“Good and bad, which are part of the illusion created by Hari, cannot be removed without worshiping Hari. Keeping this in mind, worship Rama and renounce all desires.” (Dohavali, 127)

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हरि माया कृत दोष गुन बिनु हरि भजन न जाहिं
भजिअ राम सब काम तजि अस बिचारि मन माहिं

hari māyā kṛta doṣa guna binu hari bhajana na jāhiṃ
bhajia rāma saba kāma taji asa bicāri mana māhiṃ

What a strange thing to advise? This goes against everything we have been taught. Ever since childhood, the message was drilled into us: be good. Be kind. Be polite. Patience is a virtue. Being good is itself the reward. The universe will take care of everything else. We don’t want to be like the others, who lie, cheat, steal, and deceive, all to satisfy selfish motives.

Meanwhile, the teachers in the tradition of bhakti-yoga say that good and bad are themselves an illusion. These teachers claim that Shri Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One of His many other names is Hari. This very Krishna advises His disciple named Arjuna to rise above good and bad.

बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते
तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम्

buddhi-yukto jahātīha
ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte
tasmād yogāya yujyasva
yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam

“A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, O Arjuna, which is the art of all work.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.50)

Goswami Tulsidas mentions something similar in his Dohavali. The issue comes down to karma, the cycle of birth and death, and the greatest reward that is ultimate liberation. Be done with coming and going, ascending and falling, moving and staying still. Liberation is the final escape, but still, this concept of deprecating duality is a little difficult to grasp. To assist in our understanding, we present the following hypothetical situation. You have been given the task of creating a new game. When we reach the end, this game will resemble one of the more famous ones played across the world today, but, of course, everything has to start somewhere.

To keep things simple, you decide that this game will feature a ball. A round object, not too hard and not too soft, it reaches the appropriate size through inflation. This means that maintenance will not be a problem. The ball will roll, and so this game requires a field. It can be played anywhere, actually, but the earth is the best for running around. Therefore, the ideal playing field is a literal field, with grass and all. In fact, the more grass, the better. We have just introduced our first duality, with respect to good and bad. More grass equates to a better playing surface. Luscious, thick, green, and soft grass is shubha, or auspicious. The absence of these conditions is thus ashubha, or inauspicious. These are Sanskrit terms, featured heavily in the presentation of the science of self-realization, but which happen to be applicable to our newly created game, as well.

यो न हृष्यति न द्वेष्टि न शोचति न काङ्‍क्षति
श‍ुभाश‍ुभपरित्यागी भक्तिमान्य: स मे प्रिय:

yo na hṛṣyati na dveṣṭi
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
śubhāśubha-parityāgī
bhaktimān yaḥ sa me priyaḥ

“One who neither grasps pleasure or grief, who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things, is very dear to Me.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 12.17)

Every game needs an objective, and so you decide to place a goal on either side of the playing field. The goals are directly opposite to one another; they face each other. This now means there will be teams. Yes, players will be grouped together, into a collective, and their objective will be to place the ball into the goal on the opposing side. There will be another team that they go against, that has the exact same objective, but going in a different direction. They are trying to score into the other goal.

To maintain the simplicity of the game, the ball cannot be touched with the hands. The feet are, therefore, everything. A player who is fast, who can control the ball using only their feet, is considered good. Ones who are not as skilled will thus be bad. The ball can still be touched with other body parts, such as the thighs, the chest, and even the head. This leads to an evolution, of sorts. The teams decide that they do not want players to be of the same skill level. They would like some fast players, who can kick the ball with velocity. These are the offensive players. The teams want others who might not be as fast, but who can keep track of players rushing against them. These are the defenders.

Since the goal is everything, you decide to allow for one player on each team to break the rules. This person can touch the ball using their hands. Since the hands help in defense, this person will focus solely on managing their goal. The goalkeeper wants to keep the other team from scoring. For this player, being good with their hands is a reward. It is their dharma, or duty, to jump high and extend their arms. For any other player, this might be adharma, or against their objectives.

As a tall player might not be as fast, they are considered bad in the ordinary sense. At the same time, for certain situations, the same player becomes a huge advantage. This is because they can jump high and direct the ball with their head. You have players with endurance and others with quickness. Of course, there has to be guidance and direction. Those who cannot play but can teach are considered good for the role of coach. Then there are the officials, who have no stake in the outcome of the game. They monitor the play to ensure the rules are being followed. Violating the rules will bring punishment, such as banishment from the game. This is considered bad, or adharma. Following the rules is good, or in accordance with dharma. A person who is even-minded, fair, objective, and balanced in emotion is considered good for judging, but perhaps bad for playing.

Thus we see that there are so many variations of good and bad. There are conditions considered shubha, based on the objective. There is ashubha, or inauspicious, depending on what a person is trying to do. There are also the spectators, the commentators, the television crews, the maintainers of the field, and the writers to document the proceedings. Every person has their role to play. Every role has its ideal conditions, circumstances, and qualities.

If we consider people coming and going, changing roles, rising to better places or being demoted, then we have an isolated instance of what takes place across the entire material creation. One person is in a first-class cabin for air travel, while another person toughs it out in economy class. One person is fabulously wealthy, while another person has to go door-to-door to beg for food. There is so much variety because of the abundance in potential. A person can rise to the heights of enjoyment in the heavenly sky and they can also descend into demoniac species, where they are perpetually miserable. Everything is on the table.

जल थल नभ गति अमित अति अग जग जीव अनेक
तुलसी तो से दीन कहँ राम नाम गति एक

jala thala nabha gati amita ati aga jaga jīva aneka
tulasī to se dīna kaham̐ rāma nāma gati eka

“There are an infinite number of living beings, both moving and nonmoving, who have many different abodes, with some residing in the earth, some in the sky, and some in the water. But O helpless Tulsi, for you Shri Rama’s holy name is your only home.” (Dohavali, 37)

The wise do not want any part of this field. They would rather be connected to the Supreme Lord, who is above it all. God is the creator, maintainer, and destroyer, all in one. He is not impacted by the temporary changes caused by the games played in the material creation. To want to stay in that temporary place is a sign of the success of the illusory energy known as maya. As this illusion is created by Hari, only Hari can assist in removing its influence.

In Closing:

Maya perpetually to fool,
Thus duality to rule.

That rising in the game,
Or failure causing shame.

But reality then the same,
That in rebirth to remain.

Better with Hari to stand,
Who over illusion command.

Categories: stories

Tags: dailyprompt, feature, god, hare krishna, karma, poem, poems, poetry, reincarnation, sports