View source for We are not meant for material realization. We are meant for spiritual realization, the human form. So that we should take advantage of. That is the mission of human form of life. If we miss this, then we are committing suicide

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{{terms|"we are not meant for material realization. We are meant for spiritual realization, the human form. So that we should take advantage of. That is the mission of human form of life. If we miss this, then we are committing suicide"}}
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[[Category:We are Not Meant For]]
[[Category:Material]]
[[Category:Realization]]
[[Category:Spiritual]]
[[Category:Human Form]]
[[Category:So That]]
[[Category:We Should (Disciples of SP)]]
[[Category:Take Advantage]]
[[Category:That Is]]
[[Category:Mission of Human Life]]
[[Category:Human Form Of Life]]
[[Category:If We]]
[[Category:Missing]]
[[Category:We Are]]
[[Category:Commit]]
[[Category:Suicide]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Audio - SHARMISTHA]]
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<h2>Lectures</h2>
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<h3>General Lectures</h3>
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This spiritual realization is easier than any kind of material realization. Because we are not meant for material realization. We are meant for spiritual realization, the human form. So that we should take advantage of. That is the mission of human form of life. If we miss this, then we are committing suicide.
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[[Vanisource:690505 - Lecture Excerpt - Boston|690505 - Lecture Excerpt - Boston]]
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If you want to make . . . if you want to have peace of this soul, of your mind, of your society, of your family, simply by amassing money, by material advance, it will never be possible. But if you improve a little in spiritual life, you become immediately happy.

So your business is how to become happy, because by nature you are happy. Diseased condition, that happiness being checked. So this is our diseased condition, this material, conditional life, this body. So as one intelligent person puts himself under the treatment of a physician to get out of the disease, similarly, human life is meant for putting himself to the expert physician who can cure you from your material disease. That is your business. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam ([[Vanisource:SB 11.3.21|SB 11.3.21]]).

That is the injunction of all Vedic literature. Just like Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is teaching Arjuna. Arjuna is surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, śiṣyas te 'ham sädhi māṁ prapannam ([[Vanisource:BG 2.7 (1972)|BG 2.7]])

"My dear Kṛṣṇa, so long I was speaking with You just as friends. Now I surrender unto You as Your student, as Your disciple. You become my spiritual master and teach me properly." This is the process. Arjuna is exampling himself that he's accepting Kṛṣṇa as the spiritual master, teacher. And then Kṛṣṇa began to teach the Bhagavad-gītā, and he changed his decision, and he was freed from all anxieties. This is spiritual life.

So this spiritual realization is easier than any kind of material realization. Because we are not meant for material realization. We are meant for spiritual realization, the human form. So that we should take advantage of. That is the mission of human form of life. If we miss this, then we are committing suicide.

Go on.

Puruṣottama: So the reason why material progress doesn't work simply because everything in the material world is temporary. Nothing is actually real, nothing is permanent, it's a reflection of reality. The reality is actually spiritual, you can't find something real, you can't find something permanent in a temporary situation.

An example is that if you see the reflection of some fruit in a mirror and it looks very nice and you become very hungry and if we try to get the fruit. So you're not going to get it, no matter how hard you try. This is the material advancement, this is the material content, you're looking for eternal happiness, looking for a permanent solution to all your problems but you're turning to a reflection of reality.

Your not at the real thing, real happiness is not even in the material world. People think that, "If I had a car, if I had a beautiful wife, if I had this or that then I'll be happy." Actually it's a reflection, it's just trying to get off the mirror. Trying to get the fruit through the mirror. It doesn't work that way you have to be intelligent enough to realise this is not real. It's just a reflection and you must turn and face to the real fruit.

It's behind you, you couldn't see it but you must turn around that's what Kṛṣṇa consciousness is. It's turning to Kṛṣṇa, it's turning to the reality everyone in the material world is so intent, just fix the mind, I must get the fruit, I must get . . . I must have happiness, I must have success, I must have this I must have that. And then they don't use their intelligence they are so deluded by the illusion of the mirror they can't think correctly. They don't realise this is simply an illusion.

The process of turning to reality, the process is very simple. Simply if we hear, simply hear about Kṛṣṇa come to this temple and hear of Kṛṣṇa's name in chanting. Hear about the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, hear about the words of Kṛṣṇa as he spoke Bhagavad-gītā and this is . . . this is turning to Kṛṣṇa. This is what it means to turn to Kṛṣṇa-through your ears. Through your mind, your consciousness, just to engage in Kṛṣṇa. Return to reality and then you will see as all the devotees here see. It's a permanent solution and permanent happiness. It is not just temporary it's not a reflection.

Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a great saintly King, he found out that he was going to die in seven days. So he sought out Śukadeva Gosvāmī a great saintly person and he asked him about what is the absolute truth. What is Kṛṣṇa? And Śukadeva Gosvāmī the great Saint said: "You have asked the most intelligent question. You have asked about Kṛṣṇa. You've asked about the absolute truth." This is the most intelligent thing we can do. All day long everyone is asking questions, every second there is a question coming in our mind. And in the next second there is an answer. This goes on and on eternally.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam-our spiritual master wrote that even the birds and the trees every second there is question and answer on and on. Where will I get food next, how will I do this how will I do that. Always questions and answers, there is no end to them. Until you ask about Kṛṣṇa until you ask that final question. The question about the absolute truth and this brings you to the ultimate answer and that answer is that you are the servant of God.

Everything you see around us is here simply for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa, we ourselves were created simply for the pleasure of God. There is no other meaning to our existence but to please God. But in the material consciousness the idea is how can I get pleasure from myself. So this is actually finding the absolute truth. The absolute truth is in everything, a balance, all the food, all the trees, the air, the mountains, the beautiful things.

Everything's here simply because Kṛṣṇa wants it here for His enjoyment. We are here simply for Kṛṣṇa's enjoyment. So if our consciousness is saying: "How can I enjoy, how can I get pleasure out of all these things." Then we are going against the absolute truth and how can we possibly be happy ? So first we have to surrender and we have to realise everything is here for the pleasure of God so let me use everything for the pleasure of God.

Let me utilise all my time, all my energy. If I have money then I will give my money, I will use my words, I will use to speak about Kṛṣṇa. I will use my ears to hear about Kṛṣṇa, glorify Kṛṣṇa, tell people about Kṛṣṇa and work for Kṛṣṇa.

So this latest perfection-go back in our constitutional position as the servant of God. In the material world being a servant is in a lower position but actually in spiritual life it is just the opposite. It's in a higher position. You reach perfection, you don't become unhappy. In the material world a servant could be kicked by his master and treated ill and he is unhappy.

That's why we don't like the idea of being a servant. We like the idea of being a master but actually to become the servant of God is not like that, it is blissful. Just like if the son thinks that, "Oh I don't want to obey my father, I want to be independent on my own." So the little child runs away from home thinking that he is going to be independent, he is going to get pleasure for himself.

So he's just going to suffer, he is not going to enjoy but then finally when he realises that I must go back to my father I'm not independent, I am eternally dependent on my father as long as I am in this position. So he goes back to his father and it is not an unpleasant meeting, the father doesn't . . . he isn't very mad and he beats him and hurts him.

Surrendering to Kṛṣṇa is not like that, that Kṛṣṇa becomes very angry with you. No it is a very blissful occasion being reunited with your father, reuniting in your actual position it's a very blissful reunion to meet Kṛṣṇa again. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to go back to home back to Godhead. It's actually all everybody wants, spiritual life.

We are looking for the pleasure of spiritual life in the material world. If we simply tell people we can find the pleasure in the spiritual world that's where it really is and the way that you do that is to simply chant the name of Kṛṣṇa. Chant:

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:hare kṛṣṇa, hare kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa, hare hare 
:hare rāma, hare rāma, rāma rāma, hare hare
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This is practically engaging ourselves in the service of Kṛṣṇa, practically turning to Him. It is not vague, it is not uncertain, you're saying Kṛṣṇa's names, you're engaging all your sense in Kṛṣṇa. And you can see for yourself practically, "Yes I'm back with Kṛṣṇa. I'm making progress in spiritual life."

Prabhupāda: Brahmānanda you can speak some?

Brahmānanda: This platform of God consciousness for being reunited with the absolute truth, being fixed in the eternal natural position of the soul as sac-cid-ānanda vigraha in full blissful knowledge in perfect form as a servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be realised by the attempt of exploration of the central role and cannot be understood or approached by force of mind or intelligence. So nobody who is willing to spend his lifetime in the false and illusory creating pursuits of this world is able to come to the final conclusion of how to bring about that eternal blissful feeling which he so much desires and neither is he able to advise anybody else as to what the cause of all causes is and to how he can obtain himself that realm of unalloyed happiness.

So the process for finding out the absolute truth is not to search in this world, nor is it to speculate by means of our mind and intelligence but it is to accept the absolute truth as it is presented by the Personality of Godhead Himself. Who is the original spiritual master seated in everybody's heart and he can be known as soon as one is willing to turn his attention towards Him.

The inner God or the Personality of Godhead seated in the heart is one of two gurus and the other guru is the external guru or spiritual master who appears to the enquiring soul and by the mercy of Godhead himself and it is said in the scripture that by the mercy of the Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa one receives a bona-fide spiritual master and by the mercy of the bona-fide spiritual master one receives Kṛṣṇa.

So one should be enquiring after the absolute truth and this has been determined that no one should seek for pleasure in this material world. That we cannot presume ourselves to be God. The obvious fact is that we are not God. The additional obvious fact is that if we are not God now we can never become God because God is never not God. So here we are in this platform of not God and we are being kicked by other not God's and thinking very puffed up thoughts that we are very big.

So Kṛṣṇa is presenting to us a darśana of humility, that you have to give up your vain pursuits and give up your pride and you must surrender to Him. He is not begging for your attention in the way that somebody wants some money, some false teacher is begging. He is complete in Himself and what He wants only is your love. If you can find out the secret and find out somebody who can teach you that secret, the art of love of God then your life will become perfect.

So Kṛṣṇa kindly sends a spiritual master and if we can turn our ear to Him and listen with a submissive attitude and not really challenging state of mind then we can appreciate the presentation of the absolute truth. Just as it is presented by the Personality of Godhead Himself. Why? Because the realised soul takes dictation from the Personality of Godhead directly without any distortion he makes no addition or subtraction according to his own imagination but presents the absolute truth just as it is an eternally being presented by the Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa Himself.

And so we can accept it from him and make no error, just as a child can accept from his mother, "What is this?" "This is a watch." So we can also accept what is the absolute truth? -Kṛṣṇa from the realised soul and the realised soul has no other business in this world except to deliver the fallen souls back home to Kṛṣṇa which is tantamount to delivering Kṛṣṇa to them. So you have to be willing to accept Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa is already willing to accept you.

Summarised by Puruṣottama so nicely who has advised us to turn our attention in the direction of the Personality of Godhead. The Lord can satisfy all our desires it is described in the Vedas as satisfying fully all the desires of all beings from time immemorial. So whatever you want you can get it from the Personality of Godhead He is supplying everything to everyone. And so we should turn our attention towards Him and accept this highest blessing which is love of Himself.

And in such consciousness we can live this life peacefully, happily, in ecstatic joyous consciousness without making any error in our life. Without wasting our time, losing all doubt as to the mission of our life and come to the steady conclusion of intelligence. That we are parts and parcels eternal servitors of the Personality of Godhead.

Prabhupāda: So now you can . . . if you have got any question, you can pose.
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