The Higher View - 1

Kalpatararu Co-operative Housing Society

Community Hall

CBD Belapur Navi Mumbai

Sector 8-B

September 18, 2010

The very fact that we are able to consume food and survive the onslaught of
material life is because of the mercy of 33 crore demigods and above all the
benign mercy of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna.Krishna tells Arjuna One who takes
pleasure in the self does not need to perform any duty since he does not have
anything to do with the material conception of life.Krishna questions Arjuna
whether he was on that platform.If yes then Arjuna could easily abnegate his
position in the battlefield and retire to the forest. However Arjuna was a Kshatriya
and he had an innate desire to enjoy the world and his position and therefore he
had to perform his duty as a Kshatriya and not quit the battefield. The principle is
that if you want to enjoy then one has to do his duties without fail. For instance if
one goes to a restaurant hotel , enjoys tasty food and then leaves the place after
profusely thanking the hotel authorities for their hospitality and kindness will that
do? Will he be spared ? The hotel manager may simply smile back and in a very
hospitable manner see to it that this person is behind bars. The Hare Krishna
Movement is known for distributing free Lunch and Dinner prasadam. This really
startles people as there is an old English saying “There is no free Lunch in this
world”. The Hare Krishnas seem to defy this principle completely , yet this is
true.However restaurants are only for business. If you use something you have to
pay a price.

One should always pay for whatever one tries to enjoy otherwise it will lead to
degradation of his consciousness and he will incur sins. If one feels that he needs
to enjoy with a woman , the rule is that he should get married and take up family
responsibilities.That is the Vivaaha Sanskaar.People in this material world are
more worried about what can be enjoyed and not about what can be donated or
what can be given.The Ganeshotsava festival is a typical example of expression
of people’s greed. Lord Ganesha is used as an object of receiving benedictions
and money and all whatever he can offer. This is clearly not Bhakti.Nobody would

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want to do anything in return for Lord Ganesha. The Gods and Demigods are used
as objects of usurp and not exactly as symbols of reverence and worship.This is
the reason why with the passing of every festival season , there is a significant
degradation of consciousness in general.One offers an incense stick for Re. 1 and
in return expects a job that will pay Rs. 25000. People try to even trick elevated
demigods with their materially stained intelligence without realising the dire
consequences of such prayers.

A person who is an Atmarati or a person who dwells in his inner self is a person
who does not derive any enjoyment in the material world.Such a freed person is
truly eligible to be free from mundane activity.The difference between an Atmarati
and a person in the material conception of life can be easily explained with a
practical example. The mundane person if he is asked to stand in a big queue to
book his railway ticket is infected with all types of frustrations.He undergoes stress
and turmoil during this simple act of waiting for his turn.However an Atmarati
simply engages in chanting the Holy name as he waits for his turn to buy
tickets.He is at ease and enjoys his wait. A devotee is therefore not bored with life
at any point in life.He simply engages in sadhana at any point of time. Some
people look for their spectacle glasses all over the place when actually , the
glasses are actually placed on their foreheads.After much searching , he is
reminded of his folly and is amused at his stupidity when he discovers that the
glasses were there all the time on his forehead.Similarly man searches for peace
and happiness in temples and church or in modes of entertainment all the time
and simply meets disappointment. He fails to realize that true joy and contentment
is already present in the depths of his own heart and that he could discover this
joy by chanting the holy name “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare
Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”. The Holy name is
compared to a treasure trove by Lord Krishna.Arjuna never told Krishna that since
He was God He should change the situation of war into peace and avoid war.On
the other hand it was Lord Sri Krishna who taught Arjuna to transform his
consciouness and maintain peace at all times and derive the highest pleasure by
performing his prescribed duties.The story of the Higher View of the eagle is very
pertinent here.There was a Sadhu Maharaj who was watching a group of chickens
near his hut. An eagle had laid an egg amongst these chickens. The eagle egg
was hatched and the baby eagle started moving around with chickens and started
growing up with chickens. The eagle had misidentified itself to be a chicken and
was behaving like chickens. This saddened the Sadhu Maharaj. He caught hold of
the eagle that had now grown up and threw it up in the air thinking that the eagle
would fly away.The eagle came down with a thud since the eagle had the
consciousness of hens and did not trust that it could soar into the sky. The Sadhu
Maharaj then carried the eagle to the top of a mountain cliff and threw the eagle
down from there. As the eagle came crashing down from the top of the hill , he

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observed that there were many eagles that were soaring high near the cliff and
happily gliding in the vicinity. The eagle realized his true position. No sooner this
understanding sunk into him , he spread his 4 feet wings and took off to the skies
never to return back to the bunch of chickens and hens. Similarly man has
identified himself with bodily activities like eating , sleeping , mating and
defending. He has forgotten the dharma of his soul which is his actual position and
that is of Love and Service. A person who has realized his true spiritual identified
is situated on the platform of Loving devotional service and under this condition he
has sought the highest treasure and has truly achieved moksha or has escaped
from the perennial cycle of birth and death.Such a person needs to perform any
other duty in this world.Such a person does not feel the need to enjoy through his
body or through his senses.

There was a man with a long thich mustache and on a certain ocassion he had
eaten some sandwich and had some cheese on the upper part of his mustache.
The man started sniffing hard as he moved places and soon concluded that the
world had started smelling very bad. The odour followed him wherever he went
and he was tired of the same foul smell even in supposedly fragrant places. There
was another man who pointed out to the speck of cheese that covered his
mustache near his nostril area. Thus the man realized that the reason for the bad
odour was actually due to the particles of cheese that were smeared on his
mustache. The ugliness of the world , Srila Prabhupada said, is only to the degree
to which we have forgotten the Supreme Lord Krishna . As soon as we start
remembering the Lord and start singing his glories , one would realize that there is
only freedom and beauty in this world. To be truly independent and creative is to
be truly dependent on Krishna.If we decide to walk the whole world and decide to
remain unhurt by the thorns ,stones and pebbles , we have two options.Either we
cover the whole world with high quality carpet so that we may be saved from the
pricks of the hard ground or we start wearing soft shoes. Option one would require
an exorbitant investment and maintaining the carpet would be an unimaginably
expensive affair.The other option would be to wear shoes which is an extremely
cheap and viable option and the investment required in comparsion with the first
choice is almost negligible.If we take happiness on the body then it becomes
obligatory on our part to accept miseries too.Its like two sides of the same
coin.Accept one and the other comes as a complimentary and compulsory gift with
it. Body , one should understand is actually a vehicle of perpetual suffering

To be continued…
continued……