“After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.15)

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माम् उपेत्य पुनर् जन्म
दुःखालयम् अशाश्वतम्
नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः
संसिद्धिं परमां गताः

mām upetya punar janma
duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam
nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ

1. The point is to enjoy

“You are seriously overthinking things. Does the dog ever ponder its existence? Do you think it has an idea what it means to be a dog? Of course not. It goes about its day. It enjoys when it has the opportunity. It takes rest when there is fatigue. It eats as much as it likes. The dog does not worry about separation, about stinging rebuke, or about unrequited love. The dog just moves on.

“We should do the same thing. Enjoy life to the fullest. There is no higher meaning. There is no larger purpose. There is no grand coordinator, who is watching your every move and making a log entry in a notebook. No one is going to punish you in the end, and neither is anyone there to save you from some dreaded fate. We are all just a bunch of chemicals. That is a scientific fact. We were chemicals in the beginning, we are chemicals now, and we will be chemicals in the future.”

असत्यम् अप्रतिष्ठं ते
जगद् आहुर् अनीश्वरम्
अपरस्पर-सम्भूतं
किम् अन्यत् काम-हैतुकम्

asatyam apratiṣṭhaṁ te
jagad āhur anīśvaram
aparaspara-sambhūtaṁ
kim anyat kāma-haitukam

“They say that this world is unreal, that there is no foundation and that there is no God in control. It is produced of sex desire, and has no cause other than lust.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 16.8)

2. There is no point at all

“Yes, I saw the news. Everyone is sad about the latest tragedy, but I knew this was going to happen. How could you ever consider this world to be positive or full of light? It is terrible. Nothing about it is pleasant. Lying. Cheating. Stealing. Backstabbing. No one is loyal. No one cares about anyone else. Friendship is the biggest scam going.

“You are excited about the new leader in power, but ask yourself why there was trouble to begin with. Why did the previous leaders fail? What guarantee is there that the same problems won’t emerge again? Are human beings suddenly going to turn into these enlightened beings, who value friendship, kindness, compassion, and self-control over avarice and greed?

“I highly doubt it. There is no point to living, if you ask me. Let it all burn down. I don’t know why we were ever placed in this dreaded land to begin with. I don’t care about anything anymore. I have no reason for getting out of bed in the morning. The morning may as well be the night, to me.”

…

The view of Vedanta is that there is a point to everything, but the truth is difficult to realize while in illusion. The visual itself is the illusion. We identify with the temporary body. We witness the change, which is constant. We assume mistaken identities, based on the fact that we now have a different set of circumstances. We can no longer show our student identification card to get discounts to movie tickets, for instance.

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)

Vedanta identifies the illusion. It reveals the distinction between matter and spirit, and how although matter is an eternal energy, it is not fixed in its manifestation. Matter is prakriti, and that energy is something like a ball of clay. In the beginning, which is an arbitrary point in time for our understanding, prakriti is pradhana. This is like an unmolded block of clay. The origin of spirit glances over the pradhana to kickstart the creation process. He is there prior to the creation. He is here right now, and He will be around post-annihilation.

अहम् एवासम् एवाग्रे
नान्यद् यत् सद्-असत् परम्
पश्चाद् अहं यद् एतच् च
यो ऽवशिष्येत सो ऽस्म्य् अहम्

aham evāsam evāgre
nānyad yat sad-asat param
paścād ahaṁ yad etac ca
yo ‘vaśiṣyeta so ‘smy aham

“Brahma, it is I, the Personality of Godhead, who was existing before the creation, when there was nothing but Myself. Nor was there the material nature, the cause of this creation. That which you see now is also I, the Personality of Godhead, and after annihilation what remains will also be I, the Personality of Godhead.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 2.9.33)

The Vedanta view is to find the reality within the illusion. We had a dream last night. It was not pleasant. The lone reality was the experience; everything else is now gone. The dream concluded in the morning, upon waking up. The objective within Vedanta study is to awaken from the dream. There is a reality. We should find that reality. A dream can only be based on something factual.

Shri Krishna does not say that this world is false. Rather, it is temporary and miserable. It is miserable because it is temporary. We cannot find a permanent solution to anything. We work towards a particular objective, but success does not leave a permanent impact. We see these amazing sculptures and structures built thousands of years ago. The people must have been so advanced, but today we are so foolish that we think we are descendants from cavemen. That work from the past is no longer appreciated. What was the use, then?

The use is to clear the confusion by removing the illusion. There is a way to work with permanent benefits. That work is yoga. This yoga is for the individual, who is the steady reality through the changes, who is the endurance working against that which lacks endurance. This yoga is for connecting the individual with the Supreme Consciousness, who is the lone transcendence always situated above the temporary.

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः

nāsato vidyate bhāvo
nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ
ubhayor api dṛṣṭo ’ntas
tv anayos tattva-darśibhiḥ

“Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers have concluded by studying the nature of both.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.16)

In Closing:

Is there meaning to it all?
Or rather hopeless to call.

Since driven by greed,
By selfishness to proceed.

Tragedy everywhere seen,
But extract reality from the dream.

The one factor steady changes through,
Yoga the original source connecting to.

Categories: the two

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, nihilism, poem, poems, poetry