मानुस हौं तो वही रसखान

मानुस हौं तो वही रसखान, बसौं मिलि गोकुल गाँव के ग्वारन।
जो पसु हौं तो कहा बस मेरो, चरौं नित नंद की धेनु मँझारन॥
पाहन हौं तो वही गिरि को, जो धर्यो कर छत्र पुरंदर कारन।
जो खग हौं तो बसेरो करौं मिलि कालिंदीकूल कदम्ब की डारन॥

या लकुटी अरु कामरिया पर, राज तिहूँ पुर को तजि डारौं।
आठहुँ सिद्धि, नवों निधि को सुख, नंद की धेनु चराय बिसारौं॥
रसखान कबौं इन आँखिन सों, ब्रज के बन बाग तड़ाग निहारौं।
कोटिक हू कलधौत के धाम, करील के कुंजन ऊपर वारौं॥

सेस गनेस महेस दिनेस, सुरेसहु जाहि निरंतर गावै।
जाहि अनादि अनंत अखण्ड, अछेद अभेद सुबेद बतावैं॥
नारद से सुक व्यास रहे, पचिहारे तू पुनि पार न पावैं।
ताहि अहीर की छोहरियाँ, छछिया भरि छाछ पै नाच नचावैं॥

धुरि भरे अति सोहत स्याम जू, तैसी बनी सिर सुंदर चोटी।
खेलत खात फिरैं अँगना, पग पैंजनी बाजति, पीरी कछोटी॥
वा छबि को रसखान बिलोकत, वारत काम कला निधि कोटी।
काग के भाग बड़े सजनी, हरि हाथ सों लै गयो माखन रोटी॥

कानन दै अँगुरी रहिहौं, जबही मुरली धुनि मंद बजैहै।
माहिनि तानन सों रसखान, अटा चड़ि गोधन गैहै पै गैहै॥
टेरी कहाँ सिगरे ब्रजलोगनि, काल्हि कोई कितनो समझैहै।
माई री वा मुख की मुसकान, सम्हारि न जैहै, न जैहै, न जैहै॥

मोरपखा मुरली बनमाल, लख्यौ हिय मै हियरा उमह्यो री।
ता दिन तें इन बैरिन कों, कहि कौन न बोलकुबोल सह्यो री॥
अब तौ रसखान सनेह लग्यौ, कौउ एक कह्यो कोउ लाख कह्यो री।
और सो रंग रह्यो न रह्यो, इक रंग रंगीले सो रंग रह्यो री।

- रसखान

From Lust to Love–With Krsna’s Mercy

From Lust to Love–With Krsna’s Mercy
A Talk by Giriraj Swami
January 23, 2009
Moorpark, California

We read from Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Chapter Three: “Karma-yoga.”

TEXT 41

tasmat tvam indriyany adau
niyamya bharatarsabha
papmanam prajahi hy enam
jnana-vijnana-nasanam

TRANSLATION

Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bharatas, in the very beginning curb this
great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer
of knowledge and self-realization.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The Lord advised Arjuna to regulate the senses from the very beginning so
that he could curb the greatest sinful enemy, lust, which destroys the urge
for self-realization and specific knowledge of the self. Jnana refers to
knowledge of self as distinguished from non-self, or in other words,
knowledge that the spirit soul is not the body. Vijnana refers to specific
knowledge of the spirit soul’s constitutional position and his relationship
to the Supreme Soul. It is explained thus in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.9.31):

jnanam parama-guhyam me
yad vijnana-samanvitam
sa-rahasyam tad-angam ca
grhana gaditam maya

“The knowledge of the self and Supreme Self is very confidential and
mysterious, but such knowledge and specific realization can be understood if
explained with their various aspects by the Lord Himself.” Bhagavad-gita
gives us that general and specific knowledge of the self. The living
entities are parts and parcels of the Lord, and therefore they are simply
meant to serve the Lord. This consciousness is called Krsna consciousness.
So, from the very beginning of life one has to learn this Krsna
consciousness, and thereby one may become fully Krsna conscious and act
accordingly.

Lust is only the perverted reflection of the love of God which is natural
for every living entity. But if one is educated in Krsna consciousness from
the very beginning, that natural love of God cannot deteriorate into lust.
When love of God deteriorates into lust, it is very difficult to return to
the normal condition. Nonetheless, Krsna consciousness is so powerful that
even a late beginner can become a lover of God by following the regulative
principles of devotional service. So, from any stage of life, or from the
time of understanding its urgency, one can begin regulating the senses in
Krsna consciousness, devotional service of the Lord, and turn the lust into
love of Godhead–the highest perfectional stage of human life.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

In the beginning of the movement in America, one of the first young men to
come forward to serve Srila Prabhupada was Bruce Scharf, who was later
initiated as Brahmananda dasa. Brahmananda dasa had taken a class in English
literature, and the professor had asked the students to give an
interpretation of the motives of a character in a story. So, Brahmananda
told Srila Prabhupada that he had interpreted the motivations of the
character in a cosmic, or spiritual, way and that the professor had
explained the motives in terms of lust, or sex desire. Srila Prabhupada
replied, “Your professor was right. In the material world everything is
impelled by lust.”

Because of lust we remain encaged in the physical body, which is full of
misery. Both the gross body and the subtle body, which includes the mind,
suffer pain and anguish. We want to become free from the bondage of the
material body. As long as we are imprisoned in the material body, we have to
suffer greatly. And we never know what may come next. Things may go well for
a while–even for years–but then all of a sudden something goes wrong that
we never expected. And the result is that we suffer great pain, either
physical or mental or both.

A sober, intelligent person will think, “As long as I am in this material
body–gross body and subtle body–I am subject to so many miseries, but my
nature, as a spiritual soul, is joyful.” The soul by nature is eternal, full
of knowledge, and full of bliss (sac-cid-ananda). But the body is the
opposite: asat, acid, and nirananda–temporary, full of ignorance, and full
of misery. The eternal soul imprisoned in a temporary body is in an awkward
position, an incompatible situation. Therefore an intelligent, wise, sober
person will endeavor to become free from the bondage of material existence,
from the cycle of birth and death in the material world. And as long as we
identify with the body and act on the impulses of the body to enjoy the
senses, we will have to take birth again.

Contemporary society has made much propaganda in favor of enjoying the
senses without restriction. They say that there is no problem with sensual
gratification; the problem is that we feel guilty about it. If we can get
rid of the sense of guilt, we can really enjoy the senses. This theory may
sound attractive to materialistic persons who want to enjoy the senses, and
we also don’t insist that you should avoid sense gratification because it is
“bad” or “evil.” There is sense gratification even in the spiritual
world–spiritual sense gratification. But the problem with material sense
gratification is that it increases our material attachment and bondage,
which extends our duration of suffering in this material world, extends our
prison sentence. And it is also not true that the sense of guilt or shame in
relation to sense gratification or sex is just a false imposition by
society. Experimental studies of children who were taught from the very
beginning that there is nothing wrong with sex and that they should have as
much as they want revealed that even they felt there was something not quite
right about it. Even without moral instructions and admonitions from others,
they felt some guilt and shame. They felt bad.

Every culture has restrictions on sex indulgence, and the general rule is
that if one wants to have sex he or she should get married; the husband
should be responsible for the wife, and the wife should be faithful to the
husband. There is restriction, regulation, as indicated in the verse
(niyama). But even such regulation does not qualify a person to be liberated
from the repetition of birth and death. What qualifies a person is Krsna
consciousness.

So, regulating the senses means not only that a man limits himself to his
wife and a woman limits herself to her husband; it means that they engage
their senses in devotional service in Krsna consciousness. That is what it
means to regulate the senses. Yes, there is restriction, but the ultimate
regulation is to always engage the senses and mind in the service of Krsna,
in Krsna consciousness. Krsna consciousness will purify the mind and
ultimately liberate the soul from material bondage.

And we should engage in Krsna consciousness from the very beginning (adau).
As Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport, the living entity is naturally
endowed with pure love for Krsna (nitya-siddha krsna-prema), but when the
living entity comes in contact with matter, that pure love for Krsna becomes
perverted into lust, selfish desire; and when lust is frustrated, it turns
into anger, and there is a whole cycle. But that lust is just an inverted
reflection of the living entity’s original, pure love for Krsna. And just as
pure love can be transformed into lust by contact with material nature, so
too lust can be purified by engagement in devotional service. Thus kama,
“lust” or “desire,” can be transformed by desiring Krsna’s happiness. We
cannot stop desire. But we can transform selfish desires for sense
gratification into desires for Krsna’s happiness. Basically, lust (kama)
means the desire for my own happiness, and pure love (prema) means the
desire for Krsna’s happiness.

atmendriya-priti-vancha-tare bali ‘kama’
krsnendriya-priti-iccha dhare ‘prema’ nama

“The desire to gratify one’s own senses is kama [lust], but the desire to
please the senses of Lord Krsna is prema [love].” (Cc Adi 4.165)

So we do not try to eradicate desire–we cannot kill desire–but we do
attempt to change the quality of the desire. Instead of desiring personal
happiness in the bodily conception, I desire Krsna’s happiness. Instead of
working to gratify my senses, I act to please Krsna’s senses. And thus lust
becomes purified and transformed into love. And when we have pure love for
Krsna, we are always happy, always eager to sing His glories, hear His
pastimes, serve His devotees, and worship His Deity. We are always eager to
engage in devotional service and think of Him.

It is natural that when you are in love with someone you think of the person
all the time. It is not an effort. It comes naturally. Sometimes lovers have
a quarrel or one partner leaves the other, and the partners suffer terribly.
One partner wants to forget the other, but he (or she) can’t–because of
attachment. In the same way, when we become attached to Krsna, when we fall
in love with Krsna, we will think of Him constantly. We won’t be able to
forget Him.

On a very high level of love of God in Vrndavana, the devotee, out of
intense affection, forgets that Krsna is God and simply loves Him as a
friend loves a friend or a parent loves a child. And on the highest level,
the devotees–the young gopis, led by Srimati Radharani–love Krsna as their
dearmost beloved. When Krsna left Vrndavana to go to Mathura, all the
residents of Vrndavana were plunged into an ocean of separation. Of course,
that ocean of separation was really an ocean of bliss, because on the
absolute platform separation also means meeting. Still, within the
variegatedness of spiritual emotion, they felt separation.

Some time thereafter, a bumblebee began to hover around Srimati Radharani,
the greatest lover of Krsna. She was like a lotus flower, and the bumblebee
wanted to taste that flower’s nectar. Srimati Radharani, in Her ecstasy,
took the bumblebee to be a messenger from Krsna. And in Her intense love for
Him in separation, She apparently criticized Him:

yad-anucarita-lila-karna-piyusa-viprut-
sakrd-adana-vidhuta-dvandva-dharma vinastah
sapadi grha-kutumbam dinam utsrjya dina
bahava iha vihanga bhiksu-caryam caranti

“To hear about the pastimes that Krsna regularly performs is nectar for the
ears. For those who relish just a single drop of that nectar, even once,
their dedication to material duality is ruined. Many such persons have
suddenly given up their wretched homes and families and, themselves becoming
wretched, traveled here to Vrndavana to wander about like birds, begging for
their living.” (SB 10.47.18)

She said that people give up their families, their hearths and homes, which
ordinarily are very difficult to leave, to come to Vraja to search for
Krsna, but that in Vrndavana too they are miserable, because Krsna doesn’t
give Himself to them. They are aggrieved. They have left everything to find
Krsna, but they don’t get Krsna either. Or if they get Him, He leaves them.
Thus they wander about Vrndavana like birds, homeless and searching for
food.

But learned scholars have revealed the inner meaning of Srimati Radharani’s
words. These birds–who are they? They are paramahamsas, the topmost,
liberated souls, who have gone beyond the dualities of material existence
and given up fleeting material attachments. And they are always filled with
transcendental ecstasy in separation from Krsna.

In Her ecstatic mood of love, Srimati Radharani criticized Krsna–for His
pleasure. Everything the Vraja-vasis–especially the gopis–do is for
Krsna’s pleasure. And some authorities say that Krsna Himself came as the
honeybee to drink the sweetness of Srimati Radharani’s speech.

In another verse, Radharani says that Krsna had been cruel even in His past
lives, as Rama and Vamana:

mrgayur iva kapindram vivyadhe lubdha-dharma
striyam akrta virupam stri-jitah kama-yanam
balim api balim attvavestayad dhvanksa-vad yas
tad alam asita-sakhyair dustyajas tat-katharthah

“Like a hunter, He cruelly shot the king of the monkeys with arrows. Because
He was conquered by a woman, He disfigured another woman who came to Him
with lusty desires. And even after consuming the gifts of Bali Maharaja, He
bound him up with ropes as if he were a crow. So let us give up all
friendship with this dark-complexioned boy, even if we can’t give up talking
about Him.” (SB 10.47.17)

Thus She criticized Krsna. In effect She said, “If Krsna can live without
us, we can live without Him.” The messenger may have responded, “If Krsna is
so bad, why don’t You just forget Him? Why do You always talk about Him?”
And She would have replied, “We can live without Krsna, but we can’t live
without talking about Him.”

That is love. When there is love, no matter one’s condition, one cannot but
think of the beloved. You can’t forget the person. Even if you want to
forget and try to forget, you cannot forget–out of love.

The love of the devotees for Krsna is not shaken in any condition. Sometimes
devotees face trials and tribulations, but their love for Krsna never
wavers. In the Mahabharata we see how the Pandavas were insulted, sent into
exile, and put through so many difficulties, but their love for Krsna never
wavered. While they were in exile, Krsna, unannounced, came to where they
were and approached Arjuna. And when Arjuna saw Him, he was immediately
overwhelmed with ecstatic love. He didn’t waver for a moment. He never
thought, “Oh Krsna, we are suffering so much. Why are You making us suffer
so? Why are You allowing us to suffer?” No complaint. Only pure
love–completely spontaneous. Sometimes someone we don’t like–or someone
with whom we are angry–may come to meet us, and we have to make an effort
to be polite: “All right, I have to be gracious now.” It wasn’t like
that–”Oh, I’m really mad at Krsna, because we’ve had to suffer so much.” No
complaint–just pure love, causeless love. Devotees love Krsna without any
material motive. In fact, if there were some material motive, it wouldn’t be
love. If I love you to get something from you, it is not pure love; it is
lust. I am actually thinking of my own desires, what I can get from you to
gratify my senses. It is not love, but lust. Pure love is causeless and thus
is never disturbed by material affliction.

Srila Prabhupada says that in the material world the boy says to the girl,
“I love you,” and the girl says to the boy, “I love you,” but that as soon
as there is some disruption in their sense gratification, there is quarrel,
separation, divorce, because there was some material motive. But in prema
the only motive is to make Krsna happy. There is no question of personal
gain or loss. Our only interest is to please Krsna. Srila Bhaktivinoda
Thakura, echoing the sentiments of Srimati Radharani, said, “If by my
suffering Krsna becomes happy, I will take the greatest suffering to be the
greatest happiness–because Krsna will be pleased.” That is Srimati
Radharani’s mood:

na gani apana-duhkha, sabe vanchi tanra sukha,
tanra sukha-amara tatparya
more yadi diya duhkha, tanra haila maha-sukha,
sei duhkha-mora sukha-varya

“I do not mind My personal distress. I only wish for the happiness of Krsna,
for His happiness is the goal of My life. However, if He feels great
happiness in giving Me distress, that distress is the best of My happiness.

ye narire vanche krsna, tara rupe satrsna,
tare na pana haya duhkhi
mui tara paya padi’, lana yana hate dhari’,
krida karana tanre karon sukhi

“If Krsna, attracted by the beauty of some other woman, wants to enjoy with
her but is unhappy because He cannot get her, I fall down at her feet, catch
her hand, and bring her to Krsna to engage her for His happiness.” (Cc Antya
20.52, 53)

Such is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s internal mood of surrender, the mood of
Srimati Radharani, as expressed in His Siksastaka (8):

aslisya va pada-ratam pinastu mam
adarsanan marma-hatam karotu va
yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampato
mat-prana-nathas tu sa eva naparah

“Let Krsna tightly embrace this maidservant who has fallen at His lotus
feet, or let Him trample Me or break My heart by never being visible to Me.
He is a debauchee, after all, and can do whatever He likes, but still He
alone, and no one else, is the worshipable Lord of My heart.” (Cc Antya
20.47)

A devotee wants only Krsna’s happiness. He has no separate, selfish
interest. And he can desire and work for Krsna’s happiness in any situation.
No material impediment, no condition, can stop one’s service or mood of
service to Krsna, to please Krsna.

On a morning walk in Chicago, Srila Prabhupada commented on a car called
Thunderbird. “Is there any bird called thunderbird?” he asked. Some devotees
ventured, “It’s a legendary bird from Indian legend, American Indian.
Sometimes their chiefs are called Thunderbird.”
Srila Prabhupada said, “We have got an idea of thunderbird. The bird flies
near the cloud in expectation of water, and he is not afraid of thunder.” He
said that that example was given by Rupa Gosvami. “The cataka bird will not
take water from the ground. He will take water only from the cloud. So, in
the beginning of every cloud there is thunder. And this bird, because he is
expecting water, although the cloud is giving him thunder, still he will not
take water from the ground.” When a devotee asked what the example
illustrated, Srila Prabhupada replied, “A devotee will take mercy only from
Krsna, not from the material world. Even if there is thunder–Krsna . . .
puts him into difficulty–still he will not take any mercy from the material
world.”

Srila Rupa Gosvami was a great devotee and poet, a direct disciple of Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He wrote this very beautiful verse:

viracaya mayi dandam dina-bandho dayam va
gatir iha na bhavattah kacid anya mamasti
nipatatu sata-kotir nirmalam va navambhas
tad api kila payodah stuyate catakena

“O Lord of the poor, do what you like with me, give me either mercy or
punishment, but in this world I have none to look to except Your Lordship.
The cataka bird always prays for the cloud, regardless of whether it showers
rains or throws a thunderbolt.”

The devotee will not look for shelter in the material world, but he will
tolerate the thunder and lightning and wait for Krsna’s mercy, those
nectarean drops of pure rain.

And the devotee also takes the thunderbolt as Krsna’s mercy.
Srimad-Bhagavatam says that when a devotee is put into difficulty, into
distress, he patiently suffers the reactions to his past activities, expects
the Lord’s mercy, and serves the Lord with body, mind, and words. And if he
passes his life in this way, he will earn the right to enter the kingdom of
God.

tat te ‘nukampam su-samiksamano
bhunjana evatma-krtam vipakam
hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jiveta yo mukti-pade sa daya-bhak

“My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless
mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past
misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words, and
body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful
claim.” (SB 10.14.8)

This verse is very significant. In the Bhagavad-gita (18.66) Lord Krsna
says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja/ aham tvam
sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah–”If one surrenders unto Me, I deliver
him from all sinful reactions.” For a devotee there are no sinful reactions.
So, when a devotee suffers, what is actually happening–what does it mean
that “he patiently suffers the reactions to his past deeds”? Srila
Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that a devotee knows that his present
happiness is due to past devotional activities and that his present distress
is due to past offenses. Thus he peacefully endures all happiness and
distress and patiently awaits the mercy of the Lord. Or, he takes his
present happiness and distress as the Lord’s mercy on him. As Srila
Prabhupada writes, “He accepts all miseries as the mercy of the Lord,
thinking himself only worthy of more trouble due to his past misdeeds; and
he sees that his miseries, by the grace of the Lord, are minimized to the
lowest. Similarly, when he is happy he gives credit to the Lord, thinking
himself unworthy of the happiness; he realizes that it is due only to the
Lord’s grace that he is in such a comfortable condition and able to render
better service to the Lord.” (Bg 2.56 purport)

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti explains further that a devotee thinks, “As a
father sometimes mercifully gives a cup of milk to his small son and at
other times mercifully gives him bitter medicine, at other times embraces
and kisses him and at other times spanks him, so the Supreme Lord, who is
like my father, knows what is actually good and bad for me, who am like His
son. I do not know myself.” Thus, as a service to His dear child, for the
child’s benefit, the loving supreme father administers both happiness and
distress.

Thus Prthu Maharaja prays,

tvan-mayayaddha jana isa khandito
yad anyad asasta rtatmano ‘budhah
yatha cared bala-hitam pita svayam
tatha tvam evarhasi nah samihitum

“My Lord, due to Your illusory energy, all living beings in this material
world have forgotten their real constitutional position, and out of
ignorance they are always desirous of material happiness in the form of
society, friendship, and love. Therefore, please do not ask me to take some
material benefits from You, but as a father, not waiting for the son’s
demand, does everything for the benefit of the son, please bestow upon me
whatever You think best for me.” (SB 4.20.31)

It is a beautiful thing–Krsna consciousness. It is different from ordinary
life. In ordinary life: “Sweets yea! Bitter medicine nay!” That is not the
vision of a devotee.

Krsna’s supreme quality is His affection for His devotees, bhakta-vatsalya.
The word vatsa means “calf” or “dear child.” Cows are so affectionate, so
loving and caring, to their calves. And the word vatsalya comes from vatsa.
Krsna is so loving and caring, so kind and compassionate to His devotees,
that the question may be raised: Why should He put them into suffering?

As the acaryas explain, there is a great purpose behind the material
creation: to rectify the living entity’s tendency to enjoy without the Lord,
so that he becomes fully purified and liberated. When a person engages in a
sinful activity, he suffers a reaction that is meant to purify his heart of
the desire to commit that sin. Although a devotee who has surrendered to
Krsna no longer engages in sinful activities, he may have some lingering
trace of the enjoying spirit, of wanting to enjoy independent of Krsna, so
even though he doesn’t actually engage in a sinful activity, the Lord, out
of His mercy, will give His devotee a punishment that resembles a sinful
reaction, to remove the last traces of the devotee’s sinful mentality. Thus
the misery suffered by a sincere devotee is not technically a karmic
reaction. Rather, it is the Lord’s special mercy for inducing him to
completely let go of the material world and return home, back to Godhead.
Thus the devotee, completely cleansed in heart, becomes fully absorbed in
loving service to Krsna and in the end returns to Him–the devotee’s goal.
The devotee’s deepest desire is to attain the Lord’s association in loving
service.

When a devotee’s only desire is to serve and please Krsna, he becomes
eligible to go back home, back to Godhead. As stated in the purport, “A
sincere devotee earnestly desires to go back to the Lord’s abode. Therefore
he willingly accepts the Lord’s merciful punishment and continues offering
respects and obeisances to the Lord with his heart, words, and body. Such a
bona fide servant of the Lord, considering all hardship a small price to pay
for gaining the personal association of the Lord, certainly becomes a
legitimate son of God, as indicated here by the words daya-bhak. Just as one
cannot approach the sun without becoming fire, one cannot approach the
supreme pure, Lord Krsna, without undergoing a rigid purificatory process,
which may appear like suffering but which is in fact a curative treatment
administered by the personal hand of the Lord.” (SB 10.14.8 purport)

If one passes his life in this spirit, he will attain the lotus feet of the
Lord. As a legitimate son has simply to remain alive to gain an inheritance
from his father, one who simply remains alive in Krsna consciousness,
following the regulative principles of devotional service, becomes eligible
to inherit the kingdom of God.

That is how a devotee lives. He is like a cataka bird. He awaits the Lord’s
mercy, and even if for some time the Lord gives thunder and lightning, still
the devotee doesn’t go anywhere else. He simply awaits the Lord’s mercy. He
expects the Lord’s mercy (su-samiksamana) and offers obeisances to the Lord
with heart, words, and body (hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te). These two
processes are so potent that they can bring the devotee back to Godhead.

Thus our lust is purified and transformed into its original state of pure
love. The enjoying spirit means lusty, selfish desires. Any remnant of that
enjoying spirit–lust–can impede our progress. We want to become completely
purified, perfectly Krsna conscious. And if we accept whatever remedial
measures Lord Krsna arranges to purify us, however painful they may be, as
His mercy, and expect further mercy in terms of attraction to Krsna–that is
the real mercy, not that the pain will stop. Of course, the pain may stop,
but the real mercy is that one is able to think of Krsna without deviation,
which really means to develop love for Him. If you love someone, naturally
you always think of the person, and that state of pure Krsna consciousness
will carry us back home, back to Godhead, to the lotus feet of the Lord. And
that is why we are here–to practice and preach Krsna consciousness, pure
love for Krsna.

Hare Krsna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee (1): Thank you for your talk. You said that if you are fond of Krsna
you should talk about Him.

Giriraj Swami: The gopis said, “We can live without Krsna, but we can’t live
without talking about Him.” That is our business, to talk about Krsna.
Especially in separation, one finds solace by speaking about Krsna.

Maha-sakti dasa: Thank you, Maharaja. We haven’t seen you in a long time. It
is so nice to hear you speak. Thank you very much.

I think the example about the bird was really neat. Is the bird cakora or
cataka?

Giriraj Swami: Cataka. The cakoras like the moon; they subsist only on
moonlight. Manasa-candra-cakora. Krsna is the candra, moon, for the cakora
bird of the devotee’s mind (manasa). As the cakora bird goes to the moon, so
the devotee’s mind goes to Krsnacandra.

Maha-sakti dasa: I was thinking that the example of the cataka bird is so
powerful, and very appropriate. We do austerities in Krsna consciousness,
but they are not really austerities. There is always something related to
Krsna to replace what we give up. Prabhupada would say, “Don’t stop talking;
just talk about Krsna.” Or “Don’t stop eating but eat only krsna-prasada.”
The functions of the tongue are to vibrate and to taste, and Srila
Prabhupada explained how to engage both in relation to Krsna: vibrate
krsna-katha and taste only krsna-prasada. It is a simple yet extremely
powerful point. Our tongue wants to taste so many things, and the tendency
is to eat anything we like: “Oh, I want this tasty food, or that tasty
food.” By allowing our tongue to taste any type of food, we are literally
letting our tongue drag us to hell. And by accepting the austerity of
tasting only krsna-prasada, by that simple agreement to accept that vrata,
vow, we are raising ourselves back home, back to Godhead. We are becoming
Krsna conscious. And it is not that prasada is bad-tasting; it is
incredible. [laughter] But it is an austerity that we follow.

So, getting back to the example of the cataka bird, if prasada is not there
a devotee will not take something else. He would rather fast or wait for
something that he can offer as prasada. It is that loyalty that qualifies
him.

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Very good. Srila Prabhupada made the same point: The
cataka bird drinks water when the rain falls; otherwise he will die of
thirst. He will never accept any water from this earth. In the same way, a
devotee will never accept materialism, even if he has to die of starvation.
“There are still mainly saintly persons in India who do that,” Srila
Prabhupada said. “If some food comes, they eat; otherwise, not. They just
sit in one place and chant or meditate without any concern for bodily
necessities.”

Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “We see, Srila Prabhupada, that you also have no
such concern, but just to deliver the whole world you are taking on this
concern.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “This is for Krsna. We are
constructing buildings and begging money only for this purpose: People may
become Krsna conscious. That is the only idea.”

Syamananda dasa: You were describing from the Tenth Canto how a devotee
patiently tolerates the difficulties that he is going through because there
are these little anarthas left and Krsna is correcting him by giving him
some mercy which seems like pain. I was wondering, if the devotee is
sincerely endeavoring and practicing, why couldn’t the Lord make him . . . I
am looking for a shortcut, easier in the sense that that difficulty, that
tendency . . . Like when Caitanya Mahaprabhu came, He just gave mercy
without any requirements. One may have lust–one may have anything–but He
just gave them love, and because of receiving that love, the rest, all the
bad qualities, just fell away. So I was wondering why the Lord doesn’t
always do that.

Giriraj Swami: The acaryas have addressed the same question in relation to a
similar verse:

yasyaham anugrhnami
harisye tad-dhanam sanaih
tato ‘dhanam tyajanty asya
svajana duhkha-duhkhitam

[Lord Krsna said:] “If I especially favor someone, I gradually deprive him
of his wealth. Then the relatives and friends of such a poverty-stricken man
abandon him. In this way he suffers one distress after another.” (SB
10.88.8)

So, the question can be raised, Why does Krsna have to purify him in this
way? Why can’t He do it in a less painful way?

As explained in the purport, “The beloved devotees of the Lord do not regard
as very troublesome the suffering He imposes on them. Indeed, they find that
in the end it gives rise to unlimited pleasure, just as a stinging ointment
applied by a physician cures his patient’s infected eye. In addition,
suffering helps protect the confidentiality of devotional service by
discouraging intrusions by the faithless, and it also increases the
eagerness with which the devotees call upon the Lord to appear. If the
devotees of Lord Visnu were complacently happy all the time, He would never
have a reason to appear in this world as Krsna, Ramacandra, Nrsimha, and so
on.”

For example, Vasudeva and Devaki were imprisoned by Kamsa, their children
were mercilessly massacred in front of them, and they suffered tremendous
pain. But when Krsna finally appeared and ultimately delivered them–killed
Kamsa and delivered them–they appreciated the Lord’s presence more than if
everything had been very comfy and cozy.

Srila Prabhupada discusses the same question in Krsna, Chapter 88: “If the
Supreme Lord is all-powerful, why should He try to reform His devotee by
putting him in distress? The answer is that when the Supreme Personality of
Godhead puts His devotee in distress, it is not without purpose. Sometimes
the purpose of putting the devotee in distress is that in distress a
devotee’s feelings of attachment to Krsna are magnified. For example, when
Krsna, before leaving the capital of the Pandavas for His home, asked
Kuntidevi for permission to leave, she said, ‘My dear Krsna, in our distress
You were always present with us. Now, because we have been elevated to a
royal position, You are leaving us. I would therefore prefer to live in
distress than to lose You.’ When a devotee is put into a situation of
distress, his devotional activities are accelerated. Therefore, to show
special favor to a devotee, the Lord sometimes puts him into distress. . . .
Besides that, it is stated that the sweetness of happiness is sweeter to
those who have tasted bitterness.”

“Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti here counters a possible objection: ‘What fault
would there be in God’s incarnating for some other reason than to deliver
saintly persons from suffering?’ The learned acarya responds, ‘Yes, my dear
brother, this makes good sense, but you are not expert in understanding
spiritual moods. Please listen: It is at night that the sunrise becomes
attractive, during the hot summer that cold water gives comfort, and during
the cold winter months that warm water is pleasing. Lamplight appears
attractive in darkness, not in the glaring light of day, and when one is
distressed by hunger, food tastes especially good.’ In other words, to
strengthen his devotees’ mood of dependence on Him and longing for Him, the
Lord arranges for His devotees to go through some suffering, and when He
appears in order to deliver them, their gratitude and transcendental
pleasure are boundless.” (SB 10.88.8 purport)

And as explained by Srila Prabhupada in Krsna, when the devotee is bereft of
material riches and is deserted by his relatives, friends, and family
members, because he has no one to look after him he completely takes shelter
of the Lord. And from within his heart, the Lord inspires him to surrender
to His devotees:

sa yada vitathodyogo
nirvinnah syad dhanehaya
mat-paraih krta-maitrasya
karisye mad-anugraham

“When he becomes frustrated in his attempts to make money and instead
befriends My devotees, I bestow My special mercy upon him.

tad brahma paramam suksmam
cin-matram sad anantakam
vijnayatmataya dhirah
samsarat parimucyate

“A person who has thus become sober fully realizes the Absolute as the
highest truth, the most subtle and perfect manifestation of spirit, the
transcendental existence without end. In this way realizing that the Supreme
Truth is the foundation of his own existence, he is freed from the cycle of
material life.” (SB 10.88.9, 10)

Krsna says, “My devotee is not deterred by any adverse conditions of life;
he always remains firm and steady. Therefore I give Myself to him, and I
favor him so that he can achieve the highest success of life.” (Krsna
Chapter 88)

Although it is true that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave the holy name and love
of God without any condition, one can accept these gifts fully only if one’s
heart is completely cleansed of material desires and attachments. Therefore
Locana dasa Thakura, a great acarya almost contemporary to Lord Caitanya,
requests everyone, bhaja bhaja bhai, caitanya-nitai: “My dear brothers, I
request that you just worship Lord Caitanya and Nityananda with firm faith
and conviction.” He sings,

bhaja bhaja bhai, caitanya-nitai
sudrdha visvasa kori’
visaya chadiya, se rase majiya,
mukhe bolo hari hari

Explaining this verse, Srila Prabhupada says, “Don’t think that this
chanting and dancing will not lead to the desired goal. It will. It is the
assurance of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu that one will get all perfection by
this process. Therefore one must chant with firm faith and conviction
(visvasa kori’). But what is the process? The process is visaya chadiya, se
rase majiya. If one wants to be Krsna conscious by this process, one has to
give up his engagement in sense gratification. That is the only restriction.
If one gives up sense gratification, it is sure that he will reach the
desired goal. Mukhe bolo hari hari: one simply has to chant, ‘Hare Krsna!
Hari Hari!’ without any motive of sense gratification.”

And we are not alone in our efforts. The Lord, the scriptures, the devotees,
the acaryas, the Deities, the holy names–they are all there to help us.

Hare Krsna.

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
A lecture by Giriraj Swami
University of California at Irvine
May 18, 2005

Hare Krsna. We welcome you to tonight’s discussion. Imagine a person going in to see a movie that is already in progress. In the movie, a man is sitting peacefully at his desk, and then someone come in and shoots him. The person watching the movie might think, “Oh, how horrible! Why did that happen?” But having come in mid-way, the person was not there to witness what had already happened, how the man in the office had actually arranged for the murder of so many other people. So, based on superficial appearances, one might say, “Oh, he was just an ordinary fellow. Why did he have to suffer so?” But there were things that the man did that led to him being shot that we are unaware of. And that is pretty much how the law of karma works.

The word karma is a Sanskrit term that means, literally, action, or activity, but it also conveys the sense, based on knowledge from the Bhagavad-gita and other ancient texts, that for every action there is a reaction. In classical physics there is a similar idea: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Whatever we do in the material realm creates a reaction. “As you sow, so shall you reap.” The Bhagavad-gita explains that there is a great chain of cause and effect, of actions and reactions, and that the intricacies of action and reaction are difficult to comprehend.

In general, actions are divided into three categories. The first is called simply karma. Karma is also a generic term, but in a certain context it has a specific usage. In the context of these three categories, karma means activities done within the Vedic injunctions, or activities within the laws of God, or the laws of nature. Vikarma means activities done outside of the Vedic injunctions, outside of the laws of God and nature. And akarma refers to transcendental activities.

Another distinction is between pious activities and sinful activities. A pious activity, or punya, is a progressive action, one within the laws of God and nature. And a sinful activity, or papa, is a degrading action, one that violates the laws of God and nature. Just as crime by definition means an act against the laws of the state, similarly, sin by definition means an act against the laws of God, or the laws of nature.

Generally, everyone in the material world is engaged in a combination of karma and vikarma, of pious and sinful activities. Although one may be unaware of the Vedic injunctions, any normal person has an intuitive sense of right and wrong. Our conscience will tell us, “You should do that,” or our conscience will prick us and we will feel, “Oh, I should not have done that.”

Every action brings a certain type of reaction. In general, the reaction for a pious activity is material enjoyment and the reaction to a sinful activity is material distress. Because everyone in the material world engages in some combination of pious and sinful activities, everyone suffers a combination of pleasure and pain. But whatever reaction we get, either in the form of pain or in the form of pleasure, is due to some past action that we performed, even one that we may have forgotten. Although a person who contracts a disease may not be conscious of how or when he or she came in contact with the disease, the illness itself suggests that he or she came in contact with some germ or condition that gave rise to it. Similarly, when we suffer we should know that we have done something in the past that has given rise to the adverse situation.

So in terms of karma, suffering is not accidental; we are not innocent victims of some vicious person or circumstance. Certain actions incur certain reactions, and we are getting the reactions that are due to us for our past actions. In fact, it has been stated that by looking at your present body, you can understand what your past activities were, and that by looking at your present activities, you can understand what your next body will be–because the body itself is a result of past activities or karma. And built into the body is a certain degree of happiness and distress.

But beyond both of these categories of punya (pious activities) and papa (sinful activities), or karma and vikarma, is another category altogether: akarma, or transcendental activities that are beyond material pious and sinful reactions.

Now, to understand the full significance of akarma, or transcendental activities, we must understand something of the soul, of the Supreme Soul, of the relationship between them, and of the purpose of the material world and the goal of human life. According to the Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic literatures, the living entity is spiritual, not physical or chemical, and is called the atma or jivatma, in English the soul or individual spirit soul. The nature of the soul is eternal, whereas the nature of the body, or anything material, is temporary. The energy is not temporary, but the forms that it takes are. So we could say that there is conservation of energy. But this body is temporary. In fifty years, although the elements of the body will still exist, the body will not.

As spiritual beings we are by nature eternal. The Bhagavad-gita explains that for the soul there is neither birth nor death:

na jayate mriyate va kadacin
nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah
ajo nityah sasvato ‘yam purano
na hanyate hanyamane sarire

“For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (Bg. 2.20)

We are eternal, and because by nature we are eternal, we feel awkward in the atmosphere of temporariness. Therefore no one wants to die. No normal person wants to die, because as a spiritual soul he or she is eternal and desires to live in a spiritual atmosphere where there is no birth and death.

That natural desire can be fulfilled when the individual soul establishes a proper connection with the Supreme Soul, a connection that in Sanskrit is called yoga. The word yoga means, literally, to connect. It is the origin of the English word “yoke,” to join or link. By yoga the individual soul can connect with the Supreme Soul and engage in activities for the satisfaction of the Supreme, or for the development of God consciousness, that are not of the material world. They are not karma or vikarma but akarma. As long as we engage in material activities, even pious ones, we have to take birth in the material world to get the results. And as long as we take birth in the material world, we have to suffer disease, old age, death, and rebirth.

The Bhagavad-gita says, janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam: we should be conscious of the miseries of birth, death, old age, and disease, factors that accompany the physical body. As soon as the soul enters a material body, birth, disease, old age, and death are inevitable; every embodied soul is bound to suffer them. None of us want such miseries, however, because as spirit souls we are beyond them.

Material science attempts to counteract such miseries, but ultimately, when it comes to these four factors scientists are unable to succeed. And they will never succeed. People have been trying to stop disease for centuries, but they can’t. We might counteract a certain disease or the manifestation of a certain disease for some time, but that same disease could return, or the patient might contract another. Even if scientists find a cure for one disease, another will come, and another. If we were to actually succeed in eradicating disease, the hospitals would become empty. All the patients would go home. The doctors would be free. But on the contrary, there is always a clamor for more hospital rooms, more beds, more doctors, more nurses–because we are not actually able to stop disease.

Likewise, no one has been able to solve the problem of old age. There are now ways to mitigate the effects of age, and cosmetic techniques to mask the aging of the body, but old age continues, and with it the eventual loss of mental and physical strength. It is quite common now that people suffer from dementia and lose their memory to the point that they do not even know who they are. They cannot recognize even their own dearest family members. So nobody wants to grow old, but we are unable to stop old age; it comes with the physical body.

The same with death. For millennia people have been trying to find some way to stop death, but they can’t. We even have the expression “as sure as death.” And just as death is sure, so is rebirth. According to the Bhagavad-gita, for one who is born, death is certain, and for one who dies, birth is certain (jatasya hi dhruvo mrtyur dhruvam janma mrtasya ca), because the soul, upon leaving the body, must enter into another body to enjoy and suffer the reactions due to its past activities. As long as we continue to engage in material activities–karma and vikarma–we will be forced to suffer repeated birth, disease, old age, and death.

The physical body is like a prison cell for the spirit soul, who is being punished as long as he is in the body. Therefore an intelligent person will think, “How can I get out of the bondage of material existence? How can I get out of the repetition of birth and death?” He or she will not think, “How can I enjoy life in the prison better?” Yes, you can get some better facilities in the prison. If you behave well or have some influence with the authorities, you can enjoy a little better standard within the prison. But that is not the goal; the goal is to be released. In the same way, we may make some adjustments to enjoy a little better standard in the prison of the material world. You might be a first-class prisoner with a big house and a Mercedes car, or whatever, but you are still a prisoner. You may feel proud: “Oh, I am first-class prisoner. Look at that poor fellow. He is just a third-class prisoner.” But you are still a prisoner. You are being punished, and not just with disease, old age, and death. Those are basic, but there is an endless chain of other miseries that we suffer daily. Even in Southern California, although it might not get that cold and or that hot, still you get stuck in traffic and have trouble finding a parking place. Those are also miseries. In whatever situation we are, even if from one point of view we are sitting pretty, we are still obliged to suffer.

The human form of life has a type of intelligence that the lower species do not have: the intelligence to consider, “I don’t want to suffer, but I am being forced to suffer. Why? I don’t want to grow old, but I am forced. I don’t want to die, but I am forced. I don’t want to get sick, but I am forced–and so many other miseries. Why? And how can I get free?” When that consciousness awakens and one begins to inquire, that person is actually exercising his or her human intelligence. Otherwise, the animals also eat, they also sleep, they also mate and reproduce, and they also defend themselves and have some sort of shelter. So if we use our added intelligence as human beings just to achieve a higher standard of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, we are not really using it for its proper purpose. We are just being polished animals. An animal might eat with his claws and fangs, and we might eat with our knife and fork, but the animal enjoys just eating as much as we do. We might sleep on a nice, soft mattress, and the animal might sleep on the floor of the jungle, but when the animal is asleep he does not know he is sleeping on the ground, and when we are asleep, we do not know we are sleeping on the mattress. The animal enjoys his sleep just as much as we enjoy ours. So it is a type of illusion to think that by using our intelligence we can improve our standard of animal activities–eating, sleeping, and the others. The animals enjoy those activities as much as we do.

Human intelligence is meant to question why we are here, why we are suffering, how we can get free from suffering, how we can realize our eternal spiritual natures. When that inquiry awakens and one begins to seek the answer to those questions, one is considered to have awakened to human consciousness. The Vedanta-sutra says, athato brahma jijnasa: Now that you have come to the human form of life, you should inquire into transcendence, the Absolute Truth. And when one does seek answers, one will, if he or she is sincere or fortunate, come in contact with divine knowledge, either through sacred literatures or through realized souls. This is the beginning of the process of yoga.

Of course, what is known as yoga and is so popular today is pretty much the physical aspect of yoga, and that does have its place. It minimizes the disturbances to the body so that the yogi can meditate on the Supreme Soul. In the Vedic system the physical practices of yoga are not meant to improve the health of the body just for the sake of being healthy, for enjoying the senses, but to minimize the ills of the body for the yogi so that he can meditate on the Supreme for long periods without being disturbed by physical ailments.

In the classical astanga-yoga system there are eight rungs, like a ladder. (Asta means eight, and anga means parts.) The first two steps are yama and niyama, following the prescriptions and prohibitions. No one can become a yogi–no one can get release from the cycle of birth and death–unless one can control one’s senses and mind. So that is the beginning–yama and niyama. After a person learns to strictly follow the rules and regulations, he or she begins to practice asanas, various postures, and thereafter pranayama, breathing exercises that help control the mind.

But from there one must progress further. One must practice pratyahara, withdrawing the senses from their objects, and thereafter dharana and dhyana, different intensities of meditation. Such meditation leads to the final stage, the perfection of the yogic system, called samadhi, or spiritual trance. In samadhi the individual soul has direct realization of the Supreme Soul–and of one’s own spiritual identity–and one’s consciousness become completely absorbed in the Supreme. Thus one transcends the material miseries. Even within the material body, a yogi in the advanced stages does not identify with the body, and so does not suffer the material miseries in the same way.

The Bhagavd-gita describes samadhi as follows:

yatroparamate cittam niruddham yoga-sevaya
yatra caivatmanatmanam pasyann atmani tusyati

sukham atyantikam yat tad buddhi-grahyam atindriyam
vetti yatra na caivayam sthitas calati tattvatah

tam vidyad duhkha-samyoga-viyogam yoga-samjnitam

“In the stage of perfection called trance, or samadhi, one’s mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This perfection is characterized by one’s ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through transcendental senses. . . . This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.” (Bg. 6.20, 21, 23)

If a man is attached to his car and another car hits it, he may jump out and shout, “You hit me! You hit me!” Now, why does he say, “You hit me!”? I did not hit you. I hit your car. Why are you saying, “You hit me!”? Because you identify with the car. If someone else is riding in the car, who does not identify with the car, he will not be so affected. But because you identify with the car–”This is my car”–and invest so much of your consciousness in it, you get very upset. I was in a small shop in Chicago when a car grazed a customer’s vehicle just outside the doorway. Boy, he ran out–we all ran out–and it was as if his mother had been run over. We looked and looked and looked, and finally we saw a small scratch. “Oh, this is my brand new car!” He was really disturbed. He was a nice man–I am not finding fault with him–but he so much identified with that car that even that little nick caused him such agony, such intense pain, because of false identification.

So, although the yogi is in his body, he does not identify with it. Thus he can remain in meditation for hours, for days, and not feel the pangs of hunger or thirst. He doesn’t experience the dualities of heat and cold, because he doesn’t identify with his body. He is living in it, but he doesn’t identify with it. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t even need the body. For what he is doing, being absorbed in the Supreme, ultimately he doesn’t need a body at all. And when the soul of the perfected yogi leaves the body, it does not have to take birth again in the material world in another physical body to enjoy and suffer the results of pious and sinful activities. Because the yogi has been completely absorbed in spiritual activities–the individual soul’s relationship with the Supreme Soul–he is fit by his consciousness to enter the spiritual realm and live eternally with the Supreme Soul and the other perfected souls. That is really the purpose of human life.

Now, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Of course, in the material world no one is all good and no one is all bad, and so no one’s life is all pleasure or all pain. Everyone is good and bad, and so good and bad things happen to everyone. Still, an intelligent human being will learn from whatever happens to him. Superficially, one may complain, “Oh, my boss abused me; this is bad.” Or “I found out that I have a terrible disease; this is bad”–or whatever. But what am I meant to learn from this? When we realize that we are meant to learn something from a situation, we see that the situation that appeared to be bad is not actually as bad as it seems. It may actually be good. For example, you lose our job and feel horrible. But now what? What are you going to do with your life? You may end up doing something better than you would have if you had just continued with the same job. Or I get some disease. Now I can’t eat meat. I can’t play football (not that we have anything against football). I can’t do the same things. Now what am I going to do? In the end you may do better than before.

And if one thinks, “I did not want this to happen. Why am I forced to suffer?” and “I was hell-bent for happiness, and instead I got pain. What do I do now?” and if one takes to the process of liberation from the material miseries, one’s life can become completely successful.

So from the spiritual point of view, nothing in the material world is good or bad. It all depends on how we use it.

‘dvaite’ bhadrabhadra-jnana, saba-’manodharma’
‘ei bhala, ei manda’,-ei saba ‘bhrama’

“In the material world, conceptions of good and bad are all mental speculations. Therefore, saying ‘This is good’ and ‘This is bad’ is all a mistake.” (Cc. Antya 4.176)

Someone told me about a lady whose husband had won the lottery. Up until then the family had been relatively happy, but as soon as they won the lottery, everything changed. There was so much anxiety in the house, so much tension among the family members, so many disagreements about how to spend the money, that they actually considered that they were happier before they won the lottery. It is the same point in reverse. We may think that something is good, but it may turn out to be bad if we don’t use it in the right way. And something may appear to be bad, but it may turn out to be good if we do use it wisely. Therefore the whole question of why bad things happen to good people presupposes certain categories that may not be valid in application–or that require nuanced definitions.

Now, if we accept, as we do, that God is the cause of all causes, and if we trace whatever happened to us back, ultimately, to God, and if we believe, as we do, that whatever God does is ultimately for the good of everyone, then how can we say that something is ultimately bad? We must understand that there is some purpose for our suffering, and when we understand that purpose and come to the absolute platform, we will see how the suffering served as an impetus for our advancement.

People who don’t have that much faith or that much knowledge, when there is some calamity and they consider God to be the ultimate cause of it, they blame God. In a way it is natural to blame God, but those who do so don’t really understand the situation very deeply, how God’s ways work.

The classical biblical story of the problem of evil is the book of Job, which was adapted by Archibald MacLeish in a play called J.B. In the play comes a couplet, “If God is God He is not good,/ If God is good He is not God.” The idea is that if God is God, if He is all-powerful, then He is not good, because He allows so much bad in the world. And if He is good, then He is not God, all-powerful, because otherwise He would have stopped the bad, the evil. From a certain perspective, such problems can exercise a person’s mind. But if we step back and look from a broader perspective, with knowledge from books such as the Bhagavad-gita, we will see that people are getting what they deserve. “As you sow, so shall you reap.” And if we have an even higher vision, we will see that although things may appear to be good or bad, actually nothing is good or bad intrinsically; it all depends on us, how we use it. We will see that whatever situation we are in, God is giving us the opportunity to come to a higher level of consciousness and to progress towards the ultimate goal of human life.

Historically, there have been schools of education that believe that we should not give children tests. We should just draw out their spontaneous desire to learn and let them explore naturally, and not burden them with tests. Now, there is some truth to that idea. When children are small they should be given freedom, but at a certain stage they need the discipline of the tests, and examination of students who have gone through the systems without tests has shown that they don’t learn as much as those who have had tests along the way. So tests can be good for us. This might not be a good thing to say to an audience of students, who might be thinking that tests are one of those bad things that happen to good people, but from the educational point of view tests can be good, because we sometimes learn more when we have to pass a test. In the same way, we have tests in life. God gives us tests. The basic question is whether in the face of adversity we are going to think of Him or forget Him. Are we going to make the best of the situation and serve God, or make the worst of it and reject or forget God? And the ultimate test, the final exam, is the time of death. It is said that all of a person’s activities are tested at the time of death. If we pass the final examination at death, if we think of God at the time of death, then we graduate and go to God. We don’t have to return to this miserable world in another material body.

Yoga is a practice that helps us to think of God. Our final success in the practice of yoga will be judged at the time of death, and if we are truly fixed in God consciousness, if we do not identify with the body, then the transition called death will just be like walking out of the classroom after the last exam into freedom. Nobody is going to cry, “Oh, I’m leaving this classroom. I agonized here for so many hours, and now I have to go.” We will rejoice, “I passed! I am out of here!” So that is goal of human life: to pass the final exam–to think of God at the time of death–and to graduate, to leave this world of birth and death and enter the eternal, spiritual realm.

Now, one may question, “Well, this astanga-yoga may be beneficial, but it does sound difficult. Maybe if I were living in India, in the Himalayas, and had a proper teacher I could practice it, but what about here and now?” There is an answer for that, a method meant specifically for the present age, that basically achieves the same results as astanga-yoga but with much less physical rigor. This practice is the repetition of mantra. Mana means “mind,” and tra means “that which delivers.” By mantra the mind is delivered from its preoccupation with material things and brought to God consciousness. By the repetition of mantra one gets the same result as through the practice of astanga-yoga, but the physical process is very easy. It simply involves repetition of the mantra. Of course, one has to persevere in the practice to get the result, but the beauty of the practice is that even in its early stages one can feel pleasure from chanting the mantra and from hearing it. Now, one can repeat the mantra within one’s mind, but the difficulty there is that our minds are so distracted that if we try to chant mentally and our mind wanders, there is no mantra. But if we chant audibly, even if our mind wanders temporarily we have emitted transcendental sound vibrations that will purify us, and then when we bring the mind back to the sound of the mantra we get even greater benefit. But the power of the mantra is such that even if the mind wanders, the influence of the transcendental sound purifies one’s heart and one makes progress. One’s consciousness is elevated, and one can more easily focus the mind on the mantra and be less distracted.

So in the present age of Kali–there are different ages, and the Vedic literatures recommend a specific process for each age–in the present age, called Kali-yuga, the recommended process is the chanting of mantra, of divine names. There are many mantras, but one is called the maha-mantra, or “the great chant for deliverance,” and many of you may know it: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Someone may question, “You mean this whole long lecture was just to get us to chant Hare Krsna? These are the same people that used to go out on the streets and sing and dance and harass people at the airports? This whole elaborate discussion was just for that, to come to the point that we should chant Hare Krsna?” Well, yes . . . and no. Yes, we would be happy if you chanted Hare Krsna, because it has helped us and we are convinced that it can help you too–if you give it a fair chance. But no, even if you don’t chant Hare Krsna, if you just think about some of questions that we have raised and try to find the answers to them, whether through the Bhagavad-gita or not, we will be happy. We will be happy because we are not sectarian. We just want that people should use this valuable human form of life for the best purpose, to make a permanent solution to the problems of life–not the problems of making the payments on the VCR or the car or the house, but the real problems of repeated birth, death, old age, and disease. If someone imagines that they can find real solutions through material means–”Oh, science, stem cell research, genetic engineering: no more disease, no more old age, no more death”–that is an illusion. But if we get a sense that we don’t have to just go along with the miseries, with the prison life–that a solution is possible and we are not doomed to suffer forever–if we have a sense that we can actually get out of the prison and become free from the repeated miseries of material existence, that itself is enough. And if one just pursues that sense, one will ultimately be successful.

Thank you. Hare Krsna.

Ksuddhi dasa: You often hear people say they are so glad that God blessed them by giving them material things, and they think that’s a real blessing, but sometimes it may be better to have more difficulties. One time, when I was in South Africa, five thieves came and attacked me in the house where I was staying. One of them held a crowbar, and the others all had guns. One of them put a gun to my head, and the thief with the crowbar said, “Shoot him; kill him.” They didn’t want any witnesses. I was terrified and at first I tried to think of ways to save myself. But I saw that nothing would work. Finally, within myself, I just surrendered to Krsna. I thought I was going to die, and I prayed to Lord Krsna, “This is it. Now you do with me as you like.” So I just chanted. I chanted two rounds, two very good rounds, and suddenly the thieves got scared and left. So, I was thinking, when difficulties come up they help make you aware of your actual condition and help you to really remember God.

Giriraj Swami: God gives us different tests along the way–pop quizzes, or more major exams like mid-terms–and they are meant to help us to realize how much we know and how much we don’t know and where we have to study and learn so that when the final exam does come there is no weaknesses in our preparation.

There is a great devotee mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. She was actually a queen, but in the course of historical events she and her sons were sent into exile, and while they were in exile they were always close to God. In the end they were successful in their struggle, and her son was crowned king. They regained their kingdom, which was their right. But at the end of their ordeal she prayed to Lord Krsna:

vipadah santu tah sasvat
tatra tatra jagad-guro
bhavato darsanam yat syad
apunar bhava-darsanam

“I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.” (SB 1.8.25)

In other words, “I wish that all those calamities we suffered in exile would come again, because in those calamities I was close to God, and I would rather have calamities and be close to God than have comfort and be away from God.” Of course, a yogi or a devotee of her calibre is always close to God, both in material happiness and material distress. But it is common that when people are in difficulty they remember God; they pray. “There are no atheists in the foxholes,” when one is under attack in war. In adversity people think of God and pray, and when the trial is over they think, “Oh, now I can relax and enjoy,” and they forget about God.

Student (1): How can we understand that action is inaction and inaction is action?

Giriraj Swami: She is referring to a verse from the Bhagavad-gita:

karmany akarma yah pasyed
akarmani ca karma yah
sa buddhiman manusyesu
sa yuktah krtsna-karma-krt

“One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities.” (Bg. 4.18)

An intelligent person sees action in inaction and inaction in action. Inaction means no reaction. A devotee engages in many activities for God, for Krsna’s pleasure, but he suffers no reaction, so it is “inaction,” akarma. And a false renunciant tries to be inactive in order to avoid reactions that will bind him to the material world, but even while engaged in so-called meditation, he still has to breathe, he still has to eat, he steps on insects when he walks, and so he become entangled in material reactions–because he has no knowledge of devotional service to Lord Krsna.

Student (2): If there is action and reaction, then why do good things happen to bad people?

Giriraj Swami: Here in America people usually ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But in India, where I lived for thirty years, people more often ask, as you have, “Why do good things happen to bad people?” There is a little bit of envy there. In other words, “I am working so hard, and that guy is lying and cheating and swindling, and he is living in a big mansion and enjoying all the good things in life, and I am still struggling in my little apartment. Why do good things happen to bad people? They should be suffering like me!” Well, you know the answer: Whoever is enjoying now has done some pious activities in the past. Now he may be misusing his pious credits–he may be squandering his pious credits–but he did something good in the past.

Our spiritual master told a story about a yogi who gave different blessings to different people. The first to approach the yogi was a prince, raja-putra. He blessed the prince, ciran jiva: you should live a long life. In your past life you performed pious activities, so in your present life you have been born a prince, and as a prince you are enjoying all sorts of opulence and engaging in all sorts of sinful activity. So you should live a long life, because as soon as you die you will have to suffer the reactions to all the sins that have committed. So you better continue to live.

Next was the son of a sage, muni-putra. As the son of a sage he was performing great austerities in the asrama of the sage. So the yogi blessed him, ma jiva: you need not live. There is no need for you to live now, because with all your austerities and God consciousness, you are liberated. So you can leave your body now and enjoy the fruits of your penance and austerities.” Then a butcher. The yogi blessed him, ma jiva mara: you should not live and you should not die. You should not live, because your present life is horrible, slaughtering innocent animals–blood everywhere, a ghastly situation. So you should not live. But you should not die either, because for all of the innocent creatures that you have killed you will have to suffer reactions in the next life. So you should not live and you should not die. And to the sadhu, the saintly person, the bhakta, he gave the blessing jiva va mara: you may live or die. It doesn’t matter, because in your present life you are relishing in God consciousness, Krsna consciousness. You are serving God, Krsna, so you are happy in your present life, and in your next life you will continue to serve Krsna in Krsna consciousness. So you may live or die; it will not make any difference.” These are the four lessons given to the four types of people.

If, as you say, good things are happening to a bad person, then we can only wish that he does not die, because when he does he is going to get the reactions for all his sins. So that is the best we can wish for him–other than Krsna consciousness.

Student (3): Maharaja, can you explain about the 9/11 incident and how it relates to karma?

Giriraj Swami: Can I explain about the 9/11 incident and how it relates to karma? Someone asked me that question a little after 9/11, and the answer took more than two hours, and then I had to continue it the next day. So we will save that for next time–or you can read the transcript of that earlier discussion from Visalia in October 2001.

Student (4): You said that if God is all-good then He is not God?

Giriraj Swami: “If God is God He is not good,/ If God is good He is not God.”

Student (4): What should the correct understanding be–God is all-good or God, Krsna, is good with bad?

Giriraj Swami: Let us rephrase the couplet: “If God is God He is not good.” In other words, if God is all-powerful then He is not all-merciful, because if He was both He would stop the suffering. “If God is good He is not God.” In other words, if He is all- merciful, then He must not be all-powerful–for the same reason. If He was both, then He would stop the suffering.

But the fact is that God is all-powerful and all-merciful. But His mercy takes different forms. Some sages have given the example of a parent. Sometimes the parent will give a bitter medicine to the child, and sometimes the parent will give a sweet to the child, but both are meant for the child’s good. The child may say, “Ugh. I don’t want this bitter medicine. I just want the sweet.” But the parent knows what is best for the child and administers it. Sometimes the parent will punish the child, and sometimes the parent will reward the child, but again, both are for the child’s benefit, so that the child will learn to be a good person and a responsible adult. So the same with us: Sometimes God will punish us, not because He takes pleasure in our suffering but because He wants us to learn and improve. And sometimes He will reward us and encourage us for the good that we have done. But either way, He is doing what is best for us, and the yogis or surrendered souls will accept whatever God allots as being in their best interest. They will try to understand what they are meant to learn from it and progress.

Thus great devotees pray:

tvan-mayayaddha jana isa khandito
yad anyad asasta rtatmano ‘budhah
yatha cared bala-hitam pita svayam
tatha tvam evarhasi nah samihitum

“My Lord, due to Your illusory energy, all living beings in this material world have forgotten their real constitutional position, and out of ignorance they are always desirous of material happiness in the form of society, friendship and love. Therefore, please do not ask me to take some material benefits from You, but as a father, not waiting for the son’s demand, does everything for the benefit of the son, please bestow upon me whatever You think best for me.” (SB 4.20.31)

Hare Krsna!

also adding to this

Q : If God is so wonderful, why was I sent here to suffer? If He can do anything, can't He get me out of here?

Ans 8: Yes, it is true that God can do anything. But He will not interfere with our minute independence, He will not impose Himself on the living being. Our suffering in this world is due to the misuse of our own independence. We are going to have to face our own responsibilities in this regard and stop blaming God. The sufferings we are currently undergoing are like the suffering of the dreamer in a nightmare. Ultimately they have no reality nor do they affect the soul who is simply undergoing the dreamlike conditions of material life due to his misidentification of the self with the material body.

One might still say that while the dreamer dreams his sufferings are very real to him. True. But there is another purpose to our sufferings. They are meant to gradually move us in the direction of inquiring into the problems of life and into our relationship with God. The ultimate suffering of the living being is the feeling of incompleteness and dissatisfaction that the part must feel unless it is in proper relation to the whole. We are all suffering in this world due to the fact that we have voluntarily separated ourselves from God and thus we will always feel unfulfilled, incomplete and unsatisfied, no matter how much we attempt to enjoy this world, because we are functioning artificially outside of our loving relationship with God.

Related story..........

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed to God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.
One day, after ... Read Morescavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little Hut in flames, and soon there was nothing left. The worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief,and anger."God, how could you do this to me?" he cried.
Early the next day he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the Island .
It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?"
Asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal,"
they replied.It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn'tlose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain,
and suffering. Remember this the next time your "hut" seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.
You May Want To Consider Passing This On, because "You Never Know Who Feels...
Like Their Hut Is On Fire Today".....

KENO HARE KRISHNA NAM HARI BOLE

keno hare krishna nam hari bolemano pran kande naOh,
why does my heart not weep from chanting the holy namesHare Krishna?
pakhi na jani kon aparadhemukhe hare krishna nam bolo na
The bird of my heart does not know what past sinful activitiesit has committed to cause this inability to chant Hare Krishnaproperly.
baner pakhi re dhare raklam hridoy mandiremadhu makha ei hari nampakhi re shikhaile shikhe
O forest bird! I have kept something for you very carefully within the cottage of my heart—the holy name of Lord Hari, which is overflowing with pure sweet honey. O bird, you could learn the chanting of this name if you were taught.
pakhi sakal nam bolte parokeno hare krishna nam bolo nakeno hare krishna nam hari bole mano pran kande na
A bird is easily able to speak all names; why then does this bird of my heart refuse to chant Hare Krishna? Oh, why does my heart not weep from chanting the holy names Hare Krishna?
chalo pakhi ruper deshe jaije deshete maner manush asa jaoya nai
O bird! Come, let us go to the spiritual world, the land of true and everlasting beauty. It is the place where the imaginary man of my mind will never again come and go on therevolving cycle of birth and death.
pakhi re tor marana kaletecarabi vaser dolateore car janete kandhe koreloye jabe smashan ghatete
O bird! At the time of death, your body will simply be placedupon a funeral stretcher, lifted on the shoulders of four persons and carried to the cremation grounds.
ore o tor mukhe aguna jihve tuleki korobi tai bolo na
Alas! The cremation fire will then enter your mouth and totally consume your tongue. There will be nothing you can do to save yourself, for at that time it is too late—youwill be unable to speak any more.

Sri Sri Gaura-Nityanander Daya"The Mercy of Sri Gaura and Nityananda"by Locana Dasa Thakura (in Bengali)

bhajo bhajo bhai, caitanya nitaisuhrdha biswasa korivisaya chadiya, se rase majiya,mukhe bolo hari hari
My dear brother, I request that you just worship Lord Caitanya andNityananda with firm conviction and faith. If one wants to be Krsnaconscious by this process, one has to give up his engagement in sensegratification. One simply has to chant, "Hare Krsna! Hari Hari!"without any motive.

Na janam Na dhanam

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye mama janmani jamanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi
"Lord of the universe, I do not desire material wealth, materialistic followers, a beautiful wife or fruitive activities described in flowery language. All I want, life after life, is unmotivated devotional service unto You." CC