Ultimate happiness
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 13 - 18
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
SB Canto 8
- tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ
- śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Renunciation Through Wisdom
- brahmano hi pratiṣṭāham
- amṛtasyāvyayasya ca
- śāśvatasya ca dharmasya
- sukhasyaikāntikasya ca
And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable, and eternal and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness.
The Lord's statements in the Gītā concerning the impersonal Brahman are unequivocal, yet Dr. Radhakrishnan seems unsatisfied with them. He grudgingly translates Text 27 of the Fourteenth Chapter, "For I am the abode of Brahman, the Immortal and the Imperishable, of eternal law and of absolute bliss." Since Lord Kṛṣṇa is the basis of the impersonal, formless Brahman, He is certainly far superior it. The mosquito net is inside the house, not the other way around; the ink-pot is on the table, not vice versa.- māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicārena
- bhakti-yogena sevate
- sa guṇān samatītyaitān
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- [Bg. 14.26]
- brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham
- amṛtasyāvyayasya ca
- śāśvatasya ca dharmasya
- sukhasyaikāntikasya ca
- [Bg. 14.27]
Sri Isopanisad
- brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham
- amṛtasyāvyayasya ca
- śāśvatasya ca dharmasya
- sukhasyaikāntikasya ca
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Prabhupāda: Material world is full of suffering and miseries. Don't you understand it? Are you happy?
Student: Sometimes I'm happy and sometimes I'm not.
Prabhupāda: No. You are not happy. That sometimes is your imagination. Just like a diseased man says, "Oh, yes, I am well." What is that "well"? He's going to die and he's well?
Student: I don't claim any ultimate happiness...
Prabhupāda: No, you do not know what is happiness.
Student: ...(indistinct) but it's greater or lesser...
Prabhupāda: Yes. You do not know what is happiness.Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Devotee:
- vipadaḥ santu tāḥ śaśvat
- tatra tatra jagad-guro
- bhavato darśanaṁ yat syād
- apunar bhava-darśanam
- [SB 1.8.25]
"I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths."
Prabhupāda: So that is very interesting verse that vipada, calamities, danger, that is very good if such danger and calamities remind me of Kṛṣṇa. That is very good. Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam [SB 10.14.8]. A devotee, how he receives dangerous position? Danger must be there. Danger... Because this place, this material world is full of dangers. These foolish persons, they do not know that. They are trying to avoid the dangers. That is struggle for existence. Everyone is trying to become happy and avoid danger. This is the material business. Ātyantika-sukham. Ātyantika-sukham. Ultimate happiness. A man is working and thinking: "Let me work now very hard, and let me have some bank balance so when I shall get old, I shall enjoy life without any working." That is the inner intention of everyone. Nobody wants to work. As soon as he gets some money he wants to retire from work, and to become happy. But that is not possible. You cannot be happy in that way.Revatīnandana: When Kṛṣṇa appeared... I think the translation in Bhagavad-gītā begins that "I am the source..."
Prabhupāda: (aside:) Sit down.
Revatīnandana: That "I am the source of impersonal Brahman, which is eternal, and the constitutional position of ultimate happiness." Does that mean that because everything in the spiritual sky is situated in the brahmajyoti, that therefore it is the position of ultimate happiness?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Revatīnandana: Or is it because Kṛṣṇa is situated in the spiritual sky, therefore the spiritual sky is the position where there is ultimate happiness to be found?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Revatīnandana: That is the understanding?
Prabhupāda: Yes. In the spiritual sky you will find happiness, real happiness. In the material sky there is no happiness. How it can be happiness, because the four things are there, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg. 13.9]? If you think it is happiness in spite of your death, then you are a fool. You do not want to be a dead man, but you are forced to accept death. You do not want to become old man, but you are forced to accept. And these things, if you accept—happiness—that is your foolishness. Vyādhi. Jarā-vyādhi, disease. If you are constantly suffering from various types of diseases and if you think you are happy, that is another foolishness. Therefore Bhāgavata says, parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam, that "All the foolish persons who are born foolish, all their activities are defeat for them unless they are enlightened to inquire about ātma-tattvam."Sri Isopanisad Lectures
Prabhupāda: No, I wanted that śloka, kurvann eva. That is 2, yes. That's all right. So anyone will explain this,
- kurvann eveha karmāṇi
- jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ
- evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti
- na karma lipyate nare
So you should try to read the explanation, these word meanings. So kurvann eveha karmāṇi jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ. Samāḥ means years. You can live hundreds of years if you understand the philosophy of life. Otherwise, what is the use of living? The trees are also living for five hundred years, for thousands years. There is one tree in San Francisco... What is that wood?
Devotee (1): Redwood.
Prabhupāda: Redwood. No. There is some wood, I forget. Crossing bridge. Anyway, they told me that this tree is standing for seven thousand years. So the trees are also living, and you are also living. You are trying to live. Whenever there is question of death, you resist. That means you do not want to die. That is natural sequence. So here it is said that why should you live? Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, ke lāgi āche, āchi...: "Why I am living? I could not achieve love of Godhead. Then what is the use of my living?" He's lamenting. Narottama dāsa kena na lāgilā māriyā. Kena vā ahcaya prāṇa kichuka lāgiyā (?). He said, "Why I am living? What is the purpose of my living? What is the ultimate happiness?"Philosophy Discussions
Hayagrīva: He wrote a book called Beyond the Pleasure Principle, and in it he wrote, "The goal of all life is death." For him death is the cessation...
Prabhupāda: But why...
Hayagrīva: ...of suffering.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. That means you, why you are afraid of death? Why go to the medical man? Huh? When you are diseased you are afraid of dying. Why go to the medical man? If death is ultimate happiness, then why you are trying to avoid death? What is the psychoanalysis?Correspondence
1967 Correspondence
1971 Correspondence
Page Title: | Ultimate happiness |
Compiler: | Laksmipriya, Serene |
Created: | 03 of Dec, 2008 |
Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=2, CC=0, OB=4, Lec=13, Con=0, Let=2 |
No. of Quotes: | 22 |