Action in freedom- has meaning
Songs Purport to Gay Gaura Madhur Sware 251005/530501
So Bhaktivinode Thakura advises, “Never mind, you are in distress
or happiness, but go on chanting this maha-mantra.” Maya-jale baddha
ho’ye, acho miche kaja lo’ye. You are entrapped by the network of
illusory energy, maya-jale baddha ho’ye, just like the fisherman
catches from the sea all kinds of creatures within the network.
Similarly we are also within the net of illusory energy, and because
we have no freedom, therefore all our activities are useless. Action
in freedom has got some meaning, but when we are not free within the
clutches of Maya, within the network of maya, then our so-called
freedom has no value. Therefore, whatever we are doing is simply
defeat. Without knowing our constitutional position, if you are forced
to do something by the pressure of the illusory energy, it is simply
useless waste of time. Therefore, Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, “Now you
have got full consciousness in the human form of life. So just chant
Hare Krsna, Radha-Madhava, all these names. There is no loss or great
profit.” Jivana hoilo sesa, na bhajile hrsikesa. Now gradually
everyone is on the verge of death, noody can say that, “I shall
remain, I shall stay for more hundred years.” No, any moment we can
die. Therefore, he advises jivana hoilo sesa: “Our life is at end at
any moment, and we could not serve Hrsikesa, Krsna.
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How a liberated soul’s body is controlled by the Lord Himself and not material nature
SB3.33.27-Situated in eternal trance and freed from illusion impelled by the modes of material nature, she forgot her material body, just as one forgets his different bodies in a dream.
PURPORT-A great Vaiṣṇava said that he who has no remembrance of his body is not bound to material existence. As long as we are conscious of our bodily existence, it is to be understood that we are living conditionally, under the three modes of material nature. When one forgets his bodily existence, his conditional, material life is over. This forgetfulness is actually possible when we engage our senses in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.In the conditional state, one engages his senses as a member of a family or as a member of a society or country. But when one forgets all such membership in material circumstances and realizes that he is an eternal servant of the Supreme Lord, that is actual forgetfulness of material existence.
This forgetfulness actually occurs when one renders service unto the Lord. A devotee no longer works with the body for sense gratification with family, society, country, humanity and so on. He simply works for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. That is perfect Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
A devotee always merges in transcendental happiness, and therefore he has no experience of material distresses. This transcendental happiness is called eternal bliss. According to the opinion of devotees, constant remembrance of the Supreme Lord is called samādhi, or trance. If one is constantly in trance, there is no possibility of his being attacked or even touched by the modes of material nature. As soon as one is freed from the contamination of the three material modes, he no longer has to take birth to transmigrate from one form to another in this material world.
SB 3.33.29-Because she was always absorbed in the thought of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, she was not aware that her hair was sometimes loosened or her garments were disarrayed.
PURPORT-In this verse the word daiva-guptam, “protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead,” is very significant. Once one surrenders unto the service of the Supreme Lord, the Lord takes charge of the maintenance of the devotee’s body, and there is no need of anxiety for its protection. It is said in the Second Chapter, Second Canto, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that afully surrendered soul has no anxiety about the maintenance of his body. The Supreme Lord takes care of the maintenance of innumerable species of bodies; therefore, one who fully engages in His service will not go unprotected by the Supreme Lord. Devahūti was naturally unmindful of the protection of her body, which was being taken care of by the Supreme Person.
SB 3.33.37-The description of the dealings of Kapiladeva and His mother is very confidential, and anyone who hears or reads this narration becomes a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is carried by Garuḍa, and he thereafter enters into the abode of the Supreme Lord to engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.
PURPORT-The narration of Kapiladeva and His mother, Devahūti, is so perfect and transcendental that even if one only hears or reads this description, he achieves the highest perfectional goal of life, for he engages in the loving service of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no doubt that Devahūti, who had the Supreme Lord as her son and who followed the instructions of Kapiladeva so nicely, attained the highest perfection of human life.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Third Canto, Thirty-third Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “Activities of Kapila.”
SB 3.28.38-The body of such a liberated yogī, along with the senses, is taken charge of by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and it functions until its destined activities are finished. The liberated devotee, being awake to his constitutional position and thus situated in samādhi, the highest perfectional stage of yoga, does not accept the by-products of the material body as his own. Thus he considers his bodily activities to be like the activities of a body in a dream.
PURPORT-The following questions may be posed. As long as the liberated soul is in contact with the body, why don’t the bodily activities affect him? Doesn’t he actually become contaminated by the action and reaction of material activities? In answer to such questions, this verse explains that the material body of a liberated soul is taken charge of by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is not acting due to the living force of the living entity; it is simply acting as a reaction to past activities. Even after being switched off, an electric fan moves for some time. That movement is not due to the electric current, but is a continuation of the last movement; similarly, although a liberated soul appears to be acting just like an ordinary man, his actions are to be accepted as the continuation of past activities. In a dream one may see himself expanded through many bodies, but when awake he can understand that those bodies were all false. Similarly, although a liberated soul has the by-products of the body—children, wife, house, etc.—he does not identify himself with those bodily expansions. He knows that they are all products of the material dream. The gross body is made of the gross elements of matter, and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence, ego and contaminated consciousness. If one can accept the subtle body of a dream as false and not identify oneself with that body, then certainly an awake person need not identify with the gross body. As one who is awake has no connection with the activities of the body in a dream, an awakened, liberated soul has no connection with the activities of the present body. In other words, because he is acquainted with his constitutional position, he never accepts the bodily concept of life.
SB 3.31.1-purport...So here it is said, avidya-karma-samjñānya trtiya śaktir isyate. This material energy is full of ignorance, avidya, and karma-sanga. Here you have to work hard. But if you become devotee, then there is no need of working hard. Yoga-kseman vahamy aham. Then Kṛṣṇa takes charge. Kṛṣṇa takes charge of you. Kṛṣṇa has taken charge of everyone, but especially yo tu bhajanti yam pritya tesu te mayi. Those who are devotee, for them special care. So here we are careless. Nobody is taking… The materialistic persons, they are working in their own capacity, that “I shall become happy in this way, I shall become happy in this way,” and therefore entangling, committing so many sinful activities. And he’s not becoming happy; more and more unhappy. Karma-bandha. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, sata sanga chadi khainu, asate vilāsa, te karane lagile mora karma bandha phansa. So if we don’t take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if we act independently, then the result will be that we shall be entangled in the laws of karma. Laws of karma means karmana daiva-netrena jantor deha upapatti [SB 3.31.1]. By karma we are creating another body, next body. That we do not know. Karma, according to my karma. Karmana daiva-netrena, supervised, decided by the higher authorities: “You have done like this; you must get this body.”
KB 2-35–Their love of Kṛṣṇa was so intense that in their regular activities–in sitting, sleeping, traveling, talking, sporting, cleansing and bathing–they were simply absorbed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa and paid no attention to bodily necessities. That is the symptom of a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Just as when a man is fully absorbed in some particular thought, he sometimes forgets his other bodily activities, so the members of the Yadu dynasty acted automatically for their bodily necessities, but their actual attention was always fixed on Kṛṣṇa.Their bodily activities were performed mechanically, but their minds were always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
TLC preface– The Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is already in charge of the maintenance of this creation by virtue of His plenary expansion, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, but this maintenance is not direct. However, when the Lord says that He takes charge of His pure devotee, He actually takes direct charge.
BG intro-One must become free from the bodily conception of life; that is the preliminary activity for the transcendentalist. One who wants to become free, who wants to become liberated, must first of all learn that he is not this material body.Mukti or liberation means freedom from material consciousness. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also the definition of liberation is given: Mukti means liberation from the contaminated consciousness of this material world and situation in pure consciousness. All the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā are intended to awaken this pure consciousness, and therefore we find at the last stage of the Gītā’s instructions that Kṛṣṇa is asking Arjuna whether he is now in purified consciousness. Purified consciousness means acting in accordance with the instructions of the Lord. This is the whole sum and substance of purified consciousness.
Some Conclusions- The above verses and purports are meant to show us the consciousness of a liberated soul, a pure devotee of God. When we become such a soul, we will lose any remberance that we are this body, or that our family members are really not our family members but just part of the illusory dream of temporary life. This awakening Srila Prabhupada says is only possible when we develop our dormant love for Krsna, God, the Supreme Person. In that stage of consciousness, which is so intense with happiness, then naturally we lose all physical and mental material bodily connections and are re-instated in our original svarupa siddhi-our spiritual body andour eternal relationship with the Lord.
I remember in my college days when I began sky diving from airplanes and thought this is freedom–when I am in air and my parachute opens, I just feel the gentle breeze of the wind, there are no sounds , and nobody around to bug me.
And then you have to land, and that feeling is gone. Reality smacks you again. So this feeling of having no material problems can only be experienced by a liberated soul and nobody else. If one wants this actual freedom from all material contact one must become a pure devotee.
BG 6.21-The stage of perfection is called trance, or samādhi, when one’s mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one’s ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.
SB 3.7.17-Boththe lowest of fools and he who is transcendental to all intelligence enjoy happiness,whereas persons between them suffer the material pangs.
When oh when will that day be mine?
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das