Illuminate Our Human Form of Existence [granthraj]

The usual perception in Krishna consciousness is that we primarily depend on our association with devotees. Without association of devotees we will not be able to protect ourselves from the onslaught of material energy or progress in devotional service. But actually Srimad Bhagavatam says that we are all alone. The verse is very important for us to carry on our devotional service till the end of life.

Srimad Bhagavatam 10.49.21:

ekah prasuyate jantur / eka eva praliyate
eko ‘nubhunkte sukrtam / eka eva ca dushkrtam

"Every creature is born alone and dies alone, and alone one experiences the just rewards of his good and evil deeds."

This is very true for everyone of us because we may have our husbands, wives, sons, relatives and devotees circle, but when it comes to birth, death and suffering/ enjoying the reactions of bad and good deeds we have to do it alone. We cannot share it at all. For eg., we have headache, the suffering has to be done alone and it cannot be shared with our wife/son or well wishers. At the most they can morally, physically and financially support, but the suffering is to be endured by us alone. We cannot pass on this actual suffering. But our basic nature is that we cannot be alone. We cannot put a person alone in one room for more than 1 hr. That person is bound to become mad. We are really confronted with contradiction. How to solve the riddle is our question. The scriptures say that we are alone and practically we are unable to be alone.

Recently our beloved godbrother HG Svayam Sphuraty Prabhuji in one of his wonderful class last week was highlighting that we are all alone in suffering and we will never be able to pass it on to others. Even if we pass on, the intensity will not be the same to the other living entity.

Maharaj gives a wonderful explanation of this loneliness and he says that is our nature.

"In association we may feel Lord Krishna is all in all but there is no guarantee that we will have association always. Because we are all alone. We breathe alone, The blood circulates alone. The food is digested by us alone. If we want to walk, we have to walk alone. We cannot put somebody to walk for us and derive the benefit. From our birth we are all alone. We should not become dependent all the times. This is very true especially when we become old. We have to habituate ourselves to be alone. Loneliness is our nature. We have think and understand these things. We have to think about our human body which we have obtained by providence after so many births and deaths. This is the only illuminated form of existence among other forms."

Maharaj is insisting on two things:

1. Loneliness is our nature.
2. Since it is our nature we have to habituate ourselves to be alone.

Loneliness is our nature, Maharaj has vividly given the various examples of our loneliness nature and then comes the next point that how we should habituate ourselves to be alone.

We have obtained human body after so many births and deaths by providence. Human existence is the only illuminated form of existence among other forms. We have to illuminate this form of existence by enlightening ourselves with shastras all the time. Maharaj sat for 9 years 12 hrs a day with Srimad Bhagavatam alone. No one was there to chat with or discuss with. Not only did he study very seriously but actuality he applied immediately in his life. Since the knowledge became realization, so it fructified into such an extent, Maharaj is ever blissful and satisfied in his own self (svenaiva laabhena samam prashaantam). The truth of the matter is that we have heard for so many years about this Srimad Bhagavatam and we will continue to hear for the whole life time, but unless it is reflected in our behavioral pattern there cannot be any scope of being able to stay alone. We will be dependent upon people and would suffer in the absence of it. Maharaj is not in need of us now, but we are in need of him, because he is completely blissful by his super-excellent quality and infuses blissfulness in our blood stream. He is all the times striving very hard to encourage us in Krishna consciousness, but we are not yet ready to study, understand, contemplate and apply in our lives.

On the contrary we are completely dependent upon everything in this world and once we become bereft of it by providence, we are unable to accept it. We loose faith in this process and freak out. We do not want to understand what Maharaj wants from us now and still we are hankering for our own satisfaction and that is the reason we are unable to withstand any reverses in our life.

I pray to our beloved Gurudev, Srila Prabhupada and the Supreme Lord to shower Their mercy by continuously enlightening us in this illuminated form of human existence in this life itself.

Your most unworthy servant,
Sajjanapriya Krishna das
Abudhabi.

Moderator’s Note:We heard from H G Devakinandan Prabhu that Maharaj’s health continues to be critical. Maharaj went to Nasik for a couple of days but his leg pain continued to bother him and after a lot of request Maharaj reluctantly agreed to come back to Bhaktivedanta Hospital. Currently Maharaj is in Bhaktivedanta Hospital. Maharaj had digestion problem for a couple of days but was able to take some prasadam since last 2 days. Devaki prabhu said that inspite of these terrible sufferings Maharaj has been asking the devotees who are serving him, to continuously study Srimad Bhagavatam and then he gives a spontaneous class on a particular verse in the middle of their reading. The doctors treating Maharaj have been saying that normally for a person who is in Maharaj’s condition, the pain will be so intense that the doctors will inject pain killers simply to subdue their constant screaming due to the severe pain. But they are completely bewildered as to how Maharaj is tolerating these pains and infact constantly breathing Bhagavatam while he is not able to breathe air. I am reminded of one of the earliest postings of H G Viraja Krishna prabhu wherein he quoted Maharaj’s very powerful words:

"Just as breathing of fresh air is essential for the healthy upkeep of the body, the intake of air carrying the sound vibrations of Srimad Bhagavatam verses is essential for the healthy upkeep of the soul."

Maharaj is showing us again and again that these transcendental sound vibrations will transcend us beyond the formalities of this world namely birth, death, old age and disease. While he is able to transcend all these pains by the power of his pure bhakti, the fact is that the source of his pains is our sinful activities. Let us all sincerely and fervently pray from the core of our heart to the Supreme Lord that instead of Maharaj suffering the reactions of our sins, let Him make us suffer the reactions of our sins ourselves and also grant us the common sense to avoid committing any more sins in our lives. This is the least we can do as a humble offering to our beloved spiritual master.

Disclaimer: This article was originally published in the Yahoo Groups granthraj – run by the disciples of H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj – by the devotee name mentioned above. The posting in this article, is original realizations of our Guru Maharaj and the devotee who wrote this. Any comments regarding this article would be passed on directly to the devotee. In this article, ‘Maharaj’ and ‘Gurudev’ implicitly refer to our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj.

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2. Fearlessness in Material Existence – Part 1 [granthraj]
3. The Greatness of Human Form of Life [granthraj]
4. Value of Human Life and Association of Devotees [granthraj]
5. Let Your Existence Be Filled With Krishna – Part 5 [granthraj]
6. Let Your Existence Be Filled With Krishna – Part 4 [granthraj]
7. Let Your Existence Be Filled With Krishna – Part 3 [granthraj]
8. Let Your Existence Be Filled With Krishna – Part 2 [granthraj]
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