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DISCOVER YOURSELF - A tryst with eternal beauty

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Reproduced from the book ~ " A tryst with eternal beauty " compiled by
Radheshyam Das M. Tech. (IIT)Director, BACE Pune.

More books click here -http://www.radheshyamdas.com/radheshyamDasCom/booksRadheshyamDas.html

Beauty is the universal attractive principle in this world, everyone in this world is
spontaneously attracted to anything beautiful.but unfortunately all beauty in this world is
untrue,in the sense that it is painfully fleeting. One moment a thing appears beautiful and the
next moment that beauty vanishes.Such beauty therefore has no truth in it.

The question is therefore begs itself: are 'truth' and 'beauty' compatible? One may say that the
truth is not always beautiful;indeed,it is often unpleasant.How can one express truth and beauty
at tha same time?

We can emphatically assert that the actual truth,which is absolute, is always beautiful.The truth
is so beautiful that it attracts everyone,including the truth itself.Truth is so beautiful that many
sages,saints and devotees have left everything for the sake of the truth.Mahatma gandhi
dedicated his life to experimenting with the truth.Everyone of us has to urge to search for truth
alone,for the absolute truth is not only all beautiful,but also powerful,all-resourceful,all-famous,
all-renounced and all-knowledgeable.

Unfortunately 99 % of the population is chasing after the mirage of untruth in the mane of truth.
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We are actually attracted by the beauty of truth, but since time immemorial we have been
habituated to love of untruth appearing like truth.Therefore to the mondaner,"truth" and
"beauty" are incomapatible terms.

THE MUNDANE AND THE SUPERMUNDANE

In modern society,the material body,which is simply a lump of flesh destined to become ashes or
animal stool at death, is unfortunately mistaken to be the real personality and is given all
importance.And the spirit soul-the driving living force of everybody-is altogether neglected due
to blind absorption in bodily consiousness. The real substance (spirit soul) is forgotten; the
shadow (body)is given all importance.

Ask yourself this question: Who am I? Am I this body or am i different from the body? While
living this body is filled with flesh,bones,stool and many nore abdominal substances and covered
in a nice package of skin and after death, it returns into ashes or undergoes organic decay. Once
a scientist analyzed all the chemicals present in the body and the market cost of the components
of the body put together was just Rs.110/-.

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Now it is serious question: Am I this body? or am i the soul,different from the body? A proper
authoritative answer to this question can palce you on the royal road back to the kingdom of
God.Unfortunately the whole world is busy in the rat race of neconomic development for
increasing the comforts of the body.This endeavor can be considered successful and fruitful if
only we were these bodies; if we are not, then all efforts to amass wealth,acquire degress,
purchase bungalows etc., go in vain and get lost in the sands of time.

Come, let's try to understand the supramundane spiritual reality - the atma or soul-- which acts
as the prime mover of the body through an interesting story.

Once a man,who was very powerful and strongly built but whose character was very doubtful,
fell in love with a beautiful girl.The girl was not only beautiful in appearance, but also saintly in
character,and,as such, she did not like the man's advances.The man, however, was insistent
because of his lustful desires, and therefore the girl requested him to wait only seven days, ans
she set a time after that he could meet her. The man agreed and, with great expectations, he
began waiting for the appointed time. The saintly girl,however, in order to manifest the illusory
beauty of he material body and the real beauty of the absolute truth, adopted a very instructive
method. She took very strong doses of laxatives and purgatives, and, for seven days, she
continually passed loose stool and vomittted all that she ate. Moreover, she stored all the loose
stool and vomit in suitable pots. As a result of the purgatives, the so-called beautiful girl became
very lean and thin like a skeleton, her complextion turned blackish, and her beautiful eyes sank
into the sockets of her skull. Thus disfigured, she waited anxiously at the appointed hour to
receive the eager man.

The man appeared on the scene well dressed and well behaved and asked the ugly girl he found
waiting there about the beautiful girl he was to meet.The man could not recognize the girl he
saw was the same beautiful girl for whom he was asking; indeed, although she repeatedly
asserted her identity, because of her pitiable condition he was unable to recognize her.

At last the girl told her suitor that she had separated the ingredients of her beauty and stored

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then in pots. She also told him that he could enjoy those juices of beauty. When the mundane
poetic man asked to see these juices of beauty, he was directed to the store of loose stool and
liquid vomit, which were emanating an unbearably bad smell. Thus the whole story of the beauty-
liquid was disclosed to him. Finally, by the grace of hte saintly girl, thos man of low character
was able to distinguish between the shadow and the substance, and thus he came to his senses.

This man's position was similar to the position of everyone of us who is attracted by the false,
material beauty. The girl mentione above had a very beautifully developed material body in
accordance with the deaires of her mind. She was, in fact, a spiritual spark, and so also was the
lover who was attracted by her false skin.

Mundane intellectuals and atheists, however, are deluded by the outward beauty and
attraction of the relative truth and are unaware of the spiritual spark, which is both truth and
beauty at the same time.The spiritual spark is so beautiful that, when it leaves the so-called
beautiful body, which infact is full of stool and vomit, no one wants to touch that body, even if it
is decorated with costly costume.

We are all pursuing a false, relative truth, which is incompatible with real beauty. The actual
truth, however, is permanently beautiful, retaining the same standard of beauty for innumerable
years. That spiritual spark is indestructible. The beauty of outer skin can be destroyed in just a
few hours merely by dose of strong purgative, but the beauty of truth is indestructible and
always the same.

This story can be a eye opener to the modern youths, who are misguide dby the roaring
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propaganda of the materialistic civilization. Let us take a break from our hectic lives, sit
leisurely for a while and think introspectively about what we are living for.

Modern Civilization - CAGE POLISHING CULTURE

Once a rich lady brought a gold plated cage for her parrot. She became so absorbed in polishing
the cage that she forgot to feed the parrot within the cage and consequently, the parrot became
very weak. The body can be compared to the cage and the soul - the living principle - can be
compared to the parrot in the cage. So, if someone takes very good care of the cage by polishing
it very carefully and keeping it clean, but ignores the needs of the parrot, then the whole
purpose of keeping the parrot in the cage is defeated. Jesus asked, "What profiteth am man if he
gains the whole world yet suffers the loss of his eternal soul?"

Today's society is centered on increasing one's necessities by depending more and more on
machines and technological gadgets. People are making unimaginably elaborate arrangements
for bodily comforts and luxuries but spiritually everyone is starving and hence everyone is
suffering. Just as a car needs pertrol for running and the driver needs food, similarly our
material body needs food for sustenance and our soul has to be fed spiritual food - spiritual
knowledge and spiritual engagement. The human body is awarded with special intelligence to
inquire about the Absolute Truth. And such inquiry is essential, because it alone can satisfy the
soul. Therefore, one should work only to earn one's sustenance abd spend the balance time,
energy and resources in understanding the ultimate goal of life and freeing oneself fron the
cycle of birth and death.

At this stage, some foolish persons may argue, "I am not interested in spirituality. I
don't care whether the soul exists or not. I simply live my own way and enjoy life." But the fact is
that no one is allowed to live peacefully in this world unless he cultivates spiritual knowledge.

Problems - REAL AND RELATIVE

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Everyone in this world faces varieties of problems. We are living in the strange relative world.
After diwali, there may be a long queue of tooth ache patients outside the dentist's clinic. But the
patient's pain is the dentist's joy. Thus one man's food is another man's poison. These problems
are relative, that is, they may be of concern to one but not to another.

A problem can be considered real if it fulfills the following three criteria:

. It is common to all.
. Nobody wants it.
. Nobody can avoid it.

In this light, the real problems in life are birth, oldage, disease and death and the threefold
miseries namely
. Miseries caused by one's own mind and body (adhyatmika) e.g., stress, depression, backache
etc.
. Miseries caused by other living entities (adhibhautika) e.g., envious competitors, mosquitoes,
germs etc.
. Miseries caused by nature (adhidaivika) e.g., floods, famines, earthquakes etc.

BIRTH : Birth is an extremely painful period for the living entity. For ten long months, the
humas fetus lies cramped within the darkness of the womb, suffering severly, scorched by the
mother's gastric fire, continually jolted by sudden movements, and feeling constant pressure
from being contained in small sack, which surrounds the body in the womb. This tight,
constricting pocket forces the child's back to arch constantly like a bow. Further, hungry worms
in the abdominal cavity torment the unborn child. The child passes stook and urine in the same
pocket. After sometime, the same stool and urine, mixed with his hair becomes his food. Such is
the misery of birth.

OLD AGE :There is indescribable suffering in old age. No one wants to grow old. But by the
power of inevitable time, everyone is force to grow old. No one cares for an old man. His relatives
are constantly thinking: "When will this oldman pass away?" This is harsh reality. An aged
person becomes unwanted burden in the family. These days many youngsters prefer putting
their old parents and grand parents in old age homes. There these old people dont get any love.
So they try to love cats and dogs in order to have something to live for. Besides having to
helplessly endure the intolerable mental agony of neglect and disrespect, the old are also
inflicted by their bodies with an ever-increasing variety of painful and debilitating diseases.

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DISEASE : Today people are proud that medical science has prolonged the average human life
span. But the fact is that we amy be living longer than our ancestors, but we are not happier
than them. By prolonging our life, we are only increasing our pain. There are so many different
kinds of diseases. Though medical science os trying to find out remedies for them, medical
history shows that by the time science finds the cure for one disease, another, even more deadly
disease come up, as happened in the case of cancer, syphilis, gonorrhea, AIDS etc. We may cure
one disease for some time, but we cannot cure per se. The pain suffered through disease is a
common experience for everyone and needs no expalnation.

DEATH :In Garuda Purana, one of the ancient vedic scriptures, it is mentioned that death is
extremely painful and dying person experiences a pain that is equivalent to the simultaneous
biting of 40,000 scorpions. The great sage Kapila informs his mother about the ghastly nature of
death experience. "In that diseased condition the dying person's eyes bulge due to the pressure
of air from within, and his glands become congested with mucus. He has difficulty in breathing,
and there is a rattling sound within his throat...Thus he dies most pathetically [Srimad
Bhagavatam 3.30.16-18]. The soul is so habituated to living in the body that he must be forced out
by the laws of nature at the time of death. Just as a person suffers greatly when he is forcebly
evicted from his home, similarly the soul suffers immensely when he is forcibly kicked out of the
body. In nature, we see that even the tiniest creatures display the most amazing abilities and
techniques for escaping death when their lives are threatened. But as death is inevitable for all
living beings, so are the fear and pain associated with it.

So it is very imprtant to perceive the evils of birth, oldage, disease and death.

The Threefold MISERIES OF MATERIAL NATURE

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Some people may argue, "The problems of birth, oldage, disease and death come only once in a
while. we can just ignore them and enjoy life for the remaining time.' But over and above these
four unsolvable problems, at every moment also, everyone is suffering due to at aleast one of the
threefold miseries. These are:

Miseries caused by one's own mind and body (adhyatmika klesha): The body and the mind cause
numerous problems. Some examples are: Every third American is forced to consult a psychiatrist
due to mental frustration. In oldage, the deteriorating body gives variety of problems. For
example, once a person grows beyond 80 years, he can neither sit nor stand without agonizing
back pain.

Miseries caused by other living entities (adhibhautika klesha): Even if you have healthy body
and mind, others will not let you to live in peace. Even if everything is nicely arranged in your
life, some other living entity, such us your enemy, boss, collegue, relative, family member or
friend, or, if no one else, then a mosquito or a virus, is sure to make your life miserable. For
example, sometimes we see even so-called educated people in cities fighting in the court for a
common verandah outside the flats for years together. Thus the lives of both of them become
miserable due to the unnecessary anxiety caused by the other party.

Miseries caused by nature (adhidaivika klesha): Floods, droughts, famines, earthquakes,

hurricanes, etc are devastating calamities imposed upon us through the agency of nature. Even
if these come only occasionally they wreck havoc whenever they come. And moreover, we are
being constantly tormented by the changes in the weather such as scorching heat, freezing cold,
untimely rains and so on.

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Who can say that they are being harassed twenty-four hours by these problems? Any intelligent
person will naturally ask : why are these miseries imposed upon ME?

An analogy will answer this question. In this world, the law-abiding citizens are allowed to live
happily in the countey, but those who are criminals are put in the jail. Of course both the law-
abiding citizens as well as rebellious criminals are under the control of the government and the
government provides all the necessary facilities to both of them. Although the criminal is put in
the jail, still the goverment provides him food, clothing, shelter and even medication, but under
punishment. Similarly the rebellious living entities, who are not ready to serve the Lord, are
unfit to live in the kingdom of God. So they are sent to this material world which is exactly like a
jail. God has provided us food, water, air, light etc but all these facilities are provided under the
punishment of the threefold miseries of the material nature.

Scientific solutions : STOPGAP And TEMPORARY :All endeavors made in science are meant to
reduce the miseries of man and increase his comforts. A fan is used to reduce the misery of
swaeting. A grinder is used to avoid the misery of maual grinding. A motor cycle is used to avoid
the misery of pedaling a cycle. These are simple examples. In a similar way, all advances in
science, technology and medicine are aimed at putting an end to miseries or at least reducing
them. However scientific advancement provides only temporary stopgap solutions to mans
problems; they once again come up to the surface in some other form. There is a very instructive
story to explain this point. Once a man got a boil in his body. A doctor gave him an ointment to
apply on it. He applied it and got cured. He was happy. But after a few days, he got a similar boil
in another part of his body. He again went to the doctor. The doctor asked him to keep applying
the ointment whenever the boil came. But the suffering man asked the doctor, " That's alright.
But everytime i get the boil, it lasts for a week and througout that week, i have to endure severe
pain. Is there no way to put an end to this problem altogether?" The doctor kept mum, because
he knew no permanent solution to the boil problem. The patient went to another doctor, who
could understand the root-cause of the problem- impurity in the blood. He treated the patient's
blood and the patient was permanently cured.

What do we infer from this example ? Orginally we are all spirit souls, but now, having come to
this material world, we are identifying ourselves with the material body. Because of this
misidentification, there are so many problems and science is seeking superficial solutions. But
the problems keep reaeting just as the patient had trouble with the boils again and again. This is
because people do not know the root cause of the problem - misidentification of oneself with
matter. Due to such misidentification, the spirit soul is forced to undergo the cycle of repeated
birth, old age, disease and death.

Can our modern science solve these real problems? No Never! How can we be so confident that
science can never offer solution to these problems? It is because science can offer only material
solutions and no material adjustment or manipulaion can stop these problems. Therefore,

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spiritual solution is the only way out. At best, science can offer temporary stopgap patch-up
solutions - nothing more.

Science may find techniques to patch up our grey hair with dyes and straighten the shriveled
skin with face-lift to cover up old age. The cosmetic industry is booming due to the fear of old
age and the insurance industry is booming due to the fear of death. We may use wigs, cosmetics,
false tooth sets, coolong glasses, nail polishes etc. But these are no solutions; they are only
'covering up' the harsh realities of life. The body is, after all, a dead corpse, which is bound to
decay and die. Where is the solution to death, old age, disease and repeated birth.

We can arrive at the solution to these problems only when we know the root cause of all
existence, the source of all beauty and the absolute truth - God. There is no ther way to get out of
these sufferings permanently

Is SPIRITUAL LIFE ESCAPISM ? :Sometimes materialistic people accuse spiritualist saying,

"You say we are foaming and working like donkeys. But you, spiritulists, are escapists. If you are
courageous, why dont you face the world and its complex solutions? You are running away from
the society. You cannot face the reality and so you are seeking refuge in God simply on a
sentimental platform"

This is to be anaytically studied - Who is escaping and who is facing the reality. Actually
spiritual life means to face the reality. We are trying to find the root causes of the problems. But
the philosophy of the materialists is to cover up the reality and the miseries through science and
technology so that they are not obviously seen. A few examples can make this point clear

1. Why do people see TV? In cities when people come back from their job, they immediately
switch on the TV. They dont even talk to their family members and children. Why ? This is
because, hteir minds are filled with so many problems - problems in the office, problems in
promotion, problems with family members, worries due to unfulfilled goals, fear of forthcoming
problems etc. The moment they switch on the TV it hepls them to forget about the problems.

And what is the result of seeing TV ? Children lose creativity and become caught up in the
moving illusion on the screen. Majority of the TV shows promote serials which encourage people
to indulge more and more in sense enjoyment. Already people have no fund of spiritual
knowledge because of which they commit so many sinful activities and are consequently
awaiting severe punishment by the laws of nature in the future. TV bombards their minds with
more nonsense, and this ends up making them polished two legged animals. They make a show of
being gentle, but within their hearts and minds are filled up with garbage.

2. All the advertising industries are used to simply cover up the reality. The reality is that people
are going to miserable in this material world, whatevre they may do, until and unless they seek a
spiritual solution. But every advertisement says, " Just use this product and you will become
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happy ". The advertsiement thus use the weakness of people to exploit them. For example, a
cigarette advertisement says, " I get what I want 1" Is that reality ? Yes ! He may or may not get
what he wants but he certainly gets teeth problems, bronchitis, cancer etc !In this way people
are put in conditions which make them miserable.[ Misery means to get what you dont want and
not to get what you want].

Is there any sensible person who can say, "I get what i want and dont get what i dont want " ? No.
Whether a person is rich or poor doesn't make any difference, because everyone is in a jail. Some
people are in an A class jail(the rich), some are in a B class jail(the middle class), and some are in
C class jail(the downtrodden). Whatever be the class, a jail is a jail. Such advertisements as
mentioned above atrract the heart of the living entities, because living entities here dont get
what they want.

3. Similarly, all the cosmetics like 'Fair and lovely' , scents and hair dyes are all sold to hide the
decaying nature of the material body.

Thus the glittering illusory energy of today gives a call to the confused living entities, "Dont
worry ! come on ! There is no suffering here !" And they think, " O ! it looks that there is some
hope for me here after all". The razzle-dazzle of the five star hotel culture is so tempting that we
think that it can make us happy. Actually it is simply mass propaganda to swamp us and
overwhelm our intelligence to cover the reality of our suffering situation. However one who
succumbs to such propaganda suffers the most at the time of death, regretting, "I have wasted
my life". But by then its too late.

So materialistic life means new and ingenuous ways of covering up reality. We need to have an X-
ray vision to see through these artificial coverings, into the real problems of life - birth, oldage,
disease and death.

In the world, there is a great competition going on between the cheaters and the cheated. Do you
know what is the slogan of salesman ? " The best salesmanis the one who can sella fridge to an
Eskimo". Beg, steal, borrow, bribe or cheat, somehow or other, get money and enjoy or, atleast,
survive. This is the philosophy of people today. They are completely ignorant of the easy and
simple spiritual techniques to lead a life of " Simple living & high thinking"

Therefore we have to strongly refute the materialists, "It is you who are running away from
reality." An Ostrich may put his head into the ground when his enemy is coming to eat him,
nevertheless his enemy is going to eat him. A soldier may fall to the ground and close his eyes to
forget the enemy bomb, but the bomb is going to explode and kill him. Similarly there is
suffering in this world - birth, old age, disease and death. By turning one's face to the other side
and trying to hide from these realities, one cannot escape them. Devotees want to legitimately
face the reality in a bonafide way and people call them 'escapists'. Yes ! we certainly want to

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escape from suffering. It requires intelligence to even understand that we are suffering and to
seek a solution to get out of it.

So an intelligent human being should approach scriptures like Bhagavad gita, seek shelter of a
bona fide spiritual master, learn his spiritual duties from him and practise them to get purified.
Although Arjuna was a great king and warrior, he was bewildered about his duties on the
battlefield of Kurukshetra. He surrendered to Lord Krishna and accepted him as his spiritual
master. By receiving the divine teachings of Bhagavad gita, he achieved enlightenment and
perfection. We should follow in the footsteps of a great devotee like Arjuna.

ART OF LIVING : - OUR CHOICE -

FLICKERING PLEASURE
Or
EVERLASTING BLISS

The whole world is trying to eliminate suffering and unlimitedly increase pleasure, but no
matter how much they endeavor, the result is only suffering. Why? What is wrong ? Atleast this
repeated frustration can bring one to the platform of sanity, to the understanding that there
must be some supreme controller who is conducting this world to behave in a particular way. A
Godless civilization centered around a rat race for sense gratification can never bring about
peace and harmony; it can only bring about war and dissatisfaction.

Have you observed carefully that God through the agency of nature, is encouraging you when
you do good things and discouraging you when you do bad things? We can show vivid examples
to substantiate this. People who indulge in illicit sex get AIDS and lose all immunity in the body
due to which they may die by contracting even a minor disorder like cold or fever. People who
take tobacco, liquor etc., undergo varieties of complications. These are evidences to show that
God does not want them to indulge in these things. A sensible hoarding said, "Jhing ksanaachi
vaat maranaachi". This is a Marathi phrase, which means Things like cigarette, drugs etc., may
give a momentary kick or pleasure but they pave the road to death. On the other hand those who
perform mantra meditation and cultivate the virtuous qualities of humility, sense control,
austerity, cleanliness, tolerance, honesty etc., do not suffer from such complicated ailments. In
fact, they achieve peace of mind and happiness.In the vedas, God has given us a suitable
program for the benefit of the body, the mind and the soul

Every religion, in the essence, talks of a kingdom of God to which the soul belongs. The soul is
constitutionally a resident of the eternal realm. The Supreme Lord is one amongst many souls,
who are all subordinate to him. Every soul is endowed with a minute independence either to
choose to love and serve God or to be independent of God and struggle for illusory so called
enjoyment in this material world. The souls in this world have chosen the second option.

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Those who are willing to surrender to God through a bona fide spiritual master in the disciplic
succession(parampara), by following the instructions mentioned in the revealed scriptures, are
called devotees and God personally takes charge of their protection and maintenance. And God's
external energy takes charge of punishing the other living entities. Just like any government has
a prison department to deal with the criminals, God has created this material world for the
rebellious souls to enjoy(or in illusion think they are enjying). The soul being part nad parcel of
God, can be happy only when he is serving God with love and devotion and not otherwise. The
living being who desires to enjoy independent of God will never get satisfaction exactly like a
fish out of water can never be satisfied with any amount of comforts. Only when the fish is put
back in its orginal position in the water can it become completely happy. Similarly the spirit soul
can be happy only in the spiritual world which is his orginal home. The so-called facilities and
comforts of the material world can never satisfy the pure soul who is in search of eternal bliss
through loving union with God.

Material World - A PERVERTED REFLECTION : In Bhagavad gita, Lord Krishna says that the
material world is a perverted reflection of the spiritual world. Real society, friendship and love
exist in the spiritual world - but the material world is a temporary existence similar to a mirage
in a desert. We are informed of this so that we may not wander like a restless foolish animal in
search of water in the desert. This, however, does not mean that water is not available anywhere.
Water is available in huge rivers and oceans. Similarly the material world is a wrong place to
search for happiness and such a search only leads to frustration. This, however, does not mean
that nobody can find happiness anywhere. Real happiness lies in the spiritual world and can be
achieved by loving surrender to God.

The spiritual world is like a mango tree on the bank of a river, which has many ripe mangoes
hanging from it. The material world is like the perverted(upside down)reflection of that mango
tree in the river waters. If a fool dives into the river in search of mangoes, can he obtain any
mangoes? All that he will obtain is a broken head.In the same way, this material world is a
perverted reflection of the spiritual world. Therefore one should not try to enjoy life through
material sense gratification; instead one should intelligently regulate the senses in the service to
God and achieve everlasting spiritual pleasure.

The GOAL of LIFE : PURIFICATION of the HEART & GLORIFICATION of the LORD : If we
approach people and ask them, "What is the goal of your life? What do you want to achieve by all
your endeavors?" generally they will talk about their various materialistic plans having no
connection whatsoever with the soul. It may even take them an entire lifetime to fulfill all those
plans, but even if they somehow succeed, they will have to be leave everything behind at the
time of death. The scriptures, therefore, expalin that one's main goal in life must be the
purification of one's heart of all contaminating desires against the will of Lord. We must
essentially purify ourselves of the six primary misgivings(anarthas) in the heart - Lust, anger,
greed, pride, envy and illusion. As long as these misgivings continue to remain in our hearts it is

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impossible to develop divine and noble qualities. We should also glorify God with all our hearts,
an activity that is natural for every living being.

SEEING the EVERLASTING TRUTH & BEAUTY FACE to FACE : When human society forgets its
prime duty of serving God due to improper education, it fails in its endeavor for happiness and
peace. The word 'education' comes from the Greek word 'educare', which means ' to draw out
that which is within'. True education therefore, does not mean just imposing volumes of
information into our brains, as is done in the modern times; it means to revive our orginal
knowledge about ourselves, about God and our relationship with him. When, due to ignorance,
we do not serve God, we are forced to serve mammon. Presently, we have forgotten our relation
with God and hence we should learn the process of yoga as described in the vedic texts, by which
we can revive our loving relation with the Supreme Lord. There are various processes like jnana
yoga, ashtanga yoga etc., for attaining the supreme, but in this age of kali, which is described as
the age of quarrel and hypocricy, there is only one way - the chanting of the holy names of the
Lord. This is confirmed in the Brhad-naradiya Purana :
harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevala 1
kalau nastyva nastyva nastya gatir anyatha 11

"In this age of Kali, the only process of self-realization is the chanting of the name of Lord Hari,
the chating of the name of the Lord Hari, the chanting of the name of Lord Hari. There is no other
way, there is no other way, there is no other way."

There are hundreds and thousands of names of God and all of them are very powerful. But the
Kali-santarana Upanishad specifically mentions a maha-mantra or, the great chant for
deliverance, which is called the Hare Krishna maha-mantra :

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA

KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

The glory of this mahamantra is that it is non-different from the Lord Himself. In the material
world, a substance and its name are different. For example the substance 'water' and the word
'water' are different; so a thirsty man may keep on yelling the word 'water' hundreds of times,
but his thirst is not going to be quenched until someone brings him the substance 'water'. On the
contrary his thirst is is only going to increase. But in the spiritual realm, all the living beings as
well as the Supreme Lord are absolute. Thusthe holy name of the Lord is non-different from him,
that is, by regularly chanting the holy names of the Lord, we can actually perceive his presence
in those names.

Although the words in the mahamantra may appear to be a mere combination of some alphabets,
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nonetheless they are spiritual seeds. Just like a child cannot understand how a 500-rupee
currency note is different from an ordinary newspaper, a common man may not appreciate the
special spiritual potency of this holy vibration as compared to ordinary mundane words.Even if
one is unable to understand the potency of the Hare Krishna maha mantra, still one can chant it
and gain the benefit of the medicine administered by a doctor even if he does not know his
potency.

The Supreme Lord is all-attractive. He is therefore supremely beautiful. When a living entity
sees that Lord face to face, his tryst with eternal beauty is forever fulfilled. All his desires are
fully satisfied and he lives an eternal life of bliss and knowledge.

Simply by the sincere chanting of the holy names of the Lord, one can achieve the ultimate goal
of life of seeing everlasting beauty face to face. That stage is the perfection of one's life. In that
stage, one will feel boundless joy due to one's loving relationship with the Lord and one will
never depart from the truth even for a moment.

HARE - KRISHNA

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HARE - KRISHNA

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