By Purushottam Kumar
A boat carrying passengers was calmly crossing the Ganges. All were enjoying the ride. As the boat reached deep water the boatman sounded a precautionary warning: “Keep your hands off the river. The place is filled with crocodiles.” Everyone obliged but a child. And soon a ferocious crocodile grabbed the hand of the child. His parents and the co passengers immediately tried to pull back the child but did not succeed. The grip of the giant water monster was tightening and the child was getting pulled in the river. Desperate mother, devastated father and others were trying their best to save the child; they were pulling hard to free the little child from the crocodile’s clutches. But in the water, the water animal is extremely powerful more than even an elephant. Due to the melee soon the boat started losing balance. The boatman shouted that if we do not do something soon then the boat will sink. The passengers looked in the eyes of the frightened parents. The unspoken message was: “Leave the child else we all will die.” The parents looked in the eyes of their beloved child for the last time. And finally seeing no other option they loosened the grip and soon the kid was dragged away in the deep water by the cruel crocodile.
This world is so dangerous and so miserable that even the parents helplessly have to see their beloved child being devoured by death. What may happen to us the next moment we do not know. The passengers of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 which sank in the ocean never knew that this would be their last journey. While saying goodbye to their dear ones they would have never thought that this would be their last meeting.
This is why Srimad Bhagavatam warns us that there is danger at every step in this world – padam padam yad vipadam (S.B.10.14.58). Pleasure can turn into pain and celebration can turn into tragedy within no time. Srimad Bhagavatam narrates the story of Gajendra, a gigantic elephant, who was happily wandering in the valleys of Trikuta Mountain with his family members and friends. To relieve his fatigue he entered a lake, which was filled with beautiful lotus flowers, for a bath but was soon caught by a death personified crocodile. His life changed within few seconds. And to his utter dismay he discovered that none in this world could save his life. He then thought, “The other elephants, who are my friends and relatives, could not rescue me from this danger. What then to speak of my wives? They cannot do anything. It is by the will of providence that I have been attacked by this crocodile, and therefore I shall seek shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is always the shelter of everyone, even of great personalities.” S.B. 8.2.32.
All the Vedic literatures and all the sages have unanimously concluded that other than the Supreme Lord no one can save us in this world. Prahlad says, “My Lord Nṛsimhadeva, O Supreme, because of a bodily conception of life, embodied souls neglected and not cared for by You cannot do anything for their betterment. Whatever remedies they accept, although perhaps temporarily beneficial, are certainly impermanent. For example, a father and mother cannot protect their child, a physician and medicine cannot relieve a suffering patient, and a boat on the ocean cannot protect a drowning man.” SB 7.9.19
How true these words of wisdom are! Not just this, Krishna also educates us about this world by unequivocally stating that this world is filled with miseries – duḥkhalayam asasvatam (Bhagavad Gita 8.15). Understanding this isn’t so difficult.
This material world is like a prison house and we all are the prisoners here. Not just this world but in fact the body in which we are currently living is also a jail. Our bodily conditions including the mind and the senses very much control our happiness and distress. The body which comprises of flesh, blood, bones, mucus and other obnoxious substances is made in such a way that it gives us more suffering than happiness. And it daily decays till we kiss death. In spite of all the brouhaha of material advancement the problems of birth, old age, disease and death have not been solved. The prisoners who have been given the death sentence by the law of this world at least know when they will be hanged. But we are not even informed about our impending death; we can be kicked out of this body at any moment and at any place.
The future of ours in this world is bleak, no doubt. And so Krishna in Gita asks us not to get attached to this world but instead advises us to make concerted effort to return back to his kingdom, the spiritual world where there is not even an iota of suffering. He even assures us that once we return back to him then we will never come back again in this mrityu loka, the place where death is inevitable. “That which the Vedantists describe as unmanifest and infallible, that which is known as the supreme destination, that place from which, having attained it, one never returns – that is My supreme abode.” (Bhagavad Gita 8.20)
Krishna appeared in this world to inform us that we as spiritual beings can easily surpass all sufferings of this world if we simply seek his shelter. As a loving and caring father he personally assures that he is always with us if we approach him: “Abandon all varieties of religion and surrender unto Me. I will deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.” (Bhagavad Gita 18.66). The choice is ours. Do we want to rot in this rotten world or are we ready to take to Krishna Consciousness which is the panacea for all the miseries. “For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murari, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is param padam, Vaikuntha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.58)
(Purushottam Kumar is a member of congregation at Iskcon Kolkata. He works in Tech Mahindra, Kolkata as “Associate Solution Designer”. Check his blog http://krishnamagic.blogspot.in/)