The Wise Man

Since no one can trace the history of the living entity's entanglement in
material energy, the Lord says that it is beginningless. By beginningless it is
meant that conditional life exists prior to the creation; it is simply manifes-
ted during and after the creation. Due to forgetfulness of his nature, the li-
ving entity, although spirit, suffers all kinds of miseries in material existen-
ce. It should be understood that there are also living entities who are not
entangled in this material energy but are situated in the spiritual world.
They are called liberated souls and are always engaged in Kṛṣṇa conscious-
ness, devotional service.
The activities of those who are conditioned by material nature are taken
into account, and in their next life, according to these activities, they are of-
fered different types of material bodies. In the material world the conditio-
ned spirit soul is subjected to various rewards and punishments. When he
is rewarded for his righteous activities, he is elevated to the higher planets
where he becomes one of the many demigods, and when he is punished for
his abominable activities, he is thrown into hellish planets where he suffers
the miseries of material existence more acutely. Caitanya Mahāprabhu gi-
ves a very nice example of this punishment. Formerly a king used to punish
a criminal by dunking him in the river, raising him up again for breath and
then again dunking him in the water. Material nature punishes and rewards
the individual entity in just the same way. When he is punished, he is dun-
ked in the water of material miseries, and when he is rewarded, he is taken
out of it for some time. Elevation to the higher planets or to a higher life sta-
tus is never permanent. One must again come down to be submerged in the
water. All this is constantly going on in this material existence; sometimes
one is elevated to higher planetary systems, and sometimes one is thrown
into the hellish condition of material life.
In this regard Caitanya Mahāprabhu recites a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāga-
vatam taken from the instructions of Nārada Muni to Vasudeva, the father
of Kṛṣṇa (SB 11.2.37):
bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād
īśād apetasya viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ
tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ
bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā
In this quotation from the nine sages who were instructing Mahārā-
ja Nimi, māyā is defined as "forgetfulness of one's relationship with Kṛṣṇa."
Actually, māyā means "that which is not." It has no existence. Thus it is fal-
se to think that the living entity has no connection with the Supreme Lord.
He may not believe in the existence of God, or he may think that he has no
relationship with God, but these are all "illusions," or māyā. Due to absorp-
tion in this false conception of life, man is always fearful and full of anxie-
ties. In other words, a godless concept of life is māyā. One who is actually
learned in the Vedic literatures surrenders unto the Supreme Lord with
great devotion and accepts Him as the supreme goal. When a living entity
forgets the constitutional nature of his relationship with God, he is at once
overwhelmed by the external energy. This is the cause of his false ego, his
false identification of the body with the self. Indeed, his whole conception
of the material universe arises from this false identification with the body,
for he becomes attached to the body and its by-products. To escape this en-
tanglement, he has only to perform his duty and to surrender unto the Su-
preme Lord with intelligence and devotion and with sincere Kṛṣṇa cons-
ciousness.
A conditioned soul falsely thinks himself happy in the material world,
but if he is favored by the instructions of an unalloyed devotee, he gives up
his desire for material enjoyment and becomes enlightened in Kṛṣṇa cons-
ciousness. As soon as one enters into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his desire for
material enjoyment is at once vanquished, and he gradually becomes free
from material entanglement. There is no question of darkness where there
is light, and Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the light that dispels the darkness of
material sense enjoyment.
A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is never under the false conception that he is
one with God. Knowing that he would not be happy by working for himself,
he engages all his energies in the service of the Supreme Lord and thereby
gains release from the clutches of illusory material energy. In this connec-
tion, Caitanya Mahāprabhu quotes the following verse from Bhagavad-gītā:
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te
"The divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material natu-
re, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can
easily cross beyond it." (Bg. 7.14)
Caitanya Mahāprabhu went on to teach that for each and every moment
he is engaged in some fruitive activity, the conditioned soul forgets his real
identity. Sometimes when he is fatigued, when he is tired of material activi-
ties, he wants liberation and hankers to become one with the Supreme
Lord, but at other times he thinks that by working hard to gratify his senses
he will be happy. In either case, he is covered by material energy. For the
enlightenment of such bewildered conditioned souls, the Supreme Lord has
presented voluminous Vedic literatures such as the Vedas, the purāṇas and
the Vedānta-sūtra. These are all intended to guide the human being back to
Godhead. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given further instructions by explai-
ning that when a conditioned soul is accepted by the mercy of the spiritual
master and is guided by the Supersoul and the various Vedic scriptures, he
becomes enlightened and makes progress in spiritual realization. It is be-
cause Lord Kṛṣṇa is always merciful upon His devotees that He has presen-
ted all these Vedic literatures by which one can understand his relationship
with Him and can act on the basis of that relationship. In this way one is gif-
ted with the ultimate goal of life.
Actually every living entity is destined to reach the Supreme Lord. In-
deed, it is possible for everyone to understand his relationship with the Su-
preme. The execution of duties to attain perfection is known as devotional
service, and in maturity such devotional service becomes love of God, the
factual goal of life for every living being. Actually the living entity is not in-
tended to achieve success in religious rituals, economic development or sen-
se enjoyment. The living entity should not even desire success in liberation,
what to speak of success in religion, economics and sense enjoyment. One's
real desire should only be to achieve the stage of loving transcendental ser-
vice to the Lord. The all-attractive features of Lord Kṛṣṇa help one in attai-
ning this transcendental service, and it is by such service in Kṛṣṇa cons-
ciousness that one can realize the relationship between Kṛṣṇa and himself.
Concerning man's search for the ultimate goal of life, Caitanya Mahā-
prabhu relates a story from the commentary of Madhva which occurs in the
Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Madhva-bhāṣya) Sarvajña to a poor
man who came to him to have his future told. When Sarvajña saw the ho-
roscope of the man, he was at once astonished that the man was so poor,
and he said to him, "Why are you so unhappy? From your horoscope I can
see that you have a hidden treasure left to you by your father. However, the
horoscope indicates that your father could not disclose this to you because
he died in a foreign place, but now you can search out this treasure and be
happy." This story is cited because the living entity is suffering due to his ig-
norance of the hidden treasure of his Supreme Father, Kṛṣṇa. That treasure
is love of Godhead, and in every Vedic scripture the conditioned soul is ad-
vised to find it. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, although the conditioned soul is
the son of the wealthiest personality-the Personality of Godhead-he does
not realize it. Therefore Vedic literatures are given to him to help him
search out his father and his paternal property.
The astrologer Sarvajña further advised the poor man: "Don't dig on the
southern side of your house to find the treasure, for if you do so you will be
attacked by a poisonous wasp and will be baffled. The search should be con-
ducted on the eastern side where there is actual light, which is called devo-
tional service or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. On the southern side there are Vedic
rituals, and on the western side there is mental speculation, and on the
northern side there is meditational yoga."
Sarvajña's advice should be carefully noted by everyone. If one searches
for the ultimate goal by the ritualistic process, he will surely be baffled.
Such a process involves the performance of rituals under the guidance of a
priest who takes money in exchange for service. A man may think he will be
happy by performing such rituals, but actually if he does gain some result
from them, it is only temporary. His material distresses will continue. Thus
he will never become truly happy by following the ritualistic process. Ins-
tead, he will simply increase his material pangs more and more. The same
may be said for digging on the northern side, or searching for the treasure
by means of the meditational yoga process. By this process a person thinks
of becoming one with the Supreme Lord, but this merging into the Supreme
is like being swallowed by a large serpent. Sometimes a large serpent swa-
llows a smaller one, and merging into the spiritual existence of the Supreme
is analogous. While the small serpent is searching after perfection, he is
swallowed. Obviously there is no solution here. On the western side there is
also an impediment in the form of a yakṣa, an evil spirit who protects the
treasure. The idea is that a hidden treasure can never be found by one who
asks the favor of a yakṣa in order to attain it. The result is that one will
simply be killed. This yakṣa is the speculative mind, and in this case the spe-
culative process of self-realization, or the jñāna process, is also suicidal.
The only possibility then is to search for the hidden treasure on the eas-
tern side by the process of devotional service in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Indeed, that process of devotional service is the perpetual hidden treasure,
and when one attains to it, he becomes perpetually rich. One who is poor in
devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is always in need of material gain. Sometimes
he suffers the bites of poisonous creatures, and sometimes he is baffled; so-
metimes he follows the philosophy of monism and thereby loses his iden-
tity, and sometimes he is swallowed by a large serpent. It is only by abando-
ning all this and becoming fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service
to the Lord, that one can actually achieve the perfection of life.