(8/13) Price of Independence

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata (Jatragachhi), 8 February 2021, part 8

[His Divine Grace continues chanting the kirtan ‘Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu’.]

mrdanga-vadya, sunite mana,
avasara sada yache
gaura-vihita, kirtana suni’,
anande hrdaya nache

‘My heart always begs for a chance to hear the sounds of the mridanga. Hearing the kirtan prescribed by Gaura, my heart dances for joy.’

yugala-murti, dekhiya mora,
parama ananda haya
prasada-seva, karite haya,
sakala prapancha-jaya

‘I rejoice to see the holy Deities of the Divine Couple. By honouring Their prasad, I conquer all material illusions.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You must honour prasadam. How will you conquer the material world? Prapancha (the material world) means that there are five (pancha) diseases (roga): avidya (ignorance), asmita (false identification), raga (misdirected love), dvesa (aversion to anything that goes against one’s enjoyment) and abhinivesa (being unable to give up unfavourable habits).

Question: What does ‘asmita’ mean?

Asmita means ignorance: it means not knowing that I and this body are not the same. In other words, it means not knowing who I am. If I ask you, ‘Who are you?’ you will say, ‘I am so-and-so Haldar’, ‘I am so-and-so Ray’ or ‘I am so-and-so Chaudhry.’ This is all false – this is not our identity. All these names are the identities of our bodies. Often people live in some place and they get named after the place. So, you are known by this name in this world, but when you leave your body and this world, nobody will call you by this name anymore. Is it not so? So, our names are not our identity. Our real identity is that we are a jivatma, a soul. That which makes this body talk, walk and do everything else is the soul. When this understanding comes, it is called knowledge, and everything else is called ignorance (avidya). Knowledge (vidya) is spiritual truth related to the Lord, and this is what we must understand.

Srila Sanatan Goswami asked Mahaprabhu, ‘Who am I? Why am I suffering? Why are we burning in the agony of threefold miseries?’ There are three kinds of suffering: adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik (miseries caused by other souls, by the nature and by our body). Adhibhautik means the Lord has created all the jiva souls in this world, but you can see that your mother beats your father, you can see parents beat their children, husbands beat their wives, people fight with one another, snakes bite people, snakes eat frogs, frogs eat moths and mosquitos, cows eat grass, milk, and so on – everything in this world is killing or torturing one another. This is called adhibhautik-jvala (the agony caused by other bodies). You can feel mosquitoes biting now – this is also adhibhautik-jvala. Adhidaivik-jvala means the suffering brought about by demigods. You may have heard that so many people died recently in Joshimath due to a glacial burst – this is an example of adhidaivik-jvala. Sometimes, there is a heatwave, sometimes torrential rains and other disasters. It is all adhidaivik-jvala. Finally, adhyatmik-jvala means mental suffering (there are many such illnesses). Many people do not have money, and they suffer because of this, but you can see California – when their children are born, they get ten cars each as a birthday present. The people are so rich there. However, the suicide rate is said to be the highest in California. Why? Do they have a lack of money? They have no lack of anything, but they still suffer – this is called mental suffering (adhyatmik-jvala).

Why do we suffer from these threefold miseries?

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

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

‘Forgetting Krishna, the soul turned towards the external illusory world in primeval times. As the result, illusion (Maya) gives such a soul various material miseries.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.117)

We have forgotten Krishna, that is why we are suffering in this world so much. We must think, ‘Everything happens by the will of the Lord, and everything happens for the best. If something happens, it is well and good.’ We must always remember this. Even if somebody dies, it is good too, because it is the will of the Lord. Nobody can know about birth and death. Do you think somebody will come to you and give you an advance notice that you have to die today or tomorrow? Nobody will do that for you. Birth, death, old age and disease are there, that is why we suffer mentally. And the reason why we suffer in all these different ways is because we have forgotten the Lord.

— : • : —

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Practise Devotion
2) Land of Religions
3) Seva Vidya
4) Conditioned Souls' Inaptitude
5) Choose Your Association
6) Lost and Languid Souls
7) "Make the Teachings of Sri Guru Non-Different from Your Heart"
8) Price of Independence
9) "Come Back to Your Home"
10) Fighting Misconceptions
11) Goloka at Your Home
12) Ekadasi: Devotional Practice
13) Stay Connected