“The pure-minded saints, who are learned in the Vedas and Puranas, say like this, that only through the favor of the husband of Sita will the miseries within the ocean of suffering go away.” (Dohavali, 136)

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कहहिं बिमलमति संत बेद पुरान बिचारि अस।
द्रवहिं जानकी कंत तब छूटै संसार दुख ॥

kahahiṃ bimalamati saṃta beda purāna bicāri asa।
dravahiṃ jānakī kaṃta taba chūṭai saṃsāra dukha ॥

“Isn’t this statement just like the others we see? Isn’t this a threat? If you don’t worship so and so, you are going to hell. What kind of encouragement is that? It is rooted in fear. How will you get others to listen to you? Why should they, in fact? Anyone can say that unless you follow such and such you are condemned.”

Let’s say we are in the situation where we need emergency repairs to our home. We were in the middle of a renovation project when the inspectors stepped in. They said we lacked the proper permits, and so the project has to come to a screeching halt.

This is our first time dealing with city hall, so to speak, and we naively assume that we simply make a cordial visit to some office and everything will be taken care of. To the contrary, the first attendant tells us to go to a different line. The person running that line is out to lunch, after we waited for over an hour.

That person then tells us to come back a few days later, only to wait again. Finally, after enough time spent in the circus, we realize that the only way to get a permit is to put in a bribe. Win the favor of one of the officeholders. If they are pleased with us, the permit will be granted immediately.

Faced with this reality, we could lament the situation. We could cry about how corrupt the government officials are. We could try to lecture them on the need for honesty, forthrightness, transparency, and other virtues. We could try going to the media to run a story, but it seems they only print information directly fed to them by the same government officials. It is a reciprocal relationship. The newspaper reporter is like a friend with benefits, to put it kindly.

Whatever protests we make, the reality does not change. There is still only one way to the permit. If we want the work on the house to continue, we have to accept the situation and proceed accordingly.

With the struggle of material existence, which is akin to swimming in a vast ocean, there really is only one way out. We have to win the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is like the swift deliverer, extending a helping hand. This hand provides rescue in the blink of an eye, nimesha.

ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि
मयि सन्न्यस्य मत्-पराः
अनन्येनैव योगेन
मां ध्यायन्त उपासते
तेषाम् अहं समुद्धर्ता
मृत्यु-संसार-सागरात्
भवामि न चिरात् पार्थ
मय्य् आवेशित-चेतसाम्

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate
teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām

“For one who worships Me, giving up all his activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, O son of Pritha, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 12.6-7)

This claim is not based merely on the desperation of the situation. The pure-minded, the saints, having consulted the Vedas and Puranas reach the same conclusion. That is to say, the intelligent way forward, in solving all the miseries of life, is to win the favor of the Supreme Lord, who is known as the husband of Sita Devi.

No amount of scientific research is going to solve the problem. Time still operates. Time is like the bow in the hands of Shri Rama. The different units of time are like arrows released from that bow. Time strikes as a weapon.

I look at recent photographs of myself and can’t believe the rapid onset of aging. How did I transform so quickly? Why do I look thirty years older than I actually am? What am I doing wrong? Will things get even worse in a few more years?

People come together. They enjoy with friends and family. They try to capture the moments in film, song, and still images. Perhaps they document their experiences through written word. They try desperately to hold onto the association, but the guaranteed end is still separation.

The appeal from the saints is not like the fire and brimstone sermon, precisely because the suffering is already there. We don’t have to worry about what the future will be like; we are living it. Both the successful and the mediocre. Both the man and the woman. Both the adult and the child.

Everyone is suffering, because everyone has the target on their back. Time strikes that target when appropriate. No one can run away from time, but the one saving grace is the chance to escape rebirth altogether.

दैवी ह्य् एषा गुण-मयी
मम माया दुरत्यया
माम् एव ये प्रपद्यन्ते
मायाम् एतां तरन्ति ते

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

The cycle of birth and death is like a vast ocean of suffering, samsara, but those who have the favor of the Supreme Lord can easily cross beyond it. His favor is actually always there; we simply forget. Through an honest appeal for grace and kindness, Shri Rama can remove that forgetfulness, like the morning sun dissipating the darkness of night.

In Closing:

In morning shining bright,
Dissipating the dark night.

With Shri Rama the same,
When chanting His name.

And devotion going through,
Giving rescuing hand to.

So that in suffering no more,
A life of meaning for.

Categories: dohavali 121-160, questions

Tags: dohavali, god, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, religion, yoga