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If one is engaged in his cultivation of spiritual life, then he should tolerate all these bodily pains and pleasure, because they come and go

Expressions researched:
"If one is engaged in his cultivation of spiritual life, then he should tolerate all these bodily pains and pleasure, because they come and go"

Conversations and Morning Walks

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

If one is engaged in his cultivation of spiritual life, then he should tolerate all these bodily pains and pleasure, because they come and go. Just like you are medical man, you treat some patient. Suppose he's attacked with fever. Everyone knows that fever has come; after some time, it will go away. So the one who is cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's not very much disturbed with fever. He knows that it has come, it will go automatically, if we fast for few days. There is a Bengali proverb, jvaranpar ketanadali palab . . . if you receive one unwanted guest and fever, you don't give him eat, then it will go away. Unwanted guest, if you do not give him food, he'll go away. Even a fever also, if you don't eat, it will go automatically.

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śīta-uṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino 'nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
(BG 2.14)

If one is engaged in his cultivation of spiritual life, then he should tolerate all these bodily pains and pleasure, because they come and go. Just like you are medical man, you treat some patient. Suppose he's attacked with fever. Everyone knows that fever has come; after some time, it will go away. So the one who is cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's not very much disturbed with fever. He knows that it has come, it will go automatically, if we fast for few days. There is a Bengali proverb, jvaranpar ketanadali palab . . . if you receive one unwanted guest and fever, you don't give him eat, then it will go away. Unwanted guest, if you do not give him food, he'll go away. Even a fever also, if you don't eat, it will go automatically.

So after all, these things come and go. The example is given, śīta-uṣṇa. Śīta means winter and uṣṇa means summer. As the summer comes and go, winter comes and go, so these kinds of sufferings, they come and go. So Kṛṣṇa is advising, tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. Therefore a brāhmaṇa's qualification is titikṣa. Satya, Śamo damaḥ śaucaṁ titikṣa, toleration. They're not very much bothered with the bodily pains and pleasure. They come and go. They're engaged in real business, how to realize Brahman. So if one is engaged in the prime business of life, Brahman understanding, athāto brahma jijñāsā, for him these bodily pains and pleasure becomes minor things.

Therefore we see such examples, that one saintly person is living in the Himalayan mountain: there is snowfall, there is no proper place, still they live. Still, there are many. But nowadays it is not possible. Voluntarily, they used to go to the forest, to the Himalaya, just to tolerate these pains and pleasure of the body equally and engaged in their own business of spiritual understanding. That is human civilization. Human civilization, that is described in the . . . tapo divyam. For the supreme spiritual realization one should undergo tapasya. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). It is the instruction of Rṣabhadeva that this body . . . everyone has got body. Cats and dogs and hogs, they have got body. We have also body. The kings and demigods, they have got body. Everyone has got body. But especially the body of nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke, in the human society. This body is not meant for kaṣṭān kāmān, to satisfy sense gratification with very, very hard labor like the hogs and dogs. Then what it is meant for? Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed (SB 5.5.1): "My dear boys, this body is meant for tapasya." Why tapasya? Your question. Yena śuddhyed. Your existence will be purified. Yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam. Then you'll get perpetual, blissful life.

Page Title:If one is engaged in his cultivation of spiritual life, then he should tolerate all these bodily pains and pleasure, because they come and go
Compiler:Nabakumar
Created:2023-01-08, 15:02:43
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1