“For as long as there is not devotion to Shri Rama and the release of material desires, which are like an abode of grief, the living being should not expect to find welfare and peace of mind, even in a dream.” (Dohavali, 131)

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तब लगि कुसल न जीव कहुँ सपनेहुँ मन बिश्राम
जब लगि भजत न राम कहुँ सोकधाम तजि काम

taba lagi kusala na jīva kahum̐ sapanehum̐ mana biśrāma
jaba lagi bhajata na rāma kahum̐ sokadhāma taji kāma

“You would have to admit that one of the appeals for submitting to the dogmatic insistence offered by the popular faiths of the world is this idea of configuring the future. To conduct an analysis between beginning and end, we are at the starting point right now. Everything is going well. We are more or less happy; at least we think. We can support our family. We have a job. We have a home.

“The preacher preys upon the guaranteed vulnerability for the period known as the afterlife. I might be doing great right now, but what about the future? To where will I go? In what realm will I land? Under what conditions will I have to suffer or enjoy? Take that binary test in isolation. Will I suffer or will I enjoy?

“The preacher says that the only way to enjoy is to proclaim your faith in the chosen savior, holding the associated book, and showing allegiance to an institution with a longstanding tradition of followers. There is no other way, you see. I have to proclaim my faith out in the open. I have to share my ‘testimony’ with others, in describing how I was saved.

“I can understand why people would succumb to such pressure, but what if things are not going well? What can religion do for me? I fail to believe in God precisely because I am in such a miserable condition. I have suffered one tragedy after another. I would rather not relive this, to give you a list, but trust me when I say that I have trauma that will remain with me until the day I leave this world.

“Why would I give in to religion, then? Where is the room for people in sadness? I am not specifically referring to the ‘distressed’ category in Bhagavad-gita, either. Those people approach Shri Krishna. They are still open to believing in God. What about people who are distressed and have given up hope in an almighty, powerful and invisible figure situated well beyond the clouds?”

There is an easy exercise that we can conduct, to test our intelligence in this area. Suppose that the tragedy of another is mine. Assume the burden. Okay, perhaps I have been relatively safe in life, getting by unscathed, but that is not true of others. Pick any horrible tragedy and pretend that it is my own. This is not difficult to do, since the tragedy is real. It occurred in reality, and the person suffering has to live it moving forward.

This is the perspective of Vedic culture, that we start with sadness. We are troubled as soon as there is birth. We then form attachments which have to break. There is no way around it. Everything that is near and dear to me will eventually leave. The wives in Ayodhya one time scolded their husbands along these lines, rhetorically asking what value their comfortable home life had if they were devoid of the association of Shri Rama, who was leaving for a significant period of time.

किं नु तेषां गृहैः कार्यं किं दारै: किं धनेन वा
पुत्रैर्वा किं सुखैर्वापि ये न पश्यन्ति राघवम्

kiṃ nu teṣāṃ gṛhaiḥ kāryaṃ kiṃ dārai: kiṃ dhanena vā
putrairvā kiṃ sukhairvāpi ye na paśyanti rāghavam

“Of what use are wealth, comforts and pleasures, home, wives, and sons if one is not able to see Shri Rama?” (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand, 48.7)

Goswami Tulsidas describes this world as shokadhama. There is no relief, even if escaping to a dream. The cause of the shoka is desire. As long as we have desire, we will suffer. If we succeed, then greed increases. If we fail, then lamentation increases. We are stuck toggling between bhoga and tyaga, which are enjoyment and renunciation.

The appeal is to escape shokadhama. Do so by chanting the holy names of the Lord, such as in the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Set desire aside, for the moment. The Sanskrit is kama. Transform kama into bhakti. Work for the pleasure of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is the best decision we will ever make.

In Closing:

Not just for future to think,
Where dogmatic kool-aid to drink.

Right now at the moment consider,
How from the sadness to deliver.

Tragedies of the world assume,
As owner of all presume.

Vedic culture from this point to start,
Towards God and from kama to depart.

Categories: questions

Tags: dailyprompt, life, poem, poems, poetry, preaching, religion