As humans we all know we have a human body. There is no doubt that we’ve taken human birth. But how has such fortune come to us? Somehow we came to our mother’s womb, and from our mother’s womb to where we are now. But we don’t really know how we came into our mother’s womb and where we were before that. Most persons in this world are not using their time to try to understand this and discover how they can make the best use of their life. The sadhus and scriptures come to give people proper consciousness about this.
In Srimad Bhagavatam it is described that when Maharaj Pariksit was cursed to die within seven days, he asked all the great rsis and munis of his time, «How can I make the best possible use of this short time?»
Many rsis and munis were present in a grand assembly and they gave their opinions according to their ability. But it was as though so many different bottles of medicine were brought to a sick man and he could not decide which one to take. All the rsis and munis were very scholarly and qualified, but Maharaj Pariksit felt confused after hearing all of their different opinions. He said, «I cannot understand what to do. All of you together should decide what is best for me.»
At that time Sukadev Goswami came into the assembly, and all the rsis and munis gave full honour to him. They told Maharaj Pariksit, «This is the most qualified person to answer your question.»
Sukadev Goswami sat upon a throne in front of everyone. Maharaj Pariksit worshipped him, and then asked, «How can I derive the greatest benefit from life within the short period of time I have left to live?»
When Sukadev Goswami heard Pariksit Maharaj’s question he said, «Oh! You are so fortunate! You have asked the supreme question. This is the only question there is actually.»
Srotavyadini rajendra nrnam santi sahasrasah
apasyatam atma-tattvam grhesu grha-medhinam
«Other persons ask so many questions, ‘How do we cook this? How do we clean that? How do we perform fire sacrifice? How do we offer worship?’ When persons do not know the nature of the perfect question, then they ask so many questions that are unnecessary.» The only real question is, «How can we be supremely benefitted during our short lifetime?»
Maharaj Pariksit knew he had only seven days to live when he questioned Sukadev Goswami. Unlike Maharaj Pariksit, we are not sure how long our lifetime will last. But if we receive some proper consciousness and realise that we may die at any moment, then we will immediately try to discover what is supremely beneficial for our lives and try to proceed in that way. Without proper consciousness we will consider that we have so many mundane duties that are all ‘very important’.
labdhva su-durlabham idam bahu-sambhavante
manusyam artha-dam anityam apiha dhirah
turnam yateta na pated anu-mrtyu yavan
nihsreyasaya visayah khalu sarvatah syat
We have crossed over thousands of births to attain this human birth, which is sudurlabha, very rare and difficult to attain. It is only after crossing so many crises and critical positions that this rare human life is now in our hand. It requires so much pious activity to attain a human birth, and somehow we have reached it. We must not forget that it is very rare to attain, and can also be lost very easily.
Within the human form we can receive proper consciousness about the perfection of our life, the perfection of our existence as jiva-souls. In human life we can realise our spiritual potential, that is, that our only actual duty is to satisfy our Lord, Krishna. Jivera ‘svarupa’ haya — Krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’: as jiva-souls we are all eternal servants of Krishna.
krsna bhuli’ sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsara-duhkha
«Forgetting Krishna we have abandoned His service, come to this material world, and experienced so many forms of suffering amidst the waves of birth and death.»
Now in our fortunate life as humans we have the opportunity to get liberation from our heavily conditioned position and find the proper help and strength we need to engage in Krishna’s service.
There is really only one question in our lives: «How may we be supremely benefitted?» And there is only one answer: «Satisfy Krishna and you will get the supreme benefit of life.»
Here in Srimad Bhagavatam it is expressed, «Turnam! Immediately try to get that result! If you have any sobriety about your position do not wait one second. It is not necessary to wait one second to get that result; immediately start, and until death try for the supreme benefit of your life.» Nihsreyasaya means the super-benefit of your spiritual life and the super-benefit of your mundane life. Krishna consciousness will give you everything.
Visayah khalu sarvatah syat: eating, sleeping, fearing, and enjoying are possible in every birth in every species. We will experience that sort of enjoyment in every birth. Only in human birth do we have the opportunity to get the supreme benefit of our lives — Krishna consciousness.
yavat achhaye prana, dehe achhe sakti
tavat karaha krsna-pada-padme bhakti
«So long as there is life and strength in your body, try to dedicate yourself to the service of Krishna’s lotus feet.»
The scriptures explain that our position as conditioned souls in the illusory environment is like that of a man dreaming. Because we are bewildered by Maya and asleep to who we are and what is in our own best interest, we do not engage ourselves in Krishna’s service and foolishly suffer through so many forms of material difficulty. The scriptures compare the suffering of the conditioned soul to a man dreaming that a tiger is coming to attack him. Within his dream the sleeping man feels very fearful and suffers great pain. Within his dream he cries out, «Tiger! Tiger! Ah! Save me! Save me!» If any of his friends are awake nearby, what will they do? If they are intelligent they will see that their friend is only dreaming and try to wake him up. They won’t search for a stick to scare away the tiger or anything like that. They will only try to wake him up, «Wake up! Wake up! There is no tiger attacking you. You are simply dreaming in your bed.» When the sleeping person awakens he will see, «Oh. There is no tiger attacking me actually. I was only dreaming.»
The conditioned jiva-soul’s position is like the dreaming man. All the conditioned souls are sleeping in their bodies under the influence of Maya’s illusory environment. The jiva-souls’ suffering in this world, which is really only the suffering of their minds and bodies, is like the suffering felt by a sleeping person within a dream. To leave behind that suffering it is only necessary to wake up. If the conditioned jiva-souls can wake up to their real identity as souls they will automatically understand everything and see that all of their suffering is only part of Maya’s illusion.
tasmad idam jagad asesam asat-svarupam
svapnabham asta-dhisanam puru-duhkha-duhkham
The jiva-souls will see that the play of the material universe is simply a passing show put on by Maya in which their consciousness is covered by illusion and they suffer so many varieties of sorrow as though within a dream. Under the influences of Maya and karma the jiva-souls pass through so many challenges.
yaya sammohito jiva atmanam tri-gunatmakam
paro ’pi manute ’nartham tat-krtam chabhipadyate
«When the jiva-souls are deluded by Maya they foolishly believe they are products of material nature, even though their very nature is superior to matter. Bound by identification with matter they try to exploit the illusory energy and then suffer the reactions to their misconceived actions.»
Question: Is there anything wrong with the world today?
Srila Govinda Maharaj: Misconception. Misconception about our real identity and function is the only problem within this world. Misconception means maya. Srila Guru Maharaj explained that maya means ‘ma’-’ya’. Ma means ‘not’ and ya means ‘this’, so ‘what is not truth’ is maya. When the conditioned souls forget their Lord, they are polluted by mahamaya, the illusory environment, and suffer so much. Maya Devi’s job is to create chaos and confusion in the lives of the jiva-souls so that they become bewildered and cannot see the proper path and purpose of their life. Maya Devi’s function is to hide the jiva-souls’ wealth: their eternal loving relationship with Krishna. She does anything and everything to disturb the conditioned souls.
The conditioned souls cannot avoid association with mahamaya. Suffering in the lives of the conditioned souls is natural and expected; it is the natural reaction to the jiva-souls’ misguided activities. That suffering is also good because it inspires fortunate souls to want to clean themselves of the pollution of the illusion; it inspires them to want to steady themselves and avoid further entanglement within material existence.
I am habituated to not believe Maya. We learned from Srila Guru Maharaj and other great personalities that we should not believe Maya Devi and the tricks of her illusory environment. Maya may have so much power and be able to do anything and everything within her illusory environment, but we have learned not to be bewildered by that. We honour Maya, but we never believe Maya. No doubt we cannot fight with Maya directly; we are tiny souls, and we must be defeated by her because the Lord’s power is working behind her. But with the spiritual strength we receive from Guru–Vaisnava we can cross over the ocean of maya.
Maya’s power is negative. It comes from the Lord, but it is a negative power. The power coming through Guru–Vaisnava to rescue the conditioned souls is positive; it is the Lord’s positive power descending from His purposeful and positive world. Whenever the conditioned souls are connected with the Lord’s positive power, they must be carried beyond the influence of His negative power.38 We have no doubt about this as the Lord’s natural desire for love, beauty, charm, and sweetness is fulfilled by the unalloyed service of the jiva-souls. If any jiva-soul sincerely wants to dedicate himself to the Lord then the Lord will certainly rescue him and give him that chance. That is the Lord’s nature. The Lord gave the jiva-souls free will for this purpose, as well as for facilitating His play of rescuing the jiva-souls with the attractive power of His divine form and Pastimes.
Within all the scriptures of India — the Vedas, Vedanta, Upanisads, Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and so on — the Lord invites all jiva-souls suffering in the illusory environment to return to His abode. He calls the jiva-souls,
Srnvantu visve amrtasya putra
«You are all sons of nectar. Why are you avoiding Me? Come back to your home, back to Godhead. Here everything is ready to give you happiness, ecstasy, service, and joy. Come back to the nectarean ocean of positive spiritual existence. It is your property and real identity; you are actually a proprietor of ecstatic spiritual nectar. Your soul has been covered by the illusory environment, but you are really a son of nectar. Divine nectar is here waiting for you to taste it. Please come and accept it.»
This is the main invitation of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, His associates, and all the scriptures. Amrta means nectar, nectar that enables you to conquer death. Positive eternal existence is the jiva-soul’s transcendental wealth and natural position. Srnvantu visve amrtasya putra. The Lord and His associates call out in this way in order to rescue the conditioned souls and give them real immortal nectar — consciousness about their spiritual destiny. They call out to the conditioned jiva-souls:
uttisthata jagrata prapya varan nibodhata39
«Awake! Arise! You are sleeping in the lap of Maya. You do not know who you are or what you are doing. You are simply dreaming. Try to realise the value of your own existence and proceed to your life’s goal.»
The general lifestyle of the conditioned souls does not lead them to sincerely consider spiritual life. But when the conditioned souls come into the association of the sadhus and the scriptures, they can be inspired to take spiritual life seriously. When souls are in the association of persons who can discriminate between matter and spirit, persons who are pursuing the supreme benefit of their spiritual lives, then they will be influenced and inspired. They will think about their own position more and they will begin to feel the existence of their spiritual wealth. Then the soul will begin to enquire about matter, spirit, transcendence, karma, jnan, bhakti, and so on. Through discussion of these topics in the association of the sadhus, and by engaging in the service of the sadhus who enlighten them, the jiva-souls will be benefitted and their spiritual fortune will be revealed to them.
In Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta, Sanatan Goswami asked Mahaprabhu Sri Chaitanyadev:
‘ke ami’, ‘kene amaya jare tapa-traya’
iha nahi jani — ‘kemane hita haya’
‘sadhya’-‘sadhana’-tattva puchhite na jani
krpa kari’ saba tattva kaha ta’ apani
«Who am I? Why am I suffering within this material environment? If I do not know this, how will I be benefitted? What is the supreme benefit of my life? How can I attain that? I do not know how to enquire properly. Please be merciful to me and reveal these truths in my heart.»
Sanatan Goswami was not foolish. He was the Prime Minister of Bengal under Nawab Hussain Shah, but he asked these questions. There are many examples of great persons in the scriptures, such as Maharaj Pariksit and Maharaj Nimi, who asked simple questions. Such questions are actually the best questions for the conditioned souls.
The inspiration to ask questions about the essence of life comes to fortunate conditioned souls through self-realisation. The Vedanta-darsana begins, «Athato Brahma jijnasa: now let us search for the Absolute.» Athato means, «Now, after experiencing so many things in the mundane world and gradually coming to properly realise their position, the jiva-souls come to enquire about the Absolute.» The necessity for spiritual life can be felt by the conditioned souls only after a fundamental level of realisation.
Proper realisation begins by understanding consciousness and then the atma (self). The first lesson from the sadhu, the first lesson in spiritual life, is atmanam viddhi: «Know thyself; try to understand your own self.»
When a conditioned soul becomes a sincere seeker and he finds a real master, then both the master and student are fully satisfied. The sadhu teaches the sincere seeker how to discover his own self. Self-realisation is the best thing for the conditioned souls, and it is the real necessity of the conditioned souls. When, through their fortune, souls begin to search for their own self, they will begin to feel it, at first a little and then more and more. When their feelings come to them, then their searching spirit will increase, and they will come to understand who they are and the illusion they have fallen into. The jiva-soul will gradually realise, «This body is not actually me. I am simply existing inside this body and mind. My mental position is playing under the influence of the illusory environment, and it is neither acting according to my soul’s intelligence nor guiding me properly.»
The conditioned souls under the influence of the illusory environment act foolishly, but they are not actually foolish. They need only to discover their atma (self). It is necessary for everyone to discover the atma so that they can act in their own best interest. As jiva-souls, we are not our mundane bodies. If we think about this we can feel that it is true. If my father dies and I look at his dead body, what is different? My whole life I have been seeing his body, but now it is useless. Within two or three days it will spoil and emit a bad smell. There must have been something inside his body that has now left, some spark of life. You can call it a spirit or whatever you like. Only when his spirit was present was his body active and conscious. The presence of his soul, the jivatma, gave life to his body. Now that his jivatma has left, his body is dead.
In Srimad Bhagavad-gita death is compared to the routine changing of clothing:
vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya navani grhnati naro ’parani
tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany anyani samyati navani dehi
Every day we change our clothes. We take off our dirty clothes and put on clean clothes. When our clothes become too old we take them off and never put them on again. The jiva-soul’s position in the mundane world is like this. The soul changes bodies the way the body changes its clothes. When the soul’s body becomes too old or diseased, the soul leaves that body and accepts a new one. In this way the soul moves along the waves of birth and death. Na hanyate hanyamane sarire (Bg: 2.20): the soul is never killed when the body dies. The soul is sanatan: eternal, indestructible, always fully conscious, and active.
It is also very helpful to understand clearly not only the relationship between the soul and the body, but also the soul and the mind.
indriyani parany ahur indriyebhyah param manah
manasas tu para buddhir yo buddheh paratas tu sah
The senses — the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin — are the most prominent features of the body. Indriyebhyah param manah: the mind is superior to the senses. If the mind does not give its attention to the senses, then one does not experience anything. An elephant may walk right in front of someone, but he will not see it if he is not paying attention with his mind. In this way we can understand that the mind is superior to the senses. Manasas tu para buddhir: the intelligence is superior to the mind. If someone does not have good intelligence, he will not get any good results from his mind. A madman has a mind, but because his mind is unsteady and not guided by his intelligence, he does not get a good result from his mind. Finally, yo buddheh paratas tu sah: the soul is superior to the intelligence.
Vedavyas has given us a very nice example to understand this:
na rarajodupas chhannah sva-jyotsna-rajitair ghanaih
aham-matya bhasitaya sva-bhasa puruso yatha
If we look for the moon in the night sky during the rainy season, we see only clouds floating across the sky. We are not able to see the moon. But how are we able to see the clouds? By the moon’s light. Even though we cannot see the moon we know it is present in the sky because we are seeing the clouds with its light.
Like the moon, our atma is covered by the clouds of our subtle body — the mind, intelligence, and false ego (ahankar). The subtle body is called chidabhas, a hazy reflection of our consciousness. The conditioned souls live in the haze of their mundane mind, intelligence, and false ego, unable to directly see their true self (atma). But it is the light of the jivatma (soul) that illuminates their subtle body, and through their subtle body souls experience the mundane world. In this way we can understand that it is the jiva-soul’s light that powers his intelligence, mind, senses, and body. The jiva-soul exists inside his mind and body but cannot be seen by them because it is the jiva-soul himself who is the seer.
When the jiva-soul begins to realise something about his position he considers, «I am transcendental to mental and physical existence. I now have this human body and the opportunity to pursue the supreme benefit of my life.» But when the Upanisads say, «Srnvantu visve amrtasya putra: you are all sons of nectar», how much can a conditioned soul feel this to be true? Only a liberated soul can feel the full form of this truth. And liberation does not mean demolition of the jiva-soul’s individual existence; it means realising the jiva-soul’s eternal form as Lord Krishna’s servitor.
muktir hitvanyatha rupam sva-rupena vyavasthitih
In the scriptures it is explained that mukti (liberation) means giving up the illusory forms we have adopted within maya and becoming situated in our eternal conscious form (svarup) as a jiva-soul, as an eternal servant of Krishna — jivera ‘svarupa’ haya — Krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’.
iha yasya harer dasye karmana manasa gira
nikhilasv apy avasthasu jivan-muktah sa uchyate
«Anyone who gives up all other activities and wholeheartedly serves Krishna with his body, mind, and words at all times under all circumstances is a liberated soul (jivan-muktah).»
Nothing a soul engaged in Krishna’s service does binds him, even though he may exist within the material environment and his activity may look like that of an ordinary person. A liberated soul may remain engaged in Krishna’s service here in the material world or he may cross over into the Lord’s eternal abode.
Krishna explained the nature of His transcendental abode in Srimad Bhagavad-gita (15.6):
na tad bhasayate suryo na sasanko na pavakah
yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama
The transcendental world is illuminated by the light of Krishna’s divine form. Krishna says, «The sun, the moon, and the light sources of this material world cannot illuminate that world. They have no power to do so. Once you go to that abode you will never return to the illusory environment.»
Why would we not want to remain within the material world? Why is the illusory environment bad? Our Guru Maharaj, Om Visnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, gave us a book named The Search for Sri Krishna — Reality the Beautiful. We can see this type of Krishna conception present everywhere within this mundane world. Everyone everywhere is searching for pleasure, joy, happiness, wealth, beauty, love, and so on. They are searching in so many ways and spending so much of their energy. They are getting something of the essence of that from everything in this mundane world, but what they are experiencing in this world is only a shadow form of pleasure’s essential existence.
Everyone’s heart is full of rasa (pleasure), but it is distorted and spoiled within this mundane environment. Everyone here is exploiting to exist. Their pleasure is always coming at the expense of others, and no one can really be happy with that. Also, because their pleasure comes through exploitation, it is temporary; it can only last for a short time before its reaction comes and takes it away. Even if the conditioned souls find a situation with good possibilities for enjoyment within the mundane environment, they cannot remain there forever. Beyond their control the karmic waves of birth and death always flow throughout the mundane environment and carry them away.
The conditioned soul may make a nice building and experience many joyful matters there, but if he is to die then suddenly he is bound to leave everything behind: his house, wife, children, relatives, property, and so on. In the mundane world anything — accidents, injuries, death — can happen within a second. There is very little hope for happiness in the mundane environment. It is not actually a suitable environment for the jiva-souls. When the jiva-souls have an opportunity to go to the Lord’s transcendental abode, the eternal service world, why should they stay in the mundane world? They will not lose anything by going there.
Conditioned souls think, «I have a very nice television set. If I die and leave this life, I will lose that television set.» In the Lord’s abode the jiva-souls will realise their transcendental form and live in the transcendental service plane where everything they need — joy, ecstasy, happiness — is fully present in an exalted way. There in the transcendental world the jiva-souls never lose anything and they have everything. They have full opportunity to fulfil their existence through Krishna’s service. If any soul once enters that world he will never feel the need to return to the mundane environment.
The conditioned souls live in the mundane world, but liberated souls live in both the transcendental world and the material world. The material and transcendental worlds are completely different. Their only similarity is that they are both environments for the jiva-souls. Though they are separate, the transcendental world can appear within the material world. It is vigata kuntha yasmad: it is infinite and can appear within the finite world. The material world is not material actually. It is an illusory conscious world, an illusory environment. Srila Guru Maharaj said, «Everything is existing within consciousness.» If a jiva-soul’s consciousness is covered by illusion and he is not consciously connected with Krishna, then he exists within Maya’s illusory environment, the mundane material environment, and he is a conditioned soul. But a liberated soul fully established in Krishna consciousness has clean and clear vision; he sees the presence of Krishna everywhere.
Sarvatra krsnera murti kare jhalamala
se dekhite paya yara akhi niramala
If any jiva-soul sees and feels the presence and influence of Krishna everywhere, then he is not under Maya’s control and does not live in a mundane environment. Rather, he is liberated and lives in the transcendental world, even while present within the material world.
Consciousness is necessary. The consciousness of the jiva-soul has two states: one under the control of Mahamaya, Krishna’s external potency, and the other under the control of Yogamaya, Krishna’s internal potency. Beside the illusory environment Krishna’s divine play is going on everywhere. If any jiva-soul can understand Krishna’s play, then the illusory environment will leave him, he will get transcendental feelings of happiness in his heart, and he will enter the eternal service world.
Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami has presented a very deep idea in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta:
kama-gayatri-mantra-rupa haya krsnera svarupa
sardha-chabbisa aksara tara haya
se aksara ‘chandra’ haya krsne kari’ udaya
trijagat kaila kamamaya
Here Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami gives an explanation of the Kama-gayatri mantram that we receive at the time of initiation (diksa). Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami explains that there are twenty-four and a half syllables in the mantram. Generally it is peaceful and agreeable to consider that there are either twenty-four or twenty-five syllables in the mantram. Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur tried to understand why Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami said there were twenty-four and a half syllables. He meditated and searched for the half syllable. When he was unable to find the half syllable, he became disturbed and began fasting: «If I cannot feel the meaning of this mantram it is unnecessary to continue living. If the meaning of this mantram will not come to me, I do not want to remain alive. I would rather die.»
He passed one, then two, then three days without food. Finally, on the night of the third day, Radharani Herself came to him and gave him the meaning of the mantram: «In the scripture Varnagama-bhasvadi you will find an explanation that the syllable ya, when followed by the syllable vi, is considered a half-syllable. Please be relieved and take prasadam. Do not give up your life in this way.»
This was the experience of Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur with this verse of Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur was so learned, but he could not understand this point made by Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami tasted the deep, deeper, and deepest aspects of Krishna consciousness.
This is not the matter that I feel is necessary to discuss about this verse. Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami explains here that the Kama-gayatri-mantram is Krishna-svarup: it is a nondifferent form of Sri Krishna. He explains that the twenty-four and a half syllables in the mantram are like moons manifest within Sri Krishna’s transcendental form. Krishna’s face, Krishna’s forehead, Krishna’s eyes, and so on are all described as moons. This also, however, is not the matter I feel it is necessary to discuss.
My matter is Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami’s expression, «Trijagat kaila kamamaya: the whole universe is overflooded with kama.» This is the fact. Kama means desire, and kama has two forms: selfish desire and service desire. Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami explains:
atmendriya-priti-vanchha — tare bali ‘kama’
krsnendriya-priti-ichchha dhare ‘prema’ nama
«The desire to gratify one’s senses is called kama (lust), and the desire to gratify Krishna’s senses is prema (love).»
In English we translate the word prema as «love for Krishna». Actually there is no word in English for prema. Prema means something like a mixture of love, attraction, attachment, affection, and sincere hankering. When Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami says trijagat kaila kamamaya he means that the universe is overflooded with both kama, the desire for mundane enjoyment, and prema, the desire to lovingly serve Krishna. Kama and prema are both manifestations of Krishna’s power, and like waves, they both constantly move throughout the universe.
When Krishna manifests His power externally within the mundane world as kama, His power becomes the influence of Cupid, the desire for mundane enjoyment. Everyone everywhere in the mundane environment is influenced by that. Not only everyone here, everyone throughout the three worlds — Svarga, Martya, and Patala (heaven, earth, and hell) — is influenced by it. No one can avoid Krishna’s power, and His power is present everywhere within the mundane worlds of Maya’s illusory environment in its external manifestation as kama (selfish desire).
Krishna also manifests His internal power within the mundane world to distribute prema. Through His personal beauty and attractiveness He inspires the jiva-souls to engage in His service. Krishna does this through the gayatri-mantram, which gives the jiva-souls a connection with Him and His abode of transcendental service.
It is explained in the scriptures that the gayatri-mantram comes from Krishna’s flute. Srila Guru Maharaj explained the meaning of Krishna’s flute-song, that is, the meaning of the gayatri-mantram. He explained that the sound emanating from Krishna’s flute is fully fledged with love, ecstasy, beauty, and charm; it attracts everyone and fills their hearts with joy. It is always sweet and produces attachment, attraction, and affection. Srila Guru Maharaj explained that Krishna is always playing everywhere in that way; He is always communicating everywhere with everyone’s heart. The sound of His flute, that wave, descends from the transcendental world with the power to capture the hearts of everyone in the three worlds and overfloods the external environment through the gayatri-mantram. That is the divine form of trijagat kaila kamamaya (filling the universe with desire).
Through that gayatri-mantram the jiva-souls connect to Krishna and are thrown into the wave of devotion, that is, filled with intense desire to satisfy Krishna. Within a second that devotional wave can automatically lift us up to the transcendental plane like an elevator. That devotional wave can conquer our heart and give us good nourishment. Through that we will always feel the presence of Lord Krishna in our heart, and through His service we will feel the full happiness of our existence.
Everything is within us, within our own jurisdiction. It is not necessary for us to go anywhere. What we receive from our Guru Maharaj, that is, the full form of the gayatri-mantram, is more than sufficient for us. If we can receive it properly we will taste it and feel its divine form.
The waves of kama and prema are always flowing throughout the universe by the will of Lord Krishna. One carries the jiva-souls to the illusory environment and one carries the jiva-souls to the transcendental environment. The illusory environment appears by the Lord’s will as the material world, but within that the transcendental wave of prema also plays. The jiva-souls must join in the flow of these waves; they cannot avoid them. The jiva-souls are always moving under the influence of these waves. When the jiva-soul wants to enjoy maya then he is carried away by the wave of kama and suffers through great troubles in illusion; he forgets his abode, the service of his Lord, everything. The wave of kama becomes the wave that rounds throughout the mundane world pushing the jiva-souls through repeated births and deaths. That wave takes the form of their karma and pushes the jiva-souls birth after birth all over the material universe, through the upper planetary systems — Bhu, Bhuva, Sva, Maha, Jana, Tapa, and Satya lokas — and the seven lower planetary systems.
A departed soul once told me about that wave that surrounds souls when they leave their bodies and takes them to their next birth. After her death she was existing for some time in a neutral position on the mental plane as a pretayoni (ghost). She once quickly spoke to me and said that she could only speak for a short time because at any moment a great wave as thunderous as a storm was coming to knock her senseless and take her off to her next birth. She described this force as a wave and said she needed to leave quickly to hide from that wave.
That wave of kama is always flowing through this mundane world by the will of Lord Krishna. We can see its influence on society. Within the last ten or twenty years we have seen that the dress which was acceptable on television has changed. Before it was gentle and sober, but now everyone is nearly naked. This has changed in a very short period of time. Ten years ago it was not that way. This means that the world is being influenced by the wave of kama. Day by day this is happening more and more in our society during the Age of Kali, and lastly human society will become no different than beastly animal life. But when this is happening by Maya’s influence, who can avoid it? By the influence of the wave of kama, society is gradually moving towards a hellish position for the satisfaction of the general people. People are trying to enjoy materially, and for that they are breaking and changing the laws of society.
This is related to the waves of kama and prema, and their influence on the consciousness of people. Whenever there is disturbance in this mundane world, like we see in the world today, then the spiritual wave, the wave of prema, comes down to set everything right. Krishna Himself says:
Dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge40
Everything is actually the Lord’s play, and everyone is really the Lord’s instrument. The Lord gave us freedom, expecting we would happily serve Him, but some unfortunate souls want to enjoy for themselves and thus become conditioned. To set those souls and the situation of society on the right path the Lord comes to the mundane world or sends His associates there.
ataeva kama-preme bahuta antara
kama — andha-tamah, prema — nirmala bhaskara
«Kama and prema are complete opposites. Kama is like darkness and prema is like bright light.»
Under the influence of kama the jiva-souls cannot see anything; they live in great darkness. They can only feel the influence of that wave of kama indirectly and are unable to avoid it. But prema is like very clean, happy light, not burning light, and it liberates the conditioned souls. Many people say, «Mukti, mukti, mukti,» but mukti actually means moving out of darkness into light. That is real liberation.
The jiva-souls have natural capacity for thinking, feeling, and willing, so they will automatically feel love and affection for their Lord, and be exalted with that, when they see Him through the light of the wave of prema. The solution to the suffering of the jiva-souls is dedication, love, and affection for Lord Krishna. The Lord’s service is transcendental, and through the Lord’s service the kama present in the jiva-souls’ hearts is transformed into prema by the Lord’s divine influence.
When we are established in the plane of dedication we will get an undisturbed and peaceful life. Until that wave of prema transforms the desires within our hearts and carries us beyond the illusory environment, we will still be pulled by illusion’s gravitational field. But when we cross the illusory environment’s gravity by the Lord’s positive power, we will realise our standard position. We will understand ourselves, and over and above that we will enter the transcendental plane where the eternally liberated souls are engaged in the Lord’s service. We are connected with the Lord and His service before liberation no doubt, but real service begins after liberation, after we are wholeheartedly dedicated with our full energy to satisfying the Lord. When that pure mood of devotion, that wave of prema, enters our hearts, we will cross the gravitational field of Maya’s illusory environment and easily be carried by it to Goloka Vrndavan. ⬆︎
krsna — surya-sama; maya haya andhakara
yaha krsna, taha nahi mayara adhikara
«Krishna is like the sun; Maya is like darkness. Wherever Krishna is present, Maya is absent.»
39 «Arise! Awake! Find a master and learn from him.»
40 «I appear age after age to properly establish dharma.»