Security ...

Security is one of the most important aspects in human nature. Everyone is looking for some Security in terms of job, permanent place, feeling safe in an environment etc. Nobody wants to be un secure and always wanting to be in danger. This aspect of security is natural to a living soul as we are parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and hence our nature is to be eternal. Question of Security comes into picture when we are afraid that what we have will be lost or when we have an experience of such a thing where something dear was lost. For example the body, if someone threatens to harm or kill the body we become very much on guard and try to take all the measures to secure it from harm, since everyone loves his or her body. Similarly when there seems to be some danger to the near and dear ones with whom we associate on daily basis, we become morose and try to protect them.




As per the Vedic literatures, this feeling of fearfulness and this thought of protecting against this fear i.e. security is mainly because of our false identification with the body. From the Vedic literature, especially Bhagavad-Gita we get the information that every living entity is a spirit soul, eternal, full of knowledge and always enjoying by constitution. It is due to our contact with the material energy which is temporary, full of ignorance and always miserable; we have this feeling of fearfulness and with this experience going on from ages we worry about security. Everyone has experience that material things are taken away which cause pain and that fear of that pain causes us to act in so many ways by which we try to adjust things around us so that we can feel secured in every sense. From practical experience everyone knows that this never happens. One may have a feeling of security for some time, but that fear of loosing always remains. Since we are identifying with a temporary body which is perishable, we always have fear of loosing it, and in order to free ourselves from this fear we create an association around us of friends, relatives etc, and feel secure in their company. This is called illusion or maya as per the Vedic literatures. Since we are creating a field of illusion around us by thinking that our friends, family etc will help us from the fear of loosing our body or the things which we most cherish. It is like, one blind man takes the help of another blind man to cross the road and he thinks that he is going in the right direction. This is exactly what we are doing; all the people around us are identifying with the temporary material body and fearing. With the company of other such people we can feel secured falsely for a while but that illusion will soon be broken in the form death either our death or death of near and dear ones.



Vedic Literature instructs the living entity to wake up from this ignorance, tamaso ma jyotir gamaya and move towards enlightenment. Enlightenment means knowing what we are and what is the purpose of our existence in this temporary material realm, knowledge about the difference between matter and spirit and ultimately knowing our constitutional position with respect to the Supreme Spirit. Knowledge and practical application of all the above mentioned things will free a living entity from the false conception of the body and will take him to a stage of spiritual understanding. With this spiritual understanding, one will not fall into false attachments in this material world and will not “hope against hope” to find answers to his or her miseries. Only security for a living entity in this material world is to come to the stage of self realization and identify its relation with the Supreme Soul and act in that relationship, since that is the original nature of the soul. Due to our forgetfulness of this relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna we are always fearful and trying to adjust material things in the name of security , which will only lead to more frustrations, since the platform ( i.e. material body) on which we are trying to adjust things itself is wrong. In this age of Kali Vedas recommend only one way to achieve this knowledge and feel eternally secure, i.e. chanting the holy names of the Lord, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. So please chant and be happy.

Dream World

 With the advancement of the ages, human consciousness had changed too. It is believed that today  modern society has advanced far more than the ancient civilization. With more technology and equipments available at disposal, everything has become fast paced and instant. Material science has achieved a lot of progress than the yester years. This progress is thought of as an advancement in Civilization and is looked upon as a great achievement by the society. Today any nation, not using the latest technology is considered underdeveloped . Most certainly materially passionate human endeavors has led to many inventions, for helping and accelerating the way things are done, which certainly is commendable, and this is possible for a human being to achieve since human beings posses higher intelligence than any other species of life on this planet.

Although we have made lot of material progress, from the Vedic literatures, we get the information that human intelligence should not be used only for material progress, since the prime occupation of a human being is to Enquire about the Absolute Truth. This is completely contradictory to the modern idea of advancement. Advancement as per  Vedic text means advancing in spiritual consciousness. Materially one must endeavor to a point where one is able to comfortably maintain the body and soul together.

Reflecting on the Vedic thought, it is very natural for a reader today to immediately shun from this idea and not believe in the Vedic literature right away, since the 99% of populace do not consider Vedic thought or do not have the information . Every one today is tuned in with the modern thinking and modern way of living . Everyone is working hard to compete with other to increase the modern facilities of life to enjoy this lifetime to the fullest. Nevertheless, people who have studies the Vedic literature in depth and tried to follow its examples, have found that a profound truth lies in these literatures. When studied with the right perspective and under the guidance of a bonafide spiritual teacher it makes a lot of sense and has a life changing affect on the person who studies it. Vedic literatures are called as apaurushya, which means these teachings are coming in disciplic succession from the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna Himself, since Lord Krsna is beyond this material creation , he is not subject to four kinds of defects which a ordinary human being is subject to namely one makes mistakes, one has a tendency to cheat, one has imperfect senses and one is illusioned. So the knowledge flowing in  this disciplic succession is perfect and even though we may not understand or believe it right away owing to our four defects, the knowledge is perfect and sublime.

So accepting that Vedic knowledge is perfect, if one compares the modern thinking of advancement, one will conclude that this is not the purpose of life. As mentioned above, the purpose of life as per the Vedic Civilization is not to work hard day and night only for material advancement, but it is to make spiritual advancement by understanding who we are, what is the Absolute Truth, Who is God ,What is our relationship with God etc. If one is not interested in these topics one is certainly living in a dream world, full of illusions which is called Maya ( or that which is not). From practical point of view, we see that most of the people today  have created a world around themselves, where that person tries to be the center in every aspect. Some people feel safe in a group of friends who praise and respect them, that is their dream bubble , always trying to live life in terms of that . Some people think of their family as their world, for some the colleagues at work are everything . Everyone is thinking in terms of their surroundings and living in a relative truth. This as per the Vedic thought is Maya ( which is not) or illusion. Since we all are spirit souls and part and parcel of one Almighty Lord . Our constitutional position is to be the servant of Krsna. If we forget what our original constitutional position is and act in a way which we are not that certainly is like dreaming. Since just like in a dream, we may become a king of a country and become very happy  for the moment, until we are awake again, Similarly when s person is unable to identify its real identity he or she is living in a dream world.

As per Bhagavad Gita,  we are not the bodies but are eternal spiritual sparks, part and parcel of God. We are meant to serve God and enjoy with him in that relation. This service to God is not based on the material conception of service, it is based on  Love and not lust. Bhagavad Gita informs us that only when we realize our true nature, it is then only we will be able to become peaceful and happy. Now all this information is new and revolutionary to the modern thinkers, since it is very difficult to see these things with gross senses, but there are many things which can be perceived and need not be seen to realize their existence. For eg, wind , air, mind, intelligence,all are perceived ,  these things have no tangible form, yet one can understand that everyone has got a mind and intelligence or  when there is a air blowingetc . Similarly in order to perceive the existence of soul Sri Krsna gives a example in the Bhagavad Gita,

dehino 'smin yathā dehe
kaumāraḿ yauvanaḿ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati [ B.g. 2. 13]

" As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change."

He furhter mentions
avināśi tu tad viddhi
yena sarvam idaḿ tatam
vināśam avyayasyāsya
na kaścit kartum arhati [ B.g. 2.17]

"That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul."

For an intelligent person these descriptions are more than enough to realize that the consciousness in the body is the symptom of the presence of soul. So if we are the eternal spirit souls, meant to serve the lord, it is evident that we are not the center or the enjoyer or the proprietor in any way . When one fully realizes that the only enjoyer, proprietor is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna , it should be understood that that person has set foot into the real world and is beginning to awaken from the dream bubble.

One may wonder as to what is the use or necessity of understanding God , since even if  I am living in my dream world, I am happy  within my world of friends, family , society etc.  It should be understood that the nature of this world is temporary and full of miseries, so even if by influence of Maya one is convinced that he is happy, sooner or later this reality will dawn him or her that this place is not a happy place. It is generally seen, that people become disturbed , depressed and sometimes even commit suicide when their dream bubble bursts when for eg their loved ones leave them or betray them etc. In this condition they start blaming God  for their miseries. But one forgets that God has already warned us through scriptures and his devotees that material world is full of miseries and temporary. For our original position is with Him ( God)  in loving devotional service.

This chance of human form is very rare, only after 8400000 life forms one gets this intelligence , by which he or she can inquire about the Absolute Truth and become eternally happy without anxieties and miseries. It is very essential that every one should take this opportunity and burst their dream bubble themselves to realize the Real Truth, rather than waiting for the nature to burst it in a painful way.  Easiest way as recommended by all the scriptures of the world especially Srimad Bhagavatam in this age of Kali to understand the Absolute Truth is by chanting the holy names of God, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Responsibility

   Responsibility means accountibility, To be responsible means to take the matters seriously and carry out the neccessary actions to accomplish a task.  For example, for a manager the responsiblity may mean to manage the employees working under him and get the required work done from them, for a employee responsibilty may mean to deliver his or her work on time and with as much accuracy as possible, for a housewife responsibility may mean to take care of the house and children to bring them up as good individuals etc. Every person involved in these particular roles takes his or her work seriously with accountibility and tries to make it a success. A person who is not responsible is just like animal who does not know what to do and simply wastes the life, that is the verdict of all the religions of the world.

  When this idea of Responsiblity is mismanaged or  not taken seriouly thing begin to fall apart and create havoc in the society, which is evident in today's modern setup.   As per Vedic culture from India, every society needs to be divided into four scientific divisions for proper functioning of the social order, namely, Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra. Sri Krsna the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself mentions this in Bhagvad Gita, cätur-varëyaà mayä såñöaà  guëa-karma-vibhägaçaù [ B.g. 4.13] .  Just  like for proper fucntioning of a body it is necessary to have head, arms , belly and legs.  Head is compared to the Brahamana class, Kshatriya is compared to the arms ,belly is compared to the Vaisya community and legs are compared to the sudra community.  In the Eighteenth Chapter of Bhagavad Gita Lord Krsna explicitly mentions the responsibilities of these four divisions of the society. These are called Varnas. which are natural sceintific divisions for the well being and proper functioning of the soceity .Similarly there are for Ashramas namely Brahmacari, Grahasta, Vanaprastha and Sanyasa, these four ashrams are designed for the spiritual upbrining of the living entity.

    This Varnashram system of Vedic civilization as created by the Lord , was specifically desiged to help a human being to progress towards self realization and ultimately attain the highest goal of life, which is Love of Godhead.  So it is the respoinsibility of human beings to follow this system and make their lives perfect. Human form of life is endowed with the necessary inteeligence and the mecahnism which can follow this system. Animals are not able to follow the specific rules and regulations of a Varnasharm system . It is important for a  human beings to understand the responsibility of this human form of life. Human form of life is obtained after 8400000 species of life forms and is extermely rare as per the Vedic scriptures. It is the responsibility of the living entity in this human form of life to enquire about the Brahman. The First injunction of Vedanta Sutra says  Athato Brahma Jijnasa   which means Now  Enquie about Brahman or God, since you have the  human form of life and you can now read and understand , so now enquire about God. The responsibilty of human beings in not just limited to working hard and providing for the family and  using all the money for sense gratification , but rather it has a higher purpose to Inquire about the Absolute Truth and our relation with Him.

  Unfortunately in today's misguided civilization people are only busy in eating , sleeping, mating and defending. Human beings are engaged in what is called ugra karma or very strenous jobs with no time left for Brahman Jijnasa or enquiring about God, which is the prime responsibility of the Human beings. Human body is the only gateway through which one can release one self from the repeated cycle of birth, death , old age and disease, but due to our gross ignorance human beings today are engaged in less important works trying to adjust the situation in this world to become comfortable , and considering them to be their responsibilities. Instead of trying to engage in activities in a God Conscious manner, today the human energy is being utlized to advance economically,  which has  left human being in a state of constant anxiety with the economic crisis and sterssful lifesytle, with so  much distrubance it is very difficult for any person to find time for enquiring about God. In order to get basic neccessity of life a human being now a days have to struggle and work hard  day and night, which was not the case a few years ago. The solution to this chaos and confusion lies in living simply to only accept things which are neccessary to ones sustenance and save time for the main Responsiblity of Human form of Life that is Brahman Jijnasa or Enquring about the Absolute Truth.