Fallen in the ocean of nescience

Expressions researched:
"fallen in the deep ocean of nescience" |"fallen in the ocean of nescience" |"fallen in this material world, the ocean of nescience" |"fallen in this ocean of nescience" |"fallen into an ocean of nescience" |"fallen into great ocean of nescience" |"fallen into the ocean of nescience" |"fallen into this horrible ocean of nescience" |"fallen into this ocean of nescience"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

Compassion for the dress of a drowning man is senseless. A man fallen in the ocean of nescience cannot be saved simply by rescuing his outward dress—the gross material body.

BG 2.1, Purport:

Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance of the real self. Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization. The word "Madhusūdana" is significant in this verse. Lord Kṛṣṇa killed the demon Madhu, and now Arjuna wanted Kṛṣṇa to kill the demon of misunderstanding that had overtaken him in the discharge of his duty. No one knows where compassion should be applied. Compassion for the dress of a drowning man is senseless. A man fallen in the ocean of nescience cannot be saved simply by rescuing his outward dress—the gross material body. One who does not know this and laments for the outward dress is called a śūdra, or one who laments unnecessarily. Arjuna was a kṣatriya, and this conduct was not expected from him. Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, can dissipate the lamentation of the ignorant man, and for this purpose the Bhagavad-gītā was sung by Him. This chapter instructs us in self-realization by an analytical study of the material body and the spirit soul, as explained by the supreme authority, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This realization is possible when one works without attachment to fruitive results and is situated in the fixed conception of the real self.

SB Canto 4

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung: "Because of my past fruitive activities, I have now fallen into an ocean of nescience."

SB 4.28.27, Purport:

Material existence is experienced when one becomes attached to a woman and forgets his real identity as the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa (naṣṭa-smṛtiḥ). In this way, in one body after another, the living entity perpetually suffers the threefold miseries of material existence. To save human civilization from the darkness of ignorance, this movement was started. The main purpose of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to enlighten the forgetful living entity and remind him of his original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In this way the living entity can be saved from the catastrophe of ignorance as well as bodily transmigration. As Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung:

anādi karama-phale, paḍi' bhavārṇava-jale,

taribāre nā dekhi upāya

ei viṣaya-halāhale, divā-niśi hiyā jvale,

mana kabhu sukha nāhi pāya

"Because of my past fruitive activities, I have now fallen into an ocean of nescience. I cannot find any means to get out of this great ocean, which is indeed like an ocean of poison. We are trying to be happy through sense enjoyment, but actually that so-called enjoyment is like food that is too hot and causes burning in the heart. I feel a burning sensation constantly, day and night, and thus my mind cannot find satisfaction."

SB Canto 5

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sings: "My Lord, I do not know when I commenced my material life, but I can certainly experience that I have fallen in the deep ocean of nescience. Now I can also see that there is no other way to get out of it than to take shelter of Your lotus feet."

SB 5.25.14, Translation and Purport:

My dear King, as I heard of it from my spiritual master, I have fully described to you the creation of this material world according to the fruitive activities and desires of the conditioned souls. Those conditioned souls, who are full of material desires, achieve various situations in different planetary systems, and in this way they live within this material creation.

In this regard, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sings,

anādi karama-phale, paḍi' bhavārṇava-jale,

taribāre nā dekhi upāya

"My Lord, I do not know when I commenced my material life, but I can certainly experience that I have fallen in the deep ocean of nescience. Now I can also see that there is no other way to get out of it than to take shelter of Your lotus feet." Similarly, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu offers the following prayer:

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ

patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau

kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-

sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

(Cc. Antya 20.32, Śikṣāṣṭaka 5)

"My dear Lord, son of Nanda Mahārāja, I am Your eternal servant. Somehow or other, I have fallen into this ocean of nescience. Kindly, therefore, save me from this horrible condition of materialistic life."

SB Canto 6

O Kṛṣṇa, beloved son of Nanda Mahārāja, I am Your eternal servant, but somehow or other I have fallen into this ocean of nescience, and although I am struggling very hard, there is no way I can save myself. If You kindly pick me up and fix me as one of the particles of dust at Your lotus feet, that will save me.

SB 6.1.50, Purport:

People bewildered by material conditions try to be united, but although they strive for unity among men and nations, all their attempts are futile. Everyone must struggle alone for existence with the many elements of nature. Therefore one's only hope, as Kṛṣṇa advises, is to surrender to Him, for He can help one become free from the ocean of nescience. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore prayed:

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ

patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau

kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-

sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

(Cc. Antya 20.32, Śikṣāṣṭaka 5)

"O Kṛṣṇa, beloved son of Nanda Mahārāja, I am Your eternal servant, but somehow or other I have fallen into this ocean of nescience, and although I am struggling very hard, there is no way I can save myself. If You kindly pick me up and fix me as one of the particles of dust at Your lotus feet, that will save me."

We, the conditioned souls, have fallen in the ocean of nescience, but the human body fortunately provides us a good opportunity to cross the ocean because the human body is like a very good boat.

SB 6.7.14, Translation and Purport:

Leaders who have fallen into ignorance and who mislead people by directing them to the path of destruction (as described in the previous verse) are, in effect, boarding a stone boat, and so too are those who blindly follow them. A stone boat would be unable to float and would sink in the water with its passengers. Similarly, those who mislead people go to hell, and their followers go with them.

As stated in the Vedic literature (SB 11.20.17):

nṛ-deham ādyaṁ sulabhaṁ sudurlabhaṁ

plavaṁ sukalpaṁ guru-karṇa-dhāram

We, the conditioned souls, have fallen in the ocean of nescience, but the human body fortunately provides us a good opportunity to cross the ocean because the human body is like a very good boat. When directed by a spiritual master acting as the captain, the boat can very easily cross the ocean. Furthermore, the boat is helped across by favorable winds, which are the instructions of Vedic knowledge. If one does not take advantage of all these facilities to cross the ocean of nescience, he is certainly committing suicide.

CC Madhya-lila

One's relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead may be reestablished even after one has fallen into the ocean of nescience, which is the ocean of material existence involving the repetition of birth, death, old age and disease, all arising out of the acceptance of the material body.

CC Madhya 11.151, Translation and Purport:

""O my Lord! O unlimited one! Although I was merged in the ocean of nescience, I have now, after a long time, attained You, just as one may attain the seashore. My dear Lord, by getting me, You have obtained the right person upon whom to bestow Your causeless mercy.""

This is verse 21 from the Stotra-ratna, composed by Ālabandāru Yāmunācārya. One's relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead may be reestablished even after one has fallen into the ocean of nescience, which is the ocean of material existence involving the repetition of birth, death, old age and disease, all arising out of the acceptance of the material body. There are 8,400,000 species of material life, but in the human body one attains a chance to get release from the repetition of birth and death. When one becomes the Lord's devotee, he is rescued from this dangerous ocean of birth and death. The Lord is always prepared to shower His mercy upon fallen souls struggling against miserable material conditions.

CC Antya-lila

O My Lord, O Kṛṣṇa, son of Mahārāja Nanda, I am Your eternal servant, but because of My own fruitive acts I have fallen into this horrible ocean of nescience. Now please be causelessly merciful to Me. Consider Me a particle of dust at Your lotus feet.

CC Antya 20.32, Translation:

"O My Lord, O Kṛṣṇa, son of Mahārāja Nanda, I am Your eternal servant, but because of My own fruitive acts I have fallen into this horrible ocean of nescience. Now please be causelessly merciful to Me. Consider Me a particle of dust at Your lotus feet."

I am Your eternal servant, but I forgot Your Lordship. Now I have fallen into the ocean of nescience and have been conditioned by the external energy.

CC Antya 20.33, Translation:

"I am Your eternal servant, but I forgot Your Lordship. Now I have fallen into the ocean of nescience and have been conditioned by the external energy."

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

This Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa is also prayer. Hare means "O the energy of the Lord," and Kṛṣṇa means "O the Lord, Supreme Personality of Godhead, please take me out of this ocean of nescience and fix me up in Your eternal, transcendental service."

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Montreal, June 3, 1968:

Guest (1): When the person, by following his temporary nature, realizes he can't find satisfaction but he has to turn to spiritual nature...

Prabhupāda: Yes. That dissatisfaction is always there. Just like if a animal or a living entity is put into the water, then however expert swimmer he may be, it is struggle. In the water... That... Because that is not his natural position. The same man, if he is taken over the water, one inch over the water, he feels relief immediately. And if he is put into the land, then he's perfectly relieved. So therefore Lord Caitanya offers His prayer to Kṛṣṇa, ayi nanda-tanuja patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau: "My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, I am Your eternal servant. Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean of nescience." Kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya: "Kindly pick me up from this ocean of nescience and fix me as one of Your dust of the lotus feet." You see? So that should be our prayer, that... This Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa is also prayer. Hare means "O the energy of the Lord," and Kṛṣṇa means "O the Lord, Supreme Personality of Godhead, please take me out of this ocean of nescience and fix me up in Your eternal, transcendental service." This is the prayer.

O the son of Nanda, somehow or other, I have now fallen in this ocean of nescience, ignorance. Please pick me up and fix me as one of the atoms of Your lotus feet.

Lecture on BG 8.21-22 -- New York, November 19, 1966:

Lord Caitanya taught that we should simply cry, and we shall simply pray for accepting us. That's all. So this vibration is simply a cry for addressing the Supreme Lord, requesting Him, "Please accept me. Please accept me."

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ

patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau

kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-

sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

(Cc. Antya 20.32, Śikṣāṣṭaka 5)

This prayer was offered by Lord Caitanya. He's praying, "O my dear Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda..." Kṛṣṇa appeared as a foster son of Nanda Mahārāja. And Kṛṣṇa is very delighted when He is connected with some of His devotees' names. So Lord Caitanya addresses Him, "O the son of Nanda, somehow or other, I have now fallen in this ocean of nescience, ignorance. Please pick me up and fix me as one of the atoms of Your lotus feet." That's all. Just like a man fallen in the ocean, the only survival is... If somebody goes and picks him just one inch above the water, he feels immediately relieved. Immediately. So as soon as we are fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the immediate relief. Immediately. There is no question about it. It is such a nice thing.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Somehow or other, we have fallen in this material world, the ocean of nescience.

Lecture on SB 1.7.11 -- Vrndavana, September 10, 1976:

The material madness entangles people more and more in the process of birth and death. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, anādi karama-phale paḍi' bhavārṇava-jale taribāre nā dekhi upāya. Anādi karama-phale paḍi' bhavārṇava-jale. Somehow or other, we have fallen in this material world, the ocean of nescience, bhavārṇava. Arṇava means ocean, and bhava means repetition of birth. In this ocean we have fallen. Therefore our prayer should be not for any material opulence, as we generally do. Dhanaṁ dehi rūpaṁ dehi: "Give me money or mitigate my distress." This is very lower stage of devotion, to ask something from the Supreme Lord.

Somehow or other, I am fallen in this ocean of nescience, saṁsāra.

Lecture on SB 3.25.11 -- Bombay, November 11, 1974:

"My dear Lord, Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja..." Patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ mām: "I am Your eternal servant, kiṅkara." Kiṅkara means servant. "Now, somehow or other, I am fallen in this ocean of nescience, saṁsāra." Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka **. Unless one has got the knowledge what is this position, where we are staying, we cannot understand. That is called moha. We have discussed this. Illusion. We are under illusion. So Devahūti says, sva-bhṛtya-saṁsāra-taroḥ kuṭhāram. In the Bhagavad-gītā the tree is described, aśvattha tree. So aśvattha, as we have got experience, the banyan tree, the root is very strong, very strong. So it is also compared, this material world is compared with the aśvattha tree, banyan tree. Very strong root. So... But any tree can be cut with an ax, kuṭhāram. So that kuṭhāram, if we take shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, that is the real kuṭhāram, or ax, to cut the strong root of material existence.

Kṛṣṇa, You are born out of the body of Mahārāja Nanda. I am Your eternal servant, but somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean of nescience, repeated birth and death.

Lecture on SB 3.26.8 -- Bombay, December 20, 1974:

Kṛṣṇa is very pleased when we address Him with His devotee. Nanda Mahārāja is devotee playing as the father of Kṛṣṇa. So therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu is addressing Kṛṣṇa, ayi nanda-tanuja: "Kṛṣṇa, You are born out of the body of Mahārāja Nanda." This is very pleasing to Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He is addressing, ayi nanda-tanuja, patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame. Patitaṁ kiṅkaram. Kiṅkaram means servant. "I am Your eternal servant, but somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean of nescience, repeated birth and death." Patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau. Kṛpayā: "By Your causeless mercy, because I am servant... I have somehow or other fallen." Kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya: "Kindly fix me again as one of the dust particle in Your lotus feet."

O the son of Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa, I am Your eternal servant. Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean of nescience. So how to save myself?

Lecture on SB 3.26.22 -- Bombay, December 31, 1974:

So we are going on the waves of māyā. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, therefore, says, māyār bośe, jāccho bhese': "You rascal, you are going, floating under the spell of māyā." Khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi: "And sometimes you are drowned and sometimes in the up by the tricks of the waves. Why you are leading such life?" Jīv kṛṣṇa-dās, e biśwās, korle to' ār duḥkho nāi: "You come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and try to understand that you are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa; you are being carried away by the whims of māyā. So that will make you happy." Therefore Caitanya-caritāmṛta, er, Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches us, patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau: "My Lord," ayi nanda-tanuja, "O the son of Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa, I am Your eternal servant. Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean of nescience." Patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau. Bhava ambudhau. Ambudhi means sea, ocean. "So how to save myself?" Kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya. This is our only business. This Hare Kṛṣṇa means, "O Kṛṣṇa, O Harā, Kṛṣṇa's energy, Rādhārāṇī, Harā..." Hari Harā. So this addressing, "O Kṛṣṇa, O Kṛṣṇa's internal potency..." Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, chanting, addressing: "O Lord Kṛṣṇa, O the internal energy of Kṛṣṇa." So They will respond that "Why you are calling Me, or Us?" You have to submit, "Please again accept me as Your eternal servant." This is the only prayer, not that "Give me this money, this me that, this me that. Give me that." No. That is not pure devotion.

We are fallen into great ocean of nescience, covered. First of all the five senses, knowledge-acquiring senses, jñānendriya and karmendriya, working senses, ten, and sense object.

Lecture on SB 6.1.50 -- Detroit, August 3, 1975:

We are fallen into great ocean of nescience, covered. First of all the five senses, knowledge-acquiring senses, jñānendriya and karmendriya, working senses, ten, and sense object... We have got eyes; therefore eyes are engaged for seeing something beautiful, rūpa. Rasa. Rasa means taste. That is the business of the tongue. And to see beautiful thing, that is the business of the eyes. Rūpa, rasa, śabda. Śabda means sound. The ear, we have got ear. We want to hear nice songs, music, radio, television. So ear is there; the objects are there. Rūpa, rasa, śabda, gandha, smelling. There is good odor also, bad odor also. Rūpa, rasa, gandha, śabda, sparśā. In this way we are entangled, completely under the laws of material nature. I am the spirit soul. Saptadaśaḥ. I have given my power of attorney to the mind, and mind is creating different varieties of the śabda, sparśā, rūpa, rasa, gandha, śabda, sparśā. In this way, life after life, as it is explained in the previous verse

General Lectures

Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean of nescience, ignorance.

City Hall Lecture -- Durban, October 7, 1975:

Just like if you are in danger, you ask your friends to help you. This is prayer. So our prayer is, to Kṛṣṇa, ayi nanda-tanuja. Nanda-tanuja means... Kṛṣṇa appeared as the foster son of Nanda Mahārāja; therefore He is addressed as nanda-tanuja, means "the son of Mahārāja Nanda." So patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau. "I am your eternal servant. Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean of nescience, ignorance." Just like if you are a person of the land, if you are thrown in the ocean, it is struggle for existence. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). This is struggle for exis... Everyone is struggling. But what you will struggle in the ocean? You may be a very big swimmer, but how long you shall swim? You will be tired. The only means is to take you out of the ocean. Even one inch above the ocean is your safety. It doesn't matter how many inches you are taken from the ocean. Similarly, the prayer is, "My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, I am your eternal servant. Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean. Please pick me up and fix me again as the dust of Your lotus feet." This is the prayer. So we should know in what dangerous position we are. Then there is necessity of prayer. And prayer to whom? To the Supreme Person to save us. Therefore there are so many prayers in the śāstra. Prayers means addressing the Lord to save us from this. The real saving is to pick us up from this ocean of nescience, ignorance. Then everything is all right. As soon as we come to the knowledge that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul, part and parcel of God," then our knowledge is perfect. This is called brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā. This is called Brahman realization.