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False pleasure

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 1 - 6

Knowing well the joys of transcendental pleasures, how can a liberated soul agree to enjoy false pleasure?
BG 5.22, Purport:

Material sense pleasures are due to the contact of the material senses, which are all temporary because the body itself is temporary. A liberated soul is not interested in anything which is temporary. Knowing well the joys of transcendental pleasures, how can a liberated soul agree to enjoy false pleasure? In the Padma Purāṇa it is said:

ramante yogino 'nante
satyānande cid-ātmani
iti rāma-padenāsau
paraṁ brahmābhidhīyate
(CC Madhya 9.29)

"The mystics derive unlimited transcendental pleasures from the Absolute Truth, and therefore the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is also known as Rāma."

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 1

Only the impure conditioned living being cannot derive any pleasure from the senses, but being illusioned by false pleasures of the senses, he becomes servant of the senses.
SB 1.14.34, Purport:

Here in this particular verse the Lord is described as bhagavān, govinda, brahmaṇya and bhakta-vatsala. He is bhagavān svayam, or the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, full with all opulences, all power, all knowledge, all beauty, all fame and all renunciation. No one is equal to or greater than Him. He is Govinda because He is the pleasure of the cows and the senses. Those who have purified their senses by the devotional service of the Lord can render unto Him real service and thereby derive transcendental pleasure out of such purified senses. Only the impure conditioned living being cannot derive any pleasure from the senses, but being illusioned by false pleasures of the senses, he becomes servant of the senses. Therefore, we need His protection for our own interest. The Lord is the protector of cows and the brahminical culture. A society devoid of cow protection and brahminical culture is not under the direct protection of the Lord, just as the prisoners in the jails are not under the protection of the king but under the protection of a severe agent of the king.

SB Canto 2

The thorns the camel eats cut the tongue of the camel, and so blood begins to flow within the camel's mouth. The thorns, mixed with fresh blood, create a taste for the foolish camel, and so he enjoys the thorn-eating business with false pleasure.
SB 2.3.19, Purport:

The camel is a kind of animal that takes pleasure in eating thorns. A person who wants to enjoy family life or the worldly life of so-called enjoyment is compared to the camel. Materialistic life is full of thorns, and so one should live only by the prescribed method of Vedic regulations just to make the best use of a bad bargain. Life in the material world is maintained by sucking one's own blood. The central point of attraction for material enjoyment is sex life. To enjoy sex life is to suck one's own blood, and there is not much more to be explained in this connection. The camel also sucks its own blood while chewing thorny twigs. The thorns the camel eats cut the tongue of the camel, and so blood begins to flow within the camel's mouth. The thorns, mixed with fresh blood, create a taste for the foolish camel, and so he enjoys the thorn-eating business with false pleasure. Similarly, the great business magnates, industrialists who work very hard to earn money by different ways and questionable means, eat the thorny results of their actions mixed with their own blood. Therefore the Bhāgavatam has situated these diseased fellows along with the camels.

Lectures

Initiation Lectures

Here in the material world we are trying to be happy by false pleasure. Actual pleasure... Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of all pleasure.
Initiations and Sannyasa -- New York, July 26, 1971:

That is Vedic civilization. Everyone has to accept sannyāsa āśrama at a certain period, generally at the end. But one who is advanced, he can take sannyāsa even at young age. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu took sannyāsa, Rāmānujācārya took sannyāsa very young age. My Guru Mahārāja took sannyāsa at very young age. So it is not that only old men should take sannyāsa, but there are many instances. Why? Now, parātma-niṣṭhā. Etāṁ sa āsthāya ahaṁ tariṣyāmi: "I shall cross over." Tariṣyāmi means cross over. Duranta-pāram: "which is very difficult to overcome." Tamo: "this darkness." This material world is dark. Tamasi mā jyotir gama. Vedic injunction is, "Don't remain in this darkness. Go the other side, jyoti, where there is..." Na tad bhāsayate sūryaḥ. There is another nature, where there is no need of sun, no need of moon, no need of electricity. There jyoti... Jyoti means effulgent light, only light. So we have to cross over this ocean of darkness and reach that jyotir dhāma. Jyotirmāyā dhāma, brahmajyoti. Tamo mukundāṅghri. How it will be possible? Mukunda. Mukunda means... Muk means mukti, or liberation. So one who gives liberation and gives ānanda... Unless one is liberated, one cannot understand what is ānanda, or pleasure. Here in the material world we are trying to be happy by false pleasure. Actual pleasure... Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of all pleasure. When we serve Kṛṣṇa, mukundāṅghri... Aṅghri means lotus feet, leg. When we appoint ourself, engage ourself in the service of the lotus feet of Mukunda, who can deliver liberation and transcendental bliss... Tamo mukundāṅghri niṣevayaiva: "Only by serving Him I shall be able."

General Lectures

The pleasure between two sexes, man and woman, that is not false. But we are seeking that pleasure in a false place in this material world.
Lecture -- Jakarta, February 26, 1973:

So if Parabrahman has no such tendency how to enjoy, wherefrom this so-called love in this material world between young boy and young girl comes? There cannot be any existing. It is only perverted reflection of that pleasure potency of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. It is only perverted reflection. It is not false. It is temporary, perverted. Just like the example is sometimes given to mistake a rope as snake. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they give. They say it is māyā. But it is not māyā. When you mistake a snake as..., mistake a rope as a snake, that is not māyā. That is illusion. You can call it māyā. But the snake is there. You cannot say, because it is rope, therefore there is no snake. No. Snake is there. Otherwise, how it comes to the idea of snake? The snake is a fact, but you are mistaking the rope as snake. That is your mistake. But snake is not illusion; snake is a fact. Similarly, another example is given. Just like in the desert, the mirage... In the desert sometimes, the animals find that water, there is a vast mass of water, and when they're thirsty, they jump over and go farther, farther, farther. But because there is no water, he dies. But no sane man goes after that water. But water is not false. That water is being sought in a false place. Similarly, the pleasure, the pleasure between two sexes, man and woman, that is not false. But we are seeking that pleasure in a false place in this material world. Therefore you have (indistinct). It is a great science.

So there is the pleasure, this sex attraction. But that sex attraction is not material, Kṛṣṇa, rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmāt, ekātmānāv api deha bhedaṁ gatau. Try to understand. For Brahman perception, Brahman pleasure, a great saintly person, he gives up everything material. He takes sannyāsa, he goes, undergoes severe penances, just to realize brahmānanda. So when Brahman... A person, ordinary person, to realize brahmānanda, he gives up everything material, do you think Kṛṣṇa, the Parabrahman, is enjoying something material? Just try to understand. Kṛṣṇa does not enjoy anything. He's Parabrahman.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Madhya-lila

We may not take these pleasures and pains very seriously, but they are factual nonetheless. We cannot actually say that they are false. If the bodily pains and pleasures were false, the creation would be false also, and consequently no one would take very much interest in it.
CC Madhya 9.49, Purport:

The Buddhists argue that the world is false, but this is not valid. The world is temporary, but it is not false. As long as we have the body, we must suffer the pleasures and pains of the body, even though we are not the body. We may not take these pleasures and pains very seriously, but they are factual nonetheless. We cannot actually say that they are false. If the bodily pains and pleasures were false, the creation would be false also, and consequently no one would take very much interest in it. The conclusion is that the material creation is not false or imaginary, but it is temporary.

Page Title:False pleasure
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Vraja-kumara
Created:06 of Jul, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=2, CC=1, OB=0, Lec=2, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:6