Peace in this Material World
We are presently deeply embroiled in the Kali Yuga, the age of quarrel and hypocrisy. On the slightest provocation bitter quarrel can erupt between husband and wife, between brothers, between neighbors, and between nations. Even there is the extreme example that two nations went to war against each other as an escalation of a brawl that broke out at a soccer game between their respective national soccer teams. Just see how bad things have become People are edgy and are itching for the opportunity to fight because of an extreme sense of misery and frustration.
What can be done? How can we achieve peace and happiness in this material world? Krishna has answered this in the Bhagavad-gita:
bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
sarva-loka-mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati
"If one can understand Me as the supreme enjoyer, the supreme proprietor of everything, and the supreme friend of everyone, one is established in peace and is free from material agitation."
---Bhagavad-gita 5.29
Krishna is the central point common to all of us. If we can all become Krishna conscious, there will be perfect peace and harmony throughout the entire human society. Therefore there is no greater welfare than distributing Krishna consciousness all over the world.
"By having such desires, am I (are we) not suffering from the syndrome that is popularly known as "Grass is greener on other end."?
I've done that far too many times in life. For example, I used to feel that working life was better than student life. I used to feel that residing in US was better than residing in India, and so on.
I have to realize that each place in material world has its own virtues and vices. None is absolutely better than other in material world. What is so different about Krishna's abode? What have I forgotten?
Chetan Das
You have rightly observed how in this material world we have a tendency to think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, that some other situation is better than our present situation. I have observed this tendency on my last world lecture tour. Many people think they would like to go to the Fiji Islands to enjoy the wonderful tropical atmosphere there. But I noticed in Fiji that the people want to get out of Fiji and go somewhere where they can earn more money. From this someone may conclude that our desire to go back to the spiritual world is another manifestation of the "grass is greener" syndrome. But this is not a fact.
It is the "grass is greener" mentality that brought us to this material world in the first place. When we can finally fully give up this "grass is greener" tendency we can then return to our original home in the spiritual world. The fish may think that the grass is greener on the land, but if he tries to live on the land, he will die a miserable death. In a similar way we have abandoned our natural habitat in the spiritual world thinking that the grass is greener somewhere else, and now we are suffering like anything.
The way out of this suffering condition is to free ourselves from this "grass is greener" mentality and return to our natural position in that wondrous Spiritual Sky. This makes perfect sense because no matter what our situation is in this material world, we are not fully satisfied with it. We can never satisfied here because this is not our natural habitat.
If we say that every desire to change our position is a manifestation of the "grass is greener" tendency, this is tantamount to saying that there is no Absolute Truth, that everything is relative. But under careful analysis we can see that there must indeed be an Absolute Truth. Why? Because it is philosophically impossible to negate the existence of the Absolute Truth. If someone states, "There is no Absolute Truth.", we will then ask them, "Are you absolutely sure?" They cannot say, "yes" because to do so would be asserting an absolute, namely that there is no absolute. But according to their philosophy that there is no absolute, they can assert an absolute. Therefore they cannot negate the existence of the Absolute and there must indeed be an Absolute Truth.
So in conclusion, switching from one position to another in the relative world is a manifestation of the "grass is greener" syndrome. But the desire to return our original natural position in the realm of the Absolute Truth is the pathway of escaping the "grass is greener" syndrome, not another manifestation of it.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
What can be done? How can we achieve peace and happiness in this material world? Krishna has answered this in the Bhagavad-gita:
bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
sarva-loka-mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati
"If one can understand Me as the supreme enjoyer, the supreme proprietor of everything, and the supreme friend of everyone, one is established in peace and is free from material agitation."
---Bhagavad-gita 5.29
Krishna is the central point common to all of us. If we can all become Krishna conscious, there will be perfect peace and harmony throughout the entire human society. Therefore there is no greater welfare than distributing Krishna consciousness all over the world.
Answers According to the Vedic Version
Question: Is the Desire to Go Back to Godhead Simply Another Manifestation of the "Grass is Greener" Syndrome?...
I have been coming to the local ISKCON temple and reading the material written by Srila Prabhupada (and few others). One recurring theme that I keep seeing is, "We are souls who have lost our identity, and our sole aim is to return Back to Godhead". My question is:"By having such desires, am I (are we) not suffering from the syndrome that is popularly known as "Grass is greener on other end."?
I've done that far too many times in life. For example, I used to feel that working life was better than student life. I used to feel that residing in US was better than residing in India, and so on.
I have to realize that each place in material world has its own virtues and vices. None is absolutely better than other in material world. What is so different about Krishna's abode? What have I forgotten?
Chetan Das
Answer: Back to Godhead is Liberation from the "Grass is Greener" Syndrome...
What you forgotten is the difference between relative truth and Absolute Truth.You have rightly observed how in this material world we have a tendency to think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, that some other situation is better than our present situation. I have observed this tendency on my last world lecture tour. Many people think they would like to go to the Fiji Islands to enjoy the wonderful tropical atmosphere there. But I noticed in Fiji that the people want to get out of Fiji and go somewhere where they can earn more money. From this someone may conclude that our desire to go back to the spiritual world is another manifestation of the "grass is greener" syndrome. But this is not a fact.
It is the "grass is greener" mentality that brought us to this material world in the first place. When we can finally fully give up this "grass is greener" tendency we can then return to our original home in the spiritual world. The fish may think that the grass is greener on the land, but if he tries to live on the land, he will die a miserable death. In a similar way we have abandoned our natural habitat in the spiritual world thinking that the grass is greener somewhere else, and now we are suffering like anything.
The way out of this suffering condition is to free ourselves from this "grass is greener" mentality and return to our natural position in that wondrous Spiritual Sky. This makes perfect sense because no matter what our situation is in this material world, we are not fully satisfied with it. We can never satisfied here because this is not our natural habitat.
If we say that every desire to change our position is a manifestation of the "grass is greener" tendency, this is tantamount to saying that there is no Absolute Truth, that everything is relative. But under careful analysis we can see that there must indeed be an Absolute Truth. Why? Because it is philosophically impossible to negate the existence of the Absolute Truth. If someone states, "There is no Absolute Truth.", we will then ask them, "Are you absolutely sure?" They cannot say, "yes" because to do so would be asserting an absolute, namely that there is no absolute. But according to their philosophy that there is no absolute, they can assert an absolute. Therefore they cannot negate the existence of the Absolute and there must indeed be an Absolute Truth.
So in conclusion, switching from one position to another in the relative world is a manifestation of the "grass is greener" syndrome. But the desire to return our original natural position in the realm of the Absolute Truth is the pathway of escaping the "grass is greener" syndrome, not another manifestation of it.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
Comments
Post a Comment