View source for This body is meant for suffering miseries, and the land is meant for suffering miseries. That we do not understand. But we are placed in a miserable condition all round. That is material life

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{{terms|"This body is meant for suffering miseries, and the land is meant for suffering miseries. That we do not understand. But we are placed in a miserable condition all round. That is material life"}}
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[[Category:Bodily Sufferings]]
[[Category:is Meant For]]
[[Category:Material Suffering]]
[[Category:Miseries]]
[[Category:land]]
[[Category:We Do Not]]
[[Category:Do Not Understand]]
[[Category:we Are]]
[[Category:Placed]]
[[Category:Miserable Condition]]
[[Category:Miserable Life]]
[[Category:All Around]]
[[Category:That Is Material Life]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Lectures" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures"><h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonSB32544BombayDecember121974_0" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="464" link="Lecture on SB 3.25.44 -- Bombay, December 12, 1974" link_text="Lecture on SB 3.25.44 -- Bombay, December 12, 1974">
<div class="heading">This body is meant for suffering miseries, and the land is meant for suffering miseries. That we do not understand. But we are placed in a miserable condition all round. That is material life. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). But we have got attachment for this material happiness, even it is duḥkhālayam, it is very much painful, miserable, and we are making plans how to become happy here. This is called struggle for existence.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 3.25.44 -- Bombay, December 12, 1974|Lecture on SB 3.25.44 -- Bombay, December 12, 1974]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Nitāi: "Therefore persons whose minds are fixed on the Lord engage in the intensive practice of devotional service. That is the only means for attainment of the final perfection of life."</p>
<p>Prabhupāda:</p>
:etāvān eva loke 'smin
:puṁsāṁ niḥśreyasodayaḥ
:tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
:mano mayy arpitaṁ sthiram
:([[Vanisource:SB 3.25.44|SB 3.25.44]])
<p>This is the conclusion of bhakti-yoga. Kapiladeva has explained bhakti-yoga. In the last verse we have discussed jñāna-vairāgya-yuktena bhakti-yogena ([[Vanisource:SB 3.25.43|SB 3.25.43]]). Bhakti-yoga is not the business of the foolish or ignorant. One who is advanced in jñāna-vairāgya, knowledge and renunciation... Another name of bhakti-yoga is renunciation. Vairāgya-vidyā. Bhakti-yoga means the education of renouncement. Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he explained bhakti-yoga, vairāgya-vidyā. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 6.254|CC Madhya 6.254]]). Yes. The bhakti-yoga begins when we accept Kṛṣṇa's instruction, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja ([[Vanisource:BG 18.66 (1972)|BG 18.66]]). We have to renounce all nonsense engagement. That is called sarva-dharmān. We have accepted everything as dharma, saṁsāra-dharma, gṛhastha-dharma, rāja-dharma, samājika-dharma. There are so many we have created. And we are still going on. Dharma means function, characteristic.</p>
<p>So we are planning, one after another, various plans to be very happy in this material world. But they will not make us happy—that's a fact—because this place is certified by the Supreme Personality of Godhead as duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam: ([[Vanisource:BG 8.15 (1972)|BG 8.15]]) "This is a place for misery." This material world is a place for misery. This body is meant for suffering miseries, and the land is meant for suffering miseries. That we do not understand. But we are placed in a miserable condition all round. That is material life. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam ([[Vanisource:BG 8.15 (1972)|BG 8.15]]). But we have got attachment for this material happiness, even it is duḥkhālayam, it is very much painful, miserable, and we are making plans how to become happy here. This is called struggle for existence. It is going on perpetually. We are making some plan to be happy, and it is dismantled by the laws of nature. You study the whole history of the world: it is simply struggling. We are making some plan to be out of miserable condition, but it is causing another miserable condition. Therefore it is called daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā ([[Vanisource:BG 7.14 (1972)|BG 7.14]]). This is māyā. We are simply planning to overcome some problem, some difficulties, but it is becoming more difficult. This is the fact.</p>
<p>Therefore our determination should be to renounce this association of this world. That is called mukti. Renounce this material association and come to the spiritual platform. Because we are spirit soul, our real place is spiritual platform. Our activities should be on the spiritual platform. Then we will be happy. The same example, as I have given many times, that we are animals of the land, so if we are put into the water, then however expert swimmer I may be or you may be, it is simply struggle for existence. There cannot be any happiness in the water. But if you are taken out of the water and put again into the land, then you get relief. So that is the position. We have come to this material world for sense gratification. The more expertly we make plan for our sense gratification, it will never be successful. So we have to come out of these material activities and act on the platform of spiritual life. That will make us.</p>
<p>Therefore it is said, etāvān eva loka 'smin puṁsāṁ niḥśreyasa udayaḥ. Udayaḥ means rising. Just like sūryodayaḥ. In the darkness... At night, we are in the darkness. In the morning there will be sūryodayaḥ, and then there will be light. So this is conclusion, that in this material world we are simply struggling for existence with a hope, future hope, that "We shall be happy by this plan." But it will never be possible. Simply you will be bewildered. Just like the animal goes to the desert, and he sees mirage, a shadow of water in the desert. He is thirsty. He goes to the water, and the water goes again, farther away. And he jumps over, jumps over. In this way, being thirsty and in the hot sand, he dies. This is called māyā-marīcikā. Our struggle for existence is like that. We are thinking, "Let me go little farther, and we shall be happy." But actually, where is the water? There is no water in the desert. But those who are less intelligent, like animal, they seek happiness here in this material world. Just like the animal running after water in the desert. Māyā-marīcikā.</p>
<p>So these attachments, this false attachment, has to be given up. And that is possible when we engage ourself in the bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga.</p>
:etāvān eva loke 'smin
:puṁsāṁ niḥśreyasodayaḥ
:tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
:mano mayy arpitaṁ sthiram
:([[Vanisource:SB 3.25.44|SB 3.25.44]])
<p>Tīvreṇa means very seriously, not superficially. Tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena. Kṛṣṇa wants to see that "Whether he has finished his all material desires?" Then He is very much pleased. He says, sarva-dharmān paritya... Sarva-dharmān means we have created so many dharmas. That is not dharma; that is... Dharma, we generally become so-called religious for artha, for money. Dharma-artha. Artha, money, is required. Why? For sense gratification, kāma. And when we are dissatisfied, then we want mokṣa. Therefore, we are actually busy with four kinds of activities: Dharma-artha-kāma-mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). And above these, when we go above these, then bhakti begins. That is the beginning of bhakti. That wanted.</p>
<p>Niḥśreyasa. Śreya. Śreya means ultimate good. There are two things: preya and śreya. Śreya means ultimate good. If you act in such a way that ultimately you actually become happy, that is called śreya. And if you want immediately some happiness—never mind what it will be in future—that is called preya. So less intelligent person or children, they want preya. They do not want śreya. A child is playing whole day. He likes it. That is preya. And if you want to send him to school to be educated, he doesn't like. That is śreya, ultimate good. So nobody is interested. Still, the śāstra gives us instruction that "You try for this śreya. Don't be captivated by the preya." Preya and śreya. And this śreya, the supreme śreya, is bhakti-yoga. Therefore it is said that etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ niḥśreyasa udayaḥ. śreyasa and niḥśreyasa. Niḥśreyasa means ultimate. Niḥśreyasa udayaḥ. As soon as you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then your ultimate good or ultimate perfection begins immediately.</p>
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