LIFE IS NOT HAPPENING BY CHANCE, LIFE IS HAPPENING BY YOUR CHOICE #Blog0024

LIFE IS NOT HAPPENING BY CHANCE, LIFE IS HAPPENING BY YOUR CHOICE

आपके जीवन में जो भी कुछ आया है  

जो व्यक्ति जो वस्तु या जो परिस्थिति है  

ना तो वह व्यक्ति है ना वह वस्तु है ना परिस्थिति है  

वह आपका कर्म आकार लेकर आपके सामने आया है,    

Whatever you are facing at any time in life, be it a person, a thing or a circumstance, it is all caused by your own karma and due to nothing else. 

It is wrong to blame anyone else for your fate  which you have written yourself.

यह सब किसी के भेजे नहीं आया है  

Life is not happening by chance, Life is happening by your choice  

कुछ भी अकारण नहीं होता कुछ भी बेवजह नहीं होता,  कोई भी परिस्थिति बिना कारण नहीं आती 

There is nothing happening without a reason

आप ही का संकल्प है यह, यह आप ही के विचार हैं 

This was all bred by your own thoughts, determinations and actions

और आप यदि आज अभी इसी समय अपने प्रति सजग (aware) नहीं होते, तो इसकी क्षति (loss / harm) भी आप ही को है   

and if you have not awaken yourself up to this fact, then the loss is only yours

जो आज सुधार नहीं कर सकता,  वह कभी नहीं सुधर सकता 

One who cannot improve today,  can never improve 

गीता में श्रीकृष्ण अर्जुन को भी यही बता रहे हैं, समझा रहे हैं कि “अर्जुन, तेरा अभी आज इस समय क्या कर्तव्य है, तू वह कर”

In Gita, Krishna is advising Arjuna “This is your duty and you must do it”

DIFFERENCE BETWEN FATE & DESTINY < click to read

BHAGVAT: GOD CREATED THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF YOUR PERSONAL PASTIMES, BUT FOOLISH, UNINTELLIGENT MEN WITH DEMONIAC NATURE HAVE CLAIMED PROPRIETORSHIP FOR MATERIAL ENJOYMENT, 27TH JULY

TRANSLATION

Shrimati Vindhyavali said: O MY LORD, YOU HAVE CREATED THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF YOUR PERSONAL PASTIMES, BUT FOOLISH, UNINTELLIGENT MEN HAVE CLAIMED PROPRIETORSHIP FOR MATERIAL ENJOYMENT. CERTAINLY THEY ARE SHAMELESS AGNOSTICS. FALSELY CLAIMING PROPRIETORSHIP, THEY THINK THEY CAN GIVE CHARITY AND ENJOY. IN SUCH A CONDITION, WHAT GOOD CAN THEY DO FOR YOU, WHO ARE THE INDEPENDENT CREATOR, MAINTAINER AND ANNIHILATOR OF THIS UNIVERSE?

PURPORT

BALI MAHARAJA'S WIFE, WHO WAS MOST INTELLIGENT, SUPPORTED THE ARREST OF HER HUSBAND AND ACCUSED HIM OF HAVING NO INTELLIGENCE BECAUSE HE HAD CLAIMED PROPRIETORSHIP OF THE PROPERTY OF THE LORD. SUCH A CLAIM IS A SIGN OF DEMONIAC LIFE. ALTHOUGH THE DEMIGODS, WHO ARE OFFICIALS APPOINTED BY THE LORD FOR MANAGEMENT, ARE ATTACHED TO MATERIALISTIC ENJOYMENT, THEY NEVER CLAIM TO BE PROPRIETORS OF THE UNIVERSE, FOR THEY KNOW THAT THE ACTUAL PROPRIETOR OF EVERYTHING IS THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD. THIS IS THE QUALIFICATION OF THE DEMIGODS. 

BUT THE DEMONS, INSTEAD OF ACCEPTING THE EXCLUSIVE PROPRIETORSHIP OF THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD, CLAIM THE PROPERTY OF THE UNIVERSE FOR THEMSELVES THROUGH DEMARCATIONS OF NATIONALISM. "THIS PART IS MINE, AND THAT PART IS YOURS," THEY SAY. "THIS PART I CAN GIVE IN CHARITY, AND THIS PART I CAN KEEP FOR MY ENJOYMENT." 

THESE ARE ALL DEMONIAC CONCEPTIONS. 

THIS IS DESCRIBED IN BHAGAVAD-GITA (16.13): IDAM ADYA MAYA LABDHAM IMAM PRAPSYE MANORATHAM. "THUS FAR I HAVE ACQUIRED SO MUCH MONEY AND LAND. NOW I HAVE TO ADD MORE AND MORE. IN THIS WAY I SHALL BE THE GREATEST PROPRIETOR OF EVERYTHING. WHO CAN COMPETE WITH ME?" THESE ARE ALL DEMONIAC CONCEPTIONS.

Bali Maharaja's wife accused Bali Maharaja by saying that although the Supreme Personality of Godhead had arrested him, showing him extraordinary mercy, and although Bali Maharaja was offering his body to the Supreme Lord for the Lord's third step, he was still in the darkness of ignorance. Actually the body did not belong to him, but because of his long-standing demoniac mentality he could not understand this. He thought that since he had been defamed for his inability to fulfill his promise of charity, and since the body belonged to him, he would free himself from defamation by offering his body. Actually, however, the body does not belong to anyone but the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by whom the body is given. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (18.61):

The Lord is situated in the core of everyone's heart, and, according to the material desires of the living entity, the Lord offers a particular type of machine—the body—through the agency of the material energy. The body actually does not belong to the living entity; it belongs to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Under the circumstances, how could Bali Maharaja claim that the body belonged to him?

Thus Vindhyavali, Bali Maharaja's intelligent wife, prayed that her husband be released, by the Lord's causeless mercy. OTHERWISE, BALI MAHARAJA WAS NOTHING BUT A SHAMELESS DEMON, SPECIFICALLY DESCRIBED AS tyakta-hriyas tvad-avaropita-kartr-vadam, A FOOLISH PERSON CLAIMING PROPRIETORSHIP OVER THE PROPERTY OF THE SUPREME PERSON. 

IN THE PRESENT AGE, KALI-YUGA, THE NUMBER OF SUCH SHAMELESS MEN, WHO ARE AGNOSTICS DISBELIEVING IN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, HAS INCREASED. TRYING TO DEFY THE AUTHORITY OF THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD, SO-CALLED SCIENTISTS, PHILOSOPHERS AND POLITICIANS MANUFACTURE PLANS AND SCHEMES FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD. THEY CANNOT DO ANYTHING GOOD FOR THE WORLD, AND UNFORTUNATELY, BECAUSE OF KALI-YUGA, THEY HAVE PLUNGED THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD INTO MISMANAGEMENT. 

THUS THERE IS A GREAT NEED FOR THE KRSHNA CONSCIOUSNESS MOVEMENT FOR THE BENEFIT OF INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING CARRIED AWAY BY PROPAGANDA OF SUCH DEMONS. IF THE PRESENT STATUS QUO IS ALLOWED TO CONTINUE, PEOPLE WILL CERTAINLY SUFFER MORE AND MORE UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THESE DEMONIAC AGNOSTICS.

BHAGVAT MATERIAL OPULENCE IS SO BEWILDERING THAT IT MAKES EVEN A LEARNED, SELF-CONTROLLED MAN FORGET TO SEARCH FOR THE GOAL OF SELF-REALIZATION  26TH JULY

Extract from Srimad Bhagvatam

TRANSLATION

MATERIAL OPULENCE IS SO BEWILDERING THAT IT MAKES EVEN A LEARNED, SELF-CONTROLLED MAN FORGET TO SEARCH FOR THE GOAL OF SELF-REALIZATION. BUT THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD, NARAYANA, THE LORD OF THE UNIVERSE, CAN SEE EVERYTHING BY HIS WILL. THEREFORE I OFFER MY RESPECTFUL OBEISANCES UNTO HIM.

PURPORT

THE WORDS ko vicashthe gatim atmano yatha INDICATE THAT WHEN ONE IS PUFFED UP BY THE FALSE PRESTIGE OF POSSESSING MATERIAL OPULENCE, HE CERTAINLY NEGLECTS THE GOAL OF SELF-REALIZATION. THIS IS THE POSITION OF THE MODERN WORLD. BECAUSE OF SO-CALLED SCIENTIFIC IMPROVEMENTS IN MATERIAL OPULENCE, PEOPLE HAVE ENTIRELY GIVEN UP THE PATH OF SELF-REALIZATION. 

PRACTICALLY NO ONE IS INTERESTED IN GOD, ONE'S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD OR HOW ONE SHOULD ACT. MODERN MEN HAVE ALTOGETHER FORGOTTEN SUCH QUESTIONS BECAUSE THEY ARE MAD FOR MATERIAL POSSESSIONS. IF THIS KIND OF CIVILIZATION CONTINUES, THE TIME WILL SOON COME WHEN THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD WILL TAKE AWAY ALL THE MATERIAL OPULENCES. THEN PEOPLE WILL COME TO THEIR SENSES.

GITA-SHLOKA-4.10 BY THE PROCESS OF DEVOTIONAL SERVICE, UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF THE BONA FIDE SPIRITUAL MASTER, ONE CAN ATTAIN THE HIGHEST STAGE, BEING FREED FROM ALL MATERIAL ATTACHMENT 25th July

TRANSLATION

BEING FREED FROM ATTACHMENT, FEAR AND ANGER, BEING FULLY ABSORBED IN ME AND TAKING REFUGE IN ME, MANY, MANY PERSONS IN THE PAST BECAME PURIFLED BY KNOWLEDGE OF ME—AND THUS THEY ALL ATTAINED TRANSCENDENTAL LOVE FOR ME.

PURPORT

AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, IT IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR A PERSON WHO IS TOO MATERIALLY AFFECTED TO UNDERSTAND THE PERSONAL NATURE OF THE SUPREME ABSOLUTE TRUTH.

GENERALLY, PEOPLE WHO ARE ATTACHED TO THE BODILY CONCEPTION OF LIFE ARE SO ABSORBED IN MATERIALISM THAT IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE FOR THEM TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A TRANSCENDENTAL BODY WHICH IS IMPERISHABLE, FULL OF KNOWLEDGE AND ETERNALLY BLISSFUL.

IN THE MATERIALISTIC CONCEPT, THE BODY IS PERISHABLE, FULL OF IGNORANCE AND COMPLETELY MISERABLE.

THEREFORE, PEOPLE IN GENERAL KEEP THIS SAME BODILY IDEA IN MIND WHEN THEY ARE INFORMED OF THE PERSONAL FORM OF THE LORD.

For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme.

Consequently they consider the Supreme to be impersonal.

And because they are too materially absorbed, the conception of retaining the personality after liberation from matter frightens them.

When they are informed that spiritual life is also individual and personal, they become afraid of becoming persons again, and so they naturally prefer a kind of merging into the impersonal void.

Generally, they compare the living entities to the bubbles of the ocean, which merge into the ocean.

That is the highest perfection of spiritual existence attainable without individual personality.

This is a kind of fearful stage of life, devoid of perfect knowledge of spiritual existence.

FURTHERMORE THERE ARE MANY PERSONS WHO CANNOT UNDERSTAND SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE AT ALL.

BEING EMBARASSED BY SO MANY THEORIES AND BY CONTRADICTIONS OF VARIOUS TYPES OF PHILOSOPHICAL SPECULATION, THEY BECOME DISGUSTED OR ANGRY AND FOOLISHLY CONCLUDE THAT THERE IS NO SUPREME CAUSE AND THAT EVERYTHING IS ULTIMATELY VOID.

SUCH PEOPLE ARE IN A DISEASED CONDITION OF LIFE.

SOME PEOPLE ARE TOO MATERIALLY ATTACHED AND THEREFORE DO NOT GIVE ATTENTION TO SPIRITUAL LIFE, SOME OF THEM WANT TO MERGE INTO THE SUPREME SPIRITUAL CAUSE, AND SOME OF THEM DISBELIEVE IN EVERYTHING, BEING ANGRY AT ALL SORTS OF SPIRITUAL SPECULATION OUT OF HOPELESSNESS.

THIS LAST CLASS OF MEN TAKE TO THE SHELTER OF SOME KIND OF INTOXICATION, AND THEIR AFFECTIVE HALLUCINATIONS ARE SOMETIMES ACCEPTED AS SPIRITUAL VISION.

ONE HAS TO GET RID OF ALL THREE STAGES OF ATTACHMENT TO THE MATERIAL WORLD: NEGLIGENCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE, FEAR OF A SPIRITUAL PERSONAL IDENTITY, AND THE CONCEPTION OF VOID THAT UNDERLIES THE FRUSTRATION OF LIFE.

TO GET FREE FROM THESE THREE STAGES OF THE MATERIAL CONCEPT OF LIFE, ONE HAS TO TAKE COMPLETE SHELTER OF THE LORD, GUIDED BY THE BONA FIDE SPIRITUAL MASTER, AND FOLLOW THE DISCIPLINES AND REGULATIVE PRINCIPLES OF DEVOTIONAL LIFE.

THE LAST STAGE OF THE DEVOTIONAL LIFE IS CALLED BHAVA, OR TRANSCENDENTAL LOVE OF GODHEAD.

According to Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, the science of devotional service:

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango 'tha bhajana-kriya

tato 'nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha rucis tatah

athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudancati

sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah.

"IN THE BEGINNING ONE MUST HAVE A PRELIMINARY DESIRE FOR SELF-REALIZATION.

THIS WILL BRING ONE TO THE STAGE OF TRYING TO ASSOCIATE WITH PERSONS WHO ARE SPIRITUALLY ELEVATED.

IN NEXT STAGE ONE BECOMES INITIATED BY AN ELEVATED SPIRITUAL MASTER, AND UNDER HIS INSTRUCTION THE NEOPHYTE DEVOTEE BEGINS THE PROCESS OF DEVOTIONAL SERVICE.

BY EXECUTION OF DEVOTIONAL SERVICE UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF THE SPIRITUAL MASTER, ONE BECOMES FREE FROM ALL MATERIAL ATTACHMENT, ATTAINS STEADINESS IN SELF-REALIZATION, AND ACQUIRES A TASTE FOR HEARING ABOUT THE ABSOLUTE PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD, SRI KRSNA.

THIS TASTE LEADS ONE FURTHER FORWARD TO ATTACHMENT FOR KRSNA CONSCIOUSNESS, WHICH IS MATURED IN BHAVA, OR THE PRELIMINARY STAGE OF TRANSCENDENTAL LOVE OF GOD.

REAL LOVE FOR GOD IS CALLED PREMA, THE HIGHEST PERFECTIONAL STAGE OF LIFE." IN THE PREMA STAGE THERE IS CONSTANT ENGAGEMENT IN THE TRANSCENDENTAL LOVING SERVICE OF THE LORD.

SO, BY THE SLOW PROCESS OF DEVOTIONAL SERVICE, UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF THE BONA FIDE SPIRITUAL MASTER, ONE CAN ATTAIN THE HIGHEST STAGE, BEING FREED FROM ALL MATERIAL ATTACHMENT, FROM THE FEARFULNESS OF ONE'S INDIVIDUAL SPIRITUAL PERSONALITY, AND FROM THE FRUSTRATIONS RESULTING FROM VOID PHILOSOPHY.

THEN ONE CAN ULTIMATELY ATTAIN TO THE ABODE OF THE SUPREME LORD.

GITA-SHLOKA-4.9 ONE SHOULD CULTIVATE KRSNA CONSCIOUSNESS WITH FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE, AND IN THIS WAY ATTAIN PERFECTION. ONE CANNOT ATTAIN SALVATION, SIMPLY, SO TO SPEAK, BY LICKING THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE BOTTLE OF HONEY 24th July

TRANSLATION

ONE WHO KNOWS THE TRANSCENDENTAL NATURE OF MY APPEARANCE AND ACTIVITIES DOES NOT, UPON LEAVING THE BODY, TAKE HIS BIRTH AGAIN IN THIS MATERIAL WORLD, BUT ATTAINS MY ETERNAL ABODE, O ARJUNA.

PURPORT

The Lord's descent from His transcendental abode is already explained in the 6th verse.

ONE WHO CAN UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD IS ALREADY LIBERATED FROM MATERIAL BONDAGE, AND THEREFORE HE RETURNS TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD IMMEDIATELY AFTER QUITTING THIS PRESENT MATERIAL BODY.

SUCH LIBERATION OF THE LIVING ENTITY FROM MATERIAL BONDAGE IS NOT AT ALL EASY.

THE IMPERSONALISTS AND THE YOGIS ATTAIN LIBERATION ONLY AFTER MUCH TROUBLE AND MANY, MANY BIRTHS.

Even then, the liberation they achieve—merging into the impersonal brahmajyoti of the Lord—is only partial, and there is the risk of returning again to this material world.

BUT THE DEVOTEE, SIMPLY BY UNDERSTANDING THE TRANSCENDENTAL NATURE OF THE BODY AND ACTIVITIES OF THE LORD, ATTAINS THE ABODE OF THE LORD AFTER ENDING THIS BODY AND DOES NOT RUN THE RISK OF RETURNING AGAIN TO THIS MATERIAL WORLD.

In the Brahma-samhita it is stated that the Lord has many, many forms and incarnations: advaitam achyutam anadim ananta-rupam.

ALTHOUGH THERE ARE MANY TRANSCENDENTAL FORMS OF THE LORD, THEY ARE STILL ONE AND THE SAME SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD.

ONE HAS TO UNDERSTAND THIS FACT WITH CONVICTION, ALTHOUGH IT IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE TO MUNDANE SCHOLARS AND EMPIRIC PHILOSOPHERS.

As stated in the Vedas:

eko devo nitya-lilanurakto bhakta-vyapi hrdy antaratma.

"THE ONE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD IS ETERNALLY ENGAGED IN MANY, MANY TRANSCENDENTAL FORMS IN RELATIONSHIPS WITH HIS UNALLOYED DEVOTEES." THIS VEDIC VERSION IS CONFIRMED IN THIS VERSE OF THE GITA PERSONALLY BY THE LORD.

HE WHO ACCEPTS THIS TRUTH ON THE STRENGTH OF THE AUTHORITY OF THE VEDAS AND OF THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD AND WHO DOES NOT WASTE TIME IN PHILOSOPHICAL SPECULATIONS ATTAINS THE HIGHEST PERFECTIONAL STAGE OF LIBERATION.

SIMPLY BY ACCEPTING THIS TRUTH ON FAITH, ONE CAN, WITHOUT A DOUBT, ATTAIN LIBERATION.

The Vedic version, "tattvamasi," is actually applied in this case.

ANYONE WHO UNDERSTANDS LORD KRSNA TO BE THE SUPREME, OR WHO SAYS UNTO THE LORD, "YOU ARE THE SAME SUPREME BRAHMAN, THE PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD" IS CERTAINLY LIBERATED INSTANTLY, AND CONSEQUENTLY HIS ENTRANCE INTO THE TRANSCENDENTAL ASSOCIATION OF THE LORD IS GUARANTEED.

IN OTHER WORDS, SUCH A FAITHFUL DEVOTEE OF THE LORD ATTAINS PERFECTION, AND THIS IS CONFIRMED BY THE FOLLOWING VEDIC ASSERTION:

tam eva viditvatimrtyumeti nanyah pantha vidyate ayanaya.

ONE CAN ATTAIN THE PERFECT STAGE OF LIBERATION FROM BIRTH AND DEATH SIMPLY BY KNOWING THE LORD, THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD.

THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE BECAUSE ANYONE WHO DOES NOT UNDERSTAND LORD KRSNA AS THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD IS SURELY IN THE MODE OF IGNORANCE.

CONSEQUENTLY HE WILL NOT ATTAIN SALVATION, SIMPLY, SO TO SPEAK, BY LICKING THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE BOTTLE OF HONEY, OR BY INTERPRETING THE BHAGAVAD-GITA ACCORDING TO MUNDANE SCHOLARSHIP.

SUCH EMPIRIC PHILOSOPHERS MAY ASSUME VERY IMPORTANT ROLES IN THE MATERIAL WORLD, BUT THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY ELIGIBLE FOR LIBERATION.

SUCH PUFFED UP MUNDANE SCHOLARS HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE CAUSELESS MERCY OF THE DEVOTEE OF THE LORD.

ONE SHOULD THEREFORE CULTIVATE KRSNA CONSCIOUSNESS WITH FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE, AND IN THIS WAY ATTAIN PERFECTION.