The Soul's Misery

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
12 May 2012

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

Bhavartha Dipika

The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev. That is why we first offer our full obeisance at our Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's lotus feet, then to all the Vaishnav-mandal, bhakta-mandala.

Sastra, the scriptures, say that a bad day is not a cloudy day: the worst day in our life is the day when we cannot chant, we cannot talk about good things—the day when there is no Hari-katha.

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

Having travelled throughout the universe and having got the mercy of Guru, Krishna, a fortunate soul receives a seed of the devotional creeper.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151

Brahmanda bhraman: we are going and coming, but the fortunate soul is the one who can get good association. We sing in the song:

এ ঘোর-সংসারে পড়িয়া মানব
না পায় দুঃখের শেষ ।
সাধুসঙ্গ করি' হরি ভজে যদি
তবে অন্ত হয় ক্লেশ ॥

e ghora-samsare padiya manava
na paya duhkhera sesa
sadhu-sanga kari' hari bhaje yadi
tabe anta haya klesa

Those who have fallen into this terrible world never cease to suffer, but if they associate with sadhus and serve Hari, their suffering comes to an end.

'E ghora-samsare' from Jaiva-dharma by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

We are suffering so much with family attachment. Sadhu-sanga, good association is necessary because if we get good association we will be able to remove that kles, the tri-tap jara, three-fold suffering: adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik (আধিভৌতিক, আধিদৈবিক, আধ্যাত্মিক).

Although we have everything, still we are suffering so much. Adhidaivik jara means some suffering comes from the devata, demigods: some train accident, bus accident, an earthquake, a flood, and so on. Adhibhautik jara comes from other jiva souls: every jiva soul comes from the Lord, He created us, but every jiva soul suffers from another jiva soul—grass is eaten by a cow, people are bitten by mosquitos, frogs are eaten by snakes, and so on. Adhyatmik jara is mental suffering, like diseases, for example. How can we be rescued from such kinds of suffering?

'কে আমি', 'কেনে আমায় জারে তাপত্রয়' ।
ইহা নাহি জানি—'কেমনে হিত হয়' ॥

'ke ami', 'kene amaya jare tapa-traya'
iha nahi jani—'kemane hita haya'

Who am I? Why do I suffer so much? How can I get relief?

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.102

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

Having forgotten Krishna, the soul wanders throughout the universe. Being thus covered by illusion, the soul goes through all kinds of material suffering.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.117

We have forgotten Krishna, the Lord, that is why we are suffering in this way, but if we get good association, the illusory environment can be removed:

দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া ।
মামেব যে প্রপদ্যন্তে মায়ামেতাং তরন্তি তে ॥

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

My alluring, 'trimodal,' illusory potency is practically insurmountable. However, those who take shelter in Me can overcome this powerful obstacle.

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14

Maya, illusory environment, is very powerful. Krishna Himself says, "I create the illusory environment, you cannot conquer it. How is it possible to overcome it? If somebody surrenders to Me, I can remove it from them." Illusory environment means we are covered by an illusory net and we forget everything. Overcoming this illusory environment will depend on the quality of our surrender.

It is said in Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila, 22.64), "শ্রদ্ধা-অনুসারী ভক্তি-অধিকারী, sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari, devotion depends upon the quality of faith." There are four kinds of faith—kamala-sraddha, taranga-sraddha, drdha-sraddha, and sudrdha-sraddha—the more faith you have, the more your devotion is. If you have 100% faith in Krishna, you are a 100% devotee, if you have 50% faith, you are a 50% devotee. It depends upon faith.

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