WINDOWS: Please enter your new password.
USER: cabbage
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password must be more than 8 characters.
USER: boiled cabbage
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password must contain 1 numerical character.
USER: 1 boiled cabbage
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password cannot have blank spaces.
USER: 50bloodyboiledcabbages
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password must contain at least one upper case character.
USER: 50BLOODYboiledcabbages
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password cannot use more than one upper case character consecutively.
USER: 50BloodyBoiledCabbagesShovedUpYourAssIfYouDon’tGiveMeAccessNow!
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password cannot contain punctuation.
USER: ReallyPissedOff50BloodyBoiledCabbagesShovedUpYourAssIfYouDontGiveMeAccessNow
WINDOWS: Sorry, that password is already in use.
The above is probably funny to most who use a computer-but actually it shows us how immune and jaded we have become with modern living. Right now I am watching out my window the cotton trees drop their fluffy seeds which sometimes look like small cotton balls. They fall so slowly and gracefully to the ground in their own time. Not some time dictated by a computer or high tech company. One devotee friend of mine wrote me recently that sometimes he doesnt even know what day of the week it is-and I had to laugh at that because I feel the same way at times. Actually for the soul there is no today and tomorrow because we are eternal, and Srila Prabhupada tells us that “today- tomorrow- or yesterday’s” consciousness is for one in the bodily concept of life. When we think in terms of yesterday or today it means we are in the world of duality which does not exist for the pure soul. The philosophy of simple living high thinking is meant for those who are thoughtful and not driven by the “speed” of modern life . Everyone is obsessed with higher and higher speed. Even in the cars they try to sell you with so much increased horsepower-you can still only drive the speed limit despite all those eager horses under your hood. Computers, I feel are the thermometer of modern mentality. They are always pushing the envelop for “more high speed internet”. And even if you go warp speed, you still will want more speed, which is characteristic of the mode of passion which only makes one more and more crazy and full of intense stress. We are desiring the wrong things if we are not trying to simplify our lives and understand our real purpose here. One who is influenced by the modes of ignorance and passion is still not getting the point. The entire world is so crazy right now, and the corona virus is only symptomatic of this deeper diseased mentality.
Prabhupada would use the example of a thermometer-if you are sick you have high fever, if you are well, you temperature is normal. So the real process is to reduce the temperature so we can return to “normal” life. What that “normal life” is, nobody knows, as even some of the devotees who are living in cities- pursuing their “careers”. As Prabhupada also once said, soon they will be “jobless”. And just this morning I heard on the news that 20% of Americans are now out of work. Who would have thought this could happen only 4 months ago? That is a lot of people who no means of supporting themselves right now. And what happens when unemployement insurance is no longer available? They also had a story of one woman who had a business that depended upon sporting and summertime events. She said, as she was packing up her belongings, being evicted from her home, that her next option was homelessness, like the thousands now occupying our streets in many American sities.
This is a very serious situation and is becoming worse day by day, despite what the Wall St moguls will say to us. So it really comes down to who are you going to listen to for concrete advice? The very gross materialists who admit they dont really know what is going to happen- or the Lords pure devotees? This material world is not meant for happiness, but for self realization. That is the real truth of the matter. Even if you can find some happiness here, it is still only very temporary, and then you have to deal with another situation again in the next birth. So trying again and again for this temporary so called happiness is really foolish behavior which always produces the same result-misery from repeated birth and death.
Consider just these two verses and purports from Srimad Bhagavatam by Srila Prabhupada…
SB 7.7.41-A materialistic person, thinking himself very advanced in intelligence, continually acts for economic development. But again and again, as enunciated in the Vedas, he is frustrated by material activities, either in this life or in the next. Indeed, the results one obtains are inevitably the opposite of those one desires.
PURPORT
No one has ever achieved the results he desired from material activities.On the contrary, everyone has been frustrated again and again. Therefore one must not waste his time in such material activities for sensual pleasure, either in this life or in the next. So many nationalists, economists and other ambitious persons have tried for happiness, individually or collectively, but history proves that they have all been frustrated. In recent history we have seen many political leaders work hard for individual and collective economic development, but they have all failed. This is the law of nature, as clearly explained in the next verse.
SB 7.7.42-In this material world, every materialist desires to achieve happiness and diminish his distress, and therefore he acts accordingly. Actually, however, one is happy as long as one does not endeavor for happiness; as soon as one begins his activities for happiness, his conditions of distress begin.
PURPORT
Every conditioned soul is bound by the laws of material nature, as described in Bhagavad-gītā (prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ [Bg. 3.27]). Everyone has achieved a certain type of body given by material nature according to the instructions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā “The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.” (Bg. 18.61) The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul, is present in everyone’s heart, and as the living entity desires, the Lord gives him facilities with which to work according to his ambitions in different grades of bodies. The body is just like an instrument by which the living entity moves according to false desires for happiness and thus suffers the pangs of birth, death, old age and disease in different standards of life. Everyone begins his activities with some plan and ambition, but actually, from the beginning of one’s plan to the end, one does not derive any happiness. On the contrary, as soon as one begins acting according to his plan, his life of distress immediately begins. Therefore, one should not be ambitious to dissipate the unhappy conditions of life, for one cannot do anything about them. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate [Bg. 3.27]. Although one is acting according to false ambitions, he thinks he can improve his material conditions by his activities. The Vedas enjoin that one should not try to increase happiness or decrease distress, for this is futile. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. One should work for self-realization, not for economic development, which is impossible to improve. Without endeavor, one can get the amount of happiness and distress for which he is destined, and one cannot change this. Therefore, it is better to use one’s time for advancement in the spiritual life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One should not waste his valuable life as a human being. It is better to utilize this life for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, without ambitions for so-called happiness.
I like what Srila Prabhupada says above because he is telling the raw truth which for one who wants to continue to make plans to try and be happy in this world is like a bitter pill to swallow. So “blowing on the boil” on your arm might be pleasing for a brief moment, but the real solution,painful as it may be– is to just cut it out. That blissful and not painful at all procedure is to seriously begin the process of chanting Hare Krsna Maha mantra daily.
And it doesnt hurt if you grow your own food either….
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das