Chapter Fifteen
Ambition of Life
by
Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj
We don’t like to live in this material world that is so nasty. We are trying to realise how to live in the land of the soul. We are soul, and we should live there.
yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama
[Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna: “That is My all-illuminating holy abode from which the surrendered souls never return once having reached there.”]
ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino ’rjuna
mām upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate
[“O Arjuna, beginning from Brahmaloka, the highest planet in the universe, downwards, certainly the residents of all planets are naturally subjected to repeated birth and death. But, O Kaunteya, upon reaching Me, there is no rebirth.”]
It is coming into being, then again vanishing. It is being created, then destroyed. Creation and destruction is the nature of this plane of life, and we must leave this dress and find our ‘soul’ person and live in the plane of soul beyond the jurisdiction of this world. This is achieved by the use of our intelligence and mainly by the causeless mercy of the Vaiṣṇava — sukṛti. Sukṛti when accumulated creates śraddhā for the unseen cause. What is seen becomes neglected, and appreciation grows for what is unseen. The unseen is more reliable. The ‘unseen’ means that which is not under material experience, but it is more reliable than this place of ‘concrete’ life which is sure to go — and not only mine, but everyone’s. So, this bogus plane should not be trusted any longer. We must seek somewhere else. If we enter within our heart, we shall find that, yes, there is mind, there is intelligence, there is soul, Supersoul, and so on in the subtle world. Whereas this seen world is proven to be of change and destruction.
Our ambition of life is the higher plane of Kṛṣṇa. We want to live in a country where the general insult and disregard is absent.
We can live an honourable life there. Whereas this plane is sure to go, and we see it every day and at every moment. Yudhiṣṭhir Mahārāj said, “What is more wonderful than this? Every day we see everything going to the jaws of death, but we are not preparing ourselves for that. Instead our tendency is that as much time as possible we shall stay here.”
The whole of our energy we are using almost for nothing. We are using our energy for impossibility. I shall have to leave, and, all of us, we shall have to leave this place. Still, we want to give so much attention to building houses and this and that.
For this reason we are making Temples, etc., so that in this way so many persons’ energy will be used for the purpose of the Lord and they will be saved. Energy should be used for Him, and that is the way in which we can go to His land. All aspects of our life should be utilised for His service, and that is the royal road to go swiftly to His domain. The whole energy should be used for His purpose.
Everything is for Him. We must realise this truth. Nothing is for us, and I am also for Him. The Infinite, the Absolute, is such in His nature and His very existence that everything is for Him. At present we are separatists thinking, “This is mine; I may be monarch of all I survey.” But this is the anti-current that has taken us far away from Him, thus causing us to become prey to death and disease.