Tolerating and Transcending the Miseries

In this material world we are all forced by the stringent laws of nature to undergo so many varieties of suffering conditions. No matter how hard we struggle to counteract these miseries we still remain subject to them. Like it or not we have to suffer birth, death, old age, disease. So instead of becoming frustrated the best thing is to be tolerant of these miseries and fully absorb ourselves in the service of the Lord, because that service will bring us immediately out of the world of miseries into the transcendental existence where life is eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How Can There Be Free Will?

Can I know from where are you borrowing this concept of free will ? Any scriptures?

Let us assume this free will exists...
Who grants the free will to the Jivas? Who creates the desire?

As the Bhagavad-gita says:

"Deluded by ego (ahankara) a person thinks, 'I am the doer.'" (3:27)

So in reality it is not the jiva but the paramatma which does all the activities which appears to the individuals as either good or bad.

Please comment

Thanks
Manjesh

Answer: By Krishna's Free Will

Since we are in possession of this knowledge, we do not have to borrow it. Krishna clearly describes free will in the Bhagavad-gita. After explaining this most sublime knowledge to Arjuna, He informs Arjuna that now he can use his free will to do what he chooses to do. Arjuna can either surrender to Krishna or not surrender to Krishna.

iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ
guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā
vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa
yathecchasi tathā kuru

"Thus I have explained to you knowledge still more confidential. Deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do."
-- Bhagavad-gita 18.63

I have seen time and time again how people use this idea that they do not have free will as an excuse not to surrender to Krishna. They say that when Krishna wants them to surrender that they will surrender. But this excuse does not work.

We advise such persons, "But Krishna wants you to surrender right now. It is due to misuse of your free will that you remain caught up in karma chakra where you are being dragged like a prisoner through the 8,400,000 different species of life."

As soon as we misuse our free will and rebel against the authority of the Lord we become puppets in the hands of the Lord's material energy and lose our ability to be the real doers of anything. But we always retain the right to cancel our contract with Maya at any time and come back to our original position of full freedom in the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

It is only when the jiva misuses his free will and rebels against the Lord's authority that he is no longer free and acts only as a puppet of the Lord's inferior energy. When he properly utilizes his free will by surrendering to the Supreme Lord, he enjoys a life of full freedom and becomes so powerful by dint of bhakti that sometimes the Supreme Lord becomes under his direction as He did when He played the role of being Mother Yasoda's son.

So what can the entrapped jiva do when he has lost his ability to be the doer by having misused his free will? If he is fortunate to come into contact with the Lord's pure devotee, he is given the option to accept the mercy of Krishna and revive his original life of full freedom.

In conclusion, the Lord's being the doer only applies to those who are under the stringent grip of the Lord's illusory energy. Those who opt out by taking advantage of the mercy of guru and Krishna, become fully empowered to act eternally as blissful, knowledgeable doers in the service of the Lord.

So it is not that good and bad are only relative perceptions in the minds of conditioned souls. Krishna clearly states in the Bhagavad-gita that He comes to annihilate the demons and protect His devotees. Do you think God is so cruel that He would punish persons who were not responsible for the wrongs they commit? So those who use their free will to serve the Lord are known as saintly, and those who misuse their free will and thus lose it are known as demoniac. Although our slogan is, "Free Will: Use it properly or lose it.", that free will can be regained by the mercy of the Lord's pure devotee.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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