Bondage and Afflictions
Letter, Sreela Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj
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I am sorry to learn that your grandmother suddenly expired on 25th October. It is natural when one of the kith and kin expires, other members of the family suffer agony for this and they feel very much for his or her separation. But Lord Krishna says in the Gītā, "That which has its birth, will have its death. We should not mourn for that which is inevitable." Nobody will remain in this world eternally. Everybody will have to leave this world either today or tomorrow.
Your grandmother has taught you that this body will perish one day, and that we should immediately prepare ourselves for emancipation from the bondage of Māya to get Absolute Bliss. We wrongly think that parents, children and relatives are ours but nobody in this world is ours. Wrongly thinking that relatives are ours, we become attached to them and get afflictions. They have not come by our will and they will not go by our will. By the Lord's will they have come and by the Lord's will they will go. Actually they belong to the Lord. Forgetfulness of our eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord Śrī Krishna is the root cause of our bondage and afflictions. We should submit to Him wholeheartedly and remember Him under all circumstances.
I am severely shocked to learn from --------- that your son met with an accident and died. It is always painful for the parents to bear the separation of a son. Accidental deaths cause severe shocks which are very difficult to be endured. Time is the only healing factor.Śrī Vāsudeva and Śrī Devaki Devi, who had the great fortune to get the Supreme Lord Śrī Krishna as their son, had to bear the terrible shock of the deaths of their six sons murdered one by one by Kaṁsa. They are, or they were, most sacred souls. We do not find any sufficient reasons why they had to suffer rude shocks. Actually, they did not feel the shocks as severely as we think, because they understood that mundane relations are very transitory and all jīvas reap the fruits of their own actions. As long as they have the fruits of their actions in this world, they remain in this world. When the fruits of actions end, they are to leave this world and go to a separable place. That last day may come by any kind of mishap - maybe accident, fever, heart disease, etc. We shall have to tolerate that for which there is no remedy. It is written in the scriptures that the six sons of Vāsudeva and Devaki Devi had such karma in their previous births that they were to be murdered by Kaṁsa in their next birth. This cycle of karma is going on for everyone.
Mundane relations are not actual relations; worldly relations are always changeable. We have our actual relationship with the Supreme Lord Śrī Krishna. Actually we should mourn for forgetting our relationship with the Supreme Lord Śrī Krishna, Who is really our dearest.
As per the desire of Śrī Krishna, jīvas have births and deaths, so they come and go. We falsely think them to be our own. A time will come when the whole universe will perish and the Supreme Lord Śrī Krishna will take away all the jīvas. Nobody can resist His Absolute Will. So, it is always wise to submit to the Absolute Will of the Absolute Pūrṇa, Who is All Good).
Supreme Lord Śrī Krishna teaches us in the Gītā that we should not mourn for that which is inevitable. He who is born will die one day.
Take absolute shelter in Śrī Gurudev and the Supreme Lord Śrī Krishna and go on chanting the Holy Name of Śrī Krishna. Chanting of the Holy Name will remove the pains of your heart and give you solace. I have got no words to pacify you.
May All- Merciful Supreme Lord Śrī Krishna bestow peace to the departed soul.
We never dreamt that we would be deprived of the company of so soon and so suddenly. He was well reputed in all our Maṭhs in India and Bangladesh for his devotion to Śrī Gurudev and marvellous preaching work in Punjab. Everybody is mourning his sudden demise and we have been receiving many letters from different persons. There is no other way but to submit to the Will of the Supreme Lord and bear the pangs of separation. His sudden demise is a notice to us to prepare ourselve for getting emancipation from the cycle of births and deaths and attaining love of Śrī Krishna because at any moment we may die and lose this valuable chance.We are forced to tolerate that for which there is no remedy. The born will die and the dead will be born. Lord Śrī Krishna forbids us to mourn for that which is inevitable. Prārabdha-karma-nirvāṇo nyapatat pāñca-bhautikaḥ. When the fruits of karma which have started come to an end, this body will perish. This end may come through disease, accident, etc., but all these are instrumental. Jīvas come and go by the Will of Śrī Krishna, but out of nescience we think them to be ours and we suffer due to attachment. Nobody comes and goes by our desire.
When jīvas become averse to Śrī Krishna, His illusory energy envelops them and they are drowned in the ocean of births and deaths and the threefold afflictions. We wrongly think ourselves to be the body and that other bodies related to us are ours. Actually we are of Śrī Krishna and He is ours. There is no existence of suffering. This is like a dream. When we forget our relationship with Śrī Krishna, we become a victim of suffering. A realised soul has constant remembrance of Śrī Krishna, so he is beyond this dream.
Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya
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