by H.G Vraj Bihari DasRecently I was bedridden with acute dysentery and food poisoning. Lying next to me in the hospital was Chintan, a young 19 year old boy, body mutilated beyond recognition due to a small skidding of his bike. His body reminded me of the nearness of death in all our lives. As I lay with the intravenous supply of fluids to give me strength, I struggled to offer a prayer to Lord to be able to remember the dangers of this material world.samäçritä ye pada-pallava-plavaàmahat-padaà puëya-yaço muräreùbhavämbudhir vatsa-padaà paraà padaàpadaà padaà yad vipadäà na teñäm“For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Muräri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is paraà padam, Vaikuëöha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.” (Srimad Bhagavatam: 10.14.58)This verse reveals how there is danger and death at every step. Padam padam yad vipadam na tesam….. .Yet our friends will tell us, “come on yaar, don’t be pessimistic. Just enjoy life”.Fine, but what to do when such unexpected miseries happen? If we are trained in the principles of Srimad Bhagavatam, we won’t panic or be angry when disasters strike unexpectedly. If we believe constantly the media and the advertisements that tell us that the world is beautiful and fun and love, etc, we cheat ourselves to be like an ostrich. An ostrich is oblivious of dangers and prefers to think he is safe even when he hears the roaring of the lion. As all animals escape, ostrich digs the ground with his beak and puts his head down, hoping the lion won’t see him. But his body is huge and cannot be hidden or avoided so easily. Similarly we may declare like the ostrich that the world is a beautiful place and there are no miseries. However such artificial ‘all’s well’ approach is foolish and won’t solve the problem. When death, disease and old age attack, we cannot deny the miseries. An intelligent person knows this world is a miserable place and invests his heart at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord and then when the inevitable miseries occur, he is not bewildered, rather he peacefully surrenders to Krishna. This ensures his suffering is for the last time. However if he struggles, avoids, denies God, curses his fate and gets cynical or even if he artificially declares ‘Life’s cool man!!”, you should know he is not only miserable now, but also prolongs his suffering here in this material world life after life.So let us get intelligent and accept the sufferings and remember Krishna and our eternal lost home, the spiritual world…
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