Analogy of Blind Faith in Its Various Forms
Once five blind men came upon an elephant. They began feeling the elephant and speculating on what it was. One felt its big legs and concluded, “Oh, the elephant is just like a pillar.” The second man felt the trunk and concluded, “Oh, this elephant is just like a snake.” The third man felt the ear of the elephant and concluded, “This elephant is like a big fan.” The fourth man felt the tail of the elephant and concluded, “This elephant is like a broom.” And the third man felt the belly of the elephant and concluded, “This elephant is like a big boat.” - That’s an analogy of institutionalized blind faith in its various forms
List of Dharma with Occupational Duties
Dharma means order of the Lord - dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam
Occupational duties of Uncivilized people
kaitava-dharma ———— Cheating religion
apara dharma ————– Religion of the inferior material nature,
religion performed for material gain
Utsanna-kula-dharma ——- They have no family. They don’t care for
any rules & regulation. Utsanna-everything destroyed
asanatana-dharma ———- Perishable religion
asad dharma ————— That which will seize to exist, that will not stay
mano-dharma—————- Speculation, mental creation
virupa dharma————– Servitor of the senses
Occupational duties of Civilized people
Samnaya Dharma ————- General Duty
Kula Dharma —————- Duty of Family
Jati Dharma —————- Duty of the Cast
Stri Dharma —————- Duty of female
Pravritti Dharma ———– Duty of Worldly Life
putrika-dharma ————- Duty of a Daughter
desa-dharma—————– Duty of the nation
Samaja-dharma ————– Duty of a community
svabhava dharma ———— Duty as per one nature
dharma-atma—————– Duty bound soul
Occupational duties of People Advanced in Civilization
Sanathana Dharma ———– Eternal Duty
Varnasrama Dharma ———- Duties of Caste and Order
sannyasa-dharma ———— Duty of a worldly renounced soul
yatira dharma—————– The religious principle of a sannysa
brahmanya-dharma ———– Duty of a Brahmana
grha-dharma —————- Duty of a Householder
Moksa-dharma—————- Duty for liberation
apad-dharma —————- occupational duty at times of
extraordinary happenings, or religion in distress
satya-dharma ————— Duty of the truth
Satita dharma ————– Duty of a Chaste women
sasvata-dharma ————- Eternal Religion
asrama-dharma ————– Duty according to ones occupation
Manava Dharma ————– Duty of Mankind
Raja Dharma —————- Duty of King
Praja Dharma ————— Duty of Subjects
Pursha Dharma ————– Duty of Man
Svadharma —————— Ones own duties
sarva-dharma ————— All religion
Nivritti Dharma ———— Duty in Spiritual Life
Occupational duties of People Highest in Advancement
Yuga Dharma —————- Duty of the age or period in
History
visva-dharma ————— Universal religion
sad-dharma—————— Real duty, eternal Occupation
svarupa dharma ————- Duty as per ones self
Visesha Dharma ————- Special Duty
Bhagavata-dharma ———– Duty of a devotee
paro dharma —————- Duty of the Highest order
sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saraṇam vraja
bhagavan dharma ———— Ultimate Dharma to Surrender to Lord
Occupational duties of Uncivilized people
kaitava-dharma ———— Cheating religion
apara dharma ————– Religion of the inferior material nature,
religion performed for material gain
Utsanna-kula-dharma ——- They have no family. They don’t care for
any rules & regulation. Utsanna-everything destroyed
asanatana-dharma ———- Perishable religion
asad dharma ————— That which will seize to exist, that will not stay
mano-dharma—————- Speculation, mental creation
virupa dharma————– Servitor of the senses
Occupational duties of Civilized people
Samnaya Dharma ————- General Duty
Kula Dharma —————- Duty of Family
Jati Dharma —————- Duty of the Cast
Stri Dharma —————- Duty of female
Pravritti Dharma ———– Duty of Worldly Life
putrika-dharma ————- Duty of a Daughter
desa-dharma—————– Duty of the nation
Samaja-dharma ————– Duty of a community
svabhava dharma ———— Duty as per one nature
dharma-atma—————– Duty bound soul
Occupational duties of People Advanced in Civilization
Sanathana Dharma ———– Eternal Duty
Varnasrama Dharma ———- Duties of Caste and Order
sannyasa-dharma ———— Duty of a worldly renounced soul
yatira dharma—————– The religious principle of a sannysa
brahmanya-dharma ———– Duty of a Brahmana
grha-dharma —————- Duty of a Householder
Moksa-dharma—————- Duty for liberation
apad-dharma —————- occupational duty at times of
extraordinary happenings, or religion in distress
satya-dharma ————— Duty of the truth
Satita dharma ————– Duty of a Chaste women
sasvata-dharma ————- Eternal Religion
asrama-dharma ————– Duty according to ones occupation
Manava Dharma ————– Duty of Mankind
Raja Dharma —————- Duty of King
Praja Dharma ————— Duty of Subjects
Pursha Dharma ————– Duty of Man
Svadharma —————— Ones own duties
sarva-dharma ————— All religion
Nivritti Dharma ———— Duty in Spiritual Life
Occupational duties of People Highest in Advancement
Yuga Dharma —————- Duty of the age or period in
History
visva-dharma ————— Universal religion
sad-dharma—————— Real duty, eternal Occupation
svarupa dharma ————- Duty as per ones self
Visesha Dharma ————- Special Duty
Bhagavata-dharma ———– Duty of a devotee
paro dharma —————- Duty of the Highest order
sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saraṇam vraja
bhagavan dharma ———— Ultimate Dharma to Surrender to Lord
Sins
aparaadh sahasraani kriyanteaharnisham maya|
taani sarvani me dev kshamasva purushottam ||
Hey Purushottam , ! day and night I have been doing thousands of sins kindly forgive them all !! WHen we ask with remorse we must remember HOW LORD has saved others from hienous crimes and its sins .
Suvarnasteya :
Goddess laxmi is ever present in gold , so stealing gold is sin towards goddess . This sin was committed for the first time by bali . Bali once stole the kirit [ crown ] of lord narayana sleeping in the ksheerasagar [ amukta sthana ] . Garuda chased bali and grabbed it . But garuda placed it on the head of krishna in dwapara yuga while he was in gomantaka parvat . This crown fitted exactly the head of krishna establishing that there is no differenece between lord narayana and krishna .
Bali indirectly became the instrument for such a exhibition of quality of narayana . Bali infact got punya rather than sin for his acts , such is the magnanimity of lord towards his devotees .
Shatdahnva and kritavarma alongwith these two akrur participated in the filching of syamantak mani . Akrur hid the mani in his clothes from krishna . Lord forgave him and also allowed him to keep the ruby .
Suraapaan :
Sons of kubera , nalkubar and manigreeva , after consuming alcohol , nakedly were sporting in ganga with many women .narada cursed them to be arjuna trees . Krishna mitigated their sins and curse by his touch .
All yadavas drank mayreyak alcohol and in ensuing brawl killed themselves but their act resulted in the krishna leaving for paramdham thus giving them more punya .
Gurupatnigaman:
Moon chandra indulged with wife of his preceptor brahaspati and had to suffer kushta [ leprosy] . But lord saved him from hell by taking birth in his lineage of chandravansha as krishna . Krishna brought enormous fame to the lineage of chandra and therby as his forefather [ mane ] moon was exonerated .
Pataki sanyog :
When we befriend pataki sinner we share his sins . Ravan kumbakarna ,shishupala dantavaktra , hiranyaksha hiranyakashipu , nalkubar manigreeva all these were residing in the same body alongwith the demons , jay vijay , dhuni chamu ,
Similarly putana had both urvashi and tataki . Karna had surya and dambodhbhav lord krishna saved all these good souls even when they were in pataki sanyog ,
Kansa minister akrur or his sairandhri trivakra everyone were freed from sins by lord krishna .
Thus when mahapatakas can be forgiven by lord krishna by bringing pashchattap among the devotees and through prayashchitta , then small patakas or upapatakas wil also be destroyed by lord . He forgave
1.Shringi for giving curse to a sane king parikshit
2.Kaliya snake for biting him in yamuna
3.Ajamila bramhin for veshya gaman
4.Gandhari for cursing krishna to exterminate yadava lineage
5.King satrajit for false allegation of syamantakmani apahaar .
Thus lord forgives when devotee does prayaschitta through his samsmaranam by meditating all these events of hari and paschattap and homa japa dana etc . Krichcha is the best form of prayaschitta . All such prayaschitta should
start from dwadashi tithi.
taani sarvani me dev kshamasva purushottam ||
Hey Purushottam , ! day and night I have been doing thousands of sins kindly forgive them all !! WHen we ask with remorse we must remember HOW LORD has saved others from hienous crimes and its sins .
Suvarnasteya :
Goddess laxmi is ever present in gold , so stealing gold is sin towards goddess . This sin was committed for the first time by bali . Bali once stole the kirit [ crown ] of lord narayana sleeping in the ksheerasagar [ amukta sthana ] . Garuda chased bali and grabbed it . But garuda placed it on the head of krishna in dwapara yuga while he was in gomantaka parvat . This crown fitted exactly the head of krishna establishing that there is no differenece between lord narayana and krishna .
Bali indirectly became the instrument for such a exhibition of quality of narayana . Bali infact got punya rather than sin for his acts , such is the magnanimity of lord towards his devotees .
Shatdahnva and kritavarma alongwith these two akrur participated in the filching of syamantak mani . Akrur hid the mani in his clothes from krishna . Lord forgave him and also allowed him to keep the ruby .
Suraapaan :
Sons of kubera , nalkubar and manigreeva , after consuming alcohol , nakedly were sporting in ganga with many women .narada cursed them to be arjuna trees . Krishna mitigated their sins and curse by his touch .
All yadavas drank mayreyak alcohol and in ensuing brawl killed themselves but their act resulted in the krishna leaving for paramdham thus giving them more punya .
Gurupatnigaman:
Moon chandra indulged with wife of his preceptor brahaspati and had to suffer kushta [ leprosy] . But lord saved him from hell by taking birth in his lineage of chandravansha as krishna . Krishna brought enormous fame to the lineage of chandra and therby as his forefather [ mane ] moon was exonerated .
Pataki sanyog :
When we befriend pataki sinner we share his sins . Ravan kumbakarna ,shishupala dantavaktra , hiranyaksha hiranyakashipu , nalkubar manigreeva all these were residing in the same body alongwith the demons , jay vijay , dhuni chamu ,
Similarly putana had both urvashi and tataki . Karna had surya and dambodhbhav lord krishna saved all these good souls even when they were in pataki sanyog ,
Kansa minister akrur or his sairandhri trivakra everyone were freed from sins by lord krishna .
Thus when mahapatakas can be forgiven by lord krishna by bringing pashchattap among the devotees and through prayashchitta , then small patakas or upapatakas wil also be destroyed by lord . He forgave
1.Shringi for giving curse to a sane king parikshit
2.Kaliya snake for biting him in yamuna
3.Ajamila bramhin for veshya gaman
4.Gandhari for cursing krishna to exterminate yadava lineage
5.King satrajit for false allegation of syamantakmani apahaar .
Thus lord forgives when devotee does prayaschitta through his samsmaranam by meditating all these events of hari and paschattap and homa japa dana etc . Krichcha is the best form of prayaschitta . All such prayaschitta should
start from dwadashi tithi.
karsati, or struggle for existence
Here the living entity is described as isvara, the controller of his own body. If he likes, he can change his body to a higher grade, and if he likes he can move to a lower class. Minute independence is there. The change his body undergoes depends upon him. At the time of death, the consciousness he has created will carry him on to the next type of body. If he has made his consciousness like that of a cat or dog, he is sure to change to a cat's or dog's body. And if he has fixed his consciousness on godly qualities, he will change into the form of a demigod. And if he is in Krsna consciousness, he will be transferred to Krsnaloka in the spiritual world and will associate with Krsna. It is a false claim that after the annihilation of this body everything is finished. The individual soul is transmigrating from one body to another, and his present body and present activities are the background of his next body. One gets a different body according to karma, and he has to quit this body in due course. It is stated here that the subtle body, which carries the conception of the next body, develops another body in the next life. This process of transmigrating from one body to another and struggling while in the body is called karsati, or struggle for existence.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bg 15.8
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bg 15.8
Living Entity and Lord
As fragmental parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, the living entities also have fragmental portions of His qualities, of which independence is one. Every living entity, as an individual soul, has his personal individuality and a minute form of independence. By misuse of that independence one becomes a conditioned soul, and by proper use of independence he is always liberated. In either case, he is qualitatively eternal, as the Supreme Lord is. In his liberated state he is freed from this material condition, and he is under the engagement of transcendental service unto the Lord; in his conditioned life he is dominated by the material modes of nature, and he forgets the transcendental loving service of the Lord. As a result, he has to struggle very hard to maintain his existence in the material world.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bg 15.7
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bg 15.7
Krishna conscious communism
The devotees of Krishna, therefore, have their own form of communism. According to Krishna conscious communism, everything belongs to God. Just as the Russian and Chinese Communists think that everything belongs to the state, we think that everything belongs to God. This is merely an extension of the same philosophy, and to understand it one simply needs a little intelligence. Why should one think that his state belongs to only a small number of people? In fact this is all the property of God, and every living entity has a right to use this property because every living being is a child of God, who is the supreme father. In Bhagavad-gita (14:4), Lord Krishna says, sarva-yonisu kaunteya ... aham bija-pradah pita: "I am the seed-giving father of all living entities. In whatever forms they may live, all living entities are My sons."
Will something dramatic will happen in 2012
We have information from the Vedic scriptures about the nature of this material world. Very extensive information is given about the cycles this world goes through over and over again. It is not that we are in uncharted territory. These cycles repeat, just like every year we have the four seasons. The cycle of the seasons repeats over and over again. Similarly the cycle of the four ages or yugasalso repeats over and over again. As we know each of the seasons will last for three months and then the next season will start these four ages or yugas also repeat in a very systematic way.
There are four yugas, Satya-yuga - the golden age, lasting 1,728,000 years; Treta-yuga - the silver age, lasting 1,296,000 years; Dvapara-yuga - the bronze age, lasting 864,000 years; and finally Kali-yuga - the iron age of machines and quarrel, lasting 432,000 years.
We are in the final age, Kali-yuga. So in one sense you could call the end of Kali-yuga the “end of the world.” But actually Kali-yuga is no more the end of the world than winter is the end of the seasons. After the winter there will be another spring. At the end of winter everything looks dead. But with the sunshine of spring everything becomes rejuvenated and new life springs up all over the planet. So at the end of this Kali-yuga everything will be very baron and devastated. However that is just like the end of winter. Just like the end of winter means the beginning of a new spring season, there will be another Satya-yuga or golden age and everything in the universe will be rejuvenated again.
There will be some big devastation at the end of the Kali-yuga. But we have just started the Kali-yuga. This age will last for 432,000 years and so far we have only passed 5,000 years of it. So that means that Kali-yuga still has another 427,000 years to run... So please be assured that the world is not going to end in the year 2012... Believe it or not the world will still be going on in the year 429,000. Around this time the current Kali-yuga will end and there will be some devastation and a renewal which will usher in a new Satya-yuga...
So this claim that the “end of the world” is coming in 2012 is complete nonsense. There is no end to the material world. Although everything here in this world -- except the living entities (the spirit souls, the atmas) -- including the planet and the universe itself, is ultimately a temporary manifestation. Everything has a time of creation and will have a time of destruction.
However, in the bigger picture, the destruction is not actually a destruction. It is simply an exercise in the conservation of energy. Einstein came up with the proposition that both energy and matter cannot be destroyed. They can only be transformed from one form to another. This is the correct understanding.
There is a time when the universe will be destroyed. The universe will exist for one thousand catur-yuga cycles. That is one thousand cycles of the four ages [Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga and Kali-yuga]. Each cycle of four yugastakes 4,300,000 years. Therefore the “life” of the universe is 4,300,000,000 years or 4.3 billion years. We have currently passed through approximately half of that time. So the universe is about 2.15 billion years old at the moment. So in another 2.15 billion years the whole material world -- not just our universe -- the entire material creation of an unlimited number of universes, will all be destroyed.
However, as I mentioned before, this is not actually a “destruction” but a conservation of matter and energy. All the matter which forms the material elements in the universe will be conserved in the “mahat-tattva.” This means the “unmanifested material energy.” The material world has two possible states. Manifest and unmanifest. Currently it is manifest and we are here in the material world. But after the completion of approximately 2.15 billion years there will really be a complete and total devastation of the whole material existence. That is the ultimate “end of the world” that all the doomsday people are waiting for. I think that devastation will satisfy them. At that time the whole material existence will be “destroyed” and will become unmanifested for another one thousand catur-yuga cycles.
This means for 4.3 billion years there will be no manifest material world. Everything will be conserved, the matter will be conserved within the mahat-tattva and the living entities will all enter into the body of Maha Visnu and will exist there in a state of suspension.
Although the whole material creation will be “destroyed” in about 2.15 billion years time, in reality nothing will actually be destroyed. The matter will be conserved in the mahat-tattva and the living entries will simply sleep for 4.3 billion years in the body of Maha-Visnu. This is not liberation for the living entities. They just sleep. And when the 4.3 billion years is finished the material world will become manifest again and all the same living entities will enter it again and again resume their activities where they left off 4.3 billion years ago.
And it will be the same thing again. There will be the same grass, trees, donkeys, horses, elephants, people... The same sort of planets and sun and moon will be constructed, the whole thing will be again constructed in the same way.
It is just like every year it is hot in summer and cold in winter. There are no surprises.
The new material world will be much the same as the old one because the material world is created out of the desires of the living entities. It will be the same living entities entering the “new world” who left this world. So they will bring into the “new world” the same desires they left this world with. So they will simply continue in the “new world” where they left off in this world. After sleeping for 4.3 billion years.
There are also smaller devastations that happen periodically, but these only happen at the end of the catur-yuga cycles, so if the doomsday people really want a date that something may happen on then let them use the date of the end of this Kali-yuga, something around 429,000, something quite dramatic will happen then for sure. To get the exact date you will need to consult an astrologer. Until then this world will go on, and on, and on, and on
It will get worse of course. That is the nature of time. In the end it will be very bad. But it will go on, and on and on. There will be no “end of the world” until some time around 429,000 and that is, as I said, not really the end of the world. That is a time of renewal. A transition from the dark age of Kali to a new golden age of spiritual enlightenment.
The material world will never end. There will always be spirit souls like us who rebel against our natural position of rendering service to God. So Krishna mercifully creates this material playground for us. Here we can try to “play god.” Here we can try to enjoy separately from God. But this world is constructed in such a way that all our attempts to enjoy separately from God will end in frustration.
After many, many, many births in the material world, and many, many frustrated lives of suffering, an intelligent man comes to the conclusion that there is no happiness in the material world and decides to go back home, back to Godhead.
There is another world, a spiritual world. That is the place we are all hankering for. In the spiritual world we have a spiritual body which is eternally youthful, full of knowledge and full of bliss. That is our natural position.
The position we find ourselves in the material world is quite opposite to our natural position in the spiritual world. Here, in the material world, we are stuck in a material body that is getting old, getting sick, and ultimately dying. We are always suffering from three different types of miseries. Our minds are always giving us problems; nature [the demigods] is always giving problems in the form of too much rain or no rain, too hot or too cold, etc. And other living entities like the mosquitoes bite us when we are trying to sleep and our enemies attack us. In this way we are constantly suffering from many different types of miseries.
Therefore here, in the material world, we are full of anxieties, full of ignorance. The root cause of all these problems is we identify with the material body. Because of this bodily identification we think we are temporary. We think that we will die. We think that we are not permanent.
The reality is this material world is not our home. We can never be happy here. We are not in our natural atmosphere. We belong in the spiritual world, we will be happy in that spiritual atmosphere.
The purpose of our existence in this material world is to frustrat our material desires so that ultimately we give up our rebellious nature of trying to enjoy separately from Krishna. When we give up this rebellious attitude and surrender to Krishna we will naturally remember Krishna at the time of death and our soul will be transferred to the spiritual world, back home, back to Godhead.
But the material world will continue, it will go on, and on and on and on forever... There is no end to the material world. The doomsday people will always be wrong. They will always be frustrated. They want it to end but it will never end...
There are four yugas, Satya-yuga - the golden age, lasting 1,728,000 years; Treta-yuga - the silver age, lasting 1,296,000 years; Dvapara-yuga - the bronze age, lasting 864,000 years; and finally Kali-yuga - the iron age of machines and quarrel, lasting 432,000 years.
We are in the final age, Kali-yuga. So in one sense you could call the end of Kali-yuga the “end of the world.” But actually Kali-yuga is no more the end of the world than winter is the end of the seasons. After the winter there will be another spring. At the end of winter everything looks dead. But with the sunshine of spring everything becomes rejuvenated and new life springs up all over the planet. So at the end of this Kali-yuga everything will be very baron and devastated. However that is just like the end of winter. Just like the end of winter means the beginning of a new spring season, there will be another Satya-yuga or golden age and everything in the universe will be rejuvenated again.
There will be some big devastation at the end of the Kali-yuga. But we have just started the Kali-yuga. This age will last for 432,000 years and so far we have only passed 5,000 years of it. So that means that Kali-yuga still has another 427,000 years to run... So please be assured that the world is not going to end in the year 2012... Believe it or not the world will still be going on in the year 429,000. Around this time the current Kali-yuga will end and there will be some devastation and a renewal which will usher in a new Satya-yuga...
So this claim that the “end of the world” is coming in 2012 is complete nonsense. There is no end to the material world. Although everything here in this world -- except the living entities (the spirit souls, the atmas) -- including the planet and the universe itself, is ultimately a temporary manifestation. Everything has a time of creation and will have a time of destruction.
However, in the bigger picture, the destruction is not actually a destruction. It is simply an exercise in the conservation of energy. Einstein came up with the proposition that both energy and matter cannot be destroyed. They can only be transformed from one form to another. This is the correct understanding.
There is a time when the universe will be destroyed. The universe will exist for one thousand catur-yuga cycles. That is one thousand cycles of the four ages [Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga and Kali-yuga]. Each cycle of four yugastakes 4,300,000 years. Therefore the “life” of the universe is 4,300,000,000 years or 4.3 billion years. We have currently passed through approximately half of that time. So the universe is about 2.15 billion years old at the moment. So in another 2.15 billion years the whole material world -- not just our universe -- the entire material creation of an unlimited number of universes, will all be destroyed.
However, as I mentioned before, this is not actually a “destruction” but a conservation of matter and energy. All the matter which forms the material elements in the universe will be conserved in the “mahat-tattva.” This means the “unmanifested material energy.” The material world has two possible states. Manifest and unmanifest. Currently it is manifest and we are here in the material world. But after the completion of approximately 2.15 billion years there will really be a complete and total devastation of the whole material existence. That is the ultimate “end of the world” that all the doomsday people are waiting for. I think that devastation will satisfy them. At that time the whole material existence will be “destroyed” and will become unmanifested for another one thousand catur-yuga cycles.
This means for 4.3 billion years there will be no manifest material world. Everything will be conserved, the matter will be conserved within the mahat-tattva and the living entities will all enter into the body of Maha Visnu and will exist there in a state of suspension.
Although the whole material creation will be “destroyed” in about 2.15 billion years time, in reality nothing will actually be destroyed. The matter will be conserved in the mahat-tattva and the living entries will simply sleep for 4.3 billion years in the body of Maha-Visnu. This is not liberation for the living entities. They just sleep. And when the 4.3 billion years is finished the material world will become manifest again and all the same living entities will enter it again and again resume their activities where they left off 4.3 billion years ago.
And it will be the same thing again. There will be the same grass, trees, donkeys, horses, elephants, people... The same sort of planets and sun and moon will be constructed, the whole thing will be again constructed in the same way.
It is just like every year it is hot in summer and cold in winter. There are no surprises.
The new material world will be much the same as the old one because the material world is created out of the desires of the living entities. It will be the same living entities entering the “new world” who left this world. So they will bring into the “new world” the same desires they left this world with. So they will simply continue in the “new world” where they left off in this world. After sleeping for 4.3 billion years.
There are also smaller devastations that happen periodically, but these only happen at the end of the catur-yuga cycles, so if the doomsday people really want a date that something may happen on then let them use the date of the end of this Kali-yuga, something around 429,000, something quite dramatic will happen then for sure. To get the exact date you will need to consult an astrologer. Until then this world will go on, and on, and on, and on
It will get worse of course. That is the nature of time. In the end it will be very bad. But it will go on, and on and on. There will be no “end of the world” until some time around 429,000 and that is, as I said, not really the end of the world. That is a time of renewal. A transition from the dark age of Kali to a new golden age of spiritual enlightenment.
The material world will never end. There will always be spirit souls like us who rebel against our natural position of rendering service to God. So Krishna mercifully creates this material playground for us. Here we can try to “play god.” Here we can try to enjoy separately from God. But this world is constructed in such a way that all our attempts to enjoy separately from God will end in frustration.
After many, many, many births in the material world, and many, many frustrated lives of suffering, an intelligent man comes to the conclusion that there is no happiness in the material world and decides to go back home, back to Godhead.
There is another world, a spiritual world. That is the place we are all hankering for. In the spiritual world we have a spiritual body which is eternally youthful, full of knowledge and full of bliss. That is our natural position.
The position we find ourselves in the material world is quite opposite to our natural position in the spiritual world. Here, in the material world, we are stuck in a material body that is getting old, getting sick, and ultimately dying. We are always suffering from three different types of miseries. Our minds are always giving us problems; nature [the demigods] is always giving problems in the form of too much rain or no rain, too hot or too cold, etc. And other living entities like the mosquitoes bite us when we are trying to sleep and our enemies attack us. In this way we are constantly suffering from many different types of miseries.
Therefore here, in the material world, we are full of anxieties, full of ignorance. The root cause of all these problems is we identify with the material body. Because of this bodily identification we think we are temporary. We think that we will die. We think that we are not permanent.
The reality is this material world is not our home. We can never be happy here. We are not in our natural atmosphere. We belong in the spiritual world, we will be happy in that spiritual atmosphere.
The purpose of our existence in this material world is to frustrat our material desires so that ultimately we give up our rebellious nature of trying to enjoy separately from Krishna. When we give up this rebellious attitude and surrender to Krishna we will naturally remember Krishna at the time of death and our soul will be transferred to the spiritual world, back home, back to Godhead.
But the material world will continue, it will go on, and on and on and on forever... There is no end to the material world. The doomsday people will always be wrong. They will always be frustrated. They want it to end but it will never end...
prayer of the unborn child in the womb
Srimad Bhagavatam verse 3.31.4.
yah panca-bhuta-racite rahitah sharire
cchanno ’yathendriya-gunaartha-cid-aatmako ’ham
tenaavikuntha-mahimaanam rshim tam enam
vande param prakrti-purushayoh pumaamsam
"I am separated from the Supreme Lord because of my being in this material body, which is made of five elements, and therefore my qualities and senses are being misused, although I am essentially spiritual. Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is transcendental to material nature and the living entities, because He is devoid of such a material body, and because He is always glorious in His spiritual qualities, I offer my obeisances unto Him."
This is the prayer of the unborn child in the womb. The difficulty with us is that as soon as the material body is decided for us, we have to squeeze ourselves in the female womb. Whichever body you accept, you have to squeeze. Otherwise you are not born and more so in the human existence, it is a very obnoxious situation. Therein the living entity prays continuously to the Lord that because I have committed so many sins, I have to be in this position. The description of the movements in the womb is very beautiful in the third canto, thirty first chapter of Srimad Bhaagvatam. If you really study these prayers, and the actual movement of the living entity, then we helplessly decide, come what may, I will not again squeeze myself in another womb. This is a terrible thing. We are already born and by Krishna’s arrangement, we have forgotten the pangs of birth but we can say that the children are barely alive when they are born. Somehow or the other, by the grace of the mother, we are just seeing the light of this planet. Otherwise it is impossible.
So in that condition, while suffering, the living entity is praying that because I am encaged in the material body, made of five great elements, I am lying here in the pool of blood, pus, urine and what not. Because You are transcendental, I entreat you that when are You going to liberate me from this position. There are 5 gross elements sky, ether, fire, water and earth and there are three subtle elements mind, intelligence and false ego. We do not see the mind and we never envisage intelligence and are never conscious of false ego. But this false ego dominates our whole life. And because false ego is the beginning of the subtle body, slowly the subtle body is developed by the condition of the mind and as soon as the mind is conditioned, it gives you ether, air, fire water and earth according to its own will and the body is born. That is why the mind is the main thing and whatever goes on in the body, particularly in the heart and intelligence is revealed by our face. Mind is the controller of face also. You will have your face as the mind is. On our condition of mind, our whole being depends. This is the secret. The living entity says that somehow by Your arrangement, I am encaged in this body. I know that you are completely transcendental. You do not have birth, growth or death. Nothing you have. So please bestow mercy upon me and somehow or the other, release me from this imprisonment.
Because the unborn child is praying from the womb of the mother, it has a practical value for our existence. We are all born and in future also living beings will be born and again and again they will be born and all this has practical value.
yah panca-bhuta-racite rahitah sharire
cchanno ’yathendriya-gunaartha-cid-aatmako ’ham
tenaavikuntha-mahimaanam rshim tam enam
vande param prakrti-purushayoh pumaamsam
"I am separated from the Supreme Lord because of my being in this material body, which is made of five elements, and therefore my qualities and senses are being misused, although I am essentially spiritual. Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is transcendental to material nature and the living entities, because He is devoid of such a material body, and because He is always glorious in His spiritual qualities, I offer my obeisances unto Him."
This is the prayer of the unborn child in the womb. The difficulty with us is that as soon as the material body is decided for us, we have to squeeze ourselves in the female womb. Whichever body you accept, you have to squeeze. Otherwise you are not born and more so in the human existence, it is a very obnoxious situation. Therein the living entity prays continuously to the Lord that because I have committed so many sins, I have to be in this position. The description of the movements in the womb is very beautiful in the third canto, thirty first chapter of Srimad Bhaagvatam. If you really study these prayers, and the actual movement of the living entity, then we helplessly decide, come what may, I will not again squeeze myself in another womb. This is a terrible thing. We are already born and by Krishna’s arrangement, we have forgotten the pangs of birth but we can say that the children are barely alive when they are born. Somehow or the other, by the grace of the mother, we are just seeing the light of this planet. Otherwise it is impossible.
So in that condition, while suffering, the living entity is praying that because I am encaged in the material body, made of five great elements, I am lying here in the pool of blood, pus, urine and what not. Because You are transcendental, I entreat you that when are You going to liberate me from this position. There are 5 gross elements sky, ether, fire, water and earth and there are three subtle elements mind, intelligence and false ego. We do not see the mind and we never envisage intelligence and are never conscious of false ego. But this false ego dominates our whole life. And because false ego is the beginning of the subtle body, slowly the subtle body is developed by the condition of the mind and as soon as the mind is conditioned, it gives you ether, air, fire water and earth according to its own will and the body is born. That is why the mind is the main thing and whatever goes on in the body, particularly in the heart and intelligence is revealed by our face. Mind is the controller of face also. You will have your face as the mind is. On our condition of mind, our whole being depends. This is the secret. The living entity says that somehow by Your arrangement, I am encaged in this body. I know that you are completely transcendental. You do not have birth, growth or death. Nothing you have. So please bestow mercy upon me and somehow or the other, release me from this imprisonment.
Because the unborn child is praying from the womb of the mother, it has a practical value for our existence. We are all born and in future also living beings will be born and again and again they will be born and all this has practical value.
four types of living entities
Yudhisthira Maharaj said, "Oh Lord of the lords, Sri Krishna, all glories unto You! Oh Master of the universe, You alone are the source of the four types of living entities
those born from eggs,
those born from perspiration,
those born from seeds and
those born from embryos.
You alone are the root cause of all, Oh Lord, and therefore You are the creator, maintainer and destroyer.
those born from eggs,
those born from perspiration,
those born from seeds and
those born from embryos.
You alone are the root cause of all, Oh Lord, and therefore You are the creator, maintainer and destroyer.
Three Aspects of the Absolute
To make the three levels of God-realization more understandable, later Vaishnava commentators have supplied the following apt analogy.
Three simple villagers and their guide are at a railway station, waiting in great anticipation for the train to arrive. The three have never seen a train before. As one of them notices a massive structure pulling in at a distance, he comments on the headlight: "What is this?" he asks. The guide responds: "That is the train." Confident that he has seen the train, the first villager leaves, satisfied.
When the train approaches the platform, one of the remaining villagers exclaims: "Oh! This is a train!" He has seen the series of cars pulling into the station – the form behind the headlights. He is now also confident that he has seen all there is to see and leaves.
The third man patiently remains behind. And when the train comes into the station he has the opportunity to meet the conductor and to see the various passengers on board.
The three villagers went back to their small village and began to tell everyone what they had seen. Though it was an undeniable truth that each had seen the same train, their descriptions were diverse; their realizations were different. The third villager obviously had a more complete experience than the other two. He was able to convince the others for this, for he perfectly described what his two comrades had seen, and more.
Analogically, the big light represents the effulgent impersonal aspect of the Lord (Brahman). This light with something more behind it conveys the idea of divine substance, a personality that pervades all existence (Paramatma). And the third villager's vision represents the most complete aspect of God realization (Bhagavan), wherein one meets the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, and develops a relationship with him.
In the Vaishnava view,the above are considered different aspects of the same Absolute Truth,and they are all valid.One views these different aspects of God according to one's spiritual advancement
Three simple villagers and their guide are at a railway station, waiting in great anticipation for the train to arrive. The three have never seen a train before. As one of them notices a massive structure pulling in at a distance, he comments on the headlight: "What is this?" he asks. The guide responds: "That is the train." Confident that he has seen the train, the first villager leaves, satisfied.
When the train approaches the platform, one of the remaining villagers exclaims: "Oh! This is a train!" He has seen the series of cars pulling into the station – the form behind the headlights. He is now also confident that he has seen all there is to see and leaves.
The third man patiently remains behind. And when the train comes into the station he has the opportunity to meet the conductor and to see the various passengers on board.
The three villagers went back to their small village and began to tell everyone what they had seen. Though it was an undeniable truth that each had seen the same train, their descriptions were diverse; their realizations were different. The third villager obviously had a more complete experience than the other two. He was able to convince the others for this, for he perfectly described what his two comrades had seen, and more.
Analogically, the big light represents the effulgent impersonal aspect of the Lord (Brahman). This light with something more behind it conveys the idea of divine substance, a personality that pervades all existence (Paramatma). And the third villager's vision represents the most complete aspect of God realization (Bhagavan), wherein one meets the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, and develops a relationship with him.
In the Vaishnava view,the above are considered different aspects of the same Absolute Truth,and they are all valid.One views these different aspects of God according to one's spiritual advancement
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