It is imperative to comprehend that this body is just a covering of something much deeper i.e. the soul. This body is a perennial source of misery. For the time being, we may feel some happiness, but actually it is a reservoir of pain, not pleasure. For example, formerly, this was done by the government servants to criminals, the man was dragged in the middle of the river and he was drowned for few seconds by holding his hair, and when he would almost suffocate, they would draw his head out of the water and after few seconds of relief given to him, again he was drowned into the water. So that was the system of punishment. Similarly, whatever little pleasure we are feeling, that is exactly similarly the man, when he's taken out from the water, that's all. Again he's to be drowned. The Lord states in Bhagavad Gita As It Is that the pleasures that arise from contact between the senses and their objects are in truth the sources of all suffering.
In this greed to fully explore and exploit all the potentials of the material world, the illusion of gratifying our senses grows deeper and lays the very foundation of our modern culture.
The living being's constitutional position is one of serving a superior. He is obliged to serve by force the dictates of illusory material energy in different phases of sense gratification. And in serving the senses he is never tired. Even though he may be tired, the illusory energy perpetually forces him to do so without being satisfied. There is no end to such sense gratificatory business, and the conditioned soul becomes entangled in such servitude without hope of release. The release is only effected by association with pure devotees. By such association one is gradually promoted to his transcendental consciousness. Thus he can know that his eternal position is to render service unto the Lord and not to the perverted senses in the capacity of lust, anger, desire to become the master of everything and everyone, etc.
Material society, friendship and love are all different phases of lust. Home, country, family, society, wealth and all sorts of corollaries are all causes of bondage in the material world, where the threefold miseries of life are concomitant factors. By associating with pure devotees and by hearing them submissively, attachment for material enjoyment becomes slackened, and attraction for hearing about the transcendental activities of the Lord becomes prominent. Once they are, they will go on progressively without stoppage, like the eternal time. It is said that Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is so transcendentally attractive that even those who are self-satisfied by self-realization and are factually liberated from all material bondage also become devotees of the Lord. Under these circumstances it is easily understood what must have been the position of the Pandavas, who were constant companions of the Lord. They could not even think of separation from Lord Krishna, since the attraction was more intense for them because of continuous personal contact. Therefore the secret of overcoming sense gratification is dovetailing the senses towards the Lord. His remembrance through His form, quality, name, fame, pastimes, etc., is extremely appealing to the pure devotee, so much so that he forgets all forms, quality, name, fame and activities of the mundane world, and due to his mature association with pure devotees he is not out of contact with the Lord for even a moment. Thus, the key to overcoming this animalistic mentality of mundane sense gratification is giving the senses a higher taste of the divine holy names of God and association of pure devotees in bonafide disciplic succession.
Article by:
H.G. Mathura Vasi Devi Dasi
(Meghna Choudhury)
E-Counselor
IskconDesireTree
www.iskcondesiretree.com/e-counseling
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