled and forgets his separation from the Supreme Personality of Godhead since time immemorial. Thus he traverses the dangerous path of material existence, and on this path he is not at all happy. Those who are self-realized simply take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in order to get out of this dangerous material existence. Without accepting the devotional path, one cannot get out of the clutches of material existence. The conclusion is that no one can be happy in material life. One must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

PURPORT

By thoroughly analyzing the materialistic way of life, any sane man can understand that there is not the least happiness in this world. However, due to continuing on the path of danger from time immemorial and not associating with saintly persons, the conditioned soul, under illusion, wants to enjoy this material world. Material energy sometimes gives him a chance at so-called happiness, but the conditioned soul is perpetually being punished by material nature. It is therefore said: daṇḍya-jane rājā yena nadīte cubāya (Cc. Madhya 20.118). Materialistic life means continuous unhappiness, but sometimes we accept happiness as it appears between the gaps. Sometimes a condemned person is submerged in water and hauled out. Actually all of this is meant for punishment, but he feels a little comfort when he is taken out of the water. This is the situation with the conditioned soul. All the śāstras therefore advise that one associate with devotees and saintly people.

'sādhu-saṅga', 'sādhu-saṅga'—sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
(Cc. Madhya 22.54)

Even by a little association with devotees, the conditioned soul can get out of this miserable material condition. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is therefore trying to give everyone a chance to associate with saintly people. Therefore all the members of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness society must themselves be perfect sādhus in order to give a chance to fallen conditioned souls. This is the best humanitarian work.

* * *

Guru Maharaja:  I was told by Gaura Chandra Das that, for like, week or ten days ahead of the Gaura Purnima. Every day was about… like in the morning Prabhupada disciples would read the Caitanya Caritamrita.

Anyway, so, I don’t mind others give classes on the weekend when I give classes, but we will work out these details.

So, this verse today on the Srimad Bhagavatam… I am always reminded how the Bhagavatam, and how Prabhupada, like they say in America, “walk the walk, talk the talk”, where they say, “tell like it is.” So, he really should direct. He tells us like it is. This is the material world, you think you are going to be happy, little carrot dangled in front of you, you get some momentary happiness, and then you suffer, suffer and suffer.

It reminds me of… I don’t know, maybe… how many years ago, but some years ago I heard about one…they do this polls… in America, so they did a poll, that now I think at that time there was about 58% didn’t divorce, and 50% divorce. So, ok, the divorce people, they were happy, so they divorced, why didn’t they divorce? There is a poll. So, I forget the exact percentage but, it was like ninety percent said they weren’t happy, but they stayed together because of economics or religion or kids, or you live together, it was cheaper, but they didn’t like each other anymore. So, ten percent said you are happy. The other ninety said, “They are lying.” [Laughter.] It was interesting.

So, of course those are the materialists, but the… as devotees we don’t look to the material world to give us happiness, we look to Krsna to give... we want Krsna conscious happiness, and material happiness means only that sometimes we will be happy, and sometimes we will be sad. Sitoshna sukha dukha da. That sometimes it is like winter and sometimes it is like summer. So, sometimes we will suffer, and sometimes we will enjoy. We shouldn’t take the suffering to be the end of it all, we shouldn’t take the happiness to be the goal of life, or that it is something permanent. These things come and they go. You know sometimes you will be happy, and sometimes you will be sad. This is all superficial, we want to really to experience love for Krsna, we want to experience the bhava, the ecstasy of Krsna consciousness, this is our goal, and practically, the devotees they are experiencing this.

So, Lord Caitanya, He came with that special message. Especially in Kali Yuga the happiness is very reduced. Suffering is more. Even the so called happy people, the rich people, they are also… they suffer a lot. We heard of people… Michael Jackson, he was very rich, very happy, he died with $400 million debt. So, he must have the creditors after him. He died, in his stomach they found a few pills and no food. So, he was in so much anxiety, he just was taking pills and not eating. It speaks for itself. So, how many people are really happy? That’s a question. But everybody in the material world thinks that I will be happy.

In America this constitution is named that we have the freedom of our pursuit of happiness. They don’t say be happy, they say pursue it. You see.

That means that we also have a right, we want to pursue happiness through the Krsna consciousness.

Now… once Lord Caitanya was cursed by one brahmana. He was cursed, you will never enjoy material happiness, and Lord Caitanya, “Haribol, Haribol…” he thought he gave the worst curse he could, you will never be materially happy. “I don’t want material happiness, I want spiritual happiness.”

So, this was Lord Caitanya’s very special message, that he came down to give us Krsna consciousness, and so, I heard that Lokanatha maharaja and Bhakti Charu Maharaja and others, they have taken the parikrama out, that is the first time in 37,38, I don’t remember exactly how many years, but I did attend the parikrama.

Even last year when I was sick, was for three days, I couldn’t stay… because I was in India, but here I was ordered by the G.B.C, got to stay, you got to take your treatment, and thanks to Srivasa Prabhu… he tolerated me, and …