lament not

Formerly, in the Vedic agrarian society at least- land, cows and extended family were considered to be wealth, not factory-made goods and paper money and corporate jobs that could end at any moment and split a family miles apart. In India's villages I saw extended families working together and helping each other since they get most of their necessities locally. I saw at the neighbors there, for example, at least three grown women are living close together to share in the cooking, childcare, household duties, etc.

For various reasons, I had little help from husband's family or from my own while raising children, and most of the neighbor women were working jobs; it was rare to see another mother at home.

Looking back, however, I can see that whatever I had to go through was all part of His plan. This entire material world is set up that way. Troubles purify the heart, clarify priorities and push the fortunate soul to cry out to Him again and again.

Material miseries are His plan to bring us to our senses. He masterminded the whole Mahabharata events to overturn the impossibility of the Pandavas victory in the greatest battle ever. Similarly, He masterminds our lives to get us to the point of surrender in pure love for God. Everything and everyone is helping us do what otherwise would be impossible, to cross beyond the ocean of repeated birth and death and reach the Lord's eternal abode.

Krishna says, "This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome, but those who surrender unto Me, can easily cross beyond it." - Bgita 7.14

Choice is what gives meaning to love, and that choice is what makes the jiva living entity or the Lord's marginal energy so special, but since Krishna holds all the cards it really is "surrender", not just that we choose to love Him. Think about it. We can't really choose to love God because we are totally enslaved by the material energy; it's rigged in such a way that whenever we choose the wrong way we suffer or get zapped like the laboratory mouse going the wrong way until finally we are forced to succumb to death. This can go on for countless lifetimes.

So finally we surrender with hands raised in the air, "OK, OK, OK...You win, Krishna. I give up. I choose Your way, Lord, not mine!." It is based on love, however, Krishna's love for us. Love has to get heavy sometimes, like the wise, far-seeing parent for his child.

Coming to this understanding is where our real choice lies- the one we are surrendering to has actually been our greatest well wisher and friend all along. Then surrender is done with great happiness.

For this reason we should not lament for ourselves or others, but try to see everything in a bigger, transcendental way. We may lament loud and long the pain we must sometimes feel and also the pain of others, but Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita not to lament for anyone. Material lamentation is unbecoming for one who knows the progressive values of life,

Emotions flow
Like wind blown grasses
Across memory stations
Of past trepidations.

Desperately needy,
Alone and contrary,
A naked abyss
Scalded by the sigh of my pitiless Friend.

He says, "The wise lament not for the living nor the dead."
"But what does that mean???"
"One who knows Me does not suffer;
And sobered is one who knows Me not."

It makes sense that the trouble created due to the incompatibility between the living entity and the material energy is Krsna's way to gradually bring us to His shelter, fully surrendered, bringing us into a space where there is no more suffering, only externally does it appear that way to outsiders. One who knows the Lord does not suffer in the ordinary sense. SB 3.22.37 says:

"Therefore, O Vidura, how can persons completely under the shelter of Lord Krsna in devotional service be put into miseries pertaining to the body, the mind, nature, and other men and living creatures?"

Purport by Srila Prabhupada:

"Every living entity within this material world is always afflicted by some kind of miseries, pertaining either to the body, the mind or natural disturbances... but one who has completely taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord in Krishna consciousness is in the transcendental stage; he is not disturbed by any miseries, either due to the body, the mind, or natural disturbances of summer and winter. He is transcendental to all these miseries."

I used to think, "Because I have become a devotee, there will be no danger or suffering." Prahläda Mahäräja was greatly harassed and so were other devotees like the Pandavas and Haridäsa Thäkura, but they had no false bodily identification and had full faith "Krishna is present, and He will give me protection." There is no shelter other than Krishna. Thinking otherwise is the only danger and sadness.

beauty and truth

There have been several experiences in my life that made me think about how beautiful the material nature is, but upon closer inspection how deadly.

Once, when I was a teenager, I was in the Rocky mountains having a great time hiking with friends. There was beauty all around us, fresh air to breathe... but a blinding blizzard hit us without warning. That beautiful scene quickly turned to a nightmare; we got lost for quite some time until we made it to a clearing and were spotted by a rescue helicopter. Meanwhile, one of our companions nearly died from hypothermia, stumbling, falling and talking incoherently until she had to be carried along in the freezing cold, nearly unconscious.

Then picture this- a young mother is happily watching her baby laugh as she is swinging back in forth in her automatic baby swing that a neighbor lent to her. It's a Kodak moment, something we get to relish for a few seconds, now and then, in the business of life. Well, I noticed after baby was no longer sitting in the swing, a tag was sticking out from the seat with a big "WARNING: Do not leave baby unattended...." and then proceeded to list all kinds of possiblities of what might happen if not heeded, including death.

Then there have been a few times my kids and I raised butterflies as a fun project. The second time around didn't go so well. The weather was bad, so I didn't want to release the newly emerged butterflies immediately. Meanwhile, I fed them sugar water and became rather attached to them.

So when the time came that I must finally release them into the wild, mother nature suddenly didn't look so beautiful or friendly anymore. The birds in the yard that I always loved to watch and listen to sing, suddenly felt evil when I thought they may gobble up the butterflies.

These kind of experiences have helped awaken me from a sort of illusion. The material nature is now comparable to a brilliant fire in which materialistic persons are like moths being allured to their deaths (Bhagavad gita 11.29).

But why do we have this intense attraction in the first place? It's because of its relation to the most beautiful, Krishna. In Bhagavad gita Krishna says:

"Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world, know for certain that I am both the origin and the dissolution....there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread...Know that all states of being – be they of goodness, passion or ignorance – are manifested by My energy. I am, in one sense, everything, but I am independent. I am not under the modes of material nature, for they, on the contrary, are within Me."

When we become Krishna conscious, material nature's attraction loses its grip. As will be thought upon further in the next post entitled "The Most Beautiful".

two ways to look at the world

"They say that this world is unreal, that there is no foundation and that there is no God in control. It is produced of sex desire, and has no cause other than lust."

This is the description of the demoniac viewpoint given in the Bhagavad gita about what makes the world go 'round.

A devotional vision, however, is completely the opposite. What makes the sun rise that grows the farmlands, dries the laundry and warms one after a swim? What makes the rainfall and tanks of fresh water fill? Why was nature designed to continuously supply all our necessities of life? It is all done by love. Krishna made this world because He loves us. 

 

 "This material creation is so nice—don’t you think there is a friend behind it? The sky is so beautiful, the foodstuff is being produced, the moon is rising in due course, the sun is rising in due course, supplying heat for your health, supplying heat to the planetary systems. Everything is arranged very nicely; and yet the fools say there is no brain behind it, but it is all happening automatically." -Srila Prabhupada

Attraction for the All-Attractive

So what is that attraction to something or someone really?

It's because everything, both material and spiritual, emanates from Krishna, the source of all existences. The holy name "Krishna" means "All Attractive". Whether it's adventure, romance, beauty, fun...Krishna is the attractive principle behind all things.

"I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts." Bhagavad gita As It Is 10.8

It's His energy, so when you get something from the person you love the most, you naturally take good care of it and use it in His service. So instead of tossing into the sink the cooking utensils used for making His daily offerings, for example, you carefully place them to get washed, and then set them in proper order to dry.

Loving Krishna extends to all living beings. A nice quote from Srila Prabhupada illustrates this nicely:

"If you love your child and your child is away, you think of him when you see his shoes. You think, “Oh, this is my dear child’s shoe.” It is not that you love the shoe, but the child. The shoe, however, evokes that love. Similarly, as soon as we see Kṛṣṇa’s energy manifested in a living entity, we love that entity because we love Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, if we love Kṛṣṇa, universal love is accounted for."Path of Perfection", Chapter 6