“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.” (Queen Kunti speaking to Lord Krishna, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.8.25)

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विपदः सन्तु ताः शश्वत्
तत्र तत्र जगद्-गुरो
भवतो दर्शनं यत् स्याद्
अपुनर् भव-दर्शनम्

vipadaḥ santu tāḥ śaśvat
tatra tatra jagad-guro
bhavato darśanaṁ yat syād
apunar bhava-darśanam

1. Constant yelling and screaming

“You ask me how yesterday was? Not good. The amount of stress was incredible. These people around me are always yelling. I think it has been that way since my childhood. Can no one sit quietly and get along? What is wrong with people? I had to drive and there was no way to mask the sound. Just awful.”

2. Stuck in traffic

“You ask me how yesterday was? Two hours of sitting in traffic. It was unexpected, too. I swear, trying to leave this state is a real task. It is like they want to trap you inside. There are so many bridges and tunnels. There are always cars and trucks clogging everything up. Maybe if we left early in the morning, before the sunrise, the journey would have been easier.”

3. Change of job

“You ask me how yesterday was? This new job is really boring. I don’t know a single person. I am stuck at that desk, trying to find something to do. We are in a tight space, and so I can hear the conversations of the people behind me. What a nightmare! I think prison might be better than this.”

4. Loss of home

“You ask me how yesterday was? Well, as you may recall we moved down here last year due to the tyrannical nature of the governments up north. The way they tortured the school children. Locking everyone in their homes for two week intervals that kept renewing until the tally reached two years. Well, we finally made the shift, but now we just lost our home. A once-in-a-lifetime hurricane swept through the area. The damage left behind is incredible. I guess we are lucky to be alive, but everything else is gone.”

5. Indigestion

“You ask me how yesterday was? I am still suffering from the effects. There was something wrong with that food. I don’t know what happened. I have eaten at that place regularly since it opened. The pain in my stomach lingers. I had trouble sleeping last night. Not good.”

…

It is the opinion of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada that for as long as there is association with the material body, deha, there will be pain. It is unavoidable. That which we consider to be the lack of pain is merely a sensation of temporary relief.

Prahlada Maharaja offers a concurring opinion in Vishnu Purana. He describes how we are entirely in illusion to think that there is any hope for permanent happiness when suffering from conditions in duality. The fact that there is vulnerability to unfortunate situations such as the ones described above means that the condition is not right. The only healthy condition is the complete lack of vulnerability.

That healthy condition is actually not foreign to the living being. They are spirit soul, after all. They transcend the changes. They are never born, and so they never die. They can never change in constitution. They only think they are in a different place, due to the association with illusion. Genuine spiritual life is like clearing the fog, for returning to the eternal way of living, sanatana-dharma.

देहिनो ऽस्मिन् यथा देहे
कौमारं यौवनं जरा
तथा देहान्तर-प्राप्तिर्
धीरस् तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino ‘smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.13)

Some may argue that it is all in our head, that we are not considering the great fortune we have relative to people living in other parts of the world or our ancestors, who did not enjoy as many comforts in day-to-day life. Indeed, it might be due to ignorance or a lack of higher awareness that we suffer, but the suffering is still real. Even if someone should know better, in this particular case they do not. Others may feel that sufficient justification for complaining is lacking, but the result is still the same.

Despite the vulnerability to pain and discomfort, there is a way to turn around any type of misfortune. If we take the opportunity to become more conscious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Shri Krishna, then the misfortune is like a wonderful opportunity for growth and advancement. Queen Kunti once remarked how the many difficulties her family was put into turned out to be a blessing, since in each case they were able to rely fully on Krishna, in full surrender, and so He was always with them.

Shrimad Bhagavatam also describes that devotees engaged in the service of God, who is also known as Narayana, never fear any specific condition. It is not that they necessarily seek out difficulty, but if adversity should happen to strike, they are fixed in their connection. They are steady in their devotional service, and so even the vulnerability to pain and suffering does not make an impact. They can serve whether promoted to heaven or demoted to a hellish place.

नारायण-पराः सर्वे
न कुतश्चन बिभ्यति
स्वर्गापवर्ग-नरकेष्व्
अपि तुल्यार्थ-दर्शिनः

nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve
na kutaścana bibhyati
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv
api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ

“Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 6.17.28)

While enduring our pain, while in the midst of an unfortunate situation, we can try to remember. We can view the disturbance as an opportunity to contemplate the transcendental glories [gunas] of the one who is always looking out for us, who always has our best interests at heart, and who will never leave us, should we ask Him to stay by our side. We can remember all of this through chanting the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

In Closing:

Discomfort to tolerate told,
Same whether hot or cold.

All an illusion from thought,
With changing dualities fought.

But Kunti Devi ready to relive,
If that chance again to give.

Since one person remembering who,
The many troubles through.

Categories: the five

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, life, narayana, poem, poems, poetry, prabhupada