“The Blessed Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.11)

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श्री भगवानुवाच
अशोच्यनन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे ।
गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ॥

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ
prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase
gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca
nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ

1. Poverty

“A person in this country spends several hundred dollars on a new pair of shoes they don’t even need. The shoes will be a collector’s item, you see. Maybe it will be worn a few times to match the entire ensemble for a special soiree.

“A person in another country gets by an entire year for the price of those shoes. Is that really fair? I feel terrible for such people. They are literally scraping by. They are not sure to get food on a daily basis. They seem to be getting along, but I think something needs to be done.”

2. Political persecution

“These politicians are the worst. You have one group of people who terrorize the innocent. They blow up buildings. They set fire to police cars. They live on violence, but nothing happens to them. They might get arrested, but they are released immediately thereafter.

“Then these poor people who attended that one peaceful protest. The government planted fake opposition members amidst the group. You can tell they were fake because none of them got prosecuted. These other folks are still rotting in jail. No trial. Everything is delayed precisely because the government has no evidence to prosecute them.

“There was no crime committed, but as long as they are in jail, the fake news can continue with their narrative. These reporters are nothing but a mouthpiece for the illegitimate regime. Can you imagine having to go through such a thing? It could happen to you, trust me.”

3. Stolen elections

“I can’t believe what I am seeing. Not the literal theft of elections, but the fact that there is no opposition or anger. Election Theft 101 is to stop the counting of votes. When it looks like things won’t go your way, simply halt the operation.

“Then you manufacture fake ballots and dump them into the bin. You report large vote counts in your favor moving forward. It looks like nothing happened, but even a second-grader can figure out the operation.

“These people steal elections for a reason. Then they can do whatever they want in office. They are accountable to no one. This country is finished, if you ask me. The crooks are getting away with it. They are the ones running the elections.”

4. Animal slaughter

“Have you ever met people who love their cat? Do you know people that think dogs are just the best? I have no issue with it. At least they are showing compassion. It is a saintly quality to be compassionate.

“At the same time, if you ask the same people from where their dinner comes, they are silent. They don’t want to talk about the slaughterhouses. They make up excuses. If made aware, I don’t know how anyone can accept the status quo.

“The poor cow. It produces milk for a reason. It is not some seasonal product of nature, like fruits growing on a tree. The milk is from seeing the children. It is a loving response. For mankind to exploit that loving response, to repay the kindness by ruthless slaughter is really despicable.”

5. Lack of spiritual awareness

“I can’t believe the world I live in. My eyes are finally opened. I tried my best to live in the dark. I didn’t want to accept the truth. I cannot hide any longer.

“The majority of people I meet are absolute fools. They have no awareness of what is really going on in the world. They think their temporary life will go on forever. They see people around them dying and that doesn’t change their outlook at all.

“I feel all alone in this world. There are no peers. I cannot speak openly about the higher topics, about extending a way of living into the future, indefinitely. I wish I had at least one or two friends to share this interest, but even those who are supposedly aware tend to only follow out of dogmatic insistence or fear.”

…

It is natural to be empathetic. If I suffer pain myself, I don’t want others to have a similar experience. If I know a way to avoid extended distress, I prefer to share that information. Why keep something so valuable from others?

It is not like I will be a loser in the process. My happiness does not necessarily have a limit to it; if I am knowledgeable. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains how it is better to be like the brahmana than the kripana.

The kripana is a miser. They think that if they were to share with others, their own quality of life would diminish. That friend does not want to reveal what pediatrician they use, for instance. They like having the preferred doctor, so that they will feel special.

That other friend has found a way to make money, to do it from the comfort of their home, and not be overly stressed. They are hesitant to share the formula with others; lest the secret be let out and a trend begins.

There is instruction in Bhagavad-gita about lamentation and the wise person. Shri Krishna explains that the pandita does not lament for the person who is here or for the person who has left. This is because both states of being are identical.

How can that be? Isn’t that the entire basis of the technology known as spiritual life? If birth and death are the same, are we not wasting time in study? The states of being are in fact different because of the visual evidence.

The pandita sees in a different way. They understand the individual is always alive. Whether they are in front of us or far away makes no difference on existence. Whether my father is working from home or away on business for six months, he is still my father. He is still the person who gave the original seed, in the way that Krishna is the origin of everything.

सर्व-योनिषु कौन्तेय
मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः
तासां ब्रह्म महद् योनिर्
अहं बीज-प्रदः पिता

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā

“It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 14.4)

If we are honest about the state of affairs, there is an overwhelming amount of injustice over which to be sad. There are too many bad things happening to keep track of. A person would have sufficient justification to cry from morning until night, day after day, for an entire lifetime and more.

The injustice cannot be allowed to take such a dominant hold. Excessive lamentation will be a hindrance in the progressive march towards liberation. That is the ultimate goal of the human birth, to stop rebirth altogether.

ब्रह्म-भूतः प्रसन्नात्मा
न शोचति न काङ्क्षति
समः सर्वेषु भूतेषु
मद्-भक्तिं लभते पराम्

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

“One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman. He never laments nor desires to have anything; he is equally disposed to every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.54)

How can we be liberated if we are always hankering and lamenting? The entire universe will dissolve, eventually. It will spin back up, be populated, and feature the same temporary states. The wise person sees the hand of God in the background, and they remember Him no matter what. Whether high or low, happy or sad, or winning or losing, they never forget Krishna and His transcendental nature.

In Closing:

Never Krishna forgetting,
Even if into lamentation setting.

Such that sadness and despair,
Of changing nature aware.

That again change from the tide,
Steady that spirit inside.

Rather than on issues to dwell,
Absorbing Gita words to tell.

Categories: the five

Tags: god, hare krishna, hinduism, poem, poems, poetry, religion