THE BENEDICTINE TREE OF DIVINE ASPIRATION: CHAPTER FIVE

Life's Destination

by
His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj

Honourable teachers, respectable Vaishnavs, and my beloved students, I am feeling very fortunate that you have given me this chance to speak about Krishna consciousness. I am especially indebted to the authorities of this college; because of their kindness it was possible for me to meet with you all today.

When I first came here to Mauritius I noticed some very auspicious symptoms. I noticed that the trees are bearing so many fruits, all the earth is very fertile, and all the people are very conscious of religion. I was surprised to see that this country is like a heaven on earth. I saw that many mangoes had fallen from the trees, and many other trees bore ripe papayas and other fruits, yet nobody collected those fruits. Seeing these symptoms immediately inspired me to remember Sri Vrindavan Dham. There we find ripe fruits on the trees everywhere, and the souls residing there are full of the mood of service. They are all eternally engaged in the divine service of the Supreme Lord. We find such descriptions of Goloka-Vrindavan, the Holy Abode of Krishna, in Sri Brahma-samhita. This holy book was brought by Sriman Mahaprabhu from South India, and it is widely accepted by religious authorities as the authentic treatise depicting the teachings of Sriman Mahaprabhu.

isvarah paramah krsnah
sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah
sarva-karana-karanam

(Sri Brahma-samhita 5.1)

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the embodiment of truth, consciousness and joy, is Govinda, Krishna. He is beginningless, the origin of all that be, and the cause of all causes.” That is, the actual form of each one of us originates from the sach-chid-ananda-vigraha of Krishna.

All the Vedic scriptures teach us that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. ‘Other gods’ also have their own abodes and full powers, but as expansions of the Power of the Infinite Personality of Godhead, Krishna. If you subtract infinite power from infinite power, you will still remain with infinite power, in a similar way as zero minus zero equals zero.

om purnam adah purnam idam
purnat purnam udachyate
purnasya purnam adaya
purnam evavasisyate

A proper examination of the Vedic scriptures will leave us with no doubt that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Throughout the whole world people are chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and through that we can also have some understanding. In all the scriptures—the Vedanta, Upanisads, eighteen Puranas, etc.—everywhere we find chanted the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. Still the question arises, ‘What is Krishna consciousness, and why should we worship Krishna?’

We are in want. We are not fulfilled within ourselves, and for that fulfilment we must worship Krishna. What is our want? We need love, we need beauty, we need charm, we need ecstasy, and so on. These are essential for our living soul.

The soul is always in a state of living—the properties of the soul are willing, feeling and thinking. The soul can move, and the jada, the material, cannot move. But even within matter, souls are living. Within a tree is living a soul, and this has also been proved by scientists such as Jagadish Bose. But this knowledge is not new; in the ancient Vedas we will find all knowledge given in a living way. The knowledge given by the Vedas is that behind everything is the living soul, and if we study the Vedas we will find this out.

The property of the living soul is willing, feeling and thinking. One who has these properties must necessarily need to do something. He can do good or he can do bad. If he does good, then good reaction will come to him. And if he does bad then bad will come to him as his reaction. You have probably heard Newton’s third law which states, ‘To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.’ Every action has reaction. Therefore we shall try to do good things otherwise we shall not receive any good reaction.

And to get relief from all reaction we are to follow in the line of Krishna consciousness. There we can see that if we surrender fully to Krishna then everything will go directly into His account. If we can put all our actions in the line of Krishna consciousness, reaction will not come to us. This process has been given in Srimad Bhagavatam and Srimad Bhagavad-gita.

In this gathering you are all students and you all wish to know something about religion, specifically something about Krishna consciousness. If you will try to read Srimad Bhagavad-gita, you must be benefited. Everyone has a chance to improve his future by reading this book whether he is a fruitive worker who needs to do some work, or a knowledge seeker who always must think and gain knowledge, or a yogi wanting to conquer power from the environment, or a bhakta who is always surrendered and fully dependant upon the knowledge of Krishna consciousness. Everyone can gain some good future prospect from reading Srimad Bhagavad-gita.

anasaktasya visayan
yatharham upayunjatah
nirbandhah krsna-sambandhe
yuktam vairagyam uchyate

(Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.2.255)

The real benefit to be gained is that without mundane attachment we are to engage in service to Krishna.

asochyan anvasochas tvam prajna-vadams cha bhasase
gatasun agatasums cha nanusochanti panditah

(Bhagavad-gita 2.11)

Krishna said to Arjuna, “You are speaking like a wise man, but you are suffering from this material happiness and sadness. You are showing yourself to be knowledgeable in the Vedas (pandit), but you are not actually following that line.” Then Krishna started to give some knowledge of the Vedas to Arjuna. He explained that there is a certain plane, and if we can live there, no reaction will come to us.

Krishna said,

niyatam kuru karma tvam karma jyayo hy akarmanah
sarira-yatrapi cha te na prasiddhyed akarmanah

(Bhagavad-gita 2.8)

“If you do not do anything then you will not get anything. You will not even be able to survive. You must do something, so try to do something good.”

yajnarthat karmano ‘nyatra loko ‘yam karma-bandhanah
tad-artham karma kaunteya mukta-sangah samachara

(Bhagavad-gita 2.9)

“O Arjuna, this whole world of living beings comes into bondage by all action except action performed as selfless duty offered unto Lord Vishnu. Therefore, being free from attachment, fully engage in the performance of action for the purpose of such sacrifice.” Actually, we need to do something good even from childhood. This is the knowledge of Srimad Bhagavatam and Krishna consciousness. Whenever we shall gain any knowledge, we shall try to use that for a good purpose; not only a good purpose, but we shall use it in a way that will be good for everybody. If we proceed in this way we shall get super benefit in our life as the final result.

When students endeavour for promotion to a higher class, they try heart and soul. But everyone is not able to get the desired result because there may be many types of deficiency. Some may fail in their class, but if we can think that ‘failure is the pillar of success’ then we can get much strength to try and try again. Even in the mundane world we must apply this process.

At first nobody can run. When a very young child tries to run, he must fall down on the ground, but again he tries to run. He falls down, runs, falls down… but gradually he will gain strength and capacity, and finally he will be able to run properly. In this way a karmi, a fruitive worker, has some prospect, jnanis also, yogis also, but the super prospect is with those who are fully surrendered to Krishna. By their own freewill they march in the line of Krishna consciousness, and they will gain the benefit accordingly.

In Srimad Bhagavatam we find the advice of Prahlada Maharaj to his student classmates.

kaumara acharet prajno
dharman bhagavatan iha
durlabham manusam janma
tad apy adhruvam arthadam

(Srimad Bhagavatam 7.6.1)

Prahlada was a devotee of Lord Nrsimhadev. His classmate friends were from five to twelve years of age. When he met with them in their teacher’s house they would discuss together and he would urge them to enquire about, and practise, spiritual life even from childhood.

We have fortunately gained this human body. We are jiva-souls and we may be given any type of body according to our activities. But now some good previous activities have brought us this human body. In the human body there is very much possibility to learn many things. We have much capacity to learn and realise. Other species such as dogs, cows, etc. only have a very limited power of understanding; just sufficient to try to achieve some basic happiness. Real happiness, however, is not possible in this mundane world, but some realisation is possible.

We use knowledge in many ways to try to gain happiness and a good result. The best thing for the jiva is to try to know what is the transcendental world’s environment, and his place there. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my destination of life? After death where shall I go? In this human body we can realise the answers to many such questions; and that is called Bhagavat-jnana, Bhagavat-dharma. If we try to read and know about such topics, we must be benefitted.

It is necessary that in this life we try to know what is the super benefit of our human life, and the super benefit of the soul. The soul is actually transcendental, but our body is mortal. The transcendental body is living in the mortal body, whether it be a human body or any other variety of species.

Actually we are not this body. We are living inside this body. We can understand it when we see a person who is dying. At that time we cannot give him any more days. We can understand that inside the body is the spirit of the person. With the spirit is willing, feeling and thinking, and that is called the jiva, the soul. When a man dies, that soul leaves the temporary material body. This is not only Indian philosophy, but in the Western countries also we find famous philosophers such as Hegel who have similar realisations.

We must try to do something good for our selves, for our souls. Good is possible through the processes of humility, tolerance, and giving honour to others. We should try to avoid the opposing environment, and in that way we can happily study what is the soul, what is God, and what is the super benefit of this life. Also we shall study about where we have come from, where we shall go, etc. Birth and death is natural in this world, and we are always getting happiness and sadness and many other temporary feelings. We must try to understand all these things.

Prahlada Maharaj said,

kaumara acharet prajno
dharman bhagavatan iha
durlabham manusam janma
tad apy adhruvam arthadam

(Srimad Bhagavatam 7.6.1)

We must try to know what is Bhagavat-dharma, and when that steady knowledge comes within us, we shall try to gain the chance through that knowledge to know what is what. If not, we shall be losers. Actually it is only in this human body that we can understand properly what is good and what is bad, and if we shall try sincerely we must get that type of knowledge.

What is necessary is sincerity, tolerance, humility and giving honour to others. These four qualities are necessary for everyone. I am very happy to observe that the people here in Mauritius are very enthusiastic and enlightened with these qualities. Furthermore, their tendency is to be real searchers, and they are practising to do good according to their capacity, while avoiding bad things. I am very happy to see this within this small country.

I am pleased to meet with you all. I do not know how much good I can do for you, but I am with you, and it is my expectation that our attempt must be fruitful for the future.

CONTENTS

Part I

1: Divine Benevolence Abroad*
2: Universal Grace
3: Demolishing Pillars of Ego

Part II

4: The Eye-Opener*
5: Life's Destination
6: Reaping the Eternal Fruit
7: Our Super Benefit
8: Everyone's Real Friend*

Appendices

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